With preseason winding down, the excitement is building for the start of the NBA season — for the players, that is. The NBA preseason is a necessary part of the game as teams prepare for the long season. However that does not make it fun. If you want fun, think baseball Spring Training. Teams go to some wonderful part of the country for 6 weeks. The players move in, bringing their golf clubs and families. They ease into the season at
Many fans don’t put much stock in the NBA preseason for some reason, and it’s something that I’ve always found puzzling. Like any good book, the preseason can provide a table of contents for the upcoming season with many interesting details and storylines. For me, it’s always about development and which players are in the right situations at the right time. On top of that, it’s seeing if they know that situation and if they are prepared to own it. I’ve taken
BROOKLYN – LeBron James doesn’t like losing. Not one bit. His Miami Heat just barely put up 60 points against the Brooklyn Nets on Thursday night in an 86-62 defeat at the Barclays Center. Was he mad? Nope, he was patient. “We’re just trying to get better and not waste an opportunity to get better,” James said. “We don’t have all our guys playing, but when guys were in the game, they played, worked hard.” Miami didn’t really work so hard rebounding the basketball
Mid-October is not synonymous with the NBA draft. Basketball fans are usually starting to notice the NBA preseason and getting ready for the start of college ball. But unlike past years, there has been a greater focus on the 2014 NBA draft and the overwhelming star power it has. That is why “Tankapalooza” is already part of basketball lexicon. For a long time, this next draft has been called the Andrew Wiggins Lottery, and one year prior to the 2014 draft, the
BROOKLYN– Brad Stevens is new to the NBA, and the Boston Celtics have had to grow familiar with his brand of coaching over the course of training camp and the preseason. With just about two weeks before the start of the season – and a new era for the franchise – the Celtics seem pleased with the progress the team is making under Stevens’ early stewardship. If general manager Danny Ainge’s plan for the franchise is for the rookie coach to grow
Who is crashing the playoff party in the East this season? Conventional wisdom says the two-time defending champion Miami Heat, Indiana Pacers, Chicago Bulls, New York Knicks and Brooklyn Nets are head and shoulders above the rest of the Eastern Conference and – barring a disaster – will secure the top five spots. At the other end of the conference, you can probably toss out the Orlando Magic, Charlotte Bobcats and Philadelphia 76ers, who could pool their rosters to come up with
In a teleconference last week, we asked NBA analysts Chris Webber and Greg Anthony to pick a Western Conference team which missed the playoffs last season but will make the playoffs this season. “Dallas, mainly because of Dirk Nowitzki,” Webber said. “He’ll be back healthy. What he does, with spacing, getting guys involved … We take his game for granted.” “I would go with the Pelicans,” Anthony said. “I think that’s a team that could make sizeable leaps and surprise a lot
Figures lie and liars figure. I remember when I asked my accountant how much I made from my investments one year and his answer was, “How much do you want to make?” Then he dropped the line above. I don’t mean that he was a crooked accountant. As a matter of fact, the opposite was true. His reputation was so good that his clients were almost never audited. The point was that you can use statistics to prove whatever you want them