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: Randy Foye, Mike Miller, Fabricio Oberto, Paul Davis

Lost: Darius Songaila, Etan Thomas, Oleksiy Pecherov, Juan Dixon Read More »

A good sign that things are getting busier and crazier around here: A couple years ago, if the first televised NBA preseason game was on during the workday, you would’ve found at least 2-3 members of the Dime crew parked on the office couch in front of the TV, workload be damned. This year, the best we could do was catch some of Jazz/Bulls (from London) on a side-glance … No Derrick Rose for this one, as he reportedly hurt his ankle the day before in practice. (Funny how that coincided with his 21st birthday on Sunday. Not that we’re accusing anybody of anything.) Read More »

One of the most interesting parts of the first few days of NBA training camp is seeing the lineups we’ve speculated about all summer finally coming together. Some of them haven’t changed a bit, some of them look real good, and some — try Chris Duhon, Wilson Chandler, Danilo Gallinari, Al Harrington and David Lee in New York — just look good and terrible … Speaking of Gallo, apparently Mike D’Antoni has fallen back in love with the kid and is talking him up big-time. After the Knicks fans booed him out of MSG at the draft, the quick assumption was that Gallo would be the next Skita Tskitishvili, but if he stays healthy and carves out a nice little Andrea Bargnani-like niche for himself, that’s a big W for the Knicks … Read More »

Before you skip the article and head directly to the comments to destroy me, just hear me out. And for fans of the Celtics, Cavs and Magic, it’s not that you don’t think it’s possible, but rather that the thought of the Wizards beating you in the second round of the playoffs makes you sick. But the more and more I think about it, the more and more I convince myself that the Wizards could win the championship this year. Read More »

A couple months ago, one of our writers picked the Wizards to make a return to the playoffs in 2010, slotting them eighth or ninth in the East. A lot of readers thought that was way too low; they had the crew of Caron Butler, Antawn Jamison, a returning Gilbert Arenas and Brendan Haywood, new pickups Randy Foye and Mike Miller, and young’uns Andray Blatche, Nick Young and JaVale McGee finishing as high as fourth in the East. Now Jamison is taking it a step further. In yesterday’s Washington Post, Jamison said he believes the Wizards can win a championship next year. Read More »

Last week it seemed a forgone conclusion that Stephon Marbury had — either intentionally or unintentionally — ended his own NBA career by following his crazy Internet act with a public admission that he smokes weed. However, maybe there’s still a chance for Steph to get back in the League … if he really wants it.

According to ProBasketballNews.com, the Wizards are keeping Marbury “on their radar” as a possible late signing. Read More »

When Austin wrote a couple weeks ago that the Wizards would be crashing the 2010 postseason party as a seventh or eighth seed, a lot of people disagreed. Not because they thought the Wizards would be back in the lottery, but rather that people were thinking they could legitimately get homecourt advantage in the first round. Despite having Caron Butler, Antawn Jamison, Randy Foye, Nick Young, Mike Miller, Andray Blatche and JaVale McGee, DeShawn Stevenson knows that it all comes down to Gilbert Arenas. Read More »

As much as we make summer league about the rookies, this year’s Vegas version was stocked with young “vets” whose play could be a sign of big things to come when the real games start. Nick Young, Anthony Randolph, Jason Thompson, even Adam Morrison and Marcus Williams all put in work, but when the VSL wrapped up yesterday, it was rookie Blake Griffin who was named MVP … Blake averaged 19 points and 10 boards in his five games with the JV Clippers, and in his finale put up 16 and eight in a matchup with older brother Taylor Griffin (4 pts, 6 rebs) and the Suns. We’re probably not going out on a limb saying that was the first and last game those two ever play where they’re across from each other in the starting lineup. Read More »

A couple of hours before Nick Young posed for the photo you see to the left, I sat down with him in a hotel lobby and talked about his life leading up to the ‘07 NBA Draft.

Nick Young has been through a lot. When he was five, his oldest brother was killed in a case of mistaken gang identity. In the aftermath of that tragedy, another of Nick’s brothers suffered a mental breakdown and was committed to an institution. Read More »

Big night in the Vegas Summer League, where the “veterans” outshined the rookies and toyed with some of the scrubs. Anthony Randolph continued his MVP-caliber run, dropping 42 points (13-22 FG, 16-21 FT), four steals and three blocks on the Bulls while looking like a more athletic version of Chris Bosh. Randolph has shown flashes in college and during his rookie year; we know, It’s Just Summer League, but the guy is looking like he’s gonna be a beast in the NBA. Few power forwards in the League have his athleticism and few small forwards have his size, making him an instant matchup problem. Read More »