You hear a lot of things when you are connected to a bunch of heavy hitters, and I heard a couple of things last week that sent me in search of the truth. And whatever the truth is, it was not readily apparent. First I heard from a source close to the Bulls that Tom Thibodeau had lost his locker room, his football coach mentality wearing thin with key members of a roster who it is fair to say have underperformed.
Is Draymond Green worth picking as an All-Star reserve this year? By the typical numbers alone, there is no chance that the starting power forward of the Golden State Warriors would make the exclusive team: he is averaging 12.1 points on 44.4 percent shooting from the field, 1.5 3-pointers on 34.1 percent shooting, 8.1 rebounds, 3.7 assists, 1.5 steals, 1.5 blocks and two turnovers. Actually, those numbers aren’t exactly shabby. According to basketball-reference.com, there are only two other players in NBA history
Young players having the best seasons in their careers right before they’re due a new contract is hardly a new phenomenon, but it takes on new significance due to the NBA’s current economic situation. A likely escalation in the salary cap this summer will allow free agents to obtain more expensive contracts from a larger pool of teams with newfound cap space. A quartet of these young, emerging stars— Milwaukee’s Brandon Knight, Chicago’s Jimmy Butler, Orlando’s Tobias Harris and Golden State’s
In today’s NBA, the formula for winning in recent years was simple: Accumulate as many maximum-salary stars as you can without breaking the bank. But when you start piling up eight-figure salaries against the luxury tax, the bank breaks pretty quickly. So teams fill out their rosters with minimum-salary veterans. And if you look at the top of the NBA standings right now, many teams are getting very productive seasons from veterans signed to minimum-salary deals. The Chicago Bulls added Pau Gasol to Jimmy
Every time someone summons up the nerve to ask, “What’s wrong with the Spurs?” the defending NBA champions have provided an emphatic response: Nothing. They did it in November, beating the Clippers and Warriors on the road on consecutive nights after losses to Houston and New Orleans. They did it again in December, beating the Clippers to end a four-game losing streak that included back-to-back excruciating triple-overtime losses. And they did it again last night, beating the Rockets for the first time
After seeing this picture on Friday, I decided I had to use it. I know it goes off of Christmas again and I’m sorry, but I think you’ll all enjoy this when you check it out. The photo was posted by Andre Iguodala of the Golden State Warriors to his Instagram and seemed like he was really excited about it. Honestly, how can you not be excited about this gift? [Read more…]
Players in the NBA usually have a limited window of opportunity in terms of how consistent their level of play can be through the course of their careers. Whether it’s injury-related or facing the undefeated Father Time, something usually happens to eventually slow down a player’s ability to do things the same way year after year. There are some, however, who simply defy this logic and produce at an elite level until the day they retire. The prime example of this is
Twas the night before Christmas, and all round the league, not a player was stirring, because there are no games on Christmas Eve. That’s because everyone is gearing up for the Christmas Day lineup of games that are assembled. There are five solid games on the docket featuring some of the league’s best teams like the Cavaliers, Warriors, Clippers and Bulls. If you’re like me, you haven’t done any holiday shopping yet. But as long as it isn’t Christmas, there is