Hey Kobe Bryant, weren’t you supposed to be injured? If Chris Paul is the master of flopping and drawing ridiculous fouls than KB is the ultimate injury-milker. L.A. dodged a bullet in Game 5 against the Hornets, withstood a lights-out start from N.O. to run away by 16 in the second half. L.A. dominated inside with Andrew Bynum (18 points, 10 rebounds), and after an explosive first quarter where we thought he might even top his Game 4 numbers, CP slowed down … Read More »

The 1997 NBA Draft is one of the worst in the history of the NBA. And that’s what makes this do-over so hard. There was no doubt that Tim Duncan would be selected at No. 1 by the Spurs, but after that it was anyone’s guess. And when you see some of the players taken in the Lottery, you’ll know what I’m talking about. 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: Tyson Chandler, Dominique Jones, Steve Novak, Ian Mahinmi, Brian Cardinal, Alexis Ajinca

Lost: Erick Dampier, Tim Thomas, Ed Najera, Matt Carroll Read More »

Apparently the Celtics and Heat are in a competition to set the record for having the most players in training camp and under contract. Yesterday the Celtics extended camp invites to Mario West (Hawks), Stephane Lasme (UMass), Chris Johnson (LSU) and Jamar Smith (Southern Indiana), bringing their preliminary roster count to approximately 47. It’s gonna look like ABCD Camp the first few days before Doc Rivers starts making cuts … With every new guy Boston brings in, Luke Harangody has to be getting more nervous. He’s likely going to be the slowest, least-athletic guy in camp, which is bad if you’re 12th in line, but worse if you’re 20th in line. Read More »

In a couple of days we’ll have plenty of reasons to be distracted from an NBA free agency/trade “frenzy” that is suddenly moving slower than Skee-Lo‘s last album sales. The World Basketball Festival kicks off in NYC on Thursday, where we’ll get an up-close look at Team USA, France, China, Brazil and Puerto Rico in a series of scrimmages and exhibition games, among a million other things going on for the big four-day weekend … Joakim Noah won’t be there playing for Team France, as he’s decided to take the summer off while trying to avoid injury. He also won’t be stepping off curbs, using knives at home, or showering the rest of the summer just to be safe … Read More »

Adam Morrison is either awkward or has a weird sense of humor. A couple of nights ago during a Lakers blowout against the Mavs in the fourth quarter, Tim Thomas was on the free throw line. After making his first free throw, Thomas went to high-five teammate Kris Humphries, but instead, Morrison reached out and high-fived Thomas. Maybe Morrison wasn’t paying attention or maybe he just wanted to be funny -either way it was hilarious. The best is watching Phil Jackson’s reaction to the Morrison’s actions. This is the funniest high-five exchange at the free throw line next to Andrew Bogut high-fiving his imaginary teammates a few years back.

D-Wade had three forces working against him on Sunday: nagging injuries that Martell Webster seemed bent on turning into major injuries, a red-hot Brandon Roy in fourth-quarter takeover mode wearing a Reggie Miller mask, and, apparently, the big man upstairs being a Blazers fan. “The basketball Gods didn’t want us to win this one,” Wade said after the Heat lost at home to Portland … Over the last four and a half minutes of a nip/tuck ballgame, B-Roy scored 11 points on 4-of-4 shooting with a pair of threes and a free throw. Usually when Roy (28 pts, 11-14 FG, 8 asts) is going ballistic, he’s mixing his defender up and knifing into the lane from all angles, getting layups with either hand. This time he was icing outside jumpers with Wade right in his face. Read More »

Working at Dime Magazine, a ton of headlines, news and opinions pass through our website each week. Everyday a new story breaks and we change our focus to the next game on the schedule. Friday was hectic for us at Dime, as we worked to get our site back up and running. Now that we are back online, I took the time to reflect on what the NBA taught me last week. Read More »

Last night, as Kobe Bryant (27 pts, 8 asts) hit a dagger pull-up jumper and the Lakers were turning the screws into the Jazz during a 20-0 run in the fourth quarter, one of the Utah announcers said dejectedly, “You can almost write this script every time we come to town.” Moments later, Carlos Boozer tossed up an airball and Jordan Farmar beasted his way through the lane for an and-one. “Yeah, the wheels are off,” confirmed the other Jazz announcer. Thing is, Boozer and Deron Williams and them were doing OK well into the second half, then L.A. just turned on the “Wait a minute, we own these guys” switch and ran them out the building … Read More »

David Stern is just going to love this. Mavericks forward Tim Thomas is a suspect in an assault according to the Dallas Morning News. Hours after the Mavericks defeated the Suns last night, Thomas and a group of friends went to eat at Denny’s. Based on the police report, a fan approached Thomas to say “what’s up”. Thomas allegedly brushed him off, then started insulting him. The fan then responded back to Thomas and it escalated into a full on fight. One of Thomas’ friends, supposedly punched the fan twice in the face causing his lip to slit open. Then fan also said that Thomas threw a chair at his group.

Source: The Dallas Morning News