Rockets
Houston
Beware the Rockets: Houston’s the Playoff Matchup Nobody Wants
The Rockets are red-hot and rising — and shaping up to be the playoff matchup no one in the West wants....
How TNT's Inside The NBA Crew Missed the Warriors vs. Rockets Meltdown
TNT's NBA postgame show is a mix of comedy gold and head-scratching analysis. A breakdown of their Warriors-Rockets coverage reveals why fans need more strategy and less humor....
Houston Rockets Want To Trade For Kevin Durant, Could Settle For Lesser Superstar
The Houston Rockets are reportedly shopping for a superstar, and Kevin Durant was the first name on their list....

OKC's Sam Presti is an overrated draft savant
Sam Presti is the only NBA executive ever to draft three future MVPs and he did it in three consecutive drafts. It’s a maniacal stroke of luck and an exercise of risk/reward, chance and foresight. By doing so, Presti at the time guaranteed short-term success for the soon-to-be relocated Seattle Soni...

This week in the NBA & WNBA March 09, 2024
Need any more evidence that Gilbert Arenas’ bellyaching about Europeans and foreigners ruining basketball with their sweet outside strokes is all hot air? I’ll give you one: Josh Giddey. Now that his legal woes appear to be in the rearview mirror, the whispers about his liabilities in the Oklahoma C...

Latest problem with Josh Giddey; Dame Lillard finally steps up; Dalton Knecht and Reed Sheppard on verge of history
Need any more evidence that Gilbert Arenas’ bellyaching about Europeans and foreigners ruining basketball with their sweet outside strokes is all hot air? I’ll give you one: Josh Giddey. Now that his legal woes appear to be in the rearview mirror, the whispers about his liabilities in the Oklahoma C...

Big men are back in style in the NBA
The 1995-96 season was the end of the golden era for big men in the NBA. Patrick Ewing, Hakeem Olajuwon, David Robinson, and Shaquille O’Neal were stuffing opponents into lockers with their unstoppable back-to-the-basket games. They were the superstars in the paint, but Alonzo Mourning, Rik Smits, a...

Daryl Morey is Oppenheimer for the NBA’s nuclear offensive age
It’s Oscars Week, which feels like as good a time as any to draw up the NBA storylines and characters which could double as Oscar nominees. ...

Adam Silver is finally realizing that G League Ignite was always doomed to fail
You miss 100 percent of the shots you don’t take. But the only way to improve your jump shot is through shot correction. NBA Commissioner Adam Silver is realizing that a shot his league took a few years ago — that many thought looked good when it came off their hands — was always going to be an airb...

Who is Mr. Franchise for each NBA team in the 21st century?
Michael Jordan will always be synonymous with the Chicago Bulls. Same thing for Magic Johnson with the Los Angeles Lakers and Larry Bird with the Boston Celtics. But since the turn of the 21st Century, some teams have gone a decade without a face of the franchise (think the Detroit Pistons and Orlan...

Alperen Şengün has a chance to be as good as Nikola Jokić
Every other generation, a player changes how his position is taught, scouted and played. For the current generation of players entering their prime years, that dude is Nikola Jokić. The “Joker” has taken the passing acumen of former bigs Vlade Divac, Yao Ming, Bill Walton and Arvydas Sabonis and com...

Chris Mortensen, Carl Weathers and the sports figures we've lost in 2024
Here is where we look at some of the athletes and sports figures we’ve lost in 2024....

Ime Udoka was wrong to go at LeBron James
Everyone who works for the NBA or one of its franchises should always behave in a professional manner. That being said, the head coach is supposed to be the person in charge of the team. A head coach is like the general manager of a store. That person may not own the place, but the person does need ...

Hate James Harden all you want, but the Clippers are actually good
Some people in this world delight when James Harden is not successful as an NBA basketball player. His iso-heavy style of play is an acquired taste, but so is coffee and yet a Starbucks gift card can win the heart of the average American adult. What really grinds peoples’ gears in regard to Harden i...

These are the all-time NBA starting fives
While debating politics over Thanksgiving can cause irreplaceable family fissures, debating the all-time starting fives for each NBA team holds way fewer stakes. There are many different ways to build an all-time starting five, all of which illicit strong reactions. Some people prefer to choose the ...

The Beard's ego has him stuck between a Rock(et) and a Harden place
James Harden is in limbo. Last season, he was all in on taking a pay cut in an effort to give the Philadelphia 76ers cap flexibility to sign glue guys who would put them over the edge come playoff time. A year later, he’s the acetone on their franchise continuity. His constant bellyaching stemming f...

The NBA script is already rolling as the writers’ strike ends
Ding-dong, the strike is dead. The Deadspin staff’s WGA brethren have come to an agreement with the AMPTP that financially acknowledges the importance of the brains and fingertips that are part of the foundation of entertainment. ...