I Love Rumors 5!

Another installment of "I Love Rumors" is always a good thing! Let's see what is cooking this week!

• "Lamar doesn't have that same ability to know how to get his own shot out of the offense the same way [Bryant does]," Jackson said. That was Phil letting us know that Lamar Odom is pathetic in the triangle offense.

• Kevin Pritchard, General Manager of the Portland Trail Blazers continues to deny trade rumors. This team could be sliding and it actually might be a good time to start entertaining offers.

• Shaq is going "full term" and will not leave the Heat before his final 2 years are up. Should we take bets on how many games he'll actually play during this next couple of years? I'm betting less than 80.

• The Phoenix Suns are looking to host the first ever outdoor basketball game; preseason of course. Can you imagine the weather and wind excuses if it was a regular season game?

• David Harrison is questioning the NBA drug policy. And why is this getting coverage? When did employees start having say in whether or not their employer's drug policy is fair or not?

• Chris Webber back in Golden State with Nelly! What a return this will be, or not...

• Gilbert Arenas will be back in the Wizards line-up any day, and according to coach Eddie Jordan, should be starting.

• Mike Dunleavy is starting to think his Clippers will become the new Knicks, lord help them now!

NBA Recap: 1/26/08

Friday was quite the night for hoops! We had some snoozers, some blowouts, and a ton of tight ones. Let's get this recap going!

• Lebron James did all he could, but the Suns just came in waves! Phoenix really is picking up steam at this point; look out world. 110-108 Suns.

• Rip Hamilton goes off, and the Pistons romp on the Magic. This game was not close, don't let that score fool you. 101-93 Detroit.

• The Wizards continue their fiery play and take down the Grizzlies. I thought this could have been a turn around year for Memphis, wow was I wrong. 104-93 Washington.

• What is up with the Bucks? Toronto of all teams wins by 31 in Canada. Bosh proving he is worthy of an All-Star bid. 106-75 Raptors.

• Garnett sets a late double pick and comes away with the game winning steal to overcome...the Timberwolves? Minnesota has been on a role! Still not enough against he best team in the NBA. 87-86 Boston.

• Who's hot? The Knicks! I guess it's time for me to stop trashing on them, because they just keep winning. The Sixers were their most recent victim. 89-81 Knicks.

• New Orleans lights it up from behind the arc and destroys those pathetic little Clippers. I feel bad for Mike Dunleavy. 111-92 Hornets.

• Jason Kidd was wrong, the Nets are worse than a .500 team! The Nuggets take care of that lousy team from out east without Carmelo Anthony. 100-85 Nuggets.

• Utah is looking forward to the second half of the season and taking over first place in the Northwest Division. The Kings were their pawns tonight. 127-113 Jazz.

• Houston rallies in Portland to pull off a huge road win. The Trail Blazers starting to slip a little? How long can this feel good story last? 89-79 Rockets.

• Marvin Williams emerges for the Hawks, and the Sonics continue to suck. Maybe they'll be better in Oklahoma City? 99-90 Atlanta.

• Chicago loses another as the Bobcats are beginning to show life during this Jordan era. Maybe it's the new shoes he's releasing? 90-77 Charlotte.

• Kobe takes over for 40, and the Lakers still lose. The Mavericks are once again for real people. Hopefully Golden State doesn't show up again. 112-105 Dallas.
  

Are you kidding me: Allen Iverson, All-Star starter?

Are you freaking kidding me? Allen Iverson of the Denver Nuggets actually got voted in as a starter for the west All-Stars? NBA basketball fans have absolutely disappointed the hell out of me this time. I truely have no response for this except a stern head shake.

Is it the ridiculous corn-rows that went out of style 5 years ago? Is it the arm sleeve that also went out of style 5 years ago? Is it the absurd amount of tattoos he has on his neck? Is it the fact that he hates practice and shoots the ball 19.5 times per game and makes only 8? Is it because he does that we're only getting away with this in the NBA cross-over? Is it because he uses his lack of body weight to flop all over the court and get laughable fouls called for him? WHAT IS IT?

What are you all missing with Chris Paul and Steve Nash? The stat comparisons between the three are not even close! The only category you can put AI ahead in is obviously points and that goes back to his 19.5 shots per game and a whopping 45% of those made. Steve Nash and Chris Paul are class acts, show respect for the game, and always do the right thing. AI has represented the downfall of the NBA since he entered the league back in 1996. The whole selfish, me against the world attitude is pathetic. He's gone through more coaches and teamates than possibly anyone in the league and it all comes down to his character.

