As an NBA coach, Scott Skiles has always had a definitive modus operandi. In his three previous jobs, Skiles has dramatically improved his team’s defense, in some cases taking it from near the bottom of the league to near the top. That improvement helps the team become an absolute pain in the neck to play and make a quantum leap from the lottery to the playoffs. Then at some point, Skiles and his hypercompetitive nature become a bit overbearing for some players,
We got a few things right on Friday, predicting triple-doubles from Russell Westbrook and Rajon Rondo while making DeMarcus Cousins our top pick. There’s a 7-game NBA slate on Saturday, with one 3:30 Eastern start (DET @ LAC) that we’re ignoring at DraftKings. [Read more…]
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…]
While point guard is regularly lauded as the top position in the league in terms of star power and depth, how about some love for the small forwards? Seven small forwards featured on this list participated in Team USA’s minicamp this summer. This list includes two MVPs, a scoring champion, a Defensive Player of the Year, a recently crowned Rookie of the Year, a “Greek Freak” and a Finals MVP. Proven veterans such as Luol Deng and Joe Johnson – as well as
It has been three seasons since the Orlando Magic have had to change their franchise’s future and goals by trading Dwight Howard. Three seasons since GM Rob Hennigan was installed and broke everything down, sold off everything that was not bolted down and committed to a long rebuilding process centered on the draft and sustainability. And so here the Magic sit, three years after that fateful decision. And with what? The Magic professed that 2015 would be the season the team showed
It pays to be patient. That is the financial lesson of the NBA’s offseason, which saw the biggest pay raises go to players who turned down contract extensions and gambled on themselves. Among the top 11 pay increases this summer, five went to players who felt like they were being lowballed by their teams — and proved it when they cashed in with bigger deals as restricted free agents this summer. Chicago’s Jimmy Butler, Orlando’s Tobias Harris, Detroit’s Reggie Jackson, Oklahoma City’s Enes
Slowly but surely, the free agent market is starting to dry out with over 40 signings in the first three days of the free agency period. Further significant signings occurred on Friday with the biggest deal going down for DeAndre Jordan, who decided to bolt the Los Angeles Clippers to join the Dallas Mavericks for four years on an $80 million contract. Other significant and relevant deals included the following: Tobias Harris agreed to stay in Orlando for a four-year, $64 million
Now that the NBA Players union has rejected the league’s “smoothing” proposal to gradually increase the salary cap, we are going to see extraordinary financial changes over the next several years. When the NBA’s new television money kicks in for the 2016-17 season, the salary cap — currently at $64 million — will jump to an estimated $90 million. That means a player like Kevin Durant, who will be eligible for a starting salary worth slightly less than 35 percent of