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 »

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. On the eve of the negotiation period (players can’t officially sign until July 8), we’re taking the next few days to break down each team’s free agent situation… Read More »

There are two realities the Houston Rockets need to accept and address this summer: First, as much as it pains me to say it, Tracy McGrady will never be “T-Mac” again, the dude consistently dropping 30 points a night against any defense in the League and sitting right up there with Kobe and D-Wade in the two-guard hierarchy. And second, Yao Ming is not a reliable superstar and needs to have his minutes monitored closer than a baseball team monitors an ace pitcher’s pitch count. Read More »

Lamar Odom was your playoff MVP last night. In the Lakers’ Game 5 win over the Nuggets, L.O. was all over the place: Applying backcourt pressure to force turnovers, crashing the boards, driving and drawing, hitting threes, dunking on cats — he had his entire game on display, that Derrick Coleman skill-set that everybody’s been expecting him to deliver for so many years, that he doesn’t utilize nearly enough. Odom (19 pts, 14 rebs, 4 blks) hit a huge three that tied the game late in the third quarter, and in the fourth he crammed on Birdman as part of an 11-0 run that opened the door for L.A. to take a 3-2 series lead. Read More »

Alright, so maybe we were getting spoiled by the consistently awesome awesomeness of these NBA conference finals. Before yesterday, it had been down-to-the-wire games and 40-point efforts from Kobe and LeBron in between dominant performances by ‘Melo and Dwight. But last night, the Nuggets simply laid the hammer down on L.A. for the first outright blowout of this round, coming one point shy of a 20-piecing in another dominant performance on their home floor … On paper, there’s no way the Nuggets should have dominated this game. Read More »