It’s not often that an NBA head coach denounces a likely playoff team so presumptively, but here you have it. Avery Johnson, head coach of the Brooklyn Nets, spoke honestly about his team’s chances in the upcoming season. Despite adding Joe Johnson and re-signing most of the team’s big pieces, he’s still not uber confident. Here’s what he had to say, via the Dallas Morning News: Read More »

The evolution of the point guard has brought us Derrick Rose and Russell Westbrook: big, fast, unguardable. The era of game managers and pure passers has slowly faded, leaving only a few of that breed left to hold the torch for the old school.

This new school lead guard style has temporarily masked the brilliance of the likes of Jason Kidd, Steve Nash, Rajon Rondo, Ricky Rubio, and the other pure point guards who manage a game rather than control it with scoring. But over the last three months two East Coast purists have been putting on a display of passing that proves the old school role isn’t extinct yet. Read More »

While the current state of the NBA has basketball fans world down, some great things are still happening. Case in point: “The Experience,” compliments of Nets Basketball and the Barclays Center.

The Experience is the brand new mobile unit that the Nets unleashed at Brooklyn Borough Hall yesterday afternoon. Read More »

Last season there was a lot of hope in New Jersey about the Nets. The team had acquired a bonafide superstar in Deron Williams, Brook Lopez continued to make his way into the conversation as one of the best centers in the NBA, and Kris Humphries emerged as a double-double threat from the power forward position. However, there was one glaring weakness on the Nets’ roster this past season, and that was at small forward. Read More »

You don’t need me to point out that tonight is the biggest game of the season. Massive. Enormous. Undertaker-huge. Rings are resting on these 48 minutes. The winners of Game 5s in the Finals win the series 77% of the time. If Miami wins, wrap it up. If Dallas wins, they have a death grip on it.

Because of the 2-3-2 format, Game 5s always seem to carry some type of legendary stench. The air is stuffy with expectations and formality. Just look at tonight, at all of the storylines. Read More »

If you would have told me back in ’08 that an undersized four named Kris Humphries playing for the Raptors would be producing double-double numbers in 2011 while starting for an NBA franchise, I would’ve said you’re crazy. I guess I was hasty in my judgment. This year, “The Incredible Hump” sprouted from a cocoon to a butterfly seemingly overnight, posting averages of 10.0 points, 10.4 rebounds and 1.1 blocks per game, with a respectable PER of 17.91 (ahead of Rudy Gay and Danny Granger among others). Whether you attribute his improved play as being the product of playing in a contract year, a depleted Nets frontcourt that can’t rebound *cough* Brook Lopez *cough*, or the “hot and heavy” effect of being Kim Kardashian’s latest fling, Kris has emerged as a candidate for Most Improved Player and is one of the lone bright spots on a Nets team under renovation. We caught up with Kris to talk about the Nets’ move to Brooklyn, competing against Michael Phelps and scoring on his own net. Read More »

A little piece of Utah died today. The announcement that Jazz head coach Jerry Sloan is resigning after 22 and a half seasons with the team came as a shock to those outside of the organization and marks the end of an era for the NBA. We will likely never see a coach who sticks around with one team as long as Sloan, not to mention one who defines his team’s identity as much as Sloan.

When Sloan was inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame in 2009, Dime reader and Jazz fan/blogger Amar penned this piece on the legacy of a true pro’s pro: Read More »

With the pressure of working out a ‘Melo deal and getting out of their losing funk constantly looming, the New Jersey Nets seem like a team disoriented, trying desperately to find their way.

In a week where we heard coach Avery Johnson call out Brook Lopez for a lack of rebounding proficiency (“What I dream about, I really honest to God truth, I dream about our center getting 10 rebounds.”), it seems like Brook now has some gripes of his own. Read More »

Kwame Brown was cooked before he even had a chance. While the No. 1 pick of the 2001 NBA Draft can be blamed for a lot of missteps on his road to becoming one of the most notorious draft busts of all-time, the biggest (and most overlooked) factor in Kwame’s stunted NBA growth was that the expectations for him changed in between the night he was drafted and the night his rookie season began.

The problem? Michael Jordan the front-office exec decided to come back to the League as MJ the player. Read More »

Yesterday afternoon, the New Jersey Nets announced that for the 2011-12 NBA season, they would be entering into a single affiliate partnership with the D-League’s Springfield Armor. What this means is that the Nets will have total control of the basketball operations for the Armor, while the current local ownership would be in charge of selling tickets, sponsorships and reaching out in the community. Within this framework, the Nets would draft the Armor’s players in the D-League Draft, would decide who to sign to the roster and would also appoint the Armor’s front office and coaching staffs. There is only one other affiliation like this currently in the NBA, as the Rio Grande Valley Vipers are a single affiliate for the Houston Rockets. Read More »