One of the biggest questions in my mind was about his resignation. With the Knicks being 18-24 at the time of his departure and all the internal turmoil you had to wonder if it was a resignation or a forced resignation.

SI.com: It was pretty consistently reported that you quit and were not fired. But there is still some doubt because what you did was unusual. “Quitting” almost always means “fired.” So which is it?

M.D.: I absolutely resigned. I was in my car driving to shootaround and it just came to me. That’s it. It’s inevitable. I have to resign. We’re not going anywhere. I made the decision then and there. I called Glen [Grunwald, the Knicks' general manager] and told him that I was coming in to do it. Then I called Laurel [his wife] to tell her. Glen called in Mr. Dolan [Knicks owner James Dolan] and I met them after shootaround and told them that I was resigning. (SI.com)

In early March we all knew it was D’Antoni or Carmelo Anthony would have to go. It had gotten so bad that Mike went to management to try and get them to trade the face of the franchise. Unfortunately for him he was coaching in New York that that got out and blown up much more then it should be.

SI.com: Was the experience of coaching in New York more difficult than you thought?

M.D.: I’m not going to do any woe-is-me. There’s a lot of pressure but that’s why they pay you. It’s still a great job, and I think Woody [Woodson] will do a great job. It got to the point where we had problems, we could not solve them, and an obstacle had to be removed.(SI.com)

There’s more about the actual relationship with Carmelo.

SI.com: The widest-held theory is that you couldn’t get along with Carmelo Anthony, that any schism on the team, the report that you had “lost the team,” came from …

M.D.: I’m just not going to get into specifics. It came to the point that I had to resign, that’s all. It was time. We weren’t going anywhere and I was the coach.

SI.com: All right, a theoretical question. You’re a coach who likes an open floor, an active point guard, quick shots, pick-and-rolls, “dribble-ats,” lots of movement. Carmelo is a post-up player who needs the ball and demands the ball. He’s great but he kills the clock. Can that ever work? Was it doomed from the beginning?

M.D.: Look, I’ve coached players who post up. Heck, Amar’e [Stoudemire, a Knicks forward] has been a post-up player. We used to post up Boris Diaw a lot in Phoenix. There are always things that can be done by mixing it up. Now, was it the best situation for my coaching philosophy? No. But there’s never one answer for why things don’t work out.(SI.com)

Some think D’Antoni will head down to Orlando and take over now that Stan Van Gundy has been fired. Mike said he hasn’t been contacted by the Magic and isn’t even sure if he’s going to coach next season. If he does coach though I’d assume he tries to get Jeremy Lin to follow.

I’ve said all along Lin is a system point guard and Mike’s system him made him a star. Mike’s brother Dan pretty much backed that point up.

SI.com: When you decided to go to Jeremy Lin as your point guard, did you ever think he could be that good? And as it was happening, did you guys whisper among yourselves, “Man, this can’t go on forever”?

M.D.: Anyone who claims they saw this in Jeremy is kidding himself. But we liked him. We thought he could be good. And, then, when he started to be real good … of course it was surprising … but it somehow made sense. The things he does — he can get into the lane, he can shoot, he’s tough, he’s athletic, his confidence was growing and growing. It became almost logical that he was that good during that time.

D.D.: It comes down to this: Jeremy ran what Mike teaches really, really well.
(SI.com)

There’s a lot of other good stuff in there so I’d go check the piece out at Sports Illustrated. The biggest thing I took out of it is that D’Antoni wasn’t forced out he just couldn’t take the pressures of New York anymore and had to walk away.

