Buy Low: Chauncey Billups has shot 4-21 (19 percent) in his last two games and averaged just 10 points, 1.5 rebounds and 5 assists during that time. He’s much better than this and should find another hot streak sooner than later. Read More »

For years in the NBA when you thought of the fastest player in the League, it was Allen Iverson. But the Answer got older and it seems that guards somehow got even faster. In the current issue of HOOP Magazine, Hornets rookie Darren Collison came out and said that he’s at the top of the list: “I definitely think I’m the fastest player. I got a chance to watch Ty Lawson’s game and he is probably up there. I’d definitely say I’m the fastest.” Whether or not you believe the rookie is up to you, but here’s my list of the NBA’s top 10 fastest players. Read More »

I’ve said it before and I’m saying it again: In just about every sport, you can’t accurately judge a draft class for at least three years after the fact (and longer than that in baseball).

Going into the ‘09 NBA Draft, everybody decided early that the class was weak, but look around the League now. Tyreke Evans and Stephen Curry look like certified future superstars, while Brandon Jennings isn’t far behind. Read More »

After some notable above-the-rim mishaps — namely a doomed 360 attempt snuffed out by LeBron James and a basic one-hander he missed all by himself in crunch time against San Antonio — Jason Richardson obviously hasn’t lost any confidence in his skills.

Putting the punctuation mark on last night’s Suns/Hornets game, J-Rich found himself on another fourth-quarter breakaway, and this time he successfully completed a 360. Read More »

Going outside the norm was the theme of last night’s Lakers/Suns game. In a close fourth quarter against a not-so-lockdown defense, Kobe didn’t go nutso shooting the ball, scoring “only” eight of his 21 points in the quarter and just two during L.A.’s decisive run. Ron Artest, meanwhile, was a regular Mitch Richmond out there; the normally streaky shooter showed a smooth stroke (15 pts, 3 threes) and knocked down some daggers in crunch time to secure the win … Read More »

Bulls/Magic was over the moment Derrick Rose crashed to the floor and sprained his left wrist. On a night when the Bulls were already playing without Joakim Noah (foot) and Luol Deng (calf), and Orlando has been smashing all non-contender squads during their now seven-game win streak, Chicago’s only chance would be if D-Rose went off like Shep in Above the Rim — or if Vinny Del Negro hopped in a Hot Tub Time Machine and brought Mike and Scottie back with him … Late in the first quarter, Rose went to the rack and threw his body into Dwight Howard, hurting himself when he tried to break the fall. The play was exactly like the one from last month when Dwight and Rose collided and Rose wound up with a hip injury. Read More »

Outside of the first two days of the NCAA Tournament and the night-to-night drama of the NBA playoffs, probably the best basketball TV-watching experience is a heavy schedule on NBA League Pass full of intriguing head-to-head matchups.

Sometimes it’s tough to pre-plan what you’re gonna watch on a given night, but this past Tuesday was easy: When I saw “Utah at Chicago” on the schedule, I knew that meant Deron Williams and Derrick Rose were going to put on a show. Read More »

Derrick Rose has been doing more than his fair share of dunking on people this season, so don’t think that Deron Williams was going to let the second-year player get all the shine. When two of the top point guards in the League did battle last night, both guys got the stats (28 points and 17 assists for D-Will; 25 points and 13 assists for D-Rose), but it was Williams that delivered the bone-crushing dunk in the third.

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After three quarters of feeding the post and flexing their size advantage, the Lakers went back to their bread and butter when things got tense against Toronto: Give it to Kobe Bryant and vacate the premises … Midway through the fourth, L.A. was down on the scoreboard and in danger of losing their fourth game in a row. Predictably, that’s when Kobe (32 pts, 6 rebs, 6 asts) went to work. In the span of what seemed like a few seconds, he strung together a jumper and some free throws to turn a four-point deficit into a Lakers lead. A couple minutes later, Kobe put L.A. up four with a short baseline fadeaway. Read More »

Derrick Rose has only participated in one dunk contest in his life. And he can’t even remember exactly when. Arguably the most athletic point guard in the NBA and one of the League’s most explosive players, period, Rose has a strong resume of in-game dunks — this season alone he’s had notable bangers on Greg Oden, Zach Randolph and Goran Dragic — he’s just not a contest dunker.

But that won’t stop him from being a tough dunk contest judge. Rose and Chris Paul and part of Powerade’s Dunk Domination, where regular folks can send in videos of their best dunks to be evaluated by D-Rose and CP3. Read More »