As I predicted two weeks ago, the Sixth Man Award race has heated back up. With Reggie Jackson and Manu Ginobili returning to their roles on the bench for their respective teams, Markieff Morris has finally found some serious competition for the award. With 30-plus games left for each team on the schedule, there are bound to be several key games ahead that could help determine the winner of this award. As luck would have it, Manu Ginobili’s return to full strength
I spoke with James Johnson at Atlanta Hawks media day back in October when he was just another former first-round pick trying to convince another team – his fourth, to be exact – that he was good enough for another shot. [Read more…]
Sources told Yahoo! Sports on Monday that there is “no chance” the Knicks trade free agent-to-be Carmelo Anthony by the Feb. 20 deadline. Let’s face the facts: even with Anthony, the Knicks are a mediocre basketball team in a horrendous Atlantic Division. [Read more…]
Good news, everyone: It’s too early to be a downer about the Sixth Man race. While the candidates look admittedly boring today, we’re not even at the All-Star break yet. There are events coming in the not-so-distant future that will make this race exciting. For now, the candidates just seem disappointing because we’re still spoiled from last year’s perfect storm. In 2012-2013, we had J.R. Smith, Jamal Crawford and Jarrett Jack dueling it out for the top spot on a weekly basis. They
When Deron Williams returned to the court on January 20th to face the Knicks after a five-game absence, coach Jason Kidd decided to take an unexpected gamble. Instead of reinserting the three-time All Star into the starting lineup, Kidd told Williams he would ease back into the rotation by coming off the bench. [Read more…]
After starting off the season atop the Sixth Man Rankings and quickly dropping out, Phoenix Suns forward Markieff Morris has climbed his way back into the top spot following consecutive weeks of efficient scoring. Despite playing the entire month of January without star point guard Eric Bledsoe – out indefinitely due to knee surgery – Phoenix still surprisingly stands seven games above .500. They are currently the seventh seed in a loaded Western Conference. Coach Jeff Hornacek is in his first year
Last month, while I was working on my Nick Young feature, I asked Wizards guard John Wall what he thought about two of his former teammates’ divergent yet equally successful paths to relevance in the NBA. At the time, of course, Young was enjoying the hottest and most efficient scoring tear of his professional career. Meanwhile, Jordan Crawford, who had essentially replaced Young as Washington’s volume scorer in 2012, had reinvented himself as a facilitating point guard with the Boston Celtics.
To no one’s surprise, Mo Williams says he plans to opt out of his contract for next season and test free agency over the summer. Williams signed a two-year deal last summer worth $5.6 million, with 2014-2015 a player option. He was scheduled to make $2.7 million next season if he chose to opt into that deal. Portland, of course, has been the NBA’s most pleasant surprise this season and is tied for the third-best record in the league at 27-9. Williams has been a