This summer, the Brooklyn Nets transformed themselves from pretenders to contenders. However, the transformation came at a steep price. Owner Mikhail Prokhorov has the NBA’s only nine-figure team payroll, which translates to an $87 million luxury tax bill. (He can afford it. He is the NBA’s George Steinbrenner). Nets GM Billy King also mortgaged the future by trading first-round draft picks in 2014, 2016 and 2018 with the right to swap first-round picks in 2017 as part of a trade with Boston
In what may have been one of the most surprising events to happen so far this offseason, Chris Paul has been elected as the new president of the NBPA. With his acceptance of the position, Paul is the most high- profile star to assume the role since Patrick Ewing was union president during the lockout of 1998-99. [Read more…]
It has been a busy off-season in Dallas. The Mavericks have been in a state of limbo since winning the 2011 NBA Finals. Now, they’re trying to start over from scratch again. First, they tried to lure in Chris Paul. When that didn’t pan out, they went after Dwight Howard but again, no dice. Despite the off-season setbacks, Mavericks owner Mark Cuban has nonetheless managed to bring in some additional offensive firepower to help keep the heat off of aging
The New York Knicks were stuck in neutral while other Eastern Conference teams improved mightily this offseason. Are they still No. 2 as they were last regular season? Probably not. After a disappointing loss to Indiana in the Eastern Conference semifinals that denied them a shot at the NBA champion Miami Heat, the Knicks essentially replaced Chris Copeland, Jason Kidd and Steve Novak with Metta World Peace, Beno Udrih and Andrea Bargnani. The team also re-signed J.R. Smith, Pablo Prigioni and Kenyon
In a time constantly focused on the new, this age-old axiom remains true: it’s not what you do when people are watching, it’s what you do when you’re alone. While LeBron James is arranging police escorts to Jay-Z concerts and sneaking out of jury duty, Roy Hibbert, quietly, is spending another summer training with Tim Duncan down south in San Antonio. More from Yahoo! Sports Kelly Dwyer: [Read more…]
Whenever the NBA and the Players Association negotiate a collective bargaining agreement, the media – including Sheridan Hoops – goes to great lengths to understand and explain its rules, exceptions and nuances. But since the first wave of players began making the jump from high school to the NBA in the mid-1990s, the premise of every new CBA could be summed up in six words: To save the owners from themselves. Restraint never has been the collective strength of NBA owners. In
With transactions reduced from a torrent to a trickle, the NBA is now truly in its offseason. Yes, there’s still a few prominent names out there – Lamar Odom, Antawn Jamison, Corey Maggette and Tyrus Thomas among them – but no one who is going to crash our list of the top 10 free agent signings. [Read more…]
Just because there has been a dry spell of inactivity as far as news is concerned, that does not mean NBA players haven’t been finding ways to stay active. Clippers forward Matt Barnes, in conjunction with Snoop Dogg (Lion?), hosted his annual Athletes vs. Cancer flag football game on Sunday. Barnes started the foundation in 2007 after his mother passed away just 26 days after being diagnosed with cancer. [Read more…]