Sunday, September 30, 2012
NBA: Come out to the @ModellsSG across the street from Barclays Ctr & meet @Marshon2 TODAY from 3-4pm & Brook Lopez TOMORROW from 4-5pm.
NBA: Come out to the @ModellsSG across the street from Barclays Ctr & meet @Marshon2 TODAY from 3-4pm & Brook Lopez TOMORROW from 4-5pm.
Cleveland Cavaliers: Pros and Cons of Dion Waiters as Team's Sixth Man
Dion Waiters is an electrifying scorer from all areas of the court.
Last season at Syracuse, he was one of the best in college basketball at splitting multiple defenders and getting to the hoop.
His outside shot was also good, and should continue to get better with an NBA training camp and his already sky-high confidence.
While his skills are certain, his place in the Cavs rotation is not at this point.
The fourth overall pick in the 2012 NBA draft, and with no clear talent above him on the depth chart, it would make sense that Waiters should start, right?
Not necessarily.
Waiters played the sixth-man role at Syracuse extremely well, and was almost always on the court at the end of game, when it mattered most anyways.
The Cavs played their best basketball last season when Ramon Sessions was still on the team, serving as a reliable sixth man who could create shots for himself and others.
Besides Kyrie Irving and Waiters, Cleveland has virtually nobody who can create offense for themselves.
By starting Irving and Waiters together, the Cavs would have a strong starting lineup when adding in Anderson Varejao, Alonzo Gee and Tristan Thompson.
The bench, however, is another story.
With Daniel Gibson, Tyler Zeller and C.J. Miles being the likely primary backups, the offense would be sure to struggle.
Adding Waiters to a bench group would ensure the Cavs would almost always have someone on the court to supply some offense.
Although Waiters is a shooting guard by trade, he has shown the ability to handle the ball and could step into the point guard role at times when needed.
As we've seen from James Harden in Oklahoma City, one can still thrive even when it's not in a starting role.
Harden was the third overall pick by the Thunder in 2009, and has only started seven of the 220 games he has played in.
With an invite to join Team USA in the 2012 Olympic Games, Harden helped the U.S. win a gold medal. His skills are well recognized around the league, despite the fact he's rarely been a starter.
Waiters career could very well take the same path.
A sixth-man role, if he indeed finds himself in one, could also only be a temporary stop while Cleveland continues to build and add more playmakers to the team.
While there are arguments to be made for him in a starting or sixth-man role, Cleveland will need a big year from Waiters in whatever role he's in to be a competitive team this season.
Read more NBA news on BleacherReport.com
Wizards' Wall sidelined eight weeks with patella injury
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Washington Wizards point guard John Wall called his upcoming absence because of a left knee injury "a minor setback." Team president Ernie Grunfeld labeled it "a bump in the road."
Source: http://www.nba.com/2012/news/09/28/john-wall-out-eight-weeks/index.html?rss=true
Saturday, September 29, 2012
Will Kobe Bryant Set Aside His Ego for New-Look L.A. Lakers Lineup to Work?
Kobe Bryant was born to score. He's made that very clear during a 16-year career with the Los Angeles Lakers in which he's piled up 29,484 points—fifth all time in NBA history, seventh in NBA/ABA history if you include the numbers accrued by Dr. J and Moses Malone with the red-white-and-blue ball.
He'd likely need to play at least another five or six years to catch fellow Laker legend Kareem Abdul-Jabbar atop the list, though Kobe wouldn't seem too keen to stick around that long when you hear him tell it.
If Kobe plays his cards right, though, he won't need nearly that much time to equal another legend in another, more historically significant category.
I'm referring, of course, to Michael Jordan—the standard-bearer for swingmen—and his six career NBA championships. The Black Mamba already has five to his credit and may well wind up with a sixth of his own at the end of the 2012-13 season, now that the Lakers have added Dwight Howard and Steve Nash to his "supporting cast."
Interestingly enough, GM Mitch Kupchak's brilliant offseason moves have only intensified the pressure under which Kobe will play during the upcoming campaign. Rightly or wrongly, Kobe will be vilified by the basketball world (and even by some folks in LA) if he "screws this up," if he fails to lead another victory parade down Figueroa St. next spring.
