If you haven’t heard, this is supposed to be a down year for the Pac-10.

Over the summer the conference lost James Harden, Jordan Hill, DeMar DeRozan, Jrue Holiday, Darren Collison, Taj Gibson, Jeff Pendergraph, Jon Brockman and Chase Budinger to the NBA Draft. Going back to 2008, the Pac-10 also lost O.J. Mayo, Kevin Love, Russell Westbrook, the Lopez twins, Jerryd Bayless and Ryan Anderson, all of whom would still been in school today had they not gone pro early. Read More »

In this young NBA season, no team has been a bigger disappointment than the Washington Wizards. With Gilbert Arenas being healthy again and having arguably one of the deepest rosters in the league, there were high expectations for the team coming into the season. Right now, the Wizards’ record stands at 3-7 - fourth in the Southeast Division. Prior to last night’s big win against the Cavs, Washington had lost six in a row and four of those games were by double digits. That dramatic opening night road victory in Dallas seems like a distant memory. Read More »

Desperately needing depth at the point guard position, the Washington Wizards (2-6) have signed Earl Boykins to a non guaranteed contact. The Wizards swag party has been interrupted by injuries to their backcourt, losing Mike James, Javaris Crittenton, Mike Miller and Randy Foye for extended periods of time.

The 5′5 Earl Boykins averaged 9.4 points and 3.4 assists over his 10 year career. The Washington Wizards will be the 9th NBA franchise Boykins has played with.

Every year in the NBA there is a team that makes an incredible single season turn around. Last year it was the Miami Heat and this year it will be the Washington Wizards. (Sorry Sacramento Kings fans) The one caveat to that incredible single season turnaround is the return of a superstar. Much has been said about the return of Gilbert Arenas and what that means to a Washington Wizards team that only won 19 games. The Wizards have done more than just get healthy, they also brought in two NBA starters, Mike Lloyd Miller and Randy Foye, to add even more firepower to their team. Today’s Reebok Still Talkin’ Quote of the Day comes from one of the newest addition to the team formally known as the Bullets. Read More »

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 »

While the 2006 NBA Draft is not considered one of the NBA’s finest, it is still loaded with some potential NBA stars. And even in a time of financial crisis and thrifty spending owing to the Summer of 2010, it’s time to pay up or shut up before the deadline to sign any of these guys to a contract extension hits on October 31.

So far, No. 1 pick Andrea Bargnani (five years, $50 million), No. 2 pick LaMarcus Aldridge (five years, up to $70 million) and No. 6 pick Brandon Roy (five years, $80 million) have been the only guys to see the money, leaving guys like Rajon Rondo (21st pick), Rudy Gay (8th pick) and Tyrus Thomas (4th pick) waiting for an offer. Read More »

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: Jonny Flynn, Ramon Sessions, Wayne Ellington, Ryan Hollins, Damien Wilkins, Sasha Pavlovic, Antonio Daniels, Oleksiy Pecherov, Jason Hart, Nathan Jawai, Mark Blount, Henk Norel

Lost: Randy Foye, Mike Miller, Sebastian Telfair, Craig Smith, Rodney Carney, Mark Madsen, Kevin Ollie, Jason Collins, Shelden Williams, Bobby Brown Read More »

With most of their guys back healthy from the flu and various other injuries, the Cavs smashed the Mavs by 30 last night at the University of Pittsburgh gym. (Since when do Cleveland teams get love in Pittsburgh?) Mo Williams had 16 points and 11 assists, LeBron put up 12 points on 3-of-13 shooting and seven dimes, and Big Z scored 16 off the bench … Dallas was the team playing short-handed, as Dirk, J-Kidd and Jason Terry were given the night off, and Josh Howard and Shawn Marion are still banged up. So the starting five looked like this: J.J. Barea, Matt Carroll, Quinton Ross, Drew Gooden and Erick Dampier. Pretty sure the Pitt Panthers squad would be able to give that lineup at least a decent run. Hell, put Sam Young and DeJuan Blair back on the squad and they might pull off a W … Read More »

Of course the games don’t count in the standings, and not everybody is going all-out although they’re still getting paid (it’s like Tim Thomas‘ fantasy land), but one of the biggest misconceptions about the NBA preseason is the idea that you can’t learn anything from these exhibitions. If a guy can’t hit a shot in the preseason (e.g. Peja Stojakovic right now), it’s not like he’s going to automatically become more accurate when the games count. And if he’s busting the defense’s ass and making it look easy in the preseason (e.g. Kobe every year), it’s not like he’s going to suddenly turn into a scrub when it matters. Look at the Orlando Magic: Read More »

Imagine the disappointment that swept across the NBA TV studios when they found out LeBron was sick and going to miss last night’s big preseason game between the Cavs and Wizards. No tense ‘Bron/DeShawn encounters, no real reason for highlight montages of LBJ taking Washington’s heart in the playoffs, no smooth segues to talk about Mike Miller wearing LeBron’s signature shoes. And to top it off, starting in LBJ’s place was Jawad Williams, who scored 21 points (4 threes) in his last Smack mention of the season, a Cleveland loss … Gilbert Arenas put up 18 points for the Wiz, while Miller scored 24 (5 threes) and Randy Foye scored 21. However, Antawn Jamison hurt his shoulder in the first quarter and didn’t return. Read More »