Since training camp opened, there have been five significant trades involving 10 teams, 19 players and seven draft picks. The big winners have been a team that got rid of the highest scorer among the traded players and a team that acquired a player who has yet to play. The big loser has been a team that swears by analytics. Another way to look at it is like this: The biggest trades thus far have been the ones that haven’t been made
At what point does public acknowledgement of mistakes stop being enough? It drew a lot of attention when Paul George was fouled on the final shot in a huge Indiana-Miami game and it wasn’t called. The latest one, featuring Monta Ellis grabbing both of Austin Rivers’ arms, was far more egregious, and the NBA has admitted it was the wrong call. [Read more…]
Both the Cleveland Cavaliers and Sacramento Kings came into Sunday’s contest at Sleep Train Arena looking to build off of back-to-back wins. The Cavaliers were coming off of two blowout victories over the Philadelphia 76ers and Utah Jazz, both coming after the big trade for Luol Deng. While not facing the stiffest competition, the move certainly seemed to rally the Cavs on the court this week and give them new life for the second half of the season. [Read more…]
I don’t know what the future holds for the general manager of the Cleveland Cavaliers, Chris Grant. He’s on the hook for the selection of Anthony Bennett, who, to this point, has done nothing to merit being the No. 1 overall draft pick in 2013. He may have to answer for Tristan Thompson, as well, as the No. 4 pick in 2011. But here’s what he won’t have to do: He won’t have to worry about ever being called a stooge for
A highly touted player walked in front of two media members at Barclays Center before starting his pregame routine, which elicited an unusual – yet humbling – reaction. One media member turned to the other and asked, “Who is that guy?” That guy was Anthony Bennett, the former No. 1 overall pick of the 2013 draft. [Read more…]
Something is wrong with Stephen Curry’s shot this season. When the Golden State Warriors guard shoots, it’s almost never considered a bad shot. The reason behind that logic is simple: it’s not considered a bad shot if you make it. In past years, Curry almost always made shots that would be considered a bad shot if anyone else took it, like this one, for example. This season, however, Curry has simply been off his shooting game. For the first time in his
There is reason to believe that, after the Chicago Bulls and Cleveland Cavaliers stunned the NBA with last night’s Luol Deng/Andrew Bynum swap, that Deng was just the first domino to fall in Chicago. Well, I suppose that would actually be Derrick Rose, whose loss to season ending injury has given the Bulls a second chance to reassess their future. [Read more…]
Mitch Kupchak I have already made my thoughts known on the Luog Deng-Andrew Bynum trade in a column, the gist of whih is that the big loser in this deal was the Lakers. Go ahead and click through and give it a read as you listen to this audio from the NBA’s Sirius-XM radio channel, in which I go into further detail about why Mitch Kupchak blew a golden opportunity to set the Lakers up for having