When you think of Joe Johnson’s play for the Brooklyn Nets this year, some of the words that come to mind include underwhelming, disappointing, mediocre and any other word that describes a pretty terrible year for someone who is in a contract year and is getting paid nearly $25 million to average 11.8 points on 40 percent shooting from the field. To be fair, he has been playing worlds-apart better since the calendar hit 2016 compared to the first two months
Just over two years ago, the Denver Nuggets appeared to be riding high. Flourishing after the trade of superstar Carmelo Anthony, they had posted an NBA franchise-record 57 wins, had both the Coach of the Year and Executive of the Year and were headed into the Western Conference playoffs as the third seed with a glistening 38-3 home record. It is remarkable how quickly things change in the NBA. The Nuggets were upset in the first round by the Golden State Warriors,
LAS VEGAS– The people at the NBA who make the schedule for its annual Summer League don’t do anything by accident. For the second year in a row, the featured game on the first day of action pitted this year’s top two draft picks against one another. So Sunday afternoon’s matchup between the Denver Nuggets and Sacramento Kings was meant to be an awkward, bittersweet affair. In the middle of it all was Mike Malone. Fired in the middle of last
In recent weeks, there have been a number of folks advancing the theory that someone other than Andrew Wiggins deserves Rookie of the Year. There was a piece that said Nikola Mirotic was more deserving. There was another that said the award should go to Nerlens Noel. There was even one that said the top rookie is Elfrid Payton. Get a grip, people. Mirotic, Noel and Payton all have had fine rookie campaigns. All three are putting together strong finishes to their season. And
It’s superstar Wednesday in the NBA. Russell Westbrook $13200 took it easy last night, playing only 30 minutes, while DeMarcus Cousins $9600 was in beast mode (33 PTS, 17 REB). Both face tougher opposition this evening but are always playable. [Read more…]
When Derrick Rose suffered a torn meniscus late last month, you could forgive Chicago Bulls fans if their reaction was, “Yeah, we’ve seen this movie before.” It was Rose’s third serious knee injury in less than three years, and in the grand scheme of things actually contained some good news: It wasn’t a season-ending injury. Four to six weeks? Hey, fantastic! Usually when Derrick gets hurt, it’s four to six months! We can deal with four to six weeks! And they can.
Earlier this week, we ran a blog post that led with the fact that Andrew Wiggins is running away with the Rookie of the Year race. What the post did not fully explain is how far ahead Wiggins is when compared to the rest of his classmates. It’s more than the injuries to fellow 2014 draft picks such as Jabari Parker, Joel Embiid, Aaron Gordon and Julius Randle which propelled Wiggins to the head of the class almost by default. It’s more than Wiggins
Mitch McGary was unexpectedly thrown into the spotlight this week. He’s going to be there a while. The burly rookie forward of the Oklahoma City Thunder had spent most of his first NBA season recovering from injuries while toiling in the D-League. Prior to Sunday, he had played just eight minutes over two games this season while averaging 14.7 points and 7.8 rebounds in eight games for the Blue, Oklahoma City’s affiliate. But on Sunday, the Thunder were hosting the Los Angeles