You'll hear all the same tropes before, during and (possibly) after the season about how Kobe's too old, too selfish and too concerned with his own individual accolades to make it work, even with an all-star cast.
There will be memes about Kobe's passing (or supposed lack thereof) and endless debates between Stephen A. Smith and Skip Bayless over which bloviator can bury him in a more verbose fashion.
Thing is, it isn't just Kobe's ego that may or may not be the main impediment to the Lakers writing a happy ending for themselves. Again, Kobe is a scorer, first and foremost. It's been his life's work to put the ball in the basket at a prodigious pace, sometimes to the detriment of his own team's success.
But to assume that Kobe, at 34, is willing to trade winning for numbers is to overlook another distinct possibility—he believes (perhaps instinctually) that his team's interests are best served with the ball in his hands. It's simply in his nature to take shots when his team is down, regardless of who else he's playing with.
Not that such a fatalistic approach is of any comfort to fans of the Purple and Gold. If anything, it'd suggest that there's no changing the Mamba. What you see is what you get.
By the same token, Kobe's no fool. He's a thinking man's basketball player, perhaps the smartest of his peers. As Kobe told Graham Bensinger of Yahoo! Sports prior to the 2012 London Olympics, he's scrutinized his own game before, wondering whether he should shoot less and pass more.
Yet, even in those times of doubt, Bryant has come back around to the same advice that His Airness once bestowed upon him—be yourself; play your game and others will adjust.
In that wisdom from MJ lies the key to the Lakers season. Yes, Kobe would be wise to tweak his game somewhat. He'll had to get used to having Steve Nash handling the ball and Dwight Howard doing much of the scoring down low.
But, Kobe's fundamental mission is the same. He wants to win, and his biggest contribution to such an endeavor will come in the scoring column.
That's been the Mamba's modus operandi all along, including those five seasons that've ended with another bejeweled ring on his finger, and it isn't likely to change any time soon.
It's not about Kobe changing, so much as learning to be himself within a different context. He can be the Lakers' go-to scorer without dominating possession of the ball. He can be the focal point of the team without trying to be the team itself.
Kobe should be amenable, if not entirely adaptable, to such circumstances. He won three titles as Shaquille O'Neal's superstar sidekick early in his career, and after a bit of a rough patch, came into his own as the best player on two championship teams with Pau Gasol and Andrew Bynum by his side.
His recently reduced role amidst Team USA's journey to the gold medal should serve as a template (albeit in the extreme) for how Bryant might settle in as a specialist going forward.
The Mamba knows what it takes to win, and as his retirement talk indicates, he seems to understand that he can't carry a team all by himself if that team's going to win anything of consequence. Nobody's asking him to be anything other than a scorer, but rather that he tone down the extent to and frequency with which he takes over games in that role.
Kobe's no dummy in this regard. As Steve Kerr recently remarked to Ben Bolch of The Los Angeles Times with regard to the Lakers' star-studded lineup coming together:
I think it will happen quickly because they have guys who are really smart players between Kobe and Nash and Gasol in particular. Those three guys are basketball savants and they're also all at the stage where they have nothing to prove individually, so all their efforts will go into trying to make this thing work.
That's the hope, anyway—that Kobe won't be out to prove that he, like a mid-30s MJ, can carry a team to a title; that he can subvert his own desire to chase down Kareem's scoring record as he attempts to match the big fella's ring total.
Because the only thing that strokes Kobe's ego more than scoring points and being the man is winning.
Read more NBA news on BleacherReport.com
Is Russell Westbrook the Most Unfairly Criticized Star in the NBA?
The public perception of most every NBA player tends to wax and wane, but the harsher extreme tends to have taken a special liking to one Russell Westbrook. Every mistake the young Thunder star makes winds up as something between a punchline and a disaster, all while the best aspects of Westbrook's play go too easily glossed over.
In the process, every bit of fair, constructive critique is doubled or tripled up by overstatement and misunderstanding. There are certainly conversations to be had over Westbrook's potential and flaws, but instead of tempered analysis, discussions of Westbrook's play so often lean toward outright mockery. He's been made an easy—and unfairly frequent—target.
But why?
Playing Outside the Box
Today's NBA is loaded with non-traditional talent, but modern basketball fans nonetheless have a particularly negative reaction to impure point guards. That positional designation tends to mean more than any other.
