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The book the NBA doesn't want you to read. Former NBA referee Tim Donaghy was convicted of passing inside information on NBA games to gamblers, for thousands of dollars. He has written a book purporting to reveal many explosive scandals about NBA officiating (detailed excerpts). It was scheduled for publication by Random House (cached Amazon page), then cancelled after an alleged lawsuit threat by the league. [more inside]
posted by msalt on Oct 29, 2009 - 47 comments

Basketball doesn't have baseball's numerous simmering controversies over Hall of Fame inductees, but the greatest basketball player denied enshrinement may be 11-time ABA and NBA All Star center Artis Gilmore. At 7-foot-2 plus 4 inches for his towering afro, they called him "The A-Train" for his powerful but unpretentious play, and today on his 60th birthday he still owns career records in the NCAA (22.7 rebounds per game) and NBA (59.9% field goal percentage). OK, I only posted this so I could link to these three photos. [more inside]
posted by planetkyoto on Sep 21, 2009 - 12 comments

Jim Carroll has died. Avant-garde writer, punk rocker, doped-up downtown scenester, never-made-it schoolyard hoop-dreamer. He couldn't have expected to live to see a master's thesis in English at San Diego State written about his journal/novel The Basketball Diaries, or to be interviewed by Jon Stewart about being played by Leo DiCaprio in the movie of his (early) life. [more inside]
posted by escabeche on Sep 13, 2009 - 124 comments

Basketball-filter: The Portland Trailblazers' offense broken down and explained with custom videos. [via]
posted by AceRock on Sep 2, 2009 - 24 comments

Ever wonder what it would be like if you showed up to your freshman year of college...and your roommate was a 7'2" Division 1 basketball player from Holland? The author of sports blog Basketbawful is currently publishing a series of stories describing that exact experience. These chronicles vacillate between hilarious, shocking, depressing, and disgusting, but all are extremely entertaining. Part 1. Part 2. Part 3. Part 4. Part 5. Part 6. Part 7.
posted by emd3737 on Jul 12, 2009 - 70 comments

Tom Friend's retrospective of Chauncey Billup's career is as fine a profile of leadership, tenacity, and redemption as comes along in American sportswriting. [more inside]
posted by Roach on May 11, 2009 - 22 comments

For those who might be unaware: One of the great basketball games concluded last night in thrilling fashion during triple overtime. It is only par for a series that has gone into overtime for the fourth time in games in six games (one of which was double OT, and last night's aforementioned triple OT). The heroic moments and failures of players are too numerous to count at this point, but five of the six games have been decided by 11 points... TOTAL. On Saturday 8PM EST, what is arguably one of the greatest series ever, will conclude with the final game 7. [more inside]
posted by Lacking Subtlety on May 1, 2009 - 56 comments

My April 1st spidey sense was tingling like crazy, but I guess it's true if it was in Time Magazine, that bastion of serious journalism, where Time 100 nominee LeBron James nominated Ohio businessman Jay Schottenstein for the next Time 100 because he, "supported the translation and elucidation of the Talmud Bavli into English, Hebrew and French." Now if only Jews could play basketball...
posted by ericbop on Apr 1, 2009 - 35 comments

Ken Mink became a national feel-good story late last year when, at age 73, he joined the basketball team of Roane State Community College in Tennessee. At the end of an early season game, with his team up big, Ken was subbed in and managed to draw a foul and make two free throws. Fame followed. But is this feel-good story really all its cracked up to be?
posted by Mountain Goatse on Mar 20, 2009 - 27 comments

March Madness is less than a month away, and sports fans are snapping up tickets to watch men’s and women’s NCAA basketball teams battle their way to the Final Four. Projected brackets are going online, with speculation about likely picks and the prospects of finding a Cinderella team in the field this year. Cheerleaders get their moment on screen before commercial breaks, but should these student athletes be considered members of a sports team, too? On court fashion generates debate, and mascots range from the obvious to the really odd. PETA continues its crusade against the use of live animals, but one overriding question remains: “What the hell is a Saluki?”
posted by woodway on Feb 21, 2009 - 18 comments

