Ranking the NBA from worst to first…

30. New Jersey Nets (7-56) — Garbage in, garbage out, garbage up, garbage down.

29. Minnesota Timberwolves (14-50) — In Monday’s loss to Dallas, Kurt Rambis sat Kevin Love most of the night and played Darko in his place, claiming he wanted to have a more active big man to give Dirk some problems. You’re over-thinking it, homeboy. Play the double-double kid. Read More »

Last week we asked the Dime faithful for your favorite and least-favorite NBA nicknames. Reader Chaos best summed up ours and everyone else’s general feeling: “We need to start giving players real nicknames man. I miss those days. How can you beat Hakeem the Dream, Air Jordan, Sir Charles, The Admiral, Clyde the Glide and The Worm. All the names these days are lazy like Melo, CP3, CB4, King James, Joe Jeezy … smh.” Read More »

With a day off in between the All-Star Game and the continuation of the NBA schedule, Monday was a time for trades, post-trade fallout, and trade rumors … As we wrote this column, the Blazers and Clippers were reportedly very close to closing a deal that would send Marcus Camby to Portland for Travis Outlaw and Steve Blake. The Blazers have to do something to cover the hole left at center by Greg Oden and Joel Przybilla’s injuries, because going into the playoffs with Juwan Howard starting in the middle is just asking for a first-round exit. Read More »

At the start of the season, there was no question that the Blazers had the most post depth in the League. But then the injuries hit. First Greg Oden fractured the patella in his left knee, and then Joel Przybilla ruptured his right patella tendon. As both of these happened in December, Portland hoped that 2010 would bring them some good news. But after going 5-5 in their last 10 games, and Utah jumping them in the Northwest Conference standings, it’s time to make a move. Read More »

We already saw one trade go down this past week when the Jazz sent rookie Eric Maynor to the Thunder. With the new year just around the corner, expect trade talks to really pick up between now and the February 18 trade deadline. Trade rumors around the web and in newspapers have already started to gain momentum this week. Players like Tracy McGrady, Kevin Martin, Eddy Curry and Tyrus Thomas are just a few of the names that have been thrown out. Read More »

Everybody had the day off on Christmas Eve, with no pro or college hoops on the schedule. So if you weren’t into watching SMU beat the brakes off Nevada in the Hawaii Bowl, or that 7th-8th-9th replay of Home Alone, it was just sitting and waiting for today’s all-national TV slate. Consider this a user’s guide on what to watch for Christmas Day …

Heat at Knicks (12 p.m. EST, ESPN). D-Wade’s history with New York is up-and-down: He dropped 55 on ‘em last year, but also got 52 dropped on him at MSG by Jamal Crawford a couple years back. Read More »

Seeing as Rasheed Wallace didn’t even bother combing his hair, you kind of got the impression early on that Boston was taking the Pacers lightly — and that was before the C’s fell behind by double-digits in the first quarter. (Oh wait, ‘Sheed never combs his hair. Scratch that part.) KG was given the night off with a thigh bruise, and even Tommy Heinsohn called in sick rather than risk his pipes against Indiana when there’s a big Christmas Day game against Orlando looming … Overcoming a slow start in which they made Earl Watson look like Tim Hardaway, the Celtics managed a tie going into the fourth, and that’s when Paul Pierce took over. Read More »

Before Thursday, the last time we saw the Blazers host the Suns on national TV in December, Brandon Roy had his “superstar” breakout by dumping 52 points on Phoenix. Last night, same setting with the same teams, it was Jerryd Bayless‘ turn. Having just recently been introduced to consistent playing time since Portland is racked by injuries, Bayless went off for 29 points (9-15 FG, 9-12 FT) in 29 minutes off the bench, and by the end of the night had Charles Barkley calling Nate McMillan into question for keeping Bayless buried until now … Read More »

The injury bug hit the NBA especially hard this season. From Antawn Jamison to Jameer Nelson to now Greg Oden, it seems every other day, another big name player gets hurt and is forced to miss a month, two months or even the season. But whenever someone goes down, an opportunity arises for someone else. We saw it last year when Rafer Alston stepped in for Jameer. Read More »

Weekend Wonder: Chris Paul made a somewhat surprising early return from a sprained ankle on Friday and dropped some jaws with his 16 points, 6 boards, 15 dimes, 8 steals and 1 block. He hit 46 percent (6-13) of his shots, all of his three free throws and chipped in a three-pointer. He had 3 turnovers, but a 5:1 assist-to-turnover ratio ain’t shabby. This line must’ve been painful for his owners who understandably benched him in weekly formats, but it’s safe to say that CP3 won’t need any time to recover his status as the best fantasy baller in the land. Read More »