This morning, we listed several D-League prospects that we thought had good chances of being called up soon. One person who was not on our list was Mario West of the Maine Red Claws. Today, the 6-5 guard signed a 10-day contract with the Hawks, the team he spent the last two seasons playing with. A day after the Warriors signed Cartier Martin, West becomes the sixth D-League call up for the season. Read More »

With no disrespect to Josh Smith, Pops Mensah-Bonsu could be the NBA’s best shot blocker. While it’s tough to crack the leader board averaging 7.3 minutes per game, Pops has been killing it the past four games – including two blocks in two minutes against the Hawks, and another two against the Rockets (the team that dropped him after four games earlier this season). Now I’m not saying that Mensah-Bonsu is an All-Star, but in his biggest appearance of the year (24 minutes in a preseason game against his current squad), he did log five blocks to go along with 17 points and seven boards. Check out the following two videos – blocks of Joel Anthony & David Andersen – and tell me that he shouldn’t play.

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They all count from here on out. Friday was the last day of NBA preseason action, with a nearly full schedule that included two national TV games: Hawks/Magic and Nuggets/Lakers … Orlando effectively ended their contest early, going up by 20-plus in the first quarter and capping an undefeated preseason with a near 40-piecing. Vince Carter dropped 26, hit all five of his threes, and was throwing down double-clutch dunks along the baseline while the Hawks basically watched. Dwight Howard put up 25 points, 13 boards and three blocks … Even more impressive about Dwight’s performance was that he managed to beast Al Horford. Read More »

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

Added: Trevor Ariza, Chase Budinger, Pops Mensah-Bonsu, David Andersen, Jermaine Taylor

Lost: Ron Artest, Von Wafer, Dikembe Mutombo, James White Read More »

When word broke that Pops Mensah-Bonsu signed a one-year deal with the Rockets this morning, my brother (who’s a senior at George Washington this year) was the first one to tell me how this is finally the chance that Pops needs. But despite bleeding school colors, signing a 6-9, 240-pound forward who has played a total of 34 games in his NBA career is not going to replace Yao Ming. Read More »