I just absolutely hate to see great people lose great opportunities because of the ignorance of other people. I understand the NBA All-Star starters are voted based on popularity while half of the really deserving players are hand picked by the coaches after the fact. And I also do not want to see the way the All-Star voting is done, changed at all. I just wish people would get off the thuglife #1 basketball jock strap and wake up.

NBA All-Star Starters Announced!

The 2008 NBA All-Star game starters have been announced! Any surprises? Not really. However, there is one spot still open, the coach of the West All-Stars!


The West:

• Forward - Carmelo Anthony - Denver


• Forward - Tim Duncan - San Antonio


• Center - Yao Ming - Houston


• Guard - Kobe Bryant - Los Angeles


• Guard - Allen Iverson - Denver


• Coach - Byron? Mike? Phil?

The East:

• Forward - Kevin Garnett - Boston


• Forward - Lebron James - Cleveland


• Center - Dwight Howard - Orlando


• Guard - Jason Kidd - New Jersey


• Guard - Dwyane Wade - Miami


• Coach - Doc Rivers - Boston

We may not have any surprises but we definitely have our disappointments which is not unlike any other year. The east team looks to be just about right except for maybe Wade. He's had a decent year, but his team is so pathetic that the Heat should be banned from any All-Star activities. If you asked me to find a replacement for him at starting guard though, I can't say there is one one out there that just roles off of my tongue.

KG, Lebron and Howard are all MVP candidates and will have spots on this starting team until they retire. And Jason Kidd is the best point guard out east and has been doing it for so long that no one can take his spot. The man keeps aging, and also keeps getting better.

The west on the other hand has some issues and you can argue it all over the board. Allen Iverson should not be an All-Star starter. I'm so sick of the infatuation with a guy that shoots the ball 30 times a night, has never been a leader on any team, and is still pulling his "look I'm carrying the ball" cross-over. Fans just disappoint me for loving his "we're talkin' 'bout practice" attitude and selfish in-game performances. Steve Nash or Chris Paul deserve that spot for leading their teams year in and year out into uncharted territory. Both are MVP candidates and both put up better numbers while grabbing more respect around the league.

The forwards out west are a difficult decision although the fans got it right. I think both Melo and Duncan are deserving of spots but you could make your case for Josh Howard, Dirk Nowitzki and Carlos Boozer. At center, Yao-zer is the correct choice and could have been challenged by Stoudemire, but the west tends to lack big time centers.

And of course Kobe should be an All-Star until he dies.

And what about those reserves? We'll just have to wait and see, but you know that will create some good blogging!

Air Jordan 23: On Sale Friday

The time has come! The Air Jordan XXIII (23) will be released this Friday at 23 stores throughout the nation and each store will have only 23 pairs available. The shoe is the 23rd installment for MJ and of course we all know he wore number 23 during his playing career. The shoes are selling for $230 a pair just to continue with the "23' theme. For a list of stores selling them tomorrow, go here.

Fans have lined up for days to hold their place in line to purchase the monumental shoe from the greatest basketball player of all time. Hasn't Nike done a fantastic job of promoting this damn thing? Well of course they have and it's just freakin' fantastic!

"The AIR JORDAN XX3 is deeply meaningful to me, as a celebration of both my life and career. The number 23 is obviously of great significance to me and the release of the XX3 is a pinnacle moment in the Brand's history," said Michael Jordan. "I'm honored and humbled by the AIR JORDAN franchise's loyal following after all these years. The release of this shoe is exciting and a dream come true for me."

This is the first basketball shoe in Nike history to embrace the Nike Considered design ethos, where details in the development and design of the shoe seek to reduce waste and allow for the use of environmentally preferred materials wherever possible--all without compromising athletic performance.

Jordan Brand is set to launch several colorways of the AIR JORDAN 23. The first exclusive limited release will launch this Friday, January 25,2008. An All-Star release will launch on Saturday, February 16, 2008 and the nationwide launch will be released on Saturday, February 23, 2008 both with a suggested retail price of $185.

You can expect to see some of these babies on Ebay within minutes of their purchase. You can actually find a posting on Ebay for them already which is absurd.

This has been rumored to be the last Air Jordan ever, let's hope that claim is completely false, what would we do without MJ?

