Jack Winter Articles - Page 108

Cody Zeller might be the most impactful role player of whom casual NBA have never heard. Fortunately for the Charlotte Hornets, the mostly-anonymous big man is nearing a return the court after suffering a broken bone in his right hand on January 3rd. “We’re hoping before the [All-Star] break,” coach James Borrego said of Zeller’s […]

Super Bowl LIII, barely more than 24 hours away from kickoff, still seems like somewhat of an afterthought. While a wild week of NBA news leading up to the February 7th trade deadline has certainly contributed to the sport world’s marquee event getting overlooked, the circumstances that preceded the Super Bowl have affected buildup to […]

Thon Maker was an important piece of the Milwaukee Bucks’ impressive young core just less than two years ago. He not only spoke openly of winning championships and multiple MVPs but backed up such wide-eyed optimism in the playoffs with flashes of two-way dominance in his team’s hard-fought loss to the top-seeded Toronto Raptors. The […]

Bats have a long history of attending San Antonio Spurs home games. The most memorable encounter with the winged, nocturnal creatures at AT&T Center came in 2009 when Manu Ginobili used his flair for daring and notoriously quick hands to knock a bat out of thin air as it terrorized fans, players, coaches, and officials […]

None of the rookies selected with the first four picks of the 2018 NBA draft, though, have been better than the player taken directly after them – a reality Luka Doncic continues to make abundantly clear. The Dallas Mavericks star, playing his first game since the team traded for the injured Kristaps Porzingis, poured in […]

Paul George was the biggest story in his team’s 118-102 win over the Miami Heat on Friday night. The All-Star starter continued making a forceful case for MVP consideration by pouring in 43 points and a career-high 10 three-pointers. However, George wasn’t the only member of the Oklahoma City Thunder who went off against Miami. […]

Boston Celtics big man Aron Baynes will miss his team’s game on Sunday against the Oklahoma City Thunder with a left foot contusion, the team announced on Twitter. #NEBHInjuryReport Aron Baynes (left foot contusion) is OUT tomorrow vs OKC. — Boston Celtics (@celtics) February 2, 2019 This is an especially inopportune time for the Celtics […]

There’s definitely no quit in the L.A. Clippers. Doc Rivers’ team, needing every win it can get while clinging to eighth place in a loaded Western Conference playoff race, at first appeared to lay an egg on Sunday against Blake Griffin and the Detroit Pistons. L.A. trailed 40-22 after the first quarter and fell behind […]

Klay Thompson played a pivotal role in perhaps the most exciting three-point contest in the history of All-Star weekend. The Golden State Warriors marksman advanced to the final round of the event back in 2015, joining teammate Stephen Curry and then Cleveland Cavaliers star Kyrie Irving in a shootout for the ages. It was Curry […]

Paul George was undoubtedly pleased with his performance in the Oklahoma City Thunder’s win on Friday night. The All-Star starter scored 43 points and drained a career-high 10 three-pointers in his team’s convincing victory over the Miami Heat, further burgeoning a case for MVP that seems to grow stronger every time he takes the floor. […]

First-time All-Star D’Angelo Russell and Rising Stars Challenge selection Jarrett Allen aren’t the only players who will represent the Brooklyn Nets at All-Star weekend. Shooting gyard Joe Harris will also join his teammates in Charlotte, participating in the three-point contest on Saturday, February 15, according to Brian Lewis of the New York Post. Joe Harris […]

The best team in the Eastern Conference will have to get by without its floor general on Saturday. Eric Bledsoe will miss the Milwaukee Bucks’ game against the Washington Wizards at Capital One Arena due to soreness in his left achilles tendon. Backup wing Tony Snell is starting in Bledsoe’s place. Eric Bledsoe (Left Achilles […]

Shaquille O’Neal is the latest NBA star to criticize Rudy Gobert for tearing up while discussing his All-Star snub with reporters. The Hall of Fame big man and Inside the NBA personality was asked at a charity event what he thought about Gobert’s emotions, and took the opportunity to champion the need for artificial machismo […]

