Add this to the list of J.R. Smith suspensions. The New York Knicks guard was suspended one game by the league for “striking” the groin of Washington Wizards reserve forward Glen Rice Jr. on Tuesday night. He will miss Wednesday night’s game against Detroit. Rice Jr. was actually called for the foul on the play, but the Wizards ended up winning the game 98-83. The league may have deemed Smith’s transgression an intentional one based on his notorious track record Smith was suspended
The New York Knicks looked like the Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey Circus on a nightly basis last season. Carmelo Anthony’s free agency, and the uncertainty it brought, hung over the Knicks like a dark cloud on a rainy day. J.R. Smith had knee surgery before last season and violated the league’s anti-drug policy, resulting in a five-game suspension to start the season. He then became more preoccupied with untying the shoelaces of opponents instead of loosening their laces with his
All summer long, Eric Bledsoe and the Phoenix Suns refused to cooperate with each other. He wanted a max deal and the team had no interest in viewing him as someone worth that kind of money. Based on what was being said and done from each side, it appeared as though the two were headed for an ugly ending. Then came Wednesday, when the Suns could no longer deal with the risk they were putting themselves under by doing nothing with Bledsoe
In order to make it to the highest level of competition, players sometimes need to have more than confidence. They need an ego. This isn’t necessarily the case for everyone, but there are plenty of players in the NBA who believe they are the very best at what they do, even if they know deep inside that it’s not true. That’s how we get comments like this from players like Jordan Crawford: “I don’t tell nobody, but I feel like I can be
After defeating Puerto Rico 112-86 in an exhibition match, USA Basketball finalized their roster heading into the 2014 FIBA Basketball World Cup. Team USA has played with 16 men on the roster for both of their exhibition games this week, as they evaluated which players would be making the trip to Spain with them. [Read more…]
Golf may not be as popular as the NBA among fans, but there is no doubt it is followed closely by many of the leagues players. After all, it is a second sport to many in the offseason. We all know the phrase “gone fishing,” means it’s time to dust off the clubs. On Sunday, Rory McIlroy continued his stranglehold on the PGA, winning his second consecutive major, his third consecutive tournament, and second PGA Championship overall. McIlroy, who entered the day with
The growth of analytics in the NBA has been nothing short of phenomenal. It started with a deeper look at numbers that already were available and produced new and useful statistics such as true shooting percentage, defensive rebound percentage, offensive rating and win shares. With the use of a grid or a matrix, we now have the ability to determine a player’s offensive tendencies and hot spots. For some players, it is quite revealing. For others, such as DeAndre Jordan, it pretty
After coming off one of his best seasons ever and winning the Sixth Man of the Year award over Jamal Crawford in 2013, J.R. Smith spiraled down in the wrong direction last season. Due to off-season knee surgery, Smith had no time to work on his game or stay in shape. Consequently, he started the 2013-2014 season comically bad, scoring 11.7 points on just 32.8 percent shooting in November and 12.4 points on 36.8 percent shooting in December. To be fair, Smith