Here is the version that will be released tomorrow.

Trail Blazers end road trip with flop.

The Portland Trail Blazers were ousted by Jannero Pargo of the New Orleans Hornets last night. That’s right, Pargo, the back-up to MVP candidate Chris Paul. Pargo was hot all night dropping a season-high 24 points in a rout of the young Blazers.

Portland jumped out to an early lead looking to extend its fiery play as their 7 game road trip wound down and then everything went south in the 2nd quarter. The Hornets turned a 12-point deficit around within minutes and never looked back.

David West scored 22 points and CP3 added 18 point and 10 assists in a game needed to prove they belong with the elite of the west. The Hornets are for real people, and with Chris Paul at the helm, this ship won’t be sinking any time soon.

The Blazers on the other hand end a 7 game road trip in which they went a solid 3-4. They should stay positive after playing so many games in so few nights while actually coming away with a few wins. Most people had this road trip penciled in as the breaking point to the Blazers fast start. Well the young team held on and now heads back home for a long 7 game stretch.

Portland boasts an incredible 17-3 record at home, but should find themselves tested with the likes of Houston, Cleveland and Denver during this stand. Brandon Roy ended his road trip on a sour note with a measly 14 points; let’s hope he gets hot again in the Rose Garden!

OJ Mayo, violating NCAA rules?

OJ Mayo just couldn't resist could he? Mayo, a college freshman standout at USC, accepted free NBA tickets to last night's Lakers vs. Nuggets game and may have violated an NCAA rule. The tickets, given to him him by Carmelo Anthony are valued at $230 a piece, were near mid-court and easily over the limit on what a college athlete should be accepting. The only way out of this situation is if the NCAA decides Melo is just a friend, and not representing a professional sports organization.

Carmelo supposedly made the offer to Mayo at a party he was hosting on Sunday night.

"I was talking to him like, `Man, you're out pretty late. You've got a game tomorrow night against Kobe [Bryant],"' Mayo said. "He said, `Nah, it will be all right.' And then he asked, `You want to come to the game?' And I was like, 'Sure.' "

This is not a surprise at all! The kid ran through controversies in high shcool like Marion Jones ran through steroids! He made his way to USC by personal choice and was not even recruited by the university. In fact, he said he wanted to come to USC because L.A. is a big time marketing town, and he was looking to get started early.

USC has been a disappointment so far this year and losing OJ to a few games would probably not destroy the program. They have some other outstanding players like freshman Davon Jefferson. We all expected Mayo to leave after this season anyway, this will just make his time even easier.

NBA Season Half Over: Top 5 Stories

It has been a fantastic first half to this NBA season and you can feel that buzz starting to creep in as the All-Star break approaches. Critics have moved on from their hatred of the NBA and young stars and feel-good stories are taking over. As a basketball fan, you cannot help but love what you are seeing and will most likely continue to see in the second half and on into the playoffs.

We're giving you our top 5 story lines of the first half of the season. Tell us what you think!

5. The Knicks.

One of the most historic franchises in all of sports has turned into a complete joke. The New York Knicks have us all shaking our heads in disgust, but also laughing in shock. The downfall of the Knicks began last year with the contract extension of Isiah Thomas as coach when he had his team in position to possibly make the playoffs. James Dolan forgot however, that the season is longer than 40 games and of course the Knicks weren't close to a playoff bid as the season wound down.

The off-season gave us some great insight as to how much of an idiot Isiah Thomas truly is. We listened in to the updates of the Anucha Brown-Sanders trial and the eventual embarrassment sustained by the Knicks once the juicy details slipped on out. We realized how crazy Stephon Marbury is through his whack-o interviews and love of limousine sex. We envisioned the termination of Thomas, but then decided that was never going to happen and that he most likely has some great blackmail material on James Dolan.

This season was exactly what we expected and possibly even a little worse. The Knicks of course are pathetic, but their actual basketball play has not been the focus of NBA writers and fans. The front office has had the spotlight and will continue to get it as long as Dolan and Thomas are running this team. There have been rumors of Thomas denying trades and getting into personal verbal battles nightly with players. He's insisted that he will "never, ever" quit and is the only person alive that can fix this team.

It is a tragedy, but I can't help but smile a little. Isiah Thomas has been hated throughout the NBA for years and it pleases me to finally have it all come out. Anyone remember the Dream Teams? Ever wonder why Thomas was never a part of any of them? You can bet the Knicks drama will only get worse as the season continues, and man can I not wait!

