The days of the pure point guard are obsolete, as athletes asked to play either of the guard positions are required to distribute the ball to teammates and also cash in on long-range attempts.
None of the players spotlighted here will compete for MVP honors. With that said, it’s possible one could hang in the Rookie of the Year conversation through the spring, and a few others may become legitimate Sixth Man of the Year candidates by the end of February.
Perhaps the scariest thing for those proven champions is none of the players near or at the top of this list have yet reached their ceilings, and that includes a certain Freak...
While some clubs are already looking beyond the upcoming season and planning for the 2020s, others need training camp to solidify lineups and rotations as they prepare for the grueling playoff schedule.
The race toward the Larry O'Brien Championship Trophy is as wide-open as it has ever been and that has many fans counting down the days until the new season tips off.
The dust has settled, and things around the NBA have quieted dramatically following a wild July that seemingly gave fans and observers new transactions and unique rumors every day.
March Madness standout Ja Morant, drafted second overall by the rebuilding Memphis Grizzlies, is going to turn the ball over the first couple of months of the season...a lot. But he has crazy skills. He's in the ROY mix along with these other nine players.
So who are the free agents most able to help an NBA team?
After a wild summer of transactions and free-agent signings, NBA news has slowed. The league seems as wide open as ever, with eight teams appearing to have a shot at the title. Let's grade the offseasons of the 30 teams.
Even the clubs atop NBA power rankings in August could be two summers away from losing All-Stars and tumbling down lists. For better or worse, the Association grows more unpredictable with each year.
Former and current MVPs changed basketball home addresses. Fringe postseason teams and clubs that missed the playoffs became contenders. Power shifted back to the Western Conference during the dog days of summer, but as we saw this past June, that means little on the game's largest stage.
The NBA offseason rarely disappoints. For fans of teams out of a championship hunt by Groundhog Day, the summer truly is the best time on the basketball calendar, and the post-Finals portion of 2019 has, thus far, been as captivating as advertised.
History has shown building championship-caliber rosters can be more difficult than winning on playing surfaces. Couple that with a lack of patience among owners and fans, and it's easy to comprehend why so many tremendous players don't make it as execs.
Red Auerbach, Bill Belichick, Brian Cashman, Sam Pollock and Jose Mourinho are all respected as some of the brightest sports minds of their generations. Not one of them is remembered for anything they achieved as an amateur or professional athlete.
This World Cup is the United States' to lose.
A franchise won't build a championship roster around the potential free agent bargains mentioned here. Any one of them could, however, become a pivotal piece for a title challenger.
Can the Toronto Raptors convince the reigning NBA Finals MVP that life in Canada is better than what he'd find in California? What happens with a different MVP currently rehabbing from injury? Answers to these and other questions should make the so-called offseason the best part of the NBA calendar year once again.
it's only fitting that power rankings for a European-dominated World Cup feature the continent's best team at the head of the pack with only three results separating one of the last eight from immortality.
Yes, the favorites positioned themselves on the more troublesome side of the bracket by toppling Sweden on June 20, but the tournament remains theirs to win. Surviving either Brazil or France in the quarterfinals could be all that stands between the U.S. and an inevitable conclusion to another Final.
There are no guarantees in any NBA Draft, including the class that entered the Association in June 2018. Sure, Luka Doncic, Trae Young and Deandre Ayton, among others, look like impact performers after their debut seasons, but plenty can change overnight in the league.
The perception exists that top-tier NBA talent is mostly, if not only, found and obtained via high-draft picks. While that's often the case, basketball history is filled with instances of clubs locating All-Stars and even Hall of Fame players late in the first round or in the second round of player-selection processes.
The World Cup Final is the most monumental football match on the planet in any given year, so it's no surprise some of the greatest performances in the history of the women's tournament occurred in contests between the last two nations standing.
Will any of the players mentioned in this piece remove themselves from the list by the end of the decade?
The continued evolution and development of women's football around the globe will gift fans with the most talent-filled World Cup rosters in history. For those who only follow the women's game whenever this tournament or a Summer Olympics roll around, plenty has changed since Rio.
Obviously teams such as Manchester City, Real Madrid and Barcelona, all of whom happily splash cash for elite footballers every summer, will have something to say about that and about any supposed Liverpool dynasty...