No matter whom you like in the race for NBA Rookie of the Year, one thing is certain: Both Karl-Anthony Towns and Kristaps Porzingis will be watching the playoffs on TV. That’s no dig at either player. It is usually what happens to high draft picks during their first couple of seasons. You have to go back to Derrick Rose in 2008 to find a top overall pick who reached the playoffs in his rookie season. In fact, among the last 40
There are two Saturday matinees, with Charlotte visiting the Clippers at 3:30 Eastern (a very early start local time) then the Bulls in Atlanta at 5:00. DraftKings offers Early contests on just those games; also closing at 3:30 are All-Day offerings on the full seven-game NBA slate. [Read more…]
There’s another matinee, with players from Phoenix and Memphis (3:30 EST) available only in All-Day contests at DraftKings. [Read more…]
As a personnel man, Stan Van Gundy has broken a lot of the so-called contemporary rules. Since being lured back to the NBA by Detroit Pistons owner Tom Gores in May 2014, Van Gundy has not exactly followed the usual NBA blueprint in rebuilding the once-proud franchise, which has not been to the playoffs in six years. Van Gundy has flat-out waived four veterans with fully guaranteed contracts, accumulating nearly $32 million in dead money to be paid over the next five
Last night in a Yahoo draft room, 20 experienced, competitive fantasy “experts” selected our teams in the Peach Baskets keeper league. Jeff Nichols ended up with many of the sleepers and breakouts he’s been touting here the last few weeks. I like my team anyway. [Read more…]
I like the Detroit Pistons and the Sacramento Kings as upstarts in the East and West. I also think the Milwaukee Bucks are going to be the funnest team to watch develop … but I am not alone in that opinion. I am not on the Jahlil Okafor for MVP bandwagon. Other are, but I think it’ll be Stanley Johnson of Detroit (if the Pistons make the playoffs) or Emmanuel Mudiay of the Denver Nuggets for ROY. As far as MVP, it
As with the Western Conference notes, these observations are based on the games I have watched, along with thorough review of the nightly box scores and game reports. [Read more…]
In 2014-15, the Detroit Pistons’ season broke down into three key sample sizes: 1. Pre-Josh Smith buyout (Oct. 29-Dec. 22). Detroit went 5-23, was 28th in offensive rating (97.6) and 24th in defensive rating (105.8). 2. Post-Josh Smith buyout, pre-Brandon Jennings injury (Dec. 23-Feb. 19). Detroit did a virtual 180, going 16-10 with the sixth-ranked offensive rating (106.4) while improving their defensive rating to middle-of-the-pack status (15th, 101.9). 3. Post-Reggie Jackson acquisition (Feb. 20-April 15). The Pistons closed the season 11-17 and regressed to the mean