Category Archives: nba

2014-15 NBA Team Preview: Cleveland Cavaliers

Cleveland has been busy this off-season. Not only did they get Johnny Football playing down the street, but LeBron James came back home…and brought some of his friends with him. Kevin Love, Shawn Marion and Mike Miller all tagged along in hopes of winning a ring in Cleveland.

In order for Cleveland to get their new crew, they had to trade the last two #1 overall picks (Anthony Bennett & Andrew Wiggins) and shed a handful of contracts for pennies on the dollar. They clearly love their roster and hope it is good enough to win the city’s first professional championship since Jim Brown won an NFL Championship with the Browns.

We will be posting a team preview for every team up until the start of the regular season.

Here is the 2014-15 NBA season preview for the Cleveland Cavaliers.

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2014-15 NBA Team Preview: Chicago Bulls

A power shift is happening in Eastern Conference. The departure of LeBron James from Miami and Paul George’s injury will mean new faces will be atop the East Cleveland and Chicago will most likely be the two teams fighting for home-court advantage.

Chicago has some new faces and one important one returning from two injuries, Derrick Rose. Pau Gasol, Aaron Brooks and European star Nijola Mirotic will be making their Chicago debuts this season. The Brooks signing was sneaky good, since Rose will definitely need to rest his knees at times.

The Bulls exceeded expectations after Rose went down with another knee injury last season. Joakim Noah put the team on his back and put up insane numbers. Can he repeat last year’s MVP-worthy performance?

We will be posting a team preview for every team up until the start of the regular season.

Here is the 2014-15 NBA season preview for the Chicago Bulls.

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2014-15 NBA Team Preview: Charlotte Hornets

When Lance Stephenson signed with Charlotte, a little part of me died. As a Pacers fan, he made every game exciting. You never knew which Lance you were going to get. The Lance that would do anything for his team to win or the Lance that was just out there trying to cause trouble.

Not only does Charlotte get Stephenson, but they get their nickname back! Dust off your old Hornets Starter jackets and Muggsy Bogues throwback jerseys, guys. It should be a fun season in Charlotte. I mean, just look at their awesome new court.

Did Charlotte’s name change rid themselves of the ‘Bobcats stink’?

We will be posting a team preview for every team up until the start of the regular season.

Here is the 2014-15 NBA season preview for the Charlotte Hornets.

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2014-15 NBA Team Preview: Boston Celtics

Since Bill Simmons is currently on suspension, someone has to step up and write a Boston Celtics team preview, right?

The Celtics were really hoping to land one of the first two picks in last year’s NBA Draft, but Cleveland got lucky once again (and Philadelphia/Milwaukee were both stupid bad).

Head coach Brad Stevens didn’t do anything to make us think the stage is too big for him. That is all Boston really wanted to see in his first year. They are in the middle of a rebuilding process, so win-total expectations were very low.

We will be posting a team preview for every team up until the start of the regular season.

Here is the 2014-15 NBA season preview for the Boston Celtics.

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2014-15 NBA Team Preview: Atlanta Hawks

I doubt many fans buy NBA League Pass to watch the Atlanta Hawks games, but they are sneaky good. They won’t ‘wow’ you with flash, but if you like three-point shooting, you loved watching them last season.

Jeff Teague impressed many NBA fans with his play against the Indiana Pacers in the playoffs. He held his own against players with much more playoff experience. I look for him to keep improving and possibly be in play for a spot on the All-Star Game roster.

The major key to Atlanta’s success is Al Horford’s ability to stay healthy. He’s had two torn pectoral muscles derail back-to-back seasons. If he stays healthy, it’s hard to omit Atlanta from the playoff picture.

We will be posting a team preview for every team up until the start of the regular season.

Here is the 2014-15 NBA season preview for the Atlanta Hawks.

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2014 NBA Draft: Best Undrafted Players

The NBA Draft is only 60 picks, so many players fall through the cracks…especially in a year in which a draft his deep.

The 2014 NBA Draft is very deep, so more good players than usual didn’t make the cut. It’s not the end of the road for these players. They will just need to work a little harder to attain their dream.

Many of these guys will be signed to play in the NBA Summer League. They can showcase their skills in hopes of earning a invite to training camp. Unfortunately for most, they will end up playing overseas or in the NBA Development League. There are still a few every year that surprise everybody and beat the odds to earn an NBA contract.

Here are the best college and international players who went undrafted during the 2014 NBA Draft.

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2014 NBA Draft Analysis – First Round

My favorite night of the year has arrived!

