Because it’s early October and we have college hoops practices getting underway, along with NBA preseason action, I figured it was a good time to give my basketball lifer’s opinion on some different rankings and lists I’ve thought about and put together. Why have I done this? Well in this country, we count championships and rings. We keep score and rank and list. I can hear my wife laughing now saying “these are the things you are wasting your brain power on and thinking about during your
Amar’e Stoudemire moved into very exclusive company this summer. By accepting the veteran’s minimum of $1.5 million in signing as a free agent with the Miami Heat, Stoudemire became just the second player in NBA history to take a $20 million pay cut. Last season, Stoudemire was on the books for $23,410,000, the final season of the five-year deal worth about $100 million he signed with the New York Knicks in 2010. That was the summer that the Knicks tried to position
Here’s what’s been good about the 2015 NBA playoffs: 1. LeBron James. 2. Stephen Curry. 3. Paul Pierce in the clutch. 4. Clippers-Spurs, especially Game 7. Here’s what’s been bad about the 2015 NBA playoffs: Everything else. [Read more…]
BROOKLYN – The Jordan Brand Classic introduced us to the country’s top recruits. From the looks of it, the future of college basketball is bright. Top recruits from Kentucky, Florida State, Arizona and more starred during the event, giving schools hope they can wrestle the NCAA title away from Duke next season. Speaking of wrestling a title away, France’s Jaylen Hoard and Bosnia’s Njegos Sikiras took home MVP honors during the International Game – which has been dominated by the Canadians in
Each time the Rockets play the Thunder, four names immediately come to mind: Jeremy Lamb, Kevin Martin, Steven Adams and Mitch McGary. With all draft picks now liquidated, those players make up the return Oklahoma City received for James Harden in October 2012. Martin left the Thunder in free agency after one season off the bench, and the others all score fewer than eight points per game. That’s it. Lamb, who was supposedly the trade’s crown jewel as the No. 12 pick in 2012, isn’t
For the last three months, Emmanuel Mudiay hasn’t been able to cross the Guangdong Tigers’ locker room without first passing the cubicle of the team’s starting small forward, Zhu Fangyu. Zhu is the Chinese Basketball Association’s all-time leading scorer and a fixture on China’s national team for over a decade. He is also known as the authority figure within the Guangdong roster that sizes up new arrivals and decides if they are serious enough about playing for China’s most successful team. The
We knew there would be some bumps and bruises along the way, but going 1-3 in their first four games is not what anyone envisioned when the Cleveland Cavaliers acquired LeBron James and Kevin Love in the offseason. Unfortunately for them, that’s exactly where they are after losing to the Utah Jazz 102-100 on Wednesday thanks to a game-winning buzzer-beater from Gordon Hayward. The offense for the Cavaliers is very much in the infant stages, and David Blatt has yet to
BROOKLYN – Andrew Wiggins grew up watching Vince Carter during his “Air Canada” days, back when Tracy McGrady was also with the Toronto Raptors, showing his early flashes of stardom. The phenom drew comparisons to both former Toronto players as ceilings for his development when he entered the NBA draft. However, a handful of games into his NBA career, the 19-year-old has drawn numerous comparisons to Paul George in recent conversations with several league general managers, executives and scouts. Wiggins had his best