It’s hard to find an NBA player – let alone a rookie – who had a better week than Jusuf Nurkic. Last Saturday, the center from Bosnia and his Denver Nuggets teammates were lying in wait for the Memphis Grizzlies, who were coming off a tougher-than-expected road win over the Los Angeles Lakers the previous night and had to make one of the league’s tougher overnight trips. LA to Denver may not seem like much, but it is a long flight
In today’s NBA, the formula for winning in recent years was simple: Accumulate as many maximum-salary stars as you can without breaking the bank. But when you start piling up eight-figure salaries against the luxury tax, the bank breaks pretty quickly. So teams fill out their rosters with minimum-salary veterans. And if you look at the top of the NBA standings right now, many teams are getting very productive seasons from veterans signed to minimum-salary deals. The Chicago Bulls added Pau Gasol to Jimmy
The league is beginning to recognize what kind of player the Brooklyn Nets have in Mason Plumlee, and the team is starting to realize it as well. After starting the last seven games at center, Brooklyn finally has a healthy, young core foundation piece for the present and future. Brooklyn was reportedly not enthused with a recent trade offer from Sacramento for point guard Deron Williams. It turns out, according to ESPN, that the Kings’ main target was Plumlee, not Williams. The Nets are reportedly unwilling
On Monday night against the Charlotte Hornets, Timofey Mozgov looked like he belonged on the battlefield. He took an errant elbow from Bismack Biyombo to his left eye, just above it on his forehead, that left him a bloodied mess. Moments after, he got a nice slap in the face from Gerald Henderson to make matters worse. He had to leave the game due to the fact that his entire face was covered in blood, which apparently you can’t play through.
Rajon Rondo made his debut count with the Dallas Mavericks on Saturday night against the San Antonio Spurs. The Mavs new point guard scored six points on 3-of-11 shooting and dished out nine assists, adding seven rebounds in a 99-93 victory. It seems like a typical Rondo night. He didn’t score until the third quarter, was well below 40% from the floor, but made all the plays we’ve seen him make in Boston the past eight plus years. [Read more…]
The hottest team in the Eastern Conference doesn’t have a three-headed monster like the Cleveland Cavaliers. It doesn’t have a scrutinized superstar returning from injury like the Chicago Bulls or a rapper sitting courtside at every home game like the Toronto Raptors. Heck, it doesn’t even have a national TV appearance, even though it plays in TNT’s backyard. But the Atlanta Hawks have won nine of their last 10 games, flying well under the radar toward the top of the conference. The Hawks
Nate Robinson should start being a weekly feature on our Photo of the Day. He is very active on Instagram with his pictures and he posts all kinds of fun things. Check out his last feature on POTD. Brace face Robinson is a happy-go-lucky journeyman who’s played all over the NBA, from East to West coast, since being drafted by the Phoenix Suns in 2005. Of course his first four plus seasons in the league were in New York for the
Have you ever had your birthday mistaken for a day that you weren’t born? Were you born on the 10th and still get birthday wishes on the 9th or the 11th … from people who genuinely think that that is your birthday? Denver Nuggets forward Kenneth Faried understands your frustration. [Read more…]