What do you get when you have Derrick Rose, Rajon Rondo, Andre Iguodala, Russell Westbrook and Josh Smith all in one rooming playing the new NBA 2K11? This. And J-Smoove might have the line of the year. “Landlocked.”

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We’re resuming our look at the projected top 10 fantasy players at each position. Yesterday we went through the top 10 fantasy point guards. Today we’ll look at the top 10 fantasy shooting guards. Judging from yesterday’s comments, our readers aren’t afraid to speak up, which is peachy keen. The more varied the perspectives, the better the discussion, so keep the reactions coming. Remember that these rankings are based on a nine-category scoring system. Read More »

We argue. You decide.

CARLOS BOOZER (by Jorge Azze) Booz is undersized at 6-9, but has been the face of consistency at the power forward spot.

Since getting to the League in ’02, Boozer has averaged a double-double in five of his eight seasons, including the last four years in a row. He is a smart guy, Duke alum, with ridiculous work ethic. Read More »

Once upon a time, high school basketball players were generally not as athletic as the pros. Back then, if you went to a high school game you were significantly less likely to see players go above the rim. Not anymore. We’ve come a long way since Hoosiers, to the point today where kids in the 15-to-18 year old set are unleashing the same — and sometimes better — level of vertical leap and style on their dunks as the grown-ups who get paid to do it. Read More »

The NBA isn’t as much of a copycat league as the NFL, but teams that want to contend for championships still have to adapt to whatever the current ring-bearers are doing. Case in point: Every good team is looking to add size, toughness, and six to 12 extra fouls in the frontcourt to deal with the Pau Gasol, Andrew Bynum and Lamar Odom problem presented by the Lakers. (Same goes for the East. Check the Celtics and Heat scrambling to sign any guy who is near 7-feet tall with four limbs.) You saw it yesterday, when as soon as Erick Dampier hit the open market, the Rockets put in their bid. Read More »

Never bet against Danny Ainge. As the mastermind behind the modern day Celtics, he seems to always be able find just the right pieces to compete for a championship. And apparently one of those potential pieces is Adam Morrison. According to Yahoo! Sports’ Adrian Wojnarowski, the Celtics have had the 26-year-old working out for their front-office and coaching staffs this week at the team’s practice facility, and have also worked out Cuttino Mobley, Rashad McCants and Trenton Hassell the past couple days. No word on whether or not Steve Francis or Latrell Sprewell were contacted. Read More »

Being the “Basketball Lifestyle Magazine” that we are, we at Dime always try to keep our ear to the ground on what’s going on in urban culture around us – so naturally we’ve been up on the online show “Maestro Knows” and its mastermind Levi Maestro for more than minute now. Maestro, a 24-year-old L.A. resident – who originally migrated coastal from Tucson at age 19 – has been filming his own daily happenings, experiences and travels for more than a year now and throwing them on his site, maestroknows.com. And through his video creations, he’s been able to rub shoulders with some of the most influential apparel, creative, athletic and musical peeps on the planet. Read More »

During the next week or so, we’ll be going through the projected top 10 fantasy players at each position for the 2010-11 NBA season. We’ll start off with point guards. While this position is typically viewed as one of the thinner ones in fantasy leagues, this rundown shows that there’s plenty of depth at this position this season. There is much room for debate here, of course, so let us know what you agree or disagree with. (These rankings are based on a nine-category scoring system.) Read More »

Last year, in the weeks leading up to the NBA season, I ranked the League’s go-to guys. Using the rationale that even the most balanced team has one identifiable if-all-else-fails leader that they look to in crunch time (see Team USA and Kevin Durant), I picked one player per squad for a final list of 30. Again, ONE PLAYER PER TEAM.

Being a go-to guy isn’t always about who takes the last-second shot. It’s the guy who regularly gets the basketball when things are getting tense in the fourth quarter; the guy expected to calm things down when teammates are getting antsy; the guy called upon to snuff out an opponent’s rally or spark a rally of his own; the guy who’s not just supposed to make shots, but make the right decisions. Bottom line: Who do you want the offense to run through when everything is on the line? Read More »

The Notorious B.I.G. of the NBA is learning once again that with mo’ money comes mo’ problems.

In the same year that he’s seen his ex-wife putting his business on blast via reality TV, and got engaged to another former reality-TV star, Shaquille O’Neal is being sued by a former employee. Read More »