The Lakers and Pacers tilt last night in L.A. was so bad it was almost comical. There was Dwight Howard missing clutch free throws and laughing about it. There was Joey Crawford making awful calls left and right. There was Indiana fumbling away nearly every opportunity to close the Lakers out. There was Kobe attempting to win the game by himself. In the end, George Hill (19 points) hit one more big shot than Bryant, and Hill’s high underhand shot off the glass that dropped in with .1 seconds left won it for the visitors, 79-77 … Read More »

Brooklyn’s executives had to be happy with the Nets’ opening night at the Barclays Center. Not only did they get the Wizards, one of the league’s worst teams, but they got them with people like John Wall and Nene out in street clothes. Washington has more injury problems than perhaps everyone outside of their neighbors from Baltimore (the Ravens), so it wasn’t surprising to see Brooklyn open up the new arena (at least basketball-wise) with a 98-88 win behind 18 points and 11 rebounds from Brook Lopez. Read More »

As barometers of NBA success go, the Summer League isn’t always going to give the most accurate forecast. It’s perfect, really, that it switches from Orlando to Las Vegas, where all bets are made with the hope of a big payoff and the reality of the house usually winning. That house on the hardwood is the concrete fact there are only 450 roster spots available for opening night. Someone’s gotta go. The NBA’s summer school isn’t to be relied on at face value because you’ve got second- and third-year players as the top options for summer squads where they might barely be the fifth option on once the regular season begins. If Wesley Johnson played well most nights for Minnesota this month, it won’t be without gain — but it also won’t mean he’ll be shaking off a Kevin Love pick-and-roll anytime soon. Out of this haziness step players whose success will best translate to the regular season. Read More »

The 2012 NBA Draft has come and gone like Maybach Music Group’s Self Made 2 drop earlier this week. Billed as one of best drafts in recent memory, it didn’t provide the same kind of trade activity that all the pre-draft talk suggested. Nevertheless, the lack of major moves impacted the way the draft played out. Hell, David Stern, Adam Silver and the entire ESPN broadcast couldn’t even keep up with the rate Twitter was disseminating the picks at warp speed. Now GMs, teams and players have no time before they’re notified of how great or how poor their evening went. Read More »

Words. Lucas Shapiro

Following last night’s shocking NBA Draft Lottery in New York City where everyone and their momma is now saying David Stern and the NBA rigged it to make sure the top prize landed in New Orleans, now we can now begin to get an idea of how the first round of the draft will play out after the top spot. This is the first of many Dime mock drafts leading up to June 28. As usual, it’s a combination of what we think teams should do and what we think they will do: Read More »

Long and surprising NCAA Tournament runs can make you a legend. Miles Simon‘s play in 1997 definitely helped cement his legacy in Arizona. While leading his No. 4-seeded Wildcats to an NCAA Championship, doing it by becoming the only team to ever beat three top seeds in the same tournament, Simon was named the Most Outstanding Player. The one-man performance still resonates 15 years later. Read More »

After an efficient sophomore year in which he averaged 13.0 points on 45.5 percent shooting, including 47.4 percent from distance, Marquette guard Darius Johnson-Odom took his game a step further this season. By upping his scoring average by nearly three points and making big strides on the defensive end, he became an All-Big East Second Team selection and led Marquette to a 9-9 record in the toughest conference in America. Friday night, DJO poured in a game-high 19 points on 6-of-11 shooting to lead his 11th-seeded Golden Eagles past 6th-seeded Xavier. On Sunday, DJO went for 17, including the game-winning triple with 25 seconds left, to lift Marquette to another upset over 3-seeded Syracuse, clinching the school’s first Sweet 16 birth since the Dwyane Wade era. Here are his words: Read More »