If you haven’t heard, this is supposed to be a down year for the Pac-10.
Over the summer the conference lost James Harden, Jordan Hill, DeMar DeRozan, Jrue Holiday, Darren Collison, Taj Gibson, Jeff Pendergraph, Jon Brockman and Chase Budinger to the NBA Draft. Going back to 2008, the Pac-10 also lost O.J. Mayo, Kevin Love, Russell Westbrook, the Lopez twins, Jerryd Bayless and Ryan Anderson, all of whom would still been in school today had they not gone pro early. Read More »
It’s not personal it’s business. Getting traded is just a part of the glamorous world of professional sports. But four times over a course of two months? Welcome to Quentin Richardson’s offseason. In a span of seven weeks, the 29-year-old forward was traded from New York to Memphis, Memphis to the L.A. Clippers, L.A. to Minnesota and finally Minnesota to the Miami Heat. Just days before Heat training camp, we caught up with Q-Rich to talk about his crazy summer, his days with the Knicks and his fresh start in South Florida. Read More »
Beast of the Night:Nene put up a monster line with 20 points, 10 rebounds, 5 assists, 4 steals, 4 blocks and 2 turnovers while shooting 62 percent (8-13) from the floor and 80 percent (4-5) from the line. It was his finest game of the season so far and his owners have to be hoping that he stays healthy. Read More »
Beast of the Night:Dirk Nowitzkinot only hit the game-winner in Milwaukee last night, he also finished with 32 points, 1 three, 11 rebounds, 3 assists, 2 steals and 1 block while shooting 48 percent (12-25) from the field, 88 percent (7-8) from the line and didn’t have any turnovers. He’s the hottest fantasy commodity to come out of Germany since Heidi Klum. Read More »
30. New Jersey Nets (0-10) — During the lopsided part of the Pacquiao/Cotto fight, Jim Lampley enthusiastically said Cotto “almost landed a big left.” And he meant it in a good way. That’s how it’s been for the Nets; last week they almost beat Philly and Miami, so far the highlights of their season.
29. Minnesota Timberwolves (1-10) — The rest of November has them facing Houston, Denver and Phoenix at home, and the Blazers, Nuggets and Clippers on the road. It could be a long couple of weeks. Read More »
If the Nuggets were aware that the majority of NBA experts had kind of written them off as a legit championship contender going into this season — mainly because they hadn’t made any major moves over the summer — last night’s Hulk-Smash of the Lakers on national TV was a definite statement win. Carmelo dropped 25 points in just 29 minutes on L.A.’s shiny new Ron Artest acquisition, as the Nuggets turned a close game at halftime into a rout when they held the Lakers to EIGHT points in the third quarter. By the fourth, J.R. Smith (he’s not “Earl” anymore) was dropping threes and annoyingly twisting the knife in a way only J.R. Smith can. Glad to see he’s officially back … Read More »
The injury epidemic hit the NBA hard at the beginning of this NBA season. Several stars’ season debuts have been delayed due to different injuries. On top of guys getting hurt, a couple of big time players started the year suspended. Now that J.R. Smith and Tyler Hansbrough finally suited up, there are a dozen of other players who are about to crash the season and possibly make major impacts. Here’s ten to keep an eye on. Read More »
This season, several players came into camp with their bodies reshaped. Chris Bosh and Rajon Rondo both got jacked over the summer - each adding 15-20 pounds of mass to their once skinny frames. Other guys like Caron Butler, Quentin Richardson and Tim Duncan all dropped weight to increase efficiency and reduce the risk of injuries. The question is whether these body transformations actually translate into better performances on the court. Read More »
Although Dwight Howard was the one guy on the Magic who didn’t look like he should give his paycheck back after last night’s embarrassing loss to Oklahoma City, that didn’t stop the Thunder announcers from using Dwight for a punchline or two. “Superman has met Lex Luger tonight,” joked commentator Grant Long. His broadcast partner came in for the correction (”Lex Luthor“) but Long had made his point: Orlando looked nothing like a championship contender on Sunday, their second such alarming performance in the last four games. Read More »
If you’re purely interested in the best interest of Allen Iverson, you’re glad the Grizzlies had one of their business-as-usual losses against the Clippers last night. Having gone 0-3 since A.I. joined the lineup earlier in the week, for Memphis to win after Iverson had left the team for undisclosed personal reasons — even if it was against the Clips — would have brought up all the same criticisms of Iverson you saw in Detroit and at various points throughout his runs in Philly and Denver. Mainly, that A.I.’s team is better without him, and that certain young stars (i.e. O.J. Mayo in this case) are better off when he’s not in the picture … Instead, the Grizzlies did what they typically do with or without Iverson, putting up a lot of points while giving up even more. Read More »
