When word broke that Pops Mensah-Bonsu signed a one-year deal with the Rockets this morning, my brother (who’s a senior at George Washington this year) was the first one to tell me how this is finally the chance that Pops needs. But despite bleeding school colors, signing a 6-9, 240-pound forward who has played a total of 34 games in his NBA career is not going to replace Yao Ming. Read More »

Who would have guessed that the first NBA dude to put Blake Griffin on his ass would be skinny JaVale McGee? Blake finished with 19 points, 10 boards and four steals against the Wizards in yesterday’s Vegas Summer League, but one time he came through the lane with the rock and McGee (19 pts, 7 blks) gave the rookie a good, hard, welcome-to-the-NBA foul. Blake stayed on the ground for a second, but he was OK. Then later in the fourth quarter, McGee caught an alley-oop on Blake’s head and screamed on him. (JaVale is still doing the salute thing whenever he dunks, too.) … Rodrigue Beaubois scored 23 for the Mavs in a game against the Thunder that was just ugly. Read More »

Big night in the Vegas Summer League, where the “veterans” outshined the rookies and toyed with some of the scrubs. Anthony Randolph continued his MVP-caliber run, dropping 42 points (13-22 FG, 16-21 FT), four steals and three blocks on the Bulls while looking like a more athletic version of Chris Bosh. Randolph has shown flashes in college and during his rookie year; we know, It’s Just Summer League, but the guy is looking like he’s gonna be a beast in the NBA. Few power forwards in the League have his athleticism and few small forwards have his size, making him an instant matchup problem. Read More »