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Evan Turner’s absence is being felt by the Boston Celtics. Few worried about Turner leaving Beantown to join the Portland Trail Blazers on a four-year, $70 million deal. I entertained the idea that the Celtics would struggle, they signed Al Horford, the second-best free agent of the 2017 class. They were clearly going to be [...]

Insofar as job stability exists in NBA front offices, Houston Rockets general manager Daryl Morey has long seemed secure in his position. Over the years, he has had carte blanche to conjure cap space through salary dumps to chase free agents. He has enjoyed the freedom to be hyper-aggressive on the trade market. He has [...]

When the reigning NBA champion Cleveland Cavaliers visit the White House on Thursday, they may be the last team to do so for quite some time. Per Sports Illustrated‘s Lee Jenkins: [tweet https://twitter.com/SI_LeeJenkins/status/796379270457212928] Personally, I don’t doubt this. The NBA is more progressive than any other professional sports league in the United States, and the [...]

Kurt Rambis is now the face of the New York Knicks defense. If you’re getting deja vu, you won’t be the only one. The Knicks named Rambis interim head coach last season after firing Derek Fisher, and now, under Jeff Hornacek, he’s being given more responsibility yet again. ESPN.com’s Marc Stein was the first with [...]

At 3-3, with the league’s best offense and its second-worst defense, the Boston Celtics are not who we thought they would be. We thought they would be a two-way powerhouse that challenges the Cleveland Cavaliers for Eastern Conference supremacy. But, as of now, they seem unsettlingly mediocre and overwhelmingly flawed on the defensive end—which doesn’t [...]

Seven games as the Houston Rockets’ official point guard is all James Harden needs to declare himself the best floor general in the NBA. No, seriously, that’s it. As he told The Vertical’s Michael Lee: New Rockets coach Mike D’Antoni has worked with great scorers and great playmakers at his various stops around the league, [...]

What was that about the Indiana Pacers being a legitimate threat in the Eastern Conference? Oh, yeah: They aren’t one. Lots of people, including team president Larry Bird, tried to spin the Pacers as an above-average squad leading into this season—as a team that might be able to reinvent its offensive identity without losing too [...]

So I guess it’s safe to say the Los Angeles Lakers prefer Luke Walton to Byron Scott. Bold, I know. But it’s the truth. The Lakers are above .500, at 4-3, with one of the 12 best net ratings in the NBA. And while it’s still early, Jordan Clarkson says the team wants to continue [...]

All is quiet on the DeMarcus Cousins trade rumor front for a change, but some NBA executives don’t expect it to stay that way From Sam Amico of Amico Hoops: The Sacramento Kings are off to another lousy start, another start that makes the playoffs seem like a pipe dream — again. So is this [...]

Jaylen Brown just made LeBron James blush. The Boston Celtics’ rookie offered some serious praise to the three-time NBA champion following his team’s Thursday night loss to the Cleveland Cavaliers. Here’s what Brown said, per Celtics.com’s Mark D’Amico: [tweet https://twitter.com/Marc_DAmico/status/794415963500318720] Amazing. LeBron, truthfully, doesn’t get enough credit for all he does, probably because he’s LeBron. [...]