The Oklahoma City Thunder are content to have Reggie Jackson be their backup point guard going forward, if today’s moves before the NBA trade deadline are an indication. The Thunder traded Eric Maynor to Portland. Read More »

The Miami Heat ascended to the NBA’s mountaintop this past summer, and now have an even larger target on their back entering the 2012-2013 NBA season. They stand firmly in the way of anyone else in the Eastern Conference who hopes to go to the Finals. What’s worse for the other Eastern Conference hopefuls is that the Heat have additional firepower in the form of Ray Allen and Rashard Lewis. But… the games still need to be played and in this NBA landscape, nothing is promised – not even a return trip to South Beach for next June’s Finals. Read More »

A dozen of basketball’s greatest earned the highest honor Friday night in Springfield, and it was a big night if you liked UCLA (Reggie Miller, Jamaal Wilkes and Don Barksdale) or Nike, sneakers and ad campaigns (Phil Knight, period). But that’s glossing over the fun of the night, where you always get to hear some stories from the greats that seem to peel back the cover of what basketball was like in their day. 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 »

By the end of this summer, the Bulls might not have anyone left from last season’s backcourt. Derrick Rose will be sidelined for much of the season. Kyle Korver is in Atlanta. C.J. Watson went to Brooklyn. And now Ronnie Brewer is packing his bags, along with his defense and his one-of-a-kind off-ball cutting, for the Big Apple. Brewer played in every game for Chicago last season, and while his average of 6.9 points a game isn’t catching anyone’s eye, the former Arkansas star brings a lot of intangibles to the floor. Alas, because of money concerns, Chicago didn’t pick up his $4.3 million option this summer, thus making him a free agent. Read More »

Beast of the Night: Al Jefferson posted 25 points, 13 rebounds, seven assists, one steal and three blocks last night. He shot 56 percent (9-16) from the floor and 88 percent (7-8) from the free-throw line, and had no turnovers. This is about as perfect as a big man’s line gets. Jefferson has been a top 10 stud so far this season. His value has been boosted by his improved assists (2.2 per game, up from 1.8 last season) and steady turnovers (1.2 per game, down from 1.3 last season). Read More »

Friday, March 2nd marked the fiftieth anniversary of Wilt Chamberlain scoring 100 points in one game. NBA TV aired a special, “Wilt 100,” and the NBA scheduled a “rematch” of the night by having the Golden State Warriors face the Philadelphia Sixers.

Wilt’s record is even more impressive considering how hard it is for most NBA teams to score that many points in one game. A number of NBA teams award their home fans in the rare event of scoring 100 or more points: Read More »

No one can accuse Derrick Rose of lacking self-confidence. “Why can’t I be the MVP of the league,” Rose famously asked last September, before becoming the youngest MVP in NBA history last season. This year, he’s still not concerned with anybody else, and is now talking about bringing multiple championships to his hometown. Read More »

Next up for fantasy basketball discussion: the Chicago Bulls. There’s a good deal to like here from a fantasy perspective – a first-round stud, some decent value in the middle rounds and a few fill-in guys to watch on the waiver wire when need be. Without too many free agents for the Bulls, fantasy owners shouldn’t expect too many things to change in the upcoming season. But if Brian Scalabrine isn’t re-signed, all bets are off. Read More »

The most common criticism that people have had against the Bulls this season has been their lack of a true scorer outside of Derrick Rose. Never was that more evident than in the last five minutes of regulation and overtime of Game 4, when Rose essentially went one-on-one with a much bigger LeBron James because nobody else on his team could create any shots without his help. The most glaring weakness is at the two guard spot, where the Bulls currently have a flawed three-man rotation there. Read More »