I still have nightmares... and some bruises... left over from a few high school gym classes, when I had the misfortune to line up opposite the varsity basketball team for a game of dodgeball. So the notion of a dodgeball game with or against NBA players is enough to make me weak in the knees. Luckily, I'm nowhere near Utah.

Deron Williams and Kyle Korver of the Utah Jazz are sponsoring a dodgeball tournament -- "Dodge Barrage" -- on September 12 in Salt Lake City. Proceeds will benefit their charity foundations: Williams' Point of Hope, and Korver's Kyle Korver Foundation.

If You Can Dodge a Wrench... originally appeared on About.com Basketball on Tuesday, September 1st, 2009 at 09:23:15.

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It's not uncommon for good teams with loaded rosters to select European players in the draft, planning to "stash" them overseas for a year or two, until a roster spot becomes available. The Spurs and Blazers have this down to a science.

The Timberwolves, on the other hand, are neither "good" nor "loaded" -- and they certainly didn't plan to have the fifth overall selection of the 2009 draft play in Europe for two more years. But it appears Ricky Rubio will do exactly that.

ESPN.com is reporting that Rubio's contract has been sold to FC Barcelona, more or less ensuring that the Spanish playmaker won't make his first appearance in the NBA until 2011 at the earliest.

Minnesota's spin on all this will be something along these lines: "We knew this was a possibility all along, which is why we drafted Jonny Flynn with the sixth overall spot. Besides, in 2011, Rubio will be just 21 years old." Don't believe that for a second.

The T-Wolves didn't think Rubio would fall to them at five and, by their own admission, hadn't discussed buyout possibilities with his Spanish league team or his representatives. But when the player most considered the second or third-best player in the draft fell in their laps at five, David Kahn took a chance, hoping he'd be able to work out some sort of buyout arrangement with DKV Joventut. He gambled. He lost.

Can't help wondering if things would have worked out differently if Rubio had been drafted by another team. Leading up to the draft, he seemed interested in playing for Sacramento or the Knicks; he never showed the slightest interest in Minnesota.

See ya in 2011, Ricky originally appeared on About.com Basketball on Tuesday, September 1st, 2009 at 09:13:52.

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The recent Miami/Minnesota trade is exactly the sort of deal I hate to write about -- an expiring contract for "guy who will get bought out before he even gets assigned a uniform number." So why does this trade inspire a blog post?

Because it means Quentin Richardson is changing teams. Again.

Miami will be Richardson's fifth team since the season ended; he's been traded four times.

So far.

Recapping Q-Rich's itinerary:

• Ends last season as a member of the Knicks
• Traded to Memphis for Darko Milicic
• Traded to the Clippers for Zach Randolph
• Traded to Minnesota for Sebastian Telfair and roster filler

And now, he's been traded to Miami for Mark Blount.

Why stop there? The Third Quarter Collapse blog has a proposed set of trades that could take Richardson to all the teams he hasn't visited yet this summer.

Don't let it get you down, Q. Think of all the frequent-flier miles you'll accumulate; you'll easily qualify for a free flight to... Mars?

Quentin Richardson's Excellent Adventure originally appeared on About.com Basketball on Sunday, August 16th, 2009 at 20:44:47.

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After a better-than-expected late-season run with the Celtics, Stephon Marbury could have had a second career as a veteran guard off the bench.

But that was before he launched a career-killing social media marathon, with the debut of his Twitter persona, @StarburyMarbury and a series of UStream videos that feature Marbury crying, eating Vasleline and, most recently, smoking the proverbial boogaloo spliff.

Note to Steph: You're unemployed. Announcing your marijuana habit to the world via the Internet probably isn't an ideal way to impress potential employers.

Have to say, though... it explains a lot.

Ending a Career, 140 Characters at a Time originally appeared on About.com Basketball on Saturday, August 15th, 2009 at 17:53:42.

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Happy Birthday, Magic originally appeared on About.com Basketball on Friday, August 14th, 2009 at 16:34:02.

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As we mentioned last week, the substance that landed Rashard Lewis in NBA purgatory for ten games -- Dehydroepiandrosterone, or DHEA -- is totally legal and available over-the-counter in a variety of forms.

The question is, why?

As in... if DHEA is legal, why is it banned by the NBA? Why isn't it banned by Major League Baseball? And if it is a steroid, why wasn't it pulled off the shelves at GNC like androstendione -- Mark McGwire's supplement of choice?

Would it surprise you to learn that politics were involved?

DHEA was banned in 1985, only to go back on the market in 1994, re-classified as a "nutritional supplement." It was slated to become a prescription drug as part of the Anabolic Steroid Control Act of 2004, but a powerful Senator with connections to the supplement manufacturer lobby intervened. Jeff Passan of Yahoo Sports breaks down the history of DHEA.

DHEA, GNC, and DC originally appeared on About.com Basketball on Thursday, August 13th, 2009 at 14:05:52.

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That makes Kobe and company the team to beat in the West, right?

Maybe, maybe not.

The Lakers will be the favorites... but the Wages of Wins blog makes a pretty compelling case that the Blazers have improved while the Lakers took a step backwards this offseason.

