Question of the week: Do any of the NBA’s Eastern Conference fringe playoff teams actually want to make the postseason? Asking for a friend or 50 here. Seriously, once you leave the East’s top-six teams—Hawks(!), Raptors, Wizards, Bulls, Cavaliers and Bucks—it feels like you’ve entered the “Let’s try and suck as much as possible in order to [...]
January 29, 2015
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Power Rankings
Someone needs to explain the Denver Nuggets to me. We’ve already talked about their purported interest in the Brooklyn Nets’ Brook Lopez—an injury-prone big man who may help their offense, but not their defense, and one who is overkill considering JaVale McGee, J.J. Hickson and Jusuf Nurkic are on the roster. Now, they’re at it again. [...]
January 29, 2015
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Blogs
The Denver Nuggets are reportedly interested in trading for the Brooklyn Nets’ Brook Lopez. To this, I say: !@#$%^&UI Also: !@#$%TYUI And finally: !@#$%^&*I( Here’s The Denver Post‘s Christopher Dempsey with the deets: The Brooklyn Nets recently tried, unsuccessfully, to deal center Brook Lopez, which led to the franchise putting the brakes on the whole [...]
January 23, 2015
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Blogs
There’s something truly zany about the 2014-15 NBA season. It’s been weird. It’s still weird. It’s truly, utterly, completely, wholly, wonderfully, purely, perfectly zany. Allow me to offer up Exhibit A: These here power rankings. Collective movement is neither enormous nor insubstantial. There is virtually no change at the top. But then we get into the [...]
January 21, 2015
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Power Rankings
If what we’re all about to read is true, the Miami Heat are being weird. In a bad way. Barry Jackson of the Miami Herald says that free-agent point guard Nate Robinson, who began this season with the Denver Nuggets and was then traded to the Boston Celtics and released, reached out to the Heat. [...]
January 20, 2015
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Blogs
Well it’s official: The NBA is a forest fire of craziness. To wit: A lot has happened since we last met. Kevin Garnett decided to head-hump Dwight Howard amid the Net’s demonstrative downturn; the Pistons decided to be an actual basketball team; the Knicks and Celtics let Sam Hinkie know they’re coming for his (pingpong) balls; [...]
January 16, 2015
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Blogs
Hello again. After a brief holiday respite, during which a crap ton of NBA-related things happened, The Hoop Doctors’ power rankings are back. We know it’s been tough, slogging through these last two weeks without the ability to incessantly check and read and cherish and tell your friends about updated power rankings. But the wait [...]
January 4, 2015
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Blogs, Power Rankings
Here’s to stability. Never before, in the year-plus since we’ve been doing these power rankings, has there been less movement within a week. Twelve teams are right where they were last week, which is pretty freaking incredible. That’s almost half the Association, and that never happens. And, somewhat surprisingly, it’s the league’s best teams that [...]
December 17, 2014
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Power Rankings
Pssst. Hey! You! Guess what? The Philadelphia 76ers are not the worst team in the NBA right now. True freaking story. Also, pssst! The Chicago Bulls amnestied Carlos Boozer and somehow regressed on the defensive end. Ignoring every other piece of context—Pau Gasol’s arrival, Derrick Rose’s return, Nikola Mirotic’s and Doug McDermott’s inexperience—that’s pretty funny. [...]
December 10, 2014
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Blogs
The NBA’s Eastern Conference is ugly. The NBA’s Western Conference, meanwhile, is pretty flipping fantastic. This will now conclude the portion of the article where we talk about anything besides the 76ers’ suckitude. Well, not really. There are loads of other things to discuss. Like the Warriors being incredible. And the Grizzlies drinking from the Warriors’ Gatorade [...]
December 4, 2014
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Power Rankings