There were a few notable players from last season who barely saw, if at all, any playing time due to significant injuries. The immediate names that come to mind are Andrew Bynum, Derrick Rose and Danny Granger. How these players return from their year-long absence in the upcoming season is obviously critical for the success of their respective teams. With training camps fast-approaching, there is still a sense of uncertainty when you think of some of those names. Bynum, in particular,
Times flies. And things change. The Houston Rockets are Exhibit A. One year ago, the Houston Rockets headed into training camp seemingly empty-handed after a summer spent chasing Dwight Howard via a trade with Orlando. Gone were Luis Scola, Goran Dragic, Kyle Lowry, Samuel Dalembert, Courtney Lee and countless others, and in were the unproven Jeremy Lin and Omer Asik. It was a seemingly disappointing offseason, but just before the season was set to start, GM Daryl Morey changed all of that,
Kevin Durant is a great player. He deserves a great owner. Durant may not know it yet, but he is becoming this generation’s Jerry West: a fantastic talent and class act whose career was marked by finishing second. In 14 seasons, West twice finished second in scoring (also winning once). He never won an MVP award, finishing third once and second a record four times. And he lost the NBA Finals seven times before finally winning in his 13th season. In six seasons,
It was quite obvious something wasn’t right last season in Lakers nation. An elite starting five that had many experts expecting a championship off the bat, but it wasn’t the lack of individual play that made the Lakers non-contenders, it was their chemistry that was out in left field. Antawn Jamison spent last season with the Lakers, the majority of that time on the bench. But the 15-year NBA veteran saw greater opportunity elsewhere this summer, signing a one-year deal worth
Monday night Twitter blew up over the Big Sean song “Control” featuring Kendrick Lamar. Though it was Sean’s song, Lamar stole the spotlight spitting venom in two verses meant to put many of Hip Hop’s best rappers on notice while raising the bar of excellence expected of rap MCs. Tuesday, the song was still the subject of many discussions—even among sports circles, garnering TV time in conversation on ESPN’s Numbers Never Lie. The constant hype had to bring about someone’s eventual lyrical response. Enter
Like three to make two, the 10-second violation and low-top sneakers, the $30 million NBA player may become a thing of the past. A handful of stars have approached and even crossed the magical monetary mountaintop, which is something when you consider that the collective bargaining agreement has a maximum salary restraint. Michael Jordan – who else? – was the first player to make $30 million in one season, negotiating about an 800 percent raise after the 1995-96 season. That was Jordan’s
There is, of course, the old adage that titles are not won in July (the Heat in 2010 being the clear exception) but several moves were made on Tuesday that could quietly alter the regular season standings out west next season. We’ve also seen shooters get large contracts this week like, it seems, never before. Those are the main two storylines from the July 2, but there’s a whole lot to get to before we all take a nice break for the
Does anybody really think Monta Ellis will get a max-contract on the open market, except Monta himself? [Read more…]