Earlier this month, we told you how the Kings paid Sean May $100 large just to make a certain weight. Sacramento aren’t the only team keeping a close eye on a players’ waist line. The Grizzlies are doing newly acquired guard, Marcus Williams, like a boxer and requiring him to keep his weight at 207 pounds and body fat at 10 percent throughout the season. In the past, the former first round pick has developed a reputation for being lazy and out of shape, so the Grizzlies are making sure that’s not the case this time around. Read More »

Last year we debuted the “Highs and Lows” system — previewing the upcoming NBA season by predicting the respective ceilings and basements for each team. Same theme, different season…

Added: Allen Iverson, Zach Randolph, Hasheem Thabeet, DeMarre Carroll, Sam Young, Mike Taylor, Marcus Williams Read More »

While they can sit and wait to hear from Allen Iverson, the Memphis Grizzlies need to start looking for a backup point guard. I would like to think that the Marcus Williams experiment will pan out, but he may not be able to find his way to training camp. Realizing this, GM Chris Wallace is starting to arrange workouts with free agent point guards this week. Read More »

In a move reminiscent of these last two years of Brett Favre stalking in the NFL, Dwyane Wade kicked off another round of rumors regarding his 2010 plans when reports surfaced that he recently bought a $1.4 million townhouse in Chicago. Never mind that Wade is from the Chi, so that could’ve been a summer bachelor pad for himself or a gift to his Mom, but it still has people speculating now on whether Flash is interested in signing with the Bulls next summer … Read More »

Can’t the Timberwolves do anything right? The same franchise that used its first-ever draft pick on Pooh Richardson when Mookie Blaylock, Tim Hardaway and Shawn Kemp were still on the board; that cost itself five years of first-round picks just to overpay Joe Smith under the table; that wasted Kevin Garnett’s prime by not getting him a good enough supporting cast; that may have fumbled their biggest post-KG opportunity at the ‘09 Draft; that’s taking way too long just to eventually hire Elston Turner as its next coach — they’ve done it again. Read More »

While Miami waits for Lamar Odom to decide if he’d rather look at sun-dipped Rodeo Drive honeys or sun-dipped South Beach honeys during timeouts for the next 4-5 years, another possible Plan B in case they don’t get Odom became unavailable. The Hawks re-signed Marvin Williams for $40 million over five years — kind of steep for a guy who wasn’t gonna get $8M a year from anyone else, but not the worst move in the world considering Marvin is a big contributor for a still-developing core unit in Atlanta. Read More »

Now that the NBA Summer League in Las Vegas is over, it’s time to take a look back. The following All-Summer League teams consists of two guards, two forwards, and one center with consideration of at least four games played. That means guys like Eric Gordon and Anthony Morrow who went out to Vegas to simply get buckets weren’t considered because they only played in a few games, while the players we selected were all key components to their summer league squad the whole week. Read More »

As much as we make summer league about the rookies, this year’s Vegas version was stocked with young “vets” whose play could be a sign of big things to come when the real games start. Nick Young, Anthony Randolph, Jason Thompson, even Adam Morrison and Marcus Williams all put in work, but when the VSL wrapped up yesterday, it was rookie Blake Griffin who was named MVP … Blake averaged 19 points and 10 boards in his five games with the JV Clippers, and in his finale put up 16 and eight in a matchup with older brother Taylor Griffin (4 pts, 6 rebs) and the Suns. We’re probably not going out on a limb saying that was the first and last game those two ever play where they’re across from each other in the starting lineup. Read More »

Classic example of the difference between the NBA summer league and the real-life NBA: Yesterday’s matchup pitting #2 pick Hasheem Thabeet against #3 pick James Harden drew a good-sized crowd at the Thomas & Mack Center in Vegas, and later headlined NBA TV’s “Gametime” highlight show. But wait until the regular season, whenever the Grizzlies and Thunder play each other for the first time. Half-empty gym, and it probably won’t even make the nightly highlight shows unless it happens to be A.I.’s first game with Memphis or Kevin Durant scores 50 … Read More »

What started out as a rumor Monday morning was confirmed by the Rockets’ team doctor by the afternoon, then immediately became the dominant story of the year for Houston: Yao Ming’s broken left foot could not only take him out for all of next season, but also put his career in jeopardy. “At this point, the injury has the potential for him missing the next season and could be career threatening,” physician Tom Clanton told the Houston Chronicle. “One of the things we are trying to get is a consensus opinion on that, to make certain there is no option we are overlooking that would provide an earlier return or would be an option for treatment that he would prefer rather than doing additional surgery.” Read More »