Having coached high school basketball for the last two seasons, I have gained a true appreciation for the quality of officiating by NBA referees. Until this week. This was a bad week for the league and its referees, as the NBA admitted there were blown calls that changed the outcome of two games. [Read more…]
Sacramento became a big league town by building what looked like an airplane hangar in the middle of a field, filling it with 10,333 seats atop hardwood floors, dropping a basketball court on the floor and opening the doors to a city that had previously been a nice minor league town, although it was the capital city of California. The facility, which eventually would become an office building, was purely Double A, but the atmosphere was out of this world. It
Will the 2013 draft deliver the next LeBron James, Kevin Durant, or Carmelo Anthony? Absolutely not, but it could deliver a quality starter or a key contributor off the bench. The NBA is a copycat league, and with the majority of the best players in the league playing small forward, it is easy to see why teams are eager to target that position in the draft. [Read more…]
Have the Knicks regressed to the mean? From here, it kind of looks that way. No doubt they are a good basketball team. But since beginning the season with a blistering 18-6 record, the Knicks have gone just 10-9 and enter play February 1 as the second seed in the Eastern Conference. Still, with just three games separating the Knicks from the sixth-seeded Atlanta Hawks and the trade winds swirling around the NBA – you know, with it being February and all
Memo to Memphis: Yes, it is devastating that you broke up your “Core Four.” Your mass misery gave us a Tweet of the Day from Mike Conley and Tony Allen. But guess what? You won the trade. You just got Tayshaun Prince, who might be the missing ingredient to make y’all a legit championship contender. You also get Ed Davis, who basically replaces tax dump victim Marreese Speights, who was valuable from a depth standpoint. [Read more…]
With the All-Star break on the not-so distant horizon, three of California’s teams are in various stages of a positive identity forge, while a fourth remains the stuck in “Fugitive-esque train wreck” mode. (Spoiler alert! The odd team out is the Sacramento Kings!) With that in mind, here’s a look at what’s brewing on the left coast. [Read more…]
Look around the NBA right now at the creme de la creme of the point guard position: Russell Westbrook, Deron Williams, Chris Paul, Tony Parker, Jrue Holiday, Steve Nash, Damian Lillard, Kyrie Irving, pre-injury Rajon Rondo, post injury Derrick Rose, soon enough… It’s no wonder that Jeff Teague is often completely overlooked and, frankly, forgotten about, as a result of learning the ropes on the fly for an Atlanta Hawks squad that is constantly labeled a first-round-and-out playoff team. This might be his
MIAMI – The New York Knicks commit 11.3 turnovers per game. That’s fewer than any other team in the NBA – and a major reason why they could beat the Miami Heat in the playoffs this year. Forget about the Heat’s lack of rebounds and lack of size. They had those same limitations last season and won the title. The best way to beat the Heat is to take care of the ball, and that’s what the Knicks do. [Read more…]