In the same week that the Blazers learned Greg Oden will miss the rest of the season due to another knee surgery, the Rockets found out their injury-prone franchise center, Yao Ming, will miss (at least) another two weeks due to a bone bruise in his ankle.

Yao has been out since Nov. 10, when he hurt his ankle early in Houston’s loss to the Wizards. He was originally slated to miss about one week, but now his return date has been pushed back. Read More »

Around the time it became clear Chris Bosh was not going to spend his entire career in Toronto, two seemingly natural destinations for CB4 were Dallas and Houston. Bosh would be looking for a franchise with more exposure, he’s a Texas native, and both of those teams could use a big man — especially Houston, since Yao Ming‘s legs are as sturdy as a LEGO skyscraper. But after the Rockets took on Kevin Martin and Jared Jeffries‘ salaries in the T-Mac trade (about $18 million combined for next season), it seemed Houston was out of the race for any big-time free agents. Not so fast, though. Read More »

From the announcer table to the ESPN studio, the media chorus line from last night’s Celtics/Magic game was unanimous when it came to one particular issue: Kendrick Perkins got a raw deal when he was ejected by referee Eddie F. Rush in the first half. (But really, what do you expect a bunch of former NBA players and coaches to say?) Then checking the response from other writers and Dime readers today, it seems the majority has sided with Perkins. Read More »

Dirk dropped 37 points and the eventual game-winner, but please do not get it twisted: Jason Kidd beat the Atlanta Hawks last night … Down 15 in the fourth quarter on the road, Jason unveiled the hockey mask and machete, then went about the business of carving up everybody in his path. On his way to a 19-point, 16-rebound, 17-assist monster stat line, Kidd snuck up behind people for steals, snatched offensive boards, started fast breaks, set teammates up for open J’s like a human ball rack, and knocked down a few huge shots of his own. Read More »

Beast of the Night: Aaron Brooks exploded for 43 points, 3 rebounds, 5 assists, 1 steal and 1 turnover, while chipping in 6 threes, shooting 47 percent (14-30) from the field and 75 percent (9-12) from the line. True, he was helped by an insane triple-overtime match, but Brooks has been having himself a nice 2010 so far. It’s still likely that he’ll hit a rough patch in the near future, but it’s clear that the little man won’t be flying under any radars next season. Read More »

When did the Sacramento Kings get so interesting? Formerly a staple in the “Other stat lines” portion of Smack — the one usually headlined by Gerald Wallace nowadays — Tyreke Evans‘ team (we’ll figure out where Kevin Martin fits when he gets healthy) is suddenly on the League’s must-watch list. Just in the last week, Sacto beat Milwaukee on a Tyreke game-winner and pulled off a historic 35-point comeback in Chicago; then last night, they did something we can’t remember ever seeing before in an NBA game … At first, it looked like the only intrigue in Cavs/Kings would be how many points LeBron would score. Read More »

The truth is if Carl Landry hadn’t got shot earlier this year, most people wouldn’t know who he was. But the Rockets’ blue collar worker is quietly putting up some big time stats (15.8 ppg, 5.8 rpg, 56 percent from the field) this season. Landry is part of that young, scrappy and rejuvenated Rockets squad that is holding their own at 9-8 (eighth in the West). Now that Luis Scola is out with an eye injury, the 6-9 Landry will make his very first start on Wednesday night on the road against the Clippers. Read More »

Beast of the Night: Chris Paul edges out Kobe Bryant, Dwyane Wade and David Lee with his 39 points, 5 rebounds, 7 assists and 2 steals, along with 61 percent (14-23) shooting from the floor and perfect (8-8) shooting from the line. He also hit 3 treys in an overtime victory over Dallas. CP3 got off to a relatively slow start this season but has really turned it on for the past three games. He’s playing with some extra ferocity nowadays and that’s a great thing for his fantasy owners. Read More »

Today we’ll continue our week-long look at late-round players who can help you fill in the statistical gaps you find yourself with near the end of your fantasy drafts. This doesn’t mean these players will necessarily help you in other categories (though most do), but they should at least offer some value in these respective categories. Without further ado, let’s look at players (in no particular order) who will likely be drafted in later rounds and could help you catch up in the rebounding department. Share your perspectives below. 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: Trevor Ariza, Chase Budinger, Pops Mensah-Bonsu, David Andersen, Jermaine Taylor

Lost: Ron Artest, Von Wafer, Dikembe Mutombo, James White Read More »