2010 NBA Free Agent movement

In what has likely been the biggest summer of free-agency in the NBA ever, its easy to miss a few names changing uniforms. Sure, everyone knows about the LeBron and Bosh decision, Amare moving to NY but there are so many other less well-known stars whose change will impact the upcoming season. If you haven't been following the NBA news closely, Dime have you covered. Click on the title below to read the full breakdown on the contracts signed and who has gone where.

Dime’s 2010 NBA Free Agent Tracker | Dime Magazine (dimemag.com) : Daily NBA News, NBA Trades, NBA Rumors, Basketball Videos, Sneakers

By Dime Magazine

Just how many NBA free agents will be on the market this summer? Put it this way: Even if two of the three best players in the world weren’t part of the pool — i.e., LeBron James and Dwyane Wade — 2010 might still qualify as the most important free agent class in League history. Look around the NBA right now; most teams only have a handful of players actually under contract, while everyone else is either looking for work or having work come find them.

So if you need help keeping up, we’ve got your back.

For Dime’s 2010 Free Agent Tracker, we put together the master list of every free agent in the League, then we broke them up into tiers: From the franchise-caliber superstars down to the guys scrapping for jobs who could find themselves in Europe or the D-League next season. Throughout the free agency period, we’ll keep the list updated with info on who is talking to which teams, who’s signed, who’s sealed, and who’s delivered.

TIER 1
Franchise superstars. You don’t just build teams around these guys, you build championship-caliber teams. They aren’t just the face of your franchise, they’re the icons who may end up with their statue outside the arena someday.

* LeBron James — Signed 6-year, $110 million deal with Miami
* Dirk Nowitzki — Signed 4-year, $80 million deal with Dallas
* Paul Pierce — Signed 4-year, $61 million deal with Boston
* Dwyane Wade — Signed 6-year, $107 million deal with Miami

Nike, LeBron James and that dunk

The phrase "not in my house" has new meaning today as chatter on the net is about a confiscated video tape of LeBron James getting dunked on at his own skills academy.

With Nike controlling what can and can't be put on YouTube, how come they couldn't get LeBron and the Cavs in to the NBA Championship series against Kobe??

Click on the title below to read the full story.

Nike does not want you to see that dunk - CBSSports.com

AKRON, Ohio -- You want to see video of Xavier's Jordan Crawford dunking on LeBron James?

If so, too bad.

Because you're not going to see it.

Thanks to Nike.

Turns out, there were at least two cameras rolling Monday night when Crawford dunked on James during a pick-up game here at the LeBron James Skills Academy. It was a two-handed jam, the kind that would've circulated quickly on YouTube. But Nike officials eliminated that possibility shortly after the dunk happened by allegedly confiscating tapes from various cameramen.

Kobe vs LeBron parodies

With the success of the Kobe & LeBron Nike commercials come the parodies.

The first one is highly inappropriate but I had to share it. I was literally in tears laughing the first few times I watched it. PISS funny! Oh ... and explicit language warning.



Favourite lines:

"Why'd you snitch on Shaq? Where' I'm from snitches get stitches"
"Damn, y'all got a pool with no chicks?"
"Did you guys ever shower with John Amaechi?"
"Kobe, why were you messing with Ron Artest? You knooow he would've f*cked you up!"

And another one about Dwight Howard after the Magic knocked out the Cavs:

Kobe, LeBron & Lil Dez

Other than the numerous overtime games and the competitiveness of each of the series, one of the highlights of the NBA playoffs has definitely been the Nike puppet commercials.

My favourite line from the first one is: "LeBron, you've got over twenty triple-doubles. Can I have one??" FUNNY

Here are the latest commercials in the series:



And once LeBron got knocked out of the playoffs:

More Kobe & LeBron

Yes, I'm loving these Nike ads. And they keep coming ...

Kobe vs LeBron, Dream Season: 23 & 24 the documentary

As the NBA season heads towards its conclusion, it seems that it's not just the NBA head office that is hoping for a Kobe vs LeBron championship series. Nike would of course LOVE the match-up of their two superstars on the biggest possible stage.

Thanks to the crew at Dime for bringing this documentary to the attention of anyone not living in the US. Its a great recap of both players, their beginnings and the season up to this point. Click on the title to see all the episodes.

Dream Season: 23 & 24 | Dime Magazine (www.dimemag.com) : Daily NBA News, NBA Trades, NBA Rumors, Basketball Videos, Sneakers

What started in Beijing is culminating before our eyes as one of the most exciting NBA Playoffs to date. Everyone is anxious to see if at long last the league’s greatest players will be able to bring out the best of each other on basketball’s greatest stage: the NBA Finals. It’s obviously too soon to tell, but many are already dubbing it the dream season. As a result, NIKE has presented Dream Season: 23 & 24.

