With the sudden retirement of Shaquille O’Neal from the NBA, we got to thinking about all the great players that the Big Social Security Applier played with during his 19 seasons in the league. There’s a long list of All-Stars, but in making the list, we ask this question: Who was at their best while playing with Shaq? For example, the Kevin Garnett that O’Neal played with this season won’t rank as highly as the 2007-08 Amar’e Stoudemire that he shared the court with in his Phoenix stint.

Obviously, we’ll save all the center slots for the Big Aristotle himself, but without further adieu, we present the First, Second and Third All-Shaq teams: Read More »

I’m not normally one to mute commercials. First off, I’m not 80. And second, I’ve never had a problem with most. Sometimes, you’ll get annoying ones. Yet every once in a while, you’ll catch a gem. But some of these commercials being run now in the playoffs…man, specifically that T-Mobile one with the weird hipster dude rapping, that’s just outlandish, nonsensical gibberish. It’s an ugly monopoly; I feel like I’m seeing the same ones over and over again. Read More »

As we mentioned in Smack, I got the chance to participate in a conference call yesterday with TNT and the voices of the Eastern Conference Finals: Reggie Miller, Steve Kerr and Marv Albert. They broke down the Chicago and Miami matchup for nearly 45 minutes, and TNT alerted me that Game 1 on Sunday night was actually the most watched NBA game of all-time in cable history. It finished with a 6.2 rating and over 11 million viewers. The amount of hype and anticipation for this series is clearly exceeding even our own lofty expectations. Read More »

It’s more than just Jordans. eBay’s strongest tie to basketball is not documented footwear, but an infinite inventory of NBA junk, official and otherwise, wearable or not. If it’s old and NBA, it’s worth watching. Keep checking back for the best in vintage NBA memorabilia around. This week, we have Penny Hardaway‘s 1965 Ford Mustang and Carmelo Anthony‘s 1971 Chevrolet Chevelle. Read More »

Some day next decade, when they write the Wikipedia version of Blake Griffin’s basketball career, the pieces will all fit together sensibly. He was a high school All-American (and won the McDonald’s national dunk contest), then a college All-American, then the No. 1 pick in the NBA Draft. So of course he would take the League by storm as soon as possible, running (and jumping, and dunking) away with the Rookie of the Year trophy and leading the woeful L.A. Clippers back to being a real-life pro sports franchise. Read More »

Trevor Ariza is only 25 years old, but in his seven years in the NBA he’s been through more experiences than a lot of 35-year-old veterans.

Drafted at age 18, Ariza had to fight for a roster spot as a second-round pick. He has played for five pro teams since then, having been traded three times and signing one contract worth nearly $35 million. He has lived in New York City and Los Angeles. He has played with Kobe and Penny and Grant Hill. He has won an NBA championship and played for Lottery teams. He has been an NBA Finals hero and a little-used benchwarmer. Read More »

I think I might be more excited than anyone to see Gilbert Arenas‘ debut with the Orlando Magic tonight, and it’s probably not for any reasons you may think. Back when Agent Zero was blogging for NBA.com in 2007, he let the world know that the Magic were his favorite team growing up and Penny Hardaway was his favorite player. “In my room I probably had 600 pictures up on my wall and 575 of ‘em were all Penny.” Tonight in Atlanta against the Hawks, Arenas will take the floor donning Penny’s No. 1 in his honor. Read More »

Depending on how you look at it, Friday night’s Heat/Grizzlies game was either sweetly nostalgic or bitterly depressing for NBA fans like myself who fell in love with the game in the 1990s.

On the court, Jerry Stackhouse was starting at two-guard for the Heat … but in 19 minutes he finished with 2 points and 2 fouls and had a couple ugly misses. Read More »

Who do you want your offense to run through with the game on the line? Counting down from 30th to 1st (one per team), I’ve ranked the League’s go-to guys…

BRANDON ROY, Portland Trail Blazers It’s so easy to take for granted. Not just health. Good health. The ability to run for 48 minutes, 94 feet at a time, without aggravating pain. The luxury of waking up the next morning without your knees, ankles and feet berating you for those decisions. Read More »

Correct me if I’m wrong, but there’s no better commercial series than Nike’s Li’l Penny spots. Hands down. Here’s a gem where Li’l Penny tells Big Penny to say whatup to Kevin Garnett for him – because they went to high school together. Classic.