NEW YORK -- Like a home seller trying desperately to peddle a fixer-upper, the Knicks emptied all the paint cans and window cleaner they could find on the property that is New York Friday night to sell the idea of playing in Gotham to the most wanted homebuyer in the NBA, LeBron James.
The black ink on Jermaine O'Neal's right arm, just below the shoulder, displays a menacing superhero type of character, crouched and springing forward. It is surrounded by the words "The Year of the Resurrection," a proud proclamation of impending renewal.
Jonny Flynn knows what a triangle is. Ask him to draw it, no problem. Ask him to make one with his hands like Jay-Z. Easy. But ask the rookie point guard to run the triangle on the basketball court and well, let's just say that it's still a work in progress.
As LeBron makes his lone appearance of the season Friday night at Madison Square Garden, I am convinced he has basically decided to remain with Cleveland as a free agent in 2010. Here's why I believe he has made that decision (and why he won't admit it) ...
NEW YORK -- It has been 19 months since Knicks president Donnie Walsh stood in front of a podium inside the theater at Madison Square Garden and promised fans a future. Nineteen months since Walsh, one of the most respected executives in the NBA who had built multiple contenders in Indiana, vowed to restore credibility to a franchise that in 5½ years under Isiah Thomas' stewardship had lost all of it. Nineteen months since embattled Knicks owner James Dolan issued Walsh a mandate to do "whatever is necessary to turn this team around."
How much taller is LeBron James than you?
Four SI.com writers analyze the latest news and address hot topics from around the NBA each week. (All stats and records are through Monday.)
The 2009 rookie class looks like it will provide more meaningful contributors than anticipated. Eleven first-year players have averaged more than 20 minutes per game during the first week of the season -- and that's without top pick Blake Griffin, who is sidelined with a kneecap injury.
Shawn Marion may be one of the most versatile players in the NBA, but as he sits in a hotel suite overlooking the Pacific Ocean, he's showing off a different kind of versatility: He watches Scooby-Doo on TV, listens to Michael Jackson on the radio, updates his Twitter page from his computer and talks on the phone all at the same time.
Rod Strickland. Mark Jackson. Chauncey Billups. Eric Snow. It seems every stop Larry Brown has made during his 25-year NBA coaching career he has been given a pretty good point guard. And it seems every time he has managed to make that point guard a little bit better.
NEW YORK -- Like a home seller trying desperately to peddle a fixer-upper, the Knicks emptied all the paint cans and window cleaner they could find on the property that is New York Friday night to sell the idea of playing in Gotham to the most wanted homebuyer in the NBA, LeBron James.
The black ink on Jermaine O'Neal's right arm, just below the shoulder, displays a menacing superhero type of character, crouched and springing forward. It is surrounded by the words "The Year of the Resurrection," a proud proclamation of impending renewal.
Jonny Flynn knows what a triangle is. Ask him to draw it, no problem. Ask him to make one with his hands like Jay-Z. Easy. But ask the rookie point guard to run the triangle on the basketball court and well, let's just say that it's still a work in progress.
As LeBron makes his lone appearance of the season Friday night at Madison Square Garden, I am convinced he has basically decided to remain with Cleveland as a free agent in 2010. Here's why I believe he has made that decision (and why he won't admit it) ...
NEW YORK -- It has been 19 months since Knicks president Donnie Walsh stood in front of a podium inside the theater at Madison Square Garden and promised fans a future. Nineteen months since Walsh, one of the most respected executives in the NBA who had built multiple contenders in Indiana, vowed to restore credibility to a franchise that in 5½ years under Isiah Thomas' stewardship had lost all of it. Nineteen months since embattled Knicks owner James Dolan issued Walsh a mandate to do "whatever is necessary to turn this team around."
How much taller is LeBron James than you?
Four SI.com writers analyze the latest news and address hot topics from around the NBA each week. (All stats and records are through Monday.)
The 2009 rookie class looks like it will provide more meaningful contributors than anticipated. Eleven first-year players have averaged more than 20 minutes per game during the first week of the season -- and that's without top pick Blake Griffin, who is sidelined with a kneecap injury.
