Basketball writing, scouting reports and salary cap analysis from the archive.
In April 2011, Zach Randolph received a four year, $66 million extension that will pay him through the 2015 season. Notwithstanding the very valid arguments that a man who doesn't have any athleticism in the first place is going to decline slower than most, and that Memphis have…
Somehow, we salvaged an NBA season out of that lockout. It was good, too. Whether you liked the outcome or not, the storylines - the good guy/bad guy Finals, of LeBron finally winning, the brief Celtics resurgence and the unflappable-until-they-were-flapped Spurs - wrote themselves rather nicely. As soon…
On New Year's Day, I stood in a field and got rained on for two hours, in what must have been most rainswept match in the history of football that was somehow never called off for a rain. In a pitch so waterlogged that sliding tackles went on…
The only beardless picture of Rashard Lewis I could find. It's a part of him now. "Creative financing." A fun term, one that's actually employed by financiers and accountants, yet one brought into the world of the NBA when it was used, once , in a pre-emptive justification…
In lieu of having any NBA transactions to talk about, we'll look at the world at large instead. Of all the players to have finished last season on an NBA roster, six have already signed abroad. One of the first to go was Mustaka Shakur , who started…
Even though a lockout is upon us, one which might last us through until the very end of existence in late 2012, there's still some bookkeeping to be done. July 1st is (or should be) the date on which one season ends and the next one begins, and…
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David Stern and Billy Hunter drive towards a cliff. Hand down, man down. After one of the best seasons ever comes one of the worst drafts ever. With the NBA riding a wave of talent, a draft comes along that sees not a lot more talent being added.…
(Listed in no order other than the order they were thought of.) Enes Kanter - There is very little to know about Enes Kanter, for the man has played very little. In the 2008-09 season, aged only 16, Kanter made some infrequent appearances in the Fenerbahce first team,…
(Listed in no order other than the order they were thought of.) Derrick Williams's underarm hair. Derrick Williams - From a barely recruited forgettable college prospect to one of of the best current NBA prospects in only two short years, Williams has had quite the stretch, And he…
(Listed in no order other than the order they were thought of.) I want to see this afro grown out, Marshon. It has as much upside as you do. Marshon Brooks - Brooks was the second highest scorer in the nation, although this was largely ignored until a…
(Listed in no order other than the order they were thought of.) You'd look happy if you were about to go first overall, too. Kyrie Irving - Irving is this draft's most complete player, which is why he will inevitably be the first overall pick. His Duke career…
(Listed in no order other than the order they were thought of.) Any time you watch a game with Jonas Valanciunas in, randomly pause the live action, and I guarantee he will be making this face. Jonas Valanciunas - Valanciunas was a big minute player in the EuroLeague…
Nothing cheers me up more than heavily contrived and extremely implausible hypothetical transactions for the Chicago Bulls. 1 Taking a team's cap situation, and attempting to maximize the basketball assets that they can get from using it, is what I wish to spend my life doing. It is…
For a variety of reasons, basketball and music seem to have always had crossover appeal. [Pun acknowledged, but not condoned.] Be it due to the intrinsically linked cultures of the music of the streets and the game on the playgrounds - a partnership which, if I was 10…
At a training seminar that I once attended, a portion of the afternoon was devoted to a discussion of bad words. In one of the hottest days on record, a dozen of us gathered in a cramped five foot tall training room, sat around an overhead projector and…
A lot of "where are they now" posts on other websites tend to deal mainly in answering a different question altogether; namely, "what did these players used to do?" Since it is assumed that that is known by anyone seeking to ask the original question - else it…
The NBA playoffs are basically upon us, and if you don't pick a Bulls/Spurs finals, you're a brave man. However, the onset of these playoffs is far from the only thing happening in basketball right now. After all, this is the crescendo of many league's seasons, not just…
The Houston Rockets exited the trade deadline with a full roster, but the subsequent buyout of Jared Jeffries opened up the 15th spot. Houston initially used this flexibility to sign multi-time Rocket Mike Harris to a 10 day contract, and later opted to offer him a second one…
If your team drafts a player, and yet never signs him, the chances are that they'll still own his draft rights. The presence of those draft rights means that that player can sign only with the right-holding NBA team, and not with any others. Such draft rights can…
In terms of the calibre of non-international competitive basketball, the EuroLeague is second in the world only to the NBA. That is to say, of all the leagues in the world not to excessively overuse snippets of Busta Rhymes songs, or turn nightly to the tortured genius of…
There is no better event in the American sports calendar than the NCAA Tournament. None. Zilch. Zero. And it's not even especially close. All the games running concurrently, and the one game knockout format, make for captivating evenings of hours and hours of entertainment. This is particularly true…
There is no better event in the American sports calendar than the NCAA Tournament. None. Zilch. Zero. And it's not even especially close. All the games running concurrently, and the one game knockout format, make for captivating evenings of hours and hours of entertainment. This is particularly true…
There is no better event in the American sports calendar than the NCAA Tournament. None. Zilch. Zero. And it's not even especially close. All the games running concurrently, and the one game knockout format, make for captivating evenings of hours and hours of entertainment. This is particularly true…
Yi Jianlian, Yao Ming, Wang Zhizhi. Not in picture: Sun Yue. Also not in picture: Benjamin Disraeli. The Chinese Basketball Association and its compelling protagonists have a particular level of focus on this website, for reasons which, if you don't already know them, are about to become extremely…
Antiphon With apologies to their combined 34-87 record, the Toronto Raptors and the New Jersey Nets had not played an interesting game all season heading into last weekend. It was known in advance that the two teams would struggle this season, and any optimism to the contrary has…