There is a sneaky, devious way that the Los Angeles Lakers can re-sign Dwight Howard, continue to pay Kobe Bryant the NBA’s highest salary and create even more cap room for this summer and next summer. Use the amnesty provision on Bryant. Yes, Lakers GM Mitch Kupchak said in the days after Bryant tore his Achilles tendon that using the one-time provision – which 15 teams still have at their disposal – on the face of the franchise was not under consideration.
The Knicks should really stop trading with Masai Ujiri. Ujiri set the Denver Nuggets’ franchise in the right direction with the Carmelo Anthony trade with New York, and now he achieved something that was once considered nearly impossible not even a month into his tenure as the Toronto Raptors’ head of basketball operations: getting a first-round pick in exchange for Andrea Bargnani’s contract. The team taking on the last two years and roughly $23 million on Bargnani’s contract? The Knicks,
As the entire basketball world had their eyes on Dwight Howard with free agency opening, the biggest move of Night One was made by new Toronto Raptors general manager Masai Ujiri — the same guy who fleeced the Knicks of half their roster in the Carmelo Anthony trade. Ujuri dumped Andrea Bargnani on the Knicks in exchange for Steve Novak, Marcus Camby, a first-round draft pick in 2016 (which the Nuggets have first dibs on in a pick-swap agreement) and two
It might seem like a decade ago, but it happened. Jeff Teague, a seldom used second-year point guard at the time, outplayed Derrick Rose for the first few games during the second round of the 2010-11 Eastern Conference playoffs: [Read more…]
The “Dwecision” has already taken over that basketball public’s imagination. And Dwight Howard is bringing Chris Paul along for the ride. [Read more…]
It is late August. Everyone is on vacation. The NBA is quiet as a churchmouse. If you want to watch live basketball, you have to settle for Eurobasket qualifying and familiarize yourself with the likes of Iceland, Belgium, Belarus and Ukraine. Not much to do except look back over the past six weeks and cast judgment on all 30 NBA teams for their offseason moves. And lordy, lordy, there have been a ton of them. For a list of every team’s offseason moves,
With the opening of training camps in late September, there is now more offseason behind us rather than in front of us. With six weeks to go, many teams are looking to fill the final spot or two on their rosters. And as we pointed out last week, there is not much to choose from. Although there has been talk about some of these teams possibly adding another player, Chicago, Dallas, Detroit, Golden State, Indiana, the Los Angeles Lakers, Memphis, New York, Oklahoma City
Are you happy that the interminable saga surrounding Dwight Howard’s next destination is mercifully over? Yeah, us too. Most NBA observers – and we’re talking about everyone from Commissioner David Stern to billionaire owners to sleep-deprived GMs to fellow superstars to media members to fans to forum flamers – are mentally moving on from Howard now that he finally has been traded from the Orlando Magic to the Los Angeles Lakers. Yes, there is a faction of folks who feel there may be