Two high school basketball teams unite in grieving a player's recent loss. Johntel Franklin, senior basketball captain for Milwaukee Madison, lost his mother to cervical cancer on the day of a game with friendly rivals from DeKalb. In a beautiful act of sportsmanship, both teams decide to forgo points in order to help Johntel deal with his grief.
posted by Four-Eyed Girl on Feb 20, 2009 - 76 comments

The selfless NBA stats geek, by Michael Lewis. Michael Lewis previously on mefi [more inside]
posted by jourman2 on Feb 14, 2009 - 32 comments

2 very moving stories about high school kids with heart.
posted by theora55 on Feb 5, 2009 - 12 comments

Basketball coach is fired b/c of 100-0 point game, his team won [more inside]
posted by BrnP84 on Jan 27, 2009 - 287 comments

The Audacity of Hoops Alexander Wolff (Sports Illustrated) examines the importance of basketball in Barack Obama's life. [more inside]
posted by Poolio on Jan 15, 2009 - 30 comments

Basketball rats. So the folks at the Finnish Science Centre Heureka have trained rats to play basketball.
Any tame rat can learn to play basketball, but brave rats which are relaxed playing in front of an enthusiastic audience will be the best professionals!
Video here and more here. Via TrueHoop.
posted by i_cola on Oct 22, 2008 - 18 comments

FreeDarko: the intersection of basketball and everything else worth talking about. Witness the 2008 U.S. Presidential election as seen through the lens of the UNC/Duke rivalry, and a look inside the noir world of Pat Riley.
posted by saladin on Aug 31, 2008 - 3 comments

Two slimes. One circle. Infinite addiction. Welcome to the world of Slimeball. [more inside]
posted by Rhaomi on Aug 8, 2008 - 16 comments

See Nemo fetch. Want to train your comet to join the Comets? Your Shubunkin to do some dunkin'?

Goldfish training.

A school of fish or a school for fish? You be the judge.
posted by OhPuhLeez on Jul 22, 2008 - 10 comments

An inspirational update to the story of Jason McElwain.
posted by kyleg on Jul 17, 2008 - 5 comments

Goodbye Seattle! Hello Oklahoma! Get ready for the NBA's newest team, the Oklahoma City SuperSonics! Whither Seattle basketball? Methinks not.
posted by parmanparman on Jun 12, 2008 - 78 comments

He is a sports character for the ages. At 41, he is the NBA's oldest active player. Number two all time in blocked shots, he is probably best known for his trademark finger wag and unimitable deep gravelly voice. His current team's 20 game win streak has led him to gleefully suggest that their critics pucker up. [more inside]
posted by John Smallberries on Mar 13, 2008 - 27 comments

The 41st Annual Holy Angels/Santa Anita Jockeys Charity Basketball Game takes place tonight. The 7th/8th grade basketball team for Holy Angels Catholic School will be facing against jockeys [scroll down for details] from Santa Anita Park. The charity game [youtub vid from last year's game] raises money for Holy Angels Athletic department. The jockeys are currently 11 point underdogs for tonight's game.
posted by Stynxno on Feb 21, 2008 - 4 comments

Kelvin Sampson probably gone Sooner than later. Ever since Bob Knight got fired from Indiana University, alumni have been upset that one of his lineage was not brought in to replace him. [more inside]
posted by dragonsi55 on Feb 16, 2008 - 12 comments

Barefootin'! Ron Hunter, men's basketball coach of IUPUI, decides to raise awareness for Samaritan's Feet, a charity that collects shoes for needy children, by coaching barefoot. Initially, he hoped to collect 40,000 pairs in honor of the 40th anniversary of the death of Martin Luther King Jr. - 110,000 pairs of shoes were collected by tip-off. [more inside]
posted by geekyguy on Jan 27, 2008 - 7 comments

