NEW YORK –The world ain’t all sunshine and rainbows, as Rocky Balboa once said. Just ask New York Knicks coach Derek Fisher. The Knicks were coming off Wednesday’s season-opening 25-point win at Milwaukee. New arrival Derrick Williams scored 24 points. Rookie Kristaps Porzingis shot 12 free throws. Heck, Carmelo Anthony had five assists. One night later, the Knicks laid an egg in their home opener with a 112-101 loss to the Atlanta Hawks. They allowed Atlanta to shoot better than 50 percent
The familiar days of Kobe Bryant and Dwyane Wade leading the shooting guard rankings are over. In fact, Bryant, Wade and Monta Ellis are the only players over 30 to crack our top 10 rankings at the position. James Harden, Klay Thompson and Jimmy Butler are the new – and younger – top dogs at the position. DeMar DeRozan, Bradley Beal and Khris Middleton are three rising young stars listed that could vault within the top five by next season. Shooting guard is thin
There was a train wreck at Penn Station last season. It was known as the New York Knicks, who endured the worst season in franchise history. It happened under the watch of Phil Jackson, one of the franchise’s heroes and a name synonymous with winning in the NBA. Jackson and the Knicks went to work this offseason in the draft and in free agency to get the team back on track. Despite concerns from fans about drafting the next Frederic Weis, the
Will Kevin Durant be the next superstar to opt for a change of scenery in the summer of 2016? If not, could it be Dwight Howard instead? (Yes, again) Will someone change teams and then change his mind during the moratorium period again like DeAndre Jordan did? One thing is for sure, the salary cap is going up dramatically next summer – projected to be in the $90 million range – and roughly 20 teams will have room for at least one maximum salary contract. In
In recent editions of the Three-Man Weave, we have looked at the best and worst moves made by teams in each conference. But nothing operates exclusively at extremes, including the NBA. Many teams made moves that were not among the best or worst of the offseason. In this edition of the Weave, we take a look at three specific teams in the Eastern Conference and whether or not their moves were good or bad ones that will help their long-term outlook. 1. The
What is the next big surprise? When will it happen? We are inside of 48 hours until the league’s moratorium ends, so fasten your seatbelts, folks. This summer’s free agency period has provided as much suspense and excitement as the NBA Finals. The San Antonio Spurs have agreed to terms with LaMarcus Aldridge and David West while retaining Tim Duncan, Kawhi Leonard, Manu Ginobili and Danny Green in hopes of returning to the Finals. West said he wanted to play for a title
Day 2 of the 2015 free agency period wasn’t quite as crazy as Day 1, but plenty of players looking for new homes (or old) were still on the move and locking themselves up with teams for years to come. Unless you were Dwyane Wade, of course, who agreed to a one-year deal worth $20 million to stay with the Miami Heat. In most cases, though, free agents have agreed to multi-year deals including the following: Damian Lillard – five-year, $125 million contract with
Five top sleeper free agents are all playing in the playoffs with the hope of cashing in big this summer as I outlined in a previous SheridanHoops column. With the NBA projected to increase the salary cap to roughly $90 million in 2016, teams will spend big this summer with the hope those deals will be bargains in retrospect once the new salary cap kicks in. Despite the anticipated gold rush for free agents in 2016, there are some players who would