And as one of the league's most unusual point men, Westbrook inherently opens himself up to all kinds of theoretical objections.
It's not about his passing ability, his vision or even his assist numbers. Many of the core objections to Westbrook's style of play come from the fact that he actively looks to shoot—an apparently undesirable attribute in a point guard, even after so many score-first ball-handlers have found success all around the league. It's easier to make sense of the classic point guard archetype than it is to comprehend Westbrook's unique influence on the game, and thus many fans and analysts default into backlash.
He's not a pass-first point guard, and with so much room for positional flexibility and offensive creativity, that should hardly matter. Yet Westbrook's tendency to color outside the lines puts him at the center of the dartboard of the casual fan, and it makes all of his successes rather easily torn down.
A Sainted Teammate
It's almost impossible to separate any discussion of Westbrook's persona and reputation from that of his teammate, the saintly (and awfully good) Kevin Durant.
Durant hasn't created much polarization at all since the initial debate over where he should be drafted, and in just five years he has risen to MVP levels of production and efficiency. He's the NBA's best player this side of LeBron James, and his effectiveness on the court is matched only by his public esteem.
Durant is the golden boy with the golden touch. Every shot that leaves his fingertips does so with a glimmer, and thus every shot that Westbrook takes instead is something of an abomination. It's that binary that so often comes at the crux of the criticism; every mistake or forced shot comes at the expense of the best scorer in the game getting his own chance with the ball.
Never mind the fact that Durant already averaged 19.7 field-goal attempts per game (second behind only Kobe Bryant) and posted a top-five usage rate. Never mind the fact that no offense can go solely through one player. And surely, never mind the fact that Westbrook himself put up 24 points on just 19 shots a night last season.
All realism is tossed out the window when it comes to the derision of this particular player. Rather than focus on the factors that hold the Thunder back in a greater sense, Westbrook is instead modeled into the form of a convenient scapegoat, guilty of simply not being Durant.
Read more NBA news on BleacherReport.com
Wizards' Wall sidelined eight weeks with patella injury
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Washington Wizards point guard John Wall called his upcoming absence because of a left knee injury "a minor setback." Team president Ernie Grunfeld labeled it "a bump in the road."
Source: http://www.nba.com/2012/news/09/28/john-wall-out-eight-weeks/index.html?rss=true
NBA Rumors: Why Rasheed Wallace to the Knicks Shouldn't Upset NYC
It appears that the New York Knicks have talked power forward Rasheed Wallace out of retirement.
According to Marc Berman of the New York Post, Wallace will be at New York's training facilities on Monday, and although nothing has been signed yet, you can bet the Knicks are going to attempt to get him to sign on the dotted line.
That's not necessarily a bad thing.
Hear me out before you criticize me with the whole, "Rasheed's pushing 40 years old, and the last thing the Knicks need is another athlete with an AARP card in his wallet."
Granted, 'Sheed was drafted back in 1995 by the Washington Bullets—yes, the Bullets—and hasn't played in an NBA game since the 2009-10 season when he was a bench player for the Boston Celtics. But the man played with attitude in all 15 of his NBA seasons and no team can ever have enough attitude.
Even when Wallace was coming off the bench for Boston, he averaged 9.0 points per game and 4.1 rebounds per game. Those are respectable numbers, and the Knicks would certainly benefit from having this kind of production backing up Amar'e Stoudemire as opposed to Chris Copeland who we're still unsure of.
Rasheed is a proven power forward that would ease New York's woes when Amar'e needs to be removed from the floor. He provides a rebounding entity and the ability to score—insert Jared Jeffries joke here. Pairing Sheed and Marcus Camby in the front court is nothing to snicker at, even if they're a bit older than other front-court duos.
A second unit of Jason Kidd, J.R. Smith (when Iman Shumpert is healthy), Steve Novak, Rasheed Wallace and Marcus Camby is capable of holding their own on the court, especially against other teams' benches—and even some starting lineups.
Not to mention the power forward has already found some support from his would-be teammates.
Tyson Chandler was asked how Rasheed looked during his workout, and the Knicks center had this to say (h/t Tim Bontemps of NY Post):
I hope he [comes],” Chandler said. “I don’t know what the situation is, butHe’s a great communicator on defense and we know he can knock down the open 3 and jump shot.