I love the anticipation and the speed of the NBA Draft. You don’t have fifteen minutes in-between picks like the NFL and you actually know these players, unlike the NHL and MLB.

If you can stomach two-three hours of Bill Simmons, it will be a fun night.

We give analysis for every pick in the first round of the 2014 NBA Draft.

1. Cleveland Cavaliers: Andrew Wiggins (Kansas) – No surprise here. Cleveland is looking to rebuild and they don’t need a player like Jabari Parker to be an instant boost. They loved Embiid, but they couldn’t risk a #1 overall pick on a player who is a major injury risk.

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76ers Unveil New Secondary Ben Franklin Logo

Look at that glorious logo!

I’m not a Logophile, but the Philadelphia 76ers unveiled a good looking logo. The NBA should go back to the goofy logos that filled the ABA.

This new Sixers logo is said to be their ‘secondary’ logo, which doesn’t mean it will appear on any official jerseys. I’m an Indiana Pacers fan, but I would consider buying some Sixers gear if this dribbling Ben Franklin logo was featured.

Unfortunately, it doesn’t look like the Sixers will be using this logo.

*teardrop*

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2014 NBA Mock Draft: Who Will be #1?

Now that the NBA season is over, let’s focus on the NBA Draft. I personally think the NBA Draft is the best draft in any major sport. There’s usually more trades, the impact of these rookies is usually felt immediately and it doesn’t go on and on like the NFL Draft.

You will begin to hear a lot of rumors about what’s wrong with these prospects. You rarely hear anything positive until a day or two before the draft. Teams know how to leak information to attempt to hurt a player’s draft stock. It’s all smoke and mirrors at this point.

I try to forge through the piles of trash out there and give you where I think the player will be drafted. I personally wouldn’t draft a few of these players in the lottery, but it’s the NBA and there are a lot of bad General Managers in the league.

Here is my 2014 NBA Mock Draft for the first round.

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The 50 Best Sports Movies of All-Time

I’m a sucker for a great sports movie. I watch every one that comes out and have been disappointed by so many. It’s because I hold such movies as ‘Hoosiers’ and ‘Field of Dreams’ in such high regard. The bar is set really high.

I brainstormed some blog ideas and realized I’ve never written about the best sports movies of all-time. I spent most of this morning making the list of the top 50 sports movies of all-time.

I didn’t include any documentaries or this list would be loaded (I’ll save them for a future post). So if you’re asking yourself why ‘Hoop Dreams’ didn’t make the cut, now you know. Also, I only listed movie franchises once and only ranked the first movie in the series…’Rocky IV’ and ‘Might Ducks 2’ would have definitely made the list.

Here is our list of the 50 best sports movies of all-time.

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Los Angeles, A Tale of Two Owners

Most of you are already aware of the professional basketball’s recent fiasco, so we won’t exhaust that topic any more than we have to in this space. In a nutshell, NBA commissioner Adam Silver banned 80-year-old L.A. Clippers owner Donald Sterling from all team and NBA-related events for life. This happened after celebrity news site TMZ released a private phone conversation between Sterling and his ex-mistress. In the convo, Sterling can be heard making insensitive remarks about African-Americans. Now, the question is not whether or not, but when Sterling is going to relinquish his ownership of the team.

At the center of this scandal was a picture of Sterling’s ex-mistress standing next to legendary L.A. Laker point guard Magic Johnson. “Don’t put him [Johnson] on an Instagram for the world to have to see so they have to call me. And don’t bring him to my games,” Sterling told his ex-mistress. When Magic found out about Sterling’s racist remarks, the 5-time NBA Champion called for Sterling’s removal and vowed to never attend a Clippers game again as long as Sterling was still the owner. When Sterling was banned, Magic sent out a celebratory tweet.

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Could NFL Now Force Daniel Snyder to Change Redskins Name?

Now that the NBA has set an example on how to handle owner racism, will the other major sports follow suit?

The NBA banned Los Angeles Clippers owner Donald Sterling for life for recorded remarks he made in private. They are pushing for the owners to vote to force Sterling to sell the team. They need 3/4ths of the owners to vote ‘yes’ in order for that to happen.

Now that the NBA has opened the ‘let’s vote an owner out of the league’ Pandora’s box, this seems like the perfect opportunity for the NFL to this as leverage to force Washington Redskins owner Daniel Snyder to change his team’s name.

Does the NFL have similar language in their bylaws to force Snyder out as owner?

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