Beast of the Night: Brandon Jennings finished with 31 points, four rebounds, eight assists, four steals and seven three-pointers last night. He shot 36 percent (9-25) from the floor, 75 percent (6-8) from the free-throw line and had zero turnovers. Since Jan. 17, Jennings is averaging 24.3 points, 3.8 rebounds, 6.3 assists, 1.9 steals and 3.6 threes per game, while shooting 45 percent from the field and 83 percent from the free-throw line. For the season, he’s putting up top 10 averages. Read More »

If you thought this year’s class of point guards was strong, think again. In fact, go back three years to 2009 to find a draft class deep enough to hide the Hulk. Eight of the point guards drafted in the first round are now starting in the NBA, and while none of them can boast the star power of Derrick Rose or the potential of John Wall, they can all play. As offenses have slowed to a crawl this year, and with shooting percentages melting, having a point guard that can make plays and create for others is almost a necessity. Read More »

Everyone wants to talk about super teams. Of course, the Heat, Knicks, Clippers, Celtics and all the rest of ‘em capture the imagination of the NBA fan base. There’s nothing quite like feeling the anticipation and excitement in the air when you see that news hit telling you Chris Paul has finally been traded and he’s going to the Clippers. What immediately follows is typically more invigorating than what eventually happens. The promise of what could be is almost always better than what is. Even here at Dime, we find ourselves talking about one third of the NBA about 80 percent of the time. That doesn’t mean we don’t care about everyone else. Read More »

Is this the year for Miami’s redemption? The year LeBron turns it all around and rids himself of those evil demons? We may never know for sure. But at least in the video game world, 2011-12 is all about South Beach and LeBron James. Without the real NBA, I simulated a season to see what would happen. Of course, gamers know with stuff like this, there are always oddities (How did Antawn Jamison make an All-NBA Team? Or Dirk an All-Defensive Team?). But they seem to get the majority of stuff right. If we’re relying on NBA 2K12, then this year would’ve been all LeBron’s. Read More »

The Indiana Pacers are some kind of something. That is to say, they’re a mediocre team with a few mildly appealing pieces for fantasy purposes, but nothing to go nuts about. If anything, there are a lot of untouched ceilings here, which may or may not appeal to you. Let’s take a look at what Larry Bird’s boys can offer fantasy owners next season. Read More »

The last thing anyone normally associates with Utah and Indiana is excitement. If you’re an NBA fan – unless you live close by – no one ever really thinks about the Jazz and the Pacers at all. They’re not good enough to go deep in the playoffs and they’re not crazy enough to be laughingstocks. They are what they are. Consistent. Middle of the road (for the most part). Read More »

It wasn’t long ago when what was the Pac-10 had teams that ran out rosters with multiple NBA stars-in-the-making. The 2008 NBA Draft class contained 12 players from the Pac-10, and that meant there was the talent and notoriety for the league to send more than half of its teams to the NCAA Tournament.

The UCLA Bruins were the dominating factor, making the Final Four for three consecutive seasons from 2006-08. Kevin Love, Darren Collison and Russell Westbrook beat up on squads with guys like O.J. Mayo and Jerryd Bayless. But since then, those talents have been bleeding into the NBA, leading to a weak reputation and poor postseason showings. Read More »

Damn, fewer things are more disappointing than finding out Lost Tapes 2 probably won’t happen, or at least won’t be happening any time soon. Within the past week, NaS finally put to rest the rumors, admitting that his label, Def Jam, kind of killed the rhythm. So a new album is in the works, but Lost Tapes 2 is out the window. Read More »

Earlier this week, I wrote that Butler’s Shelvin Mack could make an immediate impact in the right situation next year as an NBA rookie. While Mack’s current projection is slated somewhere between the late-first and mid-second round, there are still a ton of other possible hidden gems strewn throughout the class. With this on the brain, UCLA’s Tyler Honeycutt immediately came to mind. Read More »

One thing about the playoffs, if you watch enough games, you can begin to expect what’s going to happen next. That’s not to say they aren’t fun, but sometimes things can get very predictable. After a weekend of basketball sent from the gods, we couldn’t really expect a repeat. Yet that’s not even what we’re talking about. Miami and Chicago both nearly lost Game 1s at home against inferior opponents. If you know anything about the NBA Playoffs, Game 2 blowouts from the higher seeds were completely expected. The Heat did their part, but Indiana refused to throw the white flag in Chicago … Read More »