I can hear it now: With the No. 1 pick in the 2010 NBA Draft, the New Jersey Nets select John Wall from the University of Kentucky. Sorry Kenny Hayes, but despite your bomb from the parking lot to tie it, Wall had the last say.

That’s right, the start of the college hoops season is just one week away and you know what that means: it’s time to unleash the mother effing fury! For the past seven months, I’ve been bottling up a vicious mixture of excitement and rage, just waiting for the moment to release my emotions onto the rest of the world. Well that time has come. Your boy Matty D is back to give you a look at the top teams in the country and to separate the champs from the chumps. 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: Jordan Hill, Darko Milicic, Toney Douglas, Gabe Pruitt Read More »

It’s been a tough year for Jerry Stackhouse. First he appeared in just 10 games for the Mavericks last season while averaging career lows in points (4.2), rebounds (1.7), assists (1.2) and minutes (16.2) per game. Then he was waived by the Grizzlies after being acquired in an offseason trade. And if that wasn’t enough, he got crowned by John Wall in perhaps the dunk of the summer. But while most people might think he should just hang ‘em up, Jerry Stackhouse can’t go out like this. Read More »

When talking about the NBA’s top young cores, it seems like everybody is riding Thunder’s bandwagon. And deservingly so. With Durant, Green, Westbrook and now Harden, the future is going to be scary. Memphis and Minnesota’s young talent is also generating a lot of buzz all over hoops blogs and websites. One young core that is not getting any love is the New Jersey Nets. Scanning the roster up and down, I can not only see then being relevant in the East a few years down the line, but I can also see them being relevant this year.

I think after they traded Vince Carter down to Orlando this offseason, a lot of people wrote them off for this upcoming year. Read More »

Even though Jerry Stackhouse is like 60 years old, this dunk by John Wall is still straight filthy.

When the NBA rolled out its Top 10 plays of the ‘08-09 season, I thought it’d be cool to do my own list of the Top 10 players of the season. But when that got too bloated — I had like 30 “honorable mentions” — I decided to break it down by position and go beyond just the NBA.

Let’s (hopefully) clear up one thing first: This is NOT a “best players” list. If you see John Wall ahead of Chris Paul here, I’m NOT saying the high schooler is better than the NBA All-Star. Instead, I’m looking at the whole picture: Who had an overall better season? Who made the biggest impact on their level? Who put the biggest stamp on the game of basketball, from high school to college to the pros? Who made this season his own? So with that, here are my Top 10 — not “10 best” — point guards from the ‘08-09 season. Read More »

Just as High School Hoop pitted Brandon Jennings and John Wall against each other, some of our readers requested an analysis comparing and contrasting Ricky Rubio and “Young Money”. Right off the bat I’d like to say that Jennings has the advantage; he has played in America all his life up until recently, and is now gaining experience playing in Europe. Do not be fooled- I am not saying he is better- I am only suggesting he is better off. Rubio, on the other hand, grew up playing in Europe and is entering the NBA draft with no real familiarity with the style of ball over here. Read More »

Now that Nick Calathes decided to forgo his senior season to make $1.1 million per year in Greece, Billy Donovan has a scholarship up for grabs. After missing out on lightning bolt PG John Wall to Kentucky, Donovan could use a big talent to compete with the supercharged Wildcats in the SEC. The only remaining five-star recruit on the board is Lance Stephenson - and UF just happens to have a void at the three. Head over to High School Hoop for the full story on the Gators’ pursuit of “Born Ready.”

A couple of weeks back, there were rumblings that high school PG phenom John Wall was going to use his status as a fifth-year senior to skip college altogether and leap from Word of God Academy (Raleigh, N.C.) straight to the League. If that were the case, mock drafts were going to go haywire, with Wall springing into the Top 5, and perhaps even the Top 3. Read More »