On a night marking the 20th anniversary of the franchise, the Toronto Raptor’s had history made for the club in the stat books as well. Their star point guard, Kyle Lowry, fresh off of a summer in which the Raptors inked him to a four-year contract worth $48 million. On Friday night, the Raptors took the floor wearing their throwback jerseys from their inaugural season. Despite the night being devoted to the team’s 20th anniversary, Lowry made headlines when he broke
Less than a month back from a three-week suspension, Grantland founder and editor-in-chief Bill Simmons seems poised to ruffle more feathers with network executives at ESPN. This time, however, the target of his revile was not NFL commissioner Roger Goodell, though his stance on Goodell hasn’t changed. No, this time, the target is ESPN’s most-beloved radio show hosts, Mike Greenberg and Mike Golic, who had sharp criticism for Simmons’ comments on LeBron James’ early season struggles on their morning radio show,
CLEVELAND — Walking out of Quicken Loans Arena Sunday night, I had a chance to catch several fragments of conversation. “That place was nuts,” said one man. “I can’t wait for the season,” said a middle-aged woman. Most of the time, though, all I could catch was a name. “LeBron James.” “LeBron James.” “LeBron James.” It couldn’t have been more obvious who the fans came out to see. And, unlike most preseason games, this wasn’t just the diehards (or if it was, there are suddenly a lot
What backcourt is considered the best in the NBA heading into the upcoming season? That’s the question in the minds of many this week, including the players themselves. For example, John Wall and Bradley Beal of the Washington Wizards openly stated that they are the best backcourt duo in the league on Tuesday. Dion Waiters of the Cleveland Cavaliers disagreed, word got back to Wall, and then the fun back and forth ensued between the two. Waiters got the final word,
It’s always fun to discuss who the very best is in the league, and you’ll always hear plenty of different opinions depending on who you ask. The topic of interest heading into this season is the best backcourt duo. That’s quite understandable, given all the intriguing combination of talents around the league such as Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson, John Wall and Bradley Beal, Kyrie Irving and Dion Waiters, Chris Paul and J.J. Redick, Goran Dragic and Eric Bledsoe, Patrick Beverley
Many believed the Heat’s loss to the Spurs in the NBA Finals was when LeBron James first began to seriously consider leaving Miami. As it turns out, the wheels may have already been put in motion. Mike Miller, who followed James this offseason to the Cleveland Cavaliers, told the Cleveland Plain-Dealer this week that James initially began questioning the Heat’s brass when they used the amnesty provision on Miller in July 2013, sparing owner Micky Arison millions in salary and luxury-tax fees
Nice how things change so drastically and so quickly in the NBA. In the season preview that I wrote about the Cleveland Cavaliers one year ago, the five things to watch included Andrew Bynum, Anthony Bennett and Mike Brown’s defensive schemes. Obviously, things have changed dramatically as the Cavs head into the 2014-15 season. With a mere 952 words in Sports Illustrated back in July after Chris Sheridan broke the story two days earlier, LeBron James single-handedly changed the direction – and
Training camps begin in a little over a week, the start of the regular season is 40 days away, and what awaits us this season is going to be special — a renaissance in Cleveland, Kobe’s return in L.A., a chance for the Spurs to chase that elusive repeat championship. But let’s be realistic here for a second. There are 15 teams in the Eastern Conference, and there is a very slim chance at best that anyone other than the Cleveland Cavaliers