Well, you do expect former NBA players to perform in the Middle Kingdom, right? We are three games into a new and promising Chinese Basketball Association season, where we may finally have no clear-cut favorites ahead of schedule while players with long resumes are now affordable for every team in the league. Among the top 25 scorers, 19 have been in the CBA in some form or fashion. Only one is Chinese, however. It’s an unlikely name, too: Cui Jinming, a 23-year-old smooth shooter
Which former first-round picks are trying to earn their way back to the NBA via Europe? Gone are the days where being a first-round pick nearly guarantees at least a four-year NBA career, with several opportunities to produce before teams give up on you. With the new CBA, teams are cutting costs from every possible angle, and with many options for minimum salary players from the D-League and overseas developing, more and more first-round picks are finding themselves on the outside
Kansas men’s basketball coach Bill Self had some interesting things to share this weekend regarding Cleveland Cavaliers rookie Andrew Wiggins. A former Jayhawk, Wiggins has been at the center of a potential trade between the Cavaliers and the Timberwolves for Kevin Love. There have been reports that the two teams currently have a deal in place , but Wiggins can not be traded right now due to NBA rules that prevent him from being moved the first 30 days after signing his contract. Self
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
Sheridan is assessing each of today’s deals as they go down, but we don’t want to leave out the two deals that got done Wednesday. [Read more…]
With the trade deadline rapidly approaching, rumors have been rampant around the league throughout the day. Can Cleveland find a taker for Luol Deng? How serious is Sacramento about moving MIP candidate Isaiah Thomas? Will the New York Knicks finally trade Iman Shumpert? Those are some of the many burning questions as general managers try to determine what will be the best course of action for their respective franchises. Some minor deals have already gone down on Wednesday, and plenty more
NBA on ESPN analyst and Grantland editor in chief Bill Simmons maintains many titles: writer, fan, Los Angeles Clippers season ticket holder, husband, dad, among a few others. Among the many hats that he wears, he is an avid Boston Celtics fan. If you’ve followed his blogs or read his book, you know that he has been a big Celtics fan since he was a child—when his father would take him to the old Boston Garden. While still maintaining his Boston NBA
Memo to Brad Stevens: You are the new Michael Dukakis in Massachusetts. For those too young to remember, a short history lesson: Before he got trampled in the 1988 U.S. presidential election, the former governor of Massachusetts tried to toughen up his softie image by doing a photo op with Army troops, riding on an Abrams M1 tank. The whole thing was so ludicrous, so obviously staged, that Dukakis riding a tank became a euphemism for anything that seemed so completely out