Basketball

A closer look at Damian Lillard

Damian Lillard

The sixth pick of the 2012 NBA Draft was thrown into the deep end the moment he set foot in the league. Logging the third most minutes per game of any player in the game, Damian Lillard instantly became the starting point guard for a Portland Trail Blazers team with arguably the worst bench in […]

Basketball

James Harden: When Defense Offends

James Harden

On the Sep. 27, at media day, James Harden announced that he and the coaching staff were “all on the same page” about him guarding the opposition’s best wing player. Upon reading a discussion about this on an NBA forum, I came across comments such as “And the league’s best players give a resounding cheer”, and people talking about how “Harden will never be good enough to guard the best wing players in the league”. How exactly, did he earn the bad reputation?

Basketball

Kevin Durant’s Looming Spot in History

Kevin Durant

At age 24, and after just six seasons in the NBA, the near consensus opinion of Kevin Durant is that he is the second best player in the league. He has already won the Rookie of the Year award, been selected to four All-NBA 1st teams, is a six-time NBA Player of the Month, he’s finished second in MVP voting three times, been in four All-Star Games and is a three-time scoring champion. Yeah, second best. For now. But how will the rest of his career unfold?

Basketball

The Carmelo Anthony Power Forward Experiment

Carmelo Anthony

The leading scorer of the 2012-13 NBA season, Carmelo Anthony, put up an impressive 28.7 points per game on much improved shooting efficiency from his previous year, while also making a big jump in points scored per game. There were several possible reasons for Melo’s improved shooting efficiency and overall better performance, such as his matured post-up game, shot selection and his move to the power forward position, but what played the biggest part in his jump to the NBA’s top scorer?