Would-be starters Kobe Bryant and Allen Iverson are out of the NBA All-Star Game.

Jason Kidd of the hometown Dallas Mavericks has been chosen to replace Bryant. New York’s David Lee is replacing Iverson.

An ankle injury has prevented Bryant from playing in the Los Angeles Lakers’ past three games. Iverson has missed Philadelphia’s last five games because one of his young children is ill.

Both informed the league on Thursday that they needed to withdraw from Sunday’s game, sources said.

NBA commissioner David Stern, who makes all selections on All-Star injury replacements, then chose Kidd to make his 10th All-Star appearance. Kidd — who ranks fifth in the league in assists (9.3 per game) — had already left Dallas to begin an All-Star break vacation in the Phoenix area and is expected to fly back to Dallas on Friday.

Click here to read the full article – By Marc Stein of ESPN.com

Nate Robinson says he’ll be defending his slam dunk title at All-Star Weekend because he’s required to do so under NBA rules.

LeBron James won’t be trying to unseat the champion, and it’s not clear why he changed his mind.

Less than a month before the NBA holds its signature event, Robinson threw a potential monkey wrench into the All-Star festivities when he declared Monday he’ll be participating in the dunk contest because “the champion has to go back.”

“The NBA, they asked me: ‘Do you want to do it?’ And at first I wasn’t sure. This is my fourth time doing it, so I know people probably get sick of seeing me dunk, but like I said, the champion’s got to go back,” Robinson said after scoring 27 points to lead the New York Knicks to a 99-91 victory over the Detroit Pistons on Monday.

“And I guess, hopefully, I mean if I don’t win it, it’ll be good because I don’t want to go back no more. But if I do [win], and they want me to go back again, I guess so. Keep going until I lose,” Robinson said.


Click here to read the full article – By Chris Sheridan of ESPN.com

Benched New York Knicks guard Nate Robinson was fined $25,000 by the NBA on Monday after his agent made a trade request.


Robinson has not played in the Knicks’ last 12 games. A two-time winner of the All-Star slam dunk contest, he has played in only 12 games this season and is averaging 11 points.

Agent Aaron Goodwin recently told reporters he’d asked the Knicks to move Robinson to another team. Robinson was fined for statements detrimental to the NBA.

“Players are not permitted to make trade requests publicly and are responsible for public statements relating to them made by their representatives,” NBA spokesman Tim Frank said.

Goodwin said the benching was personal, not basketball related. A day after Goodwin’s comments on Dec. 19, Knicks president Donnie Walsh said he would probably begin talks with the agent about a trade.


Click here to read the full article – By Associated Press of ESPN.com

New York Knicks Sports Memorabilia
and other New York Knicks Gifts and Collectibles

The winless New Jersey Nets have fired coach Lawrence Frank with immediate effect.

The Nets announced the move Sunday shortly after ESPN.com’s report that Frank would not coach the Nets in Sunday night’s road game against the Los Angeles Lakers.

Despite playing hard for assistant coach Tom Barrise, the Nets matched the worst start to an NBA season with their 17th straight loss as the Lakers overwhelmed New Jersey 106-87.

The Nets’ announcement said that Frank’s permanent replacement has not yet been chosen.

Click here to read the full article – By Marc Stein of ESPN.com

New Jersey Nets Sports Memorabilia
and other New Jersey Nets Gifts and Collectibles

Starters became reserves, veterans were dusted off and everything was new again. The Knicks, in search of another fresh start, tried one more new look Monday night: winners.

It took four games to find a combination that worked, or at least one that would not spot the opponent a 20-point lead before exerting some effort. The Knicks found it at last, deploying Larry Hughes as a starter, then watching him lead the way to their first victory of the season, 117-111 over the New Orleans Hornets at Madison Square Garden.

Hughes, who had been wrapped in mothballs a week ago, started at shooting guard and set the tone with his assertive play at both ends of the court. He finished with 20 points and 6 rebounds and figures to stick for a while, now that the Knicks (1-3) have discovered a winning formula.

Click here to read the full article – By HOWARD BECK of New York Times

The season that is to be based on a renascent dedication to defense starts in seven days, so it might be a good time to check in with those who might be in a position to evaluate it.

