We have two pieces of news to pick apart today: The announcement that USA Basketball has released a list of 30 finalists for the 2016 Olympic team, and the “non-commitment” from LeBron James regarding whether he will be part of the party. And yes, it will be a party. The games are in Brazil, after all. And LeBron, whose non-commitment is disingenuous at best, does not miss a good party. So let me tell you a little story about the Brazilians. [Read more…]
This is the time of year when we give out our midseason awards. But before we get to the drudgery of Sixth Man Award and Most Valuable Player, let’s start the festivities with a special award for individual achievement that goes to Rashad Vaughn. Vaughn is a shooting guard for the Milwaukee Bucks and the second-youngest player in the NBA. He is one of the dozens of rookies who have made virtually no impact in their first season. He is averaging 2.5 points
It was fun while it lasted, wasn’t it? But if you saw how tired the Golden State Warriors were at the end of their double-overtime victory over the Boston Celtics on Friday night, you had to know they’d be gassed the following night in Milwaukee. That they were, not to mention hobbled with Klay Thompson playing on a bad ankle and Harrison Barnes missing another game. And like all good things, the streak came to an end. Tonight they will no doubt
OAKLAND – During Golden State’s otherworldly 24-0 start, interim coach Luke Walton was asked how it felt to get no official credit for the victories. NBA policy is that only the permanent coach can accumulate wins and losses, so those victories went to Steve Kerr, who has yet to coach this season while recovering from back surgery. The winning streak, which set an all-time pro sports record for consecutive victories to open a season, ended Saturday with a 108-95 loss to
No NBA team has ever gone 7-0 on a road trip, or started a season 25-0. The amazing Golden State Warriors can achieve both of those records tonight, if they can shake off fatigue that must be approaching exhaustion. [Read more…]
While point guard is regularly lauded as the top position in the league in terms of star power and depth, how about some love for the small forwards? Seven small forwards featured on this list participated in Team USA’s minicamp this summer. This list includes two MVPs, a scoring champion, a Defensive Player of the Year, a recently crowned Rookie of the Year, a “Greek Freak” and a Finals MVP. Proven veterans such as Luol Deng and Joe Johnson – as well as
Every four decades, the basketball galaxy is in alignment for the Golden State Warriors. And on cue, last season was one of those moments as the Warriors won their first NBA championship since the days of Rick Barry 40 years ago. Last season’s Warriors were a talented group, particularly deep and immune to significant health problems, which they managed to avoid. In a breakthrough season, Stephen Curry achieved NBA Most Valuable Player status. Even their postseason matchups seemed to be hand-picked. And they did all of this with a rookie coach, no less. Now comes
Andre Iguodala wrapped up the most incredible year of his career exactly a month ago when he helped the Golden State Warriors capture a championship for the first time in 40 years over the Cleveland Cavaliers and took the Finals MVP trophy in the process. He made it happen when Steve Kerr decided to insert the long-time veteran into the starting lineup in favor of Andrew Bogut after playing the wingman off the bench for the entire season. [Read more…]