Say hello to the bad guy. We have a new beast in the West. In probably the most physical game of the NBA season so far, the Blazers showed why everyone is so frightened of playing them up in the Northwest by punking the Clippers and Blake Griffin, 105-97. With the NBA’s newest A-List team threatening them over and over, Portland answered every call. Between Gerald Wallace, LaMarcus Aldridge and Marcus Camby, they did work on Griffin, holding him to the most up-and-down 18 and 12 night you’ll ever see. Read More »

When we throw around the word “sleeper” in reference to an NBA team, it doesn’t really say much other than we think Team X will surpass expectations. Some sleepers could win championships, a la the Dallas Mavericks of a year ago. Others, such as the Memphis Grizzlies of last season, will slip into the playoffs and make a deep run after they weren’t expected to amount to anything.

So in picking the top five sleepers for the 2011-12 NBA season, there’s going to be some good teams that turn out to be super good and some bad teams that might surprise us by not completely floundering about. There’s a few prerequisites to being a sleeper, however. Read More »

Everyone wants to talk about super teams. Of course, the Heat, Knicks, Clippers, Celtics and all the rest of ‘em capture the imagination of the NBA fan base. There’s nothing quite like feeling the anticipation and excitement in the air when you see that news hit telling you Chris Paul has finally been traded and he’s going to the Clippers. What immediately follows is typically more invigorating than what eventually happens. The promise of what could be is almost always better than what is. Even here at Dime, we find ourselves talking about one third of the NBA about 80 percent of the time. That doesn’t mean we don’t care about everyone else. Read More »

“He’s going to empower players to be as good as you want and he’s going to give you enough rope to hang yourself.”

Chris Webber has earned his keep in broadcasting. He’s smart, fair and usually honest. But he’s never said something before that fit so perfectly. C-Webb knows Rick Adelman as well as any NBA player in the league, perhaps of all time. He paired with Adelman in the summer of 1998, Webber being banished from Washington for reasons that had more to do with his off-the-court issues than anything else, and quickly became the De Niro to Adelman’s Scorsese. Read More »

Congratulations David Stern. You’ve officially turned the New Orleans Hornets into the Little Giants, perhaps the one team in the league I might not watch all season. It is what is is though. The Hornets were already a disaster. Now your franchise is in L.A. because Stern was left to pick up the pieces. I was going to come in here and have someone argue with me over which deal was the better one – the Lakers nixed trade or this one – but let’s face it, you get a possible future All-Star, an athletic wing player, a huge expiring contract and an unprotected lottery pick; that’s a great haul for Chris Paul. But as John Schuhmann of NBA.com pointed out this morning, this trade will probably turn New Orleans into the worst team in the league. Read More »

With the NBA season right around the corner, I caught up with three former players-turned-anaylsts from NBA TV today to preview the upcoming season. Chris Webber, Steve Smith and Greg Anthony broke down questions for an hour on everything from Kwame Brown‘s signing to the effect the lockout will have on young egos. While they disagreed on a number of things, they all seemed to be convinced that Boston’s old vets will actually be helped by the lockout. Read More »

Laker fans never have to worry. When the NBA released its revised schedule about a week ago, they made sure the league’s most polarizing franchise was delivered to it’s ever-expanding fan base. Is 29 out of 66 enough? 29 times this season the Lakers will be playing on national TV, which is only about 25 times more than the New Jersey Nets, despite their star point guard and despite their jet ski-riding, womanizing owner (and even those four games got the shaft that is NBA TV). The NBA knows the big names and the big teams will make the most money. Cleveland at Milwaukee in February is for no one outside of the diehards. Read More »

Point guard J.J. Barea will sign a four-year, $19-million deal with the Minnesota Timberwolves later today and could report to the team as early as tonight, a source confirmed to Dime today.

The source requested anonymity because the contract has not been signed but the deal is finalized. Minnesota is expected to announce the deal later Monday afternoon. The deal was first reported by TNT’s David Aldridge. Read More »

The whole situation is just messed up. Depending on who you listen to, the players are slowly losing their strength. There were the questions about Derek Fisher‘s loyalty, and now reports that many big-name players participated in the decertification calls this week. On the other side, the owners’ offers keep getting worse and worse. You give them a little bit, sacrifice a little money, and then they want more. According to Ken Berger of CBSSports.com, even if the players were to agree to a 50/50 split, there’s no guarantee that the owners would take it anymore. The owners also have questions about certain system issues that were already previously agreed upon. Not good signs … Read More »

Last week in New York City, our friends at Under Armour held an exclusive event to preview their new campaign, and to see the latest collection of UA Basketball footwear and apparel. But before the festivities began, I got the chance to catch up with Brandon Jennings and Derrick Williams and talk about everything from kicks to the NBA lockout. Read More »