Virgil Villanueva Articles - Page 3

Rich Paul has reportedly told other agents that LeBron James and Anthony Davis will move up to the four and five spots, respectively, in the coming 2021-22 NBA season. This looks like a bold move from head coach Frank Vogel. The ultimate question is: will this tweak work and bring the Los Angeles Lakers another […]

The Minnesota Timberwolves have allegedly been in talks with the Philadelphia 76ers with regard to the acquisition of Ben Simmons via trade. This seems like a match made in heaven. Daryl Morey and Gersson Rosas were colleagues in Houston not too long ago. Camaraderie goes a long way in any industry. However, camaraderie is just […]

Reports reveal that the Philadelphia 76ers will only give up Ben Simmons if the Sacramento Kings offer a trade package that includes De’Aaron Fox or Tyrese Haliburton. The Kings, understandably, will not budge, even for a Ben Simmons trade. They both deem Fox and Haliburton as important pieces to their future. Any basketball expert would […]

The Philadelphia 76ers-Ben Simmons saga has yet to end. With the 2021-22 NBA season just around the corner, will the 76ers be able to get a trade they want? Will Simmons ultimately get his wish of playing for a California team? According to ESPN NBA insider Brian Windhorst, a new small-market team that hasn’t been […]

It’s official. Two-time champion, 11-time All-Star, and Olympic gold medalist Chris Bosh is a Hall of Famer. It took a while. Bosh was not included in the ballots in his first year of eligibility. But the past seems trivial now that Bosh will forever be regarded as one of the best. In celebration of his […]

Ben Wallace was finally inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame. Basketball diehards were reminded of Wallace’s defensive dominance in the early 2000s with the Detroit Pistons. While it feels like a lifetime ago, his brand of play hasn’t aged one bit. In fact, there are three good reasons why Big Ben would […]

The Brooklyn Nets fell short of winning it all last season amid their powerhouse crew led by Kevin Durant, James Harden, and Kyrie Irving. In this post, though, we will be looking at the Nets X