Golden State Warriors swingman Dorell Wright spent his first six seasons in Miami learning the ropes from All-Star Dwyane Wade. Going straight to the pros out of South Kent Prep (Conn.), the 6-9, 205-pounder had to go through some growing pains before he finally arrived, but he wouldn’t trade it for the world. We caught up with him the other day to chat about his time with the Heat, learning from and playing against Wade, and proper protocol when you visit your old city or your teammates visit yours. Read More »

Weekend Wonder: Kobe Bryant averaged 31.0 points, 11.0 rebounds, 5.5 assists, a steal, 1 block and 3.0 threes in two games over the weekend. He’s shooting less lately, but that’s done nothing to diminish his strong fantasy appeal. It’s not a guarantee that Kobe will keep his top 10 value for the rest of the season, but he’s been one of the surprises of the fantasy season so far. Read More »

Beast of the Night: Brandon Jennings put up 30 points, three boards, six assists, three steals and a block, and hit three treys along the way to a big line last night. He shot 59 percent (13-22) from the field, 50 percent (1-2) from the free-throw line and had three turnovers. This was a nice bounce-back game from his 7/3/2 clunker the night before. Jennings is having a much-improved season so far, and he’s putting up top 30 averages to date. Nevertheless, it’s tough to fully trust his ability to maintain this kind of pace, and his owners should at least explore his trade value. Read More »

Beast of the Night: Derrick Rose put up 31 points, three boards, 11 assists, a steal, two blocks and four three-pointers last night against the Timberwolves. He shot 55 percent (12-22) from the field, 75 percent (3-4) from the free-throw line and had three turnovers. For the season, Rose is scoring less than he did in 2010-11, but he’s dishing out 8.6 assists per outing, an improvement of nearly a full assist per game. Rose has put up top 15 averages so far, a bit disappointing given his first-round expectations heading into the season. Read More »

The Golden State Warriors were down 17 to the Heat in the third quarter last night and were all but wrapped up as Miami’s latest victims. But then things stopped going Miami’s way and the threes started falling for the Warriors – before you knew it, Golden State had stolen one, 111-106.

Safe to say that few people enjoyed the comeback more than Warriors’ owner Joe Lacob. Check out his reaction after Dorell Wright tied the game with a three in the fourth quarter: Read More »

Say hello to the bad guy. We have a new beast in the West. In probably the most physical game of the NBA season so far, the Blazers showed why everyone is so frightened of playing them up in the Northwest by punking the Clippers and Blake Griffin, 105-97. With the NBA’s newest A-List team threatening them over and over, Portland answered every call. Between Gerald Wallace, LaMarcus Aldridge and Marcus Camby, they did work on Griffin, holding him to the most up-and-down 18 and 12 night you’ll ever see. Read More »

Up: Ryan Anderson is owning opponents this season, posting averages of 19.7 points, 7.4 rebounds and 3.6 threes per game. He’s also shooting 48 percent from the field and 94 percent from the free-throw line. Many fantasy owners expected Anderson to be good this season, but I’m not sure anyone thought he’d be this good. If you drafted him, two thumbs up; if you somehow nabbed him out of your league’s free-agent pool, bragging on your league’s message board is in order. [Hold] Read More »

I now understand what it’s like to be Kobe Bryant or LeBron James. During the 149-day lockout, I was repeatedly asked the same question over and over again: “How does the lockout affect your job?” By about the eighth time I heard this, I had developed a stock response that I could tell people. “NBA or no NBA, we’re still good. There’s college, high school and overseas ball, and now we just have more time to cover the players’ lives off the court.” Truthfully, I only partly believed myself. Read More »

Up: Spencer Hawes is averaging top 10 numbers so far this season. Yeah, that doesn’t say too much, but his two-game averages of 9.5 points, 12.5 rebounds, 6.0 assists, 2.0 steals, 1.5 blocks and 2.5 turnovers, along with 56 percent shooting from the field and a perfect one-for-one from the free-throw line are impressive. If you say you saw this coming, I’ll call you a liar. But if you scooped him up, I’ll call you a savvy optimist. Hawes won’t keep this up for the whole season, but his current owners should squeeze him for all he’s got or shop him like there’s no tomorrow. [Sell] Read More »

Are you making some bets and need help deciding who to take this Christmas Day? Check out the simulations from NBA 2K12. Okay, I wouldn’t do that, but as the most realistic sports video game yet, these videos are a good start. In anticipation of opening day in the NBA, 2K12 simulated all five scheduled games in an attempt to predict who will come out on top. While you might disagree with the results, the means are justified. The game recently released an update with pretty much every roster move that took place over the course of this offseason, including adding rookies, free agent signings, foreign players and even Metta World Peace. Read More »