4. Too Many Injuries.

Each year we deal with significant injuries to some of our favorite players, but this year we've dealt with it in waves! Top notch All-Stars have been dropping like flies and many of them started the year on the bench in street clothes and have yet to set foot on a basketball floor.

Gilbert Arenas had off-season knee surgery and was supposed to be ready to play by the beginning of the year. Well, he started the season, played 8 games, had another knee surgery and was within the last couple of days cleared to begin shooting again. You could tell from the get-go that Arenas was not at 100% and soon began to see swelling in the surgically repaired knee. After multiple opinions, Agent Zero shut it down and has been rehabbing since. Lucky for the Wizards, they have been on fire!

Dwyane Wade came into the year after having off-season knee and shoulder surgeries. He was also not ready to come back as soon as everyone had hoped and actually missed the first 7 games of the year. Once Wade had returned, you could see the tentativeness in his game. Major shoulder and knee surgery is never something to take lightly and Wade probably could have used another couple of months to get fully healed. The Heat have been horrific this year and much can be attributed to their not-so-healthy star. Wade has looked close to normal in that last week or so, but unfortunate for him, this season is long gone.

Elton Brand tore his achilles tendon in the off-season and has yet to return. A MAJOR injury and who knows when he is likely to see minutes on the hardwood again. The Clippers have felt this blow more than just about anyone. Brand was coming off 2 MVP caliber seasons only to be halted by this nasty little tendon. He's been in street clothes all year and will be examined again at the end of January to decide whether or not he can make his comeback.

Greg Oden, the #1 draft pick in 2007, came to Portland to celebrate, was named the "Savior," played a couple of summer league games, and then had micro-fracture surgery. We'll never know what the rookie year for Oden could have been like, but we do know the Blazers will be quite the force once he returns. The Blazers have surprised everyone this season, and can only look to the sky once GO returns.

The list goes on and on and includes the likes of Tracy McGrady, Shaq, Andrew Bynum and Mike Bibby. At least we've had some great basketball to watch, but these injuries need to stop!

3. The Disappointments.

There have been some great stories so far, but we have also had some huge disappointments through half of the season. Teams came into the season with high expectations not only from themselves but from the rest of us as well.

The Miami Heat, only a year removed from winning an NBA Championship have lost a staggering 14 games in a row! Shaquille O'Neal has been injured on and off, Zo tore a couple tendons in his knee, and Dwyane Wade has been at 80% almost all year. They made off-season moves that only Isiah Thomas could understand and they have reached the gutter of the Eastern Conference. At the half way mark, the Miami Heat have locked themselves out of the playoffs unless they win 40 of their last 41 games. I'm not sure how this can be fixed.

The Houston Rockets should be a title contender every year with their current roster. They hired a new coach, brought in a couple of key contributors and actually started the season off hot! That quickly ended, T-Mac hurt his knee and elbow and they have been sliding all over the board during the last couple of months. They rank 4th in their own division which is probably the toughest division in all of basketball and won't be easing up anytime soon. Unless T-Mac comes back strong, quits demanding trades to his friends and somehow fits in to their new style of play, this team will find themselves watching the NBA Playoffs on TV.

The Chicago Bulls are a freakin' mess! This team rolled over the Heat in last year's playoffs and got bounced in the next round by a much more mature Detroit Pistons team. The future was looking so bright and the Chicago stars were beginning to align; wow were we all fooled. The Bulls have to be considered the biggest disappointment of the year with as much talent and youth as they have. Through the first half the of the season, the Bulls have fired a coach, teamed up on rookie Joakim Noah, and fought off Kobe, Deng, and Nocioni trade rumors without success. This thing is unlikely to turn around, and that's fine with the rest of the league.

2. The Surprises!

We've had our share of disappointments, but let's not let those bring us down! We have seen some incredible basketball from some unlikely places and have enjoyed the hell out of it!

How about them Blazers! The Portland Trail Blazers have to be considered the story of the year up to this point. The Blazers grab the #1 draft pick, take Mr. Oden and lose him to season ending micro-fracture surgery before the season ever begins. The season had been written off, and the Blazers were picked to rack up 30 wins, maybe? Well that just hasn't been the case now has it? After managing just 32 wins all of last year, Portland finds itself atop the Pacific Division with an incredible 25 wins. They ran off 13 straight at one point and have practically locked in the coach of the year honors for Nate McMillan. We've seen the emergence of Brandon Roy as not only this team's leader, but as a foreseeable MVP candidate. Keep it up boys!