For the first time since 1982, the NBA will require two teams to replay a portion of a previous game. The Atlanta Hawks and Miami Heat will replay the final 51.9 seconds of their December 19th game because the official scorer ruled incorrectly that Shaquille O'Neal fouled out.
posted by pwb503 on Jan 11, 2008 - 31 comments

Life isn't always easy if your father or grandfather was Jim Jones, the legendary founder of the People's Temple. Jones and wife Marcelline adopted seven children of varying ethnicities. Son Jim Jones Jr. lives an upstanding existence as a pharmaceutical sales rep and volunteer basketball coach, but has been hounded by his past throughout his life. Meanwhile, grandson Rob Jones is San Francisco's top high school basketball player. But sometimes the legacy just follows you. (Video)
posted by huskerdont on Jan 1, 2008 - 22 comments

Pre-1990s Sports Card Portraiture (Flickr slideshow) Images of pre-1990 sports cards which feature excellent photographic portraits, not action shots. I will delete stuff I don't think is good enough with abandon. [more inside]
posted by dhammond on Sep 8, 2007 - 11 comments

Completely amazing graph of every NBA player for every season in which he played at least five minutes since 1979. Points Per Game are on the Y-Axis, sum total of every other stat on the X-axis, with the data points colored with RGB depending on the player's statistical tendencies during that season. Full explanation of methodology here. Gigantic monitor recommended. Via the always excellent TrueHoop.
posted by Kwine on Jul 12, 2007 - 20 comments

Did Win Butler (of Arcade Fire) steal some guy's basketball? Blogger says he did (with comments), Wil Butler (Win's brother) says he didn't. Drama!
posted by GuyZero on Jun 5, 2007 - 71 comments

Are NBA referees racially biased when calling fouls? In a paper [PDF] released yesterday, economists Wolfers and Price claim that an all-white team would win two extra games over an 82-game season.
posted by Aloysius Bear on May 2, 2007 - 99 comments

George Takei responds to Tim Hardaway's recent comments.
posted by EarBucket on Feb 20, 2007 - 86 comments

SportsFilter: Legendary Celtics Coach Arnold "Red" Auerbach dies at 89.
posted by ericb on Oct 28, 2006 - 18 comments

I have a plan that will save USA Basketball.
"these are the very kids who could save American basketball. ...Now, am I 100 percent sure this is feasible (or even legal)? No. But do you have a better idea? Because what we're doing now certainly isn't the answer."
posted by thisisdrew on Sep 11, 2006 - 35 comments

Chris Creamer's sportslogos.net is a vast archive of current and historical sports logos from leagues large and small, brand new or defunct. Some of my favorite retro logos involve mascots (often anthropomorphized) performing sports-related activities. Of course, some were retired for good reasons.
posted by kyleg on Aug 30, 2006 - 14 comments

Don Nelson, the second-winningest coach in NBA history, is back to coach the Golden State Warriors again. Excecutive VP, Chris Mullen who played under Nelson at Golden State re-hired him after parting ways with former Stanford coach, Mike Montgomery who was their ninth coach in the past 12 seasons since Nelson's departure.
posted by pwb503 on Aug 29, 2006 - 15 comments

In the Hollywood version of the Kwame James story, he becomes an NBA All-Star, helps achieve world peace and, of course, lives blissfully ever after. While the real-life plot hasn't followed quite that arc, perhaps it's headed toward a happy ending. (via SpoFi)
posted by mr_crash_davis on Aug 17, 2006 - 7 comments

Even after the bad PR brought about by the new balls used in this year's World Cup, the NBA announced today (Draft Day!) a new official game ball to be used starting next season (ESPN coverage). The new ball designed by Spalding is the first official game ball change since 1970 and only the second change in the last 60 years. Vegans will be happy to hear that it's no longer made of leather. Mark Cuban will surely weigh in with an opinion on this...
posted by pwb503 on Jun 28, 2006 - 45 comments

