In basketball and every other major pro team sport, we always seem to be in the middle of a period where one position is enjoying a “Golden Era.” Right now, a lot of people would say this is a Golden Era for point guards in the NBA. And if you haven’t seen Dime’s NBA preview issue yet, there I wrote that we’re seeing the beginning of a Golden Era for small forwards.

At the beginning of this decade, though, we were in the age of the power forward. Read More »

After tossing and turning all afternoon from writing a pro-Jazz piece yesterday, I was comforted last night by a real good Michigan State/Gonzaga game (watch out for freshman Kelly Olynyk – kid’s no joke) and a Nuggets win over the Raptors 130-112 in Denver.

The game got me predicting and dreaming about a number of things. Namely, like how Carmelo Anthony will be All-NBA first team and how Chris Bosh really does get lost up in Canada. Read More »

Josh Smith is spoiling me rotten. Watching Hawks/Blazers last night and seeing Smith throw down at least two dunks that would normally make me (at least) sit up on the couch and make a “something stinks” face, I found myself not doing anything.

Smith is so good above the rim, he dunks so hard and makes it look so easy, that it’s getting tough to even be that impressed by his dunks anymore unless he’s dunking right on somebody. Read More »

Weekend Wonder: Tyreke Evans is bouncing back from a bum ankle in a big way, helped partly by the absence of Kevin Martin. The Kings’ surging rookie averaged 27.5 points, 5.5 rebounds, 4.5 assists, 1.5 steals and just 1 turnover in two games over the weekend, while also hitting 1.5 threes, shooting 50 percent (15-30) from the field and 85 percent (22-26) from the free throw line. With Martin sidelined for six to eight weeks, expect Evans to fill that void quite nicely. Read More »

Beast of the Night: LeBron James repeats as Beast of the Night, hanging a triple-double to the tune of 23 points, 1 three, 11 rebounds, 12 assists and 2 steals in a loss against the Raptors last night. He had 4 turnovers and shot 57.1 percent (8-14) from the free throw line, which seems to be his one flaw yet again this year. Read More »

As we anticipate the commencement of the brand spanking new 2009-10 NBA season, let’s take a look at a handful of fantasy “gangs.” To be more specific, let’s give fun names to certain groups of players who have similar attributes — for fantasy purposes, of course. Hopefully, this post will do two things: offer you some helpful glimpses into what you should expect from these players heading into the regular season, and present you with an amusing read to help you rediscover your smile (especially if you drafted Blake Griffin) and regular breathing patterns amid all the tense eagerness for tonight. Read More »

They all count from here on out. Friday was the last day of NBA preseason action, with a nearly full schedule that included two national TV games: Hawks/Magic and Nuggets/Lakers … Orlando effectively ended their contest early, going up by 20-plus in the first quarter and capping an undefeated preseason with a near 40-piecing. Vince Carter dropped 26, hit all five of his threes, and was throwing down double-clutch dunks along the baseline while the Hawks basically watched. Dwight Howard put up 25 points, 13 boards and three blocks … Even more impressive about Dwight’s performance was that he managed to beast Al Horford. Read More »

One sequence defined last night’s Lakers/Nuggets national TV preseason game: In the second half, after Kobe Bryant had already come out of the locker room with That Look in his eye, he pulled off his new favorite move on Kenyon Martin; getting him in the air with a pump fake and spinning a quick 360 to his left, dropping a jumper as K-Mart harmlessly floated back to Earth. Then on the Nuggets’ ensuing possession, Kobe jumped a passing lane and finished with a breakway one-hander, slapping on the bottom-teeth snarl as an exclamation point … Read More »

With points, rebounds and assists covered, let’s move on to discuss some late-round thieves who could help your fantasy team with a steals deficiency. Again, these players are listed in no particular order. There’s much room for discussion here, so please populate the comments section below with your reactions. Read More »

I’m trying to be a man of the people this season, so per a reader’s request, here are the results of a mock draft I participated in recently. It was for a 12-team, head-to-head format league with the standard nine categories and 10 starting spots (PG, SG, G, SF, PF, F, C, C, Util, Util).

I’ll list each round (with my picks in bold) followed by brief comments and will list my final team from this mock draft at the bottom. Here we go. Read More »