It had been widely believed throughout the league that the only realistic teams in the Howard sweepstakes were the Houston Rockets and Dallas Mavericks, with the Los Angeles Lakers being a hopeful third option. Howard also met with the Atlanta Hawks and Golden State Warriors, but no one really believed that they would be realistic candidates, despite various reports that the Warriors had made an enticing case for the coveted center. [Read more…]
A happy Fourth of July to you from everyone here at Sheridan Hoops, where analysis doesn’t take a day off (though analysis will be chilling out with some burgers and beers later). Let’s quickly get to the latest breaking news and information with, as usual, a statistical bent. Smith back with Knicks, Prigioni too The Knicks ultimately got its secondary scorer back. J.R. Smith is returning on a four-year contract worth $24.7 million, as first reported by Frank Isola, the highest monetary
It might seem like a decade ago, but it happened. Jeff Teague, a seldom used second-year point guard at the time, outplayed Derrick Rose for the first few games during the second round of the 2010-11 Eastern Conference playoffs: [Read more…]
Remember when we all speculated a few seasons ago that the reason for Jerry Sloan’s sudden urge to quit as the long-time head coach of the Utah Jazz was tied to the behavior of Deron Williams? Williams will deny to this day that he was the reason Sloan decided to abruptly hang it up back in the 2010-2011 season. There were never official reports or claims explaining why blame would fall on the shoulders of the former Jazz point guard. Jazz
Hello and welcome to the Evening News. As we get set for the NBA draft, we’ll keep you updated every evening. What’s happening today? [Read more…]
First it was Grant Hill who made waves with news of his retirement. Two days later, the man who shared Rookie of the Year honors with Hill in 1995 took his turn. New York Knicks point guard and NBA journeyman Jason Kidd has decided to hang up the sneakers after 19 seasons of professional basketball. [Read more…]
They say all good things must come to an end. This is the final edition of the Most Improved Player Rankings and I— I’m sorry … I … told myself I wasn’t going to cry. (sniffle) It’s been an amazing run here at the Most Improved Player Rankings. We’ve talked about donut races, wildebeests, and Andy Enfield’s wife. We’ve made fun of just about every basketball announcer out there and also Jim Nantz. But now it’s finally time to get down to the business
Of all the awards given out in pro sports, the NBA’s Most Improved Player is perhaps the most arbitrary. (We won’t include hockey’s Lady Byng Trophy for sportsmanship.) There’s no single stat that indicates how much a player has improved from one season to the next. And why has that player improved? Is it just from increased playing time, or are there other factors involved? There’s just a whole mess of gray area involved. [Read more…]