For young hoops fans, the 2003 NBA Draft was one of the most exciting offseason events of its era. High school phenom LeBron James was the headliner of the class, but there were several other potential stars in the mix. In Part I of our retrospective on this revolutionary group, I remembered James and Carmelo…
It’s not often we gush about role players making the difference on a new team, but this maybe should be the exception. Kyle Korver and the Milwaukee Bucks are a match made in heaven. Long coveted for his three-point shooting prowess, Korver signed a deal with the Bucks this summer to help provide spacing to…
For eight straight seasons, LeBron James led a team to the NBA Finals. That reign of terror upon the Eastern Conference began in the 2010-11 season 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…
In this episode of The NBA Podcast, Morten Jensen (@msjnba), Bryan Toporek (@btoporek) and special guest Duncan Smith (@duncansmithnba) of Forbes preview the Central Division ahead of the 2019-20 season. How will the Chicago Bulls’ point guard rotation shake out? Are Cleveland Cavaliers guards Collin Sexton and Darius Garland compatible? Will this be Andre Drummond’s…
The 2019-20 NBA season is just around the corner. After an offseason chock-full of player movement, the title race appears as wide-open as it has been in years. Over the coming weeks, we will examine one big question hanging over each team heading into the season. We’ll continue today with the Central Division, where the…
What does a team with multiple significant free agents do after getting bounced in the Eastern Conference Finals? That was the question facing the Milwaukee Bucks as they trekked into the offseason at the beginning of this month. On one hand, making the Conference Finals signals that your roster is strong. Keeping together a squad…
Innovation is never easy. It requires an understanding of what has already been done, a willingness to possibly fail and a vision for something new. The game of basketball is not rocket science, nor do the X’s and O’s innovations that take place have massively important consequences. But understanding the changes and new concepts in…
A decline in performance following a successful debut has plagued many sophomores from the 2017 draft class. Jayson Tatum, Lonzo Ball, Lauri Markkanen and Dennis Smith Jr. all experienced it to varying degrees. However, Donovan Mitchell’s essentially topped them all. Underdrafted (13th), he exploded onto the NBA scene, even snagging rookie-of-the-year votes from Ben Simmons.…
