Jim Buss is in over his head. Of course, with the Lakers’ predicament, Jerry Buss, his father, would be in over his head, too. Actually, that remains to be seen. But it goes back to their last time at such a crossroads, after trading Shaquille O’Neal to keep Kobe Bryant, when I wrote, “Mitch Kupchak is in over his head,” adding, “Jerry West would be in over his head, too.” Amazingly, Kupchak and the Buss family tunneled out of that one and were
Who was that masked man? Did you mean the one in San Antonio, or the one in Los Angeles? Original masked man (aside from the “real” original, the Lone Ranger) Richard Hamilton made his long-awaited return to the starting lineup for the Chicago Bulls as they pulled off one of their most impressive road wins of the season, defeating the Spurs 96-89 in San Antonio. And Kobe Bryant slipped on a mask over his broken nose in Los Angeles and dropped 31 points
There’s still more than two weeks until the March 15 trading deadline, but the rumor mill already is churning. Most of the buzz is around Dwight Howard, whom the Orlando Magic don’t have to trade. Really. However, there are a handful of players who have to be traded for the greater good of their teams. Whether it be removing a problem, creating financial flexibility or moving someone one year early rather than one year late, some big names will be changing teams
Tuesday was not a good day for the Dallas Mavericks, or their master plan. The defending champions opened the second half of the season with a 93-92 home loss to the New Jersey Nets. Dallas played without forward Lamar Odom, still away from the team as he tends to a personal issue. Despite their championship pedigree, the Mavs played with little urgency, trailing for most of the night and turning on the switch only when the game needed to be reeled in.
Columnist Chris Perkins has an opinion piece upon the site today saying it is unwise to criticize LeBron James too harshly for his pass to Blake Griffin (wrong team) at Saturday night’s All-Star game. I respectfully disagree. Big stage, big moment, everyone around the country and the globe finally getting the chance to see what LeBron would do with the game on the line. James failed in every way possible. But Perkins also makes the point that this was an exhibition game with no
As the second half of the season looms, the contenders to finish “in the money” in fantasy hoops leagues have been established. Most likely your league’s standings look like the following: a few teams at the top battling to earn first place; a handful of teams scrapping to essentially win back their entry fee and finish third; and lowly bottom-feeders desperate to avoid the dubious distinction of finishing last. As of the All-Star Break, my 9-CAT squad is locked in a
csprtContainer(); ORLANDO — We shot this video at the NBA Jam Session at the Orlando Convention Center, the first Jam Session I have spent extensive time at since 1994 when the game was in Minnesota and I saw Gheorghe Muresan walking around the Metrodome like a kid in a candy store. The opening and closing topics here were somewhat related: The first question was what was biggest surprise of the first half of the season, and I went with the decline of
All-Star Weekend in the Land of 1,000 Theme Parks, or be careful what you wish for, is upon us. As David Stern noted recently, the All-Star Game will withstand anything Dwight Howard has to say about bailing on the Magic and the host city, Orlando. “We’ll have the usual media experiences like the one I’m enduring now,” said Stern, “but the great thing is the game is going to start and then there’s going to be all this spectacular basketball playing, and