Last month, while I was working on my Nick Young feature, I asked Wizards guard John Wall what he thought about two of his former teammates’ divergent yet equally successful paths to relevance in the NBA. At the time, of course, Young was enjoying the hottest and most efficient scoring tear of his professional career. Meanwhile, Jordan Crawford, who had essentially replaced Young as Washington’s volume scorer in 2012, had reinvented himself as a facilitating point guard with the Boston Celtics.
To no one’s surprise, Mo Williams says he plans to opt out of his contract for next season and test free agency over the summer. Williams signed a two-year deal last summer worth $5.6 million, with 2014-2015 a player option. He was scheduled to make $2.7 million next season if he chose to opt into that deal. Portland, of course, has been the NBA’s most pleasant surprise this season and is tied for the third-best record in the league at 27-9. Williams has been a
Just as Reggie Jackson looked to be solidifying himself as the NBA’s best sixth man, Russell Westbrook got injured again. Now, with Westbrook sidelined until at least the All-Star break, it’s unclear whether Jackson will remain eligible to win the award. After all, to even be considered for the Sixth Man Award, a player must start in no more than half of his appearances. Jackson has seven starts in comparison to 25 games off the bench. As of now, his eligibility isn’t
Reggie Jackson is really, really good. Still, not that many people realize it. He’s the kind of player whose impact on his team is completely understated because his per-game numbers fail to tell the whole story. When people think of the Oklahoma City Thunder, they think of Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook putting up big numbers and carrying the team to wins. As it turns out, Jackson’s impact on the Thunder’s success is not too far behind. For the season, Jackson is averaging
It’s time for people to start taking notice of the rejuvenated Manu Ginobili and his impressive start to the season. San Antonio Spurs coach Gregg Popovich had good reason to rest Ginobili on Thursday night in Golden State. After all, through eight December games, Ginobili has averaged 14 points, 5.4 assists and 4.0 rebounds. Those numbers are impressive for any bench player. When you consider that Ginobili has put them up in just 22.6 minutes per game, it ranks him among the
The San Antonio Spurs are resting both Tim Duncan and Manu Ginobili for Thursday night’s nationally televised road game vs. the Golden State Warriors, initially putting themselves at risk of another six-figure fine from the NBA. A release from Spurs media relations Thursday afternoon – titled an “injury report” – said both players were being held out of the game on TNT due to rest. It made no mention of injuries to either player. The release also said guard Tony Parker would
Well, it happened. After speculating last week that Sacramento Kings guard Isaiah Thomas would fall out of our Sixth Man Rankings despite his impressive stats, Thomas fell out by default as he was elevated to starter. With Greivis Vasquez shipped to Toronto in the Rudy Gay deal, Kings fans can breathe a sigh of relief that Thomas won’t get screwed out of this year’s Sixth Man Award. [Read more…]
We are all familiar with the Spurs and their uncanny efficiency. Are you familiar with AAU basketball? I have coached it at the high school level for the last three years. And one thing I have learned is that with just four hours of weekly practice time followed by four games every weekend, if you don’t have definitive, well-drilled schemes on both offense and defense, you have no chance to compete. However, if you have a group that is committed to a