As the NBA preseason gets underway, we preview the upcoming campaign with the “Highs and Lows” system — predicting the respective ceiling and basement for each team.

Added: Tiago Splitter, James Anderson, Alonzo Gee

Lost: Roger Mason, Keith Bogans, Ian Mahinmi Read More »

With the college basketball season coming up in a little more than a month, we decided to catch up with Texas’ guard-forward Jordan Hamilton, who’s looking to have a breakout season this year. Hamilton was ranked as the eighth best high school player in the nation two years ago and took his game to Texas where he averaged 10.0 points and 3.7 rebounds per game. The rising sophomore tells us about his game’s progression, along with a little bit about his past. Read More »

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, starting with the two-guards.

To clarify, “Top 10″ is different from “10 Best.” If you see Evan Turner ahead of Brandon Roy here, I’m not saying the incoming rookie is a better player than the NBA All-Star; I’m saying Turner had a better season than B-Roy. Accomplishments at the highest level of the game obviously hold more weight than others, but this is about who made the biggest impact on their respective level, who put their stamp on the game, and who made the ’09-10 season his own: Read More »

Of all people, Lou Williams best summed up last night’s NBA Draft and the surrounding, um, activities. On his Twitter account (@TeamLou23), Williams wrote: “Early congrats to all the guys gettin drafted tonight and for all the women in NYC tryna get drafted as well. G’luck ladies.” … While the first five picks went pretty much according to form — John Wall to Washington, Evan Turner to Philly , Derrick Favors to Jersey, Wes Johnson to Minnesota, and DeMarcus Cousins to Sacramento — things started getting crazy at six. The Warriors passed on Greg Monroe (a big man who can rebound and pass better than almost all of G-State’s guards) to take Baylor’s Ekpe Udoh, which appeared to cause Detroit to drop its fascination with Ed Davis and snatch up Monroe. 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 »

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 »

The NBA Draft combine at Chicago’s A.T.T.A.C.K. Center was uneventful in the sense that nobody greatly improved or drastically torpedoed their stock. Measurements were taken, interviews were done, and that was about it. No incredible shrinking Mike Beasley or Kevin Durant power lifting exhibitions this year.

So three weeks before the draft, individual workouts and, you know, game footage will take precedence as teams close in on their picks. This updated mock draft is a combination of what we think teams should do, and what we think they will do: Read More »

Remember two years ago when we told you how Kevin Love was becoming a beast before the NBA Draft? If you paid close attention to the article, you would have noticed that Love was training with Joe Abunassar. Abunassar is known for his training company, Impact Basketball, where he trains basketball players year-round, but especially NBA Draft prospects this time of the year. This week, we had the chance to get up with Joe to discuss the NBA Draft, how to eat properly as a basketball player, and what working with Kevin Garnett was like. Read More »

While last night’s immediate Lottery fallout was all about the Washington Wizards and John Wall, now we can begin to get an idea of how the rest of the draft will play out after the top spot. This is the first of many Dime mock drafts leading up to June 24. As usual, it’s a combination of what we think teams should do and what we think they will do: Read More »

You knew we entered a new era when Fresno State sophomore Paul George became the first college player to announce his NBA Draft intentions via Twitter. But with the Final Four set, and all but those four teams looking forward to next season, it’s time for underclassmen to make their decisions for the future. Here are the latest players to declare for the NBA Draft this June. Read More »