Despite becoming the most dominant post presence in the NBA, and bringing the Orlando Magic to within an arm’s reach of a world title the last two seasons, Dwight Howard had somehow become an afterthought heading into the 2010-11 season. With new and old fan favorites owning the headlines out East, speculation has emerged that Howard just isn’t on that top-flight level of NBA superstardom. Maybe he isn’t Superman after all, or maybe we’ve just lost sight at how hungry he is to become the greatest of all-time. In Dime #60, I sought to find the rest of the story. Read More »

After posting Paul Pierce‘s Halloween costume last night, it appears he wasn’t the only NBA player who got dressed up. After the jump, check out the NBA’s best Halloween costumes, which clearly shows the Celtics and Hawks are the winners. Read More »

As NBA training camps get underway, we preview the upcoming season with the “Highs and Lows” system — predicting the respective ceiling and basement for each team.

Added: Jordan Crawford, Josh Powell, Etan Thomas

Lost: Joe Smith, Randolph Morris, Mario West Read More »

“This is it.” Whether or not Brett Favre actually means those words is one thing, but either way, the Minnesota Vikings, much of the NFL and many football fans across the country have been sucking furiously on the nipple of the Ol’ Gunslinger for the past few summers. He’s the Han Solo of football. He’s in. He’s out. Back in again. Gone tomorrow.

How many athletes can get away with blatantly and repeatedly testing the power of not only a coach, but also an entire organization? Read More »

Monty Williams and Byron Scott are gonna have a lot to talk about the next time they cross paths. Around the same time ex-Hornets coach B-Scott walked into a job with the Cavs thinking (maybe) he had LeBron James — only to watch him take off for Miami — new Hornets coach Williams was thinking he had Chris Paul on his side. But maybe not for long now. CP3 reportedly wants to be traded ASAP, and would prefer to go to Orlando, New York or the Lakers … Money-wise, Paul has two years left on a deal that pays him about $15 million per, so whoever tries to get him likely won’t be doing it for spare parts. Read More »

Another amazing NBA season has come to an end. But no time for reminiscing, everybody wants to know what the Lakers need to do to ensure themselves a fourth straight NBA Finals appearance and a third straight NBA Championship. From possible major shakeups to the NBA Draft and free agency, here’s looking forward to the 2010-11 Los Angeles Lakers. Read More »

Take your pick on the storyline you want to cover before Thursday’s Game 7, but if you ask me, the biggest story that no one is talking about is that 16 of the 30 players in the NBA Finals are going to be free agents after the season. With that in mind, we break down the Top 10 free agents in the NBA Finals. Read More »

Game 5 tonight (8 p.m. EST, ABC) will be like every other Lakers game: First you start with Kobe, then go from there. Whether he’s surrounded by All-Stars or carrying Smush Parker and Slava Medvedenko, no player in the NBA has his number of shots picked apart and scrutinized more than Kobe, and over the last two games it’s been no different. He hoisted 29 FG’s in Game 3, and took 11 threes in Game 4; but in both games Kobe seemed tired by the fourth quarter and went for long scoreless stretches at the worst time. Read More »

No disrespect to Grant Hill, Jared Dudley and Jason Richardson, but we figured Kobe Bryant‘s toughest matchup last night would be against his own pride. Going into Game 1 of the Western Conference Finals, Kobe was facing the team (Phoenix) that represented his last really bad playoff fail (2006, 2007), so there was a real chance of him going out with Lookin At Lucky blinders and trying to overkill eviscerate the Suns instead of playing team basketball. But on his way to 40 points (13-23 FG, 11-12 FT), five rebounds and five assists, Kobe was like an artist in the way he picked his spots to take over in between letting the game come to him. Read More »

One sequence defined last night’s Lakers/Nuggets national TV preseason game: In the second half, after Kobe Bryant had already come out of the locker room with That Look in his eye, he pulled off his new favorite move on Kenyon Martin; getting him in the air with a pump fake and spinning a quick 360 to his left, dropping a jumper as K-Mart harmlessly floated back to Earth. Then on the Nuggets’ ensuing possession, Kobe jumped a passing lane and finished with a breakway one-hander, slapping on the bottom-teeth snarl as an exclamation point … Read More »