The Good Point

Basketball Archives

Basketball

The New and Improved Amir Johnson

Every team has that one character guy, the one who is the glue of the team, the heart and soul. It’s not necessarily always about the numbers, or the amount of All-Star appearances, but the intangibles. Amir Johnson is that guy for the Toronto Raptors. Dwayne Riley-Grant explains just how far the young big man has come in 2012-13.

Basketball

Was the 2008 NBA Draft one of the best?

We all know about the 1984 NBA Draft, Michael Jordan and Hakeem Olajuwon have made sure of it. Then 1996, with the likes of Kobe Bryant, Steve Nash and Allen Iverson, is hard to forget as well. If we can assume that 2003’s offering of LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and Carmelo Anthony reaches that same level, then does 2008’s with Derrick Rose, Russell Westbrook and Kevin Love?

Basketball

Taking LeBron James for Granted

Both the Miami Heat and LeBron James have reached critical mass. James is far and away the best player in basketball right now. Forget head and shoulders, he’s waist-high above everyone else. And the Heat? They’re blowing through teams like it’s nobody’s business, winning 17 straight games and losing exactly once in the month of February. So why was ESPN putting the Blackhawks point streak in the same sentence?

Basketball

Brandon Roy, idol

Everybody in the world loves Brandon Roy, except perhaps his own body. The former Portland Trailblazers star is among the most recent NBA greats to have their promising careers cut short by injury. With Roy’s current comeback in Minnesota in question, might Roy’s playing days be officially behind him?

Basketball

The Mishandling of Andrea Bargnani

There was no clear consensus No. 1 pick for the 2006 NBA Draft. There was no highly touted prospect that rival teams were clamouring over. Yes, Adam Morrison led Gonzaga to a memorable run in March Madness that year, and also led the nation in scoring. Scouts and execs throughout the league wondered aloud whether his lack of athleticism and all-around game would hamper his success once he was drafted. Ditto for J.J. Redick. And then there’s Andrea Bargnani.

Basketball

Man, Myth and the LeBron James Streak

It’s Year X of LeBron James and prior to the last two weeks, we have been left without a defining basketball stat that personified what he could do individually that separated himself from other basketball greats. Bill Russell has his 10 rings. Wilt Chamberlain has his 100-point game, along with averaging 50 points and 25 rebounds over an entire season (not to mention the alleged 25,000 women that knew him intimately). Kobe has 81, Magic has versatility and MJ has everything else. What will come to define No. 6?

Basketball

Daryl Morey and the Overnight Houston Sensation

Somewhat surprisingly, it’s a good time to be a Houston Rockets fan in 2013. I say surprisingly because 2013 was scheduled to be a rebuilding year filled with lots of losing for a young Rockets team. Of course, the Rockets have become somewhat accustomed to losing over the last four lottery-bound seasons, but the team was set to hit a new low in 2013. This was by design on the part of Rockets general manager, Daryl Morey. How quickly things can change.

Basketball

The NBA All-Star Weekend Debrief

Has the NBA All-Star Weekend lost its appeal? P.J. Carr takes a thorough look at where it’s been, where it is, and where the festivities might be headed. As well, where does the February showdown stack up to mid-season classics from the other major professional sports? It might not be long before even the All-Star Game itself starts looking more and more like the NFL’s Pro Bowl.

Basketball

The One-and-Done Rule Revisited

When Nerlens Noel tore his ACL last Tuesday, it set off one of the most talked about, controversial and least impactful rules in sports: the age limit for the NBA Draft, usually called the one-and-done rule. It happens any time a high-profile college player gets injured: are they a casualty of the rule? Mark Milner takes a look back at high school players who made the jump the pros with a special focus on the good, the bad and the Ellis Richardson.

Basketball

Resilience Untempered: Your 2013 Boston Celtics

It’s become an NBA tradition as time-honored as questionable draft night fashion choices or coach Gregg Popovich stonewalling sideline interviewers. Every year since that memorable championship season in 2008, the Boston Celtics have swayed and swooned their way through the regular season in relatively unimpressive fashion, and every year injuries or other controversies have seemed to spell the end for this latest era of success. Haven’t we learned our lesson by now?