Russell Westbrook $10800, Kevin Durant $10100 and James Harden $10000 are deservedly the three most expensive players on a nine-game NBA Friday. The Rockets got blown out in San Antonio on Wednesday, while the Thunder won in Minnesota despite allowing 123 points in regulation. [Read more…]
The city of Portland is at a crossroads. With a new apartment complex on every block and thousands of new residents flocking to the land of fair trade coffee and cruelty-free, artisan baked goods, the battle between Old Portland and New Portland has Rip City searching for a new identity. In an ironic twist of fate, as the City of Roses undergoes an extended facelift, so too does its basketball team. Gone is four-fifths of the starting lineup that won 50-plus
The first round of the FIBA Americas tournament was like a four-game warmup to eliminate the worst team in each group. Cuba simply wasn’t good enough, though 21-year-old Jasiel Rivero has talent. The surprise was a weak team from Brazil. It’s understandable that Leandro Barbosa, Nene Hilario, Anderson Varejao and Tiago Splitter preferred to rest, but younger NBA players like Bruno Caboclo and Lucas Nogueira might have helped. The second round gets under way at 1:00 Eastern on Sunday, with every team
Despite it being the dog days of the NBA offseason, there’s always a lot to talk about in the NBA. From the Hornets’ offseason to the NBA playing in Africa, this hour-long podcast covered a lot of ground. In the first episode of a new weekly podcast, Shlomo Sprung of SheridanHoops and Max Kirshblum were joined by ESPN Radio’s Josiah Turner to talk the winners and losers of the NBA offseason and by SheridanHoops contributor Jacob Eisenberg to discuss Noah Vonleh, Kyle
Last week at the Las Vegas summer league, a 19-year-old, seven-foot rim protector averaged 17.2 points and 8.5 rebounds per game. It was not Kristaps Porzingis, but Noah Vonleh, who has somehow become Portland’s summer afterthought in spite of his overwhelming potential. After excelling in Vegas, all Vonleh has to do is try and fill LaMarcus Aldridge’s shoes as the Blazers— who acquired Vonleh and Gerald Henderson from Charlotte in exchange for Nicolas Batum on the night before June’s draft— begin
The Las Vegas Summer League not only gives fans their first impressions of this season’s top rookies but also provides a stage for young players on the cusp of NBA opportunity to showcase their development. Approaching it from the outside in as I did, as an assistant coach for an overseas team, the Summer League is a great place to get impressions on the top American talent, all in one setting. With the talent pool spread across the D-League, Europe, Asia,
Whenever I’m asked if I have been watching the NCAA Tournament, I say, “No. I haven’t.” That raises some eyebrows in my home state of Connecticut, where both genders of Huskies basketball have been winning national championships for nearly a generation and are followed religiously by the Nutmeg State’s hoops fans. But among the many reasons I don’t go mad in March is because over that same generation, the college game has become less and less of a barometer for NBA success.
Let’s get something out of the way here. Russell Westbrook is awesome. Westbrook is one of the game’s top five players, and I’ve felt that way for a couple of years. He may not be a better conventional point guard than Chris Paul or Tony Parker or Stephen Curry. But if any of those guys even dream about being a better player than Westbrook, they better wake up and get back to reality. I also love watching Westbrook play. I cannot recall