Jeff Olalo Articles - Page 3

The Philadelphia 76ers are one of the top teams on the opposing side of the court and not surprisingly, have no shortage of premier individual defenders on every position. But according to Brett Brown, they may have another gem in their hands in Zhaire Smith. In an article by Keith Pompey of the Philadelphia Inquirer, […]

The Dallas Mavericks were one of only four NBA teams last season to take more than 3,000 three-point shots – and they expect to do more of the same in 2019-20. At least judging from a training camp regimen that the Mavs have been using. On the Mavs training facility, there are blue markers all […]

New Orleans Pelicans point guard Lonzo Ball has a strained relationship with the family patriarch LaVar Ball and is slowly cutting ties beginning with his departure from the Big Baller Brand. While Lonzo isn’t going so far as to say that he should have distanced himself much earlier, the 21-year-old shared in a recent episode […]

Training camp is just days away and new Dallas Mavericks center Boban Marjanovic is already getting acclimated to how things work in the Lone Star State. The Serbian giant attended a concert by rapper Lil Nas X during the weekend and in doing so, wore a full-on cowboy outfit that’s just short of a stallion […]

Rodions Kurucs was one of the pleasant surprises for the Brooklyn Nets’ overachieving 2018-19 season. The Latvian was a mid-second round pick that year but managed to play his way into a starting power forward role, earning him a spot at the Rising Stars Challenge and helping the team to a sixth seed in the […]

Kyrie Irving is one of the many hotshot free agents that changed cities during the NBA offseason but unlike the more prolific half of the package deal that accompanied him in former Golden State Warriors star Kevin Durant, he’s actually healthy and ready to go. As a result of his sidekick’s unavailability, the All-Star point […]

The offseason featured a bevy of shocking signings and trades that completely altered the landscape of the NBA, and when the Los Angeles Lakers’ veteran pickup Jared Dudley was asked which newly-formed pairing would be the toughest, he had no choice but to name two. Not surprisingly, both duos play in the Western Conference – […]

Lost among the shuffle of the handful of rule changes announced by the NBA last week is a few notes on improving traveling violations, particularly on defining the ‘gather’ step mostly associated with stepbacks. Unfortunately, Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban has a player in his ranks that is well-known for such move in Luka Doncic — […]

The Dallas Mavericks are gearing up for 2019-20 with high expectations of punching their first postseason ticket in a long while and the first without their longstanding franchise cornerstone. One player who is getting ready for the grind is incoming sophomore Jalen Brunson who is touted by Mavs officials as having the ‘most impressive’ offseason […]

There’s a lot to look forward to as an NBA fan in the upcoming 2019-20 season but one of the most anticipated is undoubtedly the Dallas Mavericks debut and return of Kristaps Porzingis from almost a two-year layoff. Hyping his return is a regular stream of photos showing his new and improved physique from a […]

Zach Randolph’s career trajectory maybe plummeting as the Sacramento Kings opted to sit him out for much of the 2018-19 season in favor of a youth movement and later having his expiring contract shipped to the Dallas Mavericks for Harrison Barnes and promptly being waived. With just a few weeks to go before training camp […]

Golden State Warriors rookie Jordan Poole is aiming to be the next Dubs player to hook up with a Spider-Man cast member after All-Star Klay Thompson’s budding romance with “Homecoming” actress Laura Harrier. Unlike the Splash Brother, however, the 20-year-old has his sights set on a franchise mainstay in Zendaya. Poole made his intentions known, […]

Leandro Barbosa hasn’t been in the NBA since 2017 after a short reunion with his inaugural team the Phoenix Suns, but the combo guard revealed that should he decide to officially retire from active play, the Golden State Warriors already has a spot reserved for him. During an appearance on ESPN Brasil, the 36-year-old made […]

