Nate McMillan is out of a job. The Portland Trail Blazers fired their head coach today, one day after his team lost by 42 points to the reeling New York Knicks, and on the same day the team traded away Gerald Wallace and Marcus Camby. The interim head coach is Kaleb Canales, who has been with the Blazers for seven seasons, starting as a video intern, and had a 4-1 record as coach of the Blazers’s summer league team in Las Vegas
Eight days until the trading deadline. Eight days for the Indiana Pacers to find the missing piece for a legitimate run at the conference finals, or for the Minnesota Timberwolves to acquire the player that makes them a playoff team. Eight days for the Orlando Magic to go all in on Dwight Howard or blow it up and start over. Eight days for the Atlanta Hawks to avoid the luxury tax or the Los Angeles Lakers to add to it. Eight days to
When Josh Smith is in the right frame of mind, meaning attack the basket and not settling for perimeter shots, the Atlanta Hawks are a difficult team to beat. In fact, when Smith scores at least 20 points, the team is undefeated. They improved to 11-0 in such situations as Smith scored 30 points and grabbed 12 rebounds to defeat the Oklahoma City Thunder — the team with the NBA’s best record coming into the game — 97-90 Saturday night. It was an
While the swirl around Dwight Howard and Rajon Rondo has calmed down to something less than a tornado, it is picking up elsewhere, specifically around the Portland Trail Blazers. After a quick start that saw the Blazers win at Oklahoma City and briefly hold the best record in the Western Conference, Portland has fallen to 18-18 and is on the outside looking in at the playoff picture. The Blazers have movable parts – the expiring contracts of Raymond Felton ($7.5 million) and Marcus Camby
There’s still more than two weeks until the March 15 trading deadline, but the rumor mill already is churning. Most of the buzz is around Dwight Howard, whom the Orlando Magic don’t have to trade. Really. However, there are a handful of players who have to be traded for the greater good of their teams. Whether it be removing a problem, creating financial flexibility or moving someone one year early rather than one year late, some big names will be changing teams
Veteran center Joel Przybilla, who was shut out of the abbreviated free agent market in December, re-signed Monday with the Portland Trail Blazers. Przybilla spent six-plus seasons with the Trail Blazers until being traded to Charlotte with other goodies at last year’s deadline for Gerald Wallace. He gives Portland depth at center, where the club is a tad long in the tooth. Portland’s starting center is 37-year-old Marcus Camby. His backup is 39-year-old power forward Kurt Thomas. At 32, Przybilla is a
Last week’s edition of The Bernucca List produced a handful of wrong guesses until reader Dashiell broke through with the right answer – former scoring champions who played for the Celtics. Get this: Throughout their illustrious history, the Celtics have never had a scoring champion. Unlucky edition 13 is below. The idea is to correctly identify the list with the proper parameters. First correct answer gets a mention in next week’s list. You can answer via the comments or Tweet me. The Bernucca
Highlight Performance: DeMarcus Cousins, SAC– The behemoth center out of Kentucky, when mentally committed, is simply a beast around the paint. Although he can hit mid-range jumpers, he can rip down boards with the best of em. Against the Hornets, a team without Carl Landry and Jason Smith due to injuries, Cousins had his way, scoring 28 points, grabbing 19 rebounds, 3 blocks, and a steal. This was a monstrous game, but coming off his 21 point-20 rebound effort a few