Last season, the Atlanta Hawks were one of the NBA’s best regular-season stories, winning 60 games. This season, they needed almost 60 games to remember what winning is. After their best season since moving to Atlanta nearly 50 years ago, the Hawks have spent most of this season spurting and sputtering. They got off to a 7-1 start, which many took as a good sign considering they were a measly 7-6 out of the gate last season. There was a six-game
They have the best center in the NBA in DeMarcus Cousins. They have the craftiest point guard in the league in Rajon Rondo. They have a proven, year-in, year-out scorer in Rudy Gay. They have a backup point guard in Darren Collison that half a dozen teams would kill for. They have George Karl running the show, for better or worse. They have Quincy Acy. OK, forget about Quincy .. along with the NBA’s most porous defense (allowing 109.1 ppg). The
Jabari Parker and Julius Randle have several things in common. Both were lottery picks in the 2014 NBA draft – Parker going second to the Milwaukee Bucks, Randle going seventh to the Los Angeles Lakers. Both were one-and-done college stars from powerhouse programs – Parker from Duke, Randle from Kentucky. Both were supposed to be among the legitimate contenders for Rookie of the Year. Unfortunately, both suffered serious injuries that ended their rookie seasons shortly after they began and put them on
It’s no secret that Kobe Bryant has been historically bad in what has been confirmed as his final season in the NBA. The former superstar shooting guard has been a shell of himself in every aspect of the game (understandably so with all the damage and mileage in his body) and has gone into one arena after another to fire up some of the most inexplicable shots in the history of the league. No really. There have been a countless number
The Los Angeles Lakers and Brooklyn Nets went into Friday’s contest at the Barclays Center without a single win between the two teams on the season. Naturally, one team had to end the losing streak so Kobe Bryant and company gladly obliged. [Read more…]
As the Los Angeles Lakers slowly and painfully transition away from the Kobe Bryant era, the franchise actually did the right thing in bottoming out last season. The Lakers went a franchise-worst 21-61 last season under first-year coach Byron Scott, losing 29 games by double digits. Forward Julius Randle was lost for the season with a foot injury in the opener, and everything went pretty much downhill from there. Los Angeles had the second-worst defensive rating and scoring defense while finishing 24th
Although LeBron James only went back to Cleveland this past offseason, it is now a very distant memory for most that he was with the Miami Heat last season and won two championships with them overall. Simply put, most are over it and accept the fact that he decided to go back home. There is one guy with the Heat organization who is still scratching his head about James’ decision, though, and his name is Alonzo Mourning. Mourning explained his feelings on James’ departure and provided
Following a recent game at Memphis, Los Angeles Lakers rookie guard Jordan Clarkson left quite an impression on Grizzlies forward Zach Randolph. Clarkson scored a season-high 25 points on 12-of-18 shooting and added six assists. He kept the Lakers in the game until the fourth quarter, when the Grizzlies put their defense and talent to work and pulled out a 97-90 win. Afterward, Randolph was blown away. “That young fellow, he’s going to be good,” he said. “I didn’t even know who