Points in the Paint

» February 16, 2009 7:37 PM | By Brandon Hoffman

The Biz of Basketball: “TNT’s exclusive coverage of the 2009 NBA All-Star Game on Sunday delivered a 4.1 US HH Rating, representing a 6% increase from the prior year, and 6,855,000 Total Viewers, up 8% from last year’s telecast, according to Nielsen’s Fast Nationals.”

Bright Side of the Sun liveblogged Friday’s Jam Session. Phoenix Stan was issued credentials and asked David Stern to comment on the role of blogs in the general media landscape. Stern’s said the NBA is “keeping track” of blogs. Check out Stern’s full reply here.

Basketbawful on Dwyane Wade’s attire at the Rookies-Sophomores game: “If you watched the Rookie Challenge, you probably noticed that Steve Urkel was an assistant coach for the rookie team. But here’s the thing: Jaleel White would have had to have taken an Andre the Giant-sized dose of HGH to fill out like that. (Plus, I’m pretty sure he served me at T.G.I. Friday’s this weekend.) No, it was actually Dwyane Wade, who apparently got dressed by running through Bozo the Clown’s closet at full speed with his eyes closed.”

Rich Exner of The Cleveland Plain Dealer: “As the NBA emerges from its all-star break, the Eastern Conference has a chance to do something it hasn’t done since the 1997-98 season: top the Western Conference in overall record. The Western Conference has compiled the better overall record for nine straight seasons. But, currently, the Eastern Conference teams have a combined record of 403-387. That means the East is plus 16 in interconference games with two months to go.”

The Knicks Blog: “This isn’t news, but we’ve been hearing from people in the know that there is a league-wide sentiment that the Knicks have severely mishandled the Marbury situation and I’d be shocked if Donnie Walsh doesn’t realize it. That tells me that he’s not in total basketball control and that he is heeding the demands of his owner. So, logically, one has to wonder if this will impact the decision of free agents moving forward, especially in 2010. Believe it or not, Stephon has a lot of friends in the league, most of whom are veterans, and they aren’t too happy with how Marbury has been treated by Mr. Dolan’s Knicks.”

LeBron James in the March issue of Dime Magazine: “When I first got to the NBA, I was happy to be in the NBA and excited to put on an NBA uniform and everything. Not saying I still don’t, but now…I want to be the best player of all-time. I want to be the best player on the court every time I go out on the court. I see my potential, and I’m nowhere near as high as I can be.”

Jay-Z and LeBron James donated 150 Instruments to the Mesa Arts Academy in Arizona. Nothing groundbreaking there. Jay and LeBron donated the instruments under their “2 Kings” umbrella. 2 Kings held their 3rd annual dinner and after party at All-Star weekend. James and Jay-Z were asked whether 2 Kings is a company. Here’s Jay-Z’s reply: “It’s not a corporation, it’s not a business, it’s just two guys coming together as the top of their respective fields. We’re representing our culture and where we come from.” Everytime I see James and Jay-Z speak together, I’m reminded of this article by Adrian Wojnarowski: “As Jay-Z made a toast next to his co-host, LeBron James, at a VIP dinner during All-Star weekend, he spoke of branding, about a new world order of celebrity businessmen. They declared this the Two Kings dinner in New Orleans and the star-studded list of invitees included NBA owners and stars, music label executives and A-list performers. Jay-Z talked of a tomorrow when these two monuments to music and basketball will transform the rules of engagement for the iconic performer, one witness said. He talked of making history.”

Bethlehem Shoals of the Sporting Blog on the Tyson Chandler trade rumors: “If this domino falls, you have to wonder if we might be looking down the road at a Chris Paul who’d prefer to be elsewhere. Or, for the sake of the game, probably should be. Not that I’m against teams in smaller cities, or oppose the cap, but having amazing players mired in obscurity and stuck with rosters dictated by financial concerns is, for me as a fan, a purgatory almost too awful to bear.”

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