What Miami Heat coach Erik Spoelstra did Monday night is called coaching. Or was it overcoaching? That’s where the debate lies with his risky and somewhat questionable maneuver. Spoelstra benched All-Star guard Dwyane Wade for the entire fourth quarter of the Heat’s 104-97 loss at Utah. He kept All-Star forward Chris Bosh on the bench for all but the final 40 seconds, when the game was pretty much decided. And he kept starting power forward Udonis Haslem on the bench. [Read more…]
Dwight Howard dominates the paint on both ends, Kobe Bryant plays less than 30 minutes for the first time this season, Steve Nash runs the offense with precision, the defense has its best game in weeks and the Lakers run away with a 20-point win in their Sunday home whites. So, everything’s back to normal again in Tinseltown, right? Who cares that it was against the Cavaliers, who lose three of every four games they play? Or that Cleveland was missing Anderson Varejao, their best
Does it seem to anyone else like we’ve had about five years of Lakers seasons in the first, well, a little over two months of this season? What was it? About four years ago when we were all enthralled by the slick maneuver that brought Dwight Howard to Los Angeles? And how about that sign-and-trade for Steve Nash? Three years ago? [Read more…]
This has been a unique season in terms of NBA coaching firings. There are always coaches who buy it somewhat early in the season (think Paul Westphal last season for Sacramento.) Typically those firings are reserved for particularly heinous starts to the season (think Lawrence Frank with the 2009 Nets). [Read more…]
The NBA draft is all about projections and potential. A generation ago, most NBA executives’ strategy was to compare prospects based on their collegiate careers. Then the Fab Five arrived at Michigan, and suddenly the process was flipped upside down. Underclassmen were scrutinized, analyzed and scouted thoroughly by NBA clubs who wanted to get the next big-time prospect. While prospects with high upside are intriguing, they come with more risk than upperclassmen. The lottery is annually dominated by underclassmen, primarily freshmen. [Read
The first time I met Kevin Durant was the morning of Oct. 29, 2008, at the team’s first regular-season shootaround inside the Ford Center. [Read more…]
NEW YORK — On February 6, 1995, Vernon Maxwell, then a member of the defending NBA champion Houston Rockets, pulled a Ron Artest while Ron Artest was still just a 15-year-old, acne-faced sophomore at New York City’s La Salle Academy. During the third quarter, with the Rockets trailing, 79-52, Maxwell did the unthinkable – he charged into the stands and punched Steve George, a 35-year-old fan, right in the kisser. Commissioner David Stern’s hand wasn’t as heavy back then. Maxwell got a
Phil Jackson in 1996 coaching the Chcago Bulls Now that Phil Jackson has stated that he has “no intention of ever coaching again,” two questions remain: Why not? And what next? Here are some possible answers: [Read more…]