If you’ve watched at least one Portland Trail Blazers game in the past two years, chances are you’ve seen what has become known as “Three Goggles.” If not, you should stop what you’re doing and read this great article by Blazers broadcaster Casey Holdahl for some background on how the phenomenon took off. But how do you know when something has reached true cultural relevance? If you find it on a t-shirt. Read More »

It seems like the easier the opponent, the harder Team USA insists on making things for themselves. But at least they’re still winning, and usually by blowout margins. Yesterday’s World Championship matchup against Group B doormat Tunisia was supposed to be a harmless stomping — and when it was over, Coach K‘s team was up 35 on the scoreboard — but the lasting impression was that the most talented team in the WC field let a clearly inferior squad hang in with them for the entire first half (Team USA led by six at the break) and some of the third quarter before Eric Gordon (21 pts), Russell Westbrook (14 pts) led the bench mob in restoring order to the mismatch … Read More »

When you’re not the ’92 Dream Team and penciled in to flog everybody by 30 or 50 points a night, you probably need some close games under your belt to test your clutch-ness and avoid complacency. For Team USA’s 2010 version, that game happened yesterday, as they barely hung on to beat Brazil in a tough contest that exposed a lot of U.S. weaknesses but also may have done them some good for later in the World Championship … Led by Leandro Barbosa, Tiago Splitter and J.J. Barea‘s long-lost cousin Marcelo Huertas, Brazil took the lead in the first quarter and didn’t give it up until late into the third, picking the U.S. apart with screen-and-rolls, timely threes, and Barbosa’s brand of South American Allen Iverson basketball, heavy on the jack … Read More »

Even more than the Lakers, Celtics, Duke, and Bob Hurley Sr.‘s kids at St. Anthony’s High School in Jersey; we can’t think of a team that is more heavily scruitinized than USA Basketball’s senior national group. Only during a Team USA summer do you hear “unimpressive” and “22-point win” put next to each other, which was the case from a lot of critics following yesterday’s 99-77 win over Slovenia at the World Championship … Sure, there was stuff to gripe about: Derrick Rose guided an offense that committed 17 turnovers, and Slovenia shot 33 free throws, and Coach K had some questionable subbing patterns, yanking Kevin Durant at times when it seemed he was about to single-handedly blow the game wide open. Read More »

Let me warn you before you continue reading: The following list is not filled with future All-Stars or Hall of Famers. At this stage in the game, if you’re still a free agent, you’re most likely looking for an NBA roster spot before you have to settle for an overseas gig. But with that in mind, there are still some talented players – under the age of 25 – that are worth the minimal investment for the potential future payoff. I’m not saying sign them to a five-year, $34 million like the Raptors did with 23-year-old Amir Johnson, but you get the picture. Without further ado, here are the Top 5 NBA Free Agents Under 25 Years Old. Read More »

By the numbers, Rudy Fernandez‘s second year in the NBA was pretty identical to his first. His scoring was only down one bucket per game (8.1 ppg), his shooting percentage only dropped a few digits (37.8% FG), and his rebounds, assists, steals and blocks were almost exactly the same as his rookie year, when he was a second team All-Rookie pick and impressed some folks at the Dunk Contest.

Beyond the numbers, though, Rudy’s second year was a step back. Read More »

For Chris Paul and Deron Williams to go head-to-head and put up underwhelming numbers isn’t a surprise anymore. For Devin Brown — the rare NBA starter who could also appear on “Who He Play For?” and stump Charles Barkley — to steal the show from both of those guys is definitely a surprise … Brown (30 pts, 5 threes) got it rolling early, scoring 10 of N.O.’s first 18 points, wetting jumpers and getting layups in transition off Utah turnovers. Despite Brown’s hot start, however, the Hornets struggled overall, falling behind by double-digits in a first quarter highlighted by C.J. Miles‘ 360 two-hand dunk. Read More »

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 »