It’s not easy balancing humility and confidence. But New Orleans Hornets point guard Greivis Vasquez is doing it. The former Maryland standout is having a breakout season in his third year in the NBA, averaging 14.3 points, 9.2 assists (third in the NBA) and 4.6 rebounds, and racking up more 20/10/5 games (points/assists/rebounds) than anyone outside of LeBron James. Read More »

It’s hard to be considered an offseason winner when your No. 1 player and franchise cornerstone recently tore up his knee and won’t be returning until probably March at the earliest. But the Bulls aren’t just going to be one player down next season; They’ve made some huge changes in this offseason. They lost Ronnie Brewer, Kyle Korver and Omer Asik, among others, and replaced them with Kirk Hinrich, Nate Robinson and Nazr Mohammed. Rose probably means a dozen wins himself, and with the new changes they’ve made, Jeff Van Gundy doesn’t think they’ll even make the playoffs. The Notorious J.V.G. said on ESPN 1000′s “Waddle & Silvy” show that it’ll be a heck of a year if the Bulls can even win half of their games. Read More »

Beast of the Night: John Wall finished with 26 points, four rebounds, 12 assists, three steals and a block last night. He shot 69 percent (11-16) from the floor and 100 percent (4-4) from the free-throw line, and had five turnovers. Maybe that new Wizards roster will do Wall some good. Read More »

We wonder if Dwight Howard was watching last night. The two teams most often associated with the Orlando big man met up for what could’ve been a classic last night in Dallas if it wasn’t for Jason Kidd, and if it wasn’t for the fact that one of the teams is the Nets. Still, New Jersey stole the game 93-92 after a Kidd three-point heave at the buzzer was off. How’d it happen? The Nets have a new big man, and it’s not the guy everyone is talking about. Brook Lopez dropped 38 points in his first big game of the season after coming off his injury. Read More »

If there’s one thing fantasy basketball owners should know, it’s that a team coached by Mike D’Antoni is a team to embrace. While his attention to offense and disregard for defense bring up valid concerns about the New York Knicks‘ real-life success, it’s pretty much gold for fantasy basketball purposes. There are two players driving the bulk of this team’s fantasy appeal, and in this type of offense there’s always the possibility of plug-and-play success for guys who fill in for injured players, especially in the backcourt. Still, as currently constructed, the Knicks do have some potential issues that diminish their fantasy luster, though not by much. Read More »

You might have heard, but today the owners and players met once again to go over this lockout business. For a variety of reasons – not all entirely true – things had been looking hopeful in the past week or so. But alas, the news wasn’t good as both sides came out of the meetings without any further progress being made.

We could roll out 500 words on how annoying all of this is, but Twitter has been breaking down the emotional roller coaster for us over the past hour or so anyways. Take it away Twitter: Read More »

As the NBA preseason gets underway, we preview the upcoming campaign with the “Highs and Lows” system — predicting the respective ceiling and basement for each team.

Added: Tiago Splitter, James Anderson, Alonzo Gee

Lost: Roger Mason, Keith Bogans, Ian Mahinmi Read More »

All due respect to T-Mac and A.I., but the 2010 free agency rush is over. After Shaq signed with Boston for the monetary equivalent of his yearly Fuddruckers budget, at this point we’re beating down sources and constantly refreshing NBA rumor sites just for items like, “Cartier Martin is getting interest from the Bobcats, Heat and Blazers.” In other words, not exactly “The Decision” … Kobe Bryant‘s squad inked the player who is probably the last significant piece to fall into place for next year’s championship picture — since Orlando, Miami, Boston and San Antonio have filled their rosters — re-upping with Shannon Brown on a 2-year, $4.6 million deal. Read More »

Lost amongst all of the Sports Illustrated covers, ESPY interviews and polls proclaiming the Heat to be nothing short of sensational, the best team in Florida could still be the Orlando Magic. For them, this summer was more about curtailing roster losses and keeping their core together. With two straight trips to the Eastern Conference Finals, Dwight Howard & Co. have the foundation to contend for years. Read More »

In less than a season, Raylan Givens is rocketing up the Austin’s Favorite TV Cops power ranking — threatening Frank Pembleton (“Homicide”), J.C. Williams and Eddie Torres (“New York Undercover”), Rick Hunter (“Hunter”) and the entire cast of “In The Heat Of The Night” — the same way Kevin Durant crashed the NBA’s elite party.

In a recent episode of “Justified” (Tuesdays on FX), Givens had gotten his ass kicked in a barroom brawl, and while his ex-wife is nursing him back to health, they have this exchange: Read More »