In the NBA, coaching jobs have the same turnover rate as your local Chili’s. With several franchises off to disappointing starts, it is just a matter of time before the firing coaches talk starts to make headlines. It took just two weeks into the season for the Hornets to hand Byron Scott his walking papers. We listed five underachieving coaches who might join Scott in the unemployment line soon. Read More »

Stephen Jackson finally got his wish. After enduring nearly two-and-a-half months of negative press for his trade demand, he was dealt to the Charlotte Bobcats yesterday. Almost immediately, you could already see Captain Jackson having a couple of issues with his new destination. One, the winning situation in Charlotte is not too much better than where he came from. And two, he’s going to be coached by Larry Brown. 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: Tyson Chandler, Gerald Henderson, Flip Murray, Derrick Brown, Stephen Graham

Lost: Emeka Okafor, Sean May, Juwan Howard, Cartier Martin Read More »

Imagine the disappointment that swept across the NBA TV studios when they found out LeBron was sick and going to miss last night’s big preseason game between the Cavs and Wizards. No tense ‘Bron/DeShawn encounters, no real reason for highlight montages of LBJ taking Washington’s heart in the playoffs, no smooth segues to talk about Mike Miller wearing LeBron’s signature shoes. And to top it off, starting in LBJ’s place was Jawad Williams, who scored 21 points (4 threes) in his last Smack mention of the season, a Cleveland loss … Gilbert Arenas put up 18 points for the Wiz, while Miller scored 24 (5 threes) and Randy Foye scored 21. However, Antawn Jamison hurt his shoulder in the first quarter and didn’t return. Read More »

Yesterday must have been unofficial Sh*t-Talking Day around the NBA. With most teams kicking off training camp this week — check out the first installment of Dime’s team-by-team season previews HERE — most teams are having their annual preseason Media Day, and a few guys have been talking reckless. Monta Ellis raised the most eyebrows in Golden State. Ever since the Warriors took Stephen Curry and didn’t trade him to Phoenix, the rookie has been penciled into the starting backcourt next to Monta. But apparently nobody ran that idea by Cold-Vicious. “Us together? No. Can’t. We just can’t,” Monta said, sounding like somebody had asked him to film a Brokeback Mountain scene. Read More »

Every NBA team has a go-to guy, and there’s really only room for one. It’s not about who always gets to take the last-second shot. More realistically, it’s the guy who regularly gets the ball when things are getting tense in the fourth quarter; it’s the guy who is expected to calm things down when teammates are getting sloppy; it’s the guy who is called upon to snuff out an opponent’s rally, or spark a comeback rally of his own; it’s the guy who’s not just supposed to make shots, but make the right decisions when a shot isn’t there. Bottom line: Who do you want the offense to run through when everything is on the line? Read More »

Looking at the Charlotte Bobcats’ roster is like looking at the cast of the Fresh Prince of Bel Air and not having Will Smith. The Bobcats have several solid supporting players, but are missing the one thing every team must have: a star.

By this I mean someone whose job is to get buckets night in and night out. Someone who can get his shot off at anytime and you can rely on to take the last shot. Someone who has star power and can attract media coverage, fan interest and NBA free agents. While the Bobcats made some noise last year and competed for the 8th seed, I seriously doubt they can build on their season without a prolific scorer. Read More »

Fresh off his breakup with Khloe Kardashian and a solid outing at the UNC alumni game, it’s time Rashad McCants starts thinking about finding a job. Assuming McCants doesn’t want to play with his ex’s new boyfriend (Lamar Odom), that leaves 29 teams for him to choose from. But of those 29 teams the Nuggets, Bobcats and Heat have all expressed interest in signing the free agent guard. Read More »

When I heard this weekend that new Timberwolves coach Kurt Rambis was mostly likely going to add Bill Laimbeer and Reggie Theus to his staff, this got me thinking: If there was a 3-on-3 tournament amongst the NBA’s current coaching staff, who would win? Read More »

After quite a few media outlets picked up on our report in yesterday’s Smack that Allen Iverson had agreed to a contract with the Bobcats, Charlotte Observer beat writer Rick Bonnell refuted the claims of our NBA source, citing a “great source” who told him A.I. and the ‘Cats haven’t agreed to anything just yet, but there is a chance something will happen soon. We’re not gonna get into a “Whose recorder is bigger?” contest; whether our source is right or the other source is right, everybody can at least agree that something is brewing between Iverson and Charlotte … Read More »