When you scroll through the list of available free agents, there’s one name that stands out from the rest: Joe Smith. While there are other former No. 1 picks without teams (Shaq, A.I. and Kwame), Smith is the the one that has played for the most teams. With 10 squads on the resume, the 35-year-old is looking for one last shot and a chance at a ring. But he wasn’t always just a backup big man. Take a minute to check out some of the damage he use to do around the League.

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Even with Ben Gordon gone to Detroit cashing huge paychecks and planning his offseason vacation early, it would have been easy to watch last night’s Bulls/Celtics game and think it was a replay from last year’s classic playoff series … With Derrick Rose and Co. battling for that last postseason spot in the East, this was a must-win for the home team, who along with the crowd rose to the occasion to create a Game 7 atmosphere. Rajon Rondo is our man 50 grand and all, but he was getting eaten up like Hungry Hungry Hippos chips by D-Rose. Read More »

As little attention as I pay to hockey, I always make sure to catch the final seconds of the clinching game of the NHL Finals. And amidst my second-favorite team sports celebration (after an NCAA Tournament upset), there always seems to be one guy on the newly-crowned champs who’s happier than everyone else, the guy who’s been in the League 15-20 years without winning a Stanley Cup.

In the NBA, Jamal Crawford is that guy, but worse. In a league where half of the teams make the playoffs, Crawford is 10 years deep in the game without even making a postseason. 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: Jamal Crawford, Joe Smith, Jeff Teague, Juan Dixon, Courtney Sims Read More »

This will get the LeBron haters’ blood pressure up. The Orlando Sentinel polled 11 “NBA experts” (a.k.a. media) to handicap the Eastern Conference for next season, and the Cavs were given the No. 1 spot. The Celtics ranked second, and Orlando third. Apparently replacing Hedo Turkoglu and Courtney Lee with Vince Carter and Matt Barnes was seen as a step backwards for the Magic, while a healthy Kevin Garnett and the addition of Shaq helped pushed Boston and Cleveland to the top … Read More »

Nothing happened in basketball yesterday. Really. The Celtics are still trying to find a way to make that sign-and-trade for Marquis Daniels work (a.k.a. ringing Chris Wallace‘s phone off the hook), the Hawks are looking to add another big man (those auditioning for the role include Joe Smith, Jason Collins, Stromile Swift and D-League MVP Courtney Sims), and Linzas Kleiza is getting closer and closer to signing with Olympiakos (Greece) and making it official that the Nuggets really lost ground on the whole improving-the-team thing this summer. Other than that, most of the weekend was dead basketball-wise, with the first NFL preseason game, the Pro Football Hall of Fame, a Yankees/Red Sox series, and Tiger Woods involved in the last day of a tournament owning the headlines … Read More »

Can’t the Timberwolves do anything right? The same franchise that used its first-ever draft pick on Pooh Richardson when Mookie Blaylock, Tim Hardaway and Shawn Kemp were still on the board; that cost itself five years of first-round picks just to overpay Joe Smith under the table; that wasted Kevin Garnett‘s prime by not getting him a good enough supporting cast; that may have fumbled their biggest post-KG opportunity at the ’09 Draft; that’s taking way too long just to eventually hire Elston Turner as its next coach — they’ve done it again. 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. On the eve of the negotiation period (players can’t officially sign until July 8), we’re taking the next few days to break down each team’s free agent situation… Read More »

Facing elimination, Dirk Nowitzki played like Video Game Dirk last night. And not just because his numbers were ridiculous (44 pts, 13 rebs), but because video games can’t account for things like heart and nerves and a conscience, there was no trace of the big-game/crunch-time meltdown Dirk critics had come to expect. He was closer to a machine in the fourth quarter, scoring 19 in the quarter including the go-ahead bucket on a pretty fadeaway over K-Mart. Read More »

Remember when the Magic were stumbling at the end of the regular season, but we all figured they were doing themselves a favor anyway by conceding a top-2 seed and avoiding the Pistons? Well, Dwight Howard‘s team wishes they were playing Detroit now. Orlando went down 2-1 to the Sixers last night, dropping Game 3 in Philly and joining the Spurs and Hornets in that “WTF, we’re supposed to be better than this!” semi-panic mode … Read More »