You know those players who over time fail to live up to their deal and by the end of it – speaking of the last year or two – when their trade value spikes and they’re referred to as “So and so’s contract?” Well, that’s sort of where Rashard Lewis is. He’ll be the second-highest paid player in the league next season, and for the last year or so hasn’t looked at all like the guy who once regularly dropped 20 a night in Seattle, or even the three-point specialist during his first run in Orlando. Injuries have played a big part. The situation with the lockout has put added attention onto the contract of a guy who has become the very definition of a one-dimensional player. Lewis is promising next year won’t be like that. He’s working out, showed more explosiveness in the Impact League and even had platelet rich plasma treatment in March. Read More »

‘Twas the night before the draft and all through the league, not a player was safe, not even Jeff Teague. Yeah so we were pretty close to writing this entire edition of Smack in rhyme. That would’ve been a disaster (we’re already not crazy about that opening). But anyway, yes it is that time of year again – that last 24 hours where every GM gets all polished up, floats almost every player on their roster and lies to the media about it. We think it’s all pretty awesome, especially with the added pressure of the lockout. Read More »

Many things were different in 2006. Our president was still white, Osama still roamed the deserts and no one had even heard of Soulja Boy. Yet, the NBA was still as competitive as ever as the upstart Miami Heat took on the Dallas Mavericks in a wild six-game series. Five years later, as the two teams hook up again in the Finals, we take a look at the top 5 reasons why the 2011 Finals is not the 2006 Finals. Read More »

On July 8th of last year, LeBron James announced in front of a national audience on ESPN, “I’m taking my talents to South Beach.” That announcement unleashed a strong legion of “haters” – primarily from Cleveland – but with members all over the country. These haters are people who suddenly became fervently anti-LeBron for a variety of reasons: “The Decision” was a slap in the face to Cleveland, he’s a coward who can’t win without Dwyane Wade, he turned his back on a city that adored him, and the list goes on and on. I must admit, I am one of those people. Read More »

We mentioned it in Smack this morning – John Wall and Big Z sort of got into it last night in Washington. You can’t really call this a “fight,” because Zydrunas seems fairly amused by the whole thing and he doesn’t really fight back, even after Wall delivers a serious right-handed body blow to his rib cage.

Afterward, this is what Wall had to say about the skirmish: Read More »

Normally, starting Smack with a Knicks/Nets game must’ve meant that the rest of the league either had the night off or every other game just sucked. We could’ve started with all of the misplaced anger going around the NBA last night – guys were throwing bows, players were getting thrown out for grabbing their junk, there were punches thrown between announcers and fans. People were going harder than Malice on a solo cut, but we’ll get to it all after last night’s main basketball event from Madison Square Garden … 68 first-half points. To the Nets. Even Jay-Z would’ve had to laugh at that. Mike D’Antoni and the Knicks were probably laughing themselves. New York’s defense couldn’t have been more lax if they tried. Still, it was fun. Runs, highlights, the return of Deron Williams (22 points) Read More »

There was an interesting — if not all that surprising — statistic relayed by the Portland announcers during Sunday night’s Blazers/Heat game: Dwyane Wade is the NBA’s 2nd-leading scorer in fast break points among guards (I’d assume Monta Ellis is first), while LeBron James is No. 1 in fast break points among forwards. I’m not sure who leads the League in transition scoring for centers, but it’s probably not Zydrunas Ilgauskas.

This was before Wade dumped 34 points on Portland, and LeBron scored 44 while putting the overtime victory to bed. Read More »

The haters are running out of reasons to throw rocks at the Heat. Last night’s blowout of the Hornets — a team that has W’s over Dallas, San Antonio and Miami already on its resume — provided an answer to just about every criticism that’s been levied against D-Wade, LeBron and Bosh‘s crew … You say Wade and ‘Bron can’t play together? While Wade dominated the second quarter, scoring 20 of his 32 points, LeBron owned the third, scoring 13 of his 20 as Miami turned a one-point halftime deficit into a seven-point lead going into the fourth quarter. Read More »

Last night’s Heat/Cavs game exemplifies why I’m obsessed with sports. It was the ultimate reality show, an unscripted drama. Within every game and every matchup, there are compelling stories developing.

While the basketball world is still analyzing LeBron James‘ homecoming in Cleveland, I wanted to touch on why exactly he left in the first place. Cavaliers’ management just couldn’t bring LeBron a good sidekick. Read More »

LeBron is on the court, the cameras are stuck on his every move, and the boos are loud. TNT’s Kenny Smith said he’s never seen a basketball arena as intense as Quicken Loans Arena is right now, and even through the television I’m catching the vibe that the building is feeling real small for LeBron and the Heat right now. It’s almost like a high school rivalry game. Meanwhile, Dwyane Wade has never played in a national TV game where he’s been less of a story line than he is right now. Chris Bosh? He might as well be back in Toronto. Read More »