March Madness: 11th seeded George Mason upset UConn in the NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament this afternoon, continuing their unexpected streak of upsets. Their wins validate not only their inclusion in the tournament, but the rising status of mid-major conferences. The most prominent critic of the inclusion of these smaller schools has been CBS analyst Billy Packer, who verbally assaulted the head of the selection committee on live TV just two weeks ago, and has yet to apologize for his obvious error.
posted by kyleg on Mar 26, 2006 - 49 comments

X-rated basketball? The editor of the Bryan-College Station paper says it ain't so. But to many, the picture of a basketball player in their sports section looks like he's exposing himself. At least they sold all their papers.
posted by nospecialfx on Mar 3, 2006 - 118 comments

The story of an autistic basketball player in his first game (youtube video) is an amazing story. It's worth the three minutes and you might even shed a tear of joy by the end.
posted by mathowie on Feb 24, 2006 - 94 comments

My eensy-beensy alma mater in eastern Wisconsin currently has the only undefeated men's basketball team in the nation. This is not just in the NCAA, but in the NAIA as well. It's a Division III team, and its only loss this season didn't count--it was to Division I UW-Madison in an exhibition game. Like most Division III schools, Lawrence offers no athletic scholarships whatsoever. Its immediate past president, Richard Warch, in a 1987 speech at the NCAA national convention, controversially called for abolishment of all athletic scholarships.
posted by gillyflower on Feb 24, 2006 - 15 comments

Eddie Sutton, Oklahoma State University's beloved basketball coach, is back on the sauce. Sutton, 69, is the winning-est active coach in the NCAA, but like other basketball legends, he's no stranger to controversy or tragedy. Sutton previously spent a stint in rehab in the late 1980s.
posted by Brittanie on Feb 23, 2006 - 8 comments

Tips from the Blue Devils - Dunking the ball is a flashy move. In some instances, it can be the wrong move. Pot and cocaine are wrong moves. They mess up your thinking and can kill you instantly.
posted by sdrawkcab on Jan 25, 2006 - 41 comments

Can you score your way out of disgrace? Kobe Bryant's 81 points tonight were the second most points ever scored by a single player in the 59 year history of the NBA, and the most scored since Wilt Chamberlain's 100 point night 44 years ago (when the league was much whiter than it is today). With a new campaign from one time sponsor Nike and sports writers increasingly touting Bryant as a leading MVP candidate, two of the three elements of modern sports superstardom (sponsorship, good press) have returned to Kobe since the rape allegations that threatened to end his career. Will the final piece of the puzzle (public sympathy) be next?
posted by jonson on Jan 22, 2006 - 119 comments

Meet the only out player in Major League Professional Sports: Sheryl Swoopes, of the WNBA. Will Swoopes's revelation help chip away at the homophobia that is rampant in some locker rooms and fuels much of the negative recruiting that goes on in women's sports? She has her own Nike shoe--the only woman to ever get one, and now, another first for this rarest of athletes – someone who comes out publicly during their career.
posted by amberglow on Oct 27, 2005 - 181 comments

He's got ginormous size, monstrous handles, and a floor-dunk. He also has a tumor. Fortunately for basketball fans, the kindness of strangers is what's saving Sun Ming Ming. (not related to the rich Ming).
posted by HiveMind on Sep 14, 2005 - 9 comments

ESPN.com's Scoop Jackson on the Detroit Pistons' Ben Wallace: "Although no one will admit it, Ben Wallace is the image the NBA doesn't want... He's that unspoken stereotype that white America has of the black athlete. He's what they fear." I found this to be an unusually frank examination of race in American professional sports.
posted by dammitjim on Jun 17, 2005 - 34 comments

Paul Shirley's blog returns for the NBA playoffs. Shirley is the last player in the depth chart on the potential NBA champion Phoenix Suns. As ESPN's Bill Simmons wrote about his original blog, "we could finally have an answer to the question, 'What would it be like if one our friends was an NBA player and sent us e-mails about his life every few days?'"
posted by casu marzu on May 5, 2005 - 10 comments

Amazing basketball shots from the DC training facility.
posted by driveler on Apr 9, 2005 - 28 comments