Every night in the NBA, something noteworthy happens. It can be anything from a ridiculous facial jam, a scuffle, a milestone or players caught doing silly things on camera. These are moments we simply can’t afford to miss as fans, but it’s difficult to keep track of everything with so many games being played on most nights. While we can’t show you everything, we’ll do our best to keep you updated with some of the best stuff from around the league.
Fans of the Thunder, Rockets and the NBA were stunned with Saturday night’s news that James Harden was traded to Houston for Kevin Martin, Jeremy Lamb and draft picks. Among those stunned was Harden. “It happened pretty fast,” Harden said. “I was at dinner and (Oklahoma City general manager) Sam Presti called me and said I was traded to the Rockets and I was kind of in shock.” It extended to Kevin Durant, who took to Twitter with a simple, “Wow.” During Monday’s news
The Houston Rockets have dubbed their 2012-2013 season “The New Age.” It couldn’t be more evidenced than by a ride around town … a glimpse at the media guide … a glance at their pocket calendar. No, they are not promoting Kevin Martin. The guys on that there billboard are Jeremy Lin, of course, along with Chandler Parsons and two of Houston’s warehouse full of rookies, Donatas Montejunas and Royce White. The 2011-12 team that flamed out so badly at the end of
(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) Basketball analytics in their current state have become quite hypocritical, and while that’s a bit of a random statement off the top, it works hand-in-hand with the present perception of the Houston Rockets. The
An NBA game in Fargo? You’re darn tootin’! The Timberwolves played like a home team, even in North Dakota. J.J. Barea started at PG; Luke Ridnour has been battling back spasms and of course, the return date of Ricky Rubio (knee) is indefinite. The Russian Connection of Andrei Kirilenko and rookie Alexey Shved contributed very little but the big news was Brandon Roy playing 23:40 and scoring 13 points in his first game in 18 months. That wasn’t really the
Anyone have a problem with all five of Kentucky’s starters declaring for the draft? I don’t. And if you do, you need to join all of us in the 21st century. The decisions by UK freshmen Anthony Davis, Michael Kidd-Gilchrist and Marquis Teague and sophomores Terrence Jones and Doron Lamb to leave school early and enter the NBA may seem somewhat striking. Among purists, fuddy-duddies and others trying to stand in front of the tidal wave of progress, there was some sense that the
When we last looked at Terrence Jones of Kentucky, we noted the significance of returning to school to become a more efficient offensive player. Last year, Ohio State’s Jared Sullinger made national news by deciding to forgo the draft and millions of dollars in a rather weak big man draft. His goal was to improve and to lead his team to the Final Four. He’s done both. What I love most about Sullinger is his combination of a strong mid-range shooting game along
NEW ORLEANS — Here in The Big Easy for the NCAA Final Four, there are a slew of future NBA lottery picks set to take the floor Saturday night at the SuperDome. Four of the projected top six picks on DraftExpress.com’s Mock Draft and five of the top 12 play for Kentucky, Kansas and Ohio State. (Louisville is the lone Final Four representative without a projected lottery pick.) Numerous other players no longer in the NCAA Tournament have also helped their stock