Vince Carter continues to relish his role as a mentor to the NBA’s younger generation. After his team fell to the Utah Jazz on Friday night, the Atlanta Hawks forward offered some encouraging words to Rudy Gobert, who wasn’t selected for this year’s All-Star Game despite playing the best basketball of his six-year career. pic.twitter.com/coQuhsdxfI […]

Don’t count Jrue Holiday among the increasingly sizable number of people within the NBA that is fed up with Anthony Davis. The perpetually-underrated New Orleans Pelicans guard not only remains on good terms with his superstar teammate, but told reporters at shootaround Saturday morning Davis has been a model of professionalism since requesting a trade […]

James Harden’s torrid play of late is even more impressive than it seems on the surface. The Houston Rockets superstar averaged a mind-bending 43.6 points per game in January, following up a December in which he scored 36.4 points per game. He’s now averaging an easy league-best of 36.2 points this season, more than any […]

Chris Paul has made a Hall-of-Fame career out of unceasing gumption and guile. The Houston Rockets star was a blur with the ball in his hands early in his career, and has compensated for declining athleticism with skills and smarts that will always ensure some measure of effectiveness. But Paul would be nothing without the […]

The Golden State Warriors showed some rare vulnerability earlier this season, leading some to believe the gap between the two-time reigning champions and the rest of the NBA wasn’t so big as initially assumed. But with the All-Star break fast approaching, Golden State again sits atop the Western Conference, and won its previous 11 games […]

The Dallas Mavericks finally have the type of young core that could eventually vault them back into title contention. Before the NBA world gets to watch Luka Doncic and Kristaps Porzingis do their best impression of Steve Nash and Dirk Nowitzki, though, the team’s new star must regain a completely clean bill of health. Here’s […]

Miami Heat superstar Dwyane Wade was selected by commissioner Adam Silver on Friday as a special addition to the All-Star Game, the most significant yet of the many honors he’s received on his farewell tour toward retirement. In his younger years, Dwyane Wade surely would have been upset after his team was blown out at […]

Needless to say, the Denver Nuggets are one of the best teams in basketball. In a league where the Golden State Warriors didn’t exist, the Nuggets would have as good a shot as any to emerge from a loaded Western Conference. Mike Malone’s troops made that abundantly clear to the national audience on Friday night, […]

Rudy Gobert is playing coy. We know for a fact he saw Draymond Green’s wholly unnecessary tweet about the Utah Jazz star getting emotional after not making the All-Star Game. Why? Gobert “liked” a reply to Green on twitter that was posted in favor of the former. Following his team’s 128-112 victory over the Atlanta […]

It makes sense to assume the Los Angeles Lakers would do all they can to pair LeBron James with the New Orleans Pelicans’ Anthony Davis as soon as possible, but apparently, that has yet to prove the case. Father Time is coming for James. Basketball’s bionic man just returned from a five-week absence, the longest […]

It’s finally time for the Memphis Grizzlies to stop gritting and grinding altogether. The Grizzlies have made Marc Gasol and Mike Conley, the last remaining pillars from its hallowed playoff teams of the mid-2010s, available via trade. But shipping either player out of Memphis won’t be as easy as it seems on the surface, and […]

James Harden takes a lot of flak for his defense, and for the most part deservedly so. The Houston Rockets superstar is one of the quickest players in basketball, with footwork unlike any the game has ever seen. But those impressive traits are hardly demonstrated on defense, where Harden often serves as a turnstile for […]

Kyrie Irving just can’t seem to stay out of his own way. The silver lining this time is that rather than pushing conspiracy theories under the guise of “free thought,” the Boston Celtics superstar is simply muddying the waters regarding his highly-anticipated foray into free agency this summer. Before the Celtics easily dispatched of a […]

