The Most Improved Player Award did not irritate me until the seventh year it was awarded. That was in the 1991-92 season when Pervis Ellison won it. Three years earlier, Ellison was the No. 1 pick in the draft. To reward him as the most improved because he played well after underachieving for two years seemed to violate the spirit of the award. He was supposed to be good! In his defense, Ellison was bothered by injuries, but while he was
For the first time in roughly two decades, the Eastern Conference is better than the Western Conference from top to bottom. Nine East teams are at .500 or better – nearly twice as many teams as last season, when sixth-seeded Milwaukee finished 41-41. And the East actually has a winning record against the West this season at 100-98 What changed so quickly from last season, when articles were written about how there was the greatest disparity in conference strength in recent memory? “I
When I think about how fantasy sports has evolved since I first began playing almost 30 years ago, I feel a little like Alexander Graham Bell might feel if he were to see an iPhone. No fantasy services existed at the time, so the stats for our first league were kept by hand. The NBA season was 24 weeks long so the first few years, we had eight pay periods and each ran three weeks. The thought of a daily league
PHILADELPHIA—No one will probably be happier than Larry Brown when the calendar flips to 2016 in a couple of weeks. After all, 2015 has been a year he’d simply rather forget. It wasn’t a brutal year for Brown just because the 75-year-old fourth-year coach of SMU is still serving a nine-game NCAA-imposed suspension for what’s been termed “academic fraud” and “unethical conduct” while his Mustangs have been banned from post-season play this season. That came months after the American Athletic Conference
Is the NBA inching toward parity? Or slowly sinking into mediocrity? Those may seem like strange questions during a season in which the Golden State Warriors have imposed their dominance over the rest of the league in unprecedented fashion. Yes, at 22-0 the Warriors have obliterated the best start in NBA history and have looked downright unbeatable while the clock was ticking during a vast majority of those 22 games. In that sense, they present a very strong argument against the notion
Do you remember what Paul George was like before his gruesome injury? Do you remember the 2013 playoffs, when he showed everyone how much better he was than supposed MVP candidate Carmelo Anthony? Do you remember how he accepted and met the challenge of defending LeBron James in those Pacers-Heat playoff wars? And how much respect James had for him? Well, Paul George isn’t that player anymore. He’s better. [Read more…]
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
The 2014-2015 season did not go as planned whatsoever for the Indiana Pacers. As a matter of fact, their season practically ended before it even got started. After reaching the Eastern Conference finals the previous two years, the Pacers had huge expectations heading into the new season. But all it took it was one defining moment in a meaningless game to send the Pacers on a downward spiral. Aug. 1, 2014 is a day that will forever be etched in the minds