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The death of the superteam (for now)
The Boston Celtics and Golden State Warriors Finals was one of the more engaging championship fights of recent memory. The Celtics were on a Cinderella tear on their way to facing a retooled, post-Kevin Durant Warriors. Both teams had organically built the backbone of their roster through adept draf...
Is Karl-Anthony Towns still ‘the man’ in Minnesota?
After three pitiful playoff games, on Saturday Karl-Anthony Towns put together the best game of his brief playoff career, finishing with 33 points and 14 rebounds on 47 percent shooting. And wouldn’t you know it, the Timberwolves won the game, tying the series at 2-2. Much has been written about Tow...
Kobe on Dwight Howard: 'This shit ain't gonna work'
Anybody who watched the late Kobe Bryant’s career knows he was all business and no-nonsense on the basketball court. So, it’s no surprise that the tandem of Bryant and Dwight Howard didn’t work out when the Lakers acquired the big man back in 2012. Current ESPN analyst and former NBA player Jalen Ro...
Why this Chicago Bulls moment matters
It wasn’t supposed to last this long. When Michael Jordan slightly pushed off Bryon Russell to square up for a 17-foot jump shot with 5.2 seconds left in 1998, the future was a giant question mark. The moment the shot clock expired, the rebuild began. Bulls fans knew the band was broken up. This wou...
Centers aren’t extinct, they’ve just evolved
As humans, we tend to eulogize the extinct with reverence. The Dodo Bird. The Rocky Mountain Locust. The Golden Toad. And why wouldn’t we? It was us who eradicated these precious, sentient creatures. Some theorists would argue it had to do with their inability to adapt. But what if things are adapti...
Dan Snyder deciding to honor Sean Taylor NOW is a disgrace
The New York Giants announced in September that they will retire Michael Strahan’s number on November 28. Earlier this month, when Pau Gasol retired, Lakers owner Jeanie Buss immediately said that his No. 16 would go to the rafters. The Oakland A’s have been planning Dave Stewart’s jersey retirement...
Paul Pierce, an all-time great scorer, was well ahead of his time
Anytime an all-time great moves into broadcasting following their playing career, it’s a risky proposition for how people will ultimately view their legacy. Whether or not that matters is entirely up to them, and some would say it shouldn’t. But depending on how the player performs on the desk or in...
The remaining free agents who just might help your favorite team
Some important players have signed to teams late in the second or even third week of NBA free agency in recent years. It may happen more often than we even realize. Marcus Morris famously had an agreement in place with the San Antonio Spurs, and apparently was offered even more to join the Los Angel...
Team USA’s road to gold won’t be easy
It’s win or go home for the United States men’s basketball team now. ...
Lots of great players were drafted, then immediately traded — and went on to be All-Stars
The weirdest thing about the NBA draft is the longstanding practice that once draft day comes, there’s no more trading draft picks. It makes some sense within the framework of the league rules and salary cap, but every year, it results in weird situations where a player is drafted by a team that he’...
If Durant, Dirk, and Kareem <em>NBA 2K22 </em>cover leak is legit, then 2K nailed it this year<em> </em>
It’s NBA 2k cover season, when the storied video game franchise typically announces its cover athletes for the forthcoming September game....
Portland’s next head coach should be Becky Hammon
The Portland Trail Blazers are looking for a new head coach after parting ways with Terry Stotts earlier this month, and they’re honing in on a few candidates. According to reports, three of the finalists for the position, who have all had two interviews, are Clippers assistant Chauncy Billups, long...