When Deron Williams was first traded to the New Jersey Nets two seasons ago, he really didn’t have a whole lot of nice things to say about the situation. The team had no direction and Williams had no interest in being part of a rebuilding project, but fast forward to this preseason and the tone has completely changed. He is more than content with the teammates he now has, and seems to carry a certain level of pride about being
Here are this morning’s top NBA news stories: “Fisher free to return to Lakers now,” by Marc Stein from ESPN.com “Jeremy Lin wanted to retire with New York Knicks, not Houston Rockets,” Marc Berman from the New York Post “Delonte West of Dallas Mavericks suspended for conduct detrimental to the team,” by Tim MacMahon from ESPN.com “Deron Williams of Brookyln Nets rips A.J. Price of Washington Wizards,” by Mike Mazzeo from ESPN.com “Brandon Bass staying focused despite being unsure of his role on Celtics,” by Gary Washburn from the Boston
Jason Kidd and Marcus Camby NEW YORK — If you ask New York Knicks head coach Mike Woodson why the team has gone old, he’ll tell you it’s because young NBA teams aren’t the ones winning the championships. And the Oklahoma City Thunder’s egg-laying ceremony over the course of the last season’s five-game flameout in the NBA Finals give credence to that argument. But when you build a team around over-the-hill veterans, you need two things. First, is a good
A loyal reader from Singapore asked about Harrison Barnes yesterday. Almost simultaneously, Bruce Wrigley’s weekly column examined the battle between Barnes and Brandon Rush for minutes at SF. Then the rookie started last night and scored 20 points on 8-11 shooting. Is he suddenly a hot fantasy commodity? Not exactly. The Warriors were playing at home against Maccabi Haifa, which is hardly the best team in Israel, which is not the strongest foreign league. They do have a wealthy owner
In Sunday night’s preseason game between the Lakers and the Warriors, we witnessed something that may take a while to get used to: Steve Nash was running the floor alongside Kobe Bryant in a Lakers uniform. If you’re not a Lakers fan, what we saw was bad news because Nash – as he always does – made the game look so darned easy for everyone else. The Warriors actually blew the game open for a 110-83 victory and showed promising
NEW YORK — The more things change is the more they stay the same. And as we count down toward the tip-off of the 2012-2013 season, New York Knicks fans are almost exactly where they were just prior to last season’s commencement. Many questions, few answers. Tick-tock. The clock is ticking. Carmelo Anthony, your time is almost up. An unfair Anthony critic, I am not. So while I remind you of the torch job I did on ‘Melo after he was outclassed by LeBron
One day after the NBA implemented a new anti-flop rule to penalize players with fines for flopping, there were plenty of reactions around the league, from happy campers to those that weren’t quite sure if it was the best of ideas. See what was said around the league about the change along with other news around the league on Thursday: Blake Griffin thinks the flopping rule is a great way for the league to make money on, from Marc J. Spears
(This entry is another in a series of 30 guest columns that will run in October, when optimism reigns supreme across the NBA. The theme will be “Five Reasons to Feel Positive About … ” We encourage you to follow the authors on Twitter and visit their sites. – CS) I have often been labeled a Knicks optimist because that’s my personality by nature. Plus, it’s a combination of finding myself having to defend them against what I sometimes find to