To have myself and Amar’e [Stoudemire] with Marcus Camby and Rasheed as backups ... That’s pretty nice.
If the Defensive Player of the Year thinks Rasheed Wallace can help New York, then I'm all for bringing the 38-year-old out of retirement...and you should be too.
Read more NBA news on BleacherReport.com
Friday, September 28, 2012
How John Wall's Injury Alters the Course for Washington Wizards
The Washington Wizards were already overdue for some good news and a season that at least approximated a legitimate turnaround.
Unfortunately, any good news will have to wait, and maybe that turnaround along with it.
NBA.com's John Schuhmann reports that rising star John Wall will be sidelined at least through the first month of the season:
Wizards say John Wall is out 8 weeks with "early stages of a stress injury to his left patella."
—John Schuhmann (@johnschuhmann) September 28, 2012
Let's start with some silver lining, because there won't be much of it.
The knee problem won't require any surgery, and president Ernie Grunfeld believes his prized point guard will be in perfect health for the rest of the season. If Washington has any shot at making the postseason, it can take some solace in the fact that Wall will be there for it.
In the meantime, Wall's absence will also give head coach Randy Wittman the opportunity to cultivate some depth behind his starter, which could certainly pay some dividends over the long term.
At the moment, it's not at all clear who Wall's full-time backup will be. Jordan Crawford, Shelvin Mack and rookie Bradley Beal all have the size and ball-handling ability to run the point, but none of them has that pass-first instinct.
What better time to develop one?
One way or the other, each of these guys will get some extra playing time in November, minutes that will help them improve and help Wittman define their roles in the rotation a bit more clearly. Things might not look pretty at first, but Washington will be better for it in time.
Now for the harsh truth.
While it would be nice to get one of Washington's young combo-guards some experience at the point, there's absolutely no guarantee it will work out. The Wizards were arguably the last team in the league that could afford to lose their starting point guard, with the sparingly used former-Pacer A.J. Price the only conventional option behind Wall.
The Wizards could always explore the free-agent market, but they won't find a whole lot (although I do hear Gilbert Arenas is available...).
Could a month without a true facilitator torpedo this season before it even gets started?
Quite possibly.
The Wizards were already on the outside looking in of the playoff picture. Though they're not quite long shots, no one really believes this club has more than a moderate chance at the seventh or eighth seed.
With organizations like the Brooklyn Nets going all out, Washington's baby steps forward feel painfully slow. Even the Toronto Raptors made impressive strides this summer. Where exactly the Wizards fit in with those up-and-comers is anyone's guess.
But you can be sure that playing without their best player and go-to scorer for even a fraction of the schedule will make it that much harder to keep pace.
Yes, the Wizards will look a whole lot more like a real NBA team this year after adding veterans Trevor Ariza and Emeka Okafor over the summer, especially after having traded for Nene earlier in the year. On the other hand, it will be that much harder for those guys to develop chemistry on the floor without their starting floor general (or any point guard of note) running the show early in the season.
In addition to a rough November, we could see an equally dysfunctional December as the gelling process begins in earnest.
Additionally, Ariza and Okafor are both defense-first kind of guys, and while that's a good thing at the end of the day, it leaves you wondering where this team will get its points in the early goings.
Will Wittman put that kind of responsibility on Beal right away? Will the Wizards depend on Crawford and his woeful (29 percent) three-point accuracy? With so few scorers and no one to create plays for others, this rotation could very well set some records in November.
And not the kind of records for which you'd like to be remembered.
If there were ever a case to be made that this team should continue thinking about the future and concern itself with building around Wall and Beal rather than winning now, that case just got a little bit stronger.
The Wizards' uphill battle to return to the postseason for the first time since 2008 just got quite a bit steeper.
Read more NBA news on BleacherReport.com
Jets' Ryan: Revis won't go on IR just in case CB could play in Super Bowl
Rex Ryan said Friday the New York Jets are not ready to place star cornerback Darrelle Revis on season-ending injured reserve in case he recovers from a torn knee ligament in time to play in the Super Bowl.
Source: http://feeds.cbssports.com/click.phdo?i=755ecbc9194af2be55ab3510f81d28f6
Clips' Barnes pleads no contest to misdemeanors
LOS ANGELES (AP) Los Angeles Clippers forward Matt Barnes has pleaded no contest to misdemeanor charges of unlicensed driving and resisting arrest.
