With the trade deadline rapidly approaching, rumors have been rampant around the league throughout the day. Can Cleveland find a taker for Luol Deng? How serious is Sacramento about moving MIP candidate Isaiah Thomas? Will the New York Knicks finally trade Iman Shumpert? Those are some of the many burning questions as general managers try to determine what will be the best course of action for their respective franchises. Some minor deals have already gone down on Wednesday, and plenty more
All-Star Saturday is one of my favorite days of the NBA season, because it’s the best chance we get to see players just having fun. More than just about any other sports league on the planet, the NBA likes to show off its players’ charisma, flair, and general ability to entertain. And it’s working. Just ask every company that uses an NBA player in their advertising. Any of the twenty or so of them. I rounded up some NBA players’ reactions
Amid its myriad injuries, its dozen teams below .500 and its 44-98 record against the Western Conference, there is a looming question regarding the Eastern Conference: Can the East even field an All-Star team? A year ago, Kevin Garnett, Rajon Rondo, Luol Deng, Joakim Noah, Tyson Chandler, Kyrie Irving, Brook Lopez and Jrue Holiday were among the East’s All-Stars. You can make the argument – irrefutable in some cases, strong in others – that none of those players should be invited back
The Andrew Bynum news is dominating the NBA today. Of course, this big news would break on a day I spent a good portion of in the car, driving from my grandparents’ place in New York to my parents’ house in Baltimore. So if you, like me, are still playing catch-up, here’s the basics: The Cavs suspended Bynum indefinitely for “conduct detrimental to the team” and it looks like he’s played his last game for Cleveland. There’s murmurs that Bynum just flat
Where the hell has the time gone? It certainly flies as the days get shorter and darkness descends in the late afternoon. We’re already through the first quarter of the NBA season and almost at Christmas. The league has seen plenty of pleasant surprises, like the consistently stellar Portland Trail Blazers, and many disappointments, like the entire Eastern Conference besides Indiana and Miami. There have also been a whole host of players who have really progressed in a positive direction over the
When Victor Oladipo was taken second overall in the 2013 draft by the Orlando Magic, everyone assumed he would play shooting guard in the NBA. His 6-4 frame and 214 pounds projected perfectly for the NBA’s new wave of shooting guards. However, over the summer, the Magic made it clear they would experiment with Oladipo by slotting him into a dynamic combo guard role. As a result, Oladipo has been featured more at the point than at any time in his basketball life.
Of the popular meanings of the word tank, two have roots signifying damage and destruction. There is the blunt military vehicle, and the less subtle term that is popular in our contemporary basketball lexicon. The basketball version of tanking will unavoidably be a central theme in the upcoming 2013-2014 season. Compared to previous seasons, the 2014 NBA draft class is projected to be filled with All-Stars and franchise-changing players, headlined by Canadian wing Andrew Wiggins, who will play at Kansas this coming
After jettisoning Dwight Howard in August 2012, the Orlando Magic fully embraced a rebuilding plan, starting over with two young prospects in Nikola Vucevic and Moe Harkless and a veteran contributor in Arron Afflalo. After a surprisingly strong 12-13 start which had some folks around the NBA wondering if they could make the playoffs, the Magic floundered to the finish, losing 49 of their final 57 games. Along the way, they lost Glen Davis to two injuries – one which would