As the NBA preseason gets underway, we preview the upcoming campaign with the “Highs and Lows” system — predicting the respective ceiling and basement for each team.

Added: Tiago Splitter, James Anderson, Alonzo Gee

Lost: Roger Mason, Keith Bogans, Ian Mahinmi Read More »

Who knew The Jet had it like this??

Despite the fact Dirk Nowitzki signed a new four-year contract with the Mavericks this summer, the realistic oddsmaker knows Dallas’ championship window for the Dirk era only has a couple of years left — if it hasn’t been slammed shut already by the likes of Tim Duncan, Dwyane Wade and Baron Davis — before it’s officially rebuilding time. The Mavs took another hit this weekend, as rising star Rodrigue Beaubois broke his left foot while playing for Team France, a setback in the young guard’s development. Read More »

If he keeps his two current jobs for a few years — and if we’ve learned anything about Isiah Thomas, it’s that he knows how to get (and stay) on his boss’ good side — then Zeke will eventually be the only college basketball coach in the country who can recruit the same superstars at least two different times. The New York Knicks have brought Isiah back into the fold, officially introducing him yesterday as a part-time consultant, where part of his duties include recruiting free agents. Read More »

In less than a season, Raylan Givens is rocketing up the Austin’s Favorite TV Cops power ranking — threatening Frank Pembleton (“Homicide”), J.C. Williams and Eddie Torres (“New York Undercover”), Rick Hunter (“Hunter”) and the entire cast of “In The Heat Of The Night” — the same way Kevin Durant crashed the NBA’s elite party.

In a recent episode of “Justified” (Tuesdays on FX), Givens had gotten his ass kicked in a barroom brawl, and while his ex-wife is nursing him back to health, they have this exchange: Read More »

It sounds strange to make a favorable comparison between a future Hall of Famer and a former NBA journeyman — and have the journeyman set the standard of said comparison — but watching Dirk Nowitzki drop 36 points in Dallas’ Game 1 win over San Antonio the other night, I couldn’t help but think of Christian Laettner. Read More »

Pretend for a second that the Raptors make the playoffs and have a chance of beating the Cavaliers in the first round. If Chris Bosh‘s face heals up and the rest of the frontcourt can bottle whatever they had during last night’s must-win at Detroit, this team actually matches up pretty well with Cleveland in the same way Orlando’s front line gave LeBron‘s squad problems last year … Andrea Bargnani (33 pts, 5 threes) was a sniper against the Pistons akin to Rashard Lewis on a good day; Hedo could recapture his actual game from the Orlando days; Sonny Weems could be utilized on the wing like Pietrus to harass LeBron; Read More »

For the last two years at Temple, Dionte Christmas was the stud of the A-10. After averaging a shade under 20 points a game his junior and senior seasons, Christmas surprisingly went undrafted in last June’s draft. Surprising, I note, because Goran Suton and Robert Dozier did get drafted. Until Wednesday, Christmas had caught on with his hometown Sixers, when he was cut along with Brandon Bowman to slim the roster to 13. Read More »

Last year we debuted the “Highs and Lows” system — previewing the NBA season by predicting the respective ceiling and basement for each team. Same theme, different season…

Added: Richard Jefferson, Antonio McDyess, DeJuan Blair, Theo Ratliff, Keith Bogans

Lost: Bruce Bowen, Kurt Thomas, Ime Udoka, Drew Gooden, Fabricio Oberto, Jacque Vaughn Read More »

While the Cavs figure out what they need to do about Delonte West and possibly keep some Plan B’s in mind, more details of Delonte’s arrest emerged yesterday. Most importantly from a basketball standpoint, Delonte’s first court date isn’t until late-November, about three weeks into the regular season. So it’s unlikely the NBA will take any kind of disciplinary action before then, and Delonte can start the season playing ball and keeping Anthony Parker away from his starting SG job. West is being charged with two misdemeanor concealed-weapon counts, which is about the best he could’ve hoped for … LeBron was in New York yesterday on the latest stop in his summer-long media tour, this time to promote his documentary More Than a Game. Read More »