The NBA announced the All-Rookie Team on Tuesday. Sheridan Hoops announced it on April 11. We ran a weekly Rookie Rankings this season, and while the Rookie of the Year was decided sometime before the All-Star break, it remained to be seen who would join Portland’s Damian Lillard among the NBA’s top five rookies. [Read more…]
It’s no fun to talk about the struggled of the hurting, reeling, futile Chicago Bulls. They shot roughly 25 percent and scored 65 points without three leading players (if you include Derrick Rose). It almost seems like the Heat feel bad for the Bulls. A more interesting story is of a long-overlooked franchise seizing its window of opportunity to advance further than it ever has before: the hard-nosed Memphis Grizzlies. With Russell Westbrook out for Oklahoma City, Memphis knows it can move on
Or he lost his luggage and had to borrow a pair of pants from Nate Robinson. Perhaps Wade feels the need to fill the postseason haute couture void created by the season-ending injury to Russell Westbrook, who usually sets the tone for this sort of thing. Unless Wade is headed to a wedding reception on the beach, “fashion” in the NBA has officially reached a new low. (Hat tip to Deadspin, among many.)
Monday brings with it two crucial second round Game 4s—with games between Miami and Chicago as well as Oklahoma City and Memphis—and the NBA announcing the All-Defensive Team. [Read more…]
One of the most intriguing elements of the NBA playoffs is what the spotlight reveals about certain players – especially those who weren’t expected to be in the spotlight at all. We expect established superstars such as LeBron James and Kevin Durant to welcome the pressure of the postseason and elevate their play. That is part of the reason they are among the game’s best players. It is also not that surprising to see very good players such as Stephen Curry and
The Golden State Warriors have had three different leading scorers in its four games this round against San Antonio, which bodes well for the team not only in this series but in the future as well. With Stephen Curry hobbled by an injured ankle that nearly kept him out of the game altogether, it was the team’s balance that gave Golden State a pivotal Game 4 victory. It was Jarrett Jack’s turn to lead the charge, with 24 points on 9-of-16
Perhaps the most impressive aspect of the controversy engulfing Derrick Rose is that he has been supported by the majority of journalists who expressed an opinion. (For example, here.) That’s not to say his continued absence from the Bulls’ lineup has been universally endorsed. Some have ventured into the dangerous territory of suggesting that Rose should be playing after undergoing surgery on his left ACL, and certainly the Bulls encouraged such criticism in March when they announced that Rose had been
Between the NBA Combine and the upcoming lottery, this is the time of year where there is a lot of movement in projections for the NBA draft. And no one is moving more than Jamaal Franklin. Franklin entered the NBA draft after an impressive junior season at San Diego State in which he averaged 17.0 points and 9.5 rebounds. He is a long, explosive athlete who is at his best slashing and attacking the rim and locking up opponents on the perimeter. Franklin