Tumbling Dice posted by David Trageser
Oy.  That’s my initial reaction to the news today that the Boston Celtics have signed former clubhouse cancer Darius Miles to a contract, reaching out to a player who hasn’t played pro basketball in almost two full years.  Just to clarify, Miles now has the opportunity to compete for a spot in the Celtics’ rotation; it is far from certain that he will make the team or even play for the Celtics next year. 

But the Celtics have signed him, which despite turning my stomach worse than a burrito from the Original Taco House on Powell has nonetheless piqued my curiosity about the tantalizingly talented and consistently frustrating player’s potential role with the Boston Celtics.  Most of you out there (if there are still any of you) probably don’t know much about Darius Miles, but as somebody who’s been in Portland to watch him play (and because you asked, Dad), I figure that I’m as good a source as any to enlighten you all about the 6’9” swingman from East St. Louis, Missouri.

Miles was drafted third overall in the 2000 NBA draft by the Los Angeles Clippers (danger, Will Robinson! Danger!) and hails from East St. Louis High School.  At one point, Darius was the highest drafted high school player ever before Kwame Brown ruined the party for everybody by going first overall the next year.  Darius spent two seasons in Los Angeles, making the All Rookie first team in 2001 before getting traded to the Cleveland Cavaliers and then to the Portland Trailblazers during the 2003-2004 sea... [read more]

U.S.-Spain Final Really will attract international audience to game of basketball posted by Derrick Edwards

    The U.S. Spain final may be one of the most pivotal games in basketball history. 

    No, its not just cause the U.S. won. We often mouth the words, "It means more to do it for the country," without it really meaning anything. Its liking saying, "Yea I really care for you girl,"to a girl he just met 1 hour ago in a noisy bar. As long as the guy gets a chance to go for a roll in the hay, (That's the horizontal limbo for others) its okay to stretch the truth some as long as it results in victory.

    However since the U.S. has not won in 3 straight international basketball tournaments the public was eagerly awaiting a gold medal. Equally so too was the core of this U.S. men's team, Lebron James, Dwayne Wade, Carmelo Anthony, Carlos Boozer, have been through the disappointments of the 2004 and 2006 bronze medal teams.  Now winning a gold medal seems as pivotal as winning a NBA championship. That has never previously been felt by any U.S. team. The jubilition they showed at the end really sealed that they truly wanted to win in the worst way and it was anything but a joke for the team.

    In enters Spain themselves trying to forge a legacy as a possible two-time reigning champions of international ball. They did not lose a single game in the 2006 FIBA tournament on the way to the gold. Their only loss was an embarassing 37 point loss to the U.S. in the prelim rounds of this tourney. Before the soccer team won the European Championship the basketball team was the biggest th... [read more]

Headlines Widget updated to include your blog posts posted by Earn Money Blogging
We've added some additional functionality to our "Headline Widget" so that our bloggers can now promote their blog posts through the widget.  Simply go the "Headline Widget" page, type in your username in the appropriate blank, and copy the HTML to any webpages (i.e. your MySpace profile page or your personal blog) where you want your blog posts to appear.
 
The "Headline Widget" can be customized to display in any color and it comes in a variety of shapes and sizes. 
 
Important: The widget is geared towards displaying headlines and blog posts for a particular sport or team, so if you want the widget to display all of your blog posts no matter what the subject of the blog post is, be sure to choose "All Sports Headlines" for the first customization option.
 
This widget is a great way to promote your blog.  Get as many people as you can to put the widget on their webpages.  For example, tell your friends with MySpace and blogs to paste your widget into their pages.  Or contact other sports bloggers and see if they would put the widget on their blog page.  The widget is simply HTMl code, so any page where you're allowed to post HTML is a good place to post the widget.  We've had local television stations use this widget on their website to get up-to-date information about the local professional sports teams so there's no telling who might find your blog posts interesting and be willing to post your widget on their website.  Email the webmasters of... [read more]

Inbound link contest winner announced! posted by Earn Money Blogging

A big thanks to everyone who participated in the "Inbound Link Contest".  We have a winner!  A big congratulations go out to Marija.  Thank you for all your hard work on this.  While we had a lot of people participate, Marija was able to win with only 4 links!  So it wouldn't have taken a lot to win this contest!  We'll be having another contest soon so stay tuned.

