In some respects, you have to understand where Allen Iverson is coming from. Going back to Little League and all the way through intramurals or whatever level you reached in your athletic career, we’ve all been taught that the best players start the game. Of course, it’s a little different in the NBA: If a coach really wants his second unit to have more offensive firepower or defensive stability, he might put one of his best five players on the bench, which is why Manu Ginobili and Jason Terry are annually up for Sixth Man of the Year.

That said, there are some backups who — forget what the coach might be trying to do — have no business being backups. And it’s not always because they’re so great, but that the guy starting in front of them shouldn’t be starting. Who should be taking a seat? Read More »

Beast of the Night: Manu Ginobili was absolutely rabid last night, exploding for 36 points, 4 rebounds, 8 assists, 1 steal and 4 blocks, while nailing 6 threes and turning the ball over just once in just 32 minutes of work. He shot 53 percent (8-15) from the field and 88 percent (14-16) from the line. His owners have to be praying that Tim Duncan and Tony Parker take their sweet time recovering on the sidelines. Read More »

Weekend Wonder: Tyreke Evans is bouncing back from a bum ankle in a big way, helped partly by the absence of Kevin Martin. The Kings’ surging rookie averaged 27.5 points, 5.5 rebounds, 4.5 assists, 1.5 steals and just 1 turnover in two games over the weekend, while also hitting 1.5 threes, shooting 50 percent (15-30) from the field and 85 percent (22-26) from the free throw line. With Martin sidelined for six to eight weeks, expect Evans to fill that void quite nicely. Read More »

If I was a Knicks fan (which I’m not) and wanted to buy a new jersey before the season, it would be a hard decision which jersey to buy. With so much uncertainty after this year surrounding who’s actually going to be on the Knicks, you could go one of three ways: (1) Buy a jersey of your favorite player, (2) buy a jersey of a player that you think will be around the longest such as Wilson Chandler or Danilo Gallinari, or (3) buy a jersey of the funniest guy on the team. Hence a No. 31 Darko Milicic jersey. Read More »

The NBA preseason is underway, meaning it’s time again for Dime’s team-by-team season previews. Last year we debuted the “Highs and Lows” system — predicting the respective ceilings and basements for each team. In other words, what is the realistic best-case and worst-case scenario for the 2009-10 campaign?

Added: Jordan Hill, Darko Milicic, Toney Douglas, Gabe Pruitt Read More »

The Knicks rolled out what might be the worst NBA starting lineup you’ll see all year (Chris Duhon, Larry Hughes, Jared Jeffries, Al Harrington, David Lee), but they still managed to beat the Nets in yesterday’s preseason opener for both teams because, frankly, the Nets also have high potential to stink. Harrington led NY with 23 points, Lee had 20 and nine boards, and Wilson Chandler came off the bench for 21 points. Chandler is expected to take over that starting SG spot soon enough, but he’s been a little banged up in training camp … Nate Robinson was curiously quiet, coming off the bench for 17 minutes and scoring six points. Read More »

Last week I wasn’t kidding when I said that this past weekend was the best basketball weekend of the summer. Featuring two of the best events of the year - Boost Mobile Elite 24 and Nike Tournament of Champions - NYC’s asphalt was full of hoops. And it all started Friday night up at Rucker Park. Read More »

Another advantage of being the only media outlet inside the Elite 24 Midnight Run At MSG last night was that we were able to find out before the rest of the world who will be competing in the dunk contest tomorrow. With tons of high flyers in the house, it was tough to settle on just seven, but these guys will surely not disappoint. The participants are: Read More »

I’m confused. I’m going to write this rumor off as not true, but I’ll break it down anyway. Our boys over at RealGM.com have the following story on their homepage right now:

“The Knicks offered the Timberwolves the eighth pick and forward Wilson Chandler for the fifth selection in last week’s NBA Draft. Minnesota declined, and used the fifth overall pick on Ricky Rubio. Reports indicate that New York would have used the selection on Rubio, not Stephen Curry.”

Can’t be true right? If so, the Wolves passed up coming away in the draft with Stephen Curry at the 6th pick, Jonny Flynn at the 8th pick (the Warriors didn’t workout Flynn and had no intention of taking him) AND landing Wilson Chandler. Read More »

The original reason that Hasheem Thabeet canceled his workout with the Grizzlies on Sunday was because of a “sore shoulder.” Then we heard that he actually had family to visit in New York so he couldn’t spend time down in Memphis.

But now, word is that those were really both just excuses, and he just doesn’t want to play for the Grizzlies. Read More »