Kobe Bryant has been sidelined for much of this season due to a couple of devastating injuries, and the Los Angeles Lakers have toiled in the bottom of the conference as a result. Of course, that’s not to say that all would have been well and the Lakers would have been a playoff team if Bryant played, but their record would certainly be better than 22-42 – 1/2 game better than the Utah Jazz who have been in tank mode
The Toronto Raptors had no intention of making the playoffs this season. Head coach Dwane Casey admitted as much earlier in the season, but the talent on the team turned out to be above average in an Eastern Conference that turned out to be historically subpar. So general manager Masai Ujiri sent the overpaid Rudy Gay to Sacramento on Dec. 8 with the team in first place at 7-12, and the Raptors have turned into one of the East’s best teams. Toronto
By the end of 2013, the Brooklyn Nets looked like a team needing as much construction as the Gowanus Expressway. Since the start of 2014, Brooklyn has cruised up the Eastern Conference standings like a driver in the HOV lane. [Read more…]
A memorable All-Star weekend has come and gone, and now it’s back to business as usual. With the trade deadline just days away, teams will look to do whatever they can to improve their current situation. Without wasting any time, lets get right to what’s going on around the league. TIMBERWOLVES AND GRIZZLIES LOOKING TO DEAL? Both teams are currently out of the playoff picture in the West, but the Memphis Grizzlies are just 1 1/2 games behind the Golden State Warriors for
Before the season, championship expectations were attached to both the Knicks and the Nets. The Knicks were coming off the team’s first season with at least 50 or more wins and a trip to the Eastern Conference semifinals since the 1999-2000 campaign, when Jeff Van Gundy patrolled the sidelines, Patrick Ewing wrapped up his final season in New York and Allan Houston was in the prime of his career. The Nets were coming off their first trip to the playoffs in six years
As the calm after the Super Bowl subsides, the sports world officially belongs to the NBA. Well, if the Winter Olympics in Sochi aren’t your thing that is. We are just under two weeks away from the 2014 NBA All-Star game and have already seen trade talks intensify. With February 21st’s trade deadline quickly approaching, the outcome of these next two weeks will largely shape the second half of the season. Is there potential for any conference to be swung by
BROOKLYN – Kevin Durant treated the league like a game of NBA 2K14 on a nightly basis in January. Durant is a 7-footer with the handle of a guard, the shooting ability of a sniper, the leaping ability of a kangaroo and the rebounding ability of a power forward. Basically, he’s the player we all created from scratch in a video game as kids with the ratings boosted as high as possible. Recently, Durant added “Slim Reaper” to his list of nicknames
So far, my preseason predictions look a lot like the Red Wedding scene in Game of Thrones. Jason Kidd as Coach of the Year? Um, probably not. (Although he might well be the Eastern Conference Coach of the Month for January.) The Nets as NBA champions? Um, sure doesn’t look like it. Not now, anyway. They are three games under .500 (19-22) at the halfway point of the season. But . . . and you knew there was a ‘but’ coming .