The Jordan Brand Classic introduced us to the game’s future stars. And from the looks of it, the future is bright. Top recruits from Duke, Kansas and Kentucky dazzled in the All-American Game and showed why each program has drawn considerable buzz heading into next season. Seton Hall – which had five recruits named to the Jordan Brand Classic – dominated the Regional Game. Canada shined in the International Game once again thanks to Jahvon Blair’s MVP performance with the help of his
NBA playoff teams in need of help can still find a difference maker before the deadline arrives for setting postseason rosters. All they need to do is look overseas. With the playoffs less than a month away, and the trade deadline and “February free agency” in the distant past, NBA teams are typically left to rely on the D-League to provide injury replacement players at this point of the season. With players needing to have been released by their previous NBA team by
Hoop dreams come in all shapes and sizes. And halfway around the world, some dreams are just beginning — the dream of making it back to the NBA. This weekend, the Chinese Basketball Association concludes its regular season as teams gear up for the playoffs. For many Americans playing in China, the dream is humble yet significant – to compete for an NBA roster spot. No matter how you look at it, getting back to the NBA is always a long shot.
The Chinese Basketball Association (CBA) is an amazing league for North American fans to follow. It features old-school, up-tempo basketball with a lot of American players. You’ll undoubtedly see some familiar faces and more than a few career revivals. The CBA is well run and very fan friendly. This is as good a time as any to start following the CBA – teams are just over the midway mark of the regular season, with the 2014 All-Star Weekend coming this month.
There have been exactly a dozen NBA trades made this season, from small to significant. Some teams wanted to clear up money, some teams wanted to continue rebuilding, while others took bold steps in ensuring present and future success on the court. But in our society of instant gratification and unceasing competition, we almost have an unquenchable thirst for deciding winners and losers.
Have the Knicks regressed to the mean? From here, it kind of looks that way. No doubt they are a good basketball team. But since beginning the season with a blistering 18-6 record, the Knicks have gone just 10-9 and enter play February 1 as the second seed in the Eastern Conference. Still, with just three games separating the Knicks from the sixth-seeded Atlanta Hawks and the trade winds swirling around the NBA – you know, with it being February and all
If Steve Nash had a different set of skills, it wouldn’t be a reach to suggest he might have been David Copperfield. Nash is perhaps the most unlikely looking franchise player in NBA history – a 6-3, 195-pound guard who seems much shorter and slighter when mingling with the giants who usually dominate NBA games. Nash is so slick that he makes us forget how good he is. It seems, for example, that a long time has passed since the Phoenix Suns