We’re an equal opportunity outfit here at NBAMate (i.e. we like looking at hot chicks), so over the next few weeks we’re going to highlight one hard working member of each team’s dance squad.

You can vote for your favourite dancer in each division, then at the end of the series the six division winners will square off for the big prize – a place in our hallowed ‘Wall of Fame’, replacing Megan Fox (honestly, why did she do it?).

This is sure to be a grueling task, so wish me luck.

SOUTHEAST DIVISION

Andi – Atlanta Hawks

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Devastating news; it appears Andrew Bogut is done for the season. From NBA.com:

Not that they needed any, but there is more bad news for Andrew Bogut and Bucks fans after the 7-footer’s latest injury brush.

Bogut suffered a left ankle fracture in Wednesday’s game against Houston and is out indefinitely, per Charles F. Gardner of the Journal Sentinel.

Bogut left the game in the first quarter and did not return. Bogut has played all 82 games of the regular season just once during six seasons in the league, his rookie season, after being chose with the No. 1 overall pick by the Bucks in the 2005 draft.

Gardner reported that Bogut had a bad feeling about the injury after the game:

“It wasn’t good,” Bogut said. “I knew when I came down I was in some trouble. Keeping optimistic, everything’s fine with the X-ray, but that’s to be expected. I know I didn’t break a bone.

“But tomorrow’s the day of reckoning where I go under the MRI machine and find out my fate. I’m not optimistic. With my history of unlucky injuries I’m hoping this one can do me a favor and (go away). Most of my injuries are unfortunate things and this goes in the same boat as that. It’s frustrating.”

This is no doubt a huge blow for AB, so I am sure I speak for all of us in wishing him a speedy recovery.

*UPDATE: AB just posted this photo of his ankle on twitter (@AndrewMBogut)

A weekly wrap of the things you should know in basketball.

* Stephon Marbury wishes us a happy Chinese New Year.

* Kobe Bryant loses three mansions and $75 million in his divorce settlement. Something tells me he’ll be alright though.

* Zach Lowe examines the possibilities (or lack thereof) in Boston.

* Gee, Dirk really is struggling at the moment. Watch him make a meal of this drink.

* The New York Knicks are a bad dream.

* The T-Wolves are playing a dangerous game with Kevin Love.

* Check out this brilliant interview by Matt Steinmetz with Warriors coach Mark Jackson. If only more interviewers were this forthright.

* Chris Paul is putting down roots in LA. He’s reportedly agreed to buy Avril Lavigne’s $8.5 million Bel Air mansion.

* TrueHoop’s Henry Abbott examines the impact that heavy minutes play on a team’s title chances.

We’re an equal opportunity outfit here at NBAMate (i.e. we like looking at hot chicks), so over the next few weeks we’re going to highlight one hard working member of each team’s dance squad.

You can vote for your favourite dancer in each division, then at the end of the series the six division winners will square off for the big prize – a place in our hallowed ‘Wall of Fame’, replacing Megan Fox (honestly, why did she do it?).

This is sure to be a grueling task, so wish me luck.

ATLANTIC DIVISION

Cassidy – Boston Celtics

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A weekly wrap of the things you should know in basketball.

* More video gold from the Dallas Mavericks – they’re ‘sexy and they know it’.

* Kevin Love vs. Sumo Wrestler on ESPN’s Sport Science.

* Some tough decisions loom in Boston.
 
* The Birdman will taunt you with his face.
 
* Life ain’t fair. D-Wade has banked over $100 million in his career and yet he still receives a free $230K McLaren for his birthday.

* The prospect of Steve Nash winding up in New York next season is very, very high.

* JaVale McGee will show you why the Wizards are a joke.

* Greg Monroe is the real deal.

* It’s time to pony up Kobe Bryant.

* Hardwood Paroxysm has a fascinating piece on LeBron James and the ‘need for rings’ in the NBA.

Inept, clueless and idiotic – these are just a few words to describe the ‘work’ of the NBA GMs listed below.