Sharapova’s Thigh – Shark Week, Eh? Well Then, Here’s Video Of Some Playboy Girls Swimming With Killer Sharks
Busted Coverage – Braylon Edwards Might Go To Jail Before He Gets A Contract
MacBros Fantasy Football – NFL Coach Gives Car to Cafeteria Worker
Camel Clutch Blog – Now is the time to move John Cena back to SmackDown

Sports With Balls – Kendrick throws a gem, world likely to end tomorrow.
Terez Owens – Ichiro Impersonator Interferes with Play
Rant Sports – Vikings QB Donovan McNabb Believes Eagles ‘Dream Team’ Has More Problems Than People Realize
Unathletic Mag – Kid Pukes Like a Boss During Choir Practice

Moon Dog Sports – Starz To Develop NASCAR Show Titled Tits In The Pits
NESW Sports – Lost Video: Michael Jordan in “Max Jordan The Rayovac Detective”
Strait Pinkie – Which Smurf has best chance to get him some Smurfette?
That NBA – Stan Van Gundy’s Got Some Impressive Handles (Video)

Court Crusades – New Jersey Governor wants to Replace the Nets
The NFL Chick – Willis McGahee Gets Naked For PETA
Unathletic Mag – With No Cheerleaders in Super Bowl XLV, We’ll Have To Find Others….
The Scores Report – Albert Pujols to command $300 million?

It’s Always Sunny In Detroit – Struggling Polish soccer club turns to Playmate for help
The Biz of Football – Goodell, Other NFL Execs to Take Pay Cuts in the Event of Lockout
Steelers Chronicle – Steelers likely to without Pouncey for the Super Bowl
Total Pro Sports – Frozen Fisticuffs Fight Of The Night — Asham vs. Konopka

Black Sports Online – White Chocolate Jason Williams Leaves Orlando Magic Over Playing Time
Moon Dog Sports – Law Firm Arent Fox Submits Report to Department of Justice, Claims BCS Violates Antitrust Laws
Camel Clutch Blog – Ric Flair leaves TNA Europe Tour & Goes on Strike
PSAMP – One More Steelers/COD Joint To Round It Out

So let’s first start off with last years Slam Dunk winner, New York Knicks Nate Robinson. He’s been in coach Mike D’Antoni’s doghouse barely getting on the court but yesterday he got plenty of action and took advantage of it. Robinson will be back to defend his crown and wasted no time getting the hype going.

Loose balls create some of the best dunks in the NBA, but in the Sacramento Kings / Charlotte Bobcats game last night a dunk was created by some impressive loose ball acrobatics. Kevin Martin started it all with a steal, then came the bouncing ball and then an easy Jason Thompson dunk.

The Nets are pretty bad but Courtney Lee can definitely provide a spark when he wants. On this play the Los Angeles Clippers for some reason decided to help cover someone without the ball, leaving Lee and the rock all by himself. So what else would someone do? Take the rock and drive the lane for an easy dunk.

NBATV’s Dunk of the Night came from the Thunder’s Jeff Green and this one time I can’t really argue with their choice. Josh Smith of the Hawks was guarding him at mid-court and still gotten taken all the way to the hoop and jammed on. Smith never even left the hip of Green. Sick.

Jerryd Bayless of the Portland Trailblazers had a pretty easy alley-oop that was dialed up from long range. Andre Miller was about half way between the midcourt and three point line, and threw a line drive pass up to Bayless who snuck behind the Wizards defense.

Now this next play took place in the Los Angeles Lakers and Orlando Magic game, it’s not quite a dunk but more of an attempted dunk. Shannon Brown decided to take it to the hole and go up against one Dwight Howard, that’s usually not a good idea. Maybe Brown was feeling a little bigger then he actually is as he was named to the 2010 Slam Dunk contest as well. Yea, Howard got called for the foul but it was still embarrassing for Brown nonetheless.

“We’ve always avoided the tax, but winning has a crazy effect on people,” Vander Weide said. “The [DeVos] family (which owns the team) is having fun right now. I don’t think anyone has a willingness to stay in tax for 10 years, but to go in for a few years to ride this out, I don’t think that’s threatening to our family short-term.”

