The Chicago Bulls, along with the Cleveland Cavaliers, Golden State Warriors, Boston Celtics and Denver Nuggets are now reportedly all in the mix for Kevin Love. Cleveland still appears to be the front-runner, but Chicago, if willing, can also put an enticing package together, especially if the Cavaliers insist on keeping number one overall pick Andrew Wiggins. [Read more…]
Quietly but surely, the Detroit Pistons have been one of the most active teams in free agency. The organization parted ways with general manager Joe Dumars, replaced him with Stan Van Gundy and began padding its roster. As July comes to a close, two of the Pistons’ biggest names have purely uncertain futures: forwards Greg Monroe and Josh Smith. Monroe, 24, is one of the most promising big men in the league. The 6’11” ex-Georgetown Hoyas star averaged 15.2 points and 9.3 rebounds in 2013-14 and continues to
Former Los Angeles Lakers guard and current WNBA Atlanta Dream head coach Michael Cooper has been diagnosed with early stage tongue cancer. The Dream announced that Cooper will undergo surgery at the Winship Cancer Institute of Emory University in Atlanta this week. The doctors expect a full recovery — typical recovery time is two weeks. Assistant coach Karleen Thompson will assume coaching duties while he is out. Cooper remained optimistic and confident in the Emory medical staff. [Read more…]
The growth of analytics in the NBA has been nothing short of phenomenal. It started with a deeper look at numbers that already were available and produced new and useful statistics such as true shooting percentage, defensive rebound percentage, offensive rating and win shares. With the use of a grid or a matrix, we now have the ability to determine a player’s offensive tendencies and hot spots. For some players, it is quite revealing. For others, such as DeAndre Jordan, it pretty
As free agency winds down and the new landscape of the NBA has started to take shape, there are still a few major dominos still standing. And sticking with the theme of the 2014 offseason, both of them are involving the Cleveland Cavaliers. [Read more…]
Over the past three weeks, no team has captured as many headlines as the Cleveland Cavaliers. Once a laughingstock of the NBA, the organization has been revitalized by the return of the man it once condemned: LeBron James. No individual player has been involved in quite as many trade rumors as Minnesota Timberwolves power forward Kevin Love. Entering the final year of his contract, many believe that Love will leave for nothing if Minnesota doesn’t deal him. It’s only right that Love and the Cavaliers
There’s something about a uniform number that just can’t be described. There have been reports of competitions and compensation for a number, with some payments even reaching the high thousands. As LeBron James prepares for a return to the Cleveland Cavaliers, both of his preferred numbers are available. The question is, which one will he choose to wear in 2014-15? Will it be the No. 6 that he donned as a member of the Miami Heat from 2010 to 2014? Or will it be the No.
On Thursday, we brought back our Three-Man Weave, taking a look at some of the big picture questions for Eastern Conference teams that the offseason may or may not have answered. Today, we shift our focus to the Western Conference, where the player movement has been less dramatic and more subtle but entirely interesting and thought-provoking. Let’s take a look at some of the bigger issues. 1. Which team has taken the biggest step forward in the Western Conference? [Read more…]