Before LeBron lived up to the hype, Brad Daugherty was arguably the greatest player in Cleveland Cavaliers history. After the events of last summer, Daugherty at least reclaimed his spot as the best player whom Cavs fans actually like, as LeBron has become as welcome in Cleveland as Bill was welcome at Beatrix Kiddo’s wedding.

The No. 1 pick of the 1986 NBA Draft, Daugherty played eight seasons with the Cavs before back injuries forced him into retirement at 28 years old. In that time he averaged 19.0 points and 9.5 rebounds per game, making five All-Star Games and finishing his career as the franchise’s all-time leader in total points and rebounds. Read More »

Given the “appeal” of Charlotte to NBA free agents, the lack of cap space the team had this offseason, and the fact that the Bobcats are actually coming off a decent year (losing their playoff virginity) and didn’t need to make any major trades, there were only like two or three realistic moves Michael Jordan could have made this summer to wind up in the headlines. And yesterday he made one of them by bringing Kwame Brown to the Bobcats … Granted, it’s just a one-year deal for the veteran minimum. And as far as backup centers go, you could do a lot worse than Kwame. But this is just like when the Knicks re-hired Isiah Thomas for those 20 minutes a couple weeks ago: What does Kwame do so well that you couldn’t have signed anybody else and avoided the bad PR and constant jokes? Read More »

The Blazers organization has been one of the most stable over the last few NBA seasons. They had young building blocks in place (LaMarcus Aldridge and Brandon Roy), a great GM (Kevin Pritchard) and stability at the head coaching position (Nate McMillan). But now chaos is starting to reign supreme in Portland.

During the season, the Blazers fired Tom Penn who was Pritchard’s right hand man in the front office, and now word is that Pritchard may also be on his way out of town. In addition to the front office troubles, the Blazers’ coaching staff is also in a bit of turmoil. Monty Williams recently left to take the Hornets head coaching job, rumors are flying that Dean Demopoulos may be on his way out, and according to Dave D’Alessandro of The Star-Ledger, Joe Prunty appears on his way to New Jersey to join Avery Johnson. Read More »

My favorite team wore green, too. No, the Seattle Supersonics don’t perfectly blend into the St. Patrick’s Day theme — we damn sure aren’t lucky, although the whole situation does make you feel like drinking sometimes — but I’m going to steal Aron’s idea anyway and commemorate the holiday with my 10 favorite Sonics: Read More »

Before Thursday, the last time we saw the Blazers host the Suns on national TV in December, Brandon Roy had his “superstar” breakout by dumping 52 points on Phoenix. Last night, same setting with the same teams, it was Jerryd Bayless‘ turn. Having just recently been introduced to consistent playing time since Portland is racked by injuries, Bayless went off for 29 points (9-15 FG, 9-12 FT) in 29 minutes off the bench, and by the end of the night had Charles Barkley calling Nate McMillan into question for keeping Bayless buried until now … Read More »

As much as everyone has talked about the cooler, calmer, more collected Denver Nuggets in this second Chauncey Billups era, this is still an energy-driven squad, especially at home. So throughout last night’s Game 6 loss that ended Denver’s season and sent the Lakers to the NBA Finals, Kobe Bryant was all about delivering daggers and taking the crowd out of the equation. Kobe (35 pts, 6 rebs, 10 asts) was handing out silencers like Nic Cage in Lord of War, and in turn the Nuggets were generally listless, particularly in the second half when you’d expect them to come out on fire. Read More »

To clarify: Our NBA Fantasy Finals have nothing to do with the stat-driven “fantasy basketball” you play online. We’re taking NBA Finals teams throughout history and pitting them against each other to see what you think would happen. Assume both lineups are healthy, and the older team gets homecourt. Today it’s Reggie vs. Clyde in what sounds like the World Series of Dominoes, but really isn’t … Read More »