Seven matchups to watch on Friday’s 13-game schedule…

Detroit @ Orlando: The Demons vs. Dwight Howard How else do you explain Howard consistently looking his worst against the Pistons no matter who’s on the roster or the coaching staff? Earlier this week, old nemesis Ben Wallace led a new unit of goons that limited Dwight to eight points and five boards, and fouled him out in just 17 minutes. How much money would Superman pay Krypto-Nate Robinson this summer not to sign with the Pistons if it looked like things were headed that way? Read More »

Selected 18th overall by the Denver Nuggets in 2009 NBA Draft, Ty Lawson saw several point guards get picked ahead of him. One person who thinks 17 teams made a mistake passing on the former Tar Heel is Trevor Kapp from our sister site Bouncemag.com. We passed the mic to Trevor and let him vouch for the 2009 ACC Player of the Year. 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: Jonny Flynn, Ramon Sessions, Wayne Ellington, Ryan Hollins, Damien Wilkins, Sasha Pavlovic, Antonio Daniels, Oleksiy Pecherov, Jason Hart, Nathan Jawai, Mark Blount, Henk Norel

Lost: Randy Foye, Mike Miller, Sebastian Telfair, Craig Smith, Rodney Carney, Mark Madsen, Kevin Ollie, Jason Collins, Shelden Williams, Bobby Brown Read More »

The Knicks rolled out what might be the worst NBA starting lineup you’ll see all year (Chris Duhon, Larry Hughes, Jared Jeffries, Al Harrington, David Lee), but they still managed to beat the Nets in yesterday’s preseason opener for both teams because, frankly, the Nets also have high potential to stink. Harrington led NY with 23 points, Lee had 20 and nine boards, and Wilson Chandler came off the bench for 21 points. Chandler is expected to take over that starting SG spot soon enough, but he’s been a little banged up in training camp … Nate Robinson was curiously quiet, coming off the bench for 17 minutes and scoring six points. Read More »

In yesterday’s gold-medal game at the FIBA European Championships, Spain made their opening-round hiccup against Serbia look exactly like what it was — a random hiccup. In a rematch with Serbia, Pau Gasol’s crew waxed the opposition, going up by 15 in the first quarter, making it a 20-piece McNugget by the second quarter, and ultimately winning by 22. Big brother Gasol led the way with 18 points, 11 boards and three blocks, while Rudy Fernandez scored 13 and J.C. Navarro added 12 points. Ricky Rubio had 10 points and one assist. Spain dominated the glass, getting almost as many offensive boards (18) as Serbia had total rebounds (24). Read More »

After an up-and-down couple of weeks that saw them perform up to their potential and down to some lesser competition, Team Spain is right where they’re supposed to be at the FIBA European Championships: playing for the gold medal. In yesterday’s semifinal, Pau Gasol scored 18 points and Rudy Fernandez added 14 and three steals to lead Spain in a blowout win over Greece, while Ricky Rubio continued his underwhelming (at least stats-wise) tourney with a 5-point, 3-assist effort. Spain will face Serbia in the final, the team that upset them on the first day of the tournament. In Serbia’s semifinal, Milos Teodosic dropped 32 points (6 threes), and Nenad Krstic had 18 points to lead them past Slovenia … Read More »

Even before the tournament field was set, Spain vs. France was the most anticipated matchup at the FIBA European Championships. With both squads only missing a couple of their high-profile players — Jose Calderon and Sergio Rodriguez for Spain, Joakim Noah and Mickael Pietrus for France — these were clearly the two most star-studded rosters and favorites in the tourney. Throw in the drama of Spain looking very vulnerable thanks to some early-round struggles, and it was at least expected to be interesting. But then in yesterday’s quarterfinal matchup, Spain laid the hammer down in a 20-piecing that wasn’t even competitive. Rudy Fernandez (16 pts, 6 stls, 5 rebs) knocked down three triples in the first quarter as Spain got out to a blazing start and never looked back. Read More »

A couple months ago, one of our writers picked the Wizards to make a return to the playoffs in 2010, slotting them eighth or ninth in the East. A lot of readers thought that was way too low; they had the crew of Caron Butler, Antawn Jamison, a returning Gilbert Arenas and Brendan Haywood, new pickups Randy Foye and Mike Miller, and young’uns Andray Blatche, Nick Young and JaVale McGee finishing as high as fourth in the East. Now Jamison is taking it a step further. In yesterday’s Washington Post, Jamison said he believes the Wizards can win a championship next year. Read More »

In a way, it must be nice playing for an NBA organization that barely seems to know up from down, and for a coach who delivers his rendition of the “Inches” speech while drinking a Bud Lite. Who else but the Warriors would have their most high-profile player, Stephen Jackson, make a very public trade demand and insult the franchise at the same time, and not only do they try to spin it as a positive, the coach also keeps him in place as the recognized official leader of the team. When Jackson said he wanted to be traded because, basically, Golden State sucks, team GM Larry Riley actually tried to sell it as Jackson committing to making the Warriors a contender. Read More »

Two days later, Michael Jordan’s Hall of Fame speech is still the biggest topic in basketball. And for the most part, the reviews were not positive. Common accusations were that MJ was confrontational, bullying, petty, ungrateful, and that he primarily used his stage to settle old scores. Our take? It’s obvious who amongst the critics have never played sports, or is so far removed from playing that they forgot what it’s like to be competitive. True, Mike didn’t exhibit anything near the vulnerability of, say, Michael Irvin’s H.O.F. speech, but he wasn’t that bad. Read More »