The Blazers story has been great, but the other incredible surprise has to be the New Orleans Hornets! At 28-12 on the season, they find themselves only a half game behind the Suns for the top spot in the West. Chris Paul should be in your top 3 for MVP choices and you can put Byron Scott right next to McMillan for coach of the year. The Blazers and Hornets have a ton of young talent and should continue to grow as the year goes on, look for them both to make splashes come playoff time.

Dwight Howard, what a beast! This kid grew up SO fast and has dominated game after game! His points are up, his rebounds are up, his blocks are up and the Magic have found themselves in first place in the South East division. He has to be considered a top 5 or 6 candidate for MVP and has completely revitalized the center position. You thought centers were on the outs? Not so fast says Mr. Howard.

1. The Boston Celtics are back.

Just what the NBA ordered! You can give most of the credit to the Boston Celtics for the NBA's success this year. When Boston is horrible, the NBA tends to be horrible. The media in the east drives everything and with Boston back, so are the writers and so is professional basketball. With 2 major moves in the off-season, the Celtics saw immediate success. Many questioned whether or not 3 giant superstars could play together, and that question was answered from game one.

Boston has the best record in the league at 33-6 and should cruise through the east on their way to a #1 seed come playoff time. They shouldn't find a challenge from many teams aside from the Pistons and will likely find themselves playing for that NBA Championship. If there was a team out east that could challenge the west, you found it with the Boston Celtics.

Man it feels good to be an NBA fan again!

I Love Rumors 4!

This week has simply started out a little slow, so we jumped back in to the rumor mill! I love talkin' rumors especially with so many juicy ones floating around out there. This is the 4th installment of "I Love Rumors," and is by far my favorite topic. Let's get rolling on it!

• T-Mac still saying "No" to the All-Star game, which he should!

• Either his agents jumped all over his back or the Pacers organization wasn't all that happy with his "taking the season off" approach to his knee injury. Either way, we'll likely be seeing Jermaine O'Neal back this year...not sure if that is good or not for this young team?

• Another return: Etan Thomas looks to be coming back to the Wizards. I am truely sorry Washington fans, this guy needs to get off MLK's jock and start working on his game instead of his racially motivated SLAM articles. Grow up! It is 2008!

• Sounds like Chris Webber was shot down by multiple teams due to his questionnable conditioning. I think it's time to hang 'em up C-Webb. Overweight & bad knees is never a good thing for an aging star. Jim O'Brien hatred. Lakers Denial. Pistons Denial.

• Rasheed Wallace losing more fans.

• Zaza, get yo' butt to the locker room! Not a good day for the Hawks; still nice to see this franchise beginning to turn it around.

• At least President Rod Thorn believes the Nets can still be good. It's too bad his star point guard doesn't feel the same way.

• Damon Stoudamire's contract will be bought out within days if he has anything to do with it. Boston anyone?

Martin Luther King Jr. Day...Great Day for Hoops!

It has been a day chalked full of great NBA match-ups. How about a quick mid-day recap?

• New York attempted to hang with Boston, and then got romped. 109-93 Boston.

• Washington sweeps their season series with the Mavs in convincing fashion! 102-84 Wizards.

• San Antonio ends its slide, taking out the not-so-Jordanesque Bobcats. 95-86 Spurs.

• Portland does it again on the road, this time in OT over the Hawks. 111-109 Blazers.

• Indiana looked great without Jermaine O'Neal today against the Sixers. Time to move on I think. 110-103 Pacers.

• Seattle loses its franchise-record 11th straight game; Houston need this win. 96-89 Rockets.

• New Orleans is just pouring it on everyone! The Bucks' struggles continue. 106-92 Hornets.

• Utah seems to be back on track after a lousy December; are the Clippers the Knicks of the west? 109-93 Jazz.

• Minnestoa wins! What the hell Golden State? 109-108 Timberwolves.

Chicago & Memphis are battling it out right now and we still have 3 more games after that! Fantastic day in the NBA!

Pacers O'Neal, done for the year?

Indiana Pacers forward Jermaine O'Neal is thinking about hanging 'em up for the rest of the year. O'Neal has a badly bruised knee and is looking at taking the rest of the season off to rest and fully recover. The former "star" is already scheduled to miss at least the next 2 weeks. He has had one of the worst years of his career averaging just 15 points and 7 rebounds per game.

