While most of the Dime crew was in D.C. and Boston for the Red Bull King of the Rock qualifiers, I had the chance to go to the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame ring ceremony at Mohegan Sun. Former greats such as Rick Barry, Moses Malone, Calvin Murphy, George Gervin and Dr. J all came out to honor the newest members of the Hall and possibly hit up the Dennis Rodman after party. It’s a surreal feeling, being surrounded by greatness. Just the way these men carried themselves, you could tell. They weren’t obnoxious, self-satisfied or gratified. It was honorable and graceful. The way you’d teach your children to handle hundreds of star-struck on-lookers and swarming media. And then Dennis Rodman walked in. Read More »

When I think back to my childhood years and developing my basketball game, like many others my age, I think of the summers when I attended Five-Star Basketball camps. About 10-15 years ago, Five-Star was the most prestigious grassroots basketball organization and helped develop the skills of players like Michael Jordan, LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and Kevin Durant. The business of basketball camps has changed tremendously in the last 10 years with top players and sneaker companies starting their own camps and tournament circuits, and as a result Five-Star took a backseat. Now under new ownership, Five-Star Basketball is ready to step back into the spotlight and reconnect with the youth with the launch of fivestarbasketball.com, a content heavy site with player rankings, blogs, highlight reels, camp history and much more. Read More »

His mission is as simple as his numbers are beastly: To become the NBA’s most dominant, albeit unsuspecting, double-double machine the League has seen in decades. And in only his third season as a pro, Kevin Love, the pride of the Minnesota Timberwolves’ organization at all of 22 years old, did just that. K-Love does have the numbers to warrant our increased national gaze, but his gaudy statistics along – try 20.2 points and 15.2 boards a game – don’t even do the big fella enough justice for how massive an impact he made across the League this year. Read More »

As one of the young up-and-coming teams in the league, it is their young, dynamic scorers who get all the attention. But please believe, it’s their defense that has teams flustered. We only wish people would start to notice … Yes, we are talking about the Grizzlies rather than the Thunder, the team Memphis beat last night by six to move a season-high seven games over .500. For much of the early portion of last season, Memphis and Oklahoma City were linked together as the next in-line in the West, both teams bent on ruining somebody’s season in the playoffs. The Grizzlies slowed while the Thunder took off to become the feel-good story of the league. Last night, they met up and Memphis’ Tony Allen (20 points) summed it up after the game when he told reporters, “We needed it more than they did.” Allen played like it, harassing Kevin Durant all over the court Read More »

When was the last time the NBA’s regular season MVP didn’t make the All-Star Game that same year?

You’d have to go back to 1999 — which comes with an asterisk because that lockout-shortened season had no All-Star Game in which eventual MVP Karl Malone could participate. Before that? I went back as far as 1982, and the only other time it happened was in 1989, which deserves another asterisk because Magic Johnson was picked for the West team, only he sat out the game with an injury. And nine times out of 10, the eventual season MVP is a starter in the All-Star Game. Only three times in my lifetime has the League’s MVP been an All-Star reserve (Steve Nash in ’05, David Robinson in ’95, Moses Malone in ’82). Read More »

So with the Brett Favre ending his NFL iron man streak and Cliff Lee signing with the Phillies (which I’m loving, by the way) dominating the headlines lately, I felt a little sports overkill. This all changed when I learned my childhood hardwood idol would be playing and I could catch him online.

That’s right, Allen Iverson, who has had his share of troubles this year, would be playing for his Turkish club team Besiktas for the world to see. This excitement quickly diminished into disappointment upon hearing news of A.I. sitting out because of an ankle injury. Read More »

Thirteen years. Thirteen All-NBA seasons. Four championships. Three Finals MVPs. Two league MVPs. One team. One city. The numbers tell us this much about Tim Duncan: Nobody has ever done it quite like him. What don’t we know about the greatest power forward of all-time? Everything else. In Dime #59, I sought to find the rest of the story. Read More »

Our business is prone to over-exaggeration: It was the best dunk ever, the worst trade ever, the sickest pair of sneakers ever, etc. We have to grab your attention and we have to get advertisers and, well, that’s just how it goes. But taking away all hyperbole and being totally straight — the NBA TV announcer calling yesterday’s Spain/Lithuania and France/Canada games at the World Championship was the WORST ANNOUNCER IN THE HISTORY OF BASKETBALL … Seriously, what soccer game did they steal this guy from? We would have been better off with Moses Malone and Darryl Dawkins on the mic. Read More »

There’s an old-school saying: The squeaky wheel gets the grease. Whether that means the person who speaks up gets the attention, the person who asks for help receives help, or just the person who most obviously needs assistance gets it, the term can apply to everything from school to dating to self-promotion.

In basketball, it seems the grease doesn’t necessarily go to the squeaky wheel, but rather, the biggest wheel. Read More »

While the 10-story “We Are All Witnesses” banner in downtown Cleveland came down in a matter of days following LeBron James‘ departure from the Cavaliers, there’s still no way to tell how lasting LBJ’s impact on the franchise will be. Some would argue that LeBron “made” the Cavs and the organization will flop without him, while others say LeBron’s tenure with the team ultimately won’t matter much because he didn’t win a championship.

In the Dime office the other day we were kicking around the question: Should the Cavs retire LeBron’s No. 23 jersey? Read More »