Jack Winter Articles - Page 50

The Portland Trail Blazers don’t have the assets to trade for another superstar, and creating the cap space needed to sign a top-tier free agent outright—like rumored target Zach LaVine, for instance—would force general manager Joe Cronin to decimate the roster’s existing core. Under immense pressure to justify Damian Lillard’s re-commitment to Rip City and […]

The Portland Trail Blazers have little to show for one of the most shameless tanking efforts in NBA history. Joe Cronin and the front office didn’t prematurely shut down Portland’s best players with minor injuries and empower multiple G-League call-ups en route to a laughable 2-21 record after the All-Star break just to get the […]

Liam Hendriks, understandably, isn’t buying Josh Donaldson’s ridiculous explanation of his racist remarks to Tim Anderson. The Chicago White Sox pitcher didn’t just defend his teammate while speaking with reporters about the incident, though. He also shined a light on Donaldson’s ugly reputation across multiple clubhouses in Major League Baseball. Responding to Donaldson’s hollow justification […]

Juwan Howard has existing relationships with two of the Los Angeles Lakers’ most influential power brokers. Don’t expect him to bail on his alma mater and jump to the NBA just to placate Lakers general manager Rob Pelinka and superstar LeBron James, though. According to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski, Howard recently declined an invitation to be […]

The Portland Trail Blazers’ historic post-All-Star tanking efforts didn’t pay off the way Joe Cronin and company imagined. All Portland has to show for its 2-21 finish to the regular season is the seventh selection in the draft come June 23rd, a stark disappointment for a team that entered lottery night with the sixth-best odds […]

The Portland Trail Blazers entered lottery night already down one high-value first-round pick they initially expected to have. Worse, by the time the proceedings were over, Portland also emerged on the wrong side of ping-pong ball luck. The Blazers “won” the No. 7 overall pick on Tuesday night, falling a slot in the 2022 NBA […]

Damian Lillard has never been shy to profess admiration for his NBA peers. The Portland Trail Blazers superstar has frequently praised the likes of LeBron James, Steph Curry and Draymond Green throughout his career, and just singled out Giannis Antetokounmpo as the player he’d most like to team up with in the postseason. Few players in […]

The ugly reality is that the Portland Trail Blazers are unlikely to compete for a title next season almost no matter what happens this summer. General manager Joe Cronin and the front office are expected to be very aggressive in seeking roster upgrades before 2022-23, but Portland lacks both the team-building assets and incumbent talent […]

Ja Morant’s breakout season hardly ended the way he or the Memphis Grizzlies imagined. The league’s newly minted Most Improved Player and seventh-place finisher in MVP voting missed his team’s last three playoff games with a bone bruise in his right knee. Memphis responded admirably without its best player, sandwiching a Game 5 blowout of […]

The last month of postseason basketball has made abundantly clear what’s been obvious about Enes Kanter Freedom’s game ever since he was waived by the Houston Rockets in February. It’s not the former top-five pick’s outspoken criticism of the NBA’s relationships with authoritarian foreign regimes nor his cozy relationship with conservative politicians that have left […]

The Portland Trail Blazers won’t have the luxury of being selective this summer. If a star-level player wants to continue his career in Portland, expect the front office try to like hell to make it happen. Damian Lillard isn’t getting any younger, they already lost one crucial team-building asset when the New Orleans Pelicans made […]

The Boston Celtics earned one of the most important impressive victories of the playoffs without Robert Williams III. As the league’s most competitive second-round series shifts to Boston for a best-of-three between the Celtics and Milwaukee Bucks, there’s a chance Ime Udoka’s team will be back at full strength. The Celtics revealed their official injury […]

League decision-makers believe the Portland Trail Blazers could emerge as a legitimate suitor for Chicago Bulls star Zach LaVine in free agency, according to ESPN’s Brian Windhorst. LaVine raised eyebrows across the league after the Bulls were eliminated from the playoffs in late April, making it clear that widespread assumptions he’d simply re-sign with Chicago […]

