As the NBA lockout lingers on like a bad hangover or the movie “Gigli,” we here at Dime have decided to go on a field trip. We’re hopping in the time machine and going back to 1998, the year of the last NBA lockout. A little “then and now” if you will; who were the best players in the league then, and what are they doing now.

But let’s make this a little more interesting…since we’re back there, we might as well see what the top players in today’s game were up to in 1998. Read More »

This title run was for all the skeptics, all the haters.

Suddenly, Dirk’s playoff career looks pretty good (despite the fact that he was in the middle of one of the worst choke jobs ever seen in the ’06 Finals). His career postseason numbers are still standing in that ultra-elusive 25/10 club (25.9 & 10.4) and in the ridiculous Western Conference – there were a few years where you had to win 50 games JUST TO GET in the playoffs – Dirk has led Dallas to the playoffs in 11 consecutive seasons as the unquestioned alpha dog on his team. Read More »

Playing in the same American Century Celebrity Golf Championship as Jimmer Fredette, Charles Barkley heads into the tournament with 500-1 odds. Arguably the most entertaining basketball personality on television, Barkley has no reservations about speaking his mind. I caught up with Chuck yesterday to talk about Jordan, LeBron, Shaq, gambling and the looming NBA lockout. Read More »

You don’t need me to point out that tonight is the biggest game of the season. Massive. Enormous. Undertaker-huge. Rings are resting on these 48 minutes. The winners of Game 5s in the Finals win the series 77% of the time. If Miami wins, wrap it up. If Dallas wins, they have a death grip on it.

Because of the 2-3-2 format, Game 5s always seem to carry some type of legendary stench. The air is stuffy with expectations and formality. Just look at tonight, at all of the storylines. Read More »

With the sudden retirement of Shaquille O’Neal from the NBA, we got to thinking about all the great players that the Big Social Security Applier played with during his 19 seasons in the league. There’s a long list of All-Stars, but in making the list, we ask this question: Who was at their best while playing with Shaq? For example, the Kevin Garnett that O’Neal played with this season won’t rank as highly as the 2007-08 Amar’e Stoudemire that he shared the court with in his Phoenix stint.

Obviously, we’ll save all the center slots for the Big Aristotle himself, but without further adieu, we present the First, Second and Third All-Shaq teams: Read More »

For his first and only Dime cover story in Dime #38 (December 2007/January 2008), we wanted to get Shaquille O’Neal‘s take on his legacy, the new crop of NBA big men waiting in the wings and some of the most pressing issues facing the League, and basketball in general, at the time. I spoke to Shaq towards the end of the exhibition season one day after practice. His Heat squad was facing an uncertain future, knowing that Dwyane Wade would be out until at least mid-November, and the interview took place shortly before the team jettisoned Antoine Walker to Minnesota for Ricky Davis in an effort to keep afloat until Wade came back… Read More »

Dirk Nowitzki‘s scalding destruction of the Thunder last night was one of the best shooting performances in NBA history. It was so good, Dirk had people suddenly vaulting him into the discussion with the best players ever. While Nowitzki will ultimately be considered one of the 20 best players in the game’s history, he needs a capper. He needs that ring. That way when he walks into a room, Barkley and Malone and Reggie all have to shut up. Amazing right? Read More »

His mission is as simple as his numbers are beastly: To become the NBA’s most dominant, albeit unsuspecting, double-double machine the League has seen in decades. And in only his third season as a pro, Kevin Love, the pride of the Minnesota Timberwolves’ organization at all of 22 years old, did just that. K-Love does have the numbers to warrant our increased national gaze, but his gaudy statistics along – try 20.2 points and 15.2 boards a game – don’t even do the big fella enough justice for how massive an impact he made across the League this year. Read More »

The Best Dunker You’ve Never Seen. That’s the headline we used earlier this month when Jacob Tucker, a 5-11 senior from Illinois College in Jacksonville, Ill., posted a dunk video on YouTube in an attempt to get an invitation to the 2011 State Farm College Slam Dunk Contest. Today, the guard with a 50-inch running vertical is practically a household name. Beating out Lee University’s Larriques “Rico” Cunningham (who has a serious reel as well) in an online vote, Tucker will compete tonight in Houston. Read More »

We argue. You decide.

CARLOS BOOZER Carlos Boozer is a beast. Attitude; toughness; well-manicured beard; he has it all. Say what you will about his injury problems and his “conniving” ways (refer to Cavs ’04), the dude can flat-out play. Having been groomed by arguably the best two coaches in basketball history for the majority of his career — Mike Krzyzewski with Duke/USA Basketball, Jerry Sloan in Utah — Boozer was molded into the disciplined, hard-nosed, high-IQ player he is today. Read More »