Bruno Manrique Articles - Page 73

Kobe Bryant is not resentful of the players that pulled out from consideration for the 2019 FIBA World Cup, but rather is understanding of the situations that kept them from participating in this venture. USA Basketball only mustered Kemba Walker as the only member of the roster that had All-NBA honors, a vast difference with […]

Kobe Bryant was among the most understanding legends of the sport to sympathize with Team USA in its recent failure to medal at the 2019 FIBA World Cup. The sentiment at large is that USA Basketball couldn’t send the best team the United States could have brought to compete, but Bryant noted a stacked 2008 […]

Free agent point guard Shaun Livingston has announced his retirement from the NBA on Friday with a heartfelt post on his Instagram account. Livingston spent the last five years of his career with the Golden State Warriors, earning three championship rings in the process. He was released at the end of the season to make […]

Twin brothers Marcus and Markieff Morris believe a struggling Team USA should have invited Carmelo Anthony to take part in the FIBA World Cup. The four-time Olympian and three-time gold-medal-winner hoped that USA Basketball would still have a spot available for him as a storied leading scorer, but the organization turned it down swiftly, appreciating […]

The current iteration of Team USA (or what is left of it) has managed to fall not only out of the podium of the 2019 FIBA World Cup, but also out of the top six altogether after a 94-89 loss to Serbia on Thursday. There is very little honor to rescue fighting for seventh place, […]

Sports Illustrated has released its annual Top 100 list of NBA players ahead of the 2019-20 season, picking Milwaukee Bucks forward Giannis Antetokounmpo as the top player in the world, followed by Finals MVP Kawhi Leonard and perennial presence LeBron James. Antetokounmpo, the reigning Most Valuable Player, was a no-brainer for this ranking, given his […]

The Charlotte Hornets will surely arrive at a reset point in this 2019-20 season after eight years of Kemba Walker donning the uniform, this time bringing Terry Rozier, who they acquired in a sign-and-trade for Walker during free agency. Head coach James Borrego, fresh off his first year at the helm of an NBA team […]

The Charlotte Hornets were reportedly somewhat blindsided by their former star point guard Kemba Walker making the All-NBA Third Team, making him supermax-eligible and putting them quite out of their price range. General manager Mitch Kupchak told Rick Bonnell of The Charlotte Observer that while Walker didn’t demand the full extent of his would-be $221 […]

Rookie Zion Williamson is plenty happy with his landing spot with the New Orleans Pelicans, knowing they’re doing everything in their power to streamline his workout regimen and put him in the best position to have an outstanding first season in the league. The Pels will be young, spry, and fast — allowing Williamson to […]

Team USA took a second consecutive loss in this 2019 FIBA World Cup, losing to Serbia 94-89, now only able to finish seventh or eighth in this tournament — officially the worst finish in a major competition since NBA players were allowed to play, starting with the 1992 Barcelona Olympics and the initial Dream Team. […]

Brooklyn Nets forward Kevin Durant isn’t wired like other NBA stars. Once again engaging in the customary social media argument, the two-time Finals MVP replied to a fan with quite a shocking response, telling him his focus isn’t to become the greatest of all time: Everybody gets compared to everyone and no one will ever […]

The Houston Rockets will employ a new formula coming into the 2019-20 season, now boasting two ball-dominant players capable of doing it all. That diverse firepower also comes with its share of drawbacks, as James Harden and the newly acquired Russell Westbrook will have to play off the ball through the course of the game. […]

Eric Gordon is expected to remain in Mike D’Antoni’s starting lineup, even after Russell Westbrook joined the Houston Rockets earlier this summer. The hope is that the 30-year-old shooting guard can help as a floor spacer while ball-dominant guards like Westbrook and talisman James Harden make plays. Alykhan Bijani of The Athletic said as much […]

Boston Celtics guard Marcus Smart has been shut down for the remainder of the 2019 FIBA World Cup, according to Shams Charania of The Athletic. Smart had every intention to play in Team USA’s final two games, but is nursing minor injuries and the team decided it was best to avoid further injury. The defensive […]

The New York Knicks are likely to be encouraged by Frank Ntilikina’s performance in the 2019 FIBA World Cup, as he showed a strong display in an 89-79 quarterfinal win against Team USA. Ntilikina has been part of a new offseason program that has allowed him to bulk up and fill his 6-foot-5 frame, something […]

Donovan Mitchell’s best game of the 2019 FIBA World Cup was stained with a painful 89-79 quarterfinal loss to France on Wednesday night, putting Team USA off the medal stand for the first time in 17 years. While many would argue that the Americans weren’t at their full strength, Mitchell won’t bother looking back at […]

Team USA took a 10-point loss at the hands of France in the quarterfinals of the 2019 FIBA World Cup. Joe Harris, who once again got the start for a second consecutive game, noted the Americans didn’t deserve to move on to the semifinals in a barnburner matchup against the French: “At the end of […]

Team USA saw a quick end to their 2019 FIBA World Cup dream of snatching the gold, losing to France 89-79 in the quarterfinals. Not even an hour has passed since the final whistle sealed the Americans’ fate and the witch hunt for who is to blame has already gotten underway. The United States hasn’t […]

Golden State Warriors head coach Steve Kerr is already preparing for a hefty change in his roster, one that kept only a handful of players returning from a grueling 2018-19 season. Among them is the absence of Klay Thompson, who is expected to miss several months recovering from a torn ACL, which he suffered in […]

