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This week's drama in Orlando is one of the more bizarre NBA stories I can remember. I’m not surprised that Dwight Howard wanted Stan Van Gundy fired or that the two might not like each other.  No, but Van Gundy’s decision to go nuclear and call Howard out at an interview session is pretty unprecedented.  Players and coaches often do despise each other but there is a thin layer of civility (at least in front of the public) that tethers everyone to reality.  Why and how did this happen? Of course, … [Read more...] about SVG V. Superman

There have been some notable really bad shooting performances from usually pretty good players this season.  Most notably, Lamar Odom is shooting 34% after shooting 53% last year.  Plenty other players have also looked ugly too:  James Toney, DeShawn Stevenson, Ron Artest, Baron Davis, and Jason Kidd are other well-known players hovering below 36%.  But is there really more bad shooting this year than normal?  It would seem that this might happen in a lockout year but the fact is not confirmed … [Read more...] about Bad Shooting

The class of 2012 is better than the class of 2011. Right now that’s about the best thing I can say about it. I’ll add that there are enough intriguing prospects out there that I expect an interesting enough class to develop by draft day. But I still see this as a slightly below-average class once all is said and done. As it stands now I see 1 player who stands out, Anthony Davis. After that there are 3 others in the next tier. Beyond those 4 I put the prospects in groups for now. The groups are … [Read more...] about NBA Draft 2012: An Early Preview

Until recently, the NBA-NBPA negotiations have been relatively quiet but now things are starting to get a bit funky.  The players have doubted the amount of money losses that the NBA has set forth in their financials, which has created an impasse.  More recently, the NBPA filed a complaint with NLRB claiming that the NBA has not been bargaining in good faith.  In other words, the NBPA did not like that the NBA was not budging and sought leverage by getting a ruling from the NLRB that … [Read more...] about Nuclear Summer (and Winter?)

It has been one of the more fun regular seasons in a long time but it's safe to say that we are all ready for the playoffs.  This year's playoffs look particularly interesting because there is no prohibitive favorite.  Sure, the Bulls are the best team on paper but even numbers crunchers are given some pause about the fact that the team is relatively green playoff-wise.  The Heat are obviously good but they haven't looked like the super dominant force some expected.  It's also tough … [Read more...] about NBA Playoff Preview 2010-11