For the last decade, the 11th pick in the NBA draft has been a crapshoot. In 2011, the Golden State Warriors rolled a “yo” with Klay Thompson, who has shown All-Star potential. The previous year, however, the New Orleans Hornets selected Cole Aldrich, who has shown D-League potential. For every Jerryd Bayless, there’s an Acie Law. For every J.J. Redick, there’s a Terrence Williams. And let’s not forget the immortal Fran Vasquez, who wants to come to the United States about as
Last year around this time, we were dissecting the James Harden trade, and mostly slamming the Thunder for being cheap. [Read more…]
A year ago at this time, the Philadelphia 76ers were filled with optimism. Coming off a postseason run that left them four minutes short of the Eastern Conference finals, front office personnel were still slapping each other’s backs about the way they had not only landed big man Andrew Bynum, but at the same time unloaded Andre Iguodala and Nikola Vucevic. With Bynum in the paint, an array of 3-point shooters on the wings and emerging guards Jrue Holiday and Evan Turner
For the longest time, the only basketball I watched was college basketball. Growing up in Baltimore, there was no real “home” team in the NBA. The closest was the Wizards, and I could never really get behind a DC team like a Baltimore team. But the University of Maryland fit like a glove. They were good, they were fun to watch, and best of all, they were my home team. I even ended up going to the same high school
PHILADELPHIA – No, that wasn’t a puff of white smoke emanating from the Philadelphia 76ers offices when their 118-day vigil finally came to an end Wednesday. It was more like they were waving the white flag, as if to say “Okay, we surrender. We’ll hire a coach, even though we all know the goal is to stink so bad this year we have the best chance to win the lottery, and a good coach might mess up the plan…’’ With that, “Nice
Of the 13 NBA head coaching vacancies this summer, twelve were filled by July 3rd. Having a head coach is important to the development of young players—as they need to acclimate themselves to the coach’s system and prove they deserve to make the regular season roster. So, it only makes sense that teams would want to have the position filled before beginning the talent evaluation process that is the NBA’s summer league. A week after the summer league’s conclusion and the Philadelphia
I’ve gone over it before, but Greg Oden is probably my single favorite basketball player of all time. That face, that ESPN commercial, and above all, that game. I’m a sucker for a dominant defensive center who can also score around the rim, and oh man was Oden going to be that. We all know what happened after he went first overall to the Blazers, of course, but this summer he’s ready to make a return, and I’m getting to
Less than 14 months ago, the Philadelphia 76ers were four minutes away from a trip to the Eastern Conference Finals. Four players remain from that team. Less than 14 months ago, the Boston Celtics were one win away from a trip to the NBA Finals. Two players remain from that team. The Celtics prevailed against Philadelphia on that Saturday in May, 2012, with Rajon Rondo recording a triple-double after Paul Pierce fouled out with 4:16 to play and the Celtics clinging to