Team USA was eliminated from the 2019 FIBA World Cup after an 89-79 quarterfinals loss to France, despite a scorching night from Donovan Mitchell, who scored 29 points in a losing effort. The loss snapped a USA Basketball 58-game win streak with NBA players in their roster. The Americans can now finish as high as […]

Jalen Rose has been getting some stick for a while for being at the receiving end of an 81-point masterpiece by Los Angeles Lakers legend Kobe Bryant, but he had no idea its author was the one who once idolized him growing up. In an interview with VladTV, Rose disclosed the time when the Mamba […]

New Los Angeles Lakers coach Frank Vogel is aware of the new wave of dynamic duos that most feel would re-establish the competitive balance in the NBA, but he warns the Golden State Warriors still have some of the most decorated players in their roster. “I agree that it’s more open. But I think people […]

Sacramento Kings forward Nemanja Bjelica didn’t have the best day at the office for his native Serbia, as a 5-of-17 shooting night marred a rough FIBA World Cup quarterfinal loss against Argentina. Bjelica was the first to take ownership of his own performance, quickly taking the blame: “We weren’t ready for this game. Especially mentally. […]

Former NBA big man Luis Scola enjoyed a game for the ages, pacing his native Argentina in a 97-87 win over Serbia in the quarterfinals of the 2019 FIBA World Cup. Serbia was expected to notch a win, considering the amount of NBA talent on their roster and their recent prominence at the international stage, […]

The Memphis Grizzlies have an important decision to make during the first half of their first full season of rebuilding — to figure out what to do with the expiring contract of veteran Andre Iguodala. The franchise reportedly has no intentions to work out a buyout agreement with the veteran, who is owed $17 million […]

Team USA will face its first real test of the 2019 FIBA World Cup in the knockout stage, taking on European powerhouse France on Wednesday. Donovan Mitchell will get to face his Utah Jazz teammate Rudy Gobert, who is the key to the French defense as much as he is for their NBA team. “He’s […]

Larry Brown still can’t shake the feeling in his gut that’s been stuck there for 15 years and he knows his longtime colleague Gregg Popovich. It was just a decade-and-a-half ago that Team USA embarked in a customary mission to bring gold back from the Olympics, but they failed, and greatly so — mustering only […]

After the Memphis Grizzlies are reportedly unwilling to work out a buyout agreement with forward Andre Iguodala, teams around the NBA are willing to play the waiting game in hopes he’ll become available if no teams bites and offers a trade in exchange. “What the Grizzlies are doing, it is to be expected,” one league […]

Kevin Durant managed to achieve what he sought when departing the Oklahoma City Thunder for the Golden State Warriors in 2016, winning a championship a year later in a moment he calls a defining one in his life: “It’s very rare in our lives when we envision and picture something and it comes together the […]

Kevin Durant’s move to the Brooklyn Nets had more to do than a feeling of acceptance and the necessity of carving his own legacy in the league away from a star-studded roster. The perennial scorer noted he felt like the Golden State Warriors’ offense had reached its ceiling with him in it: “The motion offense […]

Kevin Durant’s exit from the Golden State Warriors felt like only a matter of time. That time was three years, ultimately choosing to join the Brooklyn Nets over the summer. The former MVP disclosed why he chose to leave what many viewed as basketball’s nirvana, next to fellow stars Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson and Draymond […]

Brooklyn Nets star Kevin Durant still recalls what it was like to change teams for the first time, asphyxiated by a fan base that long claimed to be loyal to him through his nine seasons with the Oklahoma City Thunder. Durant remembers walking back into Chesapeake Energy Arena, only to find the people who once […]

New Brooklyn Nets addition Kevin Durant is the definition of a basketball purist — a player who can play the game at the highest level and still find ways to hone his craft, even if it’s deemed to be at an elite level. Durant relishes the two-plus hours he gets to take the floor during […]

There was no single person happier to see Argentina pull off a quarterfinal win over Serbia in the 2019 FIBA World Cup than former international great Manu Ginobili. The lifelong San Antonio Spurs legend was overcome with emotion after seeing some of his former teammates along with the new wave of Argentinian talent pull away […]

Former NBA commissioner David Stern has been keenly watching successor Adam Silver run the show since he retired from his post five years ago. Stern has seen the nature of this era of player power and most recently how Anthony Davis staged his exit to play for the Los Angeles Lakers. Asked if this mission […]

Four members of the Boston Celtics managed to make the final Team USA 12-man roster: Jayson Tatum, Marcus Smart, Jaylen Brown and new addition Kemba Walker. The three aforementioned players have plenty of praise for Walker, who has shown his leadership mettle as the undisputed leader of this roster: “He fits in perfectly. Everything that […]

Team USA has gotten off to a perfect yet somewhat unimpressive 5-0 start in this 2019 FIBA World Cup, mustering the top seed in competition and now awaiting the first heavy hitter it will face in this tournament — France. Besides a 53-point scorching of 48th-ranked Japan in the third game of group play, the […]

San Antonio Spurs head coach Gregg Popovich has completed his most immediate task upon taking the helm of Team USA in this 2019 FIBA World Cup, qualifying the Americans for the upcoming 2020 Tokyo Olympics. USA Basketball breezed to a 5-0 mark in the group stage, becoming one of the two teams from the Americas […]

Very few players can compare to the dogged attitude and relentless passion for the game that Dennis Rodman displayed throughout his NBA career. When asked if any players remind him of himself, the five-time champion struggled to find one that fit the comparison, eventually landing on Draymond Green of the Golden State Warriors. “Players have […]