Just six NBA teams have played at a .600 pace this season. A seventh briefly reached the threshold last week, and you have to wonder how in the world they got there. Consider that this team: Is in the bottom five in 3-point makes, attempts and percentage in the most prolific season for 3-pointers in league history. Has been without its best player for over a month. Responded to losing its best player by dealing two more of its top five remaining rotation players
When the biggest names on the move at the NBA trading deadline are Brandon Jennings, Jeff Green and Markieff Morris, it is a bit of a letdown. There is legitimate reasoning behind last week’s relatively quiet activity. This summer marks uncharted territory for NBA teams and their general managers, none of whom want to be the guy who shoots before aiming. The salary cap is going to jump from $70 million to more than $90 million this summer. That is an unprecedented
For the first time in roughly two decades, the Eastern Conference is better than the Western Conference from top to bottom. Nine East teams are at .500 or better – nearly twice as many teams as last season, when sixth-seeded Milwaukee finished 41-41. And the East actually has a winning record against the West this season at 100-98 What changed so quickly from last season, when articles were written about how there was the greatest disparity in conference strength in recent memory? “I
Maybe the Cleveland Cavaliers should have kept Andrew Wiggins. Yeah, I know, it’s easy to say now, with Kevin Love sitting out fourth quarters and contemplating whether to re-up alongside LeBron James and Kyrie Irving, while Wiggins drops 20 every night for the Minnesota Timberwolves. But I’m not just saying it now. I said it back in the summer, too, before the big deal was even done. [Read more…]
When the offseason began, all the talk around the Chicago Bulls was regarding the acquisition of veteran All-Star forward-center Pau Gasol and how he would work in a three-man big rotation with Joakim Noah and Taj Gibson. Then the focus shifted to former MVP point guard Derrick Rose and his arduous comeback from a pair of debilitating knee injuries as he played for Team USA in the World Cup and arrived in training camp. Once the first two months of the season