Beast of the Night: Dirk Nowitzki was an absolute animal last night, putting up 40 points on 55 percent (12-22) shooting from the field and 94 percent (15-16) from the line, chipping in a three-pointer along with 11 rebounds, 5 assists, 2 steals, 5 blocks and no turnovers. He scored 29 of his 40 points in the fourth quarter, playing like Mehmet Okur bad-mouthed David Hasselhoff. You can’t get much better than this in fantasy ball and Diggler is in for a great year. 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: Tyler Hansbrough, Dahntay Jones, Earl Watson, Luther Head, Solomon Jones

Lost: Jarrett Jack, Marquis Daniels, Rasho Nesterovic, Stephen Graham, Maceo Baston Read More »

Missing the deadline for Sunday morning’s Smack, Carmelo Anthony had the performance of the NBA preseason so far in a very late-Saturday/early-Sunday tip in Beijing — in the same arena where ‘Melo and Team USA won their ‘08 gold medals. In just 24 minutes of work against the Pacers, ‘Melo dropped 45 points, going 14-of-19 from the field and 16-of-17 from the line. Oh, and he threw in nine rebounds and two blocks. Those are video-game numbers, like playing NBA 2K against the CPU on Easy mode. But then even more amazing than that might have been Indiana’s “defensive” numbers. 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 »

After the Hall of Fame festivities ten days ago, reader J.Tobias hit us up wanting to share his personal HOF experience. While the majority of the world was watching from home, J actually made it to Springfield. Here is his story: Read More »

At first glance, the Indiana Pacers have all the characteristics of a bad franchise. They missed the playoffs last year. They were ranked 28th overall in attendance in 2008-‘09. They appear on national TV a whopping three times this season (two of those are NBA TV). And the average basketball fan probably couldn’t name more than three players on their roster.

But the funny the about it is, they aren’t that bad. Read More »

When I was up in Springfield on Friday, before all of the Hall of Fame festivities took place, I was fortunate enough to take place in a D-League Fantasy Camp. Being coached by Bobby Simmons, Dahntay Jones, BJ Armstrong and dunk champ Dee Brown, all of the camp participants were put through what it would be like to suit up in a real NBA/D-League training camp from the training to the drills. While some of you may think that I’m on the brink of a trip to the League, unfortunately that’s not the case. But if I was, I would without a doubt want to play for the Maine Red Claws. Read More »

Last year the Nuggets finished 54-28, won the Northwest Division and pushed the Lakers in the Western Conference Finals. What did they do this offseason? Lose Linas Kleiza to Europe, lose Dahntay Jones to Indiana and lose J.R. Smith to a seven-game suspension. So while the other elite teams in the West reloaded this summer, it’s about time Denver does the same. Read More »

Without a doubt, the Nuggets were one of the most fun teams to watch in the NBA last season. Perhaps it’s because Chris “Birdman” Andersen could potentially be my favorite player, or the fact that on any given night J.R. Smith could drop 50. But after they lost Linas Kleiza for nothing yesterday, Nuggets fans should start to get worried. Read More »

They say it’s not really free agent season until somebody gets at least $50 million richer — meaning we’re officially underway now that Ben Gordon cashed in with the Pistons for 50 mil over five years. Detroit also reached an agreement with Charlie Villanueva for $35M over five years, giving the team almost an entirely different core from the one that played in the conference finals just 13 months ago. This isn’t going to be the defense-first, everybody-gets-equal-shots squad we’ve gotten used to … Two questions that popped up as soon as the Gordon news broke: Read More »