Archive for October, 2009

One of the greatest misconceptions about this Lakers team is that they have incredible depth. I don’t know if it’s because people forget that they made two-for-ones trades like Maurice Evans and Brian Cook for Trevor Ariza or Kwame Brown and Javaris Crittenton for Pau Gasol or that they traded Chris Mihm to the Grizzlies last February for just a conditional second-round pick. The Lakers did add to their bench last season when they made a one-for-two trade—moving Vladimir Radmanovic to the Charlotte Bobacts for Shannon Brown and Adam Morrison. But because Morrison probably won’t factor into the Lakers rotation [...]

Nobody hates it when writers and fans talk about teams winning 70 games before January more than I do. To be perfectly honest, it really doesn’t make sense to talk about a team’s chances of winning 70 games until the All-Star break. So before any of you call me a hypocrite just understand that this isn’t my attempt at making a case for the Lakers winning 70 games as much as it is a primer for what all of you Lakers haters and homers need to pay attention to before you start broaching the subject. History The 1995-96 Chicago Bulls [...]

If the title of this article looks familiar it’s probably because I wrote an article with the same title just before the 2008-09 NBA season started. Just a few days after my article was posted, Chad Ford of ESPN.com wrote his own article with his own list. I’m proud to say that my list turned out to be more accurate than that of an ESPN expert. Of the ten players that I listed, five were traded either by the deadline (Allen Iverson, Shawn Marion, and Chris Wilcox) or during the off-season (Jamal Crawford and Darko Milicic) and another was bought [...]

  Last season NBA head coaches were being whacked with a high degree of frequency.  This year I don’t expect more than one or two to lose their jobs but I thought it would be fun to speculate about who would be the first coach kicked to the curb.  Check out the poll on the right sidebar later today and cast your vote.   As far as I’m concerned, here are the front-runners: Jay Triano/3:1 - Although there are a lot of new faces in Toronto and it may take some time for the team to gel, the Raptors should win 50 games this season.  If Triano doesn’t have a .500 record at the all-star [...]

The NBA preseason is just about a week old which means were one fewer week away from opening night. Preseason performances are just a notch above summer league performances when it comes to impressing me. I’m not saying it isn’t nice to see a rookie or an undrafted free agent playing well in the preseason. What I’m saying is that it has no bearing on whether or not that player will be effective when the games start counting—it just means they’ll have the opportunity to try and prove it. So before I waste any more of your time, I bring [...]

Here’s Tayshaun Prince blocking Reggi…err…Austin Daye (Prince Clone) running down none other than Dwayne Wade on a fast breaking and going above the rim to turn his shot away. I don’t care that it was just pre-season..that’s a big time block and extreme athleticism, timing, coordination. I have a feeling Mr. Wade will be back though. Enjoy..

Media days are behind us. Two-a-days are underway. Pre-season games have even started. I couldn’t be happier. The NBA season kicks off in four weeks and storylines are popping up aplenty. It’s Friday so that must mean it’s time for my latest round of Uncontested Shots, or should I say, things I was thinking about while wondering if some of these training camp invitees really think they have a shot at making a squad (I’m talking to you, Michael Fey). More Than A Movie I was lucky enough to get into an American Film Institute screening last night of More [...]