They’re panicking in Los Angeles. Or something close to it. While you could reasonably write off Friday’s blowout loss in Denver to tired legs from a back-to-back and the high altitude, there aren’t many excuses the Lakers can make after the Rockets (who were supposed to stink this year, remember?) went into Staples and thoroughly outplayed the champs … Trevor Ariza was the main story going into the game. He received his ‘09 championship ring in his first trip back to L.A. and was playing in front of his hometown crowd, but by the end it was all about Aaron Brooks. Read More »

Don’t let the fact that Chauncey Billups shows little emotion on the court fool you into thinking he’s any less fiery of a competitor than Kobe, Dirk, LeBron, Wade or any other big-time clutch player who punctuates his daggers by making funny faces. You have to be iceberg to have hit as many fourth-quarter threes and last-second free throws as Mr. Big Shot has hit, but you also have to have a fire inside you to show up in the kind of shape he does every year and bring it at the high level he brings it every night … After Chauncey (17 pts, 6 asts, 3 stls) made the go-ahead free throw with 0.6 seconds left in last night’s Nuggets/Bulls game, he missed the second FT on purpose, giving the Bulls only 0.3 to make a game-winner. Read More »

It’s too easy to start rolling out predictions and watch lists two weeks into the season. Unlike football, where two weeks means you’ve only played two games, two weeks of the NBA translates to almost 10 games, a good enough sample for most to gauge how a guy is going to play for the next 7-8 months. That’s why Steve Nash, Carmelo and Kobe are already running an MVP race, Brandon Jennings is running away with R.O.Y., and Ron Artest and LeBron are vying for Defensive Player of the Year.

So if he isn’t already on the ballot, here’s my early vote for Luol Deng as the NBA’s Most Improved Player. Read More »

Buy Low: Devin Harris, Antawn Jamison, Kevin Love, J.R. Smith, Rashard Lewis and anyone else who is going to return from an injury or suspension in the near future should be targeted for low-ball offers.

Danilo Gallinari has turned from being an Italian stallion to an ordinary pony in the span of a week. His owners are champing at the bit for him to put up studly lines again, and in the meantime you should be dangling carrots in their faces in hopes of nabbing this three-point hoss. Read More »

Ask anybody who knows anything about basketball which player they’d choose to build a team around long-term, and most likely they’ll choose LeBron. (Others would probably say Dwight Howard, and other renegades might throw out names like Chris Paul and Derrick Rose.) But if you need a clear example why a lot of those same people who’d build around LeBron for the future would take a handful of guys over him when it comes to a one-time clutch situation in the present, look no further than last night’s Cavs/Bulls game … Read More »

Four matchups to watch on Thursday’s two-game schedule…

Chicago @ Cleveland: Luol Deng vs. LeBron James For all the grief he took last season — getting the big contract, then promptly going into the tank with injuries and subpar play — Deng has been earning his money this year (17.8 ppg, 10.5 rpg). Read More »

Beast of the Night: Dirk Nowitzki was an absolute animal last night, putting up 40 points on 55 percent (12-22) shooting from the field and 94 percent (15-16) from the line, chipping in a three-pointer along with 11 rebounds, 5 assists, 2 steals, 5 blocks and no turnovers. He scored 29 of his 40 points in the fourth quarter, playing like Mehmet Okur bad-mouthed David Hasselhoff. You can’t get much better than this in fantasy ball and Diggler is in for a great year. Read More »

In lieu of making yet another LeBron/Jay-Z analogy, let’s put it this way: The Cavs are treating the Wizards like LL Cool J did Canibus. They’ll take some time out to address the beef, but always with a swagger that says “Who is this little pest?” It’s even trickled down to the announcers. When Washington came out blasting last night (”Second Round Knockout”) and put the Cavs down by as much as 18 in the first half, Austin Carr admitted the game didn’t mean as much to LeBron and Co. as it did to Gilbert Arenas‘ squad. Read More »

When the Spurs smacked the sting out of the Hornets in their season opener the other night, everybody but Tim Duncan looked like world-beaters. Last night in Chicago, Duncan proved he’s still dominant when he needs to be, but his teammates didn’t show up and San Antone took an L … The Bulls just had too many weapons to counter the Spurs’ one-man show. Derrick Rose put up 13 points and seven dimes and Luol Deng had 17 and nine boards, as the whole starting five and sixth man Kirk Hinrich scored in double figures. Read More »

I’m trying to be a man of the people this season, so per a reader’s request, here are the results of a mock draft I participated in recently. It was for a 12-team, head-to-head format league with the standard nine categories and 10 starting spots (PG, SG, G, SF, PF, F, C, C, Util, Util).

I’ll list each round (with my picks in bold) followed by brief comments and will list my final team from this mock draft at the bottom. Here we go. Read More »