Leave it to Kanye West to postpone the summer as long as David Stern did the NBA season a year ago. The G.O.O.D. Music performance that capped off Jay-Z’s Made in America music festival teased us almost as much as a new NBA 2K13 trailer from 2K Sports. But the best things in life are always worth the wait. Now, Yeezy has dropped Cruel Summer upon us, while the NBA’s offseason is at a dead period until training camp starts. Read More »

“Now this is the story all about how My life got flipped, turned upside down And I’d like to take a minute just sit right there I’ll tell you how I became the prince of a town called Bel Air”

Y’all can’t help but finish humming the rest of this joint, right?

These classic lyrics to the theme song of The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air cross generations. Every kid who grew up in the ‘90s watched this show and knows this jam by memory. Will Smith turned into a superstar right before our eyes. Read More »

Fellow Dime colleague, Dylan Murphy, is right. No one’s talking about Sam Presti picking Serge Ibaka over James Harden. And there are plenty of reasons behind the continued silence. The entire topic is a moot point. It’s clearly apparent to every basketball fan that James Harden should’ve been the choice for the Oklahoma City Thunder. Read More »

The 2012 NBA Draft has come and gone like Maybach Music Group’s Self Made 2 drop earlier this week. Billed as one of best drafts in recent memory, it didn’t provide the same kind of trade activity that all the pre-draft talk suggested. Nevertheless, the lack of major moves impacted the way the draft played out. Hell, David Stern, Adam Silver and the entire ESPN broadcast couldn’t even keep up with the rate Twitter was disseminating the picks at warp speed. Now GMs, teams, and players have no time before they’re notified of how great or how poor their evening went. We documented each selection as it unfolded; and here’s our list of the top ten winners and losers of the draft. Read More »

The 2012 NBA Draft has come and gone like Maybach Music Group’s Self Made 2 drop earlier this week. Billed as one of best drafts in recent memory, it didn’t provide the same kind of trade activity that all the pre-draft talk suggested. Nevertheless, the lack of major moves impacted the way the draft played out. Hell, David Stern, Adam Silver and the entire ESPN broadcast couldn’t even keep up with the rate Twitter was disseminating the picks at warp speed. Now GMs, teams and players have no time before they’re notified of how great or how poor their evening went. Read More »

The NBA Finals is the ultimate stage where players’ legacies are defined.

One can roll through any barbershop in the country, at any point of the year, and all the basketball arguments begin and end with: “What did he do in the Finals?” or “how many rings he got?” It’s the only sport that instantly correlates individual success with the number of championships won. This reality is one of the main reasons why the first achievement that anyone distinguishes Michael Jordan for are his six titles. Man, Bill Russell doesn’t have to worry about scoring titles (zero) or MVPs (five) because no one will ever top his 11 rings. His status as “the greatest winner ever” has forever been cemented due to those 11 ’ships. Eventually, they had to rename the Finals MVP Award as the Bill Russell NBA Finals Most Valuable Player Award. Read More »

With the NBA Draft Lottery taking place, everyone has a better idea where likely draftees will land come June 28, 2012. Here at Dime, we’ve already begun our full-fledge draft coverage. Catch up on player profiles like Harrison Barnes, the weekly diary of Dion Waiters, and our latest mock draft. All of these features provide a glimpse into what to expect from the incoming influx of ballers. Yet, the perpetual interrelationship between hip-hop and hoopin’ can’t be overlooked. Read More »

“Welcome to Atlanta where the playas play” … stop it. Stop the chorus of the Jermaine Dupri/Ludacris hit single right there.

It was an embarrassment.

I don’t know what the ratings were for Game 4 between the Atlanta Hawks and the Boston Celtics, but it couldn’t have been funnier than watching a “Martin” re-run. The final score read 101-79, but it doesn’t tell the full story. It was a blowout of epic proportions. Fans at the TD Garden should get their money back and fans watching from home should get their time back. This type of poor basketball display is what initiates the discussion about the root of it all. The focus instantly shifted away from the series itself back to who is to blame. Read More »

It’s been two days – one weekend – and the NBA Playoffs have already thrown some twists our way. Derrick Rose is done, Nick Young and Reggie Evans spearheaded what might’ve been the greatest comeback ever and Andrew Bynum is setting records. Who would’ve thought? It only promises to get better from here as the Eastern Conference is now a complete disaster, and in the West, everyone outside of San Antonio has question marks. Read More »

“That guy doesn’t know a thing about basketball,” Kevin Durant said of Skip Bayless prior to the Thunder facing the Grizzles on April 2.

SI’s Chris Mannix tweeted recently, “I like @RealSkipBayless, I’ve sat across the desk from him, but the suggestion that OKC is doomed w/Westbrook at point guard is ridiculous.”

As if Skip Bayless doesn’t have enough cats on his hit list, Russell Westbrook is the latest player to feel the hate. He has nicknamed him “Russell Westbrick.” Bayless doesn’t like that he takes too many shots, isn’t a pure point guard, and doesn’t defer to Durant in crunch time. Last season’s playoff performance by Westbrook fueled the media fire against him, but Bayless continually condemns his play and expects he’ll be the Thunder’s cause to their ultimate playoff demise this season. Read More »