Source: http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2012/basketball/nba/09/25/barnes-arrested.ap/index.html?xid=si_nba
Thursday, September 27, 2012
Slideshow: Slideshow: Celebs shine at NBA playoffs
Why Philadelphia 76ers Must Target a "True" Point Guard on Trade Market
If you could pinpoint the one position in the NBA that supersedes all others in terms of importance, it would likely be the point guard.
Point guards have taken on expanded responsibilities in recent years and a case could be made that the exceptional play of floor generals across the league has contributed to the league's boom in popularity.
The Philadelphia 76ers have a young, skilled point guard in Jrue Holiday, but he's not the complete package, as many have observed. Holiday's skill set is comparable to that of a shooting guard, but he's simply too small to play the 2.
With Royal Ivey the only true point guard on the roster behind Holiday, the Sixers may have to explore a trade at some point to acquire a more traditional point man. The logic and some potential options follow.
Wednesday, September 26, 2012
Ronde Barber on Schiano: 'He has rules for rules'
At 37, Tampa Bay safety is playing for one reason: 'I want to win'
Source: http://rssfeeds.usatoday.com/~r/UsatodaycomSports-TopStories/~3/Ad3Km6AqQog/1
NBA: Catch all 5 episodes of NB80's on @NBATV starting at 8pm/et... & the debut of Volume 5 at 10pm/et. http://t.co/4JUyOFwQ
NBA: Catch all 5 episodes of NB80's on @NBATV starting at 8pm/et... & the debut of Volume 5 at 10pm/et. http://t.co/4JUyOFwQ
NBA: Chris Mullin teams up with "Vaccines for Teens" to help families take their best shot at health! http://t.co/hazTprLL
NBA: Chris Mullin teams up with "Vaccines for Teens" to help families take their best shot at health! http://t.co/hazTprLL
Which Shooting Guard Will Play Largest Role on Philadelphia 76ers Next Season?
The Philadelphia 76ers added a handful of shooting guards this offseason, and while they all should play serviceable roles, at least one is bound to large one. But the one question still hovers over our heads: who?
Before we get into things, I'd just like to say that we're excluding Evan Turner from the discussion because although he can be a shooting guard, he will also have a lot of responsibilities at the three slot. Plus it just makes it an easy question to answer and that's no fun.
Philadelphia acquired Dorell Wright via trade, signed Nick Young, and landed Jason Richardson in the three-team deal along with Andrew Bynum (score!).
There's no doubt that all of these guys have established their own pedigree as three point shooters. Wright led the league in three pointers made two seasons ago (194), Young has shot 38 percent for his career from three point range, and the veteran Richardson has shot nearly 40 percent from three over the last five years.
All of these guys walk into a great environment, too. Young finally has a place to settle in with the right coaching staff, Wright got out of Golden State's defensive mess, and Richardson is paired with another great center yet again.
They all fit well here, and no matter who ends up with the largest role, the Sixers will still have premier perimeter shooting.
Since their talent is virtually equal from a shooting perspective, we not only need to look at what else they offer, but where else they will be utilized first. Regardless of who is the most talented player, if they are restricted, they can't make a huge impact consistently. This is also where Wright loses his case.
Despite his size and the athleticism he brings to the table, he will most likely get the least amount of playing time of the three, assuming he'll play the majority of his time at small forward.
It's true that sometimes at the end of the day there isn't much difference between playing the two and the three because it's really subjective to the role being played. However, it plays a factor in finding an answer to this question.
It works like this: Because Young and Richardson are primarily shooting guards (based on their roles and skill-set), it forces Collins to play Wright at small forward whenever one of these guys is in the game. This becomes an obstacle for Wright because Turner and, potentially, Thaddeus Young also demand time at the position.
There simply are not that many minutes to go around, and chances are Wright will get the short end of the stick.
That leaves us with Young and Richardson. When comparing what they offer, both will serve as three-point specialists, but Young also adds a defensive advantage. At 6'7" with a seven foot wingspan, Young clearly has a size advantage against a typical two-guard.
