LATEST STORIES FROM TRUE HOOP
Monday Bullets
Milwaukee coach Scott Skiles has a brilliant way around the NBA's ban on criticizing replacement referees: "A huge percentage of our fouls," he says, "were legitimate." Kevin Arnovitz of ClipperBlog, toying with the notion of The Return of Baron Davis: ...
Ron Artest: Good Basketball Player, Mediocre Man of Letters
On Friday I linked to an open letter to Ron Artest at the Second Coming blog. Blogger Kyle Slavin had written about his own devotion to the Lakers, and expressed both excitement and a little worry at the presence of Artest. Included was a kind of warning: You better do well. If you...
First Cup: Monday
Jonathan Feigen of the Houston Chronicle: "Perhaps the setting was fitting, a reminder of how far Tracy McGrady must go. But for the first time since microfracture surgery last spring, McGrady, 30, practiced with the Rockets on Sunday. He went through a few stints of the scrimmage...
Late Friday Mini-Bullets
The NBA asks bench players to stay seated, for the sake of fans behind them, unless something really stellar happens. Sports Illustrated's Chris Ballard visited San Quentin to play basketball against the locals. The ending of the article is absolutely brilliant. But the start...
Wayne Winston: Mark Cuban's Stats Expert Isn't Bashful, Part 3
Wayne Winston is a professor at Indiana University and for the last nine years he has been Mark Cuban's stat guru for the Dallas Mavericks. Winston's recently published book "Mathletics," explains much of his work -- complete with formulas and spreadsheets. The first...
The Rio de Janeiro in My Mind
Once, when I was a teenager, some older guy pulled me aside, stared me in the face, pointed at me and said: "Promise me one thing. Never get married until you have been to the beaches of Rio de Janeiro." I did not take his advice, and married without making the trip. But...
The NBA's Swine Flu Plan
The NBA preseason has begun, big crowds are gathering in stadiums, and ... kids are coming home from school with fliers from the Centers for Disease Control that would make anyone think leaving your house with a runny nose is dangerous. These are some "everyday preventative actions...
271 Days and Counting
The New York Daily News has a countdown to LeBron James' free agency. Doesn't that feel a little like putting a clock on somebody breaking up with their spouse? Your heart will be broken in seven, six, five, four ... Of course, Cleveland could have the last laugh. (Which might...
Gregg Popovich, Workout God
A Spurs video from the archives. It says the video is from 2007, but I suspect it's actually from 2006, when the team held training camp in France (check out the court -- it has temporary NBA court markings laid over the FIBA lines) and went on to win a championship. Goofy though...
First Cup: Friday
Michael Wallace of The Miami Herald: "Players and coaches said Alonzo Mourning already is having an impact in his new role as Miami's vice president of player programs. Mourning watched Thursday's practice with other members of the Heat's front-office staff and spoke...
Kevin Garnett on His Knee in Action
Whether or not Kevin Garnett is at 100% could decide little things like ... the championship. So, with training camp underway, how's that knee feeling? Mark Murphy of the Boston Herald: "It's crazy," Garnett said after his second practice of training camp yesterday...
Thursday Bullets
"When we put pursue universal principles ... we do ourselves a massive disservice." That's Malcolm Gladwell talking about coffee, but it applies to analyzing basketball players. Chris Paul says his dad spent his entire 401k on his kids' AAU basketball. Wow. Paul...
On Yelling at Referees
With the referees locked out, and nasty things being said about them generally, especially in the wake of the Tim Donaghy scandal, I have been thinking a little about how so many people have come to have such strong feelings about the people in the striped shirts. About the time I...
Wayne Winston: Mark Cuban's Stats Expert Isn't Bashful, Part 2
Wayne Winston is a professor at Indiana University and for the last nine years he has been Mark Cuban's stat guru for the Dallas Mavericks. Winston's recently published book "Mathletics," explains much of his work -- complete with formulas and spreadsheets. In this...
First Cup: Thursday
Jerry Zgoda of the Star Tribune: "Kevin Love's tweeter is broken, but he promises a glorious comeback. Love, a child of the computer age, embraced the Twitter social-network phenomenon as enthusiastically as any pro athlete, so much so he unintentionally broke the worldwide...
Follow-Up on Today's Wayne Winston Post
A couple of points that have emerged since I published the first part of a talk with the Dallas Mavericks' stat expert Wayne Winston: On his blog, Winston has explained in some more detail why he thinks the Bulls were wrong to let Ben Gordon go. David Thorpe cautions against...
Wednesday Bullets
You think the Lakers will retire Shaquille O'Neal's jersey? With bridges burned in Orlando and Miami, not much to show for his time in Phoenix, and twilight years in Cleveland ... O'Neal has the chance to become the greatest NBA player ever to not have his jersey retired...
Wayne Winston: Mark Cuban's Stats Expert Isn't Bashful
Wayne Winston is a professor at Indiana University and for the last nine years he has been Mark Cuban's stat guru for the Dallas Mavericks. Winston's recently published book "Mathletics," explains much of his work -- complete with formulas and spreadsheets. This is...
First Cup: Wednesday
Jeff McDonald of the San Antonio Express-News: "After missing 43 games last season -- including all of the playoffs -- with various ankle ailments, the prescription for Manu Ginobili's offseason included rest, rest and more rest. The one non-negotiable rule: No picking up...
William Wesley, Eddy Curry, LeBron James and the Knicks
Frank Isola writes on the New York Daily News' Knicks Knation: The three most important faces inside the gym at Skidmore College today were -- in order of importance -- William Wesley, Danilo Gallinari and Eddy Curry. The Knicks need all three if Donnie Walsh and Mike D'Antoni...
Mike Brown on Delonte West
A year ago, Delonte West sought treatment for a mood disorder. Two weeks ago, he was arrested riding around a three-wheeled motorcycle with guns strapped to three parts of his body. A day ago, he said he was eager to just focus on basketball, yet a few hours ago he was a no-show for...
When There's a Blackout in Cleveland
The power failed during the Cavaliers' media day, and the Plain Dealer's Brian Windhorst immediately tweeted: "An omen?" A laugh line in most of the U.S., Vince Grzegorek of CleveScene.com knows it's far more grave in this corner of Ohio. This is Cleveland sports...
Tuesday Bullets
What obligation to teams have to their fans to keep them informed about injuries? Zach Lowe of CelticsHub: "As for the state of [Kevin] Garnett's knee toward the end of last season, it's reasonable to assume the Celitcs knew more than they revealed publicly. To us, as...
First Cup: Tuesday
Marcus Thompson II of The Oakland Tribune: "Any hopes the Warriors might have had for a drama-free start to the season were put to rest at Monday's media day. Stephen Jackson stuck by his comments about no longer wanting to play for the Warriors, a statement he first made...
Economist: NBA Players Should Bribe the Referees to End Lockout
Ian Ayres of the Freakonomics blog has a post about the merit of certain kinds of bribes, and Shaquille O'Neal comes up: I wonder why Shaq and a few other NBA players haven't offered to make modest contributions to help resolve the current referee dispute. Shaq has publicly...
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