By the end of his reign in New York, the Knicks president was nothing like the free thinker who opened an era of new-age coachingDespite the misguided perceptions of many sports fans, running an NBA team is actually a grinder’s pursuit. The men charged with picking players and managing rosters must spend the time scouting, scheming and building. Phil Jackson, who was let go Wednesday as New York Knicks president, seemed to believe his own cult of personality was enough to make the league’s most dysfunctional franchise whole again. The message Jackson lost as he took a rich man’s millions and wasted three years of the franchise is that his entire name was built on the managing the brilliance of others. His 11...
Rare is the player who arrives in the NBA ready made for greatness, so how do teams ensure their draft picks have the tools to thrive in the pros?Predicting NBA performance from a handful of NCAA games is, at best, an imperfect science. And identifying and drafting talent is only half the equation, trusting the process requires time and patience. This is especially true in today’s NBA, where seven-footers are expected to shoot threes and handle the ball, and point guards have to be ready to match up with bigger players off the pick and roll. So often, especially with younger players entering the NBA, there are weaknesses — shooting, ball-handling, physicality — that need to be corrected. Rare is...
The Philadelphia 76ers have moved up to pick first in this week’s draft. But sports teams are often blinded by the prestige of a No1 selectionEngland World Cup teams, New Year’s Eve parties and DC Comics movies. The list of massively hyped things that almost always disappoint probably starts with those three. But right behind them on the list has to be No1 overall draft picks. Having that No1 overall draft spot is the goal of every fan whose team falls far short of the actual goal of winning a championship. It’s where franchise saviors and generational talents are supposed to be found. The NBA even promotes its annual draft lottery order reveal as a major, live television event, complete...
Golden State played beautiful basketball from the start of the season through to their inevitable title. But will their brilliance hurt the league?The dusky antechinus is a small marsupial native to south-east Australia. The males in the species live until their first mating season, when they breed and then quickly die from all the exertion. All that build up to a moment of accomplishment, the pinnacle of their existence ... and then nothing more but the dark embrace of death. The Golden State Warriors may have made the NBA into the dusky antechinus of sports leagues.It’s a waste of time to debate that the 2017 Warriors are anything but one of the greatest NBA teams of all-time, if not the...
The Golden State coach has brought unity to team of superstars. They would be severely weakened if his back problems force him out of the gameThe most important person on court when the Golden State Warriors won the NBA title again was the man who wept. Sometimes it’s easy to forget how much their dynasty is because of Steve Kerr. Could it last without him? Related: LeBron James refuses to be drawn on future: 'I need to figure this thing out' Related: Not just anyone could lead the Warriors to 20-0. Luke Walton was made for coaching Continue reading...