Is there a better national team frontcourt than Spain? The Gasol brothers and Serge Ibaka: completely different and yet they complement each other perfectly. They have defense, length, athleticism, touch, shooting and toughness. Ibaka actually is saying he can be an All-Star either next year or the year after. We believe him. Everyone is riding the James Harden train right now and deservedly so. The Beard was balling in the playoffs and looks like he could be the second coming of a Paul Pierce-type player. But Ibaka is OKC’s third-most important player. Without him, they have virtually nothing inside. Plus, he has the largest amount of untapped potential. KD and Westbrook might get a little better. Harden just needs minutes. But Ibaka is only scratching the surface … We also released the behind-the-scenes video of our Dime #64 cover shoot with Westbrook and Durant … Chris Paul and Carmelo Anthony might finally be thinking about becoming teammates. In China … The Mavericks want to keep Caron Butler around, and he wants to stay, preferably with a long-term deal. At 31 years old, how many years would you give him? And while Cuban never seems to worry too much about money, if they bring back Butler, that has to be a negative as far as getting Tyson Chandler and J.J. Barea back into the mix as well right? … Milwaukee’s Ersan Ilyasova isn’t afraid to speak his mind, and let everyone in the organization know he wants out. He doesn’t want to play with Milwaukee anymore, and wants to return to Europe and play for a Turkish team, calling it his biggest dream … Jalen Rose was ordered to do 20 days in jail after a March drunken-driving crash. Rose’s attorney took it like the judge came down hard on Rose because of his status. He felt the ESPN analyst should’ve received some type of break because of all his charity contributions. But if Rose were to get a break, give him one because he was drinking martinis … Rose isn’t the only former player who’s in trouble right now. Wisconsin posted their top 100 delinquent taxpayers, not exactly a list anyone wants to find their name on. Naturally, Latrell Sprewell and Anthony Mason were two of the top three. Mason owes over $2 million dollars in back taxes while Sprewell is down a ridiculous $3.5 million to the government. That’s a lot of family meals. With the amount of money these guys make, people always wonder just how they can fall under so bad. The problem is that many of them fall out of touch with their finances well before. They hire others to take care of that stuff, and then once their career is over, when the money stops flowing, the employees leave and the players are lost … Then there is Rodney White, who once upon a time was supposed to be the next T-Mac. Instead, he’s become the revolutionary Ricky Williams. White was arrested by authorities and charged with managing what’s being called “an elaborate” marijuana-growing operation. Somehow, White ended up in the middle of nowhere, a tiny little road in a small town about 70 miles outside of Charlotte, befriending everyone and telling them all he was building a dirk-bike track for underprivileged kids. Looks like he wasn’t telling the whole truth … After nearly becoming toppled in a “sexting” incident, Ron Artest might be trying to dance. It’s being reported that Artest is talking to “Dancing With The Stars” about competing should the lockout last for a long time. We’d rather see Mark Madsen … And this weekend, we were so bored we played a game of NBA 2k1. That’s not a joke … We’re out like Ilyasova.
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