By now, you should know that when NBA announcers keep saying, “Kobe is really frustrated,” it’s actually code for, “Kobe’s shot isn’t falling and he’s battling with the refs.” … That was the case during Lakers/Mavericks last night, as L.A. got smoked on its homecourt and Kobe (20 pts, 6-19 FG) struggled between breaking out his best whiny faces. 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: Tyson Chandler, Gerald Henderson, Flip Murray, Derrick Brown, Stephen Graham

Lost: Emeka Okafor, Sean May, Juwan Howard, Cartier Martin Read More »

With most of their guys back healthy from the flu and various other injuries, the Cavs smashed the Mavs by 30 last night at the University of Pittsburgh gym. (Since when do Cleveland teams get love in Pittsburgh?) Mo Williams had 16 points and 11 assists, LeBron put up 12 points on 3-of-13 shooting and seven dimes, and Big Z scored 16 off the bench … Dallas was the team playing short-handed, as Dirk, J-Kidd and Jason Terry were given the night off, and Josh Howard and Shawn Marion are still banged up. So the starting five looked like this: J.J. Barea, Matt Carroll, Quinton Ross, Drew Gooden and Erick Dampier. Pretty sure the Pitt Panthers squad would be able to give that lineup at least a decent run. Hell, put Sam Young and DeJuan Blair back on the squad and they might pull off a W … Read More »

No team will ever admit it — not even the OKC Thunder — but some NBA uniforms are just plain ugly. From the ’90s Nets (tie-dye?) to the original Vancouver Grizzlies to the Wizards’ gold/black tragedy, there have been some bad ones along the way. And with their bright orange base and the checkered-flag side panel for “special” occasions, the Charlotte Bobcats have cracked the list since their inception. Yesterday, however, the ‘Cats unveiled their new unis, the one Gerald Wallace is wearing in the photo. No more bright orange overload; it’s blue for the road and white at home. (The orange is “avant garde” according to the press release.) Read More »

Ray Felton’s objective should be obvious to anyone who’s been paying attention to this summer of free agency: Sometime around January/February, Ray wants to be in the All-Star conversation, setting himself up lovely for a fatter contract in 2010, and as icing on the cake, making everyone wonder just why the hell it took so long for somebody to get him signed in the first place. Felton agreed to the Bobcats’ one-year qualifying offer yesterday ($5.5 million), setting Charlotte up for another run at getting that elusive first-ever playoff berth with Felton and D.J. Augustin at the point, Raja Bell/Gerald Henderson at the two, Gerald Wallace at the three, Boris Diaw at the four, Tyson Chandler in the middle and Alexis Ajinca getting cramps from sitting down for extended periods of time. Read More »

It looks like the Bobcats don’t need Allen Iverson after all. According to Sean Deveney of The Baseline, Ray Felton will sign a one-year, $5.5 million qualifying offer with the Bobcats after talks broke down last week over a long-term deal. All I can say is that it look them long enough. Read More »

Every NBA team has a go-to guy, and there’s really only room for one. It’s not about who always gets to take the last-second shot. More realistically, it’s the guy who regularly gets the ball when things are getting tense in the fourth quarter; it’s the guy who is expected to calm things down when teammates are getting sloppy; it’s the guy who is called upon to snuff out an opponent’s rally, or spark a comeback rally of his own; it’s the guy who’s not just supposed to make shots, but make the right decisions when a shot isn’t there. Bottom line: Who do you want the offense to run through when everything is on the line? Read More »

NBA training camp is still a few weeks away, so Saturday was all about college football. Some basketball-related notes from the day’s action: Greg Paulus lost his first game as Syracuse’s starting QB, racking up 167 yards on 19-of-31 attempts with one touchdown against Minnesota, but he threw a crucial pick in overtime (’Cuse was also 1-for-12 in converting third downs); Javier Arenas (Gilbert’s cousin) had a handful of kick/punt returns in fifth-ranked Alabama’s win over No. 7 Virginia Tech, but didn’t break any for a long gain … With Ramon Sessions spoken for, the only two point guards anybody is looking out for in free agency are Allen Iverson and Ray Felton, and the former’s eventual destination likely has a big impact on the latter’s next move. Read More »

After putting together the modified Top-50 list of players from ‘08-09, I had about 50 leftovers who just missed the cut. And from that, there could’ve been a whole sub-category titled “Wait ‘Til Next Year.”

We’ve gone over the centers and two-guards. Now here are five small forwards who look the most ready to crack the 2010 Top-10 with their performances next season: Read More »

When a young phenom stumbles, or goes all the way and completely falls from grace, the race is on amongst guys like us (media) to say “I saw it coming.” Whether it’s a young Mike Tyson’s behavior around women or Todd Marinovich’s father creating a recipe for his son’s rebellion, pundits like to say they saw the signs before anyone else. In the case of Michael Beasley, playing the “We saw it coming” card initially seemed like opportunistic hindsight, and yet, thinking back to our time spent with Beasley, everything that’s come to light this week makes sense. Read More »