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The greatest basketball player to ever grace the court is inducted into the basketball hall of fame. To commemorate this milestone ESPN is counting down the top 23 most memorable moments in his masterful career.

 Here is number 8:

You can catch the entire countdown at this special site ESPN has created in honor of Michael Jordan's induction tomorrow: 

espn.go.com/nba/features/jordan23

As evident by all the banner ads on ESPN.com you can also drink in celebration of this day with the limited edition MJ Gatorade. We all know how exhausting it can be to sit in bed and watch a speech. Now, you have can have all the electrolytes you need to flip the channels after MJ speaks. CAUTION: Gatorade may cause orangey teeth.

Side Note: There are some other people being inducted tomorrow as well, two of which are ranking military officers: "The Admiral" David Robinson and "Captain Short Shorts" John Stockton. Jerry Sloan, the longtime coach of possibly one of the most generic teams ever, the Utah Jazz. Also, the Rutgers Women's Basketball coach. No, Imus will certainly not be in attendance to congratulate her.

Two weeks ago, news broke that Lebron James had been posterized by one of the attendants of his Skills Academy. However, no evidence was to be found since Lebron James promptly had Nike confiscate all evidence of the incident. It has become an event that, without video evidence, has been exaggerated beyond what had actually happened.

If only the video hadn't been confiscated this would have all blown over quickly since it wasn't a spectacular dunk, but it's Lebron's own fault for trying to save his ego while having it all backfire. Don't cry Lebron, you're still young and there will be more opportunities for you to get dunked on.

Hit the jump for the video.

The headline for this post may be ridiculous, but I have video proof of Shaq in a plastic knife fight while tributing Michael Jackson. While I'm still not sure if this is part of a new off season work out plan to prepare himself for a run at his 5th ring, I am sure that there are random girls in bathing suits watching a bunch of guys reenact parts of the "Beat It" music video.

Thanks to GamePro Sports following the Big Twitterer, I discovered interactiveshaq.com and inevitably this video by following THE _REAL_SHAQ. If you've never been to interactiveshaq.com I suggest you click the link and listen to this intro song on the Web site; it's like nothing you've ever heard. I thought at any moment ShaqFu could jump through my screen and whoop some ass.

Twitter seems to breed three things: fanatical users (see Ocho Cinco), anger (see Kanye West) and challenges (see Ashton Kutcher vs. CNN). The latest challenge pits two mediocre NBA players against each other to see who can ge to 50,000 followers first. The contest is between Detroit Piston Charlie Villanueva (known as @CV31) and Toronto Raptor Chris Bosh (known as@chrisbosh). 

The challenge has been set and the loser has to do the Shane Marcado, if you're unsure what that is, check the video below. So now it is up to you Twitterverse, who do you want to see dancing to Beyonce? CV31 or CB4? The choice is yours but make sure you vote by following one or the other. No end date has been set, but here are your updated totals as of this morning (9am PST): 

Charlie Villanueva (http://twitter.com/CV31): 44,551 followers.

Chris Bosh (http://twitter.com/chrisbosh): 44,300 followers. 

The race is on to 50,000! Here's a video from CV31 with details on the challenge and an example of the Shane Marcardo: 

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The reigning MVP and the NBA's biggest Diva, LeBron James got posterized by Xavier's Jordan Crawford at his LeBron James Skills Academy. Lebron's reaction rivals Watergate as he confiscated all the evidence.

Here's what Bleacher Report has to say about the incident:

"Apparently embarrassed by the schooling, James asked Lynn Merritt, senior director of Nike basketball, to confiscate all tapes and proof of the dunk from attending photographers. Reports say there were two photographers present, including freelancer Ryan Miller.

Players present at the Academy, which features college level players learning and playing with the NBA phenom, also confirmed the play took place.

No word on whether there is any other proof of the game, including any potential cell phone videos or other photos. No one from the LeBron James camp has confirmed or denied the reports. Nike has done the same."

The funny thing is it's a much bigger deal because LeBron is covering it up. Just move on man, you have millions of dollars to soothe your bruised ego.

I also hope that LeBron wasn't the one teaching the Consistent Free Throw shooting section of the LBJ Skills Academy. The man still needs some lessons himself.

