The Heat drew mostly guffaws when it retired the jersey of Michael Jordan, who never played one second for the franchise. Heat prez Pat Riley suggested it was a move to honor the game's greatest player, but most saw it as a silly bit of marketing showmanship.
MJ attended Thursday's Heat-Cavaliers game with Riley -- the TNT broadcast crew noted that Scottie Pippen also sat courtside, and suggested it might have been some subliminal "pair with Dwyane Wade!" messaging to LeBron James. MJ's presence made the game a bit more weird, and led to a rare political statement from LeBron: he thinks players should stop wearing No. 23 out of deference to His Airness, and he plans to lead the charge by switching to No. 6 next season.
Every night there are some stupendous, silly, stupid, or downright outlandish individual lines from around the lig. Doing Lines lets you know which one tops the list.
If you're not a close follower of the NBA, then just six games or so into the season, we can't necessarily hold it against you if the name Tyreke Evans doesn't ring a bell. Besides being a rookie, Evans plays for the Sacramento Kings, a team that won just 17 games a season ago, and figured to be about as bad this year with stud scorer Kevin Martin sidelined indefinitely with an injury.
But after what Evans did to Deron Williams in leading his undermanned team to a road win in Utah on Saturday, he won't remain anonymous to basketball fans for much longer.
What a night for Kevin Martin. The dynamic guard for the Kings -- and currently the league's No. 3 scorer -- learned Thursday morning his sore wrist was actually a fractured navicular bone, a pretty brutal injury in terms of risk and recovery. Sources tell FanHouse Martin was strongly recommended by at least two doctors (including Sacramento's team doctor and a separate hand specialist) to undergo reparative surgery or to put the in a cast for 6-8 weeks. The franchise, however, left the decision to Martin, who kept a third option -- play through it wearing a soft cast -- open temporarily.
Martin told reporters he'd sleep on it and make a decision Friday. Sanity has prevailed over machismo, and Martin told the Sacramento Bee's Sam Amick today that playing with a soft cast has been ruled out. Martin will either put a hard cast on the arm, or undergo surgery.
The Kings, seeking a defensive veteran for the small forward position, took on Desmond Mason in advance of training camp. That didn't turn out so well: Mason has been beyond awful on offense (surprising no one who has watched Mason play at any point over the past four years) and didn't make much of a difference for the league's 29th ranked defense.
Five games was enough for the Sacramento front office, as the team waived Mason a day after signing former Blazer and Spur Ime Udoka to a non-guaranteed minimum salary contract. Like Mason, Udoka is known for his defensive skill, having been signed as a sort of Bruce Bowen replacement two summers ago. That didn't really work out, and Udoka was left teamless for opening day after Portland waived the swingman at the end of the preseason.
Freaky Friday in NOLA. The greatest point guard in the world -- Chris Paul. A festive atmosphere, the home opener for the Hornets. Tyreke Evans, rookie point guard for the Sacramento Kings, had a big challenge ahead. Never mind he was coming off an underwhelming debut Wednesday in Oklahoma City. For the 20-year-old wolf in wolf's clothes, this was the proverbial uphill battle.
And though it didn't end with glass slippers or even confetti, Evans proved he belongs in the NBA.
Every season, the NBA is filled with a few abjectly awful teams. These squads trudge through their affairs, offering spirit in infrequent spurts while otherwise counting down the days until summer vacation. You take bad players and strip their motivation, their energy ... and it's ugly quickly.
When Luc Richard Mbah a Moute meets Africa's top youth players in Johannesburg Wednesday, he'll understand their anxiety and their hopes. Just six years ago, Mbah a Moute was in their shoes.
The Bucks forward is with an NBA contingent in South Africa this week as part of the Basketball Without Borders program. Cameroon native Mbah a Moute has joined Dwight Howard, Chris Bosh, Dirk Nowitzki and others on the sojourn to lead a group of 60 top African youth players in five days of basketball clinics and life-skills seminars.
In the summer of 2003, a 17-year-old Mbah a Moute was one of those campers. He credits the program with helping him get to the NBA.
BRADENTON, Fla. – It's not easy being the best player on the worst team in the league.
It's why Sacramento guard Kevin Martin is wearing blinders this summer -- looking only straight ahead.
"All the losing is tough -- it wears on you -- but this time of year I try not to worry about things I don't control,'' he said. "What I can control is that I can become a better player every summer by working at it.''
Last season saw three NBA teams (the Kings, Wizards and Clippers) win less than 20 games. That brand of expansive fetidness has happened only one other time since 2000, and it bespeaks the wrong flavor of competitive imbalance.
Things look up for two of the squads, as the Wizards employed a top pick to gain two solid rotation players while the Clippers used the top pick to snag a fine young star-in-waiting. The Kings remain in unfortunate limbo. But all told, how do rancid teams bounce back from awful seasons? Can fans of losers expect better things quickly, or is the upswing normally protracted?
Every night there are some stupendous, silly, stupid, or downright outlandish individual lines from around the "lig." Doing Lines lets you know which one tops the list.
The idea that the production of any star for a bad team needs to be discounted is a bad cliché. But NBA discounts do exist: when you play a bad defense, your production might be a bit inflated.
Three stud guards saw such nights on Wednesday, with Chris Paul at the frontier against the Clippers (the NBA's No. 27 defense). In a 94-possession game, Paul went for an astounding 30 points on 19 FGAs, 14 assists and six steals. Goodness gracious.
The Heat drew mostly guffaws when it retired the jersey of Michael Jordan, who never played one second for the franchise. Heat prez Pat Riley suggested it was a move to honor the game's greatest player, but most saw it as a silly bit of marketing showmanship.
Every night there are some stupendous, silly, stupid, or downright outlandish individual lines from around the lig. 
What a night for 
The Kings, seeking a defensive veteran for the small forward position, took on 
Freaky Friday in NOLA. The greatest point guard in the world -- 
FanHouse 
When 
BRADENTON, Fla. – It's not easy being the best player on the worst team in the league.
Last season saw three NBA teams (the Kings, Wizards and Clippers) win less than 20 games. That brand of expansive fetidness has happened only one other time since 2000, and it bespeaks the wrong flavor of competitive imbalance.
Every night there are some stupendous, silly, stupid, or downright outlandish individual lines from around the "lig." 
