Welcome to the London Olympics, where the only thing to care about — so far as we’re concerned — is the basketball. Before the first men’s game begins July 29 with Nigeria against Tunisia, let’s take a look at the teams trying to knock off the gold-medal favorite U.S. Can anyone do it? Hit the jump to see each nation’s video resume. The latest challengers: France and Nigeria. Read More »

We never thought we’d hear MarShon Brooks and Dwight Howard linked to each other this much. You’d think they were either bitter enemies or recruiting each other through free agency to hear about them in the same sentence as much as they have been this offeseason, but anytime a deal to send Howard away from Orlando, Brooks is a sticking point in the asking price. The newest rumors ESPN is reporting is that Cleveland has been coerced into getting in on a three-team deal that would send Howard to Brooklyn, Kris Humphries to Cleveland plus a few more parts. Read More »

Remember last fall when new Warriors owner Joe Lacob, fresh off writing the biggest check in NBA history, hired his son Kirk, a 22-year-old Stanford grad, as Golden State’s Director of Basketball Operations? Just eight months later, the younger Lacob has finished his first season in professional basketball management, including a thrilling (albeit unyielding) trade deadline, the firing and hiring of a new coach and an interview with The Logo himself. This week’s draft however, might be his biggest challenge yet. Read More »

It was either Day 1 of training camp or Media Day for a lot of NBA teams yesterday, and the biggest story lines were easy to point out. In L.A., Kobe and the two-time defending champs held their first on-court session, which aired on NBA TV. In Miami, the LeBron-Wade-Bosh era kicked off with the Heat’s first practice. In Boston, the new-look/old-age Celtics posed for pictures and Shaq said some funny things. But everybody’s attention was fixed on Denver, where the Nuggets held Media Day and Carmelo Anthony faced down reporters ready to ask him the same 4 questions in about 44,000 different ways … Read More »

I’m not saying anything profound by declaring that the NBA is a business. Dollars and cents clearly take precedence over loyalty and feelings. But while this harsh reality may often come as a surprise to devoted season ticket holders, the bottom line is the bottom line. There’s a reason teams fire coaches and let the GM take a seat on the bench. Perhaps it’s not the correct basketball move, but the Band-Aid is much cheaper than the surgery. Read More »

Somewhere in between the final minutes of Portland’s 107-100 loss to Miami last night, I was left wondering, where is Jerryd Bayless? Not for the reason that he should have been in this specific game, but because his all-around NBA presence should be much bigger at this point. In the Miami scorecard, he was only able to log three minutes, contributing two points and a foul in that span. 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: Emeka Okafor, Darren Collison, Darius Songaila, Marcus Thornton, Ike Diogu, Bobby Brown Read More »

While Miami waits for Lamar Odom to decide if he’d rather look at sun-dipped Rodeo Drive honeys or sun-dipped South Beach honeys during timeouts for the next 4-5 years, another possible Plan B in case they don’t get Odom became unavailable. The Hawks re-signed Marvin Williams for $40 million over five years — kind of steep for a guy who wasn’t gonna get $8M a year from anyone else, but not the worst move in the world considering Marvin is a big contributor for a still-developing core unit in Atlanta. Read More »

When your star speaks, your actions speak louder than your words. Trying to let Chris Paul know that the Hornets mean business as all the teams in the West continue to improve, New Orleans has signed free agent Ike Diogu. Read More »

Although the ‘09 NBA free agent class isn’t as stacked as in years past — not to mention the League is being more thrifty than ever due to the slumping economy — teams still have holes they want to plug, and players have moves they want to make. As the negotiation period gets underway (players can’t officially sign until July 8), we’re breaking down each team’s free agent situation… Read More »