LBJ is one of the best players in the league, but he is also the biggest bitch. He's no Kobe, and he'll never be as good as MJ -- the basketball god or the pedophile.
 

NBA referees' favorite player, Rasheed Wallace, has committed to signing a 2 year pact with the Boston Celtics for the full Mid-Level Exception (roughly 5.6-5.9 million). This signing furthers the trend of the Eastern Conference powerhouses continuing to get better.

Cleveland struck first with the trade for Shaq (four months too late, and I'm not sure it really makes them better from a team defense standpoint). Orlando countered with trading for Vince Carter, which is an attractive option since he is an All-Star, but they dumped a budding talent in Courtney Lee and are losing Hedo Turkoglu. The Celtics then went out and got arguably the best big man in the free agent market and one of the most athletic/talented big men in the league in Rasheed Wallace.

That's a pretty big shakeup for the Eastern Elite compared to the rosters they had in this year's playoffs. Who do you think the favorite in the Eastern Conference is now? My current analysis after the jump...
 

It won't be official until July 8, but it's a sealed deal... Ron Artest will sign with the Los Angeles Lakers with a 3 year contract, and Trevor Ariza will sign with the Houston Rockets with a similar contract. It's almost as if the Lakers and Rockets had traded players through free agency. This definitely makes the Lakers an even more devastating force on the court.

And, for the sake of being rediculous I'd love to see this line up just once during the season:

PG: Kobe Bryant
SG: Ron Artest
SF: Lamar Odom
PF: Pau Gasol
C : Andrew Bynum

Could you imagine?! My only real concern is that Lamar Odom remains with the Lakers as he is also a free agent. Now, if any of our readers would like to donate money towards my goal of buying a ticket to the Lakers' season opener, let me know! I'll just have to make sure that I, or anyone else near me throws a cup in Artest's general direction because we all know how that turned out.

Following last week's big name pre-draft trades with Shaq and Carter, this is one of the first of the signings in the 2009 "roleplayers" class of free agents. Even now, the Celtics are pushing to sign Rasheed Wallace and the Mavericks seem to have made an agreement with Marcin Gortat. Surely, there will be more movement as July 8 approaches and teams scramble to pick up the best of this years class of free agents. Maybe we'll even see more salary unloading trades during the off season as everyone awaits the infamous 2010 class with D. Wade and Lebron James hitting the free agency market.

Last Thursday the NBA draft saw two blockbuster trades occur. One sent Shaq to Cleveland, which was reported on quite a bit. The other sent Vince Carter to the Orlando Magic. As a Nets fan this was devastating news to me and it took me the whole weekend to gather my thoughts about this. So now a Nets fan will tell you why Orlando getting Vince Carter is a bigger deal than you thought.

Vince Carter has been the most underrated superstar in recent sports history. Because of very vocal Toronto fans, people seem to actually believe some of the misconceptions they propagate about the man. However, after watching him for 4 ½ years, he has gone from a player I sort of disliked to my favorite player in the league. Here are some of the common criticisms I hear about him and why they are untrue.

On the eve of the NBA draft, and under the cover of night, the Phoenix Suns have made a huge move by sending Shaquille O'Neal over to the Cleveland Cavaliers for Ben Wallace and Sasha Pavlovic. Whether this is a good idea for the Suns remains to be seen, but I feel they are weakened further by the trade. However, it seems the move was a salary dump in hopes for future possibilities and one thing is for sure, this really shakes things up in the Eastern Conference for the 2009 - 2010 season.

With a Lebron and Shaq duo, this could be Shaq's last chance at getting a 5th NBA Championship ring. The Cavs will definitely have a greater interior presense with Shaq; something they obviously lacked against Dwight Howard and the Magic in the playoffs. And, as history has told, Shaq knows how to win with a great 2 guard beside him. But, is he too far past his prime? I guess it all depends on what kind of condition he is in when the post season rolls around.

My real question now is: What nickname will Shaq come up with during his stay in Cleveland? He's going to have to get really creative for this new nickname because I can't think of anything else that Cleveland is known for other than the old Drew Carey Show.