If Phil Jackson takes over the New York Knicks, he’ll have a tough job on his hands. He’ll have to rebuild in free agency in 2015, because the Knicks have traded away their 2014 and 2016 first-round picks and their second-round picks in 2014, 2015, 2016 and 2017. Plus Raymond Felton will still be under contract in 2015-16, as will JR Smith. Oh, and first he’ll have to convince Carmelo Anthony to stay. Plenty of talk on that, plus other subjects including Frank Isola
Determined to single-handedly revive the dreadful season of the New York Knicks, Carmelo Anthony has been on a scoring tear since last Wednesday, pouring in an average of 41.3 points over his last four games. Only one of those games have resulted in a victory for the Knicks, though, and the trend of losing despite a huge scoring output from Anthony continued on Monday against the Dallas Mavericks. Anthony scored 44 points on 14-of-29 shooting from the field and added nine
We’ve been waiting all season for LeBron James to pull a Kevin Durant and go for 40 or more points, and the wait has ended. Did LeBron’s 42 against Dallas last night earn him some love in these rankings? Well, sort of. IMHO, James is the best player in the NBA. But “best” player does not equate to Most Valuable, as the operative word when determining that award is “valuable.” A year ago, Gary Washburn of the Boston Globe felt that Carmelo
This past week, NBA TV released excerpts of an extended interview with LeBron James (airing in its entirety Monday night) in which Steve Smith asked “The King” to name his Mount Rushmore of basketball. James offered a quartet of Michael Jordan, Larry Bird, Magic Johnson and Oscar Robertson. But it’s really an unfair question, because in addition to those four players, there are at least three more – centers Wilt Chamberlain, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Bill Russell – who are in the
BROOKLYN – Kevin Durant treated the league like a game of NBA 2K14 on a nightly basis in January. Durant is a 7-footer with the handle of a guard, the shooting ability of a sniper, the leaping ability of a kangaroo and the rebounding ability of a power forward. Basically, he’s the player we all created from scratch in a video game as kids with the ratings boosted as high as possible. Recently, Durant added “Slim Reaper” to his list of nicknames
Finally. After much anticipation, and to some chagrin, the NBA’s coaches have submitted their list of reserves for the forthcoming 2014 NBA All-Star game in New Orleans, LA. Many of the All-Star reserve selections are expected, though there were a few selections (and snubs) that were unconventional, though deserving. In the Eastern Conference, Chris Bosh [Miami Heat], DeMar DeRozan [Toronto Raptors], Paul Millsap [Atlanta Hawks], John Wall [Washington Wizards], Joe Johnson [Brooklyn Nets], Roy Hibbert [Indiana Pacers] and Joakim Noah [Chicago Bulls] all join
After a brutal 23 point loss to the Brooklyn Nets on a Martin Luther King Day matinee, the New York Knicks — and especially Carmelo Anthony — must come to this realization: to find the right answers they have to understand the right problems. If they don’t figure out how to accept the reality of their problems — and there are many — then they will never be able to overcome them. [Read more…]
Advertisement The Western Conference is absolutely nothing like the Eastern Conference when it comes to championship odds. We have what I call a two-horse race in the East versus what I am going to call the six-plus team race in the West. In the 15 previous seasons, only four teams (the Lakers, seven times; the Spurs, five times, the Mavericks, two times; the Thunder, once) have won the Western Conference, which is a similar concept to what the Eastern