Does it mean they’ll go crazy in free agency? Not necessarily. What it really means is ownership may do what it has to do to keep their talent in tact. The Magic have one big free agent, Hedo Turkoglu. Turkoglu opted out of his contract and will become a free agent after the finals are over.

During Turkoglu’s five seasons in Orlando he’s improved dramatically and become a legitimate NBA starter. This past season he averaged 16.8 points, 5.3 rebounds and 4.8 assists (team high) a game this year. But more importantly he showed he can step his game up when it counts the most, averaging 19.5 points a game during the finals.

For the Magic this is one player they can’t let go, he gives the team an outside threat that has to be respected. He’s not going to break anyone off the dribble and be your go to guy but he does his job. That job? Keep some pressure off the superstar, Dwight Howard.

In addition, the Magic don’t want to let one of their best players walk right after getting to the NBA Finals. The fans just might revolt, especially with this team having tons of potential to get back.

I’m not even a Magic fan but I appreciate when the team is considering. Not many teams, especially in the current economic times, would consider breaking team protocol and spend money. I mean really, they’re one of 19 teams that haven’t done it before and they’re considering doing it now! Even when the league is going to possibly lower the cap and tax thresholds.

But yes, I’m happy for their fans that they’ll be considering it. Especially when you see teams like the Toronto Raptors saying they won’t extend their star Chris Bosh if it puts them over the tax.

“We like this team. We absolutely want to keep the core together,” Vander Weide said. “We’re in the Finals. Can I sit in the boardroom this summer and say ‘hey, we need to do a little more financially to stay where we’re at?’ I think there would be some receptivity to that. We like our roster. Now if Turk gets some crazy offer elsewhere, well, we’ll worry about that this summer. But we love what he brings to this roster.”

Gortat is a free agent after these finals and has been one of the better Magic players so far in the series. The Knicks had a huge void in the middle last season, so big they were using David Lee as a center most games. Gortat is a 7 footer with defense as his strength, he can block shots and rebound (3.8 pts, 4.5 rbs, 0.8 blocks over 12:35 minutes a game).

There will be one big question thou, is his success because of his lack of minutes, remember he’s Dwight Howard’s backup so that means only a few minutes a game.

“He’s got the best job in America, playing behind my best player, playing 8 to 10 minutes,” Magic general manager Otis Smith said. “He goes out and does his job and probably has the best work ethic of anyone in the locker room. Can he start for another team? Yeah he can.

Even if Gortat isn’t as good when playing a 20-30 minutes a game he could still be a very valuable addition for the Knicks, especially for the teams $5 million mid-level exception. It could also be a reunion of sorts. Gortat was initially drafted in 2005 by then Phoenix Suns coach Mike D’Antoni in the second round before his rights were traded to Orlando.

“I love New York, I can tell you that,” Gortat said. “It was the first city I landed when I landed in the states five years ago. I love Coach D’Antoni and I know [Danilo] Gallinari from Europe.”

Great even more Europeans wanting to play in New York, think the word is out its easy for them to make a buck and not have to play much?

But yea back to the rumor it looks like some lobbying on his part has already begun, but he’s going to have to work harder than that to get out of Orlando. The Magic are able to match any offer he receives. Which means the Knicks would have to do something us Knick fans are so used to. Overpaying for backup talent.

“I’ll just deal with it and the market will dictate where he goes,” Smith added. “I would like to keep him on our team, but it depends if someone wants to make him a starter and figures out what’s my breaking point. I’m sure teams will make a run for him.”

Drafting Curry and then signing Gortat would be a nice continuation in the rebuilding of the Knickerbockers. Personally, I’d still prefer a trade up to get the fore mentioned Thabeet, but hey us Knick fans never get what we really want.

There’s a lot of rumors about the Knicks right now, I’ll have more posted later today, so who knows what the truth actually is and what will actually take place.

“I have some at my house, but I’m going to play with Michael Jordan shoes,” Pietrus said.

