In NBA circles, Jan Vesely is considered a bust. The Wizards took the athletic Czech power forward with the sixth pick in the 2011 NBA draft to catch lobs from John Wall and become part of a young core with tons of potential. It did not go according to plan. He would notoriously airball his first NBA free throw attempt, and that set the tone for a rocky rookie year. He averaged 4.7 points and 4.4 rebounds in 19 minutes per
The quarterfinals are set for this year’s Eurobasket, as eight teams will play for two automatic bids to next summer’s Olympic Games in Rio. Of the eight remaining teams, seven will be preparing next summer for a chance to play in the Olympic games, as the 3rd through 7th place teams earn bids for next summer’s Olympic Qualifying tournament, in which 18 teams will be fighting for the three remaining bids for Rio. Here is a look at the quarterfinal matchups that
Whenever I’m asked if I have been watching the NCAA Tournament, I say, “No. I haven’t.” That raises some eyebrows in my home state of Connecticut, where both genders of Huskies basketball have been winning national championships for nearly a generation and are followed religiously by the Nutmeg State’s hoops fans. But among the many reasons I don’t go mad in March is because over that same generation, the college game has become less and less of a barometer for NBA success.
The Euroleague, European basketball’s top level of competition, just finished the first half of the 4th round of the Top 16 round. With some of Europe’s top teams taking the floor, we take a look at some of the top performers around the league through Thursday night in this week’s Eurohoops update. [Read more…]
Which former first-round picks are trying to earn their way back to the NBA via Europe? Gone are the days where being a first-round pick nearly guarantees at least a four-year NBA career, with several opportunities to produce before teams give up on you. With the new CBA, teams are cutting costs from every possible angle, and with many options for minimum salary players from the D-League and overseas developing, more and more first-round picks are finding themselves on the outside
Brazil entered Tuesday’s World Cup semifinal match against Germany facing extreme obstacles. Their captain, Thiago Silva was due to miss the match having accumulated two yellow cards, and star forward Neymar had suffered a fractured vertebra in their quarterfinal match against Colombia. Even with such losses, they were still expected to play well, perhaps carrying out the role of underdog to move on to the finals. The match was highly anticipated and was garnering a lot of media attention and hype.
If you were hoping for a blockbuster, “Woj Bomb” type of trade on Thursday, you were out of luck. The trade deadline came and went on Thursday without any real stars packing their bags, but plenty of teams made relevant moves throughout the day to bolster their franchises in some way. Our Chris Sheridan has the trade analysis of all the deals, but you can find more on everything that went down and everything else that fell through below. [Read more…]
Brain-twister for you today, folks. Go back to the start of the 2005-06 regular season, and try to name a superstar player who has represented the Eastern Conference in the NBA Finals. Your answer cannot include LeBron James, Dwyane Wade, Paul Pierce, Kevin Garnett, Rajon Rondo or Ray Allen. It’s OK. Keep thinking … [Read more…]