The NBA had quite a week in terms of rule changes, anchored by anti-tampering measures that seek to prevent a repeat of the blockbuster summer that saw superstars switch teams and form dynamic duos in what many argue as collusion. Even more headline-grabbing are the fines allotted for each violation with the amount going up […]

Boston Celtics swingman Jaylen Brown is eligible for a contract extension with his rookie deal up soon but there have been no signs from the front office that they intend to do just that in advance of the deadline, much to his frustration. A Western Conference executive isn’t surprised by the lack of offers from […]

The Golden State Warriors may have lost some major pieces of their championship roster during the summer prompting many to declare the Western Conference (and title road) wide-open, but All-Star guard Klay Thompson doesn’t think it’s right to count them out just yet. During an event by the Thompson Family Foundation, one-half of the vaunted […]

New York Knicks rookie RJ Barrett endeared himself to his team’s fans by bringing up former franchise cornerstone Kristaps Porzingis as the target for one of his ferocious slams next season. But to NBA Hall of Famer Scottie Pippen, this isn’t as impressive as it sounds at all. Speaking with his fellow The Jump crew, […]

The New Orleans Pelicans’ Brandon Ingram and Lonzo Ball may be nursing serious injuries but that hasn’t stopped the pair from participating in informal scrimmages that’s atypical of the offseason. According to ESPN’s Andrew Lopez, the pair have been full participants in workouts in New Orleans with both players not showing any signs of restriction […]

The whole basketball world can’t wait to see how Kristaps Porzingis would look like once he makes his long-awaited return to the court after almost two years of absence due to injury. One of the many who are looking forward to his debut is his fellow Dallas Mavericks teammate Dwight Powell who, in an interview […]

Former Minnesota Timberwolves interim coach Ryan Saunders is now promoted as a full-time head coach and one of the first things on his wish list is seeing franchise superstar Karl-Anthony Towns work on his pick-and-roll defense. According to Chris Hine of Star Tribune, the young coach feels that Towns needs to improve his defense for […]

With only a few days away before the latest installment of the reigning king of basketball simulations NBA 2K20 hits store shelves, its developer 2K Sports is hyping its release by counting down with some fast facts about the game. To get things started, they revealed which player has the highest dunk rating – and […]

Utah Jazz shooting guard Donovan Mitchell is understandably excited about the team’s slam dunk offseason in which they obtained point guard Mike Conley and sweet-shooting swingman Bojan Bogdanovic, among many other moves. Speaking with Andy Larsen of the Salt Lake Tribune, the 22-year-old believes that the mere presence of both players opens up the floor […]

After having the third-year option on his rookie contract declined early in February due to an injury and rumored to be heading back to Europe, Furkan Korkmaz surprisingly boomeranged to the Philadelphia 76ers this summer on a two-year minimum deal. With the Sixers pulling off a flurry of big moves in the offseason, most notably […]

The New York Knicks have completed the signings of all their big free agent acquisitions and the details on their contracts have now become apparent. Most notably the two-year deal of Bobby Portis is only fully guaranteed for the coming season and New York has a full team option for 2020-21. Per @EricPincus and @jgsiegel: […]

Denver Nuggets head coach Michael Malone is all praises for newcomer Jerami Grant who was obtained earlier in the week from the rebuilding Oklahoma City Thunder via a salary dump. Michael Malone on Jerami Grant: “I’ve always had tremendous respect and admiration for his game.” — Harrison Wind (@HarrisonWind) July 11, 2019 The Nuggets had […]

Portland Trail Blazers center Jusuf Nurkic gave his Twitter followers a slight heart attack after re-tweeting a faux ‘Woj bomb’ by a bogus Adrian Wojnarowski account. In the tweet, the injured Nurkic was reportedly sent to the Oklahoma City Thunder in exchange for heavily-shopped big man Steven Adams. Part of the package included a bevy […]