Meanwhile... the initial reviews of the Hornets/Bobcats trade that sent Emeka Okafor to New Orleans and Tyson Chandler to Charlotte were generally along the lines of, "wait... what? They're, like, the same guy." But Scott Howard-Cooper of Sports Illustrated has a different take... last year, the Hornets were looking to dump Chandler for pennies on the dollar. Now, they moved him but brought back a legit player -- and a long-term contract commitment. That's a strong indication that the Hornets aim to be competitive in 2010 -- and beyond.

Who Is the Team to Beat in the West? originally appeared on About.com Basketball on Wednesday, August 12th, 2009 at 13:50:01.

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Even the biggest-spending team in Europe might be finished throwing money around.

Olympiakos -- the Greek team that signed Josh Childress away from the Atlanta Hawks last season -- struck again this week, landing Linas Kleiza, formerly of the Nuggets and Von Wafer, who played last season for Houston.

The signings could eliminate Olympiakos as a last resort for the free agents that haven't generated offers thus far. Earlier this summer, Olympiakos was mentioned as a possible destination for Iverson and/or Robinson.

In other news:

• Glen "Big Baby" Davis re-upped with the Celtics for two years and $6 million. If the economic conditions were different, Davis probably would have received a few lucrative offers -- the ex-LSU star turned a lot of heads filling in for the injured Kevin Garnett down the stretch and in the playoffs. But with few teams willing to spend money this year, the offers never materialized.

  Davis now finds himself in a logjam at the four/five spots in Boston, with incumbents Garnett and Kendrick Perkins, and newcomers Rasheed Wallace and Shelden Williams.

  Leon Powe could be the odd man out; the Cleveland Plain Dealer says he'll sign with Cleveland.

• It sounds like David Lee might be in the same boat. Lee's agent, Mark Bartelstein, told 1050 ESPN Radio that there have been several sign-and-trade offers for Lee, but none have been acceptable to Knicks honcho Donnie Walsh. It seems more and more likely that Lee will be forced to accept a one-year deal.
• Speaking of the Knicks, they looked at veterans Jerry Stackhouse and Jason Williams last week, but as of yet haven't offered either one a contract. And they're still in the mix for guard Ramon Sessions, but there's been no movement in their negotiations.
• Why the hold-up? New York -- like about half the teams in the league -- are still hoping they'll be able to sign LeBron James next summer. James gave them a little hope this week, telling reporters he will "keep his options open" rather than sign a long-term extension with the Cavs.

Free Agent Roundup originally appeared on About.com Basketball on Tuesday, August 11th, 2009 at 13:49:50.

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The Nets' new road unis for the 2009-10 season will say "Nets" across the chest, as opposed to "New Jersey." Makes sense, right? I mean, the team is planning to move to Brooklyn if and when their new arena ever gets built -- they aren't exactly committed to the Garden State.

For New Jersey lawmaker Kevin O'Toole, this change was the last straw... he's leading an effort to prohibit any state support of any professional sports franchise that doesn't "carry the New Jersey name."

Call this one a case of misplaced priorities. The Nets still have "New Jersey" in their name -- they're just changing uniforms. And they aren't particularly likely to be getting big money from the state any time soon, as they've got one foot out the Izod Arena exit door. So O'Toole's real targets are the NFL's Jets and Giants... who are in the process of building a massive new stadium and who draw tens of thousands of fans to the Meadowlands every week of the football season.

Lighten up, Senator. The Nets will stop tormenting you soon enough -- they'll move to shiny new digs in Brooklyn... or Seattle, or Kansas City, or Las Vegas... and that big ugly barn called the Izod Center will be dark for an extra 41 days. The New York Football Giants will never, ever rename themselves "the New York Football Giants of East Rutherford." Don't sweat it... you'll live longer.

Besides... doesn't New Jersey's state government have bigger fish to fry?

The Garden State's Inferiority Complex Strikes Again originally appeared on About.com Basketball on Tuesday, August 11th, 2009 at 12:31:18.

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This isn't the first time the names "Rambis" and "McHale" have been connected. In the '80s, McHale was a superstar low-post scorer for the Boston Celtics, and Rambis was the bespectacled rebounder for the "Showtime" Lakers. The two forwards were matched up against each other in dozens of crucial games.

And in one such game, McHale hit Rambis with one of the most legendary cheap-shots in the history of the league.

Game four of the 1984 Finals. Los Angeles leads the series 2-1. Rambis is in front of a Laker fast break... receives a pass from James Worthy... goes up for a layup...

and is flattened by a McHale clothesline that wouldn't have looked out of place at Wrestlemania.

(Want an indication of how much the NBA has changed in 25 years? McHale wasn't ejected. Today he'd be ejected, suspended, and quite possibly indicted for a play like that.)

McHale's play changed the tone of the series, which the Celtics went on to win in seven. And don't think Rambis forgot about it... twenty-four years later, in an interview with ESPN's Henry Abbott, Rambis cited McHale's clothesline as an example of "the things you are not supposed to do."

Rambis' Revenge originally appeared on About.com Basketball on Monday, August 10th, 2009 at 13:53:19.

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