The whole purpose of this contest was to get our bloggers networking with other webmasters and to start to build up their inbound links which will help their traffic.  Even a few links can help you with the search engines as they will see you as more of an authority on your topic the more inbound links you have.

To learn more about marketing your blog check out this post: http://www.nbabasketballonline.com/sports_content-rev_share_faq.html#my_faq_2971

Marija's blog can be found here.  If you're a Knicks fan, check it out: http://www.newyorkknicksnews.com/marijak

The original post announcing the contest can be found here: http://www.nbabasketballonline.com/bloggers/weblog/2984.html

And if you're not already signed up with Google AdSense and making money from your blog, check out our Revenue Share FAQ page: http://www.nbabasketballonline.com/sports_content-rev_share_faq.html

 ... [read more]

Balkman to the Nuggets posted by Marija kero

With 400 fowards on the roster, you knew this trade was coming...

 2 years ago, Isiah Thomas made the mind-boggling decision of drafting Balkman at #20 while players with the likes of Rajon Rondo and Marcus Williams were still up for grabs (I know....take a minute to shake your head and wonder what life would be like with Rondo).

 Since we've learned not to expect much from Isiah's picks and Balkman gave us more than we expected, the criticisms have been silenced and most fans have taken a liking to Balkman. Sure, he only averages 3.5 ppg and 3.3 boards per game, but he's only given about 14 inconsistent minutes per game to do so. More importantly, Renaldo provided NY with an energy and defense that it hasn't seen since Spree. So what do we do with a player that fits perfectly with Mike's style? We trade him of course! ughhh

 We trade him to Denver for cash, Taurean Green and Bobby Jones who we will probably waive anyway because we now have 17 men (2 over the limit) on the roster! If we were just trying to shave away some dollars, there is plenty of garbage we could've gotten rid of....begining with Jared-I should never touch the ball-Jeffries or Mardy-I'm good for 8 turnovers a game-Collins.

Denver...you win. More money for you and a little but of d your way - since you had none left when you got rid of Camby.... [read more]

Inbound link contest - Win $100! posted by Earn Money Blogging

To try and motivate our bloggers to get inbound links we're going to have a contest to see which blogger can get the most inbound links to their blog. The contest begins now and ends July 31st, 2008. To be entered in to the contest all you have to do is go out and get as many websites to link to your blog as you can and at the end of the month send us an email listing all those links. All links must be active from August 1st through August 7th when we'll be judging the entries - a winner will be announced on August 7th. All entry emails must be received by Midnight on July 31st, 2008. You can email them to sportsfan@nbabasketballonline.com

We're going to impose some restrictions on the types of links you can get so please see below for the full list of links that do NOT count.

To get started simply go to Google and find other websites and blog that are about the sports and teams that you write about. Email the website owner and ask them for a link by explaining that you think your blog would be a good resource for their readers. Or offer to write a guest post for them with your by-line and URL at the bottom of the article. Or offer to exchange links with them by writing a quick write up of their site and a reciprocal link back to them. Some webmasters will be happy to add you to their blog roll even if you don't give them a link back (which is ideal) but some may want you to link back to them - you can easily do this with a quick blog entry on your blog about their website.

To learn more about inbound links and marketing your blog in general check out this post:--b... [read more]

What were they thinking? Camby to the Clippers posted by Z.V. Sanders

The Clippers just replaced Elton Brand. Well, sort of.

The Nuggets basically just gave the defensive ace to the Clips. The only thing Denver received in return is the option to swap second round picks in 2010. This was a cut and dry salary dump from the Nuggets, who have 5 other players at 10 million or more for next season. The problem will be the team's defense. The only thing that kept the Nuggets from being great was a lack of defensive play. Camby was just about the only player committed to defense every night. Who will stop teams from dropping 120 on the Nuggets now?