The Pacers currently sit just a half game behind the Nets for the final playoff spot in the east. O'Neal has not been much of a presence this year and the Pacers are unlikely to miss him. This will give some more of their young talent a chance to shine.

Remember also that O'Neal has just 2 years remaining on his outrageous contract and will be playing next year for a future deal, that is, if he doens't opt out in the off-season. Of course he'll take the rest of the year off to recover, he said it himself, he doesn't want to have his "knee replaced in 10 years." Look into that as deep as you want.

The Pacers and Nets have also been in discussions to move O'Neal to New Jersey in a swap for Vince Carter and Marcus Williams. I'm pretty sure the Nets are laughing about that trade at this point.

I Love Rumors 3!

Time for your weekly fix of rumors!

• Looks like Chris Webber won't be a Laker after all. Might be a good idea, but why on earth would they bring in DJ Mbenga?

• Arenas Update: Looks like GilZero will be back after the All-Star break; he's finally been cleared to start working on that sweet shooting stroke again.

• "That's who we are," Kidd said after Thursday's practice. "We're the Nets. I can't sit here and explain to you and make something up. That's who we are." That was Kidd after admitting the Nets are not much more that a .500 team.

• JamesOn Curry: Urinated in a back alley, ran from the cops, and found himself a locked door. Probably a suspension too.

• Wally Szczerbiak wants to play for a contender; I don't think Miami is your ticket Wallzer.

• Tracy McGrady wants to give up his All-Star spot and the league won't allow it. Come on Stern, he's trying to do the right thing, give it to Roy!

• Kwame Brown gets dominated by Laker fans! Kobe is sticking up for him though...well for 2 months that is.

• Isiah Thomas keeps turning down trades...please fire him.
  

Upset day in college basketball!

Such a wild day today in the land of college basketball! In what turned out to be a rather boring day in the NBA was made up for with 7 nasty NCAA hoops upsets. Here is a quick breakdown:

• #1 North Carolina takes one on the home chin; go Terps! 82-80 Maryland.

• The battle for L.A. goes to those Trojans! #4 UCLA is still #2 in Hollywood. 72-63 USC.

• #9 Texas A&M, please meet Michael Beasely of Kansas State. 75-54 Kansas State.

• Auburn beats a top 20 team in basketball? Sorry #15 Mississippi but you are overrated. 80-77 Auburn.

• #16 Pittsburgh's bundle of injuries finally caught up to them. Cincinnati needed this. 62-59 Cincinnati.

• NC State takes out #24 Miami (FL); why are we surprised at this? 79-77 NC State.

• Stanford drops #25Arizona State; Sun Devils...stick to football. 67-52 Stanford.

And as I posted HERE, Memphis will now be #1 and stay there for the rest of the season. Thanks North Carolina.

The Miami Heat suck.

The Miami Heat have hit an all-time low. Seriously. They just lost to the New York Knicks, at home.

In the middle of a 7 game home stand, the Heat have dropped the first 3 games and it looks to just keep getting worse. To finish it out, they host Cleveland, San Antonio, Indiana and then Boston; they will lose all of these. Miami now has the second worse record in the league only ahead of Minnesota who could probably take down them down at this point.

Miami has now lost 13 games in a row since squeaking out a win against Utah on December 22nd. This home stand was supposed to be the saving grace to the Heat season before the All-Star break, but that has proven to be extremely wishful thinking. I'm really not sure that they will win another game until maybe mid-February when they get the Sixers at home.

Dwyane Wade has shown flashes of his old self over the last couple of weeks, but Shaq-fu continues to wash away into pre-retirement. It's too bad that the Diesel is completely untradeable with his $20 million per year contract and broken down body. Wade deserves better than this.

Off-season moves destroyed this team and I'm not sure it can be fixed any time soon. Who trades for Ricky freaking Davis? The guy is a plague on any roster. Remember now, this is the guy that shot at an opponent's basket in order to get the final rebound needed to complete the only triple double of his pathetic career. He took the Boston Celtics in the the dumpster, made the Minnesota Timberwolves so horrible that they actually decided to trade away KG, and now has taken a championship caliber team into the basement of a sub-par eastern conference.

I feel bad for Dwyane Wade, but can't say that I'm all that surprised.

