Following a 101-79 win over Detroit on Saturday, Carmelo Anthony had to answer the question that many struggling superstars have to answer when they are, well, struggling. Yes, the team is winning and things seem to be trending upward, but why aren’t you producing more? Anthony has been a focal point of criticism for the […]

When Gilbert Arenas was traded from Washington to Orlando last December, he hoped for a fresh start. He hoped some new scenery with a familiar and influential friend as general manager would help him put behind two years of uncertainty for him on the court. It is well chronicled what happened to Arenas the last […]

Mike Woodson has revived some swagger in New York. The Knicks are undefeated since firing Mike D’Antoni and getting a new voice in the locker room. Whatever the problems were in that locker room that led to the mutual separation of the Knicks and D’Antoni, the team has responded in a big way. New York’s […]

The Cleveland Cavaliers are a young team. Kyrie Irving is a rookie and many of the players on the team are still relatively new to the NBA. Young teams struggle and the crunched and rushed schedule has not helped anything. Add the weight of sudden expectation makes things all the worse as the team comes […]

A month ago in a hotel room in Orlando, the Timberwolves were buzzing. The team had a reason to be excited for the first time in a very long time. At .500 and the Playoffs within site, the Timberwolves actually mattered at the All-Star Break for the first time in a long time. I talked […]

The Portland Trail Blazers were stuck in something of a rut and needed the change that came when Portland released Nate McMillan and named young, up-and-coming coach Kaleb Canales. The Trail Blazers needed that fresh breath of life. Even a young All Star like LaMarcus Aldridge looked forward to the change. And certainly one big […]

When a coach is suddenly fired in the middle of the season. The questions immediately fly to why. What could have broken down so much in the middle of the season that could lead a team to make the sudden and drastic change of changing the voice in the locker room. Rare is it when […]

The Golden State Warriors ended 48 hours of speculation finally moving Monta Ellis and acquiring the center they so coveted (even if he is still injured). Late Tuesday, the Warriors traded the high-scoring Ellis, along with Ekpe Udoh and Kwame Brown to the Bucks for former top overall pick Andrew Bogut and veteran guard Stephen […]

It is a simple request from coaches. Give 110 percent, play your best, don’t leave anything on the floor. These tenets hold true from high school to the pros. Without doubt, the best teams are the ones that combine skill, talent, strategy and effort. George Karl knows that. He has coached superstar-laden teams and unheralded […]

LeBron James is the MVP so far this year. Unless someone has some fantastical, incredible, ridiculous final 20 games of the season, there does not seem to be a point in arguing who else should get it. This is an argument for second place, and one of the (perhaps) surprise names competing for that spot […]

Oklahoma City sits atop the Western Conference with a week remaining until the trade deadline. You would hardly think that a team playing at the top of its conference and seemingly one of the three teams unanimously believed to be in the running for a championship needs to make a move. Kevin Durant, Russell Westbrook, […]

The Detroit Pistons were a dysfunctional family the last two years. John Kuester was in a bit over his head in dealing with a rebuilding team that had very little direction — a Frankenstein mix of the championship Pistons teams with a group of young players who needed time to make mistakes. The old guard […]

Keith Smart took over Sacramento under some very strange circumstances. The very public spat between Paul Westphal and DeMarcus Cousins eventually cost the veteran coach his job and brought Keith Smart back to the forefront for his second head coaching sting in the league. The Kings were not going to blow the doors open and […]

We have all seen that scene from Seabiscuit, or maybe experienced that feeling. That desire to one-up everyone and look deep into an opponent’s eyes before racing past them, leaving only a trail of dust behind. That is the kind of rivalry that re-ignited the NBA in the 1980s between Magic Johnson and Larry Bird. […]