From the All-Star break through the offseason, the Sacramento Kings were out to get more depth in their frontline to complement Rookie of the Year Tyreke Evans. At the deadline, Carl Landry was brought in for his scoring, and this summer they obtained a veteran shot blocker in Samuel Dalembert. Also, two of the best bigs from this year’s Draft were picked up in DeMarcus Cousins and Hassan Whiteside. So where does this leave Jason Thompson? Read More »

I told you that this was the place to be. During my interview with Sacramento Kings rookie Hassan Whiteside, when I asked him one thing that most people don’t know about him, he told me that he could juggle. It wasn’t that I didn’t believe him, but I definitely wanted to see. While I looked around for some tennis balls or something, he told me he could actually juggle basketballs. Check it out.

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Around this time last year, I ranked the Top 10 players at each position covering the NBA, college and high school ranks for the just-completed season. Welcome to the second annual edition: first up was two-guards, now the centers.

To clarify (again), “Top 10″ is different from “10 Best.” So if you see Cole Aldrich ranked ahead of Brook Lopez, I’m NOT saying the incoming rookie is better than the NBA vet — I’m saying Cole had a better season than Brook. Read More »

The Las Vegas summer league is right around the corner, and with it, the 2010 NBA rookie class has its first chance to prove itself on the court against real competition.

But while every first-round pick has a guaranteed contract to fall back on in case they struggle, the guys drafted in the second round are essentially fighting for jobs. These are the 10 second-rounders most likely to sign contracts with the team that drafted them: Read More »

When I was leaving Madison Square Garden last night two things were running through my mind: 1) I needed to get some food in my body, and 2) The Celtics are going to have the best defensive backcourt in the League. But as with any Draft Night, no everyone goes home happy. For every Gordon Hayward and Paul George, there are guys like Tiny Gallon, who sat idly in the stands at the WaMu Theater waiting to hear their name called. But this post is all about the winners, so without further ado, here are the Top 5 NBA Draft Winners from last night. Read More »

We’re already here. The 2010 NBA season concluded just a few days ago, and we’re already taking the first step toward defining the League for 2011. The easiest way to handicap tonight’s NBA Draft (7:30 p.m. EST, ESPN) is with your standard mock draft, but it’s rarely ever that simple: Odds are, picks and players will be traded throughout the night and things will end up looking a lot different than any of us predicted. That said, this mock is a combination of what we think teams should do, and what we think they will do: Read More »

DIME’S NBA DRAFT PREVIEW

Even as the NBA gets taken over by super-athletic point guards (Rose, Westbrook, Rondo) and small forwards who breathe buckets (LeBron, Durant, Carmelo), teams will always be on the lookout for the next top big man.

Especially now, since a low-post makeover is on the way. Dwight Howard has taken the scepter to represent the standard by which today’s dominant post player is judged, while Shaq, Duncan and Garnett get older and Yao can’t stay out of a walking boot. Read More »

Now that the parade is over and the euphoria has settled, it’s time for the Lakers to take care of business and tend to their aching bodies. The post-’chip injury report out of L.A. begins with Andrew Bynum, who pretty much played on one leg throughout the playoffs. AB had his right knee drained again yesterday (about 2.5 ounces of fluid), and will have surgery this summer. Luke Walton is weighing whether he should have back surgery, Lamar Odom has a bum left shoulder, and Adam Morrison missed almost the entire season with a — oh wait, he wasn’t hurt … And as you already know, Kobe Bryant‘s limbs are being held together with electrical tape and grocery-store brand sticky soda right now. Read More »

The NBA Draft is typically overstocked with two types of big men: (1) High-profile guys who went to high-profile schools and have teams just as intrigued with their potential as they are afraid they’ll be a bust, and (2) So-called “undersized” bigs who go underrated annually and have to prove themselves in an uphill battle from Day One.

Hassan Whiteside doesn’t fit either description. The 7-foot freshman was an unheralded recruit who burst onto the scene this season at Marshall, leading the nation with 5.4 blocks per game. Whiteside is projected to go anywhere from the Top-10 to later in the 20′s, but whichever team gets him, odds are their fan base won’t know anything about their new project. Read More »

Exactly one week after the 2010 NBA champion is crowned in tonight’s Game 7 between the Lakers and Celtics, the 2011 season begins with the June 24 NBA Draft.

Since our last mock draft, one projected Lottery pick pulled his name out of consideration (Lithuanian center Donatas Montiejunas), while other players projected to go a lot later in the first round have jumped into Lottery consideration. This updated mock is a combination of what we think teams should do, and what we think they will do: Read More »