Even with Vince Carter‘s ankle keeping him sidelined for his latest return to Toronto (where he could get booed in an Orlando uniform this time), there were more than enough ready-made story lines going into Magic/Raptors: Hedo Turkoglu‘s first game against his old squad, the next chapter in the Dwight Howard vs. Chris Bosh rivalry (quietly and consistently more exciting than Deron Williams vs. Chris Paul), and the intrigue of seeing which players would be visibly sleep-walking for a 1 p.m. EST tip-off the day after Halloween. So you can understand why nobody was ready for J.J. Redick to become the headliner. Read More »

This year’s draft class has the potential for a number of gems to come out of the second round. I think Dejuan Blair, Sam Young, Dajuan Summers and Marcus Thornton will all make an immediate impact this season. But another guy to keep an eye on is someone that we’ve all known about for years: Chase Budinger. Cue the eye rolls. Read More »

With most of their guys back healthy from the flu and various other injuries, the Cavs smashed the Mavs by 30 last night at the University of Pittsburgh gym. (Since when do Cleveland teams get love in Pittsburgh?) Mo Williams had 16 points and 11 assists, LeBron put up 12 points on 3-of-13 shooting and seven dimes, and Big Z scored 16 off the bench … Dallas was the team playing short-handed, as Dirk, J-Kidd and Jason Terry were given the night off, and Josh Howard and Shawn Marion are still banged up. So the starting five looked like this: J.J. Barea, Matt Carroll, Quinton Ross, Drew Gooden and Erick Dampier. Pretty sure the Pitt Panthers squad would be able to give that lineup at least a decent run. Hell, put Sam Young and DeJuan Blair back on the squad and they might pull off a W … Read More »

If this is the beginning of a trend, we’ll have to adjust that projected number of wins we had for the Memphis Grizzlies ceiling this year. When Allen Iverson sat out the first preseason game with a “sore hamstring,” we figured that was just NBA code for “I’m a 14-year vet, f*** a preseason.” As it turns out, A.I. really is banged up and will be sidelined for three weeks with a partially torn hammy. There’s a slight chance he could be back by the real opener, when the Grizzlies host the Pistons in what was going to be their biggest regular season game in maybe ever … Memphis beat the Thunder in last night’s exhibition, getting 22 points (13-16 FT) from rookie Sam Young and 18 points from Rudy Gay. Read More »

Last year we debuted the “Highs and Lows” system — previewing the upcoming NBA season by predicting the respective ceilings and basements for each team. Same theme, different season…

Added: Allen Iverson, Zach Randolph, Hasheem Thabeet, DeMarre Carroll, Sam Young, Mike Taylor, Marcus Williams Read More »

As much as we make summer league about the rookies, this year’s Vegas version was stocked with young “vets” whose play could be a sign of big things to come when the real games start. Nick Young, Anthony Randolph, Jason Thompson, even Adam Morrison and Marcus Williams all put in work, but when the VSL wrapped up yesterday, it was rookie Blake Griffin who was named MVP … Blake averaged 19 points and 10 boards in his five games with the JV Clippers, and in his finale put up 16 and eight in a matchup with older brother Taylor Griffin (4 pts, 6 rebs) and the Suns. We’re probably not going out on a limb saying that was the first and last game those two ever play where they’re across from each other in the starting lineup. Read More »

Who would have guessed that the first NBA dude to put Blake Griffin on his ass would be skinny JaVale McGee? Blake finished with 19 points, 10 boards and four steals against the Wizards in yesterday’s Vegas Summer League, but one time he came through the lane with the rock and McGee (19 pts, 7 blks) gave the rookie a good, hard, welcome-to-the-NBA foul. Blake stayed on the ground for a second, but he was OK. Then later in the fourth quarter, McGee caught an alley-oop on Blake’s head and screamed on him. (JaVale is still doing the salute thing whenever he dunks, too.) … Rodrigue Beaubois scored 23 for the Mavs in a game against the Thunder that was just ugly. Read More »

Only a few second-rounders from the 2009 NBA Draft justify the “slept-on” label. DeJuan Blair slipped to the Spurs at pick No. 37 (of course), and Outback trailblazer Patty Mills plummeted all the way to No. 55 before getting seized by the Trail Blazers (of course), and also respect to Sam Young and Jermaine Taylor.

As for the rest, “carry-on” is probably more appropriate — before you get too attached to your second-round additions, you should get to know the second round: Read More »

Although the ‘09 NBA free agent class isn’t as stacked as in years past — not to mention the League is being more thrifty than ever due to the slumping economy — teams still have holes they want to plug, and players have moves they want to make. On the eve of the negotiation period (players can’t officially sign until July 8), we’re taking the next few days to break down each team’s free agent situation… Read More »

Say this much for new Timberwolves GM David Kahn: He might be the worst comedian in the NBA (his jokes last night bombed like Kramer on “Comicview”), but in the few weeks he’s been on the job, he’s made the Wolves relevant for the first time since they had KG. In almost every media outlet’s recap of last night’s NBA Draft, the Wolves were one of the lead stories, with half the experts thinking they killed it and deserved an A+, and the other half wondering if Kahn is smoking that same stuff Prince had when he made Graffiti Bridge … The Wolves used the 5th pick on Ricky Rubio, then took Jonny Flynn with the 6th pick. Read More »