Luke Harangody, a.k.a. “The Other Tyler Hansbrough,” a.k.a. “The Other White Meat,” a.k.a. “Lenny,” just saw his career at Notre Dame end with a whimper.
The most decorated and accomplished player the Fighting Irish have had since Austin Carr, ‘Gody was a 20-and-10 beast for three of his four years. But he’d only been past the NCAA Tournament first round once, and his team missed the tourney altogether last year. Read More »
At the time, Charlotte reportedly decided against making the move, mainly because T.J. is slated to make $8.5 million next season and then-owner Bob Johnson was hesitant to take on that much cap space on a borderline starter. Read More »
One thing I’m going to miss this St. Patrick’s Day is staying up all night by force, not by choice. Last March 17, we were living literally right next door to an Irish pub; since then we’ve moved to a condo across the street and just out of earshot of the tragic karaoke renditions of “Sweet Caroline.”
For that, I’d say I’m lucky. But my kind of lucky isn’t close to NBA-player lucky; there are no eight-figure contracts involved when regular people get lucky. So on this St. Patrick’s Day, we have the 10 luckiest players in the NBA… Read More »
By now you don’t need a Clyde Frazier pimp poem to tell you the Knicks probably wish they would have drafted Brandon Jennings — or Terrence Williams, or Tyler Hansbrough, or Ty Lawson — over Jordan Hill in last year’s NBA Draft.
Two-thirds of the way through his rookie year, Hill has played in less than half of New York’s games, and hasn’t done much (4.1 ppg, 2.5 rpg) when he does see the court. The 6-10 power forward out of Arizona appears every bit like just another left-too-early Draft bust. Read More »
You would’ve had to re-enact I’m Gonna Git You Sucka! and toss Ron Artest down several flights of steps to get him to miss last night’s matchup with the Rockets. After sitting out five games with a concussion he sustained during a slip-and-fall at his own house, Ron-Ron made it back to face his old squad and show them what they already knew they’d been missing: Streaky shooting and solid defense. Artest finished with seven points (3-11 FG) and seven boards and helped keep Trevor Ariza (12 pts) from going off, but for the second game in a row, L.A.’s star was Lamar Odom. Read More »
Just like the great champions of individual sports — Manny Pacquiao, Roger Federer, Ric Flair — NBA title contenders make statements by avenging their losses. Last night, you had the Lakers and Cavs up against teams they’d suffered somewhat embarrassing losses to earlier this season, with mixed results that may tell us something about who will be left standing with the Larry O’Brien come June 2010 … Back in October, the Mavericks went into Staples and handed L.A. a decisive loss. This time the Lakers administered an all-out demolition, 131-96, especially impressive considering Ron Artest didn’t suit up, Pau Gasol left in the first quarter with a hamstring injury, and Kobe was on chill mode for most of the second half. Read More »
Weekend Wonder: Kobe Bryant delivered two nice presents to his fantasy owners this past holiday weekend, averaging 36.5 points, 2.5 threes, 8 rebounds, 6 assists, 3 steals and 4.5 turnovers. He shot 44 percent from the field and 100 percent from the line in those two games. Kobe played a whopping 96 minutes in those two contests, thanks to a double overtime game on Saturday. Read More »
In all honesty, we’ll be surprised if Vinny Del Negro still has a job by the time the Dime crew makes it up to Madison Square Garden tonight for Knicks vs. Bulls. Just when you thought the Bulls were getting their act together and had put together some well-played games, they went out on Monday and — whatever you want to call it — did something that deserves a new word other than “collapse.” If it doesn’t ultimately cost Del Negro his job, it at least has the hot seat burning a hole in his drawers. (And remember, this is the same organization that fired Scott Skiles on Christmas Eve a couple years back. Don’t think Del Negro can use the holidays as a stay of execution.) … Here’s the scene: Coming off an impressive win over the Hawks, the Bulls were up THIRTY-FIVE on Sacramento, at home, midway through the third quarter. The announcers were running out of ways to call it an ass-whoopin’. Read More »
If only we could all be like Tony Montana in Scarface with the multiple-screen setup of TV’s at the crib, because Saturday night’s NBA schedule was too hectic to follow with just one clicker. Kings/Bucks, Bulls/Hawks and Spurs/Pacers all went down to the wire almost exactly at the same time — and not to mention over on NFL Network you had the Saints in the process of snapping their unbeaten streak against the Cowboys … It took a couple months into the post- Ben Gordon era to figure it out, but the Bulls are better when Derrick Rose isn’t the primary offensive option, and instead able to run the show as a playmaker then go into scoring mode when he needs to (similar to Steve Nash in Phoenix). Read More »