As the entire basketball universe will be fixated to their TVs today to finally witness this season commence, there are several underrated gifts under the Christmas tree to unwrap as well. While the league’s brightest stars will be going at it throughout the five-game docket, every hoops junkie should also pay attention to some of the other battles that’ll take place. Kind of like those unexpected cash envelopes you receive from your distant aunt, uncle, or grandparents, the following 10 matchups will surely not disappoint. Read More »

Laker fans never have to worry. When the NBA released its revised schedule about a week ago, they made sure the league’s most polarizing franchise was delivered to it’s ever-expanding fan base. Is 29 out of 66 enough? 29 times this season the Lakers will be playing on national TV, which is only about 25 times more than the New Jersey Nets, despite their star point guard and despite their jet ski-riding, womanizing owner (and even those four games got the shaft that is NBA TV). The NBA knows the big names and the big teams will make the most money. Cleveland at Milwaukee in February is for no one outside of the diehards. Read More »

Ladies and gentlemen… start your engines. With a tentative labor deal being reached, attention has now shifted towards free agency as teams prepare for what could become one of the most hectic, exciting and hopefully unforgettable periods of movement in NBA history. Teams need to make up for lost time, and what better way than to get your star player recruiting on Twitter? This weekend Kevin Durant tweeted at veteran free agent Shane Battier: Hey @ShaneBattier, just wanted to see how you were doing and what size jersey you wear and also do u still want no.31? Battier responded: @KDTrey5 yes #31 is preferable and it’s true that I enjoy OKC steakhouses. And @nickcollison4 is my boy. Hmmmm……big selling points. That should get your juices flowing for the season to start – players schmoozing players, guys using anything in their power to get a leg up on the competition, shamelessly trying to assemble a roster capable of winning a championship. Read More »

The Golden State Warriors have perennially been one of the more favorable NBA teams for fantasy basketball fans. The arrival of new head coach Mark Jackson may mean more energy spent on the defensive end of the court, but make no mistake – the crew from Oakland still has plenty of appeal for fantasy purposes. After all, not many teams boast four players who can potentially be drafted in the first three rounds of drafts whenever the NBA resumes. Read More »

When O.J. Mayo told Sports Illustrated’s Chris Mannix there were times last year where he wasn’t sure he even wanted to play basketball anymore, my eyes opened. I’ll admit that Mayo is and always will be one of my favorite players. His ruthlessness in high school hooked me. Three years into his pro career, I never would’ve guessed that someone had stolen his confidence. But it definitely happened.

One thing you realize when speaking to enough players is that it’s more about the situation than it is the player. Sure, there are times when someone loses motivation, and their game falls off. But take away the very best players in the world, and what do you have left? Read More »

Right after the Rockets hired Kevin McHale as their new head coach, he made one thing clear: Houston had to get big. So with the corpse of Yao Ming coming off the books this summer, they started by acquiring Donatas Motiejunas (7-0), Marcus Morris (6-9) and Chandler Parsons (6-9) on Draft Night to pair with Luis Scola (6-9) in the frontcourt. But apparently that was only just the start. They want Andris Biedrins. Read More »

File this under “NO F’ing Way This Will Happen”: According to Draft Express, the Golden State Warriors have reportedly offered a package of Monta Ellis, Ekpe Udoh and Andris Biedrins to the Orlando Magic for Dwight Howard. It is a general rule that unless it’s a total steal, you almost never deal big for small in the NBA. It hardly, if ever, works. We would say that when you’re talking about the best big in the NBA, that rule is extra airtight. Monta Ellis is nice and all, but he’s not one of the A-List NBA guards that would be required to get the Magic to even think twice about a deal for Dwight. On top of that, Read More »

With yesterday’s decisive 104-86 victory over San Antonio, the Memphis Grizzlies now find themselves on the verge of becoming just the second eight-seed to ever defeat a No. 1 in a seven-game series. Suffice to say, the Grizz – who went 46-36 during the regular season – have shocked the nation while going up 3-1 on the Spurs. And if they can finish this thing out, it would also be the franchise’s first-ever series victory in the playoffs. This is all sans their star small forward, Rudy Gay, whose season ended early due to a shoulder injury.

As Memphis continues to click on all cylinders against the Western Conference’s top team, it got us reminiscing about another 1-8 first round matchup: Dallas vs. Golden State in 2007. Read More »

On Twitter a couple weeks ago, WFAN Radio’s (New York) Evan Roberts tweeted a suggestion that as part of the NBA’s new collective bargaining agreement, each team should be allowed to void one bad contract. I thought that was an interesting idea, and did some research, and here is one contract each NBA team would probably like to void: Read More »

Another year, another NBA Trade Deadline gone by. As you probably would expect, the Dime office was Ground Zero today for anything and everything trade related. Whether it was Twitter, texts or phone calls, we were constantly on our toes looking for the most up-to-date info to relay to you, our readers. With players’ names being thrown around more than the gut of Chris Farley in a Matt Foley motivational speaker skit, it was difficult forecasting what gossip would end up reality. On the wake of the recently kyboshed Mayo/McRoberts deal, it brought my attention to the other rumored deals that were circulating, but for one reason or another didn’t quite come to fruition. Here they are: Read More »