Once a year, we take a break from evaluating rookies and examine how second-year players are doing. This seemed like a good week to do that. Because our Rookie Rankings run every Friday, this week’s cycle saw just two actual games played due to the extended All-Star break. And no rookies from our most recent rankings played in those games. Yes, we knew the trading deadline also was this week. But we didn’t think that would impact our rankings of sophomores. I mean,
After the Washington Wizards ended a season-high five-game losing streak Saturday with a 37-point victory over the Brooklyn Nets, Marcin Gortat wasn’t quite ready to declare that their earth was back on its axis. “At the end of the day, it was Brooklyn, so we can’t get really excited,” he said. There’s nothing like perspective. And Gortat is right: One win against a plodding, tired team is nothing to get excited about. What the Wizards should be is concerned. Prior to the win
Welcome back to another edition of “As the Most Improved Player Rankings Turn.” In this episode, old favorite Jimmy Butler has returned to the top after a stern challenge from Warriors guard Klay Thompson, who was coming in all hot after a 37-point quarter made him look as irresistible as 1999 Kelly Ripa. But there’s a new harlot in town ready to grab everyone’s attention. Miami’s Hassan Whiteside. Ohhhhh yeahhhhhh. [Read more…]
So apparently Klay Thompson is a SheridanHoops reader. How else do you explain his NBA record-setting 37-point quarter, one in which he dropped nine threes, hit all 13 of his shots and generally looked like a cross between Larry Bird, Michael Jordan, Steph Curry and a member of the Monstars? It’s pretty obvious. Klay was upset about being ranked fifth in last week’s edition of the Most Improved Player Rankings, and it showed. “Yeah, I was cheesed off,” Thompson didn’t say after torching the Kings for
The 2015 NBA All-Star weekend is approaching quickly. It will happen in just under a month, on the weekend of February 13-15th. Commissioner Adam Silver has decided to switch things up a little bit this time around. Take the Risings Stars Challenge, the concept that pits first and second-year upcoming talent in the League against one another on the biggest and brightest stage, for example. [Read more…]
Nets point guard Deron Williams is being paid $19,754,465 this season. That’s just over $240,908 a game and $60,227 a quarter. After a strong start to the season, Williams had a bad December hindered by a calf injury and was supplanted in the starting lineup by Jarrett Jack. Jack has thrived in his new role as a starter for Brooklyn, which has won four of five. With head coach Lionel Hollins all but saying that Jack will be the starter for the forseeable future, Williams
Every time someone summons up the nerve to ask, “What’s wrong with the Spurs?” the defending NBA champions have provided an emphatic response: Nothing. They did it in November, beating the Clippers and Warriors on the road on consecutive nights after losses to Houston and New Orleans. They did it again in December, beating the Clippers to end a four-game losing streak that included back-to-back excruciating triple-overtime losses. And they did it again last night, beating the Rockets for the first time
The league is beginning to recognize what kind of player the Brooklyn Nets have in Mason Plumlee, and the team is starting to realize it as well. After starting the last seven games at center, Brooklyn finally has a healthy, young core foundation piece for the present and future. Brooklyn was reportedly not enthused with a recent trade offer from Sacramento for point guard Deron Williams. It turns out, according to ESPN, that the Kings’ main target was Plumlee, not Williams. The Nets are reportedly unwilling