Many teams are preparing for a free agency bonanza in the summer of 2016 when the salary cap is projected to rise to roughly $90 million with stars such as Kevin Durant, LeBron James, Chris Paul, Dwight Howard, Joakim Noah, etc. all potentially be available. However, teams that aren’t in the running for a superstar in 2016 will spend big this summer on players who are valuable but not household names. Any deal signed this summer will ultimately be considered below
What do James Harden, Stephen Curry, Russell Westbrook and LeBron James have in common? They’re all legitimate MVP candidates, of course. But what else does that Awesome Foursome have in common? In a potential playoff series against the defending NBA champion San Antonio Spurs, they can all expect to see an individual matchup with Kawhi Leonard. In case you’ve been transfixed by March Madness, the Spurs are looking like a championship contender. Again. If you want some perspective, my son Andrew was born
July 1 is almost here. Wait, it isn’t? You mean there is still two feet of ice, slush and snow piled up outside the home office in New York? Well, if you compare July to October, then July is almost here! And there is no bigger date on the NBA calendar than July 1 (although the May 19 draft lottery is a close second). Phil Jackson becomes relevant again for something other than his Twitter vitriol. Jeanie Buss becomes more interesting
Why is the trade deadline different from all other nights of the year? It’s not. The West just got tougher. In the East, where there’s no life-or-death importance attached to getting better, the top teams sat this one out while the bad teams—your Knicks and 76ers—dumped, shut down or otherwise disposed of their best players in order to tank more definitively. [Read more…]
I have written this before but I haven’t written it in quite some time. When all is said and done on the Sam Hinkie Era, the Philadelphia 76ers will be counting up their multiple titles. Yes, multiple. But no, I do not expect JaVale McGee to be a part of any of that. Emmanuel Mudiay? Yes. Jahlil Okafor or Joel Embiid? Yep. The mad scientist in Philadelphia may just be a mad genius. Yes, it was fashionable to make fun of the young
Finally! There are two NBA games tonight that actually count in the standings, with contests at DraftKings closing at 8:00 Eastern. It’s also trade deadline day, and Arron Afflalo has been dealt to Portland in the first significant deal. [Read more…]
With the NBA trade deadline quickly approaching – Thursday, to be exact – teams around the league are scrambling to see what changes they can make to improve their rosters for now and/or the future. Goran Dragic, of course, has been dominating the conversation since it was reported on Tuesday that he wants out of Phoenix. The team has agreed to meet his wishes, and although the point guard has a wishlist in terms of where he wants to end up
Much has been made about all the drama going on in Cleveland recently with the way it has struggled over the past couple of weeks. Kevin Love, who has not been himself this year, has now been benched a couple of times for the entire fourth quarter with mixed results, while Kyrie Irving doesn’t seem to grasp what it means to run a team as the point guard. These are obviously troubling things, but there have also been some positives with the