We’re more than halfway through the 2019-20 NBA campaign, and a small group of coaches have emerged as the strongest candidates for Coach of the Year honors. With so many players switching teams this offseason, some of the league’s top skippers have faced new and significant challenges. While Coach of the Year winners often have…
Tagged frank vogel
NBA Film Study: The LeBron James, Anthony Davis Pick-and-Roll
Anthony Davis is one of the best pick-and-roll bigs of this generation. He’s now paired with perhaps the greatest passer of all-time in LeBron James, a special athlete with an insane command of any defense he’s facing. The duo is as vaunted in one action as any in recent memory. But something is also strange…
PODCAST: NBA Midseason Awards Edition
In this episode of The NBA Podcast, Morten Jensen (@msjnba) and Bryan Toporek (@btoporek) make their midseason picks for every major award. Who is the front-runner for MVP: James Harden, Luka Doncic or Giannis Antetokounmpo? Can anyone catch Ja Morant for Rookie of the Year? Who’s leading the wide-open Defensive Player of the Year and…
NBA Film Study: Scouting for Opponents’ Tendencies
Scouting reports are especially vital at the highest levels of basketball. They prepare players for personnel tidbits, identify an opponent’s best or most frequent sets, and unify the team in a direction for how to attack both. Those reports will have a video and written component most times, so different learners can digest the information…
Remembering The Heatles’ Fallen Foes, Part 4: Those Pesky Indiana Pacers
For eight straight seasons, LeBron James led a team to the NBA Finals. The reign of terror upon the Eastern Conference began in the 2010-11 campaign when LeBron made the controversial decision to leave the Cleveland Cavaliers and sign with the Miami Heat. After four years and two championships, he left to return home to…
What DeMarcus Cousins’ Torn ACL Means for L.A. Lakers
On Thursday, ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski and The Athletic’s Shams Charania dropped unexpected and unwelcome news about Los Angeles Lakers center DeMarcus Cousins. Lakers center DeMarcus Cousins has suffered a possible knee injury and will undergo further testing today in Los Angeles, league sources tell ESPN. Cousins was working out in Las Vegas on Monday when…
Breaking Down the New-Look Lakers’ Upside
For the third year in a row, the Los Angeles Lakers are trotting out a new-look roster. And although they didn’t take home the biggest prizes in free agency after the Anthony Davis trade, the latest version of the Purple and Gold should be noticeably better than its immediate predecessors—and not just because the Brow…
PODCAST: 2019 NBA Conference Finals Preview, Lakers Coaching Saga
In this episode of The NBA Podcast, Bryan Toporek (@btoporek) and special guest Anthony Irwin (@AnthonyIrwinLA) of Locked on Lakers preview the 2019 NBA conference finals and discuss the Los Angeles Lakers’ debacle of a coaching search. Even if Kevin Durant misses the whole series, do the Portland Trail Blazers stand a chance against the…