I was sitting at the famed Carnegie Deli in NYC over some matzoh ball soup with my dear friend and Jewish godfather (and also a recent basketball Hall of Fame nominee) Howard Garfinkel, who mentioned a quote from a once-famous basketball coach named Elmer Ripley. The quote dates back more than 50 years and was delivered at a coaching clinic: “The big men are all the same. It’s the guards that make the difference.” Being that I was once a proud point
The intensely cold weather brought on by a polar vortex continues to freeze many Americans from the midwest across the southeast. Temperatures in midwest are so frigid that the penguins and polar bear in the Lincoln Park Zoo in Chicago is being kept indoors. Atlanta Hawks small forward DeMarre Carroll came to the A-T-L as a free agent in the offseason. The past two stops for the “Junkyard Dog” were with the Utah Jazz and Denver Nuggets—both cold weather cities. Yet, the
Before we begin our journey up to the 2013 NBA Draft, I personally believe it is very important to get a brief history lesson when it comes to previous drafts. Here were a few proposition bets prior to last years NBA Draft for a decent brief comparison: Anthony Davis was the unanimous selection to go number one in the draft, which was made obvious by the fact that you had to lay almost $5,000 to win $100. When it came to the
As the Miami Heat’s 27-game winning streak finally came to an end last night, the basketball world can now give its full attention to the Sweet Sixteen, which begins tonight. The 12 games between now and Sunday will narrow down the field of 68 to the Final Four who will meet in Atlanta next weekend for a shot at the national title. [Read more…]
The first week of the NCAA Tournament is in the books, and one thing is clear — the draft stock of many of the top players did not improve. In fact, Kentucky’s Nerlens Noel’s stock was probably helped the most of any top prospect — and he was unable to play in the NIT because of a torn ACL. But there were certainly others who helped themselves. [Read more…]
Despite losing to Ole Miss in the SEC tournament final, the Florida Gators wrapped up a #3 seed in the NCAA tournament. They’ll be taking on 14 seed Northwestern State in the first round. Last year, they made the Elite Eight before losing Bradley Beal to the NBA draft, where he went third overall to the Wizards. This year’s team won the SEC regular season championship and was ranked as high as #2 during the season. Five other Gator items: 1. They have three players
We’ve had a number of political posts on our site recently, and this is another one. So if you think Raptors-Thunder is the big matchup on Nov. 6, you might not find this interesting. But we do. Both President Barack Obama and Republican candidate Mitt Romney have found support among the NBA family and have put it to work in recent TV ads. Obama’s ad is entitled, “The Greatest” and runs 60 seconds. It features Alonzo Mourning, Vince Carter, Dahntay Jones, Etan
College coaches are crisscrossing the country visiting with the top stars in the high school Class of 2013 in hopes of persuading them to choose their schools. In Texas, after Kentucky coach John Calipari showed 6-foot-9 forward Julius Randle his 2012 NCAA championship ring, North Carolina coach Roy Williams one-upped Cal. Or should we say, 29-upped him. Williams brought a case of 30 rings to his home visit with Randle, including Michael Jordan’s 1992 Chicago Bulls championship ring. “He said Jordan gave it to