I think all Celtics fans are asking themselves the same question: Where was this Shelden Williams last year?

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While the New York Knicks continue their search for a quality starting center, a 27-year-old seven-footer who not too long ago averaged 19.5 points and 7.0 rebounds over an entire season remains stashed in the team’s closet like an embarrassing family secret.

Eddy Curry isn’t too far removed from his prime — in 2006-07 he posted that 19 and 7 line and was getting All-Star consideration — but now he’s going into a third straight season where he’s expected to see less time on the court than the Red Panda Acrobat. Between injuries and simply being too out of shape to use, Curry has appeared in 10 games since Mike D’Antoni took over as NY head coach in ’08, for a total of 73 minutes. Read More »

A couple of things that stood out to me while watching “Real Training Camp” with the New York Knicks: (1) Amar’e Stoudemire was often playing center with the first unit, and (2) Originally projected starter Ronny Turiaf looked like he had no business being a starter.

Amar’e has experience playing center under coach Mike D’Antoni, but with his diverse offensive game and the matchup problems he creates, he’s better at power forward. Rookie Timofey Mozgov is still learning the NBA game, and Eddy Curry … well, yeah. Read More »

Nicolas Batum is the future for Team France, and a big part of the future for the Portland Trail Blazers. The 21-year-old small forward has two seasons under his belt in the NBA, where he is preparing to take over as a full-time starter next season, and this summer has a featured role representing his country at the FIBA World Championship tourney in Turkey. Read More »

Any time an NBA player goes slumming and plays with the “regular” folks on the playground — preferably in a legit summer pro-am in a legit basketball city — he’s going to gain some measure of street cred.

It happened for Gilbert Arenas and Kevin Durant when they took their million-dollar knees to Barry Farms in D.C. It happened for Kobe, Baron Davis, Nate Robinson and a host of others when they played at Rucker Park in Harlem. It happened for Paul Pierce when he ran at L.A.’s Drew League.

But then Matt Barnes had to take it a step too far. Read More »

Last night, Dime‘s Aron Phillips reported on a trade rumor of David Lee being sent to the Warriors for Anthony Randolph and pieces, and now it appears Lee has agreed. Although nothing will go down until the world hears from LeBron, according to Warriors beat writer Marcus Thompson, Lee has agreed to the deal with Golden State worth about $80 million over six years, or $13 million a year. Read More »

After the Knicks inked Amar’e Stoudemire, it was pretty clear that they weren’t going to make another move until LeBron signed on someone’s dotted line. But while reports surfaced earlier in the week that the Warriors would have to give up Monta Ellis in order to acquire a big man, now it appears they don’t. And instead of David Lee ending up in Minnesota, he very well could end up in the Bay. Read More »

Game 5 tonight (8 p.m. EST, ABC) will be like every other Lakers game: First you start with Kobe, then go from there. Whether he’s surrounded by All-Stars or carrying Smush Parker and Slava Medvedenko, no player in the NBA has his number of shots picked apart and scrutinized more than Kobe, and over the last two games it’s been no different. He hoisted 29 FG’s in Game 3, and took 11 threes in Game 4; but in both games Kobe seemed tired by the fourth quarter and went for long scoreless stretches at the worst time. Read More »

As a personal purveyor of the beard, I have a special affinity towards players that rock ‘em on the court. So that’s why I was so excited to see James Harden tweet the following question last week: In the NBA what’s yall top 5 all beard team by position? At first you think this might be easy, but it’s the by position that makes it hard. Here we go… Read More »

Dwyane Wade needed a team like the Warriors on the schedule last night. In just his second game back from the calf injury that cost him four crucial games as the Heat try to stay in the playoff picture, Wade was coming off a 6-for-17 effort against Orlando; G-State’s crew of D-League call-ups running Nellie‘s defensive “system” was the perfect opportunity to get back in rhythm … Wade finished with 35 points (15-23 FG) and 12 assists — throwing in crazy-angle bankers, pull-ups, finger rolls and one alley-oop from Carlos Arroyo where he had to move his head out of the way so he wouldn’t hit the rim — but the Heat still got all they could handle for a Warriors squad whose roster of injured guys would beat the healthy guys more often than not. Read More »