The Philadelphia 76ers aren’t even the best tankers in their own division these days. After the Sixers boosted their record to 5-28 with a win over the Cavs, the worst team in the Atlantic — and the entire NBA, for that matter — is undoubtedly the 5-32 New York Knicks. The Knicks have now lost 12 straight, and dealt away both Iman Shumpert and J.R. Smith to the Cleveland Cavaliers on Monday in a deal aimed solely at cap relief (Smith has
Now that the entire NBA knows that Phil Jackson will take pennies on the dollar for his few remaining assets, there are two tams that should be picking up the phone this morning and trying to take Jose Calderon off his hands. Those teams are the Houston Rockets and Sacramento Kings. Both are in win-now mode, and both could use a 41 percent career 3-point shooter who knows how to run an offense and get the ball into the hands of
Is this some sort of way to earn a quasi 12th ring? New York Knicks president Phil Jackson could not have done much worse Monday night in dealing away Iman Shumpert and J.R. Smith to the Cleveland Cavaliers in a three-way trade that netted the Knicks three non-guaranteed contracts and a second-round draft pick in 2019. We’ve all heard of selling low, but this? This was a gift to the struggling Cleveland Cavaliers, who just became the first team to lose in
Not many people expected the Cleveland Cavaliers to be sitting in fifth place in the Eastern Conference two months into the season. When you build a SuperTeam, 5th place is not where you set your sights … and Cavs fans are grousing about it. But when you have a new coach, two imported superstars who have to change their games, a franchise cornerstone (Kyrie Irving) who is not the franchise cornerstone anymore, there are going to be growing pains. And that
While many GMs were working the phones this week, Knicks president Phil Jackson was using a different, more contemporary form of communication: Twitter. On Thursday, Donnie Nelson and Danny Ainge swung a five-player trade that sent Rajon Rondo to Dallas and draft picks to Boston. On Friday, Daryl Morey, Flip Saunders and Sam Hinkie worked a three-team deal that landed Corey Brewer and Alexey Shved in Houston and draft picks in Minnesota and Philadelphia. But not Jackson, and not the Knicks. Jackson doesn’t
It’s been 175 days since New York and Dallas completed a six-player trade that sent Tyson Chandler to the Mavericks and Jose Calderon, Samuel Dalembert and Shane Larkin to the Knicks. Late in the afternoon on June 25, both teams looked like they upgraded in different ways in Phil Jackson’s first major deal as Knicks president. Dallas needed rim protection and added a familiar face in Chandler, a starter on their 2011 title team. New York needed a competent point guard in
We all know what the Philadelphia 76ers are doing. Call it whatever you want – tanking, rebuilding, deconstructing, hoarding – the 76ers are openly, unabashedly and intentionally sinking to the bottom of the NBA, because GM Sam Hinkie has convinced ownership that is the fastest way to get back to the top. Hinkie has constructed a roster that is inherently non-competitive. The Sixers have the fewest first-round picks and the most undrafted free agents of any team. Their highest-paid player makes $6.6
It is too early in the season to start ranking the MVP candidates. Or is it? Hey, how many chances to you get to say the Grizzlies and Raptors are on course to meet in the NBA Finals? It would be like one big Canadian reunion. There will be Vancouver nostalgia columns run amok. (The Grizzlies moved from Vancouver to Memphis in 2001). Well, if that is going to be the case, we may as well beat everyone to the punch. My