Friday afternoons used to be the best time in middle school. That was when the most heated arguments always unfolded because no one cared about school (not that we ever did, but it got worse after about 11 on a Friday) and even the teachers were throwing glances at the clock every 15 minutes. Back then, it was a daily thing to stretch and weave people’s names. Up until that time, I had been called Weeney probably close to 4,000 times. Read More »

As much as old-timers and basketball purists gripe about the lost art of the mid-range jumper or the simple bounce pass, nobody complains about the evolution of the dunk. Why would they? Everybody loves the dunk, and it’s no coincidence that most of the game’s last four decades have been defined by men who excelled above the rim: e.g. Julius Erving, Michael Jordan, Shaquille O’Neal, Kobe Bryant and LeBron James.

Thanks to the worldwide reach of the Internet and increasing stages for dunkers to perform, ranking the 25 best dunkers on the planet was bigger than just the NBA; college, high school, playground circus acts and overseas stars infiltrated the discussion. Read More »

LSU is a high-powered SEC school that lands top talent season after season, and their basketball program has been known to produce high-flying power dunkers. As far as their NBA success, however, those noted ex-Tigers run the gamut: Shaquille O’Neal is a Hall of Fame lock, whereas Stromile Swift, the No. 2 pick in the 2000 NBA Draft, was a bust. Tyrus Thomas sits somewhere in the middle. Read More »

With the NBA Draft Lottery all sorted out, and the selection order now set, people can start their Mock Draft frenzy. But before we delve into the future, let’s break down the best and worst picks of the past decade by 2010′s Lottery teams. Read More »

By now you don’t need a Clyde Frazier pimp poem to tell you the Knicks probably wish they would have drafted Brandon Jennings — or Terrence Williams, or Tyler Hansbrough, or Ty Lawson — over Jordan Hill in last year’s NBA Draft.

Two-thirds of the way through his rookie year, Hill has played in less than half of New York’s games, and hasn’t done much (4.1 ppg, 2.5 rpg) when he does see the court. The 6-10 power forward out of Arizona appears every bit like just another left-too-early Draft bust. Read More »

Josh Smith is spoiling me rotten. Watching Hawks/Blazers last night and seeing Smith throw down at least two dunks that would normally make me (at least) sit up on the couch and make a “something stinks” face, I found myself not doing anything.

Smith is so good above the rim, he dunks so hard and makes it look so easy, that it’s getting tough to even be that impressed by his dunks anymore unless he’s dunking right on somebody. Read More »

For the last two years at Temple, Dionte Christmas was the stud of the A-10. After averaging a shade under 20 points a game his junior and senior seasons, Christmas surprisingly went undrafted in last June’s draft. Surprising, I note, because Goran Suton and Robert Dozier did get drafted. Until Wednesday, Christmas had caught on with his hometown Sixers, when he was cut along with Brandon Bowman to slim the roster to 13. Read More »

Nothing against LeBron and Josh Childress, but the unique selling point of last night’s Cavs/Olympiakos (Greece) game was Shaq vs. “Baby Shaq.” If you don’t remember, Baby Shaq is Sofoklis Schortsanitis, the big (6-9, 300-something) Tractor Traylor-looking dude who once upon a time gave Team USA problems but has since turned into the Blazers-era Shawn Kemp of the Euroleague, as his weight is a constant issue and sometimes gets in the way of his considerable skills … Big Shaq got the best of this one, putting up 12 points and five boards next to Baby Shaq’s four and five. Read More »

Even with training camp starting next week, there are still guys out there looking for jobs. And while the opportunity to get a non-guaranteed deal for the chance to even fight for a roster spot gets slimmer and slimmer, there are definitely more free agents left on the market than jobs available. Take a look at who’s left: Read More »

After an up-and-down couple of weeks that saw them perform up to their potential and down to some lesser competition, Team Spain is right where they’re supposed to be at the FIBA European Championships: playing for the gold medal. In yesterday’s semifinal, Pau Gasol scored 18 points and Rudy Fernandez added 14 and three steals to lead Spain in a blowout win over Greece, while Ricky Rubio continued his underwhelming (at least stats-wise) tourney with a 5-point, 3-assist effort. Spain will face Serbia in the final, the team that upset them on the first day of the tournament. In Serbia’s semifinal, Milos Teodosic dropped 32 points (6 threes), and Nenad Krstic had 18 points to lead them past Slovenia … Read More »