Beast of the Night: Dirk Nowitzki not only hit the game-winner in Milwaukee last night, he also finished with 32 points, 1 three, 11 rebounds, 3 assists, 2 steals and 1 block while shooting 48 percent (12-25) from the field, 88 percent (7-8) from the line and didn’t have any turnovers. He’s the hottest fantasy commodity to come out of Germany since Heidi Klum. Read More »

As this edition of Smack is being written, ESPN’s 24-hour marathon of college hoops is underway. Writing about basketball in the middle of the night while live basketball is showing on TV with no end in sight for hours? This is the life … Are the Hawks really this good? When we ranked Atlanta 5th yesterday on Dime’s weekly NBA Hit List — maybe the highest we’d ever had them ranked, at least in the last 2-3 years — the response was surprisingly strong that Joe Johnson and Josh Smith and crew should have been in the top three, maybe even holding the No. 1 spot. True, the Hawks had won four straight going into Monday’s schedule, but they’ve always been one of those Zab Judah/Asafa Powell-type teams: Read More »

Stephen Jackson finally gets his wish as he and Acie Law are being shipped to the Charlotte in exchange for Raja Bell and Vladimir Radmanovic. This means a ton of minute movement going on for both the Bobcats and Warriors. Here are the fantasy implications: 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: Tyson Chandler, Gerald Henderson, Flip Murray, Derrick Brown, Stephen Graham

Lost: Emeka Okafor, Sean May, Juwan Howard, Cartier Martin 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: Jamal Crawford, Joe Smith, Jeff Teague, Juan Dixon, Courtney Sims Read More »

Even with training camp starting next week, there are still guys out there looking for jobs. And while the opportunity to get a non-guaranteed deal for the chance to even fight for a roster spot gets slimmer and slimmer, there are definitely more free agents left on the market than jobs available. Take a look at who’s left: 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 »

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 »

While I don’t know what tomorrow will bring, I have to say that today could be the slowest day of the basketball year. Summer League is over, as is the USA Basketball mini-camp, so what is everybody doing? I have NBA TV on in the office right now, and they literally have nothing to talk about. 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 »