With the Oklahoma City Thunder ending the Russell Westbrook era by trading him to the Houston Rockets for Chris Paul along with a healthy batch of draft assets, the Thunder has quickly amassed a grand total of eight first-round picks. I left out Thunder's Jerami Grant deal with Denver: OKC has acquired EIGHT first-round picks […]

When there’s a post-game presser with the Toronto Raptors and Kawhi Leonard is the subject, it is probably best to keep the philosophical questions in your back pocket for some other player. That or risk having it answered literally in a manner that seems condescending but the superstar forward enjoys the benefit of the doubt […]

Joel Embiid of the Philadelphia 76ers came out of self-imposed retirement from social media to post a series of tweets in response to the Toronto Raptors dismantling of the Golden State Warriors in their NBA Finals series and going up 3-1. The Cameroonian isn’t normally in short supply of barbs and quips but after the […]

Toronto Raptors head coach Nick Nurse credited his experience in the minor leagues for preparing him against the shuffling lineups that are part-and-parcel of the long chess match that is the NBA Playoffs. Nick Nurse: "When you get used to coming up in the minor leagues, sometimes you don't know who's playing until an hour […]

Golden State Warriors forward Draymond Green was whistled for a technical foul in Game 4 of their NBA Finals series against the Toronto Raptors. Surprisingly, it is only his first technical since Game 2 of their Western Conference semifinals matchup against the Houston Rockets. At that point, Green had already accumulated four and only needed […]

Klay Thompson is back in action for the Golden State Warriors after missing Game 3 against the Toronto Raptors with a strained hamstring, and one-half of the Splash Brothers wasted no time getting to work. As of halftime, Thompson leads the team with 14 points on 6-of-10 shooting as well as making two 3-pointers. One […]

Golden State Warriors investor Mark Stevens officially issued a statement regarding his Game 3 altercation with Toronto Raptors point guard Kyle Lowry. Stevens took full responsibility for his actions, apologized to Lowry and both organizations, and accepted the punishments that were handed down. Here’s a statement from Mark Stevens on his actions last night: pic.twitter.com/p1msH4Pj8y […]

The Golden State Warriors came into Game 3 without superstar Kevin Durant, backup (and situational starter) Kevon Looney, and later Klay Thompson who was active but remained a game-time decision the last few days before being scrapped officially as a precautionary measure. That means All-Star point guard Stephen Curry had to shoulder the bulk of […]

During the postgame interview of the Toronto Raptors 104-109 loss to the Golden State Warriors, forward Kawhi Leonard was asked if their game plan had Andre Iguodala in mind as the shooter given his career 3-point accuracy of 33-percent. In typical Kawhi fashion, the 27-year-old responded with a tinge of sarcasm. Classic Kawhi answer 😂 […]

The Golden State Warriors have an excellent defensive rating and a positive plus-minus in the two games center DeMarcus Cousins has been on the floor in their NBA Finals series against the Toronto Raptors. Even more amazing is that he did it all in a combined total of 36 minutes, on the road, and coming […]

The Golden State Warriors were able to steal a road win in Game 2 of their NBA Finals series against the Toronto Raptors, winning 109-104 despite being shorthanded along the way. After the game, two of the Warriors vaunted starters’ Klay Thompson and Kevin Durant caught the Raptors vocal ambassador Drake in the tunnel and […]

Former NBA superstar and now TV analyst Charles Barkley recently described the Toronto Raptors star forward Kawhi Leonard as the “perfect superstar”. During the NBA TV pre-game show for Game 2 of the NBA Finals between the Raptors and the Golden State Warriors, Barkley gushed at Leonard and his impact on the franchise. "He's the […]

The Phoenix Suns superstar shooting guard Devin Booker is a vocal supporter of the WNBA, particularly of their counterpart the Phoenix Mercury, and he was on hand to support them again in their home opening night regular season matchup against the Las Vegas Aces. Live in Phoenix 📍@DevinBook in the building! 🙌 @PhoenixMercury pic.twitter.com/R3GHKghCmL — […]