Several NBA players missed significant parts of last season because of injury. Here's a quick rundown of how some of them are doing with training camps set to begin next week for most teams:
Gilbert Arenas, Washington (knee): He's had three surgeries on his knee in a year and a half, but Arenas said he'll be ready for the start of training camp. Of course, he took things a step further by saying that had he continued to rehab in Washington, instead of working with trainer Tim Grover in Chicago, he wouldn't have made it back as fast.
The Hawks played hardball this summer with restricted free agent Marvin Williams, just as the Hawks do with most restricted free agents. Last year, Atlanta GM Rick Sund allowed Josh Smith to hang in the RFA win, only bringing the electric forward back when Memphis got Smith to sign a reasonable offer sheet.
It didn't come to that this season -- Marvin apparently talked to no other team seriously -- but it still worked out for Atlanta. Marc Spears of Yahoo! reports Williams will stay in the ATL for $40 million over the next five seasons.
The Oregonian's Jason Quick reports the Blazers will sign 33-year-old point guard Andre Miller to a deal. The terms look like $22 million over three years, with only the first two guaranteed. By the numbers, it's a good deal for Portland and Miller -- the PG wasn't getting more elsewhere, and the Blazers get away with a good playmaker at a fair rate for a short time.
But the opportunity cost of signing Miller is quite high for the Blazers.
So, you may or may not have seen the feature we did for the NFL Draft in which we took every single team and decided who the worst draft pick in the history of that franchise was. And it was so awesome and fun to do (and totally not time consuming at all) that I decided to roll it out for the NBA as well.
So, for every NBA team, we give you a horrible draft pick -- either a straight bust, or player picked ahead of another player who was far better, etc. -- and then a snarky reason as to why said pick was the worst in franchise history. Your suggestions in the comments, please. And happy draft day!
The 2005 NBA Draft would change the course of the future of two teams -- the Atlanta Hawks and Milwaukee Bucks. There was no clear-cut No. 1 pick, but Utah's Andrew Bogut was big, skilled and NBA ready. He wasn't the most convincing or dominant No. 1 pick, especially with Dwight Howard averaging a double-double in his rookie season, but he appeared to be the best choice for the Bucks.
Meanwhile, the Hawks decided on a player who was a sixth man of his college team. Marvin Williams had all the physical tools to be a star but played just one season at North Carolina. He fed off the Tar Heels' national title run and opted for the draft. It sounded like a good idea, although he was only 19. It's not that these were poor choices. Neither Bogut nor Williams are busts. They are productive NBA players, but when compared with the next two drafted, they are disappointments.
Cherry Picking recaps the previous day's NBA playoff action.
Progress looks like this. Atlanta, long a laughingstock of the NBA, made the playoffs last season. This year, the Hawks advanced to the second round. Progress, right?
Well, from my seat it doesn't look like a whole lot of progress. More than offering new hope for tomorrow, the struggle against Miami followed by obliteration at the hands of Cleveland has pointed out Atlanta's specific deficiencies. The shortcomings are intrinsic to this roster, the problems part-and-parcel with the strengths. I fail to see how the Hawks can get much better from here.
It's been five months since the Hawks last beat the Cavaliers -- their lone win in four tries in the regular season was on Dec. 13, 2008 -- but after watching the Cavs absolutely destroy the visitors from Atlanta in the first two games of the second round, it may as well be five years.
Cleveland won Thursday's game 105-85, but that doesn't even begin to convey how much they dominated the Hawks. The Cavs had a 30-point lead entering the fourth quarter, at which point Mike Brown pulled all of his starters. The Cavs improved to 6-0 in the postseason, winning every game by double-digits while holding their opponent to 90 points or fewer each time.
Cavaliers 105, Hawks 85: Recap | Box Score Cavs Lead 2-0 | Next Game: Saturday @ Atlanta, 8 PM ET
MIAMI -- Center Jermaine O'Neal was replaced in the starting lineup for Miami Friday night because of concussion-like symptoms stemming from a hit Wednesday night from Atlanta's Zaza Pachulia.
Although O'Neal was on the 12-man active list, the Heat listed Joel Anthony as their starting center, hurting their chance to fight off elimination in this best-of-seven series.
While O'Neal was a surprise scratch, Hawks forward Marvin Williams must have had a good healthy lunch because his sprained right wrist suddenly healed enough so he could play.
It doesn't seem that long ago that the Southeast was an afterthought. I'm aware that sounds stupid as this division attempts to rise to serious L-bound prominence, but it's true -- before Dwight Howard and before Dwyane Wade and before Josh Smith and before Jeff McInnis ... what was there?
It doesn't particularly matter now; the division is still only an erstwhile powerhouse; you would never see a prediction coming that any one of these teams can contend for the NBA title right now, and that's what matters in these sort of things.
Of course, Orlando is a different story of sorts. Maybe. At least we have to wonder: Does Hedo Turkoglu Still Have the Special Sauce?
The Hawks' Marvin Williams injured his left thumb in the first half of last night's win over the Bobcats. It doesn't appear to be too serious -- head coach Mike Woodson afterward said "nothing's broken" and Williams himself said he could "bend it but not extend it," so all signs point to him being just fine.
The bright side is that the team played the second half without him, and apparently looked good while doing so. They were able to go with a bigger lineup of Zaza Pachulia at center, Al Horford at the four, and Josh Smith on the wing, which instantly paid dividends on the boards and allowed the team to go from seven down at the half to up five at one point in the third.
The reason that this is encouraging news for the Hawks, at least in the short term, is that the team is now forced to pIay without Williams, which will help them prepare for their season opener against Orlando without him. I had forgotten, but yes, Williams is indeed suspended for the first game of the regular season, thanks to this flagrant (but not homicidal as the announcers would lead you to believe) takedown of Rajon Rondo during last season's playoffs.
The Hawks played hardball this summer with restricted free agent 
The Oregonian's Jason Quick reports 
So, you may or may not have seen 
FanHouse fixes a decade of draft-day blunders in 
It's been five months since the Hawks last beat the Cavaliers -- their lone win in four tries in the regular season was on Dec. 13, 2008 -- but after watching the Cavs absolutely destroy the visitors from Atlanta in the first two games of the second round, it may as well be five years.
MIAMI -- Center 
