Nothing gets us going in the Dime offices like a good ol’ fashioned debate, and the best debates are the ones that get heated. Trying to rate the best dunkers in the league is unanimously impossible. Do you want style? Force? Does a big man get points taken away? If a player is an epic dunker in warm-ups, does that count?

Back in the day, we had Vince Carter and there was no denying what type of dunker he was. But in the current NBA, outside of perhaps one or two guys, you could make a case for anyone. Read More »

Miami hasn’t done anything recently to suggest they’ve been stinking up the court outside of actually farting on it. In the first quarter last night against the Bulls, judging by the reactions of the players on the bench, someone definitely should’ve watched what they ate in the pregame. Read More »

As Jeremy Lin made TIME magazine’s top 100 most influential people list today, it proves the NBA’s most influential don’t even need to be on a roster the whole year to move the needle and up their Q rating.

Lin’s placement on the list, written about by former Harvard baller Arne Duncan — now known as the U.S. Secretary of Education — made us think who comprises the top 10 most influential in the NBA. Lin doesn’t make this list. An amazing run, but it’s over for now and lasted too short. These 10 have staying power. Read More »

Shaquille O’Neal will be returning to Hollywood, as he will be joining Adam Sandler, Chris Rock and Kevin James in the sequel to “Grown Ups,” creatively called “Grown Ups 2.” Shaq made a cameo appearance in Sandler’s recent box office bomb “Jack and Jill” and must have showcased some acting skills to Sandler that garnered him this role.

We all know Shaq is an actor extraordinaire, appearing in blockbuster films like “Kazaam” and “Steel.” It got us thinking what is the best movie performance by a NBA player? Read More »

Skip Bayless (photo. ESPN)

Skip Bayless recently bragged about a high school career that supposedly included a starting spot on a state championship contender. So during an ESPN debate that became a little testy, Jalen Rose went at him over some false facts, and got Skip to admit that he only averaged 1.4 points a game in high school, and even played junior varsity as a junior. Then Rose dropped the true “Ether” with the “Water Pistol Pete” comment. Read More »

Serge Ibaka can do many things, such as seemingly block every shot possible. I don’t think people quite realize how dominating he’s been as a shot blocker. He’s averaging 3.6 a game this year in only 27 minutes. But right here, it’s not his timing that impeccable, it’s that death grip that nearly turned Mike Dunleavy‘s arm into mush. Dunleavy was scared enough for his life that he had to bring out the sinister Judo Chop. Read More »

By now, I’m sure you’ve seen the videos. In this era of technology, Twitter and 24/7 highlights, you probably heard about it not long after Pau Gasol felt it. It gives you an idea of how we value excitement in sports. The Clippers lost last night, Kobe Bryant hit a game-clinching shot and Andrew Bynum was going to work, and yet this morning it’s been all about Blake Griffin un-manning Gasol twice. As we wrote in Smack, he murdered him early, resuscitated him and then killed him again. Twice in one game he smashed all over the Spaniard. Kendrick Perkins and Timofey Mozgov breathed a sigh of relief somewhere. Read More »

Holy good God. In last night’s “Battle for L.A.,” Blake Griffin caught Pau Gasol with not one, but two, epic dunks. Read More »

You know you’re good when you make one shot, and yet everyone agrees: you were the best player, the one who made the biggest impact, in the most important college basketball game of the year. Anthony Davis was on his way to becoming the No. 1 pick in this summer’s NBA Draft, and shooting 1-for-10 in the biggest game of his life didn’t affect his destiny one way or another. That might have had something to do with the rest of his night (16 rebounds, five dimes, three steals and six blocks), which was one of those unique, Rajon Rondo statlines that Kentucky seems so fond of producing. Read More »

How bad has Kobe Bryant been lately? There were actually points this weekend where Laker fans were pleading for their icon to stop shooting. Against New Orleans in one of the most dreadful shooting exhibitions we’ve ever seen from the normally deadly Mamba, at times the Hornets were caught denying No. 24 the ball out of habit, while giving up the inside game. Looking back on it, that actually wasn’t such a good idea. Read More »