In this latest edition of Basketball Insiders’ “Fixing” series, we’re going to take a look at the one team that arguably has the least fixing to do: The Sacramento Kings. Just saying that feels so unordinary knowing the Kings’ reputation. In a season that had no shortage of surprises, the Kings’ sudden uprise ranks among
9:49 PM ET PHILADELPHIA – About an hour before the Philadelphia 76ers tipped off Game 1 of their first round series against the Brooklyn Nets on Saturday, Sixers owner Josh Harris tried to project an air of triumph. Only there was plenty of cause for trepidation when examining his team. Joel Embiid, Philadelphia’s force-of-nature center,
The first round of the 2019 NBA playoffs features a bevy of intriguing, star-studded matchups. Thanks to some late-season luck, the Denver Nuggets escaped with the Western Conference’s No. 2 overall seed, which allows them to dodge both the Golden State Warriors and Houston Rockets until the conference finals. But before looking that far ahead,
Previewing the first-round series between the Philadelphia 76ers and Brooklyn Nets with shot charts, assist maps, offensive style charts and expected win probabilities. Shot charts While it’s well established that the post-deadline starting five for the Sixers has more talent than the rest of the league (non-Warriors division) with a +20.3 points per 100 possessions
The NBA playoffs are finally here. There are interesting series of both sides of the bracket, but I find the No. 3- No. 6 matchups in each conference to be the most interesting. So we’re going to break down six major questions (three for each team) that will matter in Sixers vs. Nets (below) and
10:16 AM ET Adrian WojnarowskiESPN Milwaukee Bucks coach Mike Budenholzer has been elected the National Basketball Coaches Association’s 2019 Coach of the Year, the league announced. The Michael H. Goldberg NBCA Coach of the Year Award, named in honor of Goldberg, the group’s late president, polls the 30 NBA head coaches and mandates that no
Philadelphia 76ers fans’ worst fears are becoming reality as the oft-injured center may not be ready for the team’s first-round playoff series. Joel Embiid, the All-Star center who played just 64 games with an assortment of injuries and load management, is questionable (to say the least) for Game One of the Sixers’ playoff series against
In this latest edition of Basketball Insiders’ “Fixing” series, we’re going to take a look at the one team that arguably has the least fixing to do: The Sacramento Kings. Just saying that feels so unordinary knowing the Kings’ reputation. In a season that had no shortage of surprises, the Kings’ sudden uprise ranks among
Previewing the first-round series between the Boston Celtics and Indiana Pacers with shot charts, assist maps, offensive style charts and expected win probabilities. Shot charts In the chart below, Jayson Tatum’s shots (as of April 4) are displayed in terms of relative density by distance. The shot areas are broken up as less than eight
Last year in this space, we introduced a metric called Wins Above Age-Derived Expectation, or WAADE. It measures exactly what it sounds like: how many more wins an NBA team actually gets than you would have expected them to based on their minutes-weighted age. In introducing the metric, we highlighted several teams that stood out
11:53 PM ET Dave McMenamin Close ESPN Staff Writer Lakers and NBA reporter for ESPN. Covered the Lakers and NBA for ESPNLosAngeles.com from 2009-14, the Cavaliers from 2014-18 for ESPN.com and the NBA for NBA.com from 2005-09. Ohm Youngmisuk Close ESPN Staff Writer Ohm Youngmisuk has covered the Giants, Jets and the NFL since 2006.
