The playoffs have been defined by lopsided first-round series and calls to abolish the Hack-a-Shaq strategy from NBA fans across Twitter to this point. Meanwhile, the Oklahoma City Thunder – who failed to qualify for the playoffs for the first time since 2009 – made news recently by firing head coach Scott Brooks. The move was made with a long-term view to hopefully retain franchise cornerstones Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook. Both players were taken selected in the draft, which is only
If Sam Presti does not hire a coach that Kevin Durant is happy with, chances are Durant will leave Oklahoma City as an unrestricted free agent in July, 2016. That is a fact. Kevin Durant likes Kevin Ollie. That is a fact, too. And Kevin Ollie is Presti’s No. 1 choice for the job. That fact was first reported by respected colleague Adam Zagoria, and it is 100 percent on the money. So what to make of Ollie’s statement today, tactfully written in
BROOKLYN – The Jordan Brand Classic introduced us to the country’s top recruits. From the looks of it, the future of college basketball is bright. Top recruits from Kentucky, Florida State, Arizona and more starred during the event, giving schools hope they can wrestle the NCAA title away from Duke next season. Speaking of wrestling a title away, France’s Jaylen Hoard and Bosnia’s Njegos Sikiras took home MVP honors during the International Game – which has been dominated by the Canadians in
Despite trading away Rudy Gay last season, the Memphis Grizzlies remained a very good team in the Western Conference this season. Their record of 50-32 didn’t quite measure up to that of recent years, but that could be attributed to missing Marc Gasol for a quarter of the season due to a knee injury. Bottom line, though, is that they were out after the first round of the playoffs after taking the Oklahoma City Thunder to seven games. They would have
All along, Stephen Curry wanted the Golden State Warriors to keep Mark Jackson – a man he absolutely loves as a coach, a friend and a mentor in life. He blossomed into a borderline superstar in two seasons under Jackson and went to the playoffs both times after failing to do so in his first three seasons. There was simply too much drama surrounding Jackson and the front office, though, and the coach had to be fired against the wishes of
Mike Brown is out after just one year as coach of the Cleveland Cavaliers. The only question is, who fired him? Brown’s firing was announced in a joint news release that also announced that David Griffin – who replaced fired GM Chris Grant in midseason – would have the interim tag removed from his title and become the general manager. But when it came to Brown’s ouster, the first quote was attributed to owner Dan Gilbert, who is learning that life after
So we close the door on the Mike D’Antoni era in Los Angeles. OK, we slam the door. At least that is what we would do if we were Lakers fans, whose hopes were astronomically high at the start of the D’Antoni era, and whose egos and now black and blue after the worst season in franchise history. The Lakers had nine non-sellouts, set a team record for losses (55), dropped a game against the Clippers by 48 points, and became second-class
This is not David Stern’s NBA anymore. The old commissioner is out of sight and out of mind, but his successor has been keeping a relatively low profile. Sooner or later, Adam Silver is going to put his imprint on the NBA … it is just a matter of when. [Read more…]