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DuBose: McHale’s shocking dismissal puts everyone on notice in Houston

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HOUSTON — Entering Wednesday, Kevin McHale had accumulated the best winning percentage of any coach in Rockets franchise history and was mere months removed from somehow guiding his injury-plagued team to an unexpected berth in the Western Conference finals. Before lunch, he was fired. Because of 11 regular-season games. McHale, who was in his fifth season as Houston’s coach, was let go just 11 games into his new three-year, $12 million contract extension. In other words, expectations are high enough that owner

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Hubbard: With Aldridge, Spurs can contend with Warriors

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When LaMarcus Aldridge decided the chance to win titles was more attractive than the individual glory of scoring points, he knew he would have to adjust. The lure of the five-time champion San Antonio Spurs was strong, but not only did they have the Big Three, who still sit at the head of the table, they also had a young star who was already an NBA Finals MVP. Everyone from sage NBA writers to slobbering drunks yelling at TVs in sports

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Scotto: Top Five Rising and Falling Free Agent Stocks

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There is a ton of money available in NBA free agency next summer, and everyone knows it – especially players in the final year of their contracts. Across all sports, the contract year phenomenon occurs when an athlete performs at his highest level with millions of dollars on the line in a contract season. As a result, players naturally put in extra work in the gym and focus more clearly with their financial future hanging in the balance. Some players use these

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Sprung: Pelicans’ Ish Smith Making Most of Unexpected Opportunity

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On Saturday, Oct. 24, three days before the start of the NBA regular season, 27-year-old guard Ish Smith was finishing up the Washington Wizards’ final preseason practice as he and his teammates prepared for Wednesday’s season opener in Orlando. Then, like he had five times before in his career, Smith got cut.  Smith was one of five players on non-guaranteed contracts waived by Washington that day, an all-too-familiar occurrence for a player who spent his previous five seasons on eight different NBA

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Bernucca: Rockets Have Been Sputtering Since Liftoff

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Talk is cheap. Just ask the slumping Houston Rockets, whose locker room is starting to resemble a presidential candidates’ debate. “We’ve been talking,” slumping superstar James Harden said. “We’ve been doing too much talking.” “We’ve had a lot of heart-to-hearts,” coach Kevin McHale said. “As a matter of fact, we talk too much. Talking doesn’t win basketball games.” Last season, the Rockets surprised more than a few folks by crashing the Western Conference finals, a spot thought to be reserved for the San

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Ladewski: Warriors Have What It Takes To Catch 1995-96 Bulls

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For months, the Golden State Warriors heard the taunts of lucky and fluky and worse.  Now, the defending NBA champions have begun to answer their critics as if to say, ‘OK, if we win ’em all, then would that be good enough for you?” The Warriors aren’t quite 82-0 yet — they’re only 10-0 — but their start has been so drop-dead dominant, so utterly impressive that it makes you wonder if theirs can be one of those seasons for the ages. Six of the victories came against playoff

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Sheridan: Can the Warriors win 72 or 73 games?

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Note to those who like to make historical comparisons ( and to those who believe history started when Al Gore invented the Internet: The Golden State Warriors are off to a better start than the Chicago Bulls team that set an NBA record with a 72-10 record exactly two decades ago. Those Bulls started 5-0 before their first loss; these Warriors have already surpassed that. Back in November of 1995, nobody was talking about the possibility of the Bulls breaking the single-season

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Bernucca: Van Gundy Working His Magic In Detroit

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As a personnel man, Stan Van Gundy has broken a lot of the so-called contemporary rules. Since being lured back to the NBA by Detroit Pistons owner Tom Gores in May 2014, Van Gundy has not exactly followed the usual NBA blueprint in rebuilding the once-proud franchise, which has not been to the playoffs in six years. Van Gundy has flat-out waived four veterans with fully guaranteed contracts, accumulating nearly $32 million in dead money to be paid over the next five

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