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: Jamal Crawford, Joe Smith, Jeff Teague, Juan Dixon, Courtney Sims Read More »

Don’t let the story of the boy who cried wolf affect how seriously you take the Josh Smith trade rumors circa 2009. Granted, we heard the same thing on a bi-weekly basis for the entirety of the off-season last year: the Hawks want to get rid of Smith because he’s been a difficult guy in the clubhouse, but he’s not that much of a problem that they’re willing to sell him on the cheap.

The fact that this is the second year in which the rumor popped up on first day of the offseason says something about the situation. Read More »

Antoine Wright, Rick Carlisle and the rest of the Mavericks made NBA history yesterday: Becoming the first player, coach and team to ever argue in a playoff game that they DID commit a foul, not the other way around. In something straight out of The Boy Who Cried Wolf, the Mavs were up two on the Nuggets with six seconds left when Carmelo Anthony got the ball. Instructed by Carlisle to foul ‘Melo on his first move, Wright bumped ‘Melo twice with no whistle before ‘Melo freed himself and stuck a three-pointer with one second left right in front of Dallas’ bench. In a hilarious bit of irony, everybody on the Mavs was then screaming at the refs, swearing Wright had fouled ‘Melo. Read More »

Following up all the drama and intrigue and controversy of Lakers vs. Rockets and Kobe vs. Ron-Ron and Derek Fisher’s shoulder vs. Luis Scola’s face, LeBron and the Cavs gave a long and kind of boring display — at the expense of the Hawks — that across-the-board domination can be pretty, well, boring. Cleveland has won every game this postseason by double digits, and the last four have been 20-piecings … Just like in Game One, LeBron (27 pts, 4 stls) tried to get the whole “competitive” part out of the way before halftime. Read More »

Game 7 of Hawks/Heat ended up being a(nother) blowout, but it at least offered a helpful reminder of how small the margin for error can be in the playoffs. Early in the second quarter, Atlanta was up by two in what had been a back-and-forth game. Then Flip Murray hit a wide-open three off a scramble for a loose ball, Joe Johnson drained a trey from one step behind the arc, then J.J. pulled up for another triple waaay behind the arc. In the course of about one minute the Hawks went from up being two, to being up 11, and after that it was just target practice. Read More »

During the regular season we heard over and over again about how there were chemistry issues in the Hawks’ clubhouse. Josh Smith and Mike Woodson couldn’t seem to get along. But during the post-season, Atlanta seems to turn that inner strife outwards. They did so during last year’s intense first-round matchup with Boston. And now there is some real beef brewing between the Heat and the Hawks. Read More »

Heat/Hawks had all the physicality and ill will of a 1990s playoff series — for a minute there we thought Mookie Blaylock and Kevin Willis had checked in unnoticed — but at the same time, it had refs and rules from the 21st century, and Principal Stern was sitting courtside as a constant reminder to everyone not to get too wild … Dwyane Wade was out of control, and not in a good way for Miami. Read More »