It’s part of my nightly routine. First, I sit on the couch and watch hours of NBA basketball, blankly staring at the screen like a zombie or Kevin from The Office. Then, after the final buzzer sounds on the last West Coast game, I flip over to channel 7 and zone out during a late-night mini-marathon of Kevin and all of his friends on The Office. It’s gotten to the point where last night, I dreamt that Dwight crashed the Most Improved Player
I noticed recently that ESPN’s Bill Simmons had been using the term “Third Banana” when referring to the third-best player on a team. A simple concept, but it did get me thinking. Who are the best “third bananas” in the NBA? I decided to put together a list ranking every team’s third-best player, and then I’d put that player into an overall league ranking, from 1-30. Ultimately I was hoping to stumble upon a correlation between how high a teams Third Banana
The Indiana Pacers knew something early Thursday afternoon that the Oklahoma City Thunder — and the rest of the NBA — found out late Thursday night: The Miami Heat are still the team to beat in this league. Period. [Read more…]
This column is supposed to be about improvement, so let’s start it off by declaring that Saturday night’s Slam Dunk Contest was without a doubt the most un-improved thing in the history of All-Star Weekend. Seriously, what the hell happened there? After Paul George, John Wall and Damian Lillard – three bona fide stars in the league – actually decided that being considered one of the world’s best dunkers wasn’t beneath them, the league chucked a Snuggie into the Atlantic Ocean and
We’re nearing the All-Star break, and that means it’s just past halftime in the race for NBA Most Improved Player. So far this season, we’ve discussed Eminem, Seinfeld, the genetic connection between twins, existentialism, John Lennon, Mars Blackmon, and un-seeing the Eastern Conference standings. It’s been a great time, and I think we’ve all learned a lot. I know I have. But now, like middle school gym class, it’s time to separate the men from the boys. So let’s take a look at each candidate,
Welcome to the real season. Now that the Super Bowl is over and the NFL finally fades into the background of the American sports scene, many casual sports fans turn their attention to the NBA, as if the only sport that existed from Mondays to Saturdays in January was Herm Edwards and Ron Jaworski yelling hyperbolic nonsense at each other. Football’s bloated specter can be overbearing at times, especially with The Worldwide Leader making Daily Mail stories out of day-to-day NFL occurrences.
Adam Silver is in a tough spot. Silver became the NBA’s fifth commissioner on Saturday. He follows David Stern, whose 30 years as the league’s top executive likely will be unmatched by anyone in any sport. Silver begins his term without facing a major problem that needs immediate fixing or a hot-button issue that requires immediate attention. With TV contracts running through 2016, labor peace assured until at least 2017 and most of the top stars in their 20s, the NBA is
Saturday marks the end of one of the NBA’s most profound era’s. Not the “Jordan” era. Not the “LeBron” era. Saturday, February 1st marks the end of the “David Stern” era. [Read more…]