Tonight is the NBA draft lottery, which is one way to build a team. The other way is free agency, which starts in just over a month. Many teams positioned themselves for this summer, expecting Dwight Howard, Chris Paul and Deron Williams all to opt out and become free agents. But Howard and Paul opted in, and now there is money to spend on a significantly weaker but nevertheless strong class. A handful of teams could be very active this summer. Among playoff
An overnight windstorm knocked out our internet access (and many of our TV channels) for 36 hours. Man, it was like the Dark Ages. I feel bad about there being no Tuesday Spin; this one is both late and abbreviated. Catching Up Among the things I missed was Monday’s triple-OT classic: Dirk Nowitzki’s 40 and Al Jefferson with 28 and 26 among many great fantasy lines. Can’t believe the Thunder were held to 25 points in a half, by anybody. The Clippers are
Things have officially gone wild in the Wild Wild West. Over the past five seasons, at least one team with a winning record has failed to make the playoffs in the Western Conference as the competition has always been fierce and close until the final day of the season. It may never have been this close, however. Currently, 1 1/2 games separate the fourth seed and the ninth seed. Two teams — the Clippers and the Mavericks — are tied for the fourth seed
Brandon Jennings had 34 points, 7 rebounds, 7 assists, and 2 blocks in their win over the Nets. The lats player to post such a line was Alvin Robertson on January 16, 1990. Kris Humphries scored a career-high 31 points, as well as pulling down 18 rebounds. His previous career-high is 25 points, and he also had 19 rebounds earlier this year. A team has not scored 73 on the road and won since April 6, 2008. Every point scored by Charlotte
The Celtics allowed 72 points to the Thunder in the first half, the most since allowing 75 to the Bucks in 2005. Kendrick Perkins picked up his 11th technical foul of the season, leaving him two away from suspension. Restricted free agent Wilson Chandler was in Toronto with his agent to “explore opportunities” with team management. The Pacers have won their past four games against the Bobcats by a combined 74 points. The Nets had their 17th different starting lineup this season, as Kris
Sam Amick: Wilson Chandler is visiting Toronto to discuss a possible pairing with the Raptors,according to his agent, Chris Luchey. Twitter Does Deron Williams leave NJ this summer? Chad Ford: Probably. The only scenario where he doesn’t is if the Nets swing a deal for Dwight Howard at the trade deadline. At that point, I think Williams hangs around. If that doesn’t happen, I think Williams will join Dwight Howard (assuming he’s not traded to the Lakers in March) in Dallas next summer. Lots
Ouch! I’d been touting Manu Ginobili as a buy-low trade target, anticipating that his minutes and production would improve as his left hand got stronger. Now he’s strained his oblique. There’s no official diagnosis yet, or an accurate prediction of how much time he’ll miss, but this is bad news for the Spurs, Manu and his fantasy owners. Hope you didn’t cut Danny Green or Gary Neal, whose value won’t be fading after all. Neal had 17 points yesterday, going
Highlight Performance: Chauncey Billups, LAC– Returning to Denver, his former team, Billups had a great game, scoring 32 points and hitting 6-12 shots beyond the arc. Being that he is no longer the point guard, Billup’s assist totals have suffered a but this season. However, being the starting shooting guard, he has been a bit more willing to pull the trigger than usual, so big scoring nights occasionally come as no surprise. This was an impressive game by Billups, and his