At this point last season, the feeling surrounding the New Orleans Pelicans was one of hope. The team had just gone through a rebranding, acquired Tyreke Evans and Jrue Holiday in the offseason and was ready for Anthony Davis to take his first step towards stardom after an up-and-down rookie season. Unfortunately for the Pelicans, all that hope ended quickly when the injury bug bit the team early and often and eventually cost the team any hope they had at the
The “hazing” – if that’s what you want to call it – of rookies and young players by veterans happens in almost all college and professional sports. Carrying bags or equipment, paying for meals and ridiculous haircuts are just a few examples of such hazing. Anything along the lines of giving them a small sense of embarrassment and humiliation usually works. One common approach by veterans is to somewhat emasculate the rookie. Whether it’s football, baseball or basketball, male athletes are
As the New Orleans Pelicans enter a pivotal season in their potential progression to a playoff team, swingman Tyreke Evans appears to project as a reserve. The good news is that if Evans comes off the bench for your team, your roster is pretty talented. The bad news is that Evans has shown that he is a much better player as a starter. Evans’ first season in New Orleans was filled with adjusting to a new team and adapting to a new role off
For some reason, the Phoenix Suns have put themselves in quite the vulnerable situation. With innovative coach Jeff Hornacek at the helm, the Suns were truly one of the biggest surprise teams of last season. No one expected them to be in a dog fight to be a playoff team in April. Hell, not many expected them to win even 30 games. Yet, they won 48 games and became one of the most dynamic offensive teams in the league (eighth-best offensive
As the NBA regular season finally hits the home stretch before what promises to be a highly entertaining two months of playoff basketball, a few of the leagues elite teams find themselves riding the struggle bus. The two-time defending champion Miami Heat needed a strong finish against Portland on Monday just to avoid a sub .500 March. Bad losses to Boston, New Orleans and Denver were all contributors to this stretch of underwhelming play. [Read more…]
If you follow the Golden State Warriors at all, the words “hashtag full squad” should sound familiar to you by now. If it doesn’t, click here to find out how it all began, and here for the full explanation on how it now has a life of its own. To make a long story short, David Lee believed the Warriors were a darned good team when everyone in the starting lineup is healthy and playing together. He brought it up some
Advertisement The Western Conference is absolutely nothing like the Eastern Conference when it comes to championship odds. We have what I call a two-horse race in the East versus what I am going to call the six-plus team race in the West. In the 15 previous seasons, only four teams (the Lakers, seven times; the Spurs, five times, the Mavericks, two times; the Thunder, once) have won the Western Conference, which is a similar concept to what the Eastern
Damian Lillard is very good. Okay, maybe we knew that already. But watching him carry the Blazers to an incredible win against a Cavs team that was very much on top of their game tonight, and then cap it with a game-winning three… that was something else. LaMarcus Aldridge is also very good, and so are Wesley Matthews and Nic Batum. But it’s Lillard who makes the whole thing work. [Read more…]