If Laker fans hope—actually, expect—a fast turnaround, last week’s draft that brought D’Angelo Russell and two more of the top 34 picks was a reminder how tricky the process is going to be. The announcement of Russell’s selection at No. 2 prompted cries of anguish from the half of Lakerdom that wanted Jahlil Okafor. The Los Angeles Times’ Bill Plaschke kept from passing out long enough to tweet, “wow… crazy… wow… unreal… you’ve got to be kidding.” No, they were serious. The Lakers
The countdown has begun, and all heck breaks loose at 12:01 a.m. EDT Wednesday. We have The Decision II on our hands, but nobody is talking about it because everyone knows what LeBron James is going to do. Kevin Love, however, is this year’s mystery man. DeAndre Jordan is one of the most coveted pieces out there. Mitch Kupchak would still love to have DeMarcus Cousins patrolling the middle, but he and the Lakers have a ton of fallback options. Short contracts
19. Tim Duncan, F-C, San Antonio (Unrestricted): At this time next season, Duncan will be doing one of two things: playing for the Spurs or fully ensconced in his next vocation of customizing muscle cars. He told me in January that he has not yet purchased his lead sled. Any team outside of San Antonio making him an offer will be wasting its time. In fact, he is probably less likely to change teams than James. The bet here is that
36. Omer Asik, C, New Orleans (Unrestricted): He may have the Pelicans over a barrel; GM Dell Demps gave up a first-round pick for him because he knew he needed a big body to alleviate some of the pounding on Anthony Davis at the defensive end. Now that New Orleans has had a taste of the postseason – however brief it was – there is pressure to keep moving forward and become a contender in the West. That is less likely
The Toronto Raptors are flush with salary cap space. Yes, they need to re-sign Sixth Man award winner Lou Williams, and they’ll likely need to give him a significant raise after what he gave them. But what about getting unrestricted free agents to come to Toronto? It has never been an easy thing to do (last summer’s Kyle Lowry re-signing notwithstanding), and Masai Ujiri is going up against some awfully heavy hitters when it comes to going after the likes of
On Sunday, the MLB deck had “too many” aces. It’s a shame the hitting stats didn’t count for Mets’ rookie SP Steven Matz in his memorable debut. [Read more…]
With the draft in the rearview mirror, July 1 is the next big day on the NBA calendar. That’s the day teams can start negotiating contracts with free agents. And every year, the few days right at the end of June are a unique window where teams’ plans start coalescing and reliable information about where some of the top names might be headed starts to leak out. We’ve already seen indications that LaMarcus Aldridge is preparing to leave the Blazers. LeBron
When Dirk Nowitzki met Helmut Schmidt in 2013, the former German Chancellor offered what he considered to be sage advice, unaware that in the lucrative world of the NBA, his suggestion would be more humorous than practical. Schmidt asked Nowitzki his age, which was almost 35 at the time. Schmidt then asked if Nowitzki could play another 10 years in the NBA and Nowitzki said no, playing past 40 was not really feasible. So Schmidt, being practical, said Nowitzki should prepare for