While the NBA has dominated the headlines over the past few summer months, as tradition has it, things have gone stale in August while players take their vacations before training camp begins in the fall. Filling the void the NBA has left has been the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge, which has swept the nation by storm over the past few weeks, raising an enormous amount of awareness and money for amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, also — and more commonly known — as Lou Gehrig’s
Kevin Durant and the small-market Oklahoma City Thunder are the darlings of ABC, according to the NBA national TV schedule. Durant and the Thunder will appear on ABC six times this season, more than any other team. The games are against six different opponents, with three at home and three on the road. Among the NBA’s multiple TV partners, ABC is the only network available in every American home with a TV. It is the home of the NBA Finals but not the
So the World Cup is in three weeks, and I figured I should probably make an effort to watch this year. I’m not really up on my international basketball, so I decided to do a little research. And I found out that Andray Blatche plays for the Philippines, apparently because of a “naturalized player” provision allowing him to play for a country just because they asked him. I’m not necessarily saying this is a bad thing. What I’m more concerned with
If you don’t know who Coach Nick of Bballbreakdown is and you’re a fan of the NBA, you’ve been living under a rock. Simply put, Nick is the best out there in terms of breaking down what various teams around the league are doing both offensively and defensively. He’s the reason many casual fans have learned the definition of terms like “horns” and “ice” – common tactics used in the NBA. If you’re a player yourself and looking to improve that
Nearly a full month has passed since LeBron James made the decision to leave Miami and return home to Cleveland. Since we’re now aware that the Kevin Love trade will be finalized later this month, here are five ways Love will aide the Cavaliers in their quest to become the Eastern Conference’s elite team. Now if only he would take his strengths to Team USA to save them after Kevin Durant dropped out of the World Cup: [Read more…]
When LeBron James decided to leave the Miami Heat this summer, some still questioned if the Cleveland Cavaliers would be good enough to make serious noise next season with the current roster. James himself hinted a cast of doubt in his official letter, saying “we’re not ready right now”. Do they have the necessary veterans and role players it takes to be contenders? Can the young players on the team put aside their pride and mature quickly enough? The latter remains to be seen, but
In an interview in April 2013, Kevin Durant told Sports Illustrated he was tired of finishing second. Durant was the second player taken in the 2007 draft. He lost in the NBA Finals in 2012. He finished second in MVP voting four times. This past season, Durant took a huge step forward when he won his first MVP award, finally emerging from the shadow cast by LeBron James. But if he doesn’t win an NBA championship in the next two years with
On Tuesday afternoon the San Antonio Spurs did what the San Antonio Spurs do best: make history quietly. The Spurs announced via the team website that they have hired WNBA star Becky Hammon as an assistant coach. While there have been two previous females who have had assistant roles in some capacity with NBA teams — Lisa Boyer with the Cleveland Cavaliers and Natalie Nakase with the Los Angeles Clipper summer league team — Hammon is believed to be the first female hired