Wanna see Ricky Rubio throw lobs to Blake Griffin? How about John Wall and DeMarcus Cousins teaming up again, as they did at Kentucky? It could happen in the BBVA Rising Stars Challenge, which revealed its player pool Wednesday. As we reported Tuesday, the Rookie-Sophomore Challenge is no more. NBA assistant coaches picked the pool of nine rookies and nine sophomores listed below, but TNT analysts Charles Barkley and Shaquille O’Neal will serve as GMs and draft teams Feb. 16 on the
The Rookie-Sophomore Challenge is no more. The annual wide-open dunkfest pitting first-year players against second-year players will have a different format this year in Orlando, the NBA announced Tuesday. And under the new format, you might see Ricky Rubio throwing lobs to Blake Griffin. The Friday night affair will now be called the BBVA Rising Stars Challenge, and each team will have rookies and sophomores. Each team also will have GMs who will pick from a pool of players selected by NBA assistant
To win the NBA Rookie of the Year award, it helps to have the ball in your hands. The rookie race is pretty much acknowledged as down to two players – point guards Kyrie Irving of Cleveland and Ricky Rubio of Minnesota, each of whom were named Rookie of the Month for January, the NBA announced Wednesday. Irving, the top overall pick in the 2011 draft, won for the Eastern Conference. In January, he averaged 18.1 points (tops among rookies) and 4.9
Rookie sensation Ricky Rubio finally gets a national television audience and two of the NBA’s best power forwards clash when the Minnesota Timberwolves visit the Los Angeles Clippers, which should be the best game on Friday’s schedule. A year ago, the idea of this game being televised by ESPN was ludicrous. Even with their recent resurgence, the Timberwolves (.238) and Clippers (.314) have the two worst winning percentages over the last four years. But the intrigue surrounding Rubio and the Clippers’ accumulation
Kobe Bryant failed to drop another 40 last night in an appallingly low-scoring victory over the Dallas Mavericks, which means one of Wilt Chamberlain’s other records (his mark for most free throws in a game fell last week when Dwight Howard shot 39) should remain intact for the foreseeable future. The record for most consecutive 40-point games is 14 by Chamberlain in 1961. He did it 63 times in the ’61-62 season. So although Kobe is not chasing Wilt, everyone else in
To win your fantasy basketball league, or at least finish “in the money,” you must have a successful draft on a number of levels, including deciding when the right time is to select a particular player. Through the first eight rounds of a draft I tend to go for value picks, players who dropped lower than my projections dictate. In our 9-CAT league, which includes Assist/Turnover Ratio, point guards are valued at a premium. I projected Kyle Lowry as the #7
Through the young NBA season, many have been surprised about the emergence of Minnesota Timberwolves rookie point guard, Ricky Rubio, as he has quickly shown an ability to play with the elite guards in the NBA. After two seasons putting up mediocre stats for Barcelona, one of the most stacked clubs in Europe, everyone is astonished that he is able to put up eye popping numbers in the NBA. For those that have had the chance to follow Rubio consistently during
// Dwyane Wade came back, but so did the Golden State Warriors. Derrick Rose dueled Ricky Rubio. And Kobe Bryant erupted for 48 points. But they all have to take a momentary backseat to the Washington Wizards, who finally won a game. All it took was an overhaul of their starting lineup, a spark from their previously invisible prized rookie and a visit from the weary Toronto Raptors. The last winless team in the NBA broke through Tuesday night with a 93-78 win