A little more than a month has passed in the NBA season, but it seems like we’ve already had a full year of distractions, both good and bad. Portland great; Indiana even better. The Knicks and Nets taking turns who’s bad and who’s worse. Kobe close to returning; Rose out for the year. Dwayne Wade hurting; the Atlantic Division hurting even more. Meanwhile, the last team other than the Miami Heat to win a championship is quietly turning into a solid
Raise your hand if you had the Portland Trail Blazers leading the Western Conference. OK, now put your hand down and stop lying. The Trail Blazers are 16-3. After a disappointing loss in Phoenix that ended a double-digit winning streak, Portland is 3-0 in December, including back-to-back home victories over the Indiana Pacers and the Oklahoma City Thunder, two of the best teams in the NBA. There are two things every NBA fan wants to know right now. First, is this Blazers team
Parity \ˈper-ə-tē\ — the quality or state of being equal or equivalent. Parity is what most professional sports leagues strive for. Parity, or competitive balance in the case of sports, is good for business. It means games are competitive. It gives fans—of all teams—hope and reason to fill arena seats. Unfortunately for the National Basketball Association, parity seems non-existent nearly 20 games into the 2013-14 season. Former Boston Celtics forward Antoine Walker took notice of the disparity between the NBA conferences. [Read more…]
LOS ANGELES – Arriving in at LAX for Thanksgiving proved to be entertaining as usual. Kobe Bryant signed his two-year, $48.5 million extension Monday morning, so by the time my plane touched down late Tuesday, the irrational debate and cheap analysis was kicking into a higher gear among Lakers Nation. This group is one of my favorites because its members live in a self-contained universe where there are only two types of humans – those who are Lakers and those who
Houston Rockets guard Jeremy Lin, one of the NBA’s top reserves this season, is out at least two weeks with a knee injury. According to the team, Lin has a Grade one sprain and contusion of his right knee suffered in Wednesday’s home win over the Atlanta Hawks. He will be sidelined two weeks before being re-evaluated. It is not the same knee in which Lin had surgery to repair a meniscus tear during the 2012 offseason, when he left the New
Kobe Bryant has signed a two-year contract extension with the Los Angeles Lakers, which means he likely will have a 20-year career. The Lakers did not announce financial terms. Bryant is the highest-paid player in the NBA this season, making $30.4 million. He and Michael Jordan are the only NBA players to make $30 million in one season. Bryant was eligible to receive 105 percent of his current salary, which would put his 2014-15 earnings at almost $32 million. However, reports out
We are all familiar with the Spurs and their uncanny efficiency. Are you familiar with AAU basketball? I have coached it at the high school level for the last three years. And one thing I have learned is that with just four hours of weekly practice time followed by four games every weekend, if you don’t have definitive, well-drilled schemes on both offense and defense, you have no chance to compete. However, if you have a group that is committed to a
In Oklahoma City, the source of civic pride is never in doubt. Trying to walk or drive through the streets without seeing a Thunder sign or flag or banner is like trying to stand in Times Square without seeing a tourist. In fact, if you didn’t know any better, you would swear the name of the place is “Thunder” city rather than “Oklahoma City.” On Thursday night, NBA royalty even appeared at courtside to take in a Thunder game. Beyoncè visited the