Everyone wants to talk about super teams. Of course, the Heat, Knicks, Clippers, Celtics and all the rest of ‘em capture the imagination of the NBA fan base. There’s nothing quite like feeling the anticipation and excitement in the air when you see that news hit telling you Chris Paul has finally been traded and he’s going to the Clippers. What immediately follows is typically more invigorating than what eventually happens. The promise of what could be is almost always better than what is. Even here at Dime, we find ourselves talking about one third of the NBA about 80 percent of the time. That doesn’t mean we don’t care about everyone else. Read More »

Thursday started as a good day for the New Jersey Nets. They began the day by agreeing to terms on a one-year deal with shooting guard DeShawn Stevenson. Stevenson won a championship with the Mavericks last season and will immediately provide a winning pedigree, toughness and perimeter defense to a team lacking in all three areas. However, the way the day ended overshadowed the shrewd morning signing of Stevenson. Yesterday evening it was announced that starting center Brook Lopez had a stress fracture in his foot and would be out for six to eight weeks with the injury. This injury is one that could change the course and future of the franchise and hurts the Nets on multiple levels. Read More »

In the last decade, the NBA has transformed from being a big man’s league into a guard’s league. Although frontcourts have always, and will always be the foundation of a winning team, recently franchises have found it much more difficult to build an elite frontline than putting together a competitive 1-2 punch. Ultimately, putting together a dominant frontcourt is what separates the good teams from the great ones, because in today’s game every team has talented guards. Frankly, each team has a backcourt that can outplay its opponent on any given night, which is why it is so difficult to pick five particular tandems as the best up-and-comers in the League. Read More »

The 2011-12 NBA schedule is peculiar, for various reasons. For one thing, not only will each team play 66 games (in the NBA’s 66th season, no less), but every team is slated to play at least one back-to-back-to-back set – that’s three games in three consecutive nights – during the season. This obviously has implications for older teams/players, guys playing through injuries, etc. Here are a few quick observations: Read More »

Ricky Davis is back. Yes, he of great beards, lots and lots of shots, and cheating-to-get-himself-a-triple-double fame (watch after the jump) has returned. Sort of.

Ridiculous Upside is reporting that Ricky (as well as Greg Ostertag!) has signed a contract with the NBDL and will find out what team he is on once he clears waiver Tuesday afternoon. Read More »

Remember the days before Kobe became Earth-bound? Remember the battles on Christmas Day with Shaq? Remember when the Lakers’ come-up was directly influenced by a young player coming into his own? Bryant says he’s playing this Sunday against Chicago, but at 33 years old and with a torn ligament in his shooting wrist, I doubt we see anything other than “old man at the Y” Kobe. But who knows, maybe we will get a throwback move. The NBA’s YouTube channel gave us a taste of his career on Christmas Day. Read More »

This might be the year Josh Smith finally makes the All-Star Game. We don’t want to jinx him – everyone knows the type of luck he has when it comes to this – but his game has matured, he has his body in the best shape it’s ever been in and the Hawks figure to be, at worst, a No. 6 seed in the Eastern Conference playoffs. Last night in Atlanta’s 92-75 drubbing of Charlotte to end the preseason, Smith had 21 points and six rebounds, hitting 10 of 15 shots in the game. Read More »

If you’re a sneakerhead, you’ve had tonight at midnight circled on your calendar for months. It’s not every year the Air Jordan XI “Concord” comes out – in fact, it’s pretty much not every decade. Though the Concords are not a limited release, they’ll sell out in mere minutes online, and however many pairs exist will probably sell out in most areas before Friday is over. Read More »

Let me start out by saying Quentin Richardson is the man. He always has been, and always will be. With that said, he got a raw deal in last night’s preseason game against the Heat. After a little bumping between him and LeBron James, this play should have resulted in a double-technical. Instead, Q got the personal foul and T’ed up. Read More »

Everyone wants to talk about super teams. Of course, the Heat, Knicks, Clippers, Celtics and all the rest of ‘em capture the imagination of the NBA fan base. There’s nothing quite like feeling the anticipation and excitement in the air when you see that news hit telling you Chris Paul has finally been traded and he’s going to the Clippers. What immediately follows is typically more invigorating than what eventually happens. The promise of what could be is almost always better than what is. Even here at Dime, we find ourselves talking about one third of the NBA about 80 percent of the time. That doesn’t mean we don’t care about everyone else. Read More »