Teams in the NBA playoff races aren’t the only ones watching scoreboards this time of year. Take the Philadelphia 76ers, for example. The Sixers lost their first 17 games, were mathematically eliminated from the playoff race nearly a month ago and almost certainly will lose 60-plus games for the second straight season. But GM Sam Hinkie and the rest of the Sixers’ front office are tracking the results of other games almost as closely as their own. That’s because Philadelphia could have
The season is winding down. The excitement of the race for the final spots and playoff positioning is starting to get real, for a majority of teams, that is. But what about those who are out of it with more than a dozen games still to go. Do you mail it in? Play for draft position? While no player wants to be in that position, there can still be plenty of motivation of things to play for. After all, only the GMs care about draft
Rajon Rondo is now in his ninth NBA season. He has led the league in steals once and in assists twice. He is second among active players in triple-doubles. He has made the All-Defensive Team twice and the All-Defensive Second Team twice more. He is a four-time All-Star. And he has a championship ring from 2008 with the Boston Celtics. And he still can’t shoot. That’s the biggest gripe with Rondo, other than the fact that he can be more than a
There are few things that indicate futility more than when a coach loses the connection with his team. When that happens there is nothing to fix, nothing to do, nowhere to turn. It is over. The wonder of team sports is the coming together of a group of people willing to put personal agendas aside for the common goal of winning. When that happens you truly get a whole bigger than the sum of the parts, and magic happens. When people
Rebuilding franchises conjure up a wide spectrum of emotions. They prompt hope for a brighter future, frustration that wins will likely be hard to come by in the immediate future and, sometimes, disappointment that tangible progress isn’t being seen quite quickly enough for increasingly rabid fan bases — specially in this instant gratfication digital era. Orlando is an interesting case study. The Magic have what seems like a decent enough young core in shooting guard Victor Oladipo, double-double machine Nikola Vucevic,
Carmelo Anthony’s knee has been a problem for basically the entire season, and there have been reports of him shutting down for the season on multiple occasions. Well, that report might actually come to life after this weekend’s All-Star festivities. There is another report that surfaced on Thursday that Melo is “likely” to shut it down after the events in New York this weekend. [Read more…]
NEW YORK – Draymond Green picked the best time to have a breakout season – his contract year. Several general managers and executives, who spoke to SheridanHoops on the condition of anonymity, pegged Green’s value between $10-14 million per year as an unrestricted free agent this summer. After leading Golden State to the team’s 40th victory against New York on Saturday, Green discussed his breakout season and upcoming free agency with SheridanHoops. [Read more…]
Just 52 games into the NBA season — not yet at the All-Star break, and the Orlando Magic have unloaded a sizable amount of talent. That’s coaching talent. Thursday’s breaking news was that of Magic CEO Alex Martins and GM Rob Hennigan had decided to cut ties with head coach Jacque Vaughn and assistants Wes Unseld Jr., Brett Gunning and Zack Guthrie. Assistant coach James Borrego will take over as interim head coach. [Read more…]