Portland Trail Blazers

Need more proof that John Wall is (probably) an alien? Here it comes. Back in January, William Scott Davis of Business Insider wrote an article in which he discussed Wall’s new dribble move. The description of said move went like this: Now, Wall has a new move he’s busting out: the “cut dribble.” Wall’s “cut [...]

Heigh-ho, heigh-ho, it’s off to the 2015 NBA All-Star Game we go. Okay, so, I’m pretty sure “heigh-ho” refers to yawning or disappointment, but screw it. I wanted to both rhyme and write “heigh-ho,” so let’s just pretend. Anyway, the NBA is speeding toward its All-Star break, leaving a trail of injuries, playoff-seeding battles and [...]

Avoiding NBA power rankings is for chumps, so come on in. There’s plenty to talk about this week. The Warriors and Hawks are still playing in a league of their own; the Grizzlies look like fortuitous demigods; the Hornets and Pistons are making a mockery of the Eastern Conference’s race for the final two playoff spots; [...]

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 [...]

This is one of those “Welp” moments. After injuring his left thumb against the Sacramento Kings on Monday night, LaMarcus Aldridge is expected to miss the next six to eight weeks, per an announcement made by the Portland Trail Blazers: [tweet https://twitter.com/TrailBlazersPR/status/558445067447173121] Surgery hadn’t been scheduled as of this writing, but you have to imagine [...]

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 [...]

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; [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

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. [...]