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 »

Principal D-Stern had to have been pleased with his product yesterday, as two of the NBA’s three preseason games took place outside the United States. In Taiwan, the Pacers blew out the Nuggets: Troy Murphy put up 20 points with four threes, and Brandon Rush (20 pts) knocked down six triples, but the real story was Roy Hibbert. The kid was a BEAST, going for 20 points, 11 boards and eight blocks. Granted, Nene being out meant Denver started Johan Petro at center, but he only played 10 minutes before Birdman and K-Mart assumed most of the duties inside. It’s just preseason, but in the Nuggets‘ two games against NBA teams (they smashed a team of kids from Belgrade), they haven’t looked good at all … Read More »

A good sign that things are getting busier and crazier around here: A couple years ago, if the first televised NBA preseason game was on during the workday, you would’ve found at least 2-3 members of the Dime crew parked on the office couch in front of the TV, workload be damned. This year, the best we could do was catch some of Jazz/Bulls (from London) on a side-glance … No Derrick Rose for this one, as he reportedly hurt his ankle the day before in practice. (Funny how that coincided with his 21st birthday on Sunday. Not that we’re accusing anybody of anything.) Read More »

Thanks to some sloppy play by the Nuggets and that same ol’ sharp execution by the Jazz, there wasn’t much excitement left by the end of last night’s NBA preseason opener. Deron Williams (16 pts, 6 asts) and C.J. Miles (16 pts, 3 stls) led Utah as they teased a 20-piecing before halftime, allowed Denver to cut it to single-digits by the break, but pulled away in the second half to win 103-87. Carmelo (13 pts, 4-11 FG) and James White (13 pts) led the Nuggets, who had 27 turnovers as a team … Carlos Boozer started at PF and finished with seven points and seven boards in 20 minutes, while Paul Millsap came off the bench for seven points and three rebounds in 18 minutes. Boozer somehow didn’t get resoundingly booed by the home fans, but he didn’t exactly get a hero’s welcome, either. Read More »

NBA training camps opened over weekend, meaning it’s time again for Dime’s team-by-team season previews. Last year we debuted the “Highs and Lows” system — predicting the respective ceilings and basements for each team. Or in other words, what is the realistic best-case and worst-case scenario for the 2009-10 campaign?

Added: Ty Lawson, Arron Afflalo, James White, Joey Graham, Malik Allen Read More »

Can you say “letdown”? Just as we were scouring our contacts in L.A. to see if we could get somebody near Lamar Odom’s bachelor party and file an imbedded report, L.O. went and canceled the stripper-filled, midget-highlighted evening of sin being planned by “Girls Gone Wild” founder Joe Francis. Gossip site TMZ quoted Odom: “I have now decided to have a private dinner with my teammates, a few close friends and of course Joe Francis and Rob Kardashian.” Well, whatever goes down, at least this time it’s private … Read More »

Like we’ve said before, the offseason is prime time for supreme optimism and high expectations. In Chicago, you’ve got a lot of people pegging the Bulls as a Top-5 team in the East. And from Derrick Rose specifically, he’s gunning for the likes of Chris Paul, Tony Parker and Chauncey Billups sooner than you might have expected — not to mention eyeing the crowns atop Kobe and LeBron’s respective heads. Asked in a Chicago Sun-Times interview about his Year 2 goals, Rose said, “To be the best player in the League at my position, and hopefully be the best player in the NBA. There’s no point of playing basketball if you don’t want to be the best — or doing anything if you don’t want to be the best.” Read More »

It’s kind of crazy to think the one man really standing in the way of Allen Iverson having a team right now is somebody’s whose previous claim to fame was being one of the NBA’s D-League success stories. Ramon Sessions is the hottest free agent PG available (the best available would be Ray Felton), and the same teams after him are pretty much the same teams who were or are still considering Iverson. The Knicks, Clippers, Bucks and another team that hasn’t been revealed (Miami?) are at the top of Sessions’ list, and he’s reportedly aiming to reach a decision within the next few days … If Sessions doesn’t return to Milwaukee, how should the team proceed with their PG situation? Read More »

Saving the biggest for last. As I’ve covered before, this isn’t a typical “best players” ranking. If you see a high school kid listed higher than an NBA All-Star here, nobody’s saying the prep is better than the pro. Instead, I’m looking at the whole picture: Who had an overall better season? Pound-for-pound, who made the biggest impact on their level? Who made the biggest mark on the entire game of basketball? Who made this season his own? So here are my Top 10 — not “10 best” — centers from the ‘08-09 season… Read More »

Although the ‘09 NBA free agent class isn’t as stacked as in years past — not to mention the League is being more thrifty than ever due to the slumping economy — teams still have holes they want to plug, and players have moves they want to make. Here, we break down all 30 NBA teams’ free agent strategy… Read More »