The Cleveland Cavaliers won just 19 games last season, good for second worst in the NBA. They also dealt away their most promising big man before the lockout began, which is kind of a downer for fantasy purposes. While there are some things to get excited about — the arrivals of a skilled rookie point guard and a promising rookie power forward, along with the return of Sideshow Bob – this Cavs squad has “timeshare” written all over it. Put on your sad face as we dive into the fantasy prospects for Dan Gilbert‘s crew. Read More »

Mother of Lailaa; wife of Shelden; sister of Anthony. Candace Parker goes by many titles these days, but we all know her as arguably the best female athlete in the world. While she’s not in L.A. lighting it up for the Sparks, the 6-4 forward spends her offseason playing basketball overseas for UMMC Ekaterinburg in Russia. In between her motherly duties and obligations to her Euroleage team, we were able to catch up with Candace to talk Sparks championship hopes, playing ball post-pregnancy and her idolization of Ron Harper. Read More »

The 1997 NBA Draft is one of the worst in the history of the NBA. And that’s what makes this do-over so hard. There was no doubt that Tim Duncan would be selected at No. 1 by the Spurs, but after that it was anyone’s guess. And when you see some of the players taken in the Lottery, you’ll know what I’m talking about. Read More »

The sequel never, ever lives up to the hype. The Godfather II. Jaws II. Even Caddyshack II couldn’t do it. Last night in Cleveland, the game was at least closer than the last Return of the King. But no one cared about that. They wanted fireworks. And got absolutely none (unless you’re a Cavs fan) … Despite nearly blowing a 23-point second-half lead, the Cavs held on to beat the Heat 102-90 to deny them a chance to move ahead of Boston and into second place in the East. The first time LeBron James came back to Cleveland, everyone was nervous he was going to slip up at a red light and some Cavs’ fan would pull up and get their Sonny Corleone on. This time, the reaction wasn’t nearly as antagonistic. Maybe that was because James didn’t show up for introductions. Yes, when they called his name, he was back in the locker room, waiting it out while his teammates had to soak in the boos. Read More »

Not everyone can be Dwight Howard. That’s easy. But not everyone can be Bruce Bowen either. You know, the guy who rarely gets pub, hardly ever gets any Defensive Player of the Year love and always ends up looking stupid on television. Basically, this is a list of guys like Shane Battier before people became obsessed with Battier’s hand-in-eye tactic and started proclaiming him to have the hand of God. Read More »

For the past couple days, two teams have been in the sweepstakes for Cleveland swingman Anthony Parker: Boston and Chicago. The Celtics are said to be offering their 2011 first-round pick and the expiring contract of Marquis Daniels (who could be out for the year), while the Bulls have two first-round picks this year to sweeten the pot. But according to Ken Berger of CBSSports.com, two Western Conference “dark horses” have entered the mix. Read More »

There are obviously aftershocks from the big deals involving Carmelo Anthony and Deron Williams earlier this week. With a few hours left before the trade deadline passes, there are more deals to discuss, involving guys like Baron Davis, Mo Williams and Kirk Hinrich. Here are quick takes on the implications that fantasy owners should pay attention to. Read More »

“Get ready for a steady dose of ‘What’s wrong with the Lakers?’ fire-alarm stories today. (Which will promptly be forgotten after they destroy the Cavs on Wednesday.) … So, um, yeah. That was from Smack earlier this week, after the Lake Show lost in Charlotte and spiced up the soap opera when Kobe ducked the post-game media and Phil gave a snippy five seconds of his time. Considering that the last Lakers/Cavs meeting saw L.A. beat Cleveland worse than Sonny Corleone beat Carlo, and considering it’s Kobe and Pau Gasol versus the worst team in the League, you can understand our early prediction. We were wrong … Read More »

Losing was the theme of the day in the NBA. In Denver, Carmelo Anthony turned in his best effort of the season, but just as you’d expect in this strange trip for the Nuggets, his team still lost the game at home to a Lottery-bound opponent … On his way to dropping 50 points (16-24 FG, 16-18 FT) on the Rockets, Carmelo treated Shane Battier like an assistant coach in a practice drill, and when Houston tried to mix it up, ‘Melo made Chuck Hayes look like Chuck E. Cheese. ‘Melo added 11 rebounds and 3 blocks … But somehow it still wasn’t enough. Read More »

Say it in your best Rudy Tomjanovich voice: Don’t EVER underestimate the heart of an underdog!

When I wrote the Cleveland Cavaliers 2010-11 season preview, I thought maybe, possibly, the defending Central Division champions would muster enough motivation to surprise the critics and snatch a playoff spot. After all, this was a 60-win team that had only lost a couple key players, right? Read More »