According to the Oxford Dictionaries, a “journeyman” is known as “a worker or sports player who is reliable but not outstanding.” In the NBA, this title is used frequently to describe a player that has bounced around the league and struggled to find long-term real estate. While some of the NBA’s elite journeyman have put up All-Star numbers, they often have not received All-Star recognition. Read More »

The NBA trade deadline can make or break your fantasy team. Deadline deals not only change the value of existing fantasy studs, but also rearranges depth charts, opening the door for tons of players sitting on the waiver wire. I was a little disappointed by this year’s deadline, which was one of the slower ones in recent memory, but it still opened the door for many. Read More »

Get ready Boston: Jordan Crawford is about to walk through that door. Crawford, a career 13.4 point-per-game scorer, once said (in all seriousness) that he felt he was the best Jordan to ever play in the NBA. Now he’s going from one of the least respected organizations in the league to one of the most popular. Read More »

We hate to keep leading Smack off with LeBron James, but it’s almost like we have to lock him in here on every night he plays. The dude is just too good. Check out some of these numbers. James was 11-for-15 shooting last night in the Heat’s 117-104 flaying of Portland, finishing with 30 points and nine assists. He’s made 60 of his last 80 shots overall. On NBA Coast 2 Coast, they showed a shot chart from his last few games, and every spot outside of the left wing and left corner was blaming red. Read More »

In one of those dreaded Saturday afternoon Atlantic Division games (seriously, who came up with these?), Boston turned a close game against Toronto into a rout during the second half of a 107-89 beatdown. Jason Terry, still starting in the Bean, went off for 20 points, and Rajon Rondo had a dozen assists just a few minutes into the second half. He’d end up with 20 in just 32 minutes, his streak of consecutive regular season games with double-digit assists now at 33. Is anyone in the league dominating a single statistical category like Rondo is assists? Read More »

Amidst the Celtics’ early season struggles, an unexpected bright spot is emerging from the end of the bench. Former Sixth Man of the Year Leandro Barbosa has made his presence felt despite a plethora of depth at the guard spot in Boston this season. While his numbers through eight games may not have you sold on his impact (7.1 points and 1.7 assists per game in 14.6 minutes a night), the Brazilian Blur is on the verge of carving out a more defined role on this Celtics team. Read More »

UFC 154 isn’t until Saturday night, but fight fans got a taste of the action Thursday as Keith Bogans wrapped Leandro Barbosa up in a textbook rear-naked choke. Bogans was assessed a personal foul on the play. No word yet if he received his purple belt, as well. Read More »

The Knicks only had 3-of-12 shooting by Carmelo Anthony (nine points though he did get 12 boards) and were on the road in San Antonio and yet New York went into Texas and still won, 104-100 to stay undefeated against all odds. And by against all odds, we mean Raymond Felton dropped 25 points, Jason Kidd kept up his torrid shooting by going 4-of-6 from three and the Knickerbockers had just five points in transition. Read More »

It’s a new season in the NBA, the Heat and LeBron James have new championship rings, and yet nothing has changed. You still got the haves and the have-nots, which was easily apparent switching back and forth between the freshman ball (Wizards/Cavs) and the varsity (Celtics/Heat). The fans still don’t understand the concept behind the MVP chant (Seriously? In the first game of the season?) And Kevin Garnett is still super ornery. Read More »

Rajon Rondo doesn’t necessarily need a backup. Not only is he poised for his greatest season yet, especially now that he’s dropped his body armor and is openingly having more fun (I almost spit out my drink after seeing him smile during Boston’s one-point loss to Brooklyn last night), but he’s also played at least 36 minutes a night in each of the last three years. Then when you throw in the addition of Jason Terry, who had an assist rate of 22.47 in Dallas last year (actually his worst passing numbers since 2009), which was better than a number of “decent” backup guards (Mo Williams, Derek Fisher, Gary Neal and just percentage points behind Lou Williams), you can see why some might find this move superfluous. Read More »