NEW YORK – It is rare when an assistant coach steals the show at an NBA game, but that is exactly what Mike Woodson did in his victorious return to Madison Square Garden. Less than a year after being fired by the perpetually rebuilding New York Knicks, Woodson was back in The Big Apple, riding shotgun alongside Doc Rivers on the staff of the title-contending Los Angeles Clippers. He met the voracious New York media before the game, then made a surprise
If you were to browse through the list of NBA champions since 1980, you’d find that there is just one notable outlier to the rule that suggests title contenders need a superstar to win it all — the 2003-04 Pistons. While that Detroit team featured four players who were either already multi-time All-Stars or went on to become multi-time All-Stars later in their careers, no one would have mistaken any of those Pistons players as the prototypical “superstars” entering the 2004 postseason. [Read more…]
Championship contending windows in the NBA typically close a lot sooner than anyone thinks. Take the Indiana Pacers, for example. Entering last season, Indiana was considered an elite team perhaps still a year or two away from hitting its prime as a true title contender. The Pacers started out hot, became the early season championship favorites, bought into their own hype, made a couple of short-sighted trades and eventually fizzled. In the following months, Roy Hibbert went from All-Star center to meme extraordinaire,
Some time this June, the NBA will crown a champion for the 2013-14 season. The odds tell us that the champion will have done little to nothing the previous February at the trading deadline. NBA enthusiasts, zealots and, yes, writers obsess and go into circuit overload in the third week of February – this coming week, in case you weren’t paying attention. But if history is any guide, the chances are remote that a team will make a trade which it
It appears the big man can still get up there, well technically. Maybe not as smooth as he use to be, Rasheed Wallace and Detroit Pistons forward Tony Mitchell squared off in a thrilling drunk competition at the end of the Pistons practice today. A little dunk contest after practice between sheed and tony mich https://t.co/Zi3MiN8Ge6 — Andre Drummond (@DRE_DRUMMOND_) November 16, 2013 Wallace, now an assistant coach with Detroit, use to get up there with the best of the big men and hammer
In today’s news, Luol Deng’s expiring contract in Chicago could cause a rift between the front office and the coach, Rasheed Wallace begins mentoring Josh Smith in his new gig as an assistant in Detroit and Nerlens Noel talked to the media about his rehab progress. Thibodeau would be upset with Bulls if Deng left According to Joe Cowley of the Chicago Sun-Times, the occasionally unsteady relationship between Tom Thibodeau and Chicago’s front office might hit further turbulence in the coming months
The Detroit Pistons have been one of the most active teams in the NBA this offseason. Of course, that shouldn’t surprise anybody who suffered through the marginal talent base and boring, uninspired basketball on display in Motown the past few years. But after a whirlwind offseason, Detroit is definitely ready to take a big step forward. The Pistons will feature four new starters on Opening Night, including the team’s big free agent signing – Josh Smith. The Smith signing had many
If you haven’t checked out Chris Bernucca’s breakdown of the ten best free agent signings, go do that right now. [Read more…]