When Marc Gasol went down with a scary knee injury in late November, the Memphis Grizzlies were a modest 7-6 to begin the season. Without their reigning Defensive Player of the Year, the Grizzlies were a subpar 10-13 and many around the league began to wonder if they would even make it back to the playoffs in the ultra-competitive Western Conference. [Read more…]
The National Basketball Association is entertaining new ideas for the draft to combat the problem of teams tanking (purposefully failing to compete for wins) to gain a greater chance at a high lottery pick. If you haven’t heard this already, you may be late to the party… However, considering that nothing will likely happen with this information, tardiness is a relative concept. The idea being entertained, as was first reported by Zach Lowe of Grantland and summarized here by our own Brett
Believe it or not, a quarter of the NBA season has already come and gone. What have we learned so far through the first 20 games of the season? Time flies, the Portland Trail Blazers are for real, critical injuries can derail any team, and the Eastern Conference may never have been worse. After another impressive 111-104 home win over the Oklahoma City Thunder on Wednesday, the Blazers are a conference-best 16-3 – something no expert or fortune teller could have predicted
It was a big night for college basketball and general managers around the NBA, as Jabari Parker and Andrew Wiggins – two of the biggest prizes for the upcoming summer’s draft – went head to head against each other in a much anticipated contest between Kansas and Duke on Tuesday. With expectations sky high, the two made sure no one left disappointed. Parker scored 19 points in the first half, including this impressive dunk, to capture much of the attention and finished
You know the regular season is upon us when the TNT crew starts sharing their thoughts on who is primed to succeed and what teams will be most relevant in the upcoming season. Charles Barkley, Shaquille O’Neal, Steve Kerr and others had plenty to say about a number of topics with USA Today, and that’s where we’ll kick things off in today’s blog. Story of the day: Which team is good enough to take on the Heat this season? Barkley shared his
Could the apocalypse be upon us? Or perhaps a deadly, fire breathing dragon? Probably not. However, those could be valid reasons as to why NBA on TNT commentator and analyst Steve Kerr might be freaking out on Twitter. The other reason, the real one, could potentially spell the end of NBA coaches’ Hack-A-Dwight strategies, and propel the Houston Rockets center, Dwight Howard, up into the top echelon of the NBA’s elite. What is the big deal? [Read more…]
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
The NBA is a business, and every year, it doesn’t hesitate to try something new and bold to see what various business opportunities may be out there. They’ve tried working in ideas like microfiber composite balls, sleeved jerseys to labeling team names in Spanish on certain nights. Some have worked and others, like the non-leather ball, have not. The newest idea heading into the upcoming season is to sell the nicknames of certain players, and the Miami Heat and Brooklyn Nets may