While any casual NBA fan would be hard pressed to differentiate between Jarron Collins and Jason Collins on the street, it will make it easier when one of them is wearing a Phoenix Suns jersey. After being waived by the Blazers along with Ime Udoka in favor signing rookie Patty Mills, word out of Phoenix is that the Suns are very interested in signing the seven-footer. Read More »

Only a few second-rounders from the 2009 NBA Draft justify the “slept-on” label. DeJuan Blair slipped to the Spurs at pick No. 37 (of course), and Outback trailblazer Patty Mills plummeted all the way to No. 55 before getting seized by the Trail Blazers (of course), and also respect to Sam Young and Jermaine Taylor.

As for the rest, “carry-on” is probably more appropriate — before you get too attached to your second-round additions, you should get to know the second round: Read More »

Say this much for new Timberwolves GM David Kahn: He might be the worst comedian in the NBA (his jokes last night bombed like Kramer on “Comicview”), but in the few weeks he’s been on the job, he’s made the Wolves relevant for the first time since they had KG. In almost every media outlet’s recap of last night’s NBA Draft, the Wolves were one of the lead stories, with half the experts thinking they killed it and deserved an A+, and the other half wondering if Kahn is smoking that same stuff Prince had when he made Graffiti Bridge … The Wolves used the 5th pick on Ricky Rubio, then took Jonny Flynn with the 6th pick. Read More »

It’s a great day for Georgia Tech and Texas. The slept-on Yellow Jackets get their high-energy, athletic power forward back from the brink of the NBA Draft. Gani Lawal decided to withdraw his name to go back to Atlanta for a chance at doing serious damage in the ACC alongside Derrick Favors.

And Texas is getting another possible first-rounder back. Damion James will return to Austin instead of going towards the bottom of the first round. He makes UT the class of the Big 12, and a real Final Four contender next year. Read More »

Are we going deaf, or did Kevin Love actually say, “My passion bucket is running high” when he appeared on camera at the NBA Draft Lottery? Whatever K-Love was depending on to get his squad the top pick, it didn’t work: The Clippers were tonight’s big winner, snagging the No. 1 spot, followed by Memphis and Oklahoma City. Now that we know the order, here’s our first official 2009 mock draft: Read More »

This was supposed to be Jordan Farmar’s season to shine. Having earned some decent playoff and Finals experience in ‘08, the third-year pro would conceivably establish himself as a quality NBA point guard in ‘09, maybe even steal Derek Fisher’s starting job by midseason, and set himself up for a long-term contract extension at the beginning of next season.

Didn’t work out that way. Bothered by injuries and inconsistency, Farmar’s numbers dropped across the board. Read More »

Not exactly worth getting up at 9:30 a.m. on a Saturday before (if you’re on the West Coast), this Celtics/Bulls series just got a whole lot more interesting. After Chicago sloughed their way through a loss to the Raptors and gave up the 6th seed Wednesday night, nobody would have picked the Bulls to make much of a dent against a healthy, focused Celtics team that’s feeling disrespected with everybody penciling the Cavs into the Finals. But then Thursday morning came around, and with it, the news that Kevin Garnett (knee) could be out for the duration of the playoffs. Read More »

While half the teams in the NBA are gearing up for the postseason and fighting to sort out playoff seeds, the other half are gearing up to keep a close eye on the NCAA Tournament and fighting for Lottery balls.

The ‘09 Draft class is generally considered weak, but one strength is at the point guard position. Read More »

If you’re on the east coast and stayed up late to watch the Davidson/St. Mary’s NIT matchup, you may be dragging this morning, but you know it was well worth it. It’s a shame the Stephen Curry/Patty Mills shootout wasn’t on prime time for half the country to see because it was honestly one of the most entertaining games I’ve seen all year. These ESPN highlights don’t the game justice - it was up and down and the two stars rose to the occasion (at times, Steph was pulling from about three feet beyond NBA three-point range).

Let us know if you caught the game and what you thought of it…

We’re just asking the question: Exactly how many big-time threes and clutch free throws would LeBron have to hit before he’d lose the reputation for not being a solid shooter who performs in crunch time? Hosting Orlando last night in a game that had “playoff atmosphere” written all over it, ‘Bron calmly drilled a deep three to give Cleveland the lead with 47 seconds left, then hit two free throws with under 10 seconds remaining to ice the win. Read More »