Shawn Marion may be one of the most versatile players in the NBA, but as he sits in a hotel suite overlooking the Pacific Ocean, he's showing off a different kind of versatility: He watches Scooby-Doo on TV, listens to Michael Jackson on the radio, updates his Twitter page from his computer and talks on the phone all at the same time.
Rod Strickland. Mark Jackson. Chauncey Billups. Eric Snow. It seems every stop Larry Brown has made during his 25-year NBA coaching career he has been given a pretty good point guard. And it seems every time he has managed to make that point guard a little bit better.
LeBron James is going to the Knicks. He's staying in Cleveland. He's going to the Nets, to play for that Russian billionaire, or maybe he'll find a way to play with his buddy Dwyane Wade somewhere, or he'll go to Europe or China and make $9 million per game for some team named after a cell-phone manufacturer. Then he'll buy the cell-phone manufacturer.
On a recent morning high above the Manhattan skyline, TNT's Charles Barkley was opining about one of his favorite subjects:
DEERFIELD, Ill. -- The swimsuit model faked left and used her right hand against Derrick Rose. She was thinner than Tayshaun Prince but surprisingly skilled. As Marisa Miller drove by for a two-handed layup off the glass, Rose nodded with a smile to the small audience watching from the three-point line.
• After opening the Los Angeles Lakers season with a victory, Lamar Odom celebrated at a late-night bash downtown with wife Khloe Kardashian: The duo arrived at the Pandora by Night Vision event inside a former cathedral around 1:15 a.m., where they danced with some friends at their table which was located right next to a confessional booth! During the bash, Odom sipped beer and energy drinks. Earlier that night, the couple dined with a group of friends and family at Katsuya LA Live.
As the Denver Nuggets prepared for their final preseason game, their locker room in the antiquated San Diego Sports Arena lacked one small thing -- lockers. All they had were 13 steel folding chairs cramped into a room the size of most players' home closets. When Carmelo Anthony walked in, he picked up his jersey from the concrete floor, placed his valuables beside a brick wall and shrugged his shoulders and laughed.
The Chicago Bulls' NBA-record 72-win season is a seemingly unapproachable mark. Since the Bulls accomplished the feat in 1995-96, only three teams have reached 67 wins and only one, the '96-97 Bulls, has cracked 69.
An NBA executive has come out with a new plan intended to prevent lottery teams from tanking at the end of the regular season, SI.com has learned.
Who was the evil NBA schedule maker who thought it would be funny to have the Clippers play the Lakers on opening night? It's one thing to be viewed as the "other team" in town, but it's another to be present on the night the Lakers are given their championship rings and unveil their most recent championship banner at Staples Center, which is also the Clippers' home -- although you'd never know it by looking up at the rafters.
The NBA's best rivalry needed this. The home team had won the last 16 meetings before the visiting Celtics broke that spell Tuesday with an opening night 95-89 win over the Cavaliers (RECAP | BOX SCORE). After two years spent bear-hugging each other like wrestlers, a new dynamic has momentarily separated them.
Picking the divisional winners in the Eastern Conference has never been easier. Barring a plague of injuries, locker-room mutinies or spectacular pratfalls that will prompt heads to roll, Boston, Cleveland and Orlando will finish on top. All three are worthy choices to be in the NBA Finals.
SI.com's Ian Thomsen, Chris Ballard, Chris Mannix, Jack McCallum and Arash Markazi forecast the 2009-10 season.
The Lakers and Spurs are on course for a titanic Western Conference finals matchup, with great coaches, deep rosters and superstar leadership. No fewer than four others -- Dallas, Portland, Denver and Utah -- are formidable second-tier contenders. At the other extreme is dysfunction in Memphis and Golden State, rookie point guards and lousy interior defense in Minnesota and Sacramento, and wishful thinking in Phoenix. And in the middle are the cursed Clippers, who would have been (still could be?) a playoff team with a healthy Blake Griffin.
Sports Illustrated's annual NBA predictions can be found in this week's magazine, and once again you can blame me for them. Here are my explanations for why I think ...
