At a certain point, the Indiana Pacers need to give up on Roy Hibbert as their starting center. That point is now. The All-Star center (can you believe we have to call him that?) laid another egg Thursday night in the Atlanta-Indiana series, shooting 2-for-9 with just two rebounds, none on the offensive end, in the Pacers 98-85 defeat as they fell behind 2-1 in the best-of-7 series. If you look at Hibbert’s game log, it is both stunning and atrocious. The 7-foot-2
Innovation must come from experimentation at the edge, not just from ideas generated by the center. For Frank Vogel and the Indiana Pacers, this is a mantra that must be embraced if they want to turn their fortunes around. What they are doing now isn’t working. There’s nothing else to it. [Read more…]
With the news that Mike Woodson and his entire staff have officially been fired by the New York Knicks, it’s natural to wonder what’s next for the team. The best candidate to take over as the new head coach appears to be Steve Kerr, who has been rumored as the favorite ever since Phil Jackson took over the front office. Given Kerr’s knowledge of the Triangle offense and his relationship with Jackson, it’s quite understandable. Kerr wouldn’t say much about the
NEW YORK – Chicago Bulls center Joakim Noah, the centerpiece of a defense which held opponents to a league-low 91.8 ppg, is the recipient of the 2013-14 Kia NBA Defensive Player of the Year Award, the NBA announced today. Noah becomes the first Bulls player since Michael Jordan in 1987-88 to earn the honor. Noah received 555 of a possible 1,125 points, including 100 first-place votes, from a panel of 125 sportswriters and broadcasters throughout the United States and Canada. Indiana’s Roy Hibbert (166
So much for that sweep prediction I made in my playoff preview of the Indiana-Atlanta series. At least I wasn’t alone. Using 20-20 hindsight, I and many others should have seen this coming. [Read more…]
Somehow, someway, the New York Knicks not only managed to miss the playoffs this year, but they have also stolen the majority of the headlines heading into it. With 16 teams left with championship aspirations, gearing up to start the second season on Saturday, Friday’s talk is all about the Knicks, who are expected to make a decision on the future of head coach Mike Woodson in the next few days. [Read more…]
Do they have to play this series? Do we really have to watch it and pay close attention? Look, we all know how bad the Leastern Conference was this season, and we all knew that there would be at least one bad team crashing the party. And the one we ended up with is an Atlanta Hawks team whose general manager, Danny Ferry, said a few weeks back that it really didn’t matter if the Hawks qualified for the postseason or
Transparency is a two-way street. For years, NBA media members – echoing the sentiments of its passionate fan base – wanted more transparency from Commissioner David Stern and his executive staff. Whether it was a lottery drawing, a suspension in the playoffs or a referee scandal, folks felt like they were entitled to an explanation. And they were. Stern grudgingly came around. He arranged for the media to meet with referees prior to the season about rules changes. He allowed the media