The Miami Heat earned another decisive victory against the short-handed Philadelphia 76ers on Wednesday night, taking a 2-0 lead as the Eastern Conference Semifinals shift to the City of Brotherly Love. Needless to say, the Sixers’ hopes of being competitive in this series rest on their performance in a pivotal Game 3. Will Joel Embiid […]

Chris Paul and the Phoenix Suns dissected the Dallas Mavericks on Wednesday night, taking a 2-0 lead in the Western Conference Semifinals with a 129-109 victory. The Point God dropped 28 points, six rebounds and eight assists on 11-of-16 shooting, flipping the switch late to put Dallas away for good. Half of Paul’s points came […]

Russell Westbrook made abundantly clear on multiple occasions this season that he’s fed up with fan criticism. The Los Angeles Lakers guard and his family were publicly “harassed” throughout 2021-22, he and his wife, Nina, said in early March, even receiving multiple “death wishes” as a result of his underwhelming debut in purple and gold. […]

LeBron James’ 19th season in the NBA didn’t exactly go as planned. The Los Angeles Lakers missed the playoffs for the second time since he signed with the purple and gold in 2018, beset by multiple injuries to key contributors and a misfit roster that was doomed from the time it was put together. Say […]

Jusuf Nurkic, the Portland Trail Blazers and a reporter are being sued by the Indiana Pacers fan who had his phone thrown by the Bosnian Beast in a heated courtside incident following Portland’s loss to Indiana on March 20th. Jusuf Nurkic was NOT happy with what this fan said/did, got in his face, and tossed […]

Kyrie Irving didn’t exactly put his best foot forward with the Brooklyn Nets in 2021-22. Not only was he limited to just 29 regular season games as a result of his decision not to get vaccinated against COVID-19, leaving Kevin Durant to deal with the melodrama surrounding James Harden largely by himself. But even after […]

The Boston Celtics will no doubt beat the defending champion Milwaukee Bucks in the second round of the playoffs if Jayson Tatum is the series’ best player. That may seem like a tall order considering Giannis Antetokounmpo continues staking a forceful claim as the best player in the world, but so did expecting Tatum to […]

No team in NBA history has ever lost a playoff series after leading 3-0, but momentum suggests the Philadelphia 76ers could be the first. Joel Embiid’s injured right thumb is clearly affecting his play. James Harden still looks at least a half step slow. The Toronto Raptors are younger, fresher and deeper, readily exploiting their […]

It’s easy to assume the Philadelphia 76ers’ championship hopes vanished when test results confirmed Joel Embiid suffered a torn ligament in his right thumb. Embiid, after all, is the Sixers’ bellwether on both sides of the ball, an MVP candidate who’d been playing like it in the postseason before hurting his shooting hand. Could the […]

Karl-Anthony Towns and Ja Morant aren’t the only members of their families starring in the playoffs’ most hotly contested first-round series. The impact of Karl Towns Sr., though, actually extends a bit further on the Minnesota Timberwolves than his hilarious sideshow with Tee Morant suggests. During an interview with Chris Haynes of Yahoo! Sports following […]

As the Minnesota Timberwolves built their first of multiple seemingly insurmountable leads over the Memphis Grizzlies on Thursday night, a buoyant Karl-Anthony Towns relayed a pre-game message to teammate Greg Monroe on the bench. “We in Minnesota now,” he said, mic’d up for the broadcast. “Like I said to the media, I was like, ‘Alright, […]

Gravity of the New Orleans Pelicans advancing past the play-in tournament extends far beyond The Big Easy. Thousands of miles away, reverberations of their stunning rise from 1-12 bottom-feeder to thorny playoff upstart—with the chance to take a 2-1 first-round lead on basketball’s best team—will be felt throughout what was supposed to be a transformative […]

Devin Booker has already been ruled out for the next two games of his team’s suddenly competitive first-round playoff series against the New Orleans Pelicans. The Phoenix Suns superstar left the action due to a Grade 1 hamstring strain during Tuesday’s loss, shortly after pouring in 31 first-half points. Needless to say, Booker will be […]

