Though that horrible “L” word has finally slammed the NBA’s doors shut, fantasy basketball fans can rest assured that this young (and abruptly suspended) offseason has already offered morsels of activity to chew on. Old faces have landed in new places, which means there’s some fantasy analysis to be had. Here’s a look at how these early-summer trades will impact fantasy basketball once this real-life mess gets sorted out. Read More »

Every year in the NBA there are 16 teams that make the playoffs and 14 who are relegated to the NBA Lottery. Those 14 teams hope that their draft pick can be a building block for the future and help their team become one of the 16 in the playoffs the following season. This article evaluates how well this year’s lottery teams have drafted the past five years: Read More »

Beast of the Night: Kobe Bryant finished the season with a strong game to the tune of 36 points, nine rebounds, six assists, one steal, one block and one three-pointer. He shot 54 percent (13-24) from the field, 90 percent (9-10) from the foul line and had two turnovers. While he was taken in the first round of virtually all drafts, Bryant returned top-30 value, signaling the end of his time as a truly elite fantasy player. His name will cause many to take him too early in next season’s drafts – don’t be the one to make that mistake. Read More »

Somebody call Smush Parker and tell him to dust off his purple kicks. Because if Kobe Bryant is at all missing the time he played with Kwame Brown, a 10-day for Smush in L.A. could be in the cards … OK, so Kobe didn’t say he misses Kwame — he didn’t say anything at all — but during last night’s loss to the Bobcats, Kobe had to notice Kwame was outplaying his more talented opposition for key stretches simply because he went harder. Read More »

In one of the most storied rivalries in sports, Duke and North Carolina played last night at Cameron Indoor Stadium, in what turned out to be a great game. For a collegiate clash that date’s all the way back to 1920, Duke got their 100th win in the all-time series, although UNC still leads 130-100. With everyone still buzzing about Tobacco Road this morning, we decided to ponder what an alumni game with current NBA players would look like today. Read More »

Weekend Wonder: Stephen Curry steamrolled through the weekend by averaging 27 points, 4.5 rebounds, six assists, two steals, 0.5 blocks and 3.5 threes in two games. He shot 60 percent from the field, 100 percent from the line and averaged 2.5 turnovers. After a somewhat forgettable December, Curry has managed to lift most of his averages in January and should maintain top-10 value the rest of the way. Read More »

Last night, NBA fans were given something we’ve never seen before. No, not just LeBron James‘ widely-criticized but highly-viewed “The Decision” TV special, but we saw an unprecedented collection of three superstar teammates form like the Justice League … Think about all the other “Big Three” combos: Bird, McHale and Parish were nowhere near as athletic as Dwyane Wade, LeBron James and Chris Bosh. Jordan, Pippen and Rodman were a different bunch, consisting of one explosive scorer, one Swiss Army Knife in the flesh, and one defensive/rebounding savant. Read More »

There’s a reason why — despite his team having clinched its first-ever playoff berth — Michael Jordan can regularly be seen near the Charlotte Bobcats bench looking like he needs some Milk of Magnesia.

The new majority owner of the ‘Cats has to appreciate the progress his franchise has made since its expansion days, but MJ expects more. He expects greatness. Read More »

For all of those haters and “experts” who have been crying from moment the original NCAA Tournament seedings were announced weeks ago (and there were many) that Duke was handed a cakewalk to the Final Four, know this: when the smoke clears, Duke will have absolutely earned their stripes by battling through what has quickly become the most difficult road to a national championship faced by any team in the field. Read More »

One of the 800 rumors to see the light of day around the NBA trade deadline was of a proposed deal sending T.J. Ford and Brandon Rush to the Bobcats for D.J. Augustin, Gerald Henderson and Nazr Mohammed.

At the time, Charlotte reportedly decided against making the move, mainly because T.J. is slated to make $8.5 million next season and then-owner Bob Johnson was hesitant to take on that much cap space on a borderline starter. Read More »