As much as John Wall appears to be a lock for the Washington Wizards with the No. 1 pick in the 2010 NBA Draft, Evan Turner has been penciled into the Philadelphia 76ers lineup by almost everybody since the night Philly landed the No. 2 pick in the Lottery.

Not so fast. Soon after the Sixers hired Doug Collins as head coach, talk around the organization was that Collins is a big fan of Derrick Favors, and would seriously consider taking the Georgia Tech freshman over Turner. Read More »

The funniest thing about the NBA Draft Lottery is how team reps try to balance acting happy about getting a high pick with looking sufficiently disappointed that their team was bad enough to end up at the Lottery in the first place.

The 2010 Conflicted Emotions winner was the guy from the Pistons: During the drawing he broke into a big grin when his team landed the No. 7 pick, but as soon as ESPN’s Mark Jones said, “The Pistons missed the playoffs for the first time in since 2001,” his face immediately shifted to a somber, focused look.

Danny Granger forgot the “act happy” part. Repping the Pacers, Granger brought a John Wall jersey to the Lottery and was ready to rip off his dress shirt like the Incredible Hulk if the Pacers got the top pick. When they didn’t, he dropped his head onto the table. Lost in the comedy of the moment: Granger was advertising that he needs help. Read More »

Well, at least the Raptors video production crew is in playoff form. Twenty-four hours after losing Chris Bosh for at least the rest of the regular season, the “Who will step up?” video before last night’s Toronto/Boston game was a dramatic epic that put Jarrett Jack only slightly behind Morgan Freeman as a narrator, and almost had you believing Marco Belinelli and Amir Johnson are really gonna come off the bench like Marlon Wayans in The 6th Man and carry the Raptors to a ‘chip. Read More »

Less than a minute to go in Orlando, the Wizards were up one with the ball. And as one of the Magic announcers put it, “Their body language is such that they don’t believe they’re really here.” In other words, the Wizards were acting like they knew they were going to somehow blow the game. As if on cue, they committed a turnover, and a couple possessions later, Rashard Lewis stuck a corner three to put Orlando up one with four seconds left. Given all that’s happened to the Wizards this year, you’d think they might as well just go home at that point, but this time they had one reason to stay optimistic: Caron Butler … Read More »

Asked why he picked Shaq for his All-Star roster but railed against Allen Iverson being voted in, NBA TV’s Chris Webber offered one of the weakest arguments I’ve seen since the stuttering attorney in My Cousin Vinny.

“Shaq actually has an impact on his team,” C-Webb said, pointing out that Cleveland has the best record in the League. “He’s the starting center on a good team.” Read More »

Ranking the NBA from worst to first…

30. New Jersey Nets (3-37) Last week: Lost to Boston; lost to Indiana; lost at L.A. Clippers. Rafer Alston’s been sending letters to the guys, telling them what it’s like on the outside. It’s been good for team morale.

29. Minnesota Timberwolves (9-33) Last week: Lost at Houston; lost at Memphis; beat Philadelphia. In case you forgot Wayne Ellington was in the League, he had a couple breakout games last week. In the triple-OT loss to the Rockets (17 pts), he was called upon to take some crunch-time shots, and he delivered some of the time. Read More »

One night after his back locked up in San Antonio and forced him to sit out the fourth quarter of a big game — which, knowing the man, means it had to have been debilitating pain — Kobe Bryant was in Dallas on Wednesday trying to give it a go against another West contender. For the first half of Lakers/Mavs, Kobe was obviously hurting, gingerly running around like late-model Patrick Ewing and serving as not much more than a decoy. In the second half he was moving a little better, but in true dramatic fashion, saved his best for last: Tied up with 42 seconds left after Dirk Nowitzki (30 pts, 16 rebs) hit a three, Kobe got a clear-out on Josh Howard, milked the clock, took him to the right elbow and dropped a pull-up jumper for the go-ahead bucket. Read More »

You needed a picture-in-picture screen and some quick thumbs to keep up with all the down-to-the-wire finishes on Friday’s NBA schedule. We had to attack it newspaper style … PHILADELPHIA–It was a fourth-quarter battle between Chris Bosh and Lou Williams (no, really) that came down to one bad call and one superbad play. Williams’ jumper with one minute left capped a personal 7-0 run and brought the Sixers within one, then Sam Dalembert gave them the lead with a follow dunk in transition. Raps ball, Bosh (29 pts, 9 rebs, 6 asts) squared up on the Dalembeast, shook him going right and got fouled on the floor. Only the refs allowed Bosh to take the contact, brush his teeth, read The Economist, take two steps, clip his toenails and then get his shot off for the longest continuation and-one you’ve seen since Jordan’s prime. Read More »

You would’ve had to re-enact I’m Gonna Git You Sucka! and toss Ron Artest down several flights of steps to get him to miss last night’s matchup with the Rockets. After sitting out five games with a concussion he sustained during a slip-and-fall at his own house, Ron-Ron made it back to face his old squad and show them what they already knew they’d been missing: Streaky shooting and solid defense. Artest finished with seven points (3-11 FG) and seven boards and helped keep Trevor Ariza (12 pts) from going off, but for the second game in a row, L.A.’s star was Lamar Odom. Read More »

Anything is possible in the National Basketball Association. On any given night a team can pull out an upset victory, David Stern can fine you for something you didn’t even say or a superstar can be traded for pennies on the dollar. For the most part we don’t know what General Managers and team executives are thinking. The general NBA fan has the common sense to know when a front office decision is a bad move. For instance everyone knew when Isiah Thomas signed Jerome James to his ridiculous contract that it was unwarranted. It is knee jerk reactions like that which create the special group of NBA players called the Untradeables. Read More »