Earlier today, the NBA released the list of 18 players selected for the 2010 Rookie Challenge during All-Star Weekend – headlined by reigning Rookie of the Year Derrick Rose and superstar freshmen Tyreke Evans, Brandon Jennings and Omri Casspi. The Sophomores have won seven in a row over the first-year players, but the rookies may have the firepower with a talented crop of young guards. Will this be the year the Rookies break through? I don’t think so. Read More »

Relevance is always an issue in collegiate athletics. Coaches will change, players will cycle through programs and records will fluctuate year-to-year; the “what have you done for me lately” mentality will always take over eventually. Lately, all signs coming out of Hollywood and the Southern Cal campus should point to throwing up a white flag on the current season. Thanks to former Trojan O.J. Mayo and the USC booster that supplemented him with compensation as a recruit, the NCAA has been sanctioned to dismiss any postseason for USC this year. No Pac-10 tournament, no NIT and certainly no NCAA come March. As USC wallows in the mud of basketball purgatory, the team actually – on the surface only I’m sure – remains upbeat about its current situation; although I doubt if Ovinton J’Anthony received any Trojan holiday greeting cards this past Christmas. Read More »

We already saw one trade go down this past week when the Jazz sent rookie Eric Maynor to the Thunder. With the new year just around the corner, expect trade talks to really pick up between now and the February 18 trade deadline. Trade rumors around the web and in newspapers have already started to gain momentum this week. Players like Tracy McGrady, Kevin Martin, Eddy Curry and Tyrus Thomas are just a few of the names that have been thrown out. Read More »

Beast of the Night: Andrew Bogut had his best game of the season so far, putting up 31 points, 18 rebounds, 3 assists, 1 steal and 3 blocks against the Pacers. He shot 74 percent (14-19) from the field, 43 percent (3-7) from the line and had 3 turnovers. Bogut has been a fantasy gem so far this season, save for his abysmal free-throw shooting (54 percent). Read More »

Beast of the Night: Steve Nash put up 16 points, 2 threes, 5 rebounds, 13 assists, 2 steals and 2 turnovers last night in a losing effort in Portland. He shot 64 percent (7-11) from the field but didn’t shoot any free throws. Nash continues to thrive in the Suns’ return to their run-and-gun style of play, as his points, threes, assists and shooting percentages are all up from last season. Read More »

The injury bug hit the NBA especially hard this season. From Antawn Jamison to Jameer Nelson to now Greg Oden, it seems every other day, another big name player gets hurt and is forced to miss a month, two months or even the season. But whenever someone goes down, an opportunity arises for someone else. We saw it last year when Rafer Alston stepped in for Jameer. Read More »

Beast of the Night: Danny Granger shot 50 percent (12-24) from the field and perfect (5-5) from the line on his way to 31 points, 2 threes, 16 rebounds, 3 assists, 1 steal, 2 blocks and 4 turnovers. The double-digit boards were out of the ordinary as Granger seems to be dealing with a sore heel quite nicely. He’s still a DNP risk but his owners have to be enjoying the ride so far. Read More »

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

Added: James Johnson, Taj Gibson, Jannero Pargo, Derrick Byars

Lost: Ben Gordon, Tim Thomas, Linton Johnson, Anthony Roberson Read More »

The Big Three had the night off Tuesday (as did Mike Sweetney, so maybe that’s like The Big Five), leaving Rajon Rondo and Rasheed Wallace to carry the load in the Celtics’ win over the Nets. ‘Sheed posted 20 points and nine boards before tweaking his ankle in the third quarter, taking turns shooting Yi Jianlian’s face off and beasting Ed Najera in the post; Rondo had 18 points and 13 dimes and took over in the fourth quarter. Big Baby helped seal the W by showing some vertical and swatting Courtney Lee on one of NJ’s last possessions, then getting a key offensive board on a Rondo missed FT in the final seconds. Read More »

The second game of the NBA preseason, Bulls vs. Pacers, kind of flew under the radar for a few reasons: Nobody cared as much because it wasn’t the debut for the League or the replacement refs, it was on a Friday night when people had better things to do, and the most notable “new face, new place” involved was Bulls’ first-round pick James Johnson — only the most generic (at least in name) first-round pick in this year’s rookie class. Johnson was terrible, by the way, going 1-for-6 from the field and fouling out in 20 minutes … Derrick Rose had 17 points and three assists in Chicago’s win, while John Salmons and Luol Deng (3-10 FG, 9-9 FT) scored 15 apiece. Read More »