When you only write once a week in this space, it seems like a lot happens in the interim. Since I was last here, we’ve done a lot of work: Jeff has written about strategy and Kent has finished off our positional preview, sorted into tiers for draft planning. The last one was the toughest: the centers. Remember if you’re drafting soon, especially in a deep league, to stay familiar with our 2012-13 Depth Chart. Before I say anything else today, I want to
We already told you who we believe will make the playoffs in the Western Conference. The picture in the Eastern Conference is a bit different. Just like the West, the East has six teams that are locks to play in May. They are the defending champion Miami Heat, Boston Celtics, Indiana Pacers, Philadelphia 76ers, New York Knicks and Brooklyn Nets, who last season weren’t in (a) Brooklyn or (b) the playoffs. You can find whatever real or imagined faults you’d like with those
With the opening of training camps in late September, there is now more offseason behind us rather than in front of us. With six weeks to go, many teams are looking to fill the final spot or two on their rosters. And as we pointed out last week, there is not much to choose from. Although there has been talk about some of these teams possibly adding another player, Chicago, Dallas, Detroit, Golden State, Indiana, the Los Angeles Lakers, Memphis, New York, Oklahoma City
Commissioner David Stern wanted to level the economic playing field and curb overspending by the NBA’s bigger markets with the new CBA. Some very useful players got squeezed this summer, while some not so deserving players cashed in major checks. Some guys such as O.J. Mayo and D.J. Augustin did it to themselves. Others such as Devin Harris and Mickael Pietrus were victims of their own circumstances. But at the end of the day, a win is a win, and a loss
Earlier this week, our Mark Heisler reported that the Orlando Magic would be willing to wait until next summer to trade Dwight Howard if that is what it takes to get fair value for the superstar center. It’s hard to imagine Howard even coming to training camp with the Magic, let alone playing the entire season in Orlando, where he is slightly more popular than George Zimmerman and Casey Anthony. But what if he did? The NBA schedule was released Thursday, and more
The NBA’s offseason is far from over. And as Chris Bernucca told us Monday, there are still at least 20 free agents out there that can provide value to a number of teams. Although it’s still pretty early in the summer, it’s not too early to identify some of the offseason’s biggest losers. And while we fully acknowledge that individual player progression, maturity, and development can improve a team just as much as a splashy free agent signing or witty trade, keep
The Orlando Magic want Dwight Howard to reconsider if he’d like to play for them next season. But Howard’s mind has been made up for a long time — and he wants out of central Florida. So what happens next? Presumably, Howard will come up with a second list of teams that he would be amenable to playing for long-term. It has long been known that the Mavericks, Lakers and Clippers were on Howard’s B-list. But the Mavericks would rather wait a year
Nigeria is going to the Olympics for the first time, and an NBA castoff led them there. Ike Diogu took over the game after it was tied with 5 1/2 minutes remaining, making four consecutive shots — two of which were 3-pointers — to lead the African nation to an 88-73 victory over the John Calipari-coached Dominican Republic. Nigeria will be grouped with Lithuania in Team USA’s bracket at the London Games, while Russia — the third team to qualify at the