Bam Adebayo has more perimeter skills than most expect. The Miami Heat big man is among the most naturally gifted overall athletes in the NBA, and often uses those tools to put pressure on the rim with the dribble. Erik Spoelstra has even experimented running inverted pick-and-rolls with Adebayo as the ball handler. The University […]

Post-game jersey swapping is all the rage in the NBA. Dwyane Wade, on his farewell tour toward retirement, seems to trade jerseys with an opposing player in almost every single game. LeBron James even gave Luka Doncic his jersey after the Los Angeles Lakers in a November win over the Dallas Mavericks, despite not receiving […]

The Utah Jazz are doing all they can to ensure Rudy Gobert will never be snubbed for the All-Star Game again. In the wake of the reigning Defensive Player of the Year being left off the finalized All-Star rosters announced Thursday night, Utah is proposing an overhaul of the process used to select reserves, which […]

Kyrie Irving’s future with the Boston Celtics is apparently more tenuous than anyone anticipated. The six-time All-Star made headlines Friday morning by walking back his previous remarks about intending to opt out of his contract this summer and sign a long-term deal with the green and gold. The timing and location of Irving’s comments only […]

D’Angelo Russell’s NBA career has already been a whirlwind. Anointed as the next in a long line of Los Angeles Lakers superstars after being selected with the second overall pick in the 2015 draft, D’Angelo Russell spent his rookie season in and out of coach Byron Scott’s dog house while watching a retiring Kobe Bryant […]

Scottie Pippen needs a history lesson. In an appearance on “The Jump” Friday afternoon, the Hall of Famer was asked where Duke University star Zion Williamson stacks up on a theoretical draft board of all-time great prospects. His answer not only showed a lack of knowledge about the hallowed 1984 NBA draft, but also served […]

The latest stop on Rick Pitino’s increasingly wayward coaching career has taken him to the Mediterranean, where he’s coaching traditional Greek power Panathinaikos. One might expect Rick Pitino to be somewhat humbled after his exile from the University of Louisville in the wake of a tawdry recruiting scandal, but that apparently hasn’t proven the case. […]

Kyrie Irving definitely didn’t request a trade and didn’t even say anything to suggest the Boston Celtics aren’t the frontrunner to sign him in free agency this summer. In the wake of Kristaps Porzingis’ sudden departure from the New York Knicks and Anthony Davis’ stated desire to continue his career with a team other than […]

Jim Boylen is a dinosaur by NBA coaching standards, fully embracing the slow pace of play, inefficient shot profile, and tireless practice schedule that modern advancements in analytics and sports medicine have proven wildly outdated. Somehow, that hasn’t stopped Chicago Bulls management from throwing full support behind its handpicked Fred Hoiberg replacement that has led […]

Conventional wisdom says New York Knicks coach David Fizdale would be among the biggest critics of Thursday’s shocking trade that shipped Kristaps Porzingis out the Big Apple. After all, Fizdale, in his first season roaming the Knicks’ sideline, surely took the job last summer under the assumption that Porzingis was an integral cog of the […]

LeBron James made the headlines, and rightfully so. The Los Angeles Lakers superstar returned to action Thursday night after spending the previous five weeks on the sidelines, recovering from a groin strain he suffered on Christmas. James had 24 points, 14 rebounds, and nine assists in his team’s overtime win over the L.A. Clippers, too, […]

On Wednesday, amid something close to a nation-wide uproar, NFL commissioner Roger Goodell finally admitted what’s been clear to everyone else since the flag wasn’t thrown in the waning moments of regulation. Los Angeles Rams defensive back Nickell Robey-Coleman made forcible contact with New Orleans Saints wide receiver Tommylee Lewis well before the ball arrived […]

Atlanta Falcons general manager Thomas Dimitroff knows a thing or two about building a Super Bowl team. It was just two years back that Atlanta, behind a bevy of young playmakers on both sides of the ball, held a 28-3 lead over the New England Patriots in the third quarter of Super Bowl LI. The […]