CLEVELAND — Walking out of Quicken Loans Arena Sunday night, I had a chance to catch several fragments of conversation. “That place was nuts,” said one man. “I can’t wait for the season,” said a middle-aged woman. Most of the time, though, all I could catch was a name. “LeBron James.” “LeBron James.” “LeBron James.” It couldn’t have been more obvious who the fans came out to see. And, unlike most preseason games, this wasn’t just the diehards (or if it was, there are suddenly a lot
It feels like I’ve been waiting all summer for October to get here. Not only do I love the fall weather, but my birthday is this month, my Orioles are in the MLB playoffs, and basketball is coming back. Sure, it’s just preseason now, but by the end of the month, we’ll get some real, actual basketball games that count. For now, though, we’ve got a month of relentless optimism, where every team’s new offense is exactly like the Spurs’, every
When Giannis Antetokounmpo came into the league, the buzz was that he was a point guard in the body of a power forward. That’s not an especially uncommon description, especially coming out of the shallower talent pools of Europe, where the best players are often allowed to essentially play wherever they’ll touch the ball most at young ages. Dario Saric is another recent prospect in that mold. Even a couple big-time American prospects got the “point guard athleticism, big man frame” tag:
This Eric Bledsoe situation is a lot like a million-dollar game of chicken. At one end, you’ve got Ryan McDonough and the Suns, who refuse to offer Bledsoe a long-term deal for more than they feel he’s worth. At the other, you’ve got Bledsoe and his agent, who refuse to sign a long-term offer for less than they feel Bledsoe’s worth. If neither turns away, it’ll end up with Bledsoe playing one more year in Phoenix for a qualifying offer, and then bolting
In what’s been seeming like a rarity lately, no major scandals broke in major North American pro sports. I don’t think I need to recap what an ugly summer it’s been in the sports world, with Danny Ferry and Adrian Peterson the latest episodes in a series that all started with Donald Sterling. In today’s relative quiet, then, there was plenty of time to react to the recent news. In the NBA, that means the comments written by an anonymous Hawks scout
It can be tough to compare teams based on nothing but dominant victories. Danny Ainge’s scouting method is often cited: the best game, the worst game, and somewhere in between. At their best, Team USA demolished Finland, winning by a ridiculous margin and throwing down ridiculous dunks. At their worst, they struggled to get anything going against Turkey’s slow-it-down strategy. At Spain’s best, they have two of the world’s best bigs in the Gasol brothers, and an ultra-canny backcourt led by Ricky Rubio,
Nobody warned me that the first day of the World Cup coincided with the first day of college football. Instead of watching my Maryland Terrapins thump James Madison by 45 in a total mismatch, I could have watched Team USA demolish Finland by 59 in a total mismatch. Okay, maybe I made the right choice. Tomorrow, though, the US has Turkey, who weren’t gifted a tournament spot because the guy who made Angry Birds said he wanted them to be in
For a Saturday in late August, there’s a shocking amount of NBA news today. Most of it, though, fits into one of two camps: the Kevin Love trade is official, and Team USA cut their roster down to the final 12. We’ve all known about the Love trade for a month, of course, and Chris Sheridan’s got everything you need to read about Team USA heading into the World Cup. So let’s instead turn our attention to a subject that hasn’t gotten