The short version: It’s not where it should be.

The emerging belief is that the Nets have improved in three key areas as they displayed in Wednesday night’s 94-92 loss against the Knicks before 15,721 at Prudential Center. They were giving up fewer straight-line drives to the rim, yielding fewer open 3-pointers (especially in transition), and having fewer communication breakdowns.

“We’re getting better there in those areas, but we had to,” said resident defensive specialist Trenton Hassell. “We know that in order for us to have any success, we’re going to have to become a really good defensive team.


Click here to read the full article – By Dave D’Alessandro of The Star-Ledger

New Jersey Nets Sports Memorabilia
and other New Jersey Nets Gifts and Collectibles

One idea would be for the Knicks to add an additional sweetener to make a trade for center Eddy Curry more palatable to another team.

For instance, Cuttino Mobley could be substituted for Darko Milicic in the trade I hypothesized in my previous article. Although Mobley earns more than Milicic ($9.5 million vs. $7.54 million) and his retirement ensures he will not contribute to the team to which he is traded, he nevertheless has one distinct financial advantage: 80 percent of Mobley’s salary, $7.6 million, is paid by insurance. If the Rockets were to trade Tracy McGrady for Curry and Mobley, their net savings would increase to about $12.6 million.

Of course, the Knicks could add other potential sweeteners to a Curry deal: additional players, future draft picks or cash. It all depends on how desperate Donnie Walsh, the team president, is to clear additional cap space for the 2010 free-agent market. But a Mobley trade also appears unlikely; Walsh has recently indicated that he is no longer interested in using Mobley as a trade piece.

Click here to read the full article – By Larry Coon of The New York Times

New York Knicks Sports Memorabilia
and other New York Knicks Gifts and Collectibles

Maybe this is an overreaction, but three injuries in 14 days doesn’t sound much like a “fluke” (L-Frank’s word) as it does a trend.


But Devin Harris isn’t worried. He said he was checked out after suffering a strained right groin Tuesday night in Newark, and though you probably won’t see him for the rest of the week, he’s not treating this as much of a setback.

“Probably going to hold out on Friday’s game (at the Garden), kind of let it rest a little bit. Should be back by the weekend,” he said.

The coach said he’ll probably practice Sunday, and Devin says he’ll suit up at The Rock a week from Wednesday.

But after missing time with two ankle injuries, this new ache isn’t helping him or his team; they can’t compete without him or develop the kind of chemistry necessary to deal with the 82-game cauldron.


Click here to read the full article – By Dave D’Alessandro of The Star-Ledger

New Jersey Nets Sports Memorabilia
and other New Jersey Nets Gifts and Collectibles

Google Darko Milicic and the words “draft bust” and you launch a never-ending Internet debate on where his selection by the Pistons with the No. 2 pick in the 2003 NBA draft ranks among the league’s all-time worst picks.

The 7-foot Serbian hasn’t exactly had the kind of career that anyone expected when Joe Dumars picked him over Carmelo Anthony, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh. This goes a long way toward explaining why there was little fanfare when the Knicks traded Quentin Richardson to obtain him from Memphis this summer.

Yet a couple weeks into training camp, and it’s looking like that trade could pan into a fairly savvy move. Milicic has played for a variety of coaches in Detroit, Orlando and Memphis. His best season was in 2006-07 when he averaged 8.0 points and 5.5 rebounds. This marks the first time, however, that Milicic has played in a system that fits him as well as Mike D’Antoni’s up-tempo one.


Click here to read the full article – By BARBARA BARKER of newsday.com

New York Knicks Sports Memorabilia
and other New York Knicks Gifts and Collectibles

The Nets are not wavering from their plan to move the franchise to Brooklyn, but are going ahead with three events scheduled in Newark, according to a report in The Record.


The first event is a celebration called “Netstoberfest” on Wednesday, and the Nets will then play two preseason games at the Prudential Center later this month.

Click here to read the full article – By Star-Ledger Staff of NJ.com

New Jersey Nets Sports Memorabilia
and other New Jersey Nets Gifts and Collectibles
Below are links to memorabilia available for popular New Jersey Nets players.