Wade drops 20 in the 3rd; Blazers still romp!

The Portland Trail Blazers came into Miami half way through a 7 game east coast road swing and after dropping a tight one to the Boston Celtics on Wednesday night. Critics keep saying this Blazer hot streak will come to an end during this road trip but those youngsters just keep surprising all of them.

Tonight's game was a back and forth affair with Portland leading most of the way; they headed into half-time with a 9 point edge. The 3rd quarter however, belonged to Mr. Dwyane Wade. The guy went off and showed signs of the Wade of old. He put up an impressive 20 points in the quarter and rallied the Heat to a solid lead going into the 4th.

The final period came and once again Brandon "R.O.Y." Roy arrived. How clutch has this sophomore been? Well, he's turned himself into one of the elite clutch players in the league in only his second professional season. Roy scored 16 in the quarter and even demanded to Blazer coach Nate McMillan that he wanted a piece of Wade defensively. So not only did Roy take over the game offensively, he also held Wade to just 2 points in the 4th and forced him into some very ugly shots down the stretch.

The game got close in the final 2 minutes with the Heat hitting a couple of quick threes but James Jones sealed the deal with a late three of his own and your Portland Trail Blazers tacked on another road win. Are you all still surprised?

Best Jordan Commercials of All Time

Michael Jordan has had his share of great dunks, quotes and game winning shots, but what we really care about are all those amazing commercials he had throughout his historic career! MJ could be considered the "King of Endorsements" and has long been a global icon that no one else has experienced aside from maybe Tiger Woods. Well we researched and took ourselves back to those glory days of really creative commercials in order to bring you the list of MJ's best; our top 10. Grab ya popcorn!


10. MJ 39 vs. MJ 23




9. MJ vs. Bird - "For Your McDonald's"




8. Air Jordan 22 Commercial




7. Failure




6. A Moment in Time




5. Air Jordan 23 Commercial




4. 1999 Retirement




3. Spike Lee - "It's gotta be the shoes!": Love me some Spike!




2. "Like Mike": The beginning...




1. The "Banned" Commercial



Give us yours!

It's Benign! Or Is It?

Nene, of the Denver Nuggets, posted today on his website that the testicular tumor removed from his body earlier in the week was benign. That post was later removed and it sounds like the information his rep's had was incomplete. George Karl, the coach of the Nuggets, refused to say much about the situation. Karl has had his run-ins with cancer over the last few years and said that he would hold his comments until he has a complete diagnosis.

Marcus Camby, a teammate of Nene, reminded the press that "basketball is secondary" right now and even with the benign tumor, they still expect Nene to be out for quite some time.

The tumor was supposed to have been found at an early stage.

Still has a head? What? How?

You can't tell me that this kid is still alive...

C.Webb with the Lakers?

Could you think of a more perfect fit for the triangle offense than Chris Webber? The guy posts well, passes extremely well, and can knock down the 18 footer. He may be a little older than the Lakers want, and who knows what kind of condition he is in, but this is a player the Lakers truely need to look at to fill the empty space forced by Bynum's knee injury.

Webber doesn't even care if he starts; the man just wants to "fit in." Kobe has wanted a running mate, and even though CWebb probably can't run all that much these days, this would be a great opportunity.

What's really interesting about this proposal are the memories of the Sacramento "Queens" vs. the Lakers during that stretch of years when L.A. still had Shaq. The rivalry between the Kings and Lakers was the best of its time and made the NBA worth watching. Those were also the glory days of Chris Webber and when he turned into that NBA superstar.

Seeing Webber in a Lakers jersey will be somewhat odd if it actually happens, but at this point, I don't see how they have another choice.

Mr. James, so good.

Lebron James dropped 51 points tonight; half of the speed he was clocked at the other night! The Cavaliers took on the Memphis Grizzlies tonight in a very competitive game that went into overtime and featured a ton of scoring. The teams combined for 256 points and that included 10 players in double figure scoring.

James almost wrapped up another triple double, falling just 2 rebounds and 1 assist short. This kid just continues to get better while the rest of his team fails to perform. On a night when the Cavaliers totaled 132 points, Lebron was the only player to break 20 points, and still managed to lead the team in assists.

I know the team just locked up Mike Brown to an extension, but they better decide which sub-par teammate of LJ's they can use as good trade-bait. It is time to put some talent around him; Larry Hughes obviously isn't going to do the trick.