The NBA is a strange place sometimes. As this blog goes to press, the Bobcats and Rockets are undefeated, while the Lakers and Celtics are winless. We’re not even a week into the season, of course, but all 82 games count the same. Nick Gibson was a witness to James Harden’s 45-point outburst in Atlanta last night, and it’s up to the boss where to put The Beard in the debut of the MVP race rankings on Sunday. Also on Sheridan Hoops,
In all, seven players from the 2009 draft class received contract extensions, with three – DeMar DeRozan, Jrue Holiday and Taj Gibson – going down to the wire Wednesday night. Two players received maximum extensions – top overall pick Blake Griffin and No. 3 pick James Harden, who had to change cities to get the deal he wanted. By contrast, five 2009 first-round picks became unrestricted free agents before their four-year rookie deal was completed, including No. 2 pick Hasheem Thabeet. And
The last few days before NBA teams have to get down to a 15-man roster probably mean a lot to the players, but they rarely are given a whole lot of attention by all but the most die-hard NBA fans. Still, they can be fun to pay attention to, especially for people who are big fans of the college game and want to keep track of some former college stars in the pros. So the recent news that the Blazers were
(This is another in a series of 30 guest columns that will run in October, when optimism reigns supreme across the NBA. The theme will be “Five Reasons to Feel Positive About … ” We encourage you to follow the authors on Twitter and visit their sites. – CS) For fans of Golden State Warriors, the “We Believe” playoff run seems like it happened about 12 years ago and not five. One of the biggest upsets in NBA history against the
As we prepare for the big drafts in our main leagues this weekend, there is an all-star team of injured players clouding the old crystal ball. Derrick Rose, Stephen Curry, Dirk Nowitzki, Amare Stoudemire and Kevin Love are my starting five. You want defense? Sorry, this is the fantasy department. John Wall, Eric Gordon, J.R. Smith, Nene and Andrew Bogut are the second unit. Every one of those guys is draftable, depending on your league settings. Just not as high as usual.
When LeBron James made his move to the power forward position last season, things changed drastically – in a championship winning way – for the Heat. There aren’t too many small forwards that are versatile enough to play both small forward and the power forward positions: the difference in physicality is simply too significant to handle for most. Another three that is capable of playing the four – and creating havoc in the process – is New York Knicks forward Carmelo
Drafting is on the minds of most fantasy hoops fanatics this week. You may be busy with NFL leagues and haven’t had time to prepare for the NBA, but there are many resources here to help. We keep you current on breaking news every morning in the Fantasy Spin. Our Division Previews looked at every player on every team. The Depth Chart is updated every week. Our single best feature may be the Fantasy Basketball Primer. If you’re new to the game,
The feud between Ray Allen and Rajon Rondo that helped lead to Allen signing with the Heat has been one of the biggest stories of the NBA offseason, and it’s apparently not over yet. More on that below. First, though, in case you missed it, Amar’e Stoudemire will be out for at least a couple weeks with a ruptured cyst in his knee. Power forwards just keep on dropping, as Kevin Love and Dirk Nowitzki could have told you. Also, we’re having a fantasy