What a difference a year makes. Just last summer, Dennis Schroder was the toast of the NBA Summer League and was heralded as the future cornerstone of the Atlanta Hawks. His long arms, quick hands and athletic prowess had veterans gushing that the Hawks had found the second coming of Rajon Rondo. One training camp later and, in theory, we should be in the same spot from where we started last season. Schroder just turned 21 in October – mere months older
Michele Roberts, the person, believes an age limit that keeps 18-year-olds out of the NBA is un-American. She also believes a maximum salary in a thriving industry is abhorrent. And she feels a system set up to prevent owners from overspending is flat-out ludicrous. Again, those are the opinions of Michele Roberts, the person. Not Michele Roberts, the new boss of the National Basketball Players Association. In her new job, max salaries, salary caps, luxury taxes and age limits are economic realities
How will the Oklahoma City Thunder do without Kevin Durant for the first six to eight weeks of the season? It’s extremely hard to tell, considering Durant has missed a total of 16 regular season games over the course of his seven-year career, including just two over the last two seasons. Durant’s lone absence last season came on Jan. 24 in a 101-83 win over Boston in which Russell Westbrook did not play, either. With Durant sidelined by a Jones fracture in
FUBAR, Excruciating, Manipulated. These were all terms that I used to describe the search for the new Executive Director of the NBPA. The process that was used to replace Billy Hunter was full of twists and turns, intrigue, and uncertainty. It lasted way too long and was managed clumsily. There was a vote that wasn’t, then a do-over when word circulated about a seemingly forced outcome. At the end of the day the final vote was done hastily amid protest. Then, against
Four months have passed since the masterpiece was finished with a throwback flourish that had purists spouting superlatives and invoking sacred basketball institutions like the Red Holzman Knicks, the Jack Ramsay Blazers . . . Larry Bird, Magic Johnson, James Naismith. The Spurs joined the pantheon of great teams when they mutilated the Heat dynasty in the 2014 NBA Finals, playing a brand of team basketball that Naismith would have found ideal, even if it was unimaginable when he invented the
On Thursday, we gave you our All-Breakout Team for the upcoming season for the Eastern Conference. Today, we bring you our Western Conference All-Breakout Team. These are the players we believe are on the verge of breaking out or standing out. We used the same parameters – five players, one at each position, but no rookies. Let’s get right to it. [Read more…]
Training camps are over, exhibition games have begun, and the excitement is palpable as we build towards the 2014-2015 season with players who should have breakout or standout seasons. Here are five players in the Eastern Conference – one at each position, no rookies – who will take the next step towards greatness this upcoming season. Tomorrow, the West. [Read more…]
By this point, David Blatt’s journey – from the suburbs of Boston to Princeton to Israel, followed by a Magellanesque coaching journey around Europe, a Euroleague title with Maccabi Tel Aviv and finally landing a head coaching job in the NBA with LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers – is well documented. But what Blatt has learned along the way and what he brings to the professional game is more than worth chronicling. Maccabi Tel Aviv, Blatt’s former team, just completed its