When Kyrie Irving was chosen No. 1 in the 2011 NBA Draft, he knew his rookie year would be impacted by the league’s lockout. He just didn’t know how great that impact would be. After his close brush with unemployment, the Rookie of the Year front-runner can now resume the business of proving he belongs here. Read More »

Few things in life are as certain as death, taxes and the L.A. Clippers’ misfortunes. So excuse me when I say with the most sincerity that a kid from Edmond, Oklahoma, has effectively taken that last tidbit of certainty, cupped its face to his nether regions and slam dunked all over it. I know this, because Blake Griffin showed me so. Read More »

You could see it coming, albeit it took an extra year to truly surface. You could feel the woosh as it swept by, but that feeling was never quite as strong as it is now. Too bad it didn’t have an odor, for if it did, the smell would undoubtedly make you cringe, more so for its authority than the stench. This force of nature, the amazingly nimble, slippery, yet destructively dangerous power that exploded out of this young NBA season was supposed to happen.

But not like this. Read More »

Timing is everything. LeBron James bought a full-page ad in the Akron Beacon Journal, thanking his hometown fans, friends and family. “For all my life, I have lived in Akron — and for that, I am truly a lucky man,” the ad reads. “It was here where I first learned how to play basketball, and where I met the people who would become my lifelong friends and mentors. Their guidance, encouragement and support will always be with me. Akron is my home, and the central focus of my life. It’s where I started, and it’s where I will always come back to. You can be sure that I will continue to do everything I can for this city, which is so important to my family and me. Thank you for your love and support. You mean everything to me.” Read More »

With the most exciting night in the NBA upon us, we often tend to focus on the players who get picked and their dreams finally coming true. But Draft Night is not always such a wonderful dream. For some franchises, selecting the wrong player turns a night of dreams into nightmares. With that in mind, here are my Top 5 Draft Day Disasters: Read More »

DIME’S NBA DRAFT PREVIEW

Even as the NBA gets taken over by super-athletic point guards (Rose, Westbrook, Rondo) and small forwards who breathe buckets (LeBron, Durant, Carmelo), teams will always be on the lookout for the next top big man.

Especially now, since a low-post makeover is on the way. Dwight Howard has taken the scepter to represent the standard by which today’s dominant post player is judged, while Shaq, Duncan and Garnett get older and Yao can’t stay out of a walking boot. Read More »

For every Dwight Howard, Hakeem Olajuwon, and Shaquille O’Neal, there’s a Kwame Brown, a Michael Olowokandi, and a Pervis Ellison. And it’s always gonna be that way.

That’s because in the NBA, a great center is priceless. Knowing that, teams will continue to take risks on unpolished, injury-prone and/or unproven prospects. Rather than let the next Cullinan Diamond of a 7-footer slip through your grasp, it’s easier to gamble and believe he’s the kid wearing your Draft cap. Read More »

For the second day in a row, the two marquee teams at the FIBA European Championships didn’t look that good. Spain was upset by a scrappy Serbia squad over the holiday weekend, then on Tuesday they struggled again with a team they rightfully should have 20-pieced. Playing without Ben Gordon or Luol Deng (or Michael Olowokandi — although that’s probably a good thing), Great Britain gave Pau Gasol and Co. all they could handle, taking a brief lead in the fourth quarter before Spain (sparked by a Pau three-pointer) got it together in time to hold on for a win. Gasol dropped 27 points and 11 boards, while Rudy Fernandez scored 13 and Ricky Rubio added five points and six assists. In case you’re wondering, Rubio is starting at PG ahead of Raul Lopez. His regular competition, Jose Calderon, isn’t playing in this tournament … Read More »

There’s only one reason why yesterday’s Wolves/Clippers trade — the one sending Quentin Richardson to Minnesota for Sebastian Telfair, Craig Smith and Mark Madsen — means anything to Wolves fans: It’s yet another reason to believe Ricky Rubio is walking through that door sooner than anyone expected. Wolves GM David Kahn is in Spain this week to sit down with Rubio’s camp and talk about that contract buyout, and then yesterday it was reported that Rubio’s Spanish squad signed another point guard (Kristaps Valters, who may or may not be the Latvian Goran Dragic), perhaps indicating they may be ready to lose Rubio. With the Q-Rich trade (3-for-1), Minnesota not only gets Bassy out of the PG picture, but they also open up a roster spot for Rubio … Read More »

As not to break my own “It’s just summer league” adage, I won’t get too excited about the fact that Roy Hibbert and Tyler Hansbrough are rampaging through Orlando right now for my Pacers like Robert Parish and Kevin McHale in ’86 (with A.J. Price as their Dennis Johnson).

We’re still months away from the real games, from even beginning to determine whether Hansbrough will become the good pro I think he’ll be, or the Lottery pick bust his harsher critics think he’ll be. Read More »