How these guys keep their jobs, I do not know (cronyism?).

Ernie Grunfeld – Washington Generals, er, Wizards

Make no mistake, Ernie Grunfeld is responsible for this mess. He signed Gilbert Arenas to a $111 million extension on the back of two knee surgeries (now the corpse of Rashard Lewis); he gave known headcase Andray Blatche a $35 million contract; he traded the fifth pick in the 2009 draft, which turned into Ricky Rubio, for a packet of crisps (Mike Miller and Randy Foye); and he drafted all these lunatics that litter the roster.

They’re a knucklehead team, they have been for years and they stand no chance of succeeding until they overhaul the roster. And as far as I can see, Grunfeld has done nothing except sit on his hands and hope for the best.

In the offseason they should have amnesty’d Blatche, shopped McGee (though not necessarily to trade him, but to gauge his value) and sent Flip Saunders packing for a coach with balls. And why didn’t they target some high-character, team-first guys in free agency like Arron Afflalo or Luc Richard Mbah a Moute? I am not saying they would have turned this team around, but it would have been a start to adding the right mix of people around John Wall, instead deadbeats like Blatche, McGee and Young.

This team needs a culture change in the worst possible way, and they can start by kicking Ernie Grunfeld to the curb. And how the hell does he keep landing NBA jobs anyway?

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So it’s a little belated, but it’s only fair that our most recent inductee into the NBAMate Wall of Fame has a proper welcoming ceremony.

It was on May 25 2011 when I made the above Tweet, just after the Mavs had pulled off a 112-105 OT win against Oklahoma in the Western Conference Finals. Dirk has just completed arguably his best game of his entire 2011 playoff campaign – 40 points including 12 during a 17-2 run late in the fourth quarter to dig the Mavs out of a 15 point hole. It was insane, it was historic, and probably marked the peak of Dirk-o-mania during the 2011 playoffs. There was no way on earth I thought Dirk could keep playing like this, but I knew one thing for sure – if he did, he’s earned a spot in our Wall of Fame. Without question.

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A weekly wrap of the things you should know in basketball.

* This is too good. J.R. Smith’s sister brawls during a game in China.

* Check out these off-air doozies from the TNT crew – Charles Barkley, Reggie Miller and Kevin Harlan. My favourite; Charles calls his new gig as Weight Watchers spokesman “the greatest scam going”.

* How did these two clowns get a seat on the Mavericks bench? No matter, Wince Carter said they ‘were cool’.

* Yahoo! Sports Adrian Wojnarowski puts the heat on LeBron James.

* Kwame Brown is delusional, takes credit for Andrew Bynum’s success.

* The Kuwait men’s basketball team knocks off the Wizards’ uniform scheme.

* Jerry Sloan wants back in.

* Sports Illustrated takes a look at how the top 2012 draft prospects are faring.

* Dwight Howard defibrillates Glen Davis.

* Chris Bosh wants Dwayne Wade taking Miami’s last second shots.

I know, it’s a little early. But with most teams having played 8 or more games, it’s enough of a sample size to get a feel for who will be the true contenders this season, and which teams are just making up the numbers.

The Contenders

1. Miami Heat – They couldn’t have played their first 9 games any better, given how much court time their stars have missed. The triple-OT win against Atlanta was the gutsiest Heat win I’ve seen since the Big Three formed, and “gutsy” is not a word we would have used to described Miami last season. You can see it – the Heat are now trying to prove to themselves how good they can be, instead of worrying about proving it to the rest of the basketball world.

Lebron has been off the charts, even for him, and seems to have sacrificed a bit of ego and flair for the kind of high-percentage game opposition teams feared he would figure out one day. What’s a little disturbing though is that despite Lebron single-handedly trying to explode the PER machine, the Heat needed his superhuman efforts to get over the line in close wins against the Bobcats and T-Wolves. So they’re number 1 on the Contenders list, but they’re not way out in front by any means.

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