While guys are trying to make a name for themselves in the NBA Summer League in Las Vegas, the NBA’s next group of stars was busy ballin’ in New Zealand. In honor of Team USA’s U19 Gold Medal victory in the FIBA World Championships this past weekend, here are five players from the team who will become household names during the 2009-10 NCAA season. Read More »

With the biggest of the big-name free agents quickly finding homes, the next phase is all about reactionary replacements. Example: The Blazers thought they had Hedo Turkoglu the other day, but now that he’s going to the Raptors, Portland has turned their sights on David Lee. They can offer Lee the same $50 million over five years they offered Hedo, but is Lee even worth that much? He’s only had one good year (16 ppg, 11.7 rpg) as a starter, and those numbers were put up in Mike D’Antoni’s stats-on-crack system where he was the only rebounder on the Knicks. And do the Blazers really need to spend $10M a year on LaMarcus Aldridge’s backup? … Read More »