This little subplot has made me think thou. Everyone’s debated the greatness of both players but I haven’t really seen anyone debate their kicks. Whose come out with the best? Which ones are the best? Let’s take a look at some sneakers from each and see what you like the most.

Before any debate can truly begin you have to compare the originals. The Air Jordan 1′s vs The Adidas Kobe Two

Here’s some other Kobe sneakers including his first official signature series the Zoom Kobe, with the best having to be the Hyper Dunk. While he’s enjoyed some mild success with his line, the only one I’ve ever heard anyone talk about is the Hyper Dunk. I’m not a sneaker fanatic so I go by what I hear and here is what I recently heard on Twitter.

Hail_Mary_Jane – @mysportsrumors @anklesnap the hyperdunks are the only kobe kicks i’d fuck with…

Let’s take a look at some of these Kobes.

Now to the king, Michael Air Jordan. His sneakers have been popular, even the ones that have looked like crap. Back in the 90′s even if the design sucked you HAD to have the latest pair of Air Jordans. If you didn’t you were nobody. Arguably the most popular of all time was the Air Jordan 11. The black, red and whites were the hottest but I preferred the white and blacks. I’m also including pics of the Air 8, 15, 16 and 2k9.

Nike has released so many hot Jordan’s that its too hard to pick the best to show and I’m sure many disagree with some of the ones I picked to show. So make sure to comment and let us know what you like!

If I’m Mickael Pietrus, I would of been rocking some Jordan’s all season long. There’s just nothing about the Kobe line that interests me. What’s your take, vote and let us know which one you’d prefer.

It’s been reported that Nelson is a full two months ahead of schedule from mid-season shoulder surgery. Jameer underwent surgery for a torn labrum back on February 19th and for him to have full range of motion already is just amazing. He’s already been working out with his teammates and participating in contact drills.

Should the Magic decide to activate Nelson there are two major questions.

1) How effective can he be?
2) What effect will this have on his future?

No matter how much practice he’s had you can’t simulate game scenarios, so we know he’ll have some rust. That’s a given but the Magic wouldn’t be asking him to start, that’s Rafer Alston’s job. But having Jameer as his back-up is much better than Anthony Johnson. Even if Nelson struggles mightily shooting, his experience and leadership would really benefit this team.

Magic president Bob Vander Weide said, “the chance to get an all-star point guard on the floor for 15 minutes a game…you’d have to look at that.”

Can this move damage Nelson’s future thou? If he’s truly not ready physically then yea it can. And that’s why Vander Weide isn’t going to let Jameer play unless he’s completely ready. Nelson underwent another MRI and will undergo numerous tests with team doctors. If everything looks good he could get his chance to play in the NBA Finals.

If not? He’ll be on the bench watching his teammates go for the “gold”.

“It’s up in the air. We’ll see how Jameer looks the next few days,” General Manager Otis Smith said. “There’s a few more things we have to get comfortable with. We’re looking at the pros and cons. Doctors will have to talk to doctors. If we’re at a place where Jameer can help us accomplish our goals, then maybe he can play and give us some more punch … There’s a litany of tests he’ll have to pass. His health is the main thing. We’re not going to mortgage his future.”

I’m torn on what the Magic should do.

I don’t see the Lakers as being this huge favorite as most do. After what the Magic did to the Boston Celtics and Cleveland Cavaliers you have to consider them a legitimate threat. If Nelson is healthy and capable, his play off the bench could be what puts Orlando over the top.

But at the same time, this kid is so talented you don’t want to risk his future. The pairing of Dwight Howard and Nelson has a chance of multiple appearances in the NBA Finals, especially in the watered down Eastern Conference. If there’s the slightest bit of doubt in managements mind keep him on the bench as this team should compete with the Celtics and Cavs again next year.

