The NBA season powers on entering its fourth week of action and we have a small but effective sample size to evaluate the season’s early surprise players. For purposes of clarity we are discussing the good surprises not the disappointing ones (that comes later).

Whatever the reason, each one of these players has emerged as a key contributor for their team. Here are the Top 10 Surprising Players this season: Read More »

The Rockets want Dwight Howard the way the dudes from Workaholics want off from work. Also like those three, Houston is willing to do some crazy things for its dream to happen. Today they agreed to send Marcus Camby to New York in a sign-and-trade for three years and $13.2 million. Camby is 38, which adds to this year’s free agency class as possibly the greatest coup for the over 35 crowd in free agency’s history. This isn’t about Camby, though. Read More »

At some point in the fourth quarter of Boston’s 91-83 win in Orlando – it might’ve been after another one of his threes or perhaps when he had a behind-the-back assist to Brandon Bass or even when he hit a technical free throw – we sat back and realized, “Damn, Boston is really going to win this thing,” and they did it because Paul Pierce turned back the clock with one of the most incredible comebacks we’ve ever seen. Early in the fourth quarter, Pierce had banged two straight threes and then hit a pull-up in the lane and suddenly it was a four-point game. Read More »

On a team known for its experience – and bad knees – Avery Bradley is an anomaly. The 21-year-old combo guard is the youngest player on the Celtics’ roster. In fact, it was just three years ago that Bradley was putting up 19.1 points per game at Findlay Prep, a feat that earned him the No. 1 ranking in the ESPNU 100, four spots ahead of John Wall. Read More »

Brian Cardinal is the definition of a journeyman. With his sixth NBA team, the man affectionately named “The Custodian” finally got to the Promised Land, hoisting the Larry O’Brien Trophy with the Dallas Mavericks this June. On a team where every player had a specific role to play, Cardinal played his to perfection, coming in and making life miserable for Chris Bosh and LeBron James in the paint. Cardinal also made the most of his opportunities with the ball, knocking down some huge three-pointers in Game 5 and 6. Recently we caught up with Brian to talk about whatever was on his mind. Read More »

After a season that saw him take his game to another level while everyone else around the Orlando organization dropped about four levels, Dwight Howard wants to meet up with Hakeem again. The Magic center says he plans to meet up with Olajuwon again at some point this summer because if he wants to continue to meet his goals and get better, meeting up with the Dream is necessary. Last year, Howard officially tapped into some of the incredible potential he has. And while it’s hard to expect guys who’ve been in the league for as long as he has to drastically improve, watching Howard all last year surely felt like he had turned a corner. Read More »

After all the rumors, all the trade speculation, all the gossip, our biggest trade of the day came before the draft even started. Yes, we figured Kyrie Irving would go No. 1, followed by Derrick Williams and then after that, all bets were off because the prospect level just wasn’t that good. But we wanted moves. That’s what a bad draft guaranteed us right? Read More »

After the NBA Draft and before Midnight Madness, it seems nobody really talks about college basketball. While free agency and trades in the pros dominate the headlines, now is the time where your favorite NCAA team is gearing up and building the chemistry that could carry them to a national championship. The recruits are on campus, the returners are learning their new roles, and coaches are devising game plans. Here is my pre-preseason national Top-10: Read More »

Earlier this morning we gave you four Players to Watch in the Midwest region. Here are four more from the South…

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E’TWAUN MOORE, Purdue, SG, Jr. The Boilermakers don’t need to look hard for motivation. Pretty much everybody wrote them off when star forward Robbie Hummel went down with a season-ending knee injury in late-February, and the remaining stragglers signed Purdue’s death certificate after Minnesota ran through them in the Big Ten tournament. If anybody is going to cover for Hummel’s absence, it’s Moore (16.6 ppg). Read More »