We have some good news and some bad news today. The good news is, we are only days away from the start of training camp, where all the madness of an NBA season will begin for our pleasure. The bad news? Some players are already down and out due to injuries – the buzzkill of the sport (of any sport). See why a couple of Grizzlies players are out for a while, who is likely to miss some or all
Atlanta Hawks: New contract for Smith ‘unlikely’ this season: Chris Vivlamore of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution Wizards plan to be cautious with Nene: Craig Stouffer of the Washington Examiner Trail Blazers will open training camp with J.J. Hickson at starting center: Joe Freeman of The Oregonian Love happy with moves made in offseason: Jerry Zgoda of the Star Tribune Nets have big goals to conquer Heat: Howard Beck of The New York Times Granger to be brought along slowly early in camp: Mike Wells of The Indianapolis Star Rockets embrace a slew of
We’ve had a very positive preparation for the Olympics! Tomorrow we start competing! Let’s see if you like this video!youtube.com/watch?v=j1Q0H6… — Pau Gasol (@paugasol) July 28, 2012 The self-proclaimed “beast” of the London Olympics shared this 5-minute lovefest video with the world, and make no mistake — Spain is going into these Olympics supremely confident. However … Pau’s brother Marc has a bruised shoulder that kept him out of the final friendly against Team USA. Juan Carlos Navarro, the team’s best guard, has plantar
I am going to give you a Team USA gold-or-not prediction in this column, and I promise you a prediction that goes against the grain. That’s all I’ll say about that … for now. First, I’ll hand over the podium and relay a quote that could be the defining declaration concerning the London Olympics: “Let’s no longer beat about the bush. This summer’s Olympics Games are going to be a catalog of disasters. Not everything that can go wrong will go wrong.
I know I should be writing about the playoffs. Derrick Rose tore his ACL. The Orlando Magic have a pulse. The New York Knicks might never win another playoff game. Yada, yada, yada. At some point, I’ll get around to it. Instead, I’m going to write about something I thought would not happen in my lifetime: The 1972-73 Philadelphia 76ers are no longer the worst team in NBA history. I have been following the NBA for 40 years. I have always been fascinated by
If you’re reading this, you are probably still alive in one or more leagues. I’m in two Head-to-Head finals — so far, so good in both — and still trying to improve on third place in our Elimination Roto league with just seven days remaining in the season. LAL @ GSW: Although Kobe Bryant (shin) didn’t play, he looks close to a return on either Friday or Sunday. Andrew Bynum (31 PTS, 9 REB) and Pau Gasol (22 PTS, 11 REB,
Sixteen days to glory. The title of Bud Greenspan’s documentary of the 1984 Olympics also is fitting for the NBA season, which has just 16 days remaining and a dozen playoff spots still up for grabs. For argument’s sake, we’re going to assume middle-of-the-packers Indiana, Boston, Atlanta and Orlando will eventually clinch berths in the Eastern Conference, while the Los Angeles Lakers, Los Angeles Clippers and Memphis will sew up spots in the West. All seven of those teams have fewer than 25
The one game I expected to be a “rout” last night was instead a classic. What an effort by Kevin Love, who scored 51 points in the double-overtime loss, including seven 3-pointers. J.J. Barea had his first career triple-double for Minnesota (25 PTS, 14 AST, 10 REB) while playing 47 minutes — off the bench! Russell Westbrook (45) and Kevin Durant (40 PTS, 17 REB, 5 AST. 3 STL) were terrific for the Thunder, and although Derek Fisher missed nine