With so many Free and Restricted Agents becoming available this summer it’s hard to pay attention to them all so I’ve compiled a list for the players that I feel could make or break a team come next season. I’ve left out the players that have expressed interest in resigning with their current teams.
LeBron James has risen to become the indisputable best basketball player in the world. Standing at 6’8″, 250+ lbs, LeBron can do it all. He can effectively play every position on the court, both offensively and defensively. He elevates the play of his teammates and the efficiency of his individual scoring is changing the way we look at scorers in the NBA. Today, we take a look at LeBron’s high school career and remember his humble origins. Oh wait, they weren’t so humble were they? It’s easy to remember LeBron’s origins because his was the most publicized and touted high school career in history. LeBron made his first Sports Illustrated cover in 2002 at the tender age of 17. The title of the cover piece? The Chosen One. LeBron was going to be the second coming of Michael Jordan, the next transcendent super-star to take the NBA to the promised land. To cap off his high school career, LeBron led St. Vincent-St. Mary’s to Ohio state championships in three out of four years, while drawing national media attention the whole way. From early on in his career, LeBron’s spectacular play forced St. Vincent-St. Mary’s to move out of their home gymnasium and more »
The Miami Heat are coasting through the 2013 Playoffs and it’s not just a testament to how good they are. They’ve also been very lucky, with the best players from opposing teams having gotten hurt left and right. And considering that we’re at the tail end of the NBA awards season where players, coaches, and general managers have been awarded trophies for their achievement, it’s only fitting that we —in true awards season fashion— celebrate those who are not currently with us on the court. Here are five players who have succumbed to the injury bug, hereby dubbed the 2013 All-Injury team. PG – Derrick Rose, Chicago Bulls Injury: ACL Tear The way in which Derrick Rose sustained his injury last year was crushing. Who can forget Rose nursing his injury on the court in the fetal position? Much has been made of the way Chicago has handled Rose’s return since he was cleared to play months ago, but would the Bulls have fared better this year against the Miami Heat in the second round of the Eastern Conference playoffs? It seems like a viable idea on paper. but you have to remember that chemistry plays a greater role in basketball than the average more »
The world of professional sports is like living in a comic book where everything is faster, higher, stronger, harder and infinitely more intense; star athletes are like mutant, superhuman X-Men characters. For everyone that labors under the false notion that they were an ounce of training short of taking their talents to the show, read up and get an education in reality. Who better illustrates this point than King James himself.
In case you’ve been living under a rock the past couple months, Kobe Bryant has taken up social media in an unprecedented way. After rupturing his achilles tendon, Kobe has embraced the 21st century and has quickly ascended my Power Rankings of Favorite Tweeters and Instagrammers. Congrats Mamba, you’re my number one! Recently, he’s been giving updates on his rehab as he tries to prove his haters wrong and comeback from his most devastating injury of his career. But Kobe crossed a line this past week. A social media line, that is usually reserved for the creepy people on the internet not named Kobe. He Instagrammed a picture of his achilles surgery and it was the most disgusting picture I’ve seen since Kevin Ware’s broken leg made its way on the interwebs.
Andrew Wiggins is the unanimously agreed upon top recruit for the oncoming NCAA basketball season. He recently signed a letter of intent with The University of Kansas. Let’s take a look at why the Jayhawks should have the biggest avian boner since pulling Wilt Chamberlain into their ranks.
With our main man of style, Russell Westbrook, out with an injury, the NBA has seen a new rise in fashion trends during these 2013 NBA Playoffs. Now whether these trends are hip or not, who is to say? But these outfits have to be the most bizarre of the season.
In 1992 basketball star Wilt Chamberlain talks about his life and now this interview has been brought to life in this animation by Patrick Smith.
The postseason is over for one of the most disappointing Los Angeles Laker teams in history. At the center of it is Dwight Howard. Los Angeles was the focal point for what was probably the only interesting storyline at the end of the regular season, but the all the air left the tires once the post-season started. The Lakers made us all believe in a dream, then they splashed the water on our faces and woke us up. The biggest question of the Lakers off-season is the same one as last year. Will Dwight Howard wear the purple and gold next year?
For years, the passion they shared for winning made Earvin “Magic” Johnson and Larry Bird the most bitter of rivals. It also made theirs the most compelling rivalry in sports, driving the NBA to new heights of popularity in the 1980s. This HBO documentary “A Courtship of Rivals” tells the riveting story of two superstars who couldn’t have been more different until they forged an unlikely friendship from the superheated rivalry that had always kept them apart.
With the NBA playoffs fully underway it’s time to decide which team you want to go all the way. Maybe you go with your hometown team, or maybe you don’t have one. In any case, this is your crash course on this year’s remaining teams.
What if I told you LeBron was underpaid by an amount 90% of NBA players don’t make in a year. Even though LeBron is the best player in the NBA right now, he’s still one of the most underpaid athletes in the country. Given all the money the Cavs made during his time with them compared to the money the Heat made upon his arrival, LeBron makes for one lucrative money maker. This infographic proves the intangibles LeBron brings to the table. The difference in all aspects since his departure from Cleveland, over to his grand entrance to Miami.
Brittney Griner came out quietly. Jason Collins came out not so quietly. Either way, the implications are bigger than just they could have thought.
When Kareem Abdul-Jabbar was thirty, he was living the American dream. Leading scorer in the NBA, leading rebounder, leading blocker, Most Valuable Player, All-Star. But success can be as blinding as Bill Walton’s finger in the eye when battling for a rebound. He made mistakes. Plenty of them. In fact, sometimes he wishes he could climb into a time machine and go back to shake some sense into that thirty-year-old version of himself. This is the he would give him, if it was possible.
