If you thought this year’s class of point guards was strong, think again. In fact, go back three years to 2009 to find a draft class deep enough to hide the Hulk. Eight of the point guards drafted in the first round are now starting in the NBA, and while none of them can boast the star power of Derrick Rose or the potential of John Wall, they can all play. As offenses have slowed to a crawl this year, and with shooting percentages melting, having a point guard that can make plays and create for others is almost a necessity. Read More »

About halfway into the fourth quarter last night, Norris Cole had everyone in the building and all who were watching on national television wondering Who Dat? By the end of the night, Cole was the hero and he had national columnists asking the following morning if straight up, we were really going to love him forever… or was it just a hit and run? Is he for real? In just his second game as a pro, Cole dropped 14 of his 20 points in the fourth quarter, didn’t shy away at all from the big shot and unlike the starter, Mario Chalmers, he stayed within his game, not constantly dribbling into the lane and turning it over. Read More »

In the last decade, the NBA has transformed from being a big man’s league into a guard’s league. Although frontcourts have always, and will always be the foundation of a winning team, recently franchises have found it much more difficult to build an elite frontline than putting together a competitive 1-2 punch. Ultimately, putting together a dominant frontcourt is what separates the good teams from the great ones, because in today’s game every team has talented guards. Frankly, each team has a backcourt that can outplay its opponent on any given night, which is why it is so difficult to pick five particular tandems as the best up-and-comers in the League. Read More »

The Oklahoma City Thunder are not like a box of chocolates. You know they’ve got four fantasy studs that can feasibly be drafted in succession in the first four rounds of standard-sized drafts. Truth be told, no one else on this roster really matters. It will be interesting to monitor how the team’s mercurial point guard adjusts to having a more prominent mate in the backcourt. Read More »

Yesterday, we showed you the picture Eric Maynor tweeted with his new sleeve of ink. And while players often roll through fall training camps with fresh tattoos from the summer, Maynor is going above and beyond the call of duty. Read More »

I guess one of the things casual basketball fans like about the Thunder is that they are pretty much ink-less. The anti-Nuggets. While it seems like a weird reason to both love them and consider them non-threatening, they just bumped up their tattoo total considerably yesterday. Read More »

When C.J. Watson replaces Derrick Rose, Chicago fans collectively hold their breath. While their star briefly recharges the batteries, they can only hope that he does not shed his offensive leash. In a structured offense, an overconfident backup can singlehandedly ruin the dynamic. Think Jamal Crawford when he’s ice cold. This, in a nutshell, is C.J. Watson. But the emotional rollercoaster that is Watson’s game does not provide a concrete answer to the following question: How much do the Bulls actually miss Rose when Watson is on the floor? More generally, how great a difference is there between a starter and a backup in the playoffs? Let’s find out. Read More »

We think we should remind everyone: LeBron James and Dwyane Wade play on the same team. They play on the same team. On a night where Boston was playing for more than just a split, they fought the way we knew they would. But it wasn’t enough. You could feel the tension all night. It felt like Boston was teetering on the brink, one run away from a complete breakdown. Wade (28 points, eight rebounds) in the first half and then LeBron (35 points) in the second helped finally end it, James being the catalyst for a huge fourth-quarter run in the Heat’s 102-91 Game 2 win. Tied at 80 midway through the fourth, a Mario Chalmers three-pointer began a 14-0 Miami spurt. While Big Baby was missing layups, LeBron was hitting impossible shots. Boston didn’t score again until it was already over Read More »

More than just a championship is on the line in this weekend’s Final Four. A lot of these players – guys like Kemba Walker, Shelvin Mack, Joey Rodriguez and Brandon Knight – have the chance to do something special. This has been the year of the underdog with not a single number-one or number-two seed still dancing. These four teams weren’t expected to be here, but that doesn’t mean the basketball won’t be great.

Great, but perhaps not great enough. With the games set to tip tomorrow, I went diggin’ in the crates to try to find the greatest players in Kentucky, VCU, UConn and Butler’s history.

So here are the all-time starting lineups for each of the four schools playing this weekend. Read More »

The Oklahoma City Thunder took a big step forward last night. Kevin Durant & Co. went into Miami and beat a fired up Heat team – and to be honest, didn’t even play all that well offensively in the process. The Thunder traded haymakers with Miami in the first half as each team took turns churning out highlight reel material. Then in the second half, OKC clamped down on defense and completely shut down the Big 3, forcing them into a 4-24 performance in the third and fourth quarters, and propelling the Thunder to a 96-85 win. The whole thing was foreshadowed by Durant as he headed into the locker room at halftime. In his interview with Heather Cox, visibly irritated Durant told her, “The first team that plays defense will win the game.” If they play defense like this and get their offense going at the same time? Unbeatable … We can’t stress how incredible some of the highlights in the first half were last night. Read More »