Five matchups to watch on Wednesday’s 10-game schedule…

Detroit at Toronto: Pistons’ frontcourt vs. Chris Bosh Previously known as three of the Seven Dwarfs’ cousins, Ben Wallace (Buffy), Chris Wilcox (Lazy) and Kwame Brown (Fumbly) earned their money Tuesday by taking Dwight Howard completely out of Detroit’s upset win over Orlando. Read More »

Last year we debuted the “Highs and Lows” system — previewing the NBA season by predicting the respective ceiling and basement for each team. Same theme, different season…

Added: Ben Gordon, Charlie Villanueva, Austin Daye, Chris Wilcox, Ben Wallace, DaJuan Summers, Jonas Jerebko Read More »

The NBA preseason is underway, 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. In other words, what is the realistic best-case and worst-case scenario for the 2009-10 campaign?

Added: Jordan Hill, Darko Milicic, Toney Douglas, Gabe Pruitt Read More »

The names and the teams may change, but NBA training camp is annually littered with position battles. This year, for example, you’ll have Steve Blake trying to keep his starting PG job safe from Andre Miller in Portland; Brandon Jennings and Luke Ridnour (and perhaps Ramon Sessions) fighting for top QB duties in Milwaukee; and in Washington, Nick Young, Randy Foye, Mike Miller and DeShawn Stevenson will vie for the starting backcourt spot next to Gilbert Arenas, while JaVale McGee and Fab Oberto challenge Brendan Haywood for minutes at center.

Most of the time, you can predict the winners fairly accurately before camp even opens. Not so much in Detroit. Read More »

Who would have guessed that the first NBA dude to put Blake Griffin on his ass would be skinny JaVale McGee? Blake finished with 19 points, 10 boards and four steals against the Wizards in yesterday’s Vegas Summer League, but one time he came through the lane with the rock and McGee (19 pts, 7 blks) gave the rookie a good, hard, welcome-to-the-NBA foul. Blake stayed on the ground for a second, but he was OK. Then later in the fourth quarter, McGee caught an alley-oop on Blake’s head and screamed on him. (JaVale is still doing the salute thing whenever he dunks, too.) … Rodrigue Beaubois scored 23 for the Mavs in a game against the Thunder that was just ugly. Read More »

For a team in search of talent to add to their roster, looking at the list of available unrestricted free agents is depressing. While sure there are guys that are worthy of an NBA jersey, getting legit NBA minutes is a whole other story. While the prizes on the market are still clearly Allen Iverson, Lamar Odom and Andre Miller, here are the ten best available free agents left: Read More »

Two years ago, I was interviewing Washington State (now OKC Thunder) swingman Kyle Weaver for the Pac-10 part of Dime’s annual Player’s Ball NCAA preview when Weaver briefly mentioned Jordan Hill, predicting the Arizona big man would have a big sophomore season. I’d seen Hill play before, and wondered exactly what Weaver saw in this kid who averaged just four points and four boards the year before.

Two years later, Hill put up 18 points, 11 boards and almost two blocks per game for the Wildcats, and left school early as a Top-5 NBA Draft prospect in just about everyone’s book. Read More »