In the last decade, the NBA has transformed from being a big man’s league into a guard’s league. Although frontcourts have always, and will always be the foundation of a winning team, recently franchises have found it much more difficult to build an elite frontline than putting together a competitive 1-2 punch. Ultimately, putting together a dominant frontcourt is what separates the good teams from the great ones, because in today’s game every team has talented guards. Frankly, each team has a backcourt that can outplay its opponent on any given night, which is why it is so difficult to pick five particular tandems as the best up-and-comers in the League. Read More »

The lockout is just a memory, the NBA is days away from its glorious Christmas Day return, and fantasy basketball preparations are in full swing. But you can’t escape the past. This isn’t a life lesson from the fingers of someone wholly unfit to give you non-fantasy basketball advice – it’s a reminder that suspensions handed down late in the 2010-11 NBA season are going to affect some players’ availabilities in the early going this season. On top of those suspensions are injuries and health conditions that will have implications from the outset of the 2011-12 NBA season. Below is a rundown of early suspensions and injuries, and the players who stand to benefit from those circumstances. Read More »

Of all five teams that the New Orleans fiasco sort of screwed over this week (Los Angeles, New Orleans, Houston, the Knicks and Boston), it’s the Lakers who are probably hurting the most to get these talks kick-started and moving again. Lamar Odom isn’t feeling the love right now, and showed up for just a few moments during practice yesterday. So there’s no doubt in our minds that they’re working feverishly right now. The teams were given the green light to start talking again so all three are back to the negotiating table, attempting to tweak what they thought was a sure thing just a few days ago. Read More »

The Sacramento Kings have sky-high potential when it comes to fantasy appeal. The question is whether they’ll have enough touches and shots to appease all the offensive weapons available. With so many mouths on this team to feed, fantasy owners should keep their expectations in check when it comes to the weekly production of any one of the Kings’ main rotation players. Read More »

Somebody is lying. Besiktas has spent the past few weeks trying to convince anyone who will listen that they have a very real chance of landing Kobe Bryant. But he’s saying they haven’t spoken in a while. Also, after a club official put an agreement between the two parties at a 50/50 chance, another source close to the negotiations says the chance of Bryant playing there during the lockout is very small. Zero percent to be exact. Read More »

Mr. Irrelevant is more of a story than a player. He’s a novelty item, a person to be celebrated but ultimately forgotten. It’s an accepted reality of being the last pick, because that’s what history has taught us. In truth, nothing separates these men from the hoards of undrafted prospects that try to scrap and claw their way onto NBA rosters. It’s a battle royale, and being drafted last provides little to no guarantee that you won’t be kicked to the curb. Read More »

It’s a wonderful thing when there is one meaningful game that affects the playoff picture on the season’s final night. But do you know what’s better? When there are six. After a regular season that was spine-tingling like ice cream cake on your birthday, we still had five Western Conference seeds in play on the 2010-11 regular season swan song. And oh yeah, that whole potential-to-have-definite-home-court-in-the-Finals may have also been on the line. No big deal … Read More »

Beast of the Night: LeBron James put up 35 points, eight rebounds, eight assists and five steals last night. He hit 75 percent (12-16) of his shots from the field, 77 percent (10-13) of his attempts from the free-throw line, hit a three-pointer and had five turnovers. James shot 58 percent from the field in March, easily his best monthly mark of the season. Read More »

The sequel never, ever lives up to the hype. The Godfather II. Jaws II. Even Caddyshack II couldn’t do it. Last night in Cleveland, the game was at least closer than the last Return of the King. But no one cared about that. They wanted fireworks. And got absolutely none (unless you’re a Cavs fan) … Despite nearly blowing a 23-point second-half lead, the Cavs held on to beat the Heat 102-90 to deny them a chance to move ahead of Boston and into second place in the East. The first time LeBron James came back to Cleveland, everyone was nervous he was going to slip up at a red light and some Cavs’ fan would pull up and get their Sonny Corleone on. This time, the reaction wasn’t nearly as antagonistic. Maybe that was because James didn’t show up for introductions. Yes, when they called his name, he was back in the locker room, waiting it out while his teammates had to soak in the boos. Read More »

What a game in Oklahoma City last night between the Thunder and the Blazers. It was a battle that had playoff intensity, physicality and atmosphere, great individual performances, and we saw the young core of a burgeoning NBA juggernaut take a formative step forward in their development. When it got down to winning time, the Thunder’s offense resorted to a two-man game focusing on Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook running pick-and-pops and taking turns on isos and clearouts. Westbrook (28 points) ended up as the closer, burying three monster treys down the stretch to give OKC the 99-90 win … This season, it absolutely feels like the Thunder are starting to belong to KD and Russ (have you seen Russel’s kicks?), as opposed to just being Kevin Durant and a bunch of sidekicks. Everyone can feel it, including those two. Case in point, Read More »