Two years ago in the NBA Finals (’08), Sasha Vujacic was finishing games as one of L.A.’s closers and generally getting abused by Ray Allen. That season saw him average just fewer than nine points a game while shooting almost 44 percent from downtown. This past postseason, Vujacic went from goat to hero, as his free throws late in Game 7 helped seal L.A.’s 16th championship.
Now it appears that will likely be his coronation as a Laker. Read More »
Around this time last year, I ranked the Top 10 players at each position covering the NBA, college and high school ranks for the just-completed season. Welcome to the second annual edition: first up was two-guards, now the centers.
To clarify (again), “Top 10″ is different from “10 Best.” So if you see Cole Aldrich ranked ahead of Brook Lopez, I’m NOT saying the incoming rookie is better than the NBA vet — I’m saying Cole had a better season than Brook. Read More »
It’s funny how these NBA team execs get all critical of their superstars after they leave, and act like they weren’t all that in the first place, even though they probably just made an impassioned pitch trying to keep said superstar in town. Case in point: Raptors GM Bryan Colangelo, who in an interview yesterday hinted that Chris Bosh milked injuries, quit on the Raptors during this past season, and isn’t really a franchise player. Total PR move on Colangelo’s part — even taking pages from Vince Carter‘s Blueprint to Guaranteed Canadian Hatred — to make sure Bosh is the bad guy and the Raps are the good guys in the eyes of the public. Read More »
Tracy McGrady says he still has it. After a year of averaging 8.2 points, sandwiched between Houston and New York, T-Mac has officially reached the Iverson zone. While he may not have the inner persistence and the dogged stubborn nature of the Answer, many believe McGrady has even less game left.
He had a brief flirtation with the L.A. Clippers last week, yet McGrady ended up in Chicago on Monday, working out for the Bulls in hopes of landing a spot with one of the best teams in the East. The two sides are at a crossroads, Chicago expects him to fit comfortably into a role as an instant-offense ninth man. McGrady sees himself working back into a starting lineup. Read More »
When you scroll through the list of available free agents, there’s one name that stands out from the rest: Joe Smith. While there are other former No. 1 picks without teams (Shaq, A.I. and Kwame), Smith is the the one that has played for the most teams. With 10 squads on the resume, the 35-year-old is looking for one last shot and a chance at a ring. But he wasn’t always just a backup big man. Take a minute to check out some of the damage he use to do around the League.
I won’t be the first person to tell you that I was surprised Sylven Landesberg didn’t get drafted this June. While the first round was definitely a stretch (considering the tumultuous end to his college basketball career), for him to slip past the second round just didn’t make sense. But the NBA isn’t always the right place for guys to start their professional basketball career. Whether it’s the D-League or overseas, everyone has their route to the Big Show. So after playing for the Sacramento Kings at the NBA Summer League in Las Vegas this month, Landesberg has decided to take his game, in a sense, back home: He’s going to Israel. Read More »
The word “chemistry” is thrown around a lot in sports these days. Good teams have chemistry, bad teams usually lack it. In the NFL, Terrell Owens appears on the verge of signing with the Cincinnati Bengals, where he’d join forces with Chad Ochocinco. In the NBA, Minnesota GM David Kahn is hoarding malcontents like Michael Beasley and Delonte West.
With all this talk about chemistry I decided to make the most combustible roster in the NBA; basically a team composed of troublemakers, big egos, and all things detrimental to team unity. How long would they last before blowing up? Meet the anti-Oklahoma City Thunder: Read More »
During the playoffs, Louis Amundson transcended from the NBA’s All-Undrafted Team into a sought after free agent on the open market this summer. And while he was hoping he could have stayed in the Valley of the Sun, the signings of Hakim Warrick and Channing Frye have him looking for a new home. And according to Paul Coro of The Arizona Republic, that could very well be with the Bobcats, Warriors or Raptors. Read More »
In a recent interview with a German basketball magazine, Dirk Nowitzki said that although Steve Nash wanted him to consider playing in Phoenix, he never really intended to sign anywhere but Dallas. Dirk also mentioned, however, that had D-Wade and LeBron asked him to join them in Miami to complete their Big Three, he would have had to seriously think about it.
“It would already have to be an unbelievable situation to go somewhere, for instance with LeBron or Wade just to play in Miami,” Dirk said (in the Gooogle-translated version). Read More »
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