Under the guidance of Sacramento Kings legend and current VP of basketball operations and GM Vlade Divac, the Kings have assembled the most talented roster they have had in nearly a decade. So why are so many expecting the worst out of Sacramento this season? It’s complicated. The long-term consequences for how Divac went about creating enough cap space to acquire the likes of Rajon Rondo, Kosta Koufos, Marco Belinelli, Caron Butler, Seth Curry, James Anderson, Quincy Acy and Duje Dukan
While the NBA world waits for news on Derrick Rose’s knee, the Memphis Grizzlies got some bad news on Marc Gasol’s knee. The reigning Defensive Player of the Year is out indefinitely with a Grade 2 sprain of his left MCL. Surgery is not required, the team announced Saturday. The 7-1 Gasol suffered the injury in the second quarter of Friday night’s home loss to the San Antonio Spurs. He appeared to suffer the injury without contact while playing defense. Gasol left the
In a seemingly minor trade, two former first-round picks from Syracuse were swapped for one another Thursday. Boston sent 2012 first-rounder Fab Melo to Memphis for the non-guaranteed contract of Donte Greene. This trade has relatively minor implications, but an impact nonetheless that will be laid out. It would be a surprise if Greene plays a single minute for the Celtics. The former Sacramento King didn’t play last season after breaking his ankle last summer. This was after a 2011-2012 season
The Memphis Grizzlies got themselves a good backup center in Kosta Koufos, retained Tony Allen at an affordable price, had Jamaal Franklin fall into their laps in the second round and acquired the rights to Greek-American point guard Nick Calathes from Dallas. Calathas has a $1.2 million contract with a Russian club, but with a $500,000 buyout. He needs to decide by Friday where he plans to play, and the Grizzlies are waiting with a three-year offer. Want to know more about this
Unpredictable. Chaotic. Climactic. Frenetic. Turbulent. These are just several words to describe Thursday night’s NBA Draft at the Barclays Center in downtown Brooklyn. For the first time in a while, nobody had any idea what was going to happen. And from the first selection down to the humongous blockbuster trade that went down, the theater and drama of the 2013 draft more than made up for the lack of an impact player among this year’s talent pool. With very few surefire
It is not often that you are eating dumplings in Chinatown at 3 a.m. on a Friday morning and learn that Kosta Koufos has been traded, but that true story only just added to the bizzarro nature of the 2013 Draft — the craziest draft night I have ever witnessed in more than 20 years of covering them. [Read more…]
The often monotonous 82-game NBA regular season has come and gone. The worst teams have finished playing and the best 16 teams (yes, that is being generous to the Bucks) advanced to the postseason, guaranteeing high quality, spirited basketball. The seedings and schedules have been set, and each conference has matchups that are incredibly intriguing. For each team in the first round, there is one player who has to emerge and play a key role for that club to advance. Let’s have a
Call it motivational, maybe even inspirational. On a severely sprained ankle, Kobe Bryant actually started and played 12 minutes, though he was scoreless and spent the rest of the game as a self-appointed assistant coach. Dwight Howard (20 PTS, 12 REB, 4 AST, 4 BLK) was a force, Steve Nash (15 PTS, 9 AST, 4 REB) played well and Metta World Peace (19 PTS, 7 REB, 3 AST, 2 STL) raised his game, but it was the Lakers’ bench that made