We don’t know anything concrete about the future of this season – our crystal ball broke a few weeks ago and the Ouija board was tossed long ago. We have our ideas – here’s who we think will take home MVP – but we don’t know, for example whether this Houston Rockets team will contend in the Western Conference. This team will, however, be fun to watch. It’s like this is an “Out to Prove Ourselves” multi-city, national stadium tour sweeping across America. Read More »

With the emergence of Twitter, and now more importantly Instagram, never before have we had such access to NBA players. It’s fun when they tweet photos of their food or their sneakers. That stuff’s always cool. But when Halloween hits the real fun begins. Read More »

While the NFL has issues with concussions, the NHL can’t field a product, and all of like seven people care about baseball, we’re on the cusp of what figures to be one of the best NBA seasons in the past 20-30 years. Stars in big cities. Rivalries. Incredible young talent. Older cats still bringing it like Susan Sarandon. And we also have LeBron James, who’s not only the best player in the world, but wants to be… the greatest player ever to pick up a basketball. Read More »

When we talk about the NBA’s biggest enigmas, why doesn’t anyone ever mention Tyrus Thomas? He’s a 6-9 freak of an athlete who showed in college he’s good enough – when he cares – to make a big difference. So far in the NBA, he’s displayed a decent skill set when he’s healthy. He’s not a liability on the line, doesn’t need the ball to be effective and can play in a number of different systems. He even started for a playoff team in Chicago. Of course, it’s hard to stay relevant when your best friend on the team is the trainer, but we think Thomas deserves a little more shine as one of the NBA’s biggest underachievers. Read More »

As barometers of NBA success go, the Summer League isn’t always going to give the most accurate forecast. It’s perfect, really, that it switches from Orlando to Las Vegas, where all bets are made with the hope of a big payoff and the reality of the house usually winning. That house on the hardwood is the concrete fact there are only 450 roster spots available for opening night. Someone’s gotta go. The NBA’s summer school isn’t to be relied on at face value because you’ve got second- and third-year players as the top options for summer squads where they might barely be the fifth option on once the regular season begins. If Wesley Johnson played well most nights for Minnesota this month, it won’t be without gain — but it also won’t mean he’ll be shaking off a Kevin Love pick-and-roll anytime soon. Out of this haziness step players whose success will best translate to the regular season. Read More »

Interesting. It says here that this “National Basketball Association” has other teams besides the Miami Heat and Oklahoma City Thunder. Who knew? With Wednesday being a day off from the Finals — albeit not a day off from everybody overreacting to the Finals — some of those other teams were able to borrow the spotlight while figuring out how they can get where the Heat and Thunder are right now … The lowly Hornets and even lowlier Wizards pulled off a trade: Rashard Lewis and a 2nd-round pick to New Orleans for Emeka Okafor and Trevor Ariza. Read More »

The NBA’s Rookie of the Year Award had been all but clinched by Kyrie Irving sometime around the midway point of the season. But as great as he was – hitting game-winners, dishing out beastly statlines – he didn’t have the best play from a rookie this season. That went to some cat out in the Western Conference who is already drawing Dennis Rodman comparisons … Read More »

This is one of the greatest things we’ve seen this year. Charlotte might have all their ping-pong balls in one basket this summer (Anthony Davis), but this video offers up a few other suggestions to make sure they don’t suck so bad next season. Read More »

In a calmer, maybe more reasonable world, the Miami Heat could lose a game like the game they lost to the Boston Celtics last night and it wouldn’t be a big deal. In that world, LeBron James and Miami fans could adopt the same attitude Kobe Bryant and L.A. fans have after every one of their high-profile L’s in the regular season: Don’t panic, it’s only (fill-in-the-month). This is bigger to them than it is to us. We’ll be fine in the playoffs. … But there are five diamond-studded reasons why a Kobe-led team gets that kind of leeway and a LeBron-led team does not. Read More »

Beast of the Night: Goran Dragic finished with 22 points, two rebounds, seven assists, three steals and four three-pointers. He shot 57 percent (8-14) from the floor and 67 percent (2-3) from the free-throw line, and had two turnovers. Since becoming a starter exactly a month ago, Dragic has averaged 18.5 points, 3.5 rebounds, 8.6 assists, 2.0 steals and 2.1 threes per game, while shooting 52 percent from the field and 82 percent from the free-throw line. Those are top five numbers. Kyle Lowry‘s return shouldn’t damage Dragic’s fantasy value too much the rest of the way. Read More »