Call it a motivational tactic or simply of moment of brutal honesty, but Doc Rivers delivered what had to be a sobering blow for the Celtics yesterday: “One of the guys said, ‘We’re better than Orlando,’ and I said, ‘No, you’re not. They knocked you out of the playoffs last year.’ Orlando is better than us right now. Atlanta is better than us right now. L.A. is better than us right now.” (Notice how he didn’t include Cleveland, though.) … That quote was following Boston’s decisive loss to the Magic, one of just two NBA games on Super Bowl Sunday. Read More »
I’ll be honest, until real recently, I just haven’t given the due credit deserved to both Andrea Bargnani and the Toronto Raptors for picking him up in 2006. After watching his 22 and eight performance last night in the Raptors’ 106-105 win against the Lakers, I guess I’ve just kind of held a blind eye to the 7-foot Italian. With both Bargnani and rook DeMar DeRozan playing well this season – and yes, I know Bargnani was putting up over fifteen a game last season – it got me thinking about just how far T-Dot has come since drafting its worst player in franchise history: Rafael Araujo. Read More »
There is one trade that can work, one fan base that would accept Iverson with (somewhat) open arms, one team that could slide him right into the starting lineup AND win some games in the process, one place where Iverson can work to rebuild his reputation and maybe even have a future beyond this season. Read More »
Allen Iverson made last night’s Grizzlies/Kings game worth checking out from the beginning, but Kevin Martin made it worth staying until the end. What was originally billed as A.I.’s big debut turned into K-Mart’s showcase, it may have been the best game of the season so far, and it was a hell of a timely ad for NBA League Pass as the free preview week wraps up … Checking in to a nice ovation from the Sacramento crowd, Iverson looked like he was just testing out his hamstring in his initial rotation, a scoreless five-minute stretch of the first quarter. Read More »
Breaking down the first-week performances of the serious 2010 title contenders, Spurs announcer Sean Elliott messed up his words and said the Lakers took an “old-fashioned butt cooking” from the Mavs on Friday night. As it turns out, that was the best way to describe what the Spurs were about to do to the Kings on Saturday … Despite Sacramento starting probably the worst frontcourt in the League (Jason Thompson, Sean May, Desmond Mason), it was one of those nights where Tim Duncan didn’t have to do much and could let the smaller guys go to work. Read More »
Nothing against LeBron and Josh Childress, but the unique selling point of last night’s Cavs/Olympiakos (Greece) game was Shaq vs. “Baby Shaq.” If you don’t remember, Baby Shaq is Sofoklis Schortsanitis, the big (6-9, 300-something) Tractor Traylor-looking dude who once upon a time gave Team USA problems but has since turned into the Blazers-era Shawn Kemp of the Euroleague, as his weight is a constant issue and sometimes gets in the way of his considerable skills … Big Shaq got the best of this one, putting up 12 points and five boards next to Baby Shaq’s four and five. Read More »
Earlier this month, we told you how the Kings paid Sean May $100 large just to make a certain weight. Sacramento aren’t the only team keeping a close eye on a players’ waist line. The Grizzlies are doing newly acquired guard, Marcus Williams, like a boxer and requiring him to keep his weight at 207 pounds and body fat at 10 percent throughout the season. In the past, the former first round pick has developed a reputation for being lazy and out of shape, so the Grizzlies are making sure that’s not the case this time around. Read More »
If your boss offered you a $100k to shed a few lbs., you would be damn sure you figured out a way to make that happen, right? No doubt you’d be working out in the a.m. before work, after work, during your lunch break, eating only asparagus, ordering crazy exercise machines from late-night infomercials, whatever it takes.
Apparently the Sacramento Kings had an incentive clause put in Sean May’s contract that would automatically pay him $100,000 if he made a certain weight by yesterday. Read More »
Today is a big day if you’ve been going through basketball withdrawal, as the first NBA preseason game tips off at 9 p.m. EST, Jazz versus Nuggets. Deron’s shakes against Chauncey’s shot, Carmelo’s O against Kirilenko’s D, Boozer’s excessive chest hair against K-Mart’s excessive tats — even if it’s only for a few minutes here and there before guys like Arron Afflalo and Kosta Koufos get most of the minutes, we’ve really missed the League. And if the backups do get a lot of time, that means we’ll at least get a good look at Ty Lawson and Eric Maynor … Kirilenko (quad), C.J. Miles (hip flexor) and Kyle Korver (knee) might not play, but Jerry Sloan’s biggest personnel problem will be figuring out what to do with Boozer and Paul Millsap. Read More »
NBA training camps are underway, meaning it’s time again for Dime’s team-by-team season previews. Last year we debuted the “Highs and Lows” system — predicting the respective ceilings and basements for each team. In other words, what is the realistic best-case and worst-case scenario for the 2009-10 campaign?
Added:Tyreke Evans, Omri Casspi, Jon Brockman, Sergio Rodriguez, Sean May, Desmond MasonRead More »
