The Miami Heat had an offseason that gave fans numerous swings of emotion. The best player in the league, LeBron James, left for Cleveland as a free agent. But that same week, Chris Bosh turned down an offer to join James Harden and Dwight Howard in Houston and agreed to sign a maximum-level contract with the Heat. Pat Riley then quickly assembled a new team with several new players – Luol Deng, Josh McRoberts, Danny Granger and Shannon Brown, just
Monday saw more media days across the NBA, however the most important news seems to have come from a member of the NBA media. Reggie Miller, former Indiana Pacers All-Star guard, 2012 Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame inductee and current TNT on NBA analyst, shared the concerning news that his niece, Nikki Miller, has gone missing. Nikki, 16, is the daughter of Darrell Miller, the elder brother to both Reggie and Cheryl. She went missing from her home in Yorba Linda,
In case you missed it, Phoenix Suns forwards and twin brothers Markieff and Marcus Morris received contract extensions Monday. They joined Cleveland Cavaliers All-Star guard Kyrie Irving as the only players thus far from the 2011 NBA draft to receive extensions. Irving received a five-year maximum extension at the outset of the offseason and the Morris twins received four-year deals for $32 million and $20 million, respectively. There are as many as a dozen players from the 2011 draft whom you could
Nice how things change so drastically and so quickly in the NBA. In the season preview that I wrote about the Cleveland Cavaliers one year ago, the five things to watch included Andrew Bynum, Anthony Bennett and Mike Brown’s defensive schemes. Obviously, things have changed dramatically as the Cavs head into the 2014-15 season. With a mere 952 words in Sports Illustrated back in July after Chris Sheridan broke the story two days earlier, LeBron James single-handedly changed the direction – and
The Detroit Pistons are in another rebuilding phase, with longtime president Joe Dumars out and Stan Van Gundy taking over both as chief executive and coach. He inherits a roster that remains largely intact, with the addition of some much needed 3-point shooting. Brandon Jennings, Josh Smith, Andre Drummond and Greg Monroe are all back. Jennings and Smith are either untradeable or Van Gundy isn’t interested in selling low, while Monroe took the somewhat unprecedented step of spurning long-term contract offers
When the final buzzer sounded on the Toronto Raptors last season, the team was left deflated on its home court after a crushing last-second Game 7 loss. It was an ending to a season that no one – not pundits, not fans, maybe not even management – could have predicted. After 18 games and a 6-12 record, it appeared as though the Raptors were destined for yet another forgettable season, lodged firmly in the bottom third of the NBA. Instead, after
Travel back to 2012. Rajon Rondo had ripped off 24 consecutive games with double-digit assists, falling just five games short of John Stockton’s NBA record. In the weeks that followed, Rondo posted four postseason triple-doubles, a 44-point clinic against the Miami Heat and a not-so-sudden emergence as one of the best players in the league. This resulted in the relatively common belief that Rondo had emerged as one of the Top 10 players in the league. In the two seasons since, Rondo has been unable to stay on
Today was media day for the Cleveland Cavaliers, and understandably everyone was crowding around LeBron James. They asked him the patently obvious questions. What’s it like to be back where it all started? How much do you know about new coach David Blatt? Can the Cavaliers win the NBA championship and finally end Cleveland’s 50-year sports title drought? Here’s a question they might have wanted to ask: Hey, LeBron, which fourth star would you like to add to the roster next summer?