Andrew wrote this morning that the Celtics should have been more patient, now having a shot at bigger frontcourt contributors Drew Gooden and Joe Smith, but with Mikki Moore and a full roster, Gooden and Smith will have to find another team to suit up for. Turns out, they’re not the only ones.
As GMs cut ties with players before Sunday’s deadline to still be playoff eligible, giving them a chance to participate in the postseason, who will snatch them up? Unless you’re contending, you’re not really looking to spend money, but if you have title aspirations, here are five guys who just became available (since the Knicks just signed Cheikh Samb) and where they’re most likely headed: Read More »
47 years ago, on March 2, 1962, Wilt Chamberlain achieved the impossible. Obliterating his previous NBA scoring record of 78 points set less than three months earlier, Wilt shot 36-for-63 from the field and 28-for-32 from the line (remarkable, considering his career free throw percentage was 51%) to reach the century mark. Read More »
On the same day I was going to try and coin the phrase “The Doris Burke Game” — referring to that afterthought national TV matchup that ESPN inevitably sticks its JV announce team on, nine times out of 10 led by Burke — Smack reader “d” linked to Burke’s Wikipedia page, which as of 1:20 p.m. Pacific Time included this sentence:
“She no longer lives in North Providence with her husband and their two children because I killed her after watching her announce the Cavaliers vs. Hawks game on ESPN.”
Is Doris Burke the worst NBA announcer out there? If not, who is? Who’s the best announcer? Whether it’s someone from one of the national networks or your local team’s broadcast, post your picks for the best and worst in each category: Read More »
Back when ESPN ran their “Right Now” tournament, and asked viewers “Who’s More ‘Now’” like 70 times a day, I made a habit of writing weekly letters of complaint to their ombudsman. That’s because their definition of “now” was some ambiguous blend of being good, being cool, and being the flavor of the week. That’s a dumb definition.
I’ll suggest something else instead. For a basketball player to be one of the hottest players “right now,” they need to a) be playing so well that one outstanding performance carries over to the next, creating a substantial string of games, b) be playing so well that their teammates defer to them almost frantically when the shot clock is under 7 seconds, and c) to get theirs in a way that is directly helping their team win games. It doesn’t matter if you make funny commercials or not.
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Some extended thoughts from the last week’s games that weren’t big enough to warrant an entire column…
THE SIMPLE ANSWER
Why is everyone acting like this Allen Iverson situation in Detroit is so complicated? We know at least two things here: (1) The Pistons starters/vets play better when A.I. isn’t on the court dominating the ball and stifling offensive flow, and (2) Making Iverson a sixth man is a risky recipe for caustic locker-room issues.
But there’s a theoretically easy solution to this: Keep Iverson in the starting lineup, but over the course of the game, play him more often with the second unit. Think about it like the reverse-Ginobili. Iverson doesn’t have to take the indignity of coming off the bench, and Rip Hamilton and the rest of the Pistons’ mainstays can stay mentally locked in while playing “our style of ball,” as Rip put it following yesterday’s win over the Celtics. At the end of a close game, you can swap A.I. for youngster Rodney Stuckey — because like him or not, you need a scorer of his caliber on the floor in crunch-time — and everyone should be happy. Read More »
It looks like Converse’s Open Gym hit the 404 right before the big snow storm. Kids came out, laced their kicks up and hit the court. This installment of Open Gym Atlanta brought out 200 new kids. The word is spreading down in the ‘A’ that Open Gym is what’s up. Read More »
Ever since the notion of Stephon Marbury to the Celtics was mentioned months ago, I’ve been wary. And despite Mr. BET’s life-long adulation of the player formerly known as Starbury, I still am.
After a respectable eight points in 13 minutes in his Celtic debut, Steph was underwhelming to say the least in yesterday’s loss to the Pistons. Zero points (0-for-3), four fouls and two turnovers in only 12 minutes. Those look like numbers I would have if I stepped onto an NBA court for the first time. Read More »
Chicago’s basketball community braved the cold weather and still managed to make it out to the latest installment of Converse’s Open Gym. Held at the luxurious Attack Center, 500 plus hoop fans came out to showcase their talents on the hardwood. Read More »
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