Dime had a chance to catch up with a handful of NBA rookies at the NBA rookie photo shoot last Tuesday. On Thursday, we began unrolling our Q&A’s with these future NBA stars. So far we’ve brought you Bradley Beal and John Jenkins, and today you’ll hear from Meyers Leonard.

Meyers Leonard isn’t just a big body. Despite his elite physical stature, standing at 7-1 with a 7-3 wingspan and a nine-foot standing reach, Leonard showed in his sophomore season at Illinois that his skills aren’t far behind. Learning to become more assertive with his pure size and strength, he became a hot name in NBA circles and one of the top center prospects at this year’s NBA Draft. We had a chance to catch up with Leonard at the NBA rookie photo shoot, and he talked a bit about his Summer League performance and, most importantly, that deadly Portland center curse. Read More »

11. Portland – Meyers Leonard 7-0, 240 lbs. C Illinois, Soph.

Not too many people have actually seen Meyers Leonard play. But for the fans our there, Leonard is a legit 7-footer who can run and move. He’s no stiff. Next to LaMarcus Aldridge, he could be dynamite. Portland needed a big man more than anything else coming into this process, and now they have one. Read More »

Serge Ibaka is setting the precedent for shotblocking in the NBA. His 3.7 blocks per game this past season were the most since Theo Ratliff was swatting shots in Philly for the Eastern Conference champs back in the 2000-01 season. Ibaka is by far the best shotblocker in the league, but come Thursday, he may have some company.

Anthony Davis earned the No. 1 pick by leading Kentucky to a national championship with his defensive prowess and is heir apparent to the shot-swatting throne. But not all great shotblockers are drafted with a high pick. The aforementioned Serge Ibaka was taken with the No. 24 overall pick in the 2008 NBA Draft. Read on to see which trusty defenders are worthy enough to make our list of the Top-10 Shotblockers of the 2012 NBA Draft. Read More »

With the NBA Draft Lottery taking place, everyone has a better idea where likely draftees will land come June 28, 2012. Here at Dime, we’ve already begun our full-fledge draft coverage. Catch up on player profiles like Harrison Barnes, the weekly diary of Dion Waiters, and our latest mock draft. All of these features provide a glimpse into what to expect from the incoming influx of ballers. Yet, the perpetual interrelationship between hip-hop and hoopin’ can’t be overlooked. Read More »

Following the shocking NBA Draft Lottery in New York City where everyone and their momma is now saying David Stern and the NBA rigged it to make sure the top prize landed in New Orleans, now we can now begin to get an idea of how the first round of the draft will play out after the top spot. After we took a stab at the first round immediately following the events of the lottery, here is the second of many Dime mock drafts leading up to June 28. As usual, it’s a combination of what we think teams should do and what we think they will do: Read More »

Words. Lucas Shapiro

Following last night’s shocking NBA Draft Lottery in New York City where everyone and their momma is now saying David Stern and the NBA rigged it to make sure the top prize landed in New Orleans, now we can now begin to get an idea of how the first round of the draft will play out after the top spot. This is the first of many Dime mock drafts leading up to June 28. As usual, it’s a combination of what we think teams should do and what we think they will do: Read More »

They used to call it one of the best draft classes of the last 25 years. Now, it’s looking more and more like Anthony Davis… and then everybody else. Still, on June 28, the 2012 NBA Draft will bring hope, and hopefully new talent to some teams that desperately need it.

As we do every year, Dime will be holding you down with Mock Drafts, player interviews and diaries (you should check out Dion Waiters‘ draft diary), and we will also be bringing you draft profiles for every potential prospect deemed worthy. With this year’s crop of talent, that list is long. Our first profile comes for Illinois’ sophomore center Meyers Leonard, a player who looks like he could fit in anywhere from picks 10-25 on draft night. Read More »

Since he watches so much college basketball, you’ll be pressed to find someone besides Doug Gottlieb with a better handle on which NBA Draft prospects will succeed and which ones will become busts. With that, we give you an exclusive conversation we recently had with the ESPN analyst. In part one of this conversation that we ran Sunday afternoon, Gottlieb broke down the tournament and college basketball in general, speaking on parity and the notion that recruiting has drastically changed in the past few years. Read More »

The college basketball scene has seen this story too many times. Scratch that, the basketball world has seen this story too many times. The mystery surrounding Baylor, Connecticut and Illinois makes us wonder one thing: What is going on? These three teams all have one thing in common – one very talented big man. Perry Jones (Baylor), Andre Drummond (UConn) and Meyers Leonard (Illinois) all seem incapable of consistently leading their team to success. Read More »

The first month of the college hoops season has already had enough defining moments to warrant the Luther Vandross treatment.

There was the poignant high of Coach K surpassing his mentor Bob Knight as the all-time leader in NCAA D-I coaching wins; the gut-wrenching (and ongoing) low of Syracuse assistant Bernie Fine throwing his program into scandal; the inspiring comeback stories of Arizona forward Kevin Parrom and Kansas forward Thomas Robinson; made-for-March upsets like UNLV over North Carolina, Presbyterian over Cincinnati, and Central Florida over UConn; and big-time matchups like Ohio State vs. Duke, Kentucky vs. Kansas, and Syracuse vs. Florida that were dipped in Tournament atmosphere.

This past weekend, though, gave us the most thrilling game, the highest display of talent, and the most grand exhibition of the best of college basketball, all wrapped in one 40-minute showcase in Lexington, Ky. Here is that game, plus the rest of the best and worst of the weekend: Read More »