Best Picture: Winner – New Orleans Hornets

The Hornets had to have the worst trade season of them all but who can deny they had the best story? It obviously would of made for good theater. They made a shocking move by trading Tyson Chandler to the Oklahoma City for Joe Smith and Chris Wilcox. Again an absolutely shocking trade for a team that is smack in the middle of the Western Conference Playoff Standings. The move cleared up room under the luxury tax but robbed them of their front court. After that, the Thunder rejected the trade due to a failed physical by Chandler. He now comes back to the Hornets and the playoff race, meaning the team must mend fences and go forward.

Things look bright on the court thou as Chandler came back with an open mind ready to play with his teammates. So much so he quoted former Oscar winner Denzel Washington in Training Day with the line “Ya’ll couldn’t get rid of me!”. The players were happy to get him back and they need Chandler to go forward. Things with management will be dicey for a while thou. So this years best picture, might also be next years best picture.

Best Actor In A Leading Role: Winner – Kyle Lowry

Kyle Lowry has down without a doubt the Best Acting job out of all the players moved at the deadline. Lowry got himself traded from the lowly Memphis Grizzlies to a perennial contender in the Houston Rockets. Lowry has had a decent season, nothing special. He did outplay Mike Conley to earn himself a starting role with the Grizz and has even performed solidly in that time, averaging about 9 points, 5 assists and 3 rebounds a game. Those numbers made the Rockets believe he can be the starting point guard that leads to the promise land. But like Kelly Dwyer at Yahoo Sports, I believe he’ll never be an All-Star or a starter on a championship contender. He’s not as good as former Rockets starter Rafer Alston, but he should give the team a boost on the defensive end of the ball.

For exactly those reasons his performance with the Grizzlies earns him the Best Actor Role. He’s done a great job making people think he can be that quality point guard they’re looking for.

Best Actor In A Supporting Role: Winner – Rafer Alston

Personally, I believe Alston was the biggest winner at the deadline, especially when you consider the team he landed with. Playing for the Orlando Magic is even bigger then playing for the Rockets. The Magic are more of a contender especially with Superman Dwight Howard as a teammate. Alston is also a much better point guard then Best Actor Kyle Lowry. So why did Alston not get the first award?

Alston is going to be in a huge supporting role, a much bigger one then Lowry. When you look at things Lowry acted his way into a major trade, while Alston has earned his way. He’s a veteran point guard which the Magic sorely need after losing Jameer Nelson. He’s not nearly as good as Nelson BUT much better then alternative Anthony Johnson. At the age of 32, his best years are behind him but he’ll be playing a huge supporting role to Howard. This is what earns him Best Actor In A Supporting Role.

Animated Feature Film: Winner – Chicago Bulls

I know you must be wondering Animated Film? Well Larry Hughes has a lot to do with that. The whole Chicago Bulls and Hughes situation has been straight comical this season. The falling out between General Manager John Paxson, Coach Vinny Del Negro and Hughes had reached the level where nothing would ever be solved. Hughes hadn’t played since January 12th and would never have played another game in a Bulls uniform. The whole situation has dragged on for so long, that it keeps getting uglier and uglier, so the Bulls earn an award for finally being able to move him. In landing Tim Thomas and Jerome James they don’t get much. No cap relief, no help in the rotation. All they do is dump a huge headache and the franchise can now move forward.

Best Directing: Winner – Sacramento Kings President Geoff Petrie

Geoff Petrie did an amazing job for the Sacramento Kings in dumping salary. The Kings have the worse record in the league and there is really no future in sight. There are rumors going around that next years NBA Salary Cap will be lowered to $58 million which will leave many teams over the cap. What Petrie did in this dumping was put the Kings underneath that number. Petrie didn’t get any players that can be of assistance now, unless you can count Andres Nocioni but he did get the team about $6 million under next years cap. Which is pretty important for such a lousy team.

There you go boys and girls, that’s my NBA trade deadline review. Let me know what you think. Who would you have given these awards too??