An except from an AIM convo with Greg about this: http://www.gamespot.com/sports/journal_entry.html?id=18094500

Bob : http://www.ebgames.com/ebx/product/246574.asp notice something in the corner of the box?
Bob : what's up mario basketball
Greg: nothing says "street" like Mario....
Bob: or princess peach breaking your ankles with a nasty crossover

To be clear, I don't think it's a horrible idea that is flawed from the start. On the contrary, it's a shrewd move to give GC owners incentive to pick up the game and make their edition feel that much more special. And any version of Mario Basketball that Nintendo would make would basically play like NBA Street, except with crazy courts with moving baskets, and chain-chomps attached to the goal posts.

It's the execution of such a thing that worries me. NBA Street has an urban, graffiti-splashed look to it that would be completely ruined by crudely slapping in the cartoony Mario gang. Will the character models be tweaked to make them fit in more with the existing style of NBA Street? Will the Mario characters be in their own mode, or could I really play Larry Bird, Toad, and Yoshi vs. LeBron James, Mario, and Peach? How will the new characters animate? Is the ball going to be floating around all cheesy, or will they really look like they're pulling off high crossovers and such? What about the music--are we going to have any Nintendoish cutesy tracks or will Luigi be catching air to the beats of Just Blaze? Can Yoshi steal the ball with his tongue and dunk it with the ball in his mouth?

OR! Am I totally on crack in the first place for interpreting that picture as "Play Mario in this game." ?