Today marks the beginning of NBA free agency, and folks need a primer on which teams will be the biggest players in the open market. It all depends on how far below the salary cap they can get, and we are here to break those numbers down for you. Chris Bernucca has done a great job of ranking the NBA’s top 2012 unrestricted free-agents and the league’s top 2012 restricted free-agents, but in addition to checking out either those pieces, it’d be
The two best words in sports are Game Seven. When it comes to the NBA Finals, Game 5 isn’t too bad, either. Either one team has a 3-1 lead, which means the trailing team will scratch, claw, bite, fight and cheat to stay win. Or the teams are tied 2-2, which means both teams will scratch, claw, bite, fight and cheat to win. Our collection of the best Game Five showdowns of the David Stern Era includes three in which the series was
In any seven-game series, the biggest adjustments by coaches are usually made between Games 1 and 2. Those adjustments – and a sense of urgency – have contributed to some of the best Game 2 showdowns in recent NBA Finals history. As we will do throughout the Finals, we have compiled a list of the five best Game 2’s since 1984, when David Stern became commissioner (and the playoffs went to a 16-team format). In all five games listed below, the team that
Right now, the Oklahoma City Thunder are trying to figure out how to get three more wins over the Miami Heat and claim the NBA championship. Whether they can do that remains to be seen. But once the Finals are over, the Thunder will have another issue on their hands – putting a coach in place for next season. Thunder coach Scott Brooks does not have a contract for next season. And while a trip to the NBA Finals makes it seem
Tonight is Game 1 of the NBA Finals, and the buzz is palpable. Can the Heat draw on last year’s disappointment as motivation? Is the stage too big and bright for the youth of the Thunder? Which team will get its vaunted transition game going? And if it is a one-possession game in the final minute, will LeBron James again become a shrinking violet or impose his newly indomitable will? We all want to see a competitive series with no shortage of spectacular
Donald T. Sterling Sterling World Plaza Beverly Hills, Calif. 90210 Dear Donald, Welcome back! I know, you didn’t really go anywhere, even if your Clippers stopped being the Clippers we’ve known for all these years. I mean, welcome back as the Clipper owner that those of us who write NBA columns or lines for Jay Leno and Conan O’Brien knew and loved. Wasn’t this season fun, while it lasted? As hyped as your guys were after getting Chris Paul, and as forgotten as they were when the Lakers
Paul Allen has a new general manager for the Portland Trail Blazers, and you may wager amongst yourselves as to how long Neil Olshey will last in what has been a revolving-door job for the past few years. Olshey left a similar post with the Los Angeles Clippers on Monday to take the job with the Blazers, who have been using Chad Buchanan as their interim GM for the past year. Buchanan took over from the departed Rich Cho, who lasted only
I finally figured out the problem with the NBA’s lockout-shortened 2011-12 season … They didn’t shorten it enough. These days, all sports’ regular seasons seem like interminable waits for the real deal, even if they’re cut from 82 games to 66, crammed into 123 days that started on Christmas, fooling the veterans, most of whom apparently stopped working out at Thanksgiving. If it was an inelegant rush to put this mess behind them, you could see the season as a triumph… if you fell