The popularity of our favorite sports teams can be adjudicated using a hundred different methods, from merchandise and tickets sold, to global team familiarity. We’ve decided to take the web approach and scoured internet for the top four means of collecting information about North American sports teams, aside from visiting an official team URL. Using Facebook Fans, Twitter Followers, Google search results and number of Wiki-searches, we’ve created an algorithm to find out The 50 Most Popular Sports Teams in North America on the Web.
Women aren’t the only thing made better with GIFS. Ridiculously talented athletes become even more talented when GIF’d. Just take Kevin Durant for example.
The legendary basketball game “H-O-R-S-E” has recieved a digital upgrade for the 21st century and you can play along with all your friends. The rules are simple: Visit http://www.uversehorse.com/ during the Michigan vs Louisville 2013 National Championship Game on Monday, April 8th starting at 9:23 pm. Pick a team and play against friends and guess where their team is going to shoot (and score from). Your team then has one minute to shoot from that location. If the shot is made then the opposing team has to shoot from the same spot or they will be assigned a letter (H, etc) If the shot isn’t taken or is missed, you lose a turn and the opposing player will get a chance to select a spot on the court. Gameplay continues back and forth in real-time throughout the televised game. As each player fails to duplicate the shot made by the other player they earn a letter in the word HORSE. First person to spell HORSE loses. Hat tip: Heavy.com
Wow. Just wow. Sorry LeBron but you have nothing on University of Detroit’s Doug Anderson.
Each of the Final Four teams has had a tough road before them and each desrves to be there. A team like Michican have talent like Trey Burke, Tim Hardaway and Glen Robinson, but Syracuse is playing with serious momentum. Wichita State is the heavy underdog of the four teams, but don’t sleep on their outside perimeter game. Take a look at the opponents each team played to get where they are.
It is in the NBA’s best interest that Kobe Bryant, the 10th Most Searched Athlete on Wikipedia of 2012, and his Los Angeles Lakers make the playoffs. It is the difference in millions of dollars for the league and if this video created by a conspiratorial fan is even remotely accurate it seems like the league could be influencing the game. The keyword is could. This is highly unlikely and it would be nearly impossible to orchestrate but nothing is impossible. Watch the video while you can because the NBA will likely ask for it to be removed and you be the judge.
Nik Stauskas and his incredible 3-point shooting ability could help lead the Michigan Wolverines to their first NCAA championship since 1989. Here is his breaking the record for most 3-pointers in 5 minutes.
Come on internet, lets make this happen!
Before their game against the New York Knicks on March 4th the Cleveland Cavaliers gave away Kyrie Irving ‘Uncle Drew’ bobbleheads to 50 lucky fans. ‘Uncle Drew’ being the character Irving plays in recent Pepsi Max commercials. The popularity of Irving’s ‘Uncle Drew’ and the scarcity of the bobblehead have created the perfect storm on the eBay resale market as fans are paying big bucks to get their hands on the collectable. Four of the 50 bobbleheads have been put up on eBay and they have sold for at least $400, with one reaching a whopping $560 days after the game.
This baseball season, you can watch the game with a $16 beer in a MLB park named for an insurance company. Or you can hit up a low-key minor-league venue where tickets cost half that at best.
Relive all your favorite glory day miracle shots with these Printstant Replays March Madness prints. A great man cave accessory or gift for a buddy who’s hoop dreams were destroyed with the miracle play at hand, like Christian Laettner’s cross court catch and shoot, buzzer beater or the 1982 NCAA Division 1 Championship Game, where a freshman Michael Jordan hit the winning shot. Each of the nine prints come in 11″ x 14″ and 18″ x 24″ Prinstant Replays March Madness $20-30
With respect to Valparaiso University’s Crusaders, “The Shot” refers to a play that occurred in the first round of the 1998 NCAA Tournament. The play came in Valpo’s game against the University of Mississippi Rebels at The Myriad in Oklahoma City on March 13, 1998, and gave the #13 seed Crusaders a 70–69 victory over #4 seed Ole Miss. The game was part of a Valparaiso Cinderella run in the tournament that ended in the Sweet Sixteen when the Crusaders lost to Rhode Island. Bryce Drew, now coach of Valpo, made history, but nothing is as cool as an astronaut. Check out the alternate ending to “The Shot”.
Barack Obama is a major basketball fan, he’s also got plenty of skills on the court. His annual tradition of filling out a March Madness bracket continues as he selects Indiana to win it all. Below we have the bracket, video of him filling it out and the behind the scenes of how it all went down. Obama Fills Out His Bracket His Bracket Behind the Scenes Video
If Brains and Wins have anything to do with March Madness, the Blue Devils take the tournament for the second year in a row. We tallied the basketball player grad rates and win rates over the last 6 years and came up with a Student Athlete Score for each school. The winner? Duke University. The two highest scoring schools in the tournament were Duke and Kansas. Both have solid teams that have won a lot of games over the past 6 years, but what really pushed both to the forefront is that they have graduated 100% of their players. Check out how your alma mata ranks in this Student Athlete Championship Infographic created by DegreeSearch.
LeBron James and the Miami Heat are on an amazing 22 game winning streak. As they look to extend the streak tonight against Boston we look back at 14 things that have happened since the Heat last lost way back on February 1st.
Like it or not, Facebook is a pretty good barometer if what people like. So it’s fun when it gathers up its considerable data troves and spits out maps of stuff we like. Today it broke down the fans of teams in the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament.
Photo source: ESPN.COM Louisville plucked the Big East title from Syracuse’s grasp last night, making some history of its own on an already historical night. The Cardinals defeated Syracuse 78-61 after trailing by 16 points in the second half, becoming the fourth school to repeat as champions and stunning viewers who expected Syracuse to collect its sixth title.
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