With the last meaningful college basketball action finished for the year, here are the top 60 2019 NBA Draft prospects as we head into draft season. The NCAA Tournament has come and gone. It provided us with an entertaining last three rounds, culminating in Virginia’s victory over Texas Tech in one of the best title
After parting ways with Dell Demps during the season, the New Orleans Pelicans are finalizing a deal with David Griffin to take over their basketball ops. Surveying the range of job opportunities in the NBA, it appears David Griffin has settled on the New Orleans Pelicans gig as the most attractive. Certainly, Griffin has come
6:56 PM ET OAKLAND, Calif. — As their quest for a third straight NBA championship begins on Saturday against the Los Angeles Clippers, Stephen Curry and the Golden State Warriors are confident that after several weeks of contentious disagreements with officials, they will be able to focus more and not let whistles affect them as
The Nets weren’t supposed to be this far along this fast. Even Coach Kenny Atkinson didn’t foresee a playoff berth so soon after bottoming out. “Never envisioned it. Not in my wildest dreams.” But as we enter the 2019 NBA Playoffs, the Nets season will continue on into the postseason for the first time since
8:20 AM ET Phoenix police have closed their case into sexual abuse allegations against former University of Arizona and NBA player Mike Bibby. Phoenix police Sgt. Vince Lewis told the Arizona Republic on Thursday that an investigation “did not reveal probable cause to recommend charges against anyone in the case.” In February, Bibby was fired
Previewing the first-round series between the Denver Nuggets and San Antonio Spurs with shot charts, assist maps, offensive style charts and expected win probabilities. Shot charts The Denver Nuggets’ remarkable season has come on the backs of center-point Nikola Jokic leading them to the seventh-best offense in the league and veteran big man Paul Milsap
Let’s take a look back at the top wham, bam slams of the 2018-19 NBA season. Ah, the dunk. The purest form of basketball entertainment. Some are surprising because of who is giving, others for the recipient and others because they are the type of thing that you didn’t know could physically happen before someone
Previewing the first-round series between the Houston Rockets and Utah Jazz with shot charts, assist maps, offensive style charts and expected win probabilities. Shot charts James Harden has shot a truly unprecedented number of step back 3-pointers this year — approximately one out of every three in the entire NBA was taken by Harden. He
10:29 PM ET THESE ARE GOING to be anxious playoffs. There are stresses within the high-stakes games naturally, but there’s also another layer that is perhaps unique to this season. It’s the pressure of the aftermath and it will mount by the day, by the loss and, oddly in this unusual season, even by the
In this week’s 2019 NBA Mock Draft, we say goodbye to the NBA’s lottery teams as they close the season out of the playoffs. This week, we set the lottery order with a Tankathon simulation. The rest of the draft is based on projected standings from FiveThirtyEight’s CARM-Elo rankings as of April 7. A snapshot
Basketball Insiders’ “Fixing” series has been going on for a few weeks. We’ve started with the teams that hovered around the bottom of the league this season and are now transitioning to teams that stayed in the playoff hunt through the duration of the season. Today’s team: the Washington Wizards. Much has been made about
Welcome to The Whiteboard, catching you up every morning on what’s good around the NBA. Find The Whiteboard here on The Step Back, and subscribe here to get it delivered to you by email. Are they finally gonna win the East this year? Hard to say. Can they win the title? Feasibly, sure. But what the Raptors
5:43 PM ET ESPN News Services CLEVELAND — The Cleveland Cavaliers are not bringing back coach Larry Drew for a second season, the team announced Thursday. Drew led the Cavs to a 19-57 record; he took over when Tyronn Lue was fired Oct. 28 after an 0-6 start. The team said it reached a mutual
Welcome to The Whiteboard, catching you up every morning on what’s good around the NBA. Find The Whiteboard here on The Step Back, and subscribe here to get it delivered to you by email. Arguments and accolades. It’s what sports coverage is in 2019. If you don’t have a website that’s putting out a list of the
DENVER, CO – APRIL 03: San Antonio Spurs head coach Gregg Popovich yells at referee David Guthrie after Guthrie threw him out of the game in the first few minutes against the Denver Nuggets at the Pepsi Center April 03, 2019. (Photo by Andy Cross/MediaNews Group/The Denver Post via Getty Images) The worst value deals
SAN ANTONIO, TX – APRIL 10: Dirk Nowitzki #41 of the Dallas Mavericks cries before the game against the San Antonio Spurs on April 10, 2019 at the AT&T Center in San Antonio, Texas. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this photograph, user is consenting to the
3:07 AM ET Playoff basketball is back! It has been a long regular season (177 days, to be exact), but the postseason has arrived, and it looks a lot different than it did a year ago. For the first time since 2010, a team not led by LeBron James will emerge from the Eastern Conference,
The Golden State Warriors will enter the 2018-19 NBA playoffs as the overwhelming favorites to win their third straight championship. Their victory isn’t a foregone conclusion — after all, the Houston Rockets were one Chris Paul hamstring strain away from potentially toppling them last season — but they know the stakes of this playoff run.
Basketball Insiders’ “Fixing” series has been going on for a few weeks. We’ve started with the teams that hovered around the bottom of the league this season and are now transitioning to teams that stayed in the playoff hunt through the duration of the season. Today’s team: the Washington Wizards. Much has been made about