The Rotation is a weekly study on the NBA by one of our All-Star voices. In rotation this week is Tom Ziller.
An annual tradition regular as daybreak, as the season ends a pack of coaches are mercilessly hacked to pieces by fans, media and often their own bosses. A parade of potential replacements jumps aboard the carousel. They dance, they preen ... one of them wins. A year or two or (fingers crossed) three later, said doll gets torn apart. The cycle continues.
There was a switch this season, though: the bloodletting happened during the season, as a record eight coaches met the iron maiden between opening night and Valentine's Day. Is there anyone left to execute at season's end?
Well ... yes. Of course there is. After the jump, we tell you whom and guess their replacements.
The Rotation is a weekly study on the NBA by one of our All-Star voices. In rotation this week is Brett Pollakoff, who talks to Nuggets coach George Karl and some of his players about whether the refs are short-changing Carmelo Anthony.
The Rotation is a weekly study on the NBA by one of our All-Star voices. In rotation this week is Tom Ziller.
NBA owners continue to scream bloody apocalypse. The year 2011 marks the doomsday date, with the L-word -- "lock-out" -- graduating from whisper to constant ink. Non-basketball losses and flagging attendance (see update, end of post) make every cent count, and apparently the stars of the show make too many of the dollars. "Two pounds of flesh or stay home," the owners warn.
But David Stern assures you the NBA is fine. Thriving, even. Ratings boom nightly and the league's (to date) soft slip amid global economic Armageddon should reassure those who fret, Stern argues. A $175$200 million expansion of the league's credit store for franchises -- not a "bail-out," but further proof of the league's health!
Should we believe a commissioner preaching relaxation, or are the owners seizing with (some combination of) fear and blood-lust? Is the NBA really screwed?
The Rotation is a weekly study on the NBA by one of our All-Star voices. In rotation this week is Brett Pollakoff.
With just six weeks left in the grind that is the NBA's regular season, it's time to start having the MVP conversation. LeBron James and Kobe Bryant will likely be the first two names mentioned when this hotly debated topic is brought up, but they shouldn't be -- not this season. If you've been paying attention, Dwyane Wade is the league's most valuable player, and it's really not even that close.
Amare will or will not get traded in the next three weeks; that's a binary outcome with little to be discussed outside the scope of listing suitors and judging return packages. But in leading up to this conclusion, it's worth investigating what Amare did to convince Steve Kerr that he, Amare, is not the man to build around.
The Rotation is a weekly study on the NBA by one of our All-Star voices. In rotation this week is Matt Watson.
From the moment the All-Star reserves were announced last week, the spotlight seemed to shine brightest on those who felt they were snubbed rather than those who were actually selected. It happens every year, and it's getting old.
The Rotation is a weekly study on the NBA by one of our All-Star voices. In rotation this week is Brett Pollakoff.
The starters for February's All-Star game were recently announced, and we'll find out who the coaches will name as the reserves later this week. Every year though, it seems that there's a heated discussion about how the fans screwed up the voting, how some player got snubbed, or what the criteria should be for judging someone to be an All-Star in the first place. It's time to put a stop to as much of that as possible.
The Rotation is a weekly study on the NBA by one of our All-Star voices. In rotation this week is Tom Ziller.
Last winter saw an NBA trade season filled with blockbusters. Miami cut Shaquille O'Neal loose for Shawn Marion. Dallas gave up its point guard of the future (Devin Harris) for a unanimous Hall-of-Famer (Jason Kidd) gunning for the finish line. The Lakers yanked All-Star Pau Gasol for an assortment of assets.
But all these deals came well before the mid-February deadline. In fact, only one major deal (a deck-chair shuffling between Chicago, Cleveland and Seattle) happened on deadline day. Any day now, the transaction wire could be bubbling.
The Rotation is a weekly study on the NBA by one of our All-Star voices. In rotation this week is Tom Ziller.
This weekend's historically bad matchup between the Wizards and Thunder stood on its own awful pedestal while telling a really depressing truth about today's NBA: there are a bunch of really bad teams in the league.
For some of these teams, the depths are only a brief stop on the path to regained greatness. But for others, the stench of the blighted air they inhabit threatens to stick long after the current draft class matures and the Summer of 2010 passes.
For these -- the NBA's Bleak -- no days look bright. Which teams do I speak of? Follow us into the future, after the jump.
The Rotation is a weekly study on the NBA by one of our All-Star voices. In rotation this week is Tom Ziller.
Every time Allen Iverson moves, his new and old teams change irrevocably. A.I. is the type of singular player that demands incredible adjustment, from a team's playing style to the needs of its point guards to the defensive system used to the mix of jumpers and interior moves used to ... everything. A.I. is not a player you can "fit" into your scheme. In gaining or losing Iverson, you have to draw the scheme from scratch.
Since swapping Iverson for Chauncey Billups, Denver has certainly seen a metamorphosis. But Mr. Big Shot isn't The Answer, nor the answer. The truth behind the Nuggets' rise traces also to Chauncey's new friends, Nene and Carmelo Anthony.
