We are less than four weeks into the NBA season. And while it is a small sample size, it is large enough to determine whether teams are off to good starts or bad starts. The bigger question is how long can these teams sustain their starts? For that, we have brought back the Three-Man Weave, where three Sheridan Hoops staff members answer three questions. Making his Weave debut is columnist Ben DuBose, who also handles our Tuesday blog. He was able to
It is too early in the season to start ranking the MVP candidates. Or is it? Hey, how many chances to you get to say the Grizzlies and Raptors are on course to meet in the NBA Finals? It would be like one big Canadian reunion. There will be Vancouver nostalgia columns run amok. (The Grizzlies moved from Vancouver to Memphis in 2001). Well, if that is going to be the case, we may as well beat everyone to the punch. My
Michele Roberts is a smart person. You don’t go from being a public defender to major law form partner to becoming the first female head of a major professional sports union without having a healthy combination of savvy, smarts and substance. So what was she doing last week when she told ESPN that the NBA’s collective bargaining agreement, with its maximum salaries, age limit and rookie salary scale, is “un-American?” (And by the way, that “un-American” comment clearly struck a nerve with
DeMarcus Cousins has not picked up a single technical foul yet, which means he is on pace to accomplish his self-proclaimed goal of getting whistled for a maximum of five “T”s all season. His team is the surprise of the Western Conference, with all due respect to the conference-leading Grizzlies, Rockets and Warriors, and he is in the top 10 in scoring (23.0 ppg, 9th) and rebounding (11.1, 8th) following a summer in which he went through a much-needed maturation process
If somebody told you Kyle Korver would begin the season by making 8 of his first 10 3-point attempts, you’d probably shrug your shoulders and say: “Yeah, he could do that.” But if someone told you Korver’s 80 percent shooting from long-range would only leave him second in the league’s 3-point shooting statistics behind Tony Parker, you’d say — in your best French accent — “Excuse Moi?” Parker has opened the season 6-for-6, and he’ll match his marksmanship against Korver’s
The New York Times brought the front page news recently that more people watched The Walking Dead and NCIS; New Orleans last week than Game 1 of the World Series. Which leads me to Prediction No. 1 for the 2014-15 NBA season: Commissioner Adam Silver is going to take on the national pastime, move up the start of the season by a week and see what happens. Which leads us to prediction No. 2: When Silver does this, his league will outdraw the
NEW YORK — The draft lottery is probably going to look a whole lot different by the time this week is over. Regarding the Philadelphia 76ers, it is going to ensure that their tank job for this upcoming season will not be replicated by anyone else anytime soon. Under a proposal scheduled to be voted upon by representatives of the 30 NBA ownership groups, the formula for the draft lottery will change. As first reported by Zach Lowe of Grantland, the
Prediction season is almost in full swing, and here is one from me: Kobe Bryant is going to compete for the NBA scoring title all the way into April, and he might just win it. In fact, if I had to pick a favorite, I’d pick the Mamba. With all due respect to Kevin Durant, no one has been more of a pure scorer in the NBA longer than Kobe. Yes, the guy is 37 and is coming off a major knee