Thanks to an dislocated shoulder injury to Dwyane Wade, the Miami Heat must now fight to stay into the eighth and final playoff spot. Head coach Pat Riley has challenged Shaquille O’Neal to step up and lead the team, but O’Neal likely can’t make a big enough difference if Wade sits out for an extended period of time. Some reports have said Wade could need season-ending surgery, others think the NBA Finals MVP will return in the next week or two…

The NBA trade deadline typically disappoints the fans of most teams, but Thursday’s lack of activity just about sets the record for futility. Three trades occurred on the day of the deadline, involving four players — none of whom will have an impact on their new team.

The Los Angeles Lakers have provided Phil Jackson with a record six-game losing streak. While that’s not quite a Boston Celtics-like slump, neither team has recently lived up to their titles as previously being dynasty franchises.

There’s been a lot of rumors and trade talk (though not a lot of action) around the NBA since this past All-Star weekend, but many bloggers have said RIP to former Boston Celtic Dennis Johnson. To make the Celtics’ dismal season even worse, Johnson died of cardiac arrest at age 52 while coaching his D-league team.

One year ago from yesterday, the Daily Basketball (then CenterCourt Hoops) blog was created. Consider this new, free basketball theme we’ve installed the gift from Daily Basketball to its readers…In the past year, we’ve posted approximately 150 times. Not quite as daily as True Hoop, but nevertheless…