basketball Page 321 - Sports News, Headlines & Highlights

This Photo Of Team USA Sleeping On An Airplane Is The Best Thing Today
Kevin Love surreptitiously snapped this and posted it to Instagram, as Team USA flew from Barcelona to London last night. From right to left, front to back, that's LeBron James, Chris Paul, James Harden, Russell Westbrook, Deron Williams, Anthony Davis, and even Mike Kryzyzewski, back in business cl...

Kevin Durant, James Harden, And Deron Williams Are On A Segway Tour Across Europe
Durant posted this picture of himself and a couple USA basketball teammates on Segways this morning with the caption, "Barcelona." The 1992 Dream Team partied with the locals 'til all hours; the 2012 version of USA Basketball Instagrams photos of themselves on Segways, wearing helmets....

USA Vs. Spain: Let's Discuss
The US men's basketball team is set to tip off its exhibition match against Spain in just a few minutes. Earlier, we wrote about what this game could mean, and now we want to yak about it with you as it unfolds (4:30 ET, ESPN2 and WatchESPN). Please report to the discussion section below with all o...

Today's USA-Spain Basketball Game Could Mean Everything Or Nothing
The last time the United States and Spanish Olympic basketball teams met each other, they gave us one of the greatest basketball games that nobody watched. That was the 2008 gold medal game in Beijing, which the USA won 118-107 after being up by only four points with under three minutes to play. It...

Playing Basketball For Team USA Sure Seems Like Fun
From USA Today Sports, which has its own Pinterest board(!), comes this sunny photo gallery of Team USA basketball players practicing in Spain. We'll never know if this iteration of the Olympic team could have beaten the '92 Dream Team, but I think it's safe to say that the 2012 team has the edge i...

This Summer League Dunk Required Massive Balls
You may never hear the name Angelo Sharpless again, but for two seconds and an eternity on Youtube, he was The Man. He plays guard for DII Elizabeth City State University, and pulled off this massive throwdown at the Ben Wallace Pro-Am league in Richmond, Va. (Like all summer league dunk videos, i...

Ever Wondered Where Rebounds Are Rebounded?
Kirk Goldsberry is back with another graphical look at the unappreciated stats of basketball, and this is really, really fantastic. He's put together an interactive chart: hover your mouse from any spot on the court, and it'll show you where shots from that spot end up getting grabbed for rebounds....

Perry Jones III Can Jump 38.5 Inches, But Does It Matter?
Perry Jones' pre-draft measurements listed his maximum vertical jump at 38.5 inches, but according to the blog Hardwood Paroxysm, Jones only jumped that high twice in his entire college career. The observation inspired NPR's Mike Pesca to ask whether or not it even matters for a player of Jones' s...

Blake Griffin Injures Knee, Anthony Davis Joins Team USA Camp
According to Adrian Wojnarowski, Griffin twisted his knee during a scrimmage yesterday at Team USA training camp in Las Vegas. It's bad enough that he's heading back to Los Angeles to get an MRI. In his place, Anthony Davis will report to camp immediately. [Woj]...

How Michael Jordan And Nike Teamed Up To Conquer The World
It's easy to forget that there was once a time when Michael Jordan wasn't considered the greatest basketball player ever. But Jack McCallum remembers that time, and describes it (and how Jordan changed things) here, in an excerpt from his new book Dream Team, which we wrote about two weeks ago. The ...

Chris Bosh And Dwyane Wade Have Both Dropped Out Of The Olympics
Bosh cites his strained abdominal. Wade needs knee surgery. Do you think this will turn most Americans against the Miami Heat? [ESPN]...

"A Neat Kid": Your Passive-Aggressive 2012 NBA Draft Scouting Roundup
The NBA draft is getting underway now, which means that it is time for our annual roundup of faint praise, backhanded compliments, and snickering passive-aggression directed at the gifted players about to become honest professionals. Players are listed in the order of Chad Ford's latest mock draft....

Clyde Drexler Denies He Said Dream Team "Kept Waiting For Magic To Die"
Dream Team, Jack McCallum's exhaustive account of the life and times of America's 1992 Olympic men's basketball team, was already looking like the most anticipated sports book of the summer when we ran a brief excerpt yesterday, one that dealt with Hall of Famer Clyde Drexler and his comments on how...

Clyde Drexler: Everybody On The Dream Team Felt Sorry For Magic, Everyone In The NBA Was Waiting For Him To Die
Sports Illustrated's Jack McCallum followed the Dream Team around during the 1992 Olympics, and he has a new book, Dream Team, which covers the team in great detail. McCallum writes about the NBA climate before Barcelona, the team's various selection controversies, their legendary practices, and the...

Jamal Crawford Literally Walks Out Of The Gym After Hitting Summer League Game-Winning Three
We have the Olympics this year, and a CBA, so summer league highlights will not be your only source of basketball highlights through Christmas. Still, we can enjoy this one, in which Jamal Crawford holds the ball for a last-second shot, then calmly leaves the court. (Note: in the Jamal Crawford Su...

J.R. Smith's Chinese Team Says He Skipped Nearly Every Single Practice
J.R. Smith couldn't get out of his CBA contract when the NBA lockout ended, but he sure as hell could make life as miserable as possible for his employers. Smith's sister sparked a pair of brawls with opposing fans (Stephanie Smith said of the second fight that she didn't start it "this time.") And ...

Happy Bobcats Seem Really Happy With Their New Uniforms
What do you suppose Kemba Walker, Gerald Henderson, and Bismack Biyombo are so darn happy about? Think it's because their season mercifully ended some weeks ago? Maybe it's because they just hired a coach with almost no NBA experience? Perhaps it's because they've got the second pick in the NBA Draf...

Charlie Villanueva Says He's Not Overweight, Tweets Photo Of His Bathroom Scale
John Calipari is once again coaching the Dominican national team, because he's John Calipari and fuck you. (Also: recruiting.) Olympic qualifying begins in a few weeks, so it's time to make some cuts. First up: one of only three NBA players on the preliminary roster....

What Dwyane Wade And LeBron James Can Learn From Kevin Durant And Russell Westbrook After Game 1
The Miami Heat began the third quarter of Game 1 of the NBA finals leading by seven points. The Heat had played brilliantly throughout the first half, executing crisp passes that criscrossed the floor and left the Thunder unable to close out on wide open three-point shooters. It looked like the Hea...

Why The Heat Should Be Afraid Of Russell Westbrook
The Thunder won four straight last week against the unstoppable Spurs to earn a spot in the NBA Finals, which begin tonight on ABC. They'd tantalized us with potential for the last three years, but they've arrived now. They're grown-up. Scary, even—and not just because Kevin Durant has unlimited ran...