With the NBA season right around the corner, I caught up with three former players-turned-anaylsts from NBA TV today to preview the upcoming season. Chris Webber, Steve Smith and Greg Anthony broke down questions for an hour on everything from Kwame Brown‘s signing to the effect the lockout will have on young egos. While they disagreed on a number of things, they all seemed to be convinced that Boston’s old vets will actually be helped by the lockout. Read More »

Dwight Howard hears your concerns, especially you Magic fans out there. He appreciates the Stay Dwight campaign, and doesn’t seem like he really wants to leave. It’s as if he’s slowly being pulled away towards the big city – L.A. or New York. He wants to show he cares. So come Nov. 13, he’ll be throwing his own charity game, which has so many former or current Magic players, we might as well just call it a preseason scrimmage. Everyone from DeShawn Stevenson to Ryan Anderson will be in the house, but the one guy I want to see – no, must see – is Steve Francis. Stevie Franchise… or whatever’s left of him. Read More »

If Kemba Walker hadn’t decided to turn into Tiny Archibald in Maui, tonight’s Duke vs. Michigan State matchup (ESPN, 9:30 p.m. EST) would be a meeting of the No. 1 and No. 2 teams in the nation.

Despite their blemished record, No. 6 Michigan State is still considered a Final Four favorite and regarded as the toughest challenge the defending national champion Blue Devils will face in the regular season. Currently, these are the top two teams in college basketball. How do they match up historically? Read More »

Playing in a non-NBA city on a splashy, slightly corny-looking hardwood with a gigantic midcourt logo, last night’s Thunder/Heat preseason game was like a dream sequence of what it would have been like to see LeBron James and Kevin Durant go at each other in college (although seeing Creaky Old Men Jamaal Magloire and Big Z on the Heat bench snapped you back to reality). Good thing it was a pro game, otherwise Dick Vitale‘s heads would have exploded on live TV … LeBron finished with 22 points, 7 boards and 8 assists in a Miami win, while Durant scored 21 points (5-13 FG) to go with 4 rebounds. When the respective starters were in, Miami (without D-Wade) outplayed OKC, and LeBron outplayed KD. We all know Durant can shoot the dimples off the basketball, but LeBron does everything else better … Read More »

With the beginning of every new NBA season, there are a few teams whom we consider to be favorites to win the championship. But as we all know, only one can be crowned NBA champions. And the teams that fall short go home forgotten and pretty much empty-handed.

Some people ask whether it’s worse to make it to the Finals and lose — to come so close to glory and not achieve your goal — or to get eliminated earlier on before the stakes get too high.

If you weren’t under a rock in the ’90s you know that Michael Jordan alone ruined the chances a lot of great players and teams to get a ring. Read More »

As NBA training camps get underway, we preview the upcoming season with the “Highs and Lows” system — predicting the respective ceiling and basement for each team.

Added: Jordan Crawford, Josh Powell, Etan Thomas

Lost: Joe Smith, Randolph Morris, Mario West Read More »

By hiring former Mike Woodson assistant Larry Drew as its next head coach, the Hawks sent a message: Things need to change around here … but not that much.

The Hawks have improved each year for the last five, including a 53-win campaign this season where they earned the No. 3 seed in the East. And even if All-Star Joe Johnson leaves in free agency, Atlanta still has a solid young core in Josh Smith, Al Horford, Marvin Williams and Jeff Teague, plus a couple of solid vets in leadership positions, Jamal Crawford and Mike Bibby. Read More »

This was supposed to be about Georgetown. About Allen Iverson and Victor Page and Joey Brown and the rest of John Thompson‘s finest pupils. But since my Hoyas dropped a doggie-sized deuce in the first round of this year’s Tournament, I had to find new teams to root for as we hit the Sweet Sixteen.

The hometown Huskies were an easy choice, and over the weekend I found myself gravitating toward Michigan State. Read More »

Kelvin Torbert was, undeniably, The Man back in 2001. Coming out of Northwestern High School in Flint, Mich., the 6-4 shooting guard was named Sporting News and Gatorade National Player of the Year over future NBA classmates T.J. Ford, Dajuan Wagner, Tyson Chandler, Eddy Curry and Kwame Brown. Torbert averaged 26 points and eight boards as a senior, then dropped 21 points in that year’s McDonald’s All-American Game.

At Michigan State, Torbert was naturally expected to continue the legacies of Magic Johnson, Steve Smith, Shawn Respert and the “Flintstones” — the four-man crew of Mateen Cleaves, Mo Peterson, Charlie Bell and Antonio Smith that hailed from the same hometown as Torbert. However, Torbert never delivered on that potential in college. Read More »

It was tough to come up with a name for what the Nuggets did to the Hornets last night. The Oz and “Ivan Drago vs. Apollo Creed” references worked for the mere 20-piecings of Games 1 and 2, but last night? The Nuggets damn near won by SIXTY, 121-63, setting an NBA playoff record for margin of victory. Call it the Kobayashi Game: Chauncey and Carmelo and crew ate up the Hornets like Takeru Kobayashi plows through 50 and 60 hot dogs, kind of gross to watch but so fascinating you can’t look away … Read More »