When the deadline for contract extensions came and went Thursday night, point guards Eric Bledsoe and Greivis Vasquez didn’t get paid. But don’t shed any tears for them. Because when the summer rolls around, they will get their money. And it might be GMs Ryan McDonough of Phoenix and Pete D’Alessandro of Sacramento who are crying. As reluctant as McDonough and D’Alessandro may have been to pony up for point guards with plenty to prove, they should have done so. Both GMs are
I’m a diehard Baltimore Orioles fan. Before the last two years, we got about one week of the season to ponder contention before all speculation turned to who would be traded, what for, and when. For several NBA teams, it’s almost that time already. [Read more…]
Who is crashing the playoff party in the East this season? Conventional wisdom says the two-time defending champion Miami Heat, Indiana Pacers, Chicago Bulls, New York Knicks and Brooklyn Nets are head and shoulders above the rest of the Eastern Conference and – barring a disaster – will secure the top five spots. At the other end of the conference, you can probably toss out the Orlando Magic, Charlotte Bobcats and Philadelphia 76ers, who could pool their rosters to come up with
This is the time of year where everyone and their mothers offer up a series of fearless prognostications about the upcoming NBA season. Here’s what I can tell you about my skills at predicting the future. If I was really any good at it, I wouldn’t be wasting it on the NBA season. And neither would anyone else. I am not reading tea leaves, interpreting tarot cards, gazing into crystal balls, holding seances, poring over analytics or buying classified information on the
When you think of the top three goofiest players in the NBA today, JaVale McGee is probably the first name that most people can come up with. It can’t be helped: the guy made it to Shaquille O’Neals’ “Shaqtin’ A Fool” segment on TNT almost every other week last season. If you think that’s an exaggeration, just watch this clip. Admittedly, Shaq did unnecessary pick on him at times, but mostly, it was warranted. Despite what we’ve been conditioned to believe,
The Washington Wizards are the NBA’s Rorschach Test team. Coldly visualize last season’s 29-53 record. In the context of a fifth straight year without a postseason appearance, we’re talking demolition time. Yet others – most notably, the team’s ownership – warmed to the clear improvement over the second half of last season after ingloriously bottoming out early on. Washington kept its primary core of players and inked some – including point guard John Wall – to lucrative deals. Coach Randy Wittman and
Some of the losing coaches around the league appear to be intent on letting their teams hear about just how bad they really are as of late. We saw Doug Collins let it all out in a recent post-game interview, and now we have Washington Wizards coach Randy Wittman, who thinks his team is selfish an does not wish to be coached. Michael Lee of Washington Post has the details: [Read more…]
This has been a unique season in terms of NBA coaching firings. There are always coaches who buy it somewhat early in the season (think Paul Westphal last season for Sacramento.) Typically those firings are reserved for particularly heinous starts to the season (think Lawrence Frank with the 2009 Nets). [Read more…]