The NBA's 64th season tips off Tuesday night. Who are the players and what are the stories that will shape the next eight months? SI.com's Ian Thomsen offers a sneak peek ...
This article appears in the October 26, 2009, issue of Sports Illustrated
Every NBA season is a novel, with multiple subplots and an endless parade of characters converging on June. It's a story guaranteed to bring unexpected drama and comedy, but some of the plot lines are just sitting there, waiting to play out.
After nine years in Milwaukee, Michael Redd knows a thing or two about the city. But if there is one thing Redd longs to get more familiar with, it's the faces in the Bucks' locker room.
NEW ORLEANS -- There are many lessons that can be learned from a 49-33 season and a first-round playoff ouster, especially for a team with much loftier expectations. But sitting in front of his locker after a recent preseason game, Hornets point guard Chris Paul can only think of one.
You hear it so often you just assume it must be true: Point guard is the toughest position to learn in the NBA. Well, it certainly is the most cerebral position, with the most information to absorb and the most responsibility for setting the pace and tone of an offense.
LOS ANGELES -- This wasn't the way the season was supposed to begin for Paul Millsap. It's about a week before Utah's season opener and Millsap is sitting in the middle of the bench, his arms folded, as the Jazz tip off a preseason game against the Clippers. In the offseason, Millsap signed a four-year, $32 million offer sheet with the Trail Blazers, and after Utah matched it, he hoped he would be the Jazz's new starting power forward.
Here are the most sophisticated predictions you're likely to find for the coming season, as once again I've polled a half-dozen NBA advance and personnel scouts for their thoughts on the upcoming conference races and the playoffs.
MEMPHIS, Tenn. -- No team in the NBA had a more whiplash-inducing summer than the Grizzlies. After two years of shedding payroll and stripping away veterans in favor of young talent, the Grizzlies appeared to do a 180-degree turn in the offseason when they signed 34-year-old guard Allen Iverson and acquired 29-year-old power forward Zach Randolph.
After hanging with the Lakers longer than any other opponent in the 2009 playoffs, the Rockets were strip-mined of their key personnel during what could end up being the most damaging offseason in franchise history.
Brandon Roy didn't raise an eyebrow when Nate McMillan called during the summer and issued his challenge.
I like NBA referees as much as the next basketball junkie -- who doesn't delight in watching Joey Crawford tee up Jerry Sloan? -- but as they sit at home these days watching Forget Paris on DVD, I have one bit of career advice for them:
1. Charlie Manuel caught a break. The postponement of tonight's Phillies-Rockies game saved the Philadelphia manager from having to throw his worst cold-weather pitcher on the coldest of days. Pedro Martinez had been scheduled to start, despite a forecast calling for 34 degrees and the always-unpleasant "ice pellets." Not the best of scenarios for the 37-year-old native Dominican, who has had arm trouble in recent years and has often spoken about his affinity to pitch in warm weather.
The NBA once consisted of a mere 10 teams and 80 players. Trains were the preferred mode of travel for road trips and none of those journeys stretched farther west than St. Louis.
CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- Nazr Mohammed rarely played late last season, yet even the little-used center got wrapped up in the energy that permeated the Bobcats for a brief time.
WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Angered by their 19-win season in 2008-09, several Wizards players insisted that they would come to training camp in the best shape of their lives.
Now that Shaquille O'Neal, LeBron James and the rest of the Cavaliers have officially begun preparing for the season, the question must be asked: By what logic do we expect the Big Diesel to provide a 2009-10 performance that is healthy and productive enough to take Cleveland to the next level in its quest for an NBA championship?
EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. -- Wait until next summer.
The hard-hit city of Pontiac, Mich., is auctioning off the Silverdome, a stadium of more than 80,000 seats that once played host to the Super Bowl.
Luol Deng's life has been turbulent, filled with drama and extremes beyond any turning points a basketball game, season or career can bring.
| Most Viewed | Most Emailed | Top Searches |
© 2009 Cable News Network. Turner Broadcasting System, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
