When the 76ers acquired Andrew Bynum from the Los Angeles Lakers, the team and its fans showed unreal support for the center and treated him like a rock star as they expected big things – in a franchise altering way. What they probably did not expect or anticipate, however, was the possible acquisition of damaged goods. This is not to say that Bynum is significantly injured, but he has already missed the entire preseason due to pain in his knee and
When LeBron James made his move to the power forward position last season, things changed drastically – in a championship winning way – for the Heat. There aren’t too many small forwards that are versatile enough to play both small forward and the power forward positions: the difference in physicality is simply too significant to handle for most. Another three that is capable of playing the four – and creating havoc in the process – is New York Knicks forward Carmelo
Here are this morning’s top NBA news stories: “Memphis Grizzlies sale to be voted on by NBA Board of Governors on Thursday,” by Marc Stein from ESPN.com “Is Luis Scola Phoenix’s X-Factor,” by Bill Ingram from HoopsWorld “Expect Warriors to go small early in season,” by Matt Steinmetz from CSNBayArea.com “Oklahoma City’s James Harden a hot ticket,” by Paul Coro from the Arizona Republic “The differences between Dwight Howard and Andrew Bynum are plain to see,” by Mike Bresnahan from the Los Angeles Times “Pierce: ‘it would be difficult’ to see
It’s always intriguing to read the minds of general managers of the NBA: they are the ones who produce the teams we watch, afterall. NBA.com’s annual GM Survey was released on Monday and predictably, the Heat and LeBron James were on top of many of the winning categories. Along the way, though, you’ll find some interesting – if not somewhat funny (see “Who will win the 2012-2013 MVP” section) – votes that went to places you may or may not expect.
Earlier today, I watched my favorite soccer team, West Bromwich Albion F.C., suffer a heartbreaking loss to defending Premier League champs Manchester City in a game that featured some very questionable officiating, made more questionable by the idea that players might have been diving. One of the non-calls could have given West Brom a penalty shot in the closing minutes. So maybe I’m a little more happy than I should be that the NBA is cracking down on flopping. We’ve got some
In-Season Tactics & Putting the Primer into Practice This is the final instalment of our 6-part series on Strategies. In Parts 1 to 5, we introduced you to the Fantasy Basketball Primer, reviewed Head-to-Head, Rotisserie and Keeper League strategies, shared tactics for certain league customizations, showed you how to find sleepers, build a draft plan and auction strategies. Today, we look at some in-season tactics and apply some of the lessons of the Primer to prepare for a keeper league draft. As we noted in Part 5, you can’t win
It seemed more like an inevitability than a possibility when news about the status of Dirk Nowitzki’s knee broke out earlier in the preseason. There was swelling in his knee, and the German hinted at the possibility of surgery if the condition did not improve. Unfortunately, the swelling continued, forcing Nowitzki to undergo arthroscopic knee surgery on Friday. The procedure will sideline him for about six weeks. Chris Bernucca has the details of the situation. Playing without the heart of the team
Here are this morning’s top NBA news stories: “Lakers planning for Dwight Howard to play Sunday,” by Marc J. Spears from Yahoo! Sports “Taj Gibson of Chicago Bulls hopeful about contract extension,” by Nick Friedell from ESPN.com “LeBron James dismisses Los Angeles Lakers free agency talk,” by Michael Wallace from ESPN.com “Kevin Love ‘disappointed’ by injury, won’t need surgery,” from ESPN.com “MarShon Brooks as Sixth Man? Avery Johnson says ‘We’re not sure yet,'” by Stefan Bondy from the New York Daily News “Vince Carter: You won’t miss Jason Terry; I’ll be