The whole situation is just messed up. Depending on who you listen to, the players are slowly losing their strength. There were the questions about Derek Fisher‘s loyalty, and now reports that many big-name players participated in the decertification calls this week. On the other side, the owners’ offers keep getting worse and worse. You give them a little bit, sacrifice a little money, and then they want more. According to Ken Berger of CBSSports.com, even if the players were to agree to a 50/50 split, there’s no guarantee that the owners would take it anymore. The owners also have questions about certain system issues that were already previously agreed upon. Not good signs … Read More »

Last week in New York City, our friends at Under Armour held an exclusive event to preview their new campaign, and to see the latest collection of UA Basketball footwear and apparel. But before the festivities began, I got the chance to catch up with Brandon Jennings and Derrick Williams and talk about everything from kicks to the NBA lockout. Read More »

Is there anything better than playing for a coach that doesn’t just ask – no, he demands – that you be yourself on the court? It’s the ultimate for a player, whether it’s high school jayvee, college basketball, overseas or even at the very top in the NBA. This carefree attitude is especially important with young players (specifically point guards), many of whom don’t know how to run an offense, and don’t have the belief or confidence in themselves to command the ball and put people in the right positions. Rick Adelman knows this, and says he’ll allow his Spanish import, Ricky Rubio, to have all the freedom in the world this year. Read More »

Horace Grant had some words for Carlos Boozer and his former team, the Chicago Bulls, recently. Here’s a small dose: “Boozer needs to be, for a lack of a better phrase, Scottie Pippen to a Michael Jordan.” Rose, in this case, is taking the place of Michael Jordan. Grant went on to say that Boozer needs to become more assertive and accept his role as the number two or three scorer on the team. He also said that Boozer needs to be more physical as well as a more dominant rebounder, that he needs to help out Joakim Noah and become more aggressive on the boards. Who doesn’t agree with him? Look, Boozer is an undersized four. He’s not one of those guys who can fly down the lane, catch a bounce pass and dunk on someone like Amar’e Stoudemire. What he can do is score from the low block, and hit the 15-18 footer. Read More »

Would you take Allen Iverson? We think most fans would speak up in favor of bringing the future Hall of Famer back into the NBA. But how many GMs would? If you go by their recent actions, not too many, and every year he’s gone from the game, the more likely it is that we’ve seen the last of him in an NBA uniform. The Answer still wants to fight his way back in, and it’s being reported that’s exactly what he’s doing in reaching out to some of the game’s best trainers and working his way back. He might make an appearance in the Impact Vegas League. We wish AI would get another shot – he did grace our first ever issue of Dime and still holds a special place for us – but the chances are about as good as us seeing basketball on opening night … Read More »

There’s little doubt you heard Derek Fisher advising players to get ready for the season. Fisher is denying that he sent texts to players reminding them to stay in shape because a resolution was working itself together, but it got many fans in a tizzy. We honestly won’t believe it until we’re watching games on opening night. Negotiations have a funny way of going sour right when everything seemed all good. Either way, we’d love to see the season start soon since fall is fast approaching. Just give us something more official than vague texts, tweets and quotes … Minnesota might finally have a coach. Yesterday afternoon, Kevin Love tweeted out: Houston, we have a coach. Then later into the night, it was confirmed that Rick Adelman has agreed in principle to coach the T’Wolves. This is huge for them. Read More »

To become an alpha male, you really have to fight. Again and again. If we’re talking animals, it’s an everyday struggle. Only the strongest survive, and the only way you can survive is by beating everyone and doing it nonstop. The challenges never stop coming. The next in line never stops breathing down your neck. You can make a case it’s the same way in the NBA. We assumed LeBron had the title wrapped up for a while. But with the show Kevin Durant has been putting on this summer, who knows? Yes, it’s only summer leagues (where the defense makes the Warriors look like the Bad Boy Pistons). But KD is playing with some of the top talent and outshining everyone. That has to mean something. Right? Read More »

Now obviously, winning Rookie of the Year last year was pretty much an impossibility for him. But no one ever gives John Wall the credit he deserves for his first season. Yeah, Washington sucked, but it wasn’t his fault. His numbers were legit, and that was even with a number of frustrating injuries. Early in the year, Wall was consistently putting up lines like 21 points, 11 assists, four rebounds, three steals. But then he hurt his left foot, and then bruised his right knee. The season ended quietly, and everyone forgot how good he was (if we hear one more person talk about Landry Fields like he was on Wall’s level, we might march). Read More »

Would you pay to get Kobe to play? It seems like Besiktas is willing to take anything at this point. The club is on the verge of making the biggest international signing ever, but don’t quite have to funds to pull Bryant from the States. Depending on who you talk to, Kobe is interested or had his managers contact the team or is waiting on an offer that might not be worth it unless a sponsorship steps up to front the loot. However, the New York Times is reporting that the Turkish club has indeed made an offer to the Laker and is only waiting on a response from his agent … Read More »

While we might’ve seen this coming – the end of the road for Yao Ming – we weren’t ready for it just yet. Now the next phase in Yao’s life has all but begun. Gone will be the 20/10 nights. Gone will be the All-Star games. And gone will be any chance at a championship.

The focus has shifted to his place in history. Is he a Hall of Fame player? Some say he didn’t do enough on the court, and that should be the only thing that matters. Others say his overall impact was greater than probably half of the players already elected into the Hall of Fame. Read More »