With the season only about a month away, many of you will be interested in gearing up for one of the most popular sports games around: fantasy basketball. Our writer Kent Williams (@sheridanfantasy) has been all over the do’s and don’ts for your upcoming drafts, and as a long-time fantasy player myself, I can tell you that he is pretty much on the money with the analysis. If you missed it, be sure to check out the fantasy spin from today:
Just a season ago, Jeremy Lin was sleeping on a couch because he couldn’t afford to rent a place of his own due to the uncertainty of his status as an NBA player. Although he still doesn’t mind crashing on couches from time to time, the cloud that surrounded his status as a fringe player is long gone. Lin stopped short of calling himself a franchise player on Tuesday, but it’s clear that he considers himself one of the leaders
Hope everyone in the States is enjoying the holiday weekend. We’re now into September, and that means we’re less than two months away from the start of the new NBA season. We have fresh items for you to check out: LeBron’s pink kicks, and A.J. Mitnick’s extensive update on the qualifying for Eurobasket ’13 that is definitely worth reading all the way through. You should also check out Chris Bernucca’s previews of the playoff pictures in the Western and Eastern Conferences, and Moke Hamilton’s column
As we slowly prepare ourselves for an exciting upcoming season, it’s good to have an idea of who is still left on the market and what teams can go after them. Who still has enough cap room or trade exceptions to land a player of relevance? Moke Hamilton has all the details on the subject. On to today’s news, soon-to-be Hall of Famer Don Nelson had plenty to say about a wide range of topics, including his former player Monta Ellis.
Since when did going after another player’s “jewels” become the act of frustration or retaliation in basketball? Just two days after watching Carmelo Anthony take a “cheap shot” to the groin from Argentinian guard Facundo Campazzo, we saw another hit to the groin take place on Wednesday when a frustrated Nicolas Batum threw a vicious shot at Juan Carlos Navarro. Check out what went down between France and Spain, along with how Team USA defeated Australia to move onto the semifinals below.
We are down to the bargain bin of free agency. Reduced for clearance! Everything must go! Up to 90 percent off! Yes, we know Mickael Pietrus and Derek Fisher aren’t exactly scrap heap material. Both were key players for playoff teams last season, as were Leandro Barbosa and Kenyon Martin. But most of what is left falls into three categories: Olympians, amnesty victims and veterans too proud to take minimum deals. There is some variety remaining at both forward spots and shooting guard but
We are three-plus weeks into free agency, and the cupboard is not quite bare. There are still some good players out there, whose choices are narrowed to two primary options: (a) go for the money and play for a loser, or (b) pass on the money and play for a winner. More than two-thirds of NBA teams have no cap room remaining. The ones that do mostly are those in rebuilding mode – Sacramento, Charlotte, Cleveland, Houston, Toronto and Minnesota. There are
The two best words in sports are Game Seven. When it comes to the NBA Finals, Game 5 isn’t too bad, either. Either one team has a 3-1 lead, which means the trailing team will scratch, claw, bite, fight and cheat to stay win. Or the teams are tied 2-2, which means both teams will scratch, claw, bite, fight and cheat to win. Our collection of the best Game Five showdowns of the David Stern Era includes three in which the series was