Attention Lakers fans: Andrew Wiggins’ first game for Kansas is Oct. 29 against Pittsburg State. A couple weeks later, he goes up against Mike Krzyzewski and Duke at the Champions Classic in Chicago. He could be all yours, Lakers Nation, if the ping-pong balls drop correctly. And pick your own theory about which superstar free agent is going to come running to play alongside him and Kobe Bryant. We have heard all the speculation – everyone from LeBron James (ain’t happening)
This is the home of the defending NBA champions. No, Gregg Popovich, we haven’t forgiven you for blowing Game 6. This podcast, one of the better anti-Popovich rants you’ll hear, might only be topped by this Popovich bashfest. Ah, we sure were spunky back in late June. Well, the only key guy missing from last season’s Spurs (aside from Pop’s two top assistants, who moved on to bigger and better things) is Gary Neal, who has been replaced by Marco Belinelli, which
When are folks going to stop picking on Oklahoma City’s Sam Presti and Clay Bennett for trading James Harden? Not any time soon around here. Exhibit A is this outstanding column by Chris Bernucca, and Exhibit B will be seen nearly every week in my Power Rankings. Perhaps sometime in the next 5-10 years, we’ll let it go. But to break up a championship-caliber team and end up with nothing but Jeremy Lamb in return is borderline nauseating. Let’s face it: If
Nothing matters in this division, or in the entire NBA for that matter, until June. That’s when we’ll have our answer: Were the Miami Heat good enough to three-peat? That is the first question on people’s minds as we head into the upcoming season, and it brings to mind the following question: If the Heat don’t three-peat, will the Big Three go their separate ways? LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh all have opt-outs in their contracts, and all are a
This could be the league’s toughest division from a 1-2 standpoint, as outlined in our August Power Rankings. Adding Luis Scola, not to mention Chris Copeland, for the price of next to nothing amounted to balance-tipping moves by Indiana Pacers executives Donnie Walsh and Larry Bird. Remember, these guys took the Miami Heat to seven games in the Eastern Conference finals – and they did it with Tyler Hansbrough and Gerald Green as two primary options off the bench. Throw that
This summer included a war of words between the Knicks’ hot-shooting, weed-smoking(?) Sixth Man of the Year, J.R. Smith, and a new rival from across the river, Paul Pierce, who will be wearing a color other than green for the first time in his career. Can’t wait until Kevin Garnett and Metta World Peace get in on the trash talk, because both are better spoken than their aforementioned counterparts. The signing of a Russian (Andrei Kirilenko) by a Russian (Mikhail Prokhorov)
When the Golden State Warriors made it to the 2013 NBA playoffs for the first time in six years – and just the second time in 19 dreadful years – it appeared the team was finally headed in the right direction. From ownership, management, coaching and the talent level, you could sense that what the Warriors were building was legitimate and lasting. This was going to be more than just another short-lived “We Believe” season. The Warriors continued in that direction in
A year ago at this time, the Philadelphia 76ers were filled with optimism. Coming off a postseason run that left them four minutes short of the Eastern Conference finals, front office personnel were still slapping each other’s backs about the way they had not only landed big man Andrew Bynum, but at the same time unloaded Andre Iguodala and Nikola Vucevic. With Bynum in the paint, an array of 3-point shooters on the wings and emerging guards Jrue Holiday and Evan Turner