There are eight games on tonight’s NBA docket, including a showdown of the unbeaten Rockets and Heat. But the league’s top drama is set to unfold on HBO. In the Tuesday night debut of an hour-long HBO Sports documentary, “The Offseason: Kevin Durant”, the injured Oklahoma City superstar lets the world know exactly why he left the US national team this summer just before the World Cup. And despite his statements at the time, it doesn’t appear that fatigue or any other specific medical
Game 1 of TNT‘s season-opening doubleheader on Tuesday is headlined by the businesslike Spurs receiving and celebrating their championship rings in front of Mark Cuban and in-state rival Dallas. Game 2, on the other hand? That one, appropriately for the network, is all about the drama. [Read more…]
Should we really be surprised that the league’s most interesting general manager chose to take the path of higher risk, higher reward? That’s where the Houston Rockets, led by daring and analytically driven GM Daryl Morey, enter the 2014-15 season. When we last saw them, contention didn’t feel far away. In the first year of the Dwight Howard-James Harden foundation, the Rockets went 54-28 in a loaded West and secured home court advantage in the first round. That was in line with preseason
Kevin Durant rolled in on a scooter and spoke with Oklahoma City media on Tuesday for the first time since his surgery to repair a Jones fracture in his right foot, reiterating that he wouldn’t rush his return to the court. [Read more…]
The Sixers have made waves with their willingness to rebuild by all means necessary, so nothing GM Sam Hinkie does should come as a huge surprise. Still, for a rebuilding club, the prospect of trading the reigning NBA Rookie of the Year would certainly raise a few eyebrows. According to Zach Lowe of Grantland, Philadelphia tried to do exactly that by shopping Michael Carter-Williams heavily during the 2014 NBA Draft back in June. [Read more…]
Could the unique contract structure arranged by the Dallas Mavericks and owner Mark Cuban to pry Chandler Parsons from the Houston Rockets become a template for freeing future restricted free agents? Multiple league GMs think it could, according to a new report from ESPN‘s Marc Stein. The Parsons contract, which is almost-max-level over three years and includes a player option after Year 2 and maximum 15% trade kicker, proved difficult for the Rockets to match on several levels, even though they fully intended
Many believed the Heat’s loss to the Spurs in the NBA Finals was when LeBron James first began to seriously consider leaving Miami. As it turns out, the wheels may have already been put in motion. Mike Miller, who followed James this offseason to the Cleveland Cavaliers, told the Cleveland Plain-Dealer this week that James initially began questioning the Heat’s brass when they used the amnesty provision on Miller in July 2013, sparing owner Micky Arison millions in salary and luxury-tax fees
HOUSTON — Is James Harden capable of being Kevin Durant 2.0 when it comes to post-FIBA growth? Many credited FIBA international play in 2010 with aiding Durant’s evolution into an NBA superstar. Now, fresh off a gold medal in Spain with the U.S. national team, Durant’s former teammate and good friend Harden is hoping to see a similar transformation of his own as he embarks on his third season as a franchise cornerstone, a Big Two alongside Dwight Howard for the Houston Rockets. The theme for