Things change quickly in the NBA. At the beginning of last season, T.J. Ford and Brandon Rush made up the Indiana Pacers’ starting backcourt on Opening Night. Today, both Ford and Rush are falling out of Indy’s rotation, and very well could be available for whoever wants them as the February trade deadline approaches.

Ford, the 8th-year pro who was once upon a time was knocking on the door as maybe a top-10 point guard in the NBA, has been in and out of coach Jim O’Brien‘s doghouse throughout his tenure with the Pacers. Read More »

As much as I hate sports/dating analogies — I really can’t hear one more comparison between LeBron James leaving Cleveland and somebody breaking off a relationship — when it comes to trades, the process does resemble most club hook-ups: One side wants it, while the other has to be convinced they want it.

In this case, the San Antonio Spurs want it. While the team is sitting atop the NBA with a 29-6 record and are as strong a contender as anybody for the 2011 championship, naturally they have to look toward the future. Read More »

Until Monty Williams wised up, the Pistons had a pretty effective strategy going into overtime against the Hornets last night: Identify whoever Marco Belinelli was guarding and let that guy get buckets. Ben Gordon (25 pts) hit Marco for two shots right off the bat, and after Chris Paul switched onto BG, Will Bynum (21 pts, 9 asts) took Marco to the rack for another score. Monty finally got the picture and took Marco out, and the Hornets were able to take the lead with 15 seconds on a pair of David West free throws. Read More »

The Atlanta Hawks are off to an 8-4 start, with five players averaging double-figuring scoring and a sixth, Marvin Williams, putting up 9.9 points per game. Aiming for their fourth straight playoff appearance with most of the same core, the Hawks are maturing as a unit, and much of the credit goes to improved ball movement and the diversity of the sets they are running under new coach Larry Drew. Read More »

By and large, preseason rankings are dumb. Not only because they’re completely based on speculation, but because that speculation then becomes taken as gospel, and then sets the tone for the rest of the season in polls that are supposed to be based on performance.

Look at it this way: If you predicted based on hearsay that N.E.R.D.‘s album Nothing (which drops today) will be a five-mic classic, then got a copy and find out it’s a one-mic stinker, would you still give it 3.5 mics because you don’t want to sink it too far in the rankings? Of course not. What you thought of the album before actually hearing the product doesn’t and shouldn’t matter. Read More »

After years of playing with “Roster Player #99″ during Michael Jordan‘s glory days, the real (digital) MJ is finally a usable character and cover athlete of a video game. Thank you, NBA 2K11, for breaking a drought that existed since, what, Bulls vs. Blazers? It was a ritual for me during the 90s to have to create-a-player and produce my own MJ for the Bulls roster. It was always disappoint for me as a youngster having to use the inadequately rated replica to substitute for Jordan. Read More »

After making headlines with their acquisition of Darren Collison and James Posey last week, the Indiana Pacers and their fans have something to cheer about for the first time in a long time.

The trade provides them with a very promising point guard and championship veteran experience. However, the task of improving is a never-ending job. The Pacers’ President of Basketball Operations, Larry Bird, has openly admitted that the team was not done making moves for the summer. Read More »

If this NBA offseason taught you anything, it was that — once again — most of the media doesn’t know sh*t. Or to turn Bernie Mac‘s phrase, they don’t know sh*t until sh*t happens … Take the Carmelo Anthony situation. With every day that ‘Melo doesn’t sign his extension offer from the Nuggets, more scenarios are spun of where he’ll end up next, and more reports come out that are presented as near fact when it’s really just guessing. Today’s best guesses are that Carmelo forms a “Super-Friends 2″ clique in New York with Amar’e and Tony Parker/Chris Paul, or that Melo goes to Orlando as part of a trade that could also include Chauncey, Vince and Rashard Lewis. Read More »

This is Kevin Durant‘s moment. As the eyes of basketball nation are fixed on New York City right now for the World Basketball Festival, Durant is the focal point of Team USA and the unquestioned star of this massive event. In our special all-WBF issue of Bounce Magazine, Durant talks about his meteoric rise to stardom. Read More »

The NBA: Where off-seasons don’t happen. Yesterday afternoon, a four-team deal involving five players hit the NBA. Darren Collison and James Posey head to Indiana, Troy Murphy lands in Newark, Trevor Ariza finds himself in New Orleans and Courtney Lee is now in Houston. While the names might not be huge, the fantasy implications could be. Let’s dive right in and look at the winners, losers and neutrals from the deal, from a fantasy perspective. Read More »