Well, there are certainly worse ways to open up a new arena. The Barclays Center opened for business Friday in Brooklyn with a Jay-Z-headlined show. We felt like we were there thanks to all the updates and photos we saw blowing up social media. Read More »

In the new issue of Dime Magazine, we took a look at the best – and worst – the game has offered since the turn of the century. From the players to jerseys to sneakers to teams to even trends, you can relive the past 12 years by scooping up the new issue currently on newsstands nationwide. In those pages, you’ll find the following feature… Read More »

In the new issue of Dime Magazine, we took a look at the best – and worst – the game has offered since the turn of the century. From the players to jerseys to sneakers to teams to even trends, you can relive the past 12 years by scooping up the new issue currently on newsstands nationwide. In those pages, you’ll find the following feature… Read More »

It’s the recent and litereally age-old topic that’s dominated, at least for me, the NBA summer stories: How did the the summer of 2012 become such a gold mine for older players? Now that we’re left to track the free agency workouts of Josh Harrellson, July’s blitz can seem so long ago, I realize. But take a long, eight-week look back at some of the biggest winners of free agency: Jason Kidd, Tim Duncan, Ray Allen, Chauncey Billups, Marcus Camby, Kevin Garnett, Grant Hill, Steve Nash and Jason Terry all scored deals, and of the bunch, only Billups’ is for one-year. Is modern medicine that much better since Karl Malone‘s rookie year in 1985, when five players were 35 or older, to last season, when there were 29? Read More »

NBA salaries are based on market value, and, for the most part, are relative. A weak free agent class typically over values certain players (re: Rashard Lewis). Similarly, longevity increases max contract value, thus explaining why LeBron James can be ranked behind players like Joe Johnson. So when you read the following list – big shoutout to @warriorsworld on this – which chronicles the top 25 career NBA salaries, don’t look at it as a barometer of the greatest players. Rather, see it as the ultimate expression of the NBA as a business, in which certain players have taken advantage of their situation to cash in as much as possible. Read More »

It’s the dog days of August. Free agency is basically over and teams can’t make any trades of those free agents until mid-December. But do the debates end in the NBA? Of course not. This next one can get fans heated: Who has the nicest threads in the league? The internet’s apostle of apparel, Paul Lukas, at Uni Watch brought up this debate today and crowned the Boston Celtics as the gold standard to go with their 17 titles. Read More »

LeBron James‘ jaw-dropping year has been much discussed around these parts, not just for his accomplishments, but the scale of them. You know the list by now, with its various MVPs and gold-plated championship accoutrements. This year’s NBA rookie class is looking at what Anthony Davis has accomplished in the last year and believes he won’t be stopped either. The NCAA title, an all-time freshman blocks record, first pick in the draft and an Olympic gold medal are quite the haul for the lanky, 6-11 forward in New Orleans, especially one who wasn’t Mr. All-World Everything out of high school. Read More »

If we listened and took Rajon Rondo‘s word as gospel then we’d probably already be calling him the GOAT point guard. He never misses a chance to stake his claim to the title as the best lead guard in the game, and sometimes treats the competition like an annoying little brother. We once asked him if he could beat any point guard in the league one-on-one. He said yes. Then, we asked who he would beat in a make believe one-on-one tournament championship and he said, “Whoever gets there.” While Ray Allen might tell him to shut his Sidney Deane-ass up, Rondo has backup. Read More »

To look at the Mavericks’ 2012 offseason from an optimist’s point of view, Dallas has more than enough salary cap room to make one of the best bids for Dwight Howard next summer in free agency. If you’re not an optimist, Dallas had to scramble to sign one-year rentals with Chris Kaman, Elton Brand and Darren Collison to fill the holes its misses in free agency created (i.e., losing the Deron Williams sweepstakes). Collison’s signing was because of two misses, in fact, both with Williams and point guard Jason Kidd, who left to be a Knick at the 11th hour. Kidd wasn’t the only player to leave from last year’s roster but he was the one whose departure made owner Mark Cuban say today: “I was pissed.” Read More »

Somewhere in the future we will likely see an economics thesis written about what Jeremy Lin‘s value is. He’s the NBA’s version of the hot new start-up that’s the most talked-about thing that no one is positive can bring in money. His two months on top of the NBA’s mountain as social-media king has been parlayed into an offer from Houston, of course. Read More »