Should we really be surprised that the league’s most interesting general manager chose to take the path of higher risk, higher reward? That’s where the Houston Rockets, led by daring and analytically driven GM Daryl Morey, enter the 2014-15 season. When we last saw them, contention didn’t feel far away. In the first year of the Dwight Howard-James Harden foundation, the Rockets went 54-28 in a loaded West and secured home court advantage in the first round. That was in line with preseason
About an hour after I had rolled into the Audi Garage next to the American Airlines Center in Dallas, and about four hours after I left San Antonio, where I had watched the Mavericks lose Game 7 of the first round of the 2014 playoffs to the eventual NBA champion Spurs, members of the Mavs spoke to the media. On the floor of their practice court, Dirk Nowitzki spoke about the disappointment of that game after taking the Spurs to the
NBA players taking selfies at the dentist/orthodontist office. Haven’t we seen this before? Well, it’s still a good look from Chandler Parsons, who took a page out of Nate Robinson’s book from last week. This time however, Parsons took a trip to the dentist for a root canal. His huge payday this summer when he signed with the Dallas Mavericks for $46 million seemingly went right to his head, or, mouth I guess. [Read more…]
New York Knicks president Phil Jackson has let it be known that he has free reign to perform his duties for the team. This includes being able to operate without having team owner James Dolan constantly overpowering him on decisions. [Read more…]
On Thursday, we gave you our All-Breakout Team for the upcoming season for the Eastern Conference. Today, we bring you our Western Conference All-Breakout Team. These are the players we believe are on the verge of breaking out or standing out. We used the same parameters – five players, one at each position, but no rookies. Let’s get right to it. [Read more…]
Could the unique contract structure arranged by the Dallas Mavericks and owner Mark Cuban to pry Chandler Parsons from the Houston Rockets become a template for freeing future restricted free agents? Multiple league GMs think it could, according to a new report from ESPN‘s Marc Stein. The Parsons contract, which is almost-max-level over three years and includes a player option after Year 2 and maximum 15% trade kicker, proved difficult for the Rockets to match on several levels, even though they fully intended
The San Antonio Spurs may be the reigning NBA champions, but it’s the Dallas Mavericks and Houston Rockets who are stealing headlines out of Texas. From players swapping teams to front office members trading barbs, there’s been no shortage of drama in the state where everything’s bigger. On Monday, Rockets general manager Daryl Morey took the gloves off and returned shots at Mavericks owner Mark Cuban. In an interview with Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports, Morey responded to the consistent jabs that Cuban
With training camp slated to begin in just under a week, players and teams are putting in the work necessary to get ready for the long, 82-game grind of a season. There are plenty of new faces in new places, and a number of fascinating story lines to follow as the season progresses. One team with a plethora of new faces is the Dallas Mavericks. Owner Mark Cuban and his team had quite an interesting and successful offseason. [Read more…]