Portland Trail Blazers

Happy (almost) NBA All-Star Weekend everyone. Something is in the air, and it’s not love. Well, maybe a little bit of love. Valentine’s Day is just around the corner, after all. Most of what you’re sensing, though, is more chaos. Although the top-most teams remain relatively consistent in their performance, the mediocre and bottom-feeding outfits [...]

This one’s all about you. No, not you, Steven Tyler, lead singer of Aerosmith. I know you’re reading, but this isn’t about just you. It’s about all of you, the fans. Imagine the worst version of yourself; the absolute most-insufferable supporter of your favorite NBA team. Then times it by 10. Or more. That’s what [...]

Judgment day has arrived. Kind of. Halfway through the 2013-14 NBA season, most of us feel like geniuses. We know stuff now, you see. Real stuff. Important stuff. Which teams will make the playoffs for sure? We know that. Which teams are absolutely terrible? We know that, too. Why exactly is the Eastern Conference reaching [...]

That stench wafting through your home and into your oversized nostrils is coming from the NBA. Although it’s difficult to pinpoint what it actually is, we’re above confusion: it’s clarity. We’ve reached that point of the year where the Association’s happenings finally make more sense than whatever outfit Robin Thicke is wearing these days. Injuries and [...]

Addition by subtraction. Depletion by addition. That’s been the NBA’s prevailing theme this season. So many teams aren’t where they’re supposed to be. And I mean so many. Can anyone explain the Phoenix Suns, lottery-dwellers of 2012-13? Though they added Eric Bledsoe, they traded away Marcin Gortat and Jared Dudley. Now they’re among the Western [...]

We meet again. One of these times, it won’t be under such dire circumstances. I’ll come to you, wrapped in multi-colored robes and fluorescent glitter, talking about health, durability and how uncommon fragility has become. There will be no mention of a Derrick Rose injury. Or Marc Gasol catastrophe. Or Anthony Davis fracture. Or Paul [...]

This isn’t fair. What else can we say? Injuries have taken their toll on the NBA early, and it hasn’t been pretty. If we’re not anxiously awaiting the returns of Kobe Bryant and Rajon Rondo, we’re watching Andre Iguodala go down. Marc Gasol go down. Derrick Rose go down. For the season. Again. Put simply, [...]

Injuries have a way of finding the Chicago Bulls. If it’s not Derrick Rose, it’s Joakim Noah. Or Taj Gibson. Or Kirk Hinrich. Now, it’s Jimmy Butler. According to Yahoo! Sports’ Adrian Wojnarowski, Butler is expected to miss between two and four weeks with turf toe: Chicago Bulls guard Jimmy Butler is expected to miss [...]

Now we’re getting somewhere. More than 10 percent of the NBA season is in the books, allowing us to form conclusions based off more than two games and a bottle of Grey Goose. Now’s the time when the tankers begin to settle in and contenders that aren’t the Miami Heat start playing like they care. [...]

Expectations are a funny thing. Did I say funny? Sorry, I meant to say that expectations are a cruel-hearted, unshaven bastard. Especially in the NBA. Early on, we cannot escape them. They’re with us always. Always, always, always. And they screw around with our power rankings. At heart, weekly evaluations should be impulsive and read [...]