Four years ago, when the Los Angeles Lakers were winning their second NBA championship in as many years behind the big bodied, long armed and incredible skill of Pau Gasol and Andrew Bynum (oh, and that Kobe guy), would it have ever crossed your mind to see the two Laker bigs as the centerpiece of a midseason trade? For each other? [Read more…]
As the sun sets over 2013, and the meters of our lives continue to run inexorably with no quarter slots, there is one thing in this crazy world that we can know for sure. Andre Drummond is balling, dude. Though the rest of his Pistons teammates seem to be lost in an existential paradigm (What’s the point of playing defense; we’re all just going to die anyway?), Drummond has taken control of his destiny as much as one can in our world. He’s
2013 has not been pleasant in terms of all the injuries accumulated in the NBA. Whether it’s Derrick Rose, Kobe Bryant, Marc Gasol, Quincy Pondexter or J.J. Redick, players around the league have missed significant time already due to injuries. Add Al Horford of the Atlanta Hawks to that list, who received the worst news possible regarding the injury he suffered last week. Find details on him and much more below. HORFORD OUT FOR THE YEAR: Horford suffered a tear of his pectoral
First off, play this video. It is my Christmas present to y’all, and you are guaranteed to laugh at least once while going through this column. And never forget: Laughter kills the blues. You may end up shaking your head, too, because it is an extremely subjective thing to be ranking so many top-tier players who are currently having top-tier seasons. I’ve been saying through the first third of the season that this is a four-man race this NBA season, and the
Twas the night before Christmas, and all through the league, not a player was balling, not even Jeff Teague. The Most Improved Rankings were crafted with flair, in the hopes that somebody might actually care. Danny Ainge was nestled all snug in his bed, while visions of Asik danced in his head. J-Kidd in his kerchief, Lopez in his cast, the Nets have settled down for their long winter’s nap. When from the Wells Fargo Center there rose such a clatter, I sprang from
When you write a column about the NBA’s Most Improved Players, things can get emotional. As you can probably imagine, you start to adopt the guys you write about each week. It’s a common theme for those of us who chronicle the Most Improved Players in the league each season, and everyone I’ve ever met who does it feels the same way. OK, so we’re the only ones who do it. But still. You root for your guys, feel a sense of pride when they
The Bucks have played as badly as Danny Schayes looks in this photo. Just kidding, Danny! The Milwaukee Bucks are terrid. That’s right—they’re so bad, I had to make up a new word to describe them. It’s like that Sonic commercial where they needed to make up words to describe how delicious that chicken sandwich is. (I’m still trying to work “spice-dictive” into a sentence for the first time). Terrid is easier, though. It’s a combination of “terrible” and “horrid,” and
Finding a Most Improved Player in the NBA this year is like finding a reasonable, stand-up politician in Congress. It’s so tough to do, it’s almost sickening. With so many teams so tremendously un-improved, there are precious few bright spots in a vast wasteland of awfulness. Just take a look at the Eastern Conference standings. Actually….don’t do that. You can’t un-see the Eastern Conference standings. This, after-all, is a family-friendly website. As we enter Tuesday night’s games, 12 teams in the East have losing records, which