In a lot of people’s eyes, Amar’e Stoudemire and Andre Iguodala are the future (if not current) centerpieces of their respective franchises. But clearly both young stars are expendable.
According to ESPN and RealGM, the Suns and Sixers are discussing a trade that would send Amar’e to the Sixers for Iguodala and Sam Dalembert. Reportedly, the Suns are more eager to get this done than Philly — I’d imagine either because the Sixers don’t want to get stuck paying Amar’e $17 million next season (if he doesn’t opt-out), or because they’re hesitant to give up their most talented wing player and best defender for another big man with noted defensive weaknesses. Read More »
In the final seconds of the fourth quarter of last night’s Sixers/Bulls game, Philly was down one with the ball. Allen Iverson was not in the building, as he was home dealing with a family illness. Elton Brand and Andre Iguodala, respectively, were having perhaps their best games of the season.
But even I’ve seen enough Sixers games to know what every Philly fan was fearing most: Lou Williams was going to take it upon his shoulders to lose this game. Read More »
Not that he really needed to, but Chris Bosh sealed what will be his fifth straight All-Star selection later tonight with a dominating effort against the Heat on Wednesday. Breaking out the throwback unis from the 1947 Toronto Huskies — oddly enough, a team that was also accused of being soft and not playing defense — the Raptors’ win moved them into fifth-place in the East while Miami dropped to sixth … The Raps were down by 13 in the first half, but rallied and were clinging to a small lead late in the fourth quarter. After Bosh (24 pts, 18 rebs) hit a jumper to put them up by seven, one T-Dot announcer screamed, “The cream rises to the top!” Even when Bosh messed up, it worked for him. Read More »
30. New Jersey Nets (3-40)
Last week: Lost at Phoenix; lost at Golden State; lost at Utah.
You know how some teams can play any style and win? The Nets have become adept at losing with any style. Last week they lost trying to run. They also lose in the halfcourt, lose when they go big, lose when they go small, lose with a youth movement, lose with vets, lose at home, lose on the road … their company softball team probably stinks, too.
29. Minnesota Timberwolves (9-36)
Last week: Lost to Oklahoma City; lost to New Orleans; lost at Milwaukee.
If you’re into moral victories, the Wolves can be proud of at least taking the Thunder and Hornets down to the wire. The talent and competitiveness is there; you just see the execution failures that come with a young team. Read More »
I think at this point, Amar’e Stoudemire is all but gone from Phoenix. As I mentioned in an article last week, it’s unlikely that Stoudemire and the Suns are going to agree on an extension that will satisfy both parties. Plus, there’s plenty of speculation that Amar’e wants to bolt to a bigger market anyway. Now that the divorce is inevitable, the question now remains: Which zip code will STAT relocate to? Read More »
Though it’s tough to cover everything in a concise manner, let’s attempt to traverse this broad topic by way of using a simple grading system. The first letter grade after each player’s name will be based on their performance thus far, in addition to how they’ve fallen short of, met or exceeded expectations; and the second grade will be based on their expected value during the second half of the season. Read More »
When Blake Griffin went down for the season last week, there was a lot of disbelief emanating from Southern California. Whether it was talk of a curse or simply that the Clippers will never catch a break, it’s safe to say that no one knew how to stomach it. So searching for answers, I reached out to Steve Perrin (a.k.a. ClipperSteve), the brains behind popular Clippers blog, Clips Nation. Check below as Perrin sheds light on the injury, the curse and the fan reactions from Clips Nation. Read More »