Not only will the Nuggets have lower salaries for next season, but the 2009 offseason should be a good one in Denver. With A.I. and Chucky Atkins' salaries expiring after this season, the team could be far under the cap (especially if they can find someone to pay Steven Hunter. They would still have good pieces to build around: Nene, Melo, JR Smith, and Linas Kleiza are all under the age of 26, and would be a good building block for the future.

On the more receiving end of this deal, all Camby really will be is a defensive replacement for Brand. With Kaman and Camby playing in tandem up front, the Clips will be able to smother the boards and play solid defense. They will be relying on Baron Davis, Eric Gordon, Al Thornton and Cuttino Mobley to step up and score and keep the team in games.

What to expect:

Look for the Nuggets to be at around .500, if that. With even less defense then last year (who thought that was possible?), they will be a fun team to watch, but not necessarily a winner. No ... [read more]

Carmelo Anthony Trade posted by Gregory Montoya
The Denver Nuggets have been considering trading there star forward Caremelo Anthony. Many teams have been interested but the deal has not been done. In my opinion this would ruin the Denver Nuggets franchise. They trade the core of there team when he stil has room to improve. The Nuggets need a consistent 3 point shooter and a big man scorer down low. If the Nuggets were able to get either on of these it would improve there team in a huge way and make them a top 3 team in the Western Conference.... [read more]

Re: Magic, Howard throw-down Nuggets posted by Jeff Gardenour
Guess Stan Gundy's benching of Dwight Howard following Orlando's loss to the Cavaliers worked some Magic after all. Howard, apparently motivated by being called out by Van Gundy for his lack of defensive prowess, went wild on Denver, posting 23 points and 24 boards in a 109-98 whipping at Amway Arena. He was an unstoppable force Wednesday night, blocking shots, rebounding at will and hammering Denver's weak front line with thunderous dunks. The Nuggets simply have no post player to match up with Howard, save for Kenyon Martin, who was ineffective against the 6-foot-10 tower of power. Next stop for Dwight: the NBA All-Star Game, where he will start at center for the first time. Rashard Lewis also played well, pouring in 25 points. But, he still needs to work on consistency. The Magic paid him $118 million to make the 3s, not miss them. Denver's Carmelo Anthony had 32 points, but didn't play well, defensively. He fouled out, too. Teammate Marcus Camby had only eight rebounds, allowing Howard to pass him up for the NBA rebounding lead. Camby is simply too thin to hang with Howard in the low post. While a good scoring team, Denver doesn't have the defense or tough inside game to win the whole thing this year. The Nuggets are a first- or second-round playoff team, at best.... [read more]

Can the Denver Nuggets of Carmelo and AI win the NBA Championship? posted by jason
Can Denver win this whole thing? Its not impossible. The level that the nuggets are operating at right now is fun to watch. AI, 'melo, camby, and k mart, wow, this is an incredibly athletic group to put on the court. The problem lies in the fragility of that unit both physically and mentally. Martin is an overly sensitive and injury prone forward who has shown sporadic flashes of brilliance in his injury marked career, (while never really delivering like a #1 overall pick should), same as he did in college. Camby, the same thing, the guy is devastating...when he is on the court, again he is a hold your breath high flyer with a penchant for injuries that linger.....melo too can be immature in his approach although he is playing unbelievably efficiently at the moment, when he is on fire and focused he is one of the world's best. as far allen iverson goes, this guy is never a problem for a team, he brings it every damn night and hasnt lost a step in 10 years, and he is averaging almost 8 dimes a night......darkhorse MVP candidate is this bloggers opinion!... [read more]

Nuggets re-sign free agent G J.R. Smith (AP)

The Denver Nuggets re-signed restricted free agent J.R. Smith to a multiyear contract on Friday. The 22-year-old guard averaged 12.6 points for the Nuggets over the past two seasons. He shot nearly 40 percent from 3-point range, the best percentage in team history for players with at least 100 3-pointers. [read full article]

Posted Fri, 22 Aug 2008 09:23:45 PDT - via Yahoo! Sports