It’s only a matter of time until Stephen Curry returns to the starting lineup. The two-time MVP has come off the bench in the playoffs so far, sparking a dominant Golden State Warriors attack with instant offense alongside fellow sharpshooters Klay Thompson and Jordan Poole. The Warriors’ new favorite lineup featuring those three guards next […]

How quickly the tide of an NBA playoff series can turn. After beating the Utah Jazz in Game 2, the Dallas Mavericks could soon welcome their franchise player to basketball’s brightest stage. There’s “growing optimism” in Dallas that Luka Doncic will return for either Game 3 or Game 4 of his team’s tied first-round series […]

C.J. McCollum drained a tough mid-range jumper in crunch time, giving his team a two-possession lead. Robert Covington changed the game when deployed as a full-time small-ball five. Norman Powell came alive after intermission. Larry Nance Jr. forcefully answered the bell with the season on the line, providing a palpable two-way impact off the bench. […]

One of the most disappointing seasons in Portland Trail Blazers history didn’t change much for Damian Lillard. Poised to return in 2022-23 healthier than he’s been in years after going under the knife to address longstanding pain in his midsection, Lillard remains fully committed to the team he threatened to leave on multiple occasions last […]

The Portland Trail Blazers have big plans this summer. Unfortunately for interim general manager Joe Cronin and company, though, one of the Blazers’ most valuable offseason building blocks may not materialize after all—and it’s completely outside their control. Paul George is unavailable for Friday night’s do-or-die play-in game against the New Orleans Pelicans after testing positive for […]

The upcoming playoff matchup between the Memphis Grizzlies and Minnesota Timberwolves could be one of the most exciting first-round series in recent memory. Both teams are loaded with young talent, deploying aggressive styles that prioritize their relentless activity and explosive athleticism. Memphis and Minnesota are arguably the league’s most formidable trash talkers, too. Don’t be […]

Stephen Curry could very well take the floor for Game 1 of the Golden State Warriors’ first-round playoff series against the Denver Nuggets on Saturday. If the three-time champion is able to play, though, it seems increasingly likely he’ll do so without much ramp-up whatsoever. The Warriors provided an update on Curry’s status Tuesday, acknowledging […]

The New Orleans Pelicans won’t be at completely full strength for their play-in matchup with the San Antonio Spurs on Wednesday. There’s still no timeline for Zion Williamson to make his 2021-22 debut, after all. New Orleans can at least take solace from knowing another key franchise building block will be available for its first […]

Damian Lillard’s pointed demands for an improved supporting cast have still yet to be addressed. It has been almost a year since the most loyal superstar in basketball threatened to leave Rip City, and all the Portland Trail Blazers have to show for it is the mere possibility of finally meeting his mandate. CJ McCollum […]

Momentum in one of the most tightly contested MVP races in recent memory seems to be trending away from Joel Embiid. Just because the Philadelphia 76ers superstar may not win basketball’s highest individual honor, though, hardly means he’ll finish 2021-22 without garnering historic individual accolades. The first among them? Embiid officially winning the scoring title […]

The young Charlotte Hornets will be absent their most playoff-proven veteran during their first dip into postseason basketball. Three days before Charlotte is set to take part in the play-in tournament, the team announced that Gordon Hayward is sidelined indefinitely with “continued soreness” in his left foot and will be re-evaluated in two weeks. The […]

LeBron James put up historic numbers this season by any measure whatsoever. Factoring in the advanced stage of the Los Angeles Lakers superstar’s career, though, puts his remarkable statistical exploits in even more rarified air. It’s basically undisputed at this point that James’ age-37 season was the best of all time. Unfortunately for James, his […]

The Portland Trail Blazers’ immediate focus once the regular season mercifully comes to a close on Sunday will be the NBA draft. Locked into the league’s sixth-highest lottery odds, Portland is guaranteed a top-10 pick and could net a second lottery selection if the New Orleans Pelicans are ousted from the play-in tournament. But with […]