When we talk about the NBA’s biggest enigmas, why doesn’t anyone ever mention Tyrus Thomas? He’s a 6-9 freak of an athlete who showed in college he’s good enough – when he cares – to make a big difference. So far in the NBA, he’s displayed a decent skill set when he’s healthy. He’s not a liability on the line, doesn’t need the ball to be effective and can play in a number of different systems. He even started for a playoff team in Chicago. Of course, it’s hard to stay relevant when your best friend on the team is the trainer, but we think Thomas deserves a little more shine as one of the NBA’s biggest underachievers. Read More »

This is one of the greatest things we’ve seen this year. Charlotte might have all their ping-pong balls in one basket this summer (Anthony Davis), but this video offers up a few other suggestions to make sure they don’t suck so bad next season. Read More »

Normally, we’d start a 13-game night off with some recaps, but since the average margin of victory across the NBA last night was like 87 points, it felt good just to look forward to the weekend. The regular season is over and the matchups are set. In the West, it’ll be San Antonio and Utah, OKC against Dallas, the Lakers taking on Denver and then Memphis hosting the Clippers. The East looks pretty good as well: Chicago takes on Philly, Miami and New York do battle, Indiana will host whatever’s left of the Magic, and even though they’re the No. 4 seed, Boston will open the playoffs in the ATL. Read More »

When a crowd is chanting your name on the road, in part because you dropped 21 points in the first quarter, it doesn’t matter if that road crowd is only “road” in a technical sense. It was only a few miles away, but New Yorkers pretty much took over the Nets’ arena last night and spent the better part of the fourth quarter chanting for their new hero, Carmelo Anthony, in the Knicks’ 104-95 win. ‘Melo had 33 on just 21 shots, and added seven boards and four dimes as New York played one of their most balanced games in a long time. Read More »

Is it better to have won without your best player or worse to have lost with everyone healthy? That’s a preview to today’s conversation around the league, centered on Miami-Chicago. The CHI won despite an atrocious game from Derrick Rose (1-of-13 from the field with two points, eight assists), who was rusty enough the Heat got tetanus shots in case they ran into him. But seriously, it’s expected for Rose after missing 23 games this year, but a subject we touched on today at Dime continued to be proven true. The Bulls don’t need Rose to beat the NBA’s best teams. Read More »

The real Amar’e Stoudemire might’ve finally emerged, scoring 26 points and dunking aggressively for the first time since before someone snuck into his house at night and gave him Penny Hardaway‘s knees. But Dirk hit two of his patented awkward rainbows in the final moments, and gave one courtside kid a HARD handshake in Dallas’ 95-85 win over the visiting Knicks. Read More »

The Knicks haven’t exactly been outclassing people, but a win is a win even if it took them all of 48 minutes to get one over the Bobcats. Carmelo Anthony (6-for-18, 22 points) struggled for most of the night, but when it counted he hit the buckets and free throws, and gobbled up enough boards to send New York home with a much-needed four-point win. Charlotte had their chances. Down one in the final 20 seconds, D.J. White missed a crazy jumper off the bounce (who drew that one up?). Then, D.J. Augustin (12 points, eight boards) hit a wild three on the following possession to make it a one-point game. Read More »

As more and more NBA free agents sign with teams, roster spots are becoming fewer by the hour. What normally starts on July 1 and winds down by around mid-August, has been condensed into two weeks – with training camp going on at the same time. As you can imagine, this has made it extremely difficult for teams to find any type of cohesion before the season begins on Christmas Day. And the players who are suffering the most are the restricted free agents. Read More »

Call it a spoon-feeding. A Costco free sample. But when your NBA team is swiped away like a waiter prematurely assuming you’re done with your meal, you’ll take anything. (Thousands of Sonics fans simultaneously nod their heads.) This Saturday, an exhibition game known as the H206 Charity Basketball Classic will take place at KeyArena in Seattle featuring over 20 NBA players broken up into two separate teams – the “Seattle Team” and the “League Team.” Trust us, you want to be there. Read More »

NBA arenas, chartered flights, five-star hotels and being set financially; all of these things were supposed to happen for Damon Powell. Despite some setbacks, he still finds himself one step closer to his ultimate goal. Read More »