The Toronto Raptors are flush with salary cap space. Yes, they need to re-sign Sixth Man award winner Lou Williams, and they’ll likely need to give him a significant raise after what he gave them. But what about getting unrestricted free agents to come to Toronto? It has never been an easy thing to do (last summer’s Kyle Lowry re-signing notwithstanding), and Masai Ujiri is going up against some awfully heavy hitters when it comes to going after the likes of
GREENBURGH, N.Y. — I am not going to sit here and tell you that Phil Jackson made a mistake in taking Latvian toothpick Kristaps Porzingis with the fourth pick of the 2015 NBA draft. Jackson was in the press room at 8:20 p.m. Thursday night comparing the kid to Pau Gasol, and Jackson is a better judge of talent than I am. He gets paid $12 million of Jim Dolan’s money each season to make these decisions, to “preside.” But I will
I have always respected Phil Jackson, but I am starting to think the man is crazy. Crazy like a fox? Maybe. But his statements Tuesday congratulating himself for the job he did in Year One as president of the Knicks are mind-boggling. He led the team to its worst record in franchise history, he gifted J.R. Smith and Iman Shumpert to the Cleveland Cavaliers in exchange for a second-round pick in 2019, and he started goink crazy on Twitter when he
Pardon the San Andreas reference, but the seismic ramifications of the 2015 NBA Draft will emanate from El Segundo, Calif. That is where the Lakers are headquartered, and that is where Jim and Jeannie Buss together with Mitch Kupchak will decide who the purple and gold will take with the No. 2 pick Thursday night. Our latest Mock Draft has them taking D’Angelo Russell of Ohio State, although the consensus on other Mock Draft sites is that they will go for
If you’re a basketball fan you’ve probably enjoyed playing a little in high school or college, and maybe you’ve got to the point of thinking it would be good to start playing more. This is a great game for fitness, invented by a Canadian physical education professor as far back as 1891. He was also an instructor, and originally basketball was played with a soccer ball and a peach basket instead of a hoop. It’s come a long way since
If Jahlil Okafor is available at No. 4, the New York Knicks will take him. If Okafor is gone, somebody is going to take the No. 4 pick from the Knicks. This is the intel I am hearing from points near and far as we count down the days to the 2015 NBA Draft. Phil Jackson has a bare cupboard when it comes to future draft picks, and he is inclined to trade down in exchange for multiple picks in this year’s
Now that the NBA Finals are in the books and the Golden State Warriors are champions, it is time for some reflection on what happened … and what might happen down the road. Specifically, is David Blatt safe in Cleveland moving forward?
CLEVELAND — The smell always gets you. It is usually champagne, and it is usually quite strong. In this case, it went beyond pungent. Cinder block walls could not contain the smell of Mumm Napa Brut Reserve emanating from the locker room of the NBA champion Golden State Warriors. You could smell it outside the locker room 15 minutes after the trophy presentation had concluded, and a half-hour later you could smell it down the hallway outside the Cleveland Cavaliers’ locker room,