Under the guidance of Sacramento Kings legend and current VP of basketball operations and GM Vlade Divac, the Kings have assembled the most talented roster they have had in nearly a decade. So why are so many expecting the worst out of Sacramento this season? It’s complicated. The long-term consequences for how Divac went about creating enough cap space to acquire the likes of Rajon Rondo, Kosta Koufos, Marco Belinelli, Caron Butler, Seth Curry, James Anderson, Quincy Acy and Duje Dukan
The Las Vegas Summer League not only gives fans their first impressions of this season’s top rookies but also provides a stage for young players on the cusp of NBA opportunity to showcase their development. Approaching it from the outside in as I did, as an assistant coach for an overseas team, the Summer League is a great place to get impressions on the top American talent, all in one setting. With the talent pool spread across the D-League, Europe, Asia,
The semifinal round is set at the Las Vegas Summer League and seeding was apparently unimportant. The 4th, 7th, 8th and 14th seeds will do battle at the final four on Sunday at the Thomas & Mack Center. The top three scorers in Vegas are in the semifinals. Let’s see how the semifinalists got there: Spurs 95 Celtics 93 It sure doesn’t seem like San Antonio is distracted or impeded by being coached by a woman. Becky Hammon’s Spurs got 21 points from Kyle
The final 16 teams have been cut to eight, with a day off on Friday before Saturday’s quarterfinals in Las Vegas. Friday’s action will feature consolation games for the 16 teams no longer in the running for the highly coveted summer league trophy. Suns 106 Bucks 80 Phoenix outscored Milwaukee 56-28 in the second half en route to an easy win. The Suns’ stable of young guns all came through on Thursday. T.J. Warren scored a game-high 23 points on 9-of-15 shooting, rookie
Mitch Kupchak shouldn’t be playing hardball. In his desire to trade Pau Gasol, the GM of the Los Angeles Lakers should not have insisted on receiving Dion Waiters or a first-round pick from the Cleveland Cavaliers. Nobody has overpaid for a rental since Ernie Grunfeld sent Ray Allen to Seattle for Gary Payton — and that was a long time ago. Kupchak should have lowered his demands to match the team’s expectations. The Lakers are done for this season and should be
Remember all the talk throughout the summer about where Kobe Bryant stands in terms of being able to play in the season opener? The superstar guard gave us great optimism when he confidently jumped into a pool from 40-plus feet above the ground last month. However, we are now just 36 days away before the Los Angeles Lakers play their first game of the season, and there is still no concrete news on when Bryant will resume basketball activities. The only thing
With the continually growing success of Golden State Warriors star point guard Stephen and the past career success of father Dell, the Curry family is now considered NBA royalty. Today marks younger brother Seth Curry’s 23rd birthday. His birthday coincides with Los Angeles Lakers superstar Kobe Bryant, who turns 35 today. His brother Steph sent his birthday wishes via Twitter. Happy birthday to my favorite little brother @sdotcurry. Have to say that’s a pretty nice bday gift to yourself Man! — Stephen Curry (@StephenCurry30) August
I’m definitely not the first one to say this, but can we please put an end to the use of the term “tanking” when we really mean “rebuilding”? [Read more…]