As the fury of NBA free agency slowly dies down as we approach the dog days of August — the dreadfully slow period of the NBA offseason — we’re left with a few big names standing. One of which is Eric Beldsoe, the standout guard for the Phoenix Suns who has had a difficult time navigating restricted free agency. He and his agent, Rich Paul (LeBron’s agent and close friend), have been miles apart on negotiations with the Suns front office. The
The growth of analytics in the NBA has been nothing short of phenomenal. It started with a deeper look at numbers that already were available and produced new and useful statistics such as true shooting percentage, defensive rebound percentage, offensive rating and win shares. With the use of a grid or a matrix, we now have the ability to determine a player’s offensive tendencies and hot spots. For some players, it is quite revealing. For others, such as DeAndre Jordan, it pretty
Kevin Durant, Mike Krzyzewski, Jerry Colangelo and Kevin Love at a USA Basketball announcement in 2013. (Photo by Andrew D. Bernstein/NBAE via Getty Images) The World Cup just ended, right? I’m sure of it. I watched it. Germany beat Argentina one-to-nil in extra time, thus ending two months of highly anticipated, very engrossing fútbol (spelled as such so as to not confuse it with American football). Well, it is and it isn’t over. FIFA has had its fun,
This may come as a surprise, but the Atlanta Hawks are actually closer to becoming championship contenders than you might think. This summer, Atlanta has a realistic opportunity to present LeBron James and Carmelo Anthony with the most attractive free agent pitch of any team in the league, if Danny Ferry maneuvers contracts aggressively and appropriately. It’s certainly an ambitious idea, but it’s far from ridiculous. First and most obviously, the Hawks are situated in the Eastern Conference. This gives them a succinct
The ‘stuff’ hit the proverbial fan Tuesday just before lunch, as ESPN broke the that four-time NBA MVP LeBron James’ agent Rich Paul had informed the Miami Heat that he has elected to opt out of his contract and become a free agent. [Read more…]
On Thursday night, Philips Arena opened its doors for the Atlanta Hawks first home playoff game of the 2014 NBA postseason. After having stolen home court advantage, the air in Atlanta was heavy, of course it was humid—welcome to Georgia, but it was heavy with hope and expectation. All week long, ever since the Hawks 101-93 Game 1 road victory in Indiana on Saturday, the talk among locals has been upset. Not just a game; the series. The team’s confidence only served to
Do they have to play this series? Do we really have to watch it and pay close attention? Look, we all know how bad the Leastern Conference was this season, and we all knew that there would be at least one bad team crashing the party. And the one we ended up with is an Atlanta Hawks team whose general manager, Danny Ferry, said a few weeks back that it really didn’t matter if the Hawks qualified for the postseason or
With one week left in the NBA regular season, the pressure is on for two Eastern Conference teams and four Western Conference teams fighting for the final playoff spots. Millions will intently watch what transpires over the next seven days as teams face must-win games, and the effort and intensity pick up. Each of these half-dozen teams have a player who will greatly impact the fate of their clubs the rest of the way. [Read more…]