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 »

Ray Felton’s objective should be obvious to anyone who’s been paying attention to this summer of free agency: Sometime around January/February, Ray wants to be in the All-Star conversation, setting himself up lovely for a fatter contract in 2010, and as icing on the cake, making everyone wonder just why the hell it took so long for somebody to get him signed in the first place. Felton agreed to the Bobcats’ one-year qualifying offer yesterday ($5.5 million), setting Charlotte up for another run at getting that elusive first-ever playoff berth with Felton and D.J. Augustin at the point, Raja Bell/Gerald Henderson at the two, Gerald Wallace at the three, Boris Diaw at the four, Tyson Chandler in the middle and Alexis Ajinca getting cramps from sitting down for extended periods of time. Read More »

After quite a few media outlets picked up on our report in yesterday’s Smack that Allen Iverson had agreed to a contract with the Bobcats, Charlotte Observer beat writer Rick Bonnell refuted the claims of our NBA source, citing a “great source” who told him A.I. and the ‘Cats haven’t agreed to anything just yet, but there is a chance something will happen soon. We’re not gonna get into a “Whose recorder is bigger?” contest; whether our source is right or the other source is right, everybody can at least agree that something is brewing between Iverson and Charlotte … Read More »

Friday night, Dime’s Aron Phillips spoke to an unnamed source who works in the NBA and said that Allen Iverson has worked out the details of a contract with the Charlotte Bobcats, but the deal won’t be official until next week. The general consensus surrounding A.I. is that the 34-year-old is too stubborn to blend into a contender’s system, and at the same time, will stunt the development of any up-and-coming young team. But Iverson in Charlotte could be a win-win for both sides: Read More »

Welcome to the (so far) most Twitter-infected edition of Smack ever written. We begin with Nate Robinson, who was arrested yesterday in NYC for driving on a suspended license, and broke the news himself — on Twitter. Nate actually tweeted while he was being pulled over (if only this kind of technology existed when Rodney King got popped in ‘91), and what started with his windows being too tinted turned into a revelation that his license had been suspended for an unpaid ticket he says he didn’t know about. Granted, this is a very minor legal matter, but it’s also horrible timing for Nate when he’s still technically unemployed … One of the League’s other high-profile jobless guys, Allen Iverson, took his free agency news to the Twitter crowd. Read More »

Since Lamar Odom is waiting for some NBA team to discover 10 million extra dollars in their couch cushions, and the Knicks and Allen Iverson still haven’t realized they’re perfect for each other, there wasn’t much happening around the League yesterday … The Emeka Okafor/Tyson Chandler trade was made official. In an interview with the Charlotte Observer, Chandler said his toe and ankle are healthy (”For the first time in a couple of years, I’ve got good movement in my toe.”), and Larry Brown said Chandler will help the Bobcats be more of a running team. Read More »

The morning before the ‘09 NBA Draft, we asked you guys to act as your team’s GM. On the day after, now’s your chance to play critic and do the hindsight-20/20 thing. Grade how you think your team did on Draft Night: Read More »

Gerald Henderson on what’s going to go down tonight.

In the final hours before the ‘09 NBA Draft, it’s your turn to play front-office executive for your favorite team in that imaginary war room in your head.

Who do you want? What kind of impact will your pick have on the team next season? Where will he fit into the lineup? Do you want to keep your pick or trade it?

Tell us how your team can improve itself tonight …

If we infiltrated the Knicks’ war room in Westchester and found their wish list, it would definitely have Ricky Rubio and Stephen Curry right up at the top. But who is the next guy after those two? Conventional wisdom would have said Tyreke Evans as of yesterday afternoon. But according to the NY Daily News, the Knicks would actually take 6-5 SG/SF Gerald Henderson over ‘Reke. Read More »