During the NBA Finals, Tim Duncan made many trips to the podium to regale the ever-rapacious NBA press corps. He was asked a lot of questions. I went through all of the transcripts on ASAP Sports and here’s one group of queries I didn’t see: Question: “Tim, when you took a 50 percent pay cut after the 2011-12 season, did that affect your lifestyle at all? Did you have to trade in the Land Rover for an Explorer? Did you limit the
This may come as a surprise, but the Atlanta Hawks are actually closer to becoming championship contenders than you might think. This summer, Atlanta has a realistic opportunity to present LeBron James and Carmelo Anthony with the most attractive free agent pitch of any team in the league, if Danny Ferry maneuvers contracts aggressively and appropriately. It’s certainly an ambitious idea, but it’s far from ridiculous. First and most obviously, the Hawks are situated in the Eastern Conference. This gives them a succinct
The New York Knicks acquired a major upgrade at point guard at the expense of their starting center in a six-player trade with the Dallas Mavericks on Wednesday. The trade sends Jose Calderon to New York along with center Samuel Dalembert, wing Wayne Ellington, point guard Shane Larkin and the 34th and 51st picks in Thursday’s NBA Draft in exchange for center Tyson Chandler and point guard Raymond Felton. [Read more…]
With the NBA draft coming up, it is kind of fun to remember back to my draft day in 1981. It’s like going through your wedding album years later. But instead of the burgundy tuxedo and ruffled shirt, its 1980s hair and wide ties. Going into my senior year at Syracuse, I was a relatively unknown player. I had played behind All-American center Roosevelt Bouie and had just played my first season as the starter. Scouting was primitive by today’s standards.
Something to think about as we barrel toward Thursday night’s draft: Beware the comparisons … you know, the “he is the next (fill in the blank).” Like Joel Embiid, who is either the next Hakeem Olajuwon or the next Greg Oden. Basketball is the most nuanced and elaborated game there is, and this is why NBA Comps are nothing more than bad smokescreens. Take a look at Penny Hardaway for a second. What do you see? You see a long ball-handler, ultra-quick
This is the best time of the year in the NBA. The draft is only days away, opt-in and opt-out decisions are due a couple days later, and free agency courtships can begin July 1. We are currently in a holding pattern in which Kevin Love rumors, Carmelo Anthony speculation and Joel Embiid-Greg Oden comparisons are being wildly thrown around. You can lose track of yourself trying to keep track of all the rumors, so try to remember that rumors are
The San Antonio Spurs and the organization’s two stalwarts, Tim Duncan and Gregg Popovich, are coming off a fifth championship and are poised for another title run next season – provided Duncan doesn’t retire. With five championships in a 15-year period, the Spurs have made a claim to be considered a dynasty. However, some people – most notably Phil Jackson – would disagree because the Spurs haven’t won consecutive titles. Jackson won three consecutive championships on three separate occasions (1991-93, 96-98, 2000-2002).
LeBron James and the Miami Heat were quickly dispatched by the San Antonio Spurs in five games in this year’s NBA Finals, so James is a pretty convenient scapegoat for his team’s failure to win a third straight championship. But LeBron is about as far from blame here as you can get. Just read James’ per-game averages in The Finals: 57.1 percent shooting from the field, 51.9 percent from the arc and 28.2 points, 7.8 rebounds and 4.0 assists per game. His