In light of seeing all of these former NBA stars getting into trouble, I’ve been thinking about a whole lot, about untapped potential (hence my repeated posts on Penny & G-Hill & ‘Mac) and about why some guys make it and others don’t. It’s more than talent. Much more.

It’s always so hard to judge someone from afar. You grow up believing most of the stories you hear, thinking “oh this dude’s a bad guy…this guy is cool, but sometimes he doesn’t care…this guy can’t play.” But eventually, you find out that most of the stuff you hear is untrue. Read More »

So maybe there was a WNBA logo at midcourt. And maybe the crowd of just over 5,000 was about one-fourth of what you’d get on a good night at Staples Center or Madison Square Garden. And maybe the only certified All-Star on either roster was sitting on the bench in street clothes, cradling his 2-year-old daughter and 4-year-old son in his arms instead of a basketball.

But none of those images could dim the fantasy that, for now at least, the NBA was back in Seattle. Read More »

Call it a spoon-feeding. A Costco free sample. But when your NBA team is swiped away like a waiter prematurely assuming you’re done with your meal, you’ll take anything. (Thousands of Sonics fans simultaneously nod their heads.) This Saturday, an exhibition game known as the H206 Charity Basketball Classic will take place at KeyArena in Seattle featuring over 20 NBA players broken up into two separate teams – the “Seattle Team” and the “League Team.” Trust us, you want to be there. Read More »

For some teams, the NBA draft is a chance to rebuild and send the franchise in a completely new direction (cough, Cleveland, cough). But there are no guarantees that a high pick will change a franchise’s fate, or even become an impact player.

Yesterday we listed the best NBA draft picks at each spot. Today, we present you with the worst picks at 1-30 in NBA history. Read More »

Somewhere in between the final minutes of Portland’s 107-100 loss to Miami last night, I was left wondering, where is Jerryd Bayless? Not for the reason that he should have been in this specific game, but because his all-around NBA presence should be much bigger at this point. In the Miami scorecard, he was only able to log three minutes, contributing two points and a foul in that span. Read More »

Yesterday’s “Where are they now?” post on Troy Bell generated a lot of discussion of our favorite has-beens. We saw all sorts of names: Dajuan Wagner, Scotty Thurman, Harold Miner and even David Benoit. So we’re going to do what we can to dig up information and catch you up to speed on everyone.

One name I saw come up that really struck a chord with me was Omar Cook. Read More »

Here we were, glad to see Isiah Thomas handling everything perfectly so far in his tenure at Florida International — even going above and beyond in recruiting — and then the reminder comes along that scandal (even if it’s silly) just seems to follow Isiah around like that jheri curl aroma followed A.C. Green for so many years … Here’s the story: FIU was scheduled to play in the early-season Coaches vs. Cancer tournament, and initially believed their first opponent would be Ohio State. But then they found out the tourney schedule had been changed, and OSU was replaced with North Carolina. Now FIU is pissed, and threatening to pull out of the tourney. Read More »

There is an old saying in the NBA, “it’s hard to make the NBA and it’s even harder to stay.” People forget that every year, 50 or so rookies come into the League, which means 50 have to go out. Some of our favorite names in college disappear into obscure basketball leagues across the globe. One name that fits in that category is Troy Bell. Read More »