The one-hour special that was on ESPN the other night focuses on Kobe and LeBron’s pursuit of an NBA championship while forging a friendship reminiscent of past basketball greats. Through exclusive access to the Lakers and Cavs, Dream Season: 23 & 24 provides viewers with never-before-seen footage of Bryant’s and James’ remarkable season, narrated by Justin Timberlake.

Orlando Magic shock the Cavs ... and the world!

Yesterday the Orlando Magic pulled off a come from behind win on the road in Cleveland to win the first game of their NBA Eastern Conference Finals match-up with LeBron James and the Cavaliers.

I followed the yahoo scoreboard at work yesterday and when I got home I was pumped to find the replay of the game on One HD (I love you).

While John Rillie chose to focus on Dwight Howard's dunk that stopped the game, for me it was all about basketball shooting.

The knock on LeBron James has been his poor jump shooting (and free-throw shooting) but that was evidenced last night. I got home in time for the second quarter and LBJ was on a role sticking jumper after jumper. When his shot is on he is virtually impossible to guard. Despite missing his first four field goal attempts, LeBron finished an impressive 20 of 30 from the field including 3 triples.

The real hero of the night tho was Rashard Lewis of the Orlando Magic. Shard also started the game slowly but after half-time could not miss. It took a while for the Cavs to adjust and by the time they did, it was too late, he was on fire. He scored 17 points in the second half, 11 in the final quarter and was 7 of 7 from the field after the main break.

The final quarter was great to watch with the lead going back and forth between the two times. In the final minutes it was big shot after big shot being hit which is great to see from a shooting perspective. Unfortunately for Delonte West, it was his shot from the corner in the final few seconds that proved the difference and the Magic hung on for the win.

The crew at Dime have a good breakdown of the game itself and Rashard's shooting performance.

Here are the highlights from the game if you didn't catch it:

Kobe vs LeBron ... Nike commercials

We're down to 4 teams left in the NBA and its looking more and more like a Cleveland vs Lakers Championship Series. This has to be the match-up David Stern would and the powers that be in the NBA was hoping for. Last season it was the battle of two rival teams, Lakers and the Celtics, this year it could well be the match-up of two of the current superstars, Kobe and LeBron. In the lead up to, Nike has a very funny series of commercials airing at the moment.

NBA All-Star Starters Announced

The votes have been counted and the NBA All-Star starting fives have been announced. I used this article from Dime rather than the official reports because they also give you the breakdown of the voting and their thoughts about what happened. Click on the title below to read the full story.

All-Star Starters Announced | Dime Magazine (www.dimemag.com) : Daily NBA News, NBA Trades, NBA Rumors, Basketball Videos, Sneakers

The votes are in…

EASTERN CONFERENCE
G - Allen Iverson
G - Dwyane Wade
F - LeBron James
F - Kevin Garnett
C - Dwight Howard

WESTERN CONFERENCE
G - Kobe Bryant
G - Chris Paul
F - Tim Duncan
F - Amare Stoudemire
C - Yao Ming

* Dwight was the overall leading vote-getter, tallying more than three million votes. LeBron finished second at just over 2.9 million, and Kobe (2.8M), D-Wade (2.7M) and Duncan (2.5M) rounded out the top five. All of them topped the previous all-time high number of votes, a record previously held by Yao from the 2005 season.


Did the fans get it right, who would you have voted in?

LeBron mania

With LeBron James coming to New York today to play the Knicks things are going a little nuts. Nike are pushing for LBJ to sign with the Knicks in 2010 once his contract expires with the Cavs. According to the crew at Dime, there have been publicity stunts happening around the city and at MSG prior to tip-off.

One of my mates is actually in NY for the game and with a 1/2 strength Knicks line-up (due to a recent trade) playing against the Cavs, it's getting ugly early. The score is Cavs 67 Knicks 36 at the half and here is a text from Eto who is at the game:
"Knicks fans LIVID! Heard a few 'we want Steph' chants. Cavs are FAR too good"

Click on the title below to read about the Nike pre-game hype.

LeBron-Mania | Dime Magazine (www.dimemag.com) : Daily NBA News, NBA Trades, NBA Rumors, Basketball Videos, Sneakers

I don’t know that it would be this crazy if Barack Obama were coming to Madison Square Garden. Outside MSG, the free hot dog stands have lines running around the block, and there has been at least one homeless dude announcing to everyone that the hot dogs are “Courtesy of LeBron.” The same guy happens to be holding a sign that reads, “Need money to get drunk so that women can take me home and molest me.”

If that isn’t crazy enough, listen to this. Seriously, hundreds of people wearing red “Witness” shirts flooded the block right in front of the entrance to the Garden, and stopped dead in their tracks, freezing in place for exactly 1:23 (didn’t know that ’til after we talked to one of ‘em), and then threw a handful of red confetti in the air just as if they were LeBron clapping baby powder into the air.