The Atlanta Hawks offseason has been marred by emails and scouting reports flush with racial overtones, the results of which have led to majority owner Bruce Levenson announcing that he will sell the team and general manager Danny Ferry taking an indefinite leave of absence and attending sensitivity training. The court of public opinion has been a mixed bag as far as Ferry is concerned, with many outside of the NBA calling for his job while a number of people within
With training camp slated to begin in just under a week, players and teams are putting in the work necessary to get ready for the long, 82-game grind of a season. There are plenty of new faces in new places, and a number of fascinating story lines to follow as the season progresses. One team with a plethora of new faces is the Dallas Mavericks. Owner Mark Cuban and his team had quite an interesting and successful offseason. [Read more…]
The summer of 2014 is remembered in Houston for what might have been. The most noteworthy names to highly consider forming a “Big 3” with James Harden and Dwight Howard were Carmelo Anthony and Chris Bosh, but former Rocket point guard Kyle Lowry is firmly on that star-studded list as well. In a wonderful feature by Grantland’s Jonathan Abrams on Lowry’s career-long search for trust, Abrams outlines Lowry’s falling out with Houston head coach Kevin McHale in the 2011-12 season and the subsequent
Talk about a fresh start … When the freshness starts in the ownership suite — or his courtside seat, as may be the case here, it is truly a new beginning. After a determined and gutty yet ultimately unsuccessful run in the 2014 postseason, the Los Angeles Clippers entered the offseason with a ton of questions regarding the future of their franchise. Although the Donald Sterling story died down a bit nationally a week or so after the initial TMZ audiotapes were released in
Most players around the league have some sort of pregame ritual. They can’t go without it, whether it’s doing something with chalk, eating something, or doing a dance with teammates. The most popular, of course, is the handshake. It’s the most common form of unity among teammates, and players are constantly looking for new material. [Read more…]
Everyone knows Shaquille O’Neal likes to be the life of the party. From his “Shaqtin’ a Fool” segments on NBA TV to his verbal jousting with Charles Barkley on TNT’s Inside the NBA, Shaq is always all smiles. On Monday, however, most people would hope he was a bit more serious than usual. O’Neal posted a picture to his official Instagram account to show just why he calls himself Superman. [Read more…]
Russell Westbrook personifies the story of his generation in the NBA. He is probably the most polarizing player in the league. Here we will try to layout the arguments of his loyal supporters, who believe he is one of the top 10 players in the NBA, as well as the reasoning of his naysayers, who believe he is far too out of control to play point guard. Once we do that, we will debunk both. Then, with a clean slate, we will
The departure of LeBron James as a free agent earlier this summer left a void for the Miami Heat to fill. With the leagues best player taking his talents back to Cleveland, there isn’t really a viable way to replace such a loss. Determined to remain competitive the Heat retooled by adding new free agents, but they’ll also be relying on their returning stars to contribute in a major way. [Read more…]