Danilo Gallinari has lost the hot hand he had during the first three games of the season, but his starting job remains safe and he’ll continue to get enough minutes to produce nice lines and hit loads of threes. He used to be overrated, but is now underrated. Read More »
Is it just us, or has this been — from an injury standpoint — the most destructive NBA preseason in a while? Last year Deron Williams started out on the shelf, and of course Gilbert Arenas and Monta Ellis had their issues, but we don’t remember too many other notables beginning the regular season logging DNPs due to preseason injuries … One standout who’s absence will be very noticeable on Opening Night is Pau Gasol, who as of yesterday is expected to miss the Lakers/Clippers opener with a bad hamstring. Gasol and Andrew Bynum (shoulder) missed L.A.’s last two preseason games, but while Bynum said he’s going to play Tuesday, the Lakers look like they’ll be getting their rings with Gasol in a suit and Lamar Odom in the starting lineup … Read More »
One sequence defined last night’s Lakers/Nuggets national TV preseason game: In the second half, after Kobe Bryant had already come out of the locker room with That Look in his eye, he pulled off his new favorite move on Kenyon Martin; getting him in the air with a pump fake and spinning a quick 360 to his left, dropping a jumper as K-Mart harmlessly floated back to Earth. Then on the Nuggets’ ensuing possession, Kobe jumped a passing lane and finished with a breakway one-hander, slapping on the bottom-teeth snarl as an exclamation point … Read More »
Last year we debuted the “Highs and Lows” system — previewing the NBA season by predicting the respective ceiling and basement for each team. Same theme, different season…
While much of the trade talk surrounding this June’s NBA Draft centered around Amar’e Stoudemire being sent to Golden State for Andris Biedrins, Brandan Wright, Marco Belinelli and the No. 7 pick (Stephen Curry), it appears another big name free agent might be headed to The Bay. According to the Toronto Sun, Chris Bosh has been mentioned in a possible trade to the Warriors in a deal that would involve Biedrins coming to the Toronto, with, of course, a lot more. Read More »
Every day, more signs are popping up to tell us we’re getting closer and closer to the actual NBA season. Over the last week or so, we’ve watched guys going through the motions in practice (the “Real Training Camp” cameras never lie); Shaq throwing his old teams under the bus to hype up his new team; a valuable Kings player getting hurt; Vince Carter’s critics blasting him for shooting (and missing) too many jumpers; Gerald Wallace dunking on cats; some decent preseason games; a couple of fights and suspensions; and further proof that the Warriors are officially the Oakland Raiders of the NBA. Last night was another milestone, with the first nationally televised game of the year: Suns/Warriors on TNT. Read More »
For the second day in a row, the two marquee teams at the FIBA European Championships didn’t look that good. Spain was upset by a scrappy Serbia squad over the holiday weekend, then on Tuesday they struggled again with a team they rightfully should have 20-pieced. Playing without Ben Gordon or Luol Deng (or Michael Olowokandi — although that’s probably a good thing), Great Britain gave Pau Gasol and Co. all they could handle, taking a brief lead in the fourth quarter before Spain (sparked by a Pau three-pointer) got it together in time to hold on for a win. Gasol dropped 27 points and 11 boards, while Rudy Fernandez scored 13 and Ricky Rubio added five points and six assists. In case you’re wondering, Rubio is starting at PG ahead of Raul Lopez. His regular competition, Jose Calderon, isn’t playing in this tournament … Read More »
Similar to the Vegas/Orlando summer leagues, you don’t want to read too much into the FIBA Americas tournament as far as projecting how its standouts will do in the upcoming NBA season, especially when Team USA sat this one out. But it’s hard not to be impressed by Leandro Barbosa’s recent work and predict big things for him this season. In leading Brazil to the tournament gold medal yesterday, as well as a spot in the 2010 World Championships, Barbosa averaged 21.1 points on 55% shooting from the field. It was a down year for Barbosa in ‘08-09. Read More »
Between Stephen Jackson’s trade request, Anthony Randolph’s summer league breakout, and C.J. Watson’s incredibly over-covered free agent situation (all this for a guy who’s like two steps above the minimum salary?), we’ve been talking about the Warriors a lot this offseason. Things have been such a mess in the Bay lately that it’s been assumed Golden State will stink again, but in reality, they could be better than you think. Monta Ellis will be healthy from Day One, everyone in the organization is convinced Randolph is about to blow up, Andris Biedrins will get his nightly double-double, and Kelenna Azubuike is one of the better sneaky-good players in the NBA. Read More »
Now that we knowRicky Rubio won’t be playing in Minnesota this season (or next), questions turn to whether he’ll ever play for the Wolves at all. Soon after it was reported that Rubio is definitely staying in Spain until 2011, some Minnesota sources said the Knicks were worming their way back into the picture, pitching trades to see if the Wolves would rather get something now than wait for Rubio later. Then some New York sources promptly denied it. (Why wouldn’t they?) If the teams are talking, apparently David Lee, Nate Robinson, and/or a No. 1 pick would be some of the bargaining chips on the table. Just for fun, let’s pretend there’s a chance of a deal here: We’ve been over how Rubio and the Knicks would be a perfect fit; but what about Lee or Nate in Minnesota? Read More »
