Back in October, our editor-in-chief asked the staff to make 10 fearless predictions for the 2013-14 season. One of the predictions I made was that Utah Jazz guard Trey Burke would win Rookie of the Year. Just as Damian Lillard was a season ago, Burke was ideally positioned to win the award. The Jazz acquired him with the express purpose of giving him the keys to the offense. They didn’t care how many times he wrecked it. [Read more…]
Is it too early to say whether we have another lottery bust on our hands? It has been well-documented what’s going on in Cleveland with Anthony Bennett, the top overall pick in the 2013 draft who has been absolutely awful this season. This week, we saw the debut of Otto Porter, the No. 3 overall pick of the Washington Wizards. And while Porter is returning from an injury and has only played two games, the early returns don’t look promising. [Read more…]
Looks like we’ve got a good old-fashioned rookie duel on our hands. Tuesday’s showdown in Philadelphia between 76ers guard Michael Carter-Williams and Orlando Magic guard Victor Oladipo was more than just a spectacular display by two future stars. It was a microcosm of this season’s race for Rookie of the Year. In case you live in an igloo, both Carter-Williams and Oladipo had their first career triple-doubles in a wild double-overtime affair won by the Sixers, 126-125. MCW had 27 points, 12
We’ve come up with a well-deserved nickname for the Class of 2013. The Gang That Couldn’t Shoot Straight. The perpetual clanging coming from this group makes an auto body shop sound like a library. Among rookies averaging 10 minutes per game, Brooklyn big man Mason Plumlee is the only one making more shots than he misses. Cody Zeller, who is 7 feet tall, has gone 11 straight games making less than half his shots. Not one of the top eight scorers is shooting
On a night in which 13 games transpired, three players managed to rise above the rest as the stars of the evening: Anthony Davis of the New Orleans Pelicans, Blake Griffin of the Los Angeles Clippers and Vitor Faverani of the Boston Celtics. Davis, Faverani and Griffin may not be the first names to come to mind when it comes to elite statistical production, but each of those rising big men found a way to dominate on Day 4 of the
In the past few weeks I have written columns on the NBA futures market (to win the championship) and over/unders on regular season win totals, which is always something that intrigues not only bettors, but fans, too, because it gives them a barometer for how their team may perform in the upcoming season. The last item on the menu before the regular season starts next week is some of the more exotic proposition bets on the NBA betting menu which get
Damian Lillard quickly became a standout player in the NBA after his breakout rookie season in Portland last year, but the Blazers’ second-year guard is offering some advice to young players that may be the ‘shot happy’ type. Young players… That place so much value on “gettin buckets” , how valuable R U when you’re on a team that doesn’t need U to “get buckets” — Damian Lillard (@Dame_Lillard) August 11, 2013 The reigning Rookie of the Year can back up his tweet
The NBA announced the All-Rookie Team on Tuesday. Sheridan Hoops announced it on April 11. We ran a weekly Rookie Rankings this season, and while the Rookie of the Year was decided sometime before the All-Star break, it remained to be seen who would join Portland’s Damian Lillard among the NBA’s top five rookies. [Read more…]