Once upon a time, Michael Beasley was a can’t-miss future NBA superstar. But just two years after being drafted No. 2 overall, he was deemed expendable in Miami and traded to Minnesota for next to nothing. Aiming to silence critics who label him a bust, Beasley says he’s grown up now. Will his game grow along with him?

Ten games into this season, Beasley is averaging 20.5 points and 5.2 rebounds on 48 percent shooting from the field. Last week he dropped a new career-high 42 points on Sacramento, before pouring in 35 on New York and 25 on Atlanta over the weekend. For our Dime #60 NBA Preview issue, we got up with Beasley before the beginning of the rest of his career: Read More »

Just admit it: You want to see the Lakers and Heat in the NBA Finals. Nothing against your favorite team, doesn’t matter if you secretly or openly hate Kobe or LeBron, collateral damage if it means Eddie House ends up with two more championships than John Stockton or Sasha Vujacic gets three more rings than Elgin Baylor.

Lakers/Heat is the matchup that generates the most interest and intrigue League-wide. It’s Kobe and crew going for the three-peat while LeBron and crew going for their first of the potential dynasty. Read More »

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

Added: LeBron James, Chris Bosh, Mike Miller, Zydrunas Ilgauskas, Eddie House, Jerry Stackhouse, Juwan Howard

Lost: Michael Beasley, Jermaine O’Neal, Quentin Richardson, Dorell Wright, Daequan Cook, Rafer Alston Read More »

Earlier this summer, it was rumored that Donnie Walsh was grooming Allan Houston to become the next general manager of the New York Knicks. Not long after that, team owner James Dolan (briefly) re-hired Isiah Thomas as a part-time consultant, and rumors began to fly that Isiah was being set up to eventually take over for Walsh, who is 69 years old. And as recently as earlier this week, when the Knicks were the subject of NBA TV’s “Real Training Camp,” Houston was interviewed and mentioned as Walsh’s possible successor. Read More »

After 11 years in the NBA, current ESPN analyst Jamal Mashburn knows a thing or two about basketball – both on and off the court. So when I had the chance to talk with Mash for an extended period of time, it was a no-brainer. From his All-American years at Kentucky to buying the Pistons to doubting Michael Jordan’s “Flu Game,” we covered it all. Check out the exclusive Dime interview below. Read More »

In a summer where the NBA was turned on its side by the free-agency decisions of LeBron, D-Wade, Chris Bosh, Amar’e and others, the now (reportedly) imminent trade of Carmelo Anthony will change so much more in a League that is hardly recognizable from the one we last saw in June … According to the New York Daily News, last time we checked, ‘Melo has given his OK (in that he promised to sign an extension with his new team) for a four-team trade that would send him to the Nets. Read More »

After the Heat brought in LeBron and Chris Bosh to play with D-Wade, and the Miami roster began to take shape, the next obvious question was, “Where will they play?” It’s not like the ’07 Celtics, where it only made sense to plug in Ray Allen at the two and KG at the four because Boston had pieces set in place elsewhere. With this Miami group, having Mario Chalmers and Carlos Arroyo at PG, and everybody yet nobody at center, plus throwing multi-positional Mike Miller into the mix, there are lots of possibilities. Coach Erik Spoelstra cleared up some confusion in an interview with the Miami Herald. Read More »

There’s no one that had a crazier summer than Michael Beasley. And now in sunny Minnesota, he’s looking to get things back on track. So as training camp nears, T-Wolves writer Jonah Ballow spoke with B-Easy about all sorts of topics ranging from this upcoming season to getting in 50-minute shape instead of 48-minute. (Perhaps he thinks the T-Wolves will be playing a lot of overtime games this year.) But of all the soundbites, it’s his thoughts on Pat Riley and the Heat that you’ll definitely want to hear. Read More »

As much as everybody nit-picked and scrutinized along the way, when you look at what really matters, Team USA put together a pretty impressive performance at the World Championship. Bottom line: They took care of business and won the gold medal. Kevin Durant was dominant, Lamar Odom and Russell Westbrook and Andre Iguodala and almost every member of the team played their roles like they were supposed to, and the U.S. won each tournament game by an average of 24.5 points and only had one close call … Read More »

After dominating the college scene in his lone season at Kansas State — averaging 26.2 points and a nation-leading 12.4 rebounds per game — Michael Beasley had the look of a potentially unstoppable talent destined for NBA greatness. But the same can’t be said about his brief time in the pros so far.

Beasley wasn’t exactly a bust for the Miami Heat, but he wasn’t the future All-Star force the team envisioned when they took him No. 2 overall in the ’08 Draft, ahead of Russell Westbrook, Kevin Love and Brook Lopez, to name a few. Read More »