The Pistons have been tied to Bulls gunner Ben Gordon for ages, it seems, with pundits constantly bickering about how little or much sense a pairing made. Detroit, after all, traded All-World champ Chauncey Billups precisely to free up time for buckin' Rodney Stuckey while also inking former All-Star Rip Hamilton to an extension.
The assumed pursuit of Charlie Villanueva -- now confirmed by Yahoo!'s Adrian Wojnarowski -- makes more immediate sense. Rasheed Wallace is gone, Amir Johnson will vie for Villanueva's old job in Milwaukee, Antonio McDyess can probably find greener pastures.
But regardless of how it looks now, these are two pursuits that make bundles of sense together.
Phoenix Suns point guard Steve Nash presented the 2nd annual "Showdown in Chinatown" charity soccer event on Wednesday in downtown New York City. The game benefited the Steve Nash and Claudio Reyna Foundations, and was an 8-on-8 match filled with NBA and soccer greats. Predictably, NBA stars Chris Bosh and Grant Hill didn't fare as well as the likes of Thierry Henry and Edgar Davids. However, international hoopsters, Nash and Tony Parker, definitely held their own on the pitch. Okay, now I'm just name-dropping. Check out FanHouse's look at what was a fun, if not somewhat awkward, game of soccer. The video is below.
I heard Michael Jackson died at approximately 5:30 PM ET. Hours later, I still don't think it's fully hit me. This was the man I idolized growing up as a kid ... I watched Moonwalker about 80 times on VHS (Joe Pesci was the villain). I once furiously outbid someone $159 for a replica Beat It jacket with 13 zippers. I actually have an 8x10 glossy of Billie Jean Michael taped next to my bedroom door.
Everyone -- from celebrities to sports stars to ordinary people -- had their way of trying to feel connected to the King of Pop. In his mere presence, fans have fainted and needed medical attention. So when news broke that Jackson had passed away, the reverberations on social media sites like Twitter were immense. Outspoken wide receiver Chad Ochocinco even went on to tweet "this is just as sad as 9/11" and then tried to play damage control after his offensive comment.
After the jump, read the emotional reactions from current and former athletes.
Cherry Picking recaps the previous day's NBA playoff action.
Objectively speaking, the Lakers hold a commanding 2-0 lead in their first-round matchup with the Jazz. How commanding? According to ESPN's John Hollinger, teams that open a series with two straight wins have gone on to win the series 192 out of a possible 204 times in playoff history. For those who can't perform long division before their morning coffee, that translates to 94.1%.
As teams get eliminated from the 2009 NBA playoff picture, Fork 'Em figures out what went wrong. "If the whole human race lay in one grave, the epitaph on its headstone might well be: 'It seemed a good idea at the time.'" -Rebecca West
Bryan Colangelo either laughs or weeps at this quote after the Raptors 2008-2009 season.
I mean, it DID seem like a good idea at the time, right? You're a playoff team, on the verge of contention. You have a legit superstar in Chris Bosh. You have an up and coming point guard in Jose Calderon, a core of veterans alongside sharpshooter Jason Kapono, and a young stud in Jamario Moon. All they needed was to jettison that black hole, T.J. Ford and minimize that bust Andrea Bargnani. And if they could do all that and upgrade their frontcourt with some muscle, that would be idea.
Every night there are some stupendous, silly, stupid, or downright outlandish individual lines from around the "lig." Doing Lines lets you know which one tops the list.
Toronto is still alive in the Eastern Conference. Fifteen games under .500, hanging on a thread for the past week, 14th place in the conference ... and alive. And so long as the Raptors keep beating the opponents in their way, they will remain alive.
Andrea Bargnani did some heavy lifting Saturday against the Knicks, racking up 23 points and seven rebounds. Chris Bosh helped with 17/13, Shawn Marion handled business with 12/13 and Quincy Douby had a True Shooting percentage of 100%!
Every night there are some stupendous, silly, stupid, or downright outlandish individual lines from around the "lig." Doing Lines lets you know which one tops the list.
Marc and Pau Gasol didn't play in the same time zone Friday night -- in fact, Pau's night of work ended before Marc's even began. The suspicious might wonder, then, if the brothers pulled some trickery to get Pau to Sacramento in a fat suit. While Pau slayed the Nets with an incredible 36/11/7/2/2 line, Marc was the real shocker.
Marc raked the Kings for 27 points and five rebounds. Neither Spencer Hawes nor Jason Thompson could handle Marc's girth in the paint -- the younger Gasol even shook the Immortal Calvin Booth a few times! Ugly work, but beautiful work from Marc.
NBA Essentials provides the must-see links, quotes and videos of the day.
-- [Zach] Randolph laughed when I asked him if he felt the Knicks made a mistake in trading him away. "Yeah," he said with a big smile beaming. "It was definitely a mistake." [...] If they wind up with LeBron, Zach says he can understand moving him. But Chris Bosh? "I'm better than Chris Bosh," he said. -- Alan Hahn on Newday
-- "I retired," Arenas said in the home locker room before Washington's game against Charlotte. "No more blogging for me." [...] "It's just like the double-(edged) sword thing: Eventually your words is going to kill you," Arenas said with a smile. -- Gilbert Arenas
NBA Essentials provides the must-see links, quotes and videos of the day.
-- "In an event that took place Saturday night, a Bar Mitzvah that featured T.I. as a performer and Dwayne Wade as a guest, it's being reported that fisticuffs broke out. Not between the Hip-Hop artist or his crew, or Dwayne Wade and his associates, but between Cleveland Cavalier's owner Dan Gilbert and former Rock Financial honcho David Hall." -- MLive.com -- "(Sacramento) is the worst team and being here you find out why... There are many young guys that want to find their niche, but they are so far away... There's no chemistry or teamwork. I can't see how this team could be competitive in the near future in the West... The draft is going to save no one." -- Andres Nocioni in Olé, as translated by HoopsHype
The Arizona Republichas the entirety of Shaq's verbal beat down of Stan Van Gundy, but he's not the only one O'Neal goes after. Patrick Ewing and Dwight Howard caught some shrapnel as well.
The most interesting part of this latest feud that Shaq is pursuing isn't his extended attack, though. It's the fact that he basically starts World War III in response to some fairly innocuous comments that came from Van Gundy during the Suns' game in Orlando.
The Pistons have been tied to Bulls gunner Ben Gordon for ages, it seems, with pundits constantly bickering about how little or much sense a pairing made. Detroit, after all, traded All-World champ Chauncey Billups precisely to free up time for buckin' Rodney Stuckey while also inking former All-Star Rip Hamilton to an extension.
Phoenix Suns point guard 
As teams get eliminated from the 2009 NBA playoff picture, 
Every night there are some stupendous, silly, stupid, or downright outlandish individual lines from around the "lig." 
Every night there are some stupendous, silly, stupid, or downright outlandish individual lines from around the "lig." 
If you thought that the 
