There is an NBA team that started this season with a roster that included an MVP winner from this decade; a recent Defensive Player of the Year; the runner-up in the most recent Rookie of the Year voting; and two All-Stars, including one deemed the league’s Most Improved Player. The roster also included some highly promising youngsters and a handful of savvy, playoff-tested veterans. The team seemed to be a lock for the postseason, having made the playoffs every year but
After an entertaining All-Star break, the NBA resumes tonight with three games. The trade deadline (3:00 Eastern) looms very large in daily fantasy contests, potentially affecting the value of numerous players. [Read more…]
No, it wasn’t last week when Blake Griffin slugged his buddy, equipment manager Matias Testi, who barely comes up to his shoulder. It goes all the way back to Doc Rivers’ arrival in the 2013-14 season that ended with Donald Sterling igniting himself, streaking across the sky like a fireball and disappearing from their sight forever. If that seemed like a good thing for the Clippers, it marked their zenith. They have been devolving ever since Steve Ballmer paid $2 billion for
For the first time in roughly two decades, the Eastern Conference is better than the Western Conference from top to bottom. Nine East teams are at .500 or better – nearly twice as many teams as last season, when sixth-seeded Milwaukee finished 41-41. And the East actually has a winning record against the West this season at 100-98 What changed so quickly from last season, when articles were written about how there was the greatest disparity in conference strength in recent memory? “I
If you are like many Americans – middle-class, middle-aged males not unlike myself – and watched your first NBA games this season on Christmas, then you probably think the Chicago Bulls are just fine. If you have watched at any other time this season, then you know otherwise. On Christmas, the Bulls played perhaps their best game of the season. They went into Loud City without injured emotional leader Joakim Noah and never trailed against the Thunder, leaving with a convincing 105-96
Saturday night involves several tired NBA teams and only one of the five games figures to be high-scoring. An ever-growing injury list and players being rested more often increases uncertainty in DFS, which means opportunity. [Read more…]
When Derrick Rose suffered a torn meniscus late last month, you could forgive Chicago Bulls fans if their reaction was, “Yeah, we’ve seen this movie before.” It was Rose’s third serious knee injury in less than three years, and in the grand scheme of things actually contained some good news: It wasn’t a season-ending injury. Four to six weeks? Hey, fantastic! Usually when Derrick gets hurt, it’s four to six months! We can deal with four to six weeks! And they can.
Not a single SheridanHoops staff member picked Chicago Bulls guard Jimmy Butler to win this year’s Most Improved Player award, but nearly a quarter of the way through this season, Butler would appear the runaway winner. The Marquette product scored at least 20 points in a game just five times a season ago, but has reached that number eight times in his last nine games including a 26-point, five assist performance in Sunday’s win over Brooklyn. Butler says his confidence and