As a personnel man, Stan Van Gundy has broken a lot of the so-called contemporary rules. Since being lured back to the NBA by Detroit Pistons owner Tom Gores in May 2014, Van Gundy has not exactly followed the usual NBA blueprint in rebuilding the once-proud franchise, which has not been to the playoffs in six years. Van Gundy has flat-out waived four veterans with fully guaranteed contracts, accumulating nearly $32 million in dead money to be paid over the next five
If you take a quick look at the contract extensions given to the 2012 NBA draft class, nothing seems extraordinary. Eight eligible players received extensions. While collusion conspiracy theorists might point out that it’s two less than the 2011 class, it also is one more than the 2010 class and the same number as the 2009 class. As in previous seasons, the top pick got a five-year max deal and at least one other lottery pick also received a max deal of
A look at the overall NBA standings shows four teams at the top – Indiana, Oklahoma City, San Antonio and Miami – separated by one game in the loss column. In fact, they were dead even until three of them lost Sunday. Just a notch below them are three more teams – Houston, the Los Angeles Clippers and Portland – separated by two games in the loss column. They also would have been dead even had the Blazers held
One year ago, the Knicks had the best record in the East and the second-best in the NBA. Today, they’re fighting to stay above the absolute bottom-feeders. So where do they go from here? Up is the only answer, right? Well, probably not too far up. Of the 16 teams that were in playoff position on December 14th last year, 14 made the playoffs. The only teams to crash the party were the Lakers and Rockets, who got the bottom two seeds in
In a rather humdrum day in the NBA, here’s what’s making news: Lamar Odom was officially charged with DUI, the Warriors tweeted that Andrew Bogut is finally 100% healthy, and Lithuanian sensation Jonas Valanciunas shining in Eurobasket ’13 games. (We have a fresh update on Eurobasket ’13 from international editor A.J. Mitnick, who reports on a bunch of Eurostash players and Euroleague stars, along with who is sitting pretty (Italy, France) and who is not (Croatia, Greece — although they
According to several reports by the Hollywood gossip site TMZ, Lamar Odom has been missing for the past 72 hours. The news coming after being confronted by family members earlier in the week about his reported drug addiction. With the sports world buzzing over his demons, Knicks guard JR Smith weighed in on the situation by answering a quick question from a follower. i dont believe itRT @Manny229: @TheRealJRSmith You heard the Lamar Odom rumor? That shit crazy — JR Smith (@TheRealJRSmith) August
While all of the focus has been on the soap opera swirl around the Los Angeles Lakers, the NBA’s other similarly storied franchise has its own set of issues. The Boston Celtics also raised expectations by adding some key pieces in the offseason, then promptly stumbled out of the gate. But there were no death stares, insurrections, coach beheadings or panic moves. But there are some problems in Beantown. Let’s allow team leader Kevin Garnett to explain. “You can’t speed chemistry up,” Garnett said.