We now know for sure that Kobe Bryant will retire as a Laker for life. The farewell tour officially begins tonight in Philadelphia, where he will be booed … most likely. They have booed Kobe in Philly since he was a 17-year-old rookie in the NBA, and Philly fans have a ton of outrage- most of it directed at Sam Hinkie – that they are eager to vent on somebody, anybody. So it will be an interesting start to Bryant’s first
What if I told you your favorite team could land a power forward that has never averaged less than 10 points per game in any of his 13 NBA seasons? He won a gold medal for Team USA. He is widely viewed as a good locker room guy. His basketball IQ is just south of MENSA territory. Who is the mystery free agent forward? It’s Carlos Boozer. In a statistically down season, Boozer averaged 11.8 points and 6.8 rebounds per game and
As I said recently on NBC Sports Radio and in my previous free agent rankings — there are still bargains to be had on the free agent market. Just ask the New York Knicks, who landed Kevin Seraphin on a one-year, $2.8 million deal. Seraphin was No. 1 on our previous free agency rankings. Seraphin turned down several significant offers for a better chance at playing time with the prospect of cashing when the salary cap spikes next summer. [Read more…]
Free agency shopping at the end of July is similar to waiting all month for the giant coupon booklet from your neighborhood grocery store. With that in mind, which players will be this year’s bargains on the clearance shelf? Can you find a scoring guard and a big man off the bench with a $2.8 million mid-level exception? Yes, that is somewhat akin to a two-for-one deal on soon-to-expire potato chips at your favorite grocery store. Some of the unrestricted free agents in
Orlando Magic guard Victor Oladipo is out indefinitely after suffering a facial fracture in practice Thursday. The Magic announced Friday that Oladipo took an inadvertent elbow to the face during a practice drill. The second-year guard will undergo a surgical procedure Saturday. There is no timetable for his return. Oladipo already was nursing a sprained MCL suffered in preseason that had prevented him from playing in any exhibition games. He returned to practice Monday, and the Magic were hoping that Oladipo could
Four players – three of them future Hall of Famers – took pay cuts of a staggering eight figures this offseason. Dirk Nowitzki, Pau Gasol and Paul Pierce all took salary slashes of more than $10 million to extend their careers with contending teams. They head the list of the top 10 individual pay cuts this summer. Our list uses exact salary figures from last season. In some cases, this season’s figures are averages of multi-year deals received by players. For example,
The Detroit Pistons named Jeff Bower as Stan Van Gundy’s new general manager, the team announced Tuesday afternoon. Bower served as the Charlotte/New Orleans/OKC Hornets’ GM from 2001 to 2003 and 2005 to 2010 and comes to Detroit after a stint as head coach of Marist College. Bower will report to Van Gundy, who will make the final decisions for Detroit, and his experience as a player personnel guru, talent evaluator and head coach will help ease Van Gundy’s transition into
I’m kinda high on what the Charlotte Bobcats did with Ben Gordon. The Bobcats waived Gordon on Sunday, preventing him from appearing in the postseason should he sign with another team. While they may have alienated his agent – not a trifle thing in the business world of the NBA – two things should be pointed out. 1. When teams waive or buy out players at this time of the season, they are essentially establishing a price they are willing to pay