Back again for the third time, NBA TV is presenting another season of The Association, starting this Wednesday. The cast and characters this year: one of the league’s most consistently successful organizations, the Denver Nuggets. Whereas in past seasons with Boston and the Lakers, we knew what we were getting, which was a story about a team trying to win a championship. But with the Nuggets, the show should take on a different feel, not because they aren’t trying to win it all but because episode one (trailer after the jump) goes behind-the-scenes with a team that had only seven players at the start of training camp. Read More »

It wasn’t like we were the only ones to say the Sixers were for real this year. Everyone was saying that, and the numbers backed it up. They were No. 1 in offense and defense – at the same time – for a while this season, and were dominating people at home. But last night, they ran into a real title contender, the Miami Heat, and the Sixers got blitzed worse than anything we’ve seen all year from the Ravens. Even without Dwyane Wade, the Heat won because they dominated on the glass and LeBron (28 points) was an absolute savage on the pick-n-roll. Whenever he got into the lane, it was an automatic bucket. Read More »

Talking All-Stars two weeks into the season? It happens when David Stern and co. attempt to stuff 66 games into 120 days. The All-Star balloting is already up on NBA.com, and you’ll start hearing campaigns emerge for players like Andre Iguodala, Andrea Bargnani, Tyson Chandler and LaMarcus Aldridge. But they’ll be players this year missing out just as there always are. Read More »

Whereas last summer reshaped the NBA and as a byproduct of that, helped usher in the extended lockout, the upcoming abbreviated free agency period won’t include a single franchise player. There are probably no future Hall of Famers available. Hell, there might not even be a single All-Star out there. But what is being given up will be replaced in a frenzy. The signings and player movement will be fast and furious, and without any sure things, there will be plenty of opportunities to criticize GMs who panic and throw ridiculous contracts at simply average players. Read More »

Who would’ve ever thought the most exciting game of the season would happen in Charlotte? The Bobcats dominated with energy in the first half as the Heat gave up 58 percent shooting and 60 points. But the real fireworks came late. LeBron James (35 points) had the best dunk ever that wasn’t, slamming a backdoor cut so hard that the ball hit a dude in the head and came back up and threw the net, as well as a ridiculous double-pump reverse IN THE LANE. Chris Bosh (25 points) had a monster smash down the lane that Michael Jordan probably felt from the bench, and finally Dwyane Wade (10 points) made the game-winning shot in the closing seconds to send the Heat out with a 96-95 comeback win. Read More »

When we throw around the word “sleeper” in reference to an NBA team, it doesn’t really say much other than we think Team X will surpass expectations. Some sleepers could win championships, a la the Dallas Mavericks of a year ago. Others, such as the Memphis Grizzlies of last season, will slip into the playoffs and make a deep run after they weren’t expected to amount to anything.

So in picking the top five sleepers for the 2011-12 NBA season, there’s going to be some good teams that turn out to be super good and some bad teams that might surprise us by not completely floundering about. There’s a few prerequisites to being a sleeper, however. Read More »

Yeah, that guy we all saw last year wearing No. 6 for Miami in the NBA Finals? That guy wasn’t LeBron James. He was someone else, an impostor, a fake, a poser. LeBron says the real LeBron is back. Should we believe him? James says for the first time since he got to Miami, he’s back to the real him. More alive and ready to go. That’s good to know; We aren’t sure how anyone could deal with the amount of venom he had to take in last year. But still, the whispers about clutch failures, disappointments and lack of heart will only grow louder with each misstep. It’s a full-on disease for him now, and the only way to cure it is to win a championship and do it in a fashion that’ll have people forget about James’ past playoff struggles. Read More »

First of all, the Houston Rockets are getting their asses kicked in NBA Free Agency 2011. With the news that Nene has reached an agreement to re-up with the Denver Nuggets, Houston has officially had Pau Gasol, Marc Gasol and now Nene snaked from them in various ways. And now they’re screwed.

Nene has been one of the hottest commodities on the free agent market since the the NBA Lockout was lifted, and now he’s going to be paid like one. Read More »

Now that Philadelphia has re-signed Thaddeus Young and Spencer Hawes, they’re focusing their attention toward trading Marreese Speights. And who better to acquire the 6-10, 255-pound center than a team potentially losing their 6-11, 250-pound center. 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 »