When the Milwaukee Bucks signed Larry Sanders to a four-year, $44 million contract extension last summer, it looked like a pretty good move. Sanders showed throughout the 2012-13 season that he could be a highly impactful defensive player. He was just 24 years old (now 25), and the money was in line with other defense-first centers such as Tyson Chandler and JaVale McGee. And nothing has gone right since. [Read more…]
The first time the New York Knicks and Brooklyn Nets met this season back in Dec. 5, both teams were a total mess as they failed to meet expectations in monumental fashion. The Nets proved to be the bigger mess at the time, suffering a humiliating 113-83 loss on their own home floor. Just a little over a month later, not much has changed in the sense that both are still trying to find a way to reach the .500 mark.
Mitch Kupchak shouldn’t be playing hardball. In his desire to trade Pau Gasol, the GM of the Los Angeles Lakers should not have insisted on receiving Dion Waiters or a first-round pick from the Cleveland Cavaliers. Nobody has overpaid for a rental since Ernie Grunfeld sent Ray Allen to Seattle for Gary Payton — and that was a long time ago. Kupchak should have lowered his demands to match the team’s expectations. The Lakers are done for this season and should be
Growing up, fans are taught several “facts” about team sports. It’s a fact that teamwork is better than selfish play. It’s usually a fact that a good defense beats a good offense. It’s a fact in baseball that last licks is more advantageous than leading off. Perhaps no “fact” is more emphasized, however, than the notion that the best players in every sport always start. In the NBA in 2013, that “fact” is fiction. It couldn’t be further from the truth. [Read more…]
Capping off a mediocrity-defining three-year stretch that saw them finish ninth, ninth and eighth in the East, the Milwaukee Bucks should have entered the summer of 2013 with change as the most obvious mandate. As in change everything. Despite a return to the playoffs and encouraging progress from big men Larry Sanders, Ersan Ilyasova and John Henson, the Bucks had little to show for their efforts last season, as coaching upheaval and a dysfunctional locker room motivated GM John Hammond to take a
Did your NBA team confuse you this offseason? Were moves made that left you asking questions? Scratching your head? Leaving you angry and befuddled? This column is for many of you. It discusses the three teams with the most puzzling offseasons. After a lot of thought and consideration, there were three teams that really stood out and left this writer really question their thought processes. The first is easily the Milwaukee Bucks. After trading an interesting long-term asset in Tobias Harris for
Get used to this word: Tankapalooza. There are 10 teams, give or take, who have a legitimate chance to compete for the NBA championship in 2014. Everybody else will suck. Some will suck more than others, and that will be a good thing for them. Because that will improve their chances of landing the No. 1 pick in the 2014 NBA draft and selecting Andrew Wiggins of Kansas, who will be the next LeBron James. [Read more…]
We’re approaching the quiet period in the NBA offseason, but there’s still some news to be found. Today’s big topic is the Pacers making themselves even better, adding Luis Scola to be their third big. Click that link right there for Chris Sheridan’s take on what the trade means for Indiana, and, by extension, the other teams jockeying for position at the top of the East. The other news today is Gary Neal signing with the Bucks. This might not have