NEW YORK – Just when New York Knicks fans thought the worst season in franchise history couldn’t get any worse, it did. After watching superstar Carmelo Anthony shut things down with a knee injury and his constantly changing teammates stagger to a 17-65 mark – the second-worst record in the league – the Knicks dropped two spots to fourth overall in Tuesday night’s NBA draft lottery. General manager Steve Mills summed it up for the team’s title-starved fans watching at home, bowing
The bad news for Monty Williams was good news for the rest of the NBA. There is now a strong chance that Anthony Davis leaves New Orleans and becomes an unrestricted free agent in the summer of 2017. That is the ultimate fallout from Tuesday’s shocking news that the Pelicans had fired Williams after he led them to the Western Conference playoffs, where they were swept by the Golden State Warriors. The firing came a mere two weeks after owner Tom Benson
In the four years since their unlikely 2010-11 championship season, the Mavericks have made the playoffs three times, missed them once, but have not advanced past the first round. In those three playoff series, they have a 4-12 record. That record has made them the poster children for second-guessers because after winning the title, owner Mark Cuban and general manager Donnie Nelson decided to gamble on greatness rather than being deluded by a perfect storm. The criticism of the Mavericks – particularly
BROOKLYN – Mikhail Prokhorov will reportedly be in Turkey on Sunday celebrating his 50th birthday with legions of $20,000 models hoping to console him after his American playtoy’s season came to a crashing halt at the hands of the Atlanta Hawks in Game 6 Friday night. So what does the unabashed playboy do with this broken playtoy? A little more than five years ago, Prokhorov vowed to bring a championship to Brooklyn or get married if that didn’t happen within five years. Now,
BROOKLYN – You can’t spell Brooklyn without “Brook,” and the Nets couldn’t win Game 3 without Lopez. The big question after this big game: What will the big man do this summer when he has a chance to become an unrestricted free agent? It remains an open question. The 7-footer led the Nets with 22 points, 13 rebounds and two blocks in 42 minutes with the season essentially on the line. By getting the win, Brooklyn avoided the daunting task of attempting
Five top sleeper free agents are all playing in the playoffs with the hope of cashing in big this summer as I outlined in a previous SheridanHoops column. With the NBA projected to increase the salary cap to roughly $90 million in 2016, teams will spend big this summer with the hope those deals will be bargains in retrospect once the new salary cap kicks in. Despite the anticipated gold rush for free agents in 2016, there are some players who would
Many teams are preparing for a free agency bonanza in the summer of 2016 when the salary cap is projected to rise to roughly $90 million with stars such as Kevin Durant, LeBron James, Chris Paul, Dwight Howard, Joakim Noah, etc. all potentially be available. However, teams that aren’t in the running for a superstar in 2016 will spend big this summer on players who are valuable but not household names. Any deal signed this summer will ultimately be considered below
BROOKLYN – Suns general manager Ryan McDonough eagerly awaited Brandon Knight in the hallway with a wide smile and a high five after he delivered the dagger to help Phoenix beat the Brooklyn Nets 108-100 Friday night at Barclays Center. Knight snatched a defensive rebound with 40 seconds to go in overtime, slowly dribbled up the court and initiated a pick-and-roll with Brandan Wright and six seconds left on the shot clock. Knight got by Jarrett Jack, then used a crossover