In the NBA you rarely hear of sabotage. Sure, there was the Tim Donaghy betting scandal. That was a rare occurrence not to be confused as the norm. Today reports have surfaced that Seattle investor, Chris Hansen, who tried to buy the Sacramento Kings earlier this year, was outed as the mystery donor behind the petition campaign trying to force a vote on the Kings’ proposed new arena downtown. [Read more…]
In a seemingly minor trade, two former first-round picks from Syracuse were swapped for one another Thursday. Boston sent 2012 first-rounder Fab Melo to Memphis for the non-guaranteed contract of Donte Greene. This trade has relatively minor implications, but an impact nonetheless that will be laid out. It would be a surprise if Greene plays a single minute for the Celtics. The former Sacramento King didn’t play last season after breaking his ankle last summer. This was after a 2011-2012 season
In a minor trade which has luxury tax implications for both teams, the Boston Celtics traded project center Fab Melo to the Memphis Grizzlies for Donte Greene. The swap of Syracuse alums was announced Wednesday by the Grizzlies. Dumping Melo’s $1.3 million salary for the 2013-14 season gets the Celtics right to the tax line, according to our salary analysis. They take back Greene, who is scheduled to make $1.03 million in a non-guaranteed deal. [Read more…]
PHILADELPHIA – No, that wasn’t a puff of white smoke emanating from the Philadelphia 76ers offices when their 118-day vigil finally came to an end Wednesday. It was more like they were waving the white flag, as if to say “Okay, we surrender. We’ll hire a coach, even though we all know the goal is to stink so bad this year we have the best chance to win the lottery, and a good coach might mess up the plan…’’ With that, “Nice
The people of Detroit, whose city recently declared bankruptcy, could use something to brighten their days a bit. And here it is. The Pistons on Wednesday unveiled a special uniform that will be worn for 10 games in the 2013-14 season. Intead of DETROIT or PISTONS across the chest, the uniforms will say MOTOR CITY. Greg Monroe is modeling them below. [Read more…]
The NBA is about to go through one of its most important transitions in history. In fact, it is going through several simultaneously. While some are dramatic and others symbolic, the final cumulative effect should be an evolution — not a revolution. The most public and obvious is the retirement of Commissioner David Stern and the ascension of Deputy Commissioner Adam Silver to that powerful post. While their styles are very different, the succession has been planned out and should be very
Downtime? There’s no such thing with Kobe Bryant, as the new Lenovo smartphone presentation stated during Bryant’s tour of China. Bryant’s tour is covered by Eric Pincus of the Los Angeles Times, who offers insight about the message the black mamba was spreading. A 24-minute video of Kobe’s speech and tour can be seen below. Kobe may no longer be the best basketball player on planet earth, but he is still treated as such when he makes his annual trip overseas. Bryant is
Damian Lillard, last season’s Rookie of the Year, led the NBA in minutes played. To put that into perspective, over the last five seasons, only two rookies – O.J. Mayo and Derrick Rose in 2008-2009 – even placed in the top 15 in minutes played. That comes out to three rookies among 75 players, a minuscule 4 percent. It is beyond a tremendous burden to put on a rookie, much less one who is handling the ball. That burden extended to the