BROOKLYN – Several teams in the NBA cellar had representatives on hand to watch Kentucky’s Skal Labissiere and Jamal Murray at the CBS Sports Classic. Suffice to say it was Murray whose stock rose the most despite Kentucky’s loss to Ohio State. 76ers GM Sam Hinkie, Pelicans GM Dell Demps and other NBA personnel were on hand at Barclays Center for the event. Murray lit the scoreboard up like Times Square on New Year’s with 33 points. Murray was efficient from the
Sprung: Pelicans’ Ish Smith Making Most of Unexpected Opportunity
On Saturday, Oct. 24, three days before the start of the NBA regular season, 27-year-old guard Ish Smith was finishing up the Washington Wizards’ final preseason practice as he and his teammates prepared for Wednesday’s season opener in Orlando. Then, like he had five times before in his career, Smith got cut. Smith was one of five players on non-guaranteed contracts waived by Washington that day, an all-too-familiar occurrence for a player who spent his previous five seasons on eight different NBA
Top Remaining Free Agents — Sept. 16 Edition
What if I told you your favorite team could land a power forward that has never averaged less than 10 points per game in any of his 13 NBA seasons? He won a gold medal for Team USA. He is widely viewed as a good locker room guy. His basketball IQ is just south of MENSA territory. Who is the mystery free agent forward? It’s Carlos Boozer. In a statistically down season, Boozer averaged 11.8 points and 6.8 rebounds per game and
PODCAST: Michael Scotto on Rudy Gobert, Anthony Davis, the MVP Race and More
Rudy Gobert had a coming out party for the NBA during the BBVA Compass Rising Stars Challenge with 18 points, 12 rebounds and three blocks for the World Team. The Utah Jazz eventually traded Enes Kanter at the deadline, which promoted Gobert into a full-time starting role. Since then, Gobert has averaged 10.5 points, 14.1 rebounds and 3.1 blocks per game while shooting 57 percent from the field. Another big man who’s played well lately has been New Orleans Pelicans star Anthony
Scotto: Playoff Trip Could Add MVP to Davis’ Historic Season
BROOKLYN – You know the MVP race is something special when the player leading the NBA in PER (31.4), blocks per game (2.8) and field goals made per game (9.5) isn’t running away with the award. In fact, Anthony Davis is in a five-man cluster on the MVP leaderboard along with – in no particular order – Stephen Curry, LeBron James, James Harden and Russell Westbrook. But when most people are forced to pick one and only one name, you rarely hear
NBA Gambling: Notes from the Quarter Pole – Bet The Lakers!
The gambling life ain’t easy, folks — which is where today’s tale begins. But by the time you get to the end of today’s column, hopefully you’ll be amused by my personal adventures and enlightened by my leaguewide analysis. We are at the quarter-pole of the NBA season, and trends have emerged. First, to truly appreciate what it means to gamble on the NBA on a daily basis, you had to experience what it was like to bet on the Philadelphia 76ers
Abrams: Which NBA Players Will Be Traded? Odds Say …
The offshore sports book Bovada recently published odds on certain players to be traded at any moment this season, which has created a bit of a buzz in the NBA sports betting industry because of its intrigue. Some offshore sports books have offered these type of proposition bets in previous years, but with the early intrigue and excitement of this upcoming season I believe the exploration of these particular players and their teams’ current situation is definitely of note. As many of you
Over/Under Odds Released for NBA Team Wins
With the NBA season win total over/unders coming out earlier this week at the Las Vegas Hilton (LVH) in Las Vegas, here is a chart of those odds, the team wins from last year and the percentage changes between the two: [Read more…]