Plus, Young is more of a high-volume scorer and has more of an ability to shoot lights out, very similar to what Lou Williams could do for the Sixers. Richardson has this too, but it's naturally diminishing as he ages.
If Young is utilized the same way Williams was, then Young's impact could be substantial, considering his role would include winning games in crunch time.
That being said, this is only Young's potential. As great as it would be if he did embrace such a role, we have to remember that with Jrue Holiday and Turner facilitating the ball and Bynum doing the dirty work down-low, it will be difficult for any other player to develop such a groove.
Hence, Richardson is really the only guy that you know what you're getting. He will be a reliable and consistent three point specialist who serves as the better complement to Turner because he doesn't demand the ball as much.
It is evident that Young has the upside and the higher ceiling, but Richardson is the safest bet almost by default because he has the least working against him. Because we don't know exactly how Young will be used, we cannot make a definitive assertion to the question.
There are some variables that make this question impossible to answer right now. All we can do is speculate because the true answer to this question will not emerge until the start of the season.
Read more NBA news on BleacherReport.com
Tuesday, September 25, 2012
Free agent G Daniels signs with Bucks
The Milwaukee Bucks have signed free-agent guard Marquis Daniels, a nine-year veteran who spent the last three years in a reserve role with the Boston Celtics.
Source: http://www.nba.com/2012/news/09/25/bucks-sign-marquis-daniels.ap/index.html?rss=true
Slideshow: Slideshow: Best images of NBA Finals
Source: http://nbcsports.msnbc.com/id/47404995/displaymode/1247/beginSlide/1/beginChapter/1/beginTab/1/
ESPN.com NBA Player Rankings: 16-20
ESPN.com NBA Player Rankings: 16-20Source: http://espn.go.com/nba/story/_/id/8419506/2012-nba-player-rankings-16-20
Monday, September 24, 2012
Memphis Defeats Spurs' In 2011
In 2011, the Memphis Grizzlies surprisingly knocked the San Antonio Spurs out the playoffs.
Source: http://www.nba.com/video/channels/originals/2012/09/24/20120924-spurs-2011.nba/index.html
Dwight Howard: Star Center's Incredible Defense Will Be Biggest Boost to Lakers
The most effective way that Dwight Howard can return the Los Angeles Lakers to the summit of NBA basketball is with his remarkable defense.
There's a good chance that Howard could win his fourth defensive player of the year award next season, which would tie him with Ben Wallace and Dikembe Mutombo for the most all-time.
Former Lakers center Andrew Bynum, who was part of the Howard trade this summer, was a good defender but doesn't have anywhere near the athleticism that Howard does.
Howard will be able to give Los Angeles the league's best interior defense and force players to think twice before entering the paint and having to face him and power forward Pau Gasol.
Howard blocked 116 shots last season, which was the same total as Bynum, although the former Magic star played in six fewer games. Howard is always one of the league's premier rebounders, and grabbed 14.5 of them per game last year, while Bynum led the Lakers with 11.8 rebounds per game.
Howard is going to prevent the Lakers from having to defend multiple possessions at a time because he will dominate the defensive glass and help the Lakers' fast break get started. The Lakers were 15th in opponents' points per game last season and ranked ninth in opponents' field-goal percentage. Howard will help the Lakers improve in both of these areas next year.
Los Angeles wasn't able to defend well enough in the paint during its second-round series loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder in the 2012 NBA playoffs. Since many of the top teams in the NBA are very athletic, such as the Thunder, Boston Celtics and Miami Heat, the Lakers needed a more athletic center like Howard to have a stronger chance to beat these teams in the playoffs.
Defense will ultimately determine how much better Howard makes the purple and gold in the 2012-13 season. His offensive contributions will still be important, but his defense could make the difference for the Lakers next spring.
Read more NBA news on BleacherReport.com
Sunday, September 23, 2012
Brooklyn Nets to be featured on NBA TV's The Association
NEW YORK -- NBA TV's The Association will spotlight the inaugural season of the Brooklyn Nets with the integrated and multiplatform behind-the-scenes series featuring new episodes on both NBA TV and NBA.com.
Source: http://www.nba.com/2012/news/09/19/brooklyn-nets-the-association-nba-tv/index.html?rss=true
Saturday, September 22, 2012
Coach treats OSU to In-N-Out after UCLA upset
After upsetting No. 19 UCLA, Oregon State went to a burger joint known throughout the country as a delicacy.
