Basketball: The game of today’s youth. The Internet: The medium of the future. Mmmm, a marriage made in heaven.

Once again, content is king: Lots of stats, trivia, pics and info. You gain a ton of insight because the site gives you the little things. There’s enough breadth so that it’s not patronizing, but not boring either. Learning while playing is always a bonus.

Interactivity here isn’t bad: E-mail your questions and hope for the best-but, it gets some good fortification from the dialog between interviewers, players, and ultimately the visitor. It’s the aspartame of interaction, and it d’es a pretty decent job.

Refresh rates are nice and snappy because there’s a cool blend of data: A nice balance between the graphics, pictures, info and options. Quicktime videos are also there if you really want them. The site copes nicely in a 14.4 kps environment.

Kids are information junkies who are always looking to satisfy their needs. Give them usable nuggets of information to share with others, confirm points of view, and increase self-esteem and they’ll be happy to come back to the source.

Ooo, how annoying: Being in one section, linking to the next and then having no clear way to back except through the home page. Even more bothersome, links that don’t highlight when you’ve already been to a specific section. The site needs to get its breadcrumb system sorted out.

Ahhh, a nice feature is a navigation bar always at your side. A really nice feature is the Season’s Transactions section where you get the low-down on what’s been happening all year. Excellent detail. A search capability would put the whole thing over the top.

‘WOW’ stuff was an immediate update right after the All-star game had finished. Do this all of the time and the site becomes positioned as the info source. It laughs at other media like print and TV because they lack the necessary multimedia components. Ha. Very crafty indeed.

Who gets attention here? Nickelodeon, Fleer, Nestlé, Schick, and AT&T, among others. All have some site presence. Also, community activities are highlighted for every franchise. (A nice pat on the back for both the NBA and its teams.) The site works hard, for all of its constituents.

During All-star weekend, this location struts its stuff. It has excellent balance in what it offers and never dries out. Deep content, constant updates, and hard visuals; this site jams.

Overall rating: slamming (9 out of 10).