I couldn’t make this stuff up. After hearing that Linas Kleiza was signing with Olympiakos, it appears that Von Wafer has decided to join him. Read More »

Nothing happened in basketball yesterday. Really. The Celtics are still trying to find a way to make that sign-and-trade for Marquis Daniels work (a.k.a. ringing Chris Wallace’s phone off the hook), the Hawks are looking to add another big man (those auditioning for the role include Joe Smith, Jason Collins, Stromile Swift and D-League MVP Courtney Sims), and Linzas Kleiza is getting closer and closer to signing with Olympiakos (Greece) and making it official that the Nuggets really lost ground on the whole improving-the-team thing this summer. Other than that, most of the weekend was dead basketball-wise, with the first NFL preseason game, the Pro Football Hall of Fame, a Yankees/Red Sox series, and Tiger Woods involved in the last day of a tournament owning the headlines … Read More »

While I don’t know what tomorrow will bring, I have to say that today could be the slowest day of the basketball year. Summer League is over, as is the USA Basketball mini-camp, so what is everybody doing? I have NBA TV on in the office right now, and they literally have nothing to talk about. Read More »

Everybody’s still waiting on Lamar Odom and the Lakers to reconcile — it’s like sitting through three seasons of “Flavor of Love” when you know Flavor Flav is just gonna stay with his baby’s mother in the end — but in the meantime, perhaps the second-biggest free agent left on the board is now off. Andre Miller agreed to a deal with the Blazers that is rumored to be worth $22 million over three years … Depending on what you think of Jerryd Bayless‘ game, point guard was one of the few weaker areas on a deep Portland roster. Miller allows Steve Blake to go from one of the lower-tier starting PG’s in the League to one of the best backups, and Bayless can step into that role of off-the-bench scoring combo guard that every team seems to need these days. Read More »

For a team in search of talent to add to their roster, looking at the list of available unrestricted free agents is depressing. While sure there are guys that are worthy of an NBA jersey, getting legit NBA minutes is a whole other story. While the prizes on the market are still clearly Allen Iverson, Lamar Odom and Andre Miller, here are the ten best available free agents left: Read More »

Leave it to Ron Artest and some antsy refs to bring extra drama to an otherwise drama-less game between the Rockets and Lakers. With L.A. comfortably ahead in the final minute of the fourth, Pau Gasol went up for a layup and Ron-Ron put him down with a hard foul. Naturally, Ron was immediately hit with with a flagrant call and ejected. There shouldn’t be any suspensions or anything; even Kobe said afterwards he didn’t think it should’ve been a flagrant. Read More »

No matter what you think of his fashion sense as a mini-George Karl with more hair, you have to admire Rick Adelman right now. He’s got his Rockets playing their best basketball of the season without their highest-paid player. He’s winning the mental war against L.A. right now - the normally even-keel Derek Fisher went Hines Ward on Luis Scola, and Kobe elbowed Ron Artest in the throat out of frustration. Read More »

THE GOONS ARE OUT. That was the e-mail sent by one of the Dime crew last night during Lakers/Rockets, around the time everybody from typically fiery Kobe and Ron Artest to mild-mannered Derek Fisher to teen heartthrob Luke Walton was issuing chin-checks and techs and getting themselves ejected … With L.A. down 0-1 in the series, Kobe (40 pts, 16-27 FG) came out on a seek-and-destroy mission. Read More »

David West can’t openly say that Peja Stojakovic is over the hill, that Rasual Butler doesn’t play with heart, and that Julian Wright stinks. However, his call for New Orleans’ front office to go out and get some talent to lighten the burden on Chris Paul’s shoulders is just another way of saying those other things. Read More »

After really outplaying the Magic at some points during this series, how does Philly explain getting cracked by 25 when they didn’t have two key players (Dwight, Courtney Lee) in Game 6? Andre Miller has a thought: The Magic are actually better when Dwight Howard isn’t on the floor. And Miller said that he even heard that same sentiment from one of Orlando’s guys. Read More »