Things have changed in Rip City. For the Portland Trail Blazers, the 2013-14 season not only represented a return to the playoffs, it ended a drought of not making the second round that had lasted longer than a decade. Yes, the Trail Blazers got taken to the woodshed by the San Antonio Spurs in the conference semifinals, doing just enough against the eventual champions to avoid a sweep. But plenty of other teams got whooped by the Spurs, too. Winning against the Houston
If you visit this site with any regularity, then you know I recently wrote a piece listing the NBA’s top 10 point guards. The list includes some relative newbies such as John Wall and Kyrie Irving. It also does not include Deron Williams and Derrick Rose, who in my opinion have not done enough of late to merit inclusion among the best players at arguably the most talented position in the league. Apparently, the folks at Rip City Radio 620 in Portland
If you’re wondering where Derrick Rose ranks among the NBA’s top 10 point guards, he doesn’t. Neither does Deron Williams. Or Kemba Walker. Or Kyle Lowry. Point guard is the most demanding position in the NBA. And in ranking the top floor generals, we have demanding criteria. Is your favorite point guard an All-Star? How long has he been at that level? Is his current career track pointing upward or downward? Where does he rank among scorers at the position? Assists? Does he
The 2014 Basketball World Cup is finally here. And you need to take it seriously, because everyone else does. Thanks to NBC and the other fall-in-line media outlets, most Americans believe the Olympics is the premier international basketball event. Globally, nothing could be further from the truth. With 24 teams and no automatic bid for the host, the World Cup is twice the size of the Olympics. It doesn’t share the spotlight with track or swimming. And most of the players will
After defeating Puerto Rico 112-86 in an exhibition match, USA Basketball finalized their roster heading into the 2014 FIBA Basketball World Cup. Team USA has played with 16 men on the roster for both of their exhibition games this week, as they evaluated which players would be making the trip to Spain with them. [Read more…]
With Team USA preparing to leave for Spain on Saturday, it’s decision time for Coach Krzyzewski and Jerry Colangelo on the final 12-man roster. Our Chris Sheridan predicted the following players to be cut from the roster: Gordon Hayward, Kyle Korver, Chandler Parsons and Damian Lillard. We already know that Hayward is the first to be unofficially cut from the team, according to Marc Stein of ESPN: [Read more…]
There are plenty of fans who go the extra mile to show deep appreciation of NBA players they idolize. Some will plaster their wall with posters. Others will collect autographs, cards, jerseys and other collectible items of value. Most simply buy tickets and attend the games. Then, there is a select group of people who will go the extreme route: get a tattoo of the player they love the most. We’ve seen some noteworthy art work over the years of LeBron James, Kobe
The first round of Team USA cuts have been made. Adios John Wall, Bradley Beal and Paul Millsap. The roster now stands at 16. They have to cut it to 12 — and they’ve said they will cut it to 12 before leaving later this month for the World Cup in Spain. They still have four point guards. They are back to having just one power forward. They have four centers, one of whom — Andre Drummond — played horribly in