Source: http://rssfeeds.usatoday.com/~r/UsatodaycomSports-TopStories/~3/HzgJuTn1z_8/1
NBA: RT @WNBA: WNBA night on @NBATV! Catch newest WNBA ACTION at 6:30pm/et, followed by: Fever/Mystics at 7pm/et & Lynx/Mercury at 10pm/et.
NBA: RT @WNBA: WNBA night on @NBATV! Catch newest WNBA ACTION at 6:30pm/et, followed by: Fever/Mystics at 7pm/et & Lynx/Mercury at 10pm/et.
Friday, September 21, 2012
Darko Milicic agrees to deal with Celtics
Free agent center and former No. 2 pick Darko Milicic has agreed to sign with Boston, sources close to the situation confirmed.
Time Warner Cable, Bright House to add NFL Network
Time Warner Cable agreed to carry NFL Network on Friday.
Source: http://rssfeeds.usatoday.com/~r/UsatodaycomSports-TopStories/~3/0ai_jukx_js/1
What Should We Expect from Andrei Kirilenko's NBA Return?
The painfully avoidable NBA lockout sparked a chain of repercussions stretching for what we can only assume to be years, but the initial wave of those effects has already come and gone. When the 2011-12 season was derailed before it began by lagging negotiations, dozens of players flocked to alternative leagues overseas.
Among them was the rangy and versatile Andrei Kirilenko, who used his status as an unrestricted free agent to locate a steadier payday than what the locked-out NBA could offer.
But Kirilenko has since returned. After playing 10 seasons for the Utah Jazz—and one for CSKA Moscow—Kirilenko has signed a two-year, $20 million deal to suit up for the Minnesota Timberwolves this season. He's been out of the NBA limelight for a year, but if his performance in the Olympic Games gives any indication whatsoever, we should expect more of the same superb play out of Kirilenko that made his NBA career worthy of note to begin with.
Kirilenko's role for Team Russia was decidedly different than the one he'll take up in Minnesota, but that doesn't make the superlatives in his play any less worthy of note. He finished the Olympic slate as one of the Games' top overall performers, and he did so on a team that featured him as both the offensive and defensive centerpiece.
Russia's offense was held back by the fact that Kirilenko isn't a first-rate shot creator, but he nonetheless was able to manufacture points at a decent enough clip to keep competitive and eventually earn the bronze medal.
His particular brand of do-it-all basketball should fit in wonderfully in Minnesota. Prior to Ricky Rubio's season-ending injury, the Timberwolves were playing an active, encumbering brand of defense that mimics Kirilenko's style of play. Rubio and Kirilenko are fantastic in their defensive anticipation, and if the Wolves' D returns to similar form with Rubio back in the lineup, Kirilenko will only serve to accentuate the system's preexisting strengths.
Additionally, he gives the Wolves an assortment of on-ball options when it comes to defending elite players at virtually every position. Kirilenko may not be particularly well-suited for defending bulky, back-to-the-basket centers, but any other positional archetype is fair game for a player with Kirilenko's length, lateral quickness and instincts. He's officially slotted as a combo forward, but Kirilenko's matchup value on defense is far more broad.
Yet Kirilenko has equally exciting potential within Rick Adelman's offense. The Wolves are staffed with passers to the brim; Rubio is the most exciting distributor, to be sure, but in Kevin Love, Brandon Roy and Alexey Shved (not to mention the more occasional passing stylings of J.J. Barea and Luke Ridnour), Minnesota has an entire core of solid distributors.
That not only makes Kirilenko—a strong positional playmaker in his own right—a natural fit, but also a likely benefactor. Few forwards better understand the intricacies of off-ball movement, and the cutting tutelage of both Jerry Sloan and David Blatt will have AK expertly prepared to benefit from his teammates' unselfishness.
Kirilenko has been out of sight of late, and out of mind while playing for a dwindling Jazz team in the years prior. But this season's Wolves figure to be a must-watch, in part due to the potential gained in Kirilenko's addition.
Read more NBA news on BleacherReport.com
Source: http://bleacherreport.com/articles/1342597-what-should-we-expect-from-andrei-kirilenkos-nba-return
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)