hoot Page 8 - Sports News, Headlines & Highlights

Where should expectations be set for Victor Wembanyama’s summer league dress rehearsal?
Victor Wembanyama’s career prologue is almost as long as he is. It already feels like Wembanyama’s in his second NBA season doesn’t it? It feels like just yesterday, when he was in the (French) Finals at the exact same time as Nikola Jokic. According to Marc Stein, Wembanyama’s scheduled NBA debut h...

The Rockets have become the NBA’s most polarizing team
The Houston Rockets have been stuck in zero gravity since their post-Harden rebuild began two years ago. Despite their lottery successes they still have no direction. The Rockets lit the fuse this summer expecting a controlled explosion and witnessed the creation of the NBA’s most opulent sparkler....

Philadelphia should be ready to move James Harden along to the highest bidder
Here we go again with another episode of should he stay or go. This time featuring the Philadelphia 76ers and former NBA MVP James Harden. The bearded baller opted to pick up the last year on his current contract, which will pay him over $35 million for the 2023-24 campaign. While there have been ru...

Hey, at least the Houston Rockets are trying
We laughed at Dillon Brooks’ unceremonious exit from the Memphis Grizzlies, but it will be him with the cheshire grin plastered to his face every time that a direct deposit hits his account. On Saturday he signed a four-year, $80 million contract with the Houston Rockets. The day before, Fred VanVle...

The $100M questions for the NBA free agents who cashed in
Before anybody evaluates contracts or shouts that Fred VanVleet is overpaid from the mountaintop, let’s take a moment to congratulate all of the free agents who just guaranteed themselves and their families generational wealth. Tyrese Haliburton, Jerami Grant, Desmond Bane, Kyrie Irving, Cam Johnson...

Taurean Prince finds out about own free agency from Woj tweet
Adrian Wojnarowski’s sources inside front offices might be a little too eager to share with him. ...

Team USA Basketball needs to bring back multi-year commitments
If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. And if it does break, fix it the same way you did after you originally broke it. Grant Hill, this is for you....

Something had to give with the Hawks’ expensive roster, and it was John Collins
The Atlanta Hawks finally decided that the talent of John Collins wasn’t financially worth his on-court production. After six seasons with the Hawks, he was traded largely as a salary dump. Per ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski, they sent him to the Utah Jazz for Rudy Gay, who is on an expiring contract, an...

Victor Wembanyama won't be NBA Rookie of the Year
Every betting site has Victor Wembanyama installed as the runaway favorite to earn Rookie of the Year. In case you want to start engraving Victor Wembanyama’s name on the award already, take a moment to consider this. Rookie of the Year hasn’t always gone to the incandescent talent from every draft ...

Chris Paul brings stability to the Warriors' dreadful reserves
Title-chasing leads to strange bedfellows. Steph Curry has now been tasked with accomplishing what Kevin Durant failed — dragging Chris Paul’s withering body to an NBA title. He’s no longer an All-Star caliber player, but there’s still something left. Now, the future Hall of Famer will be imported i...

Scoot Henderson went third, but is still the second-best player in this NBA draft class
Scoot Henderson is not the ideal 2023 NBA basketball player. That archetype is a 6-foot-7 or taller shooter with good defensive instincts. Henderson is 6-foot-2 and his jump shot is still a work in progress. With the profile of a franchise point guard prospect from 2002, Henderson is considered the ...

Marcus Smart might be exactly what the Memphis Grizzlies need
After nine years in Boston, Marcus Smart was sent packing to Memphis. On the surface, it might sound like a raw deal for Smart, but his arrival in Tennessee could be the best thing to happen to the Memphis Grizzlies since Ja Morant fell in their laps four years ago. Smart isn’t a superstar, but much...

Acquiring Kristaps Porziņģis is great, but Boston still has a point guard problem
After a disappointing postseason in Boston, the Celtics have completed one of the biggest trades of the 2023 offseason by acquiring Kristaps Porziņģis. All the Celtics had to do was ship out Marcus Smart to get it done. But bringing in Porziņģis doesn’t necessarily address Boston’s real issue over t...

Mike Dunleavy Jr.'s job is to keep aging Golden State Warriors at a championship level
Monday was the introductory press conference for Mike Dunleavy Jr., the new general manager of the Golden State Warriors. Three days later he gets the privilege of hitting the ground running with the Warriors holding the 19th overall pick in the 2023 NBA Draft....

You’ll never guess who Brandon Miller proclaims as the 'GOAT'
For anyone who struggles to come to grips with getting older, this won’t help ease that anxiety. Brandon Miller, a projected top 3 pick in Thursday’s NBA draft, dropped what might be a shocking revelation to some. During a pre-draft presser on Wednesday, Miller was asked everyone’s favorite basketba...

The Charlotte Hornets are where the 2023 NBA Draft begins
Many of the franchise-altering garden of forking path moments in NBA history began with contentious debates over the No.1 pick. In the rare situation where a phenom takes the reins, the second pick becomes the 2023 NBA Draft’s initial pivot point. A month ago, the Charlotte Hornets were left crestfa...

Lou Williams announces his retirement from the NBA while leaving behind an interesting legacy
Former three-time Sixth Man of the Year award winner Lou Williams has officially announced his retirement from the NBA. Williams will go down as one of the best role players in NBA history and possibly the greatest sixth man of all time. Along with his accolades, Williams also made it cool, and acce...

2023 All-Postseason Team, a FANtastic performance by these 5 players
America, glad to see the NBA playoffs were able to hold your attention again. With an average of 5.47 million viewers per game, the 2023 postseason was the most watched in five years. And more importantly, per Darren Rovell, since April of the 20 most watched programs by Americans under 50, the NBA ...

The Miami Heat ran out of gas, just like they did in 2014, 2020 NBA Finals
When we were all stuck in the house in the middle of the pandemic, basketball was the first sport available to watch on TV. The Bubble proved that sports could go on despite COVID-19. And while the 2020 NBA Finals were forgettable to some, it gave us one of the best memorable memes of all time — exh...

Is it too late for the Miami Heat even if Tyler Herro returns for Game 5?
The Miami Heat have had a hellacious run to the NBA Finals, and they’ve done it all without one of their best offensive weapons, Tyler Herro. He suffered a broken hand in the second quarter of game 1 during the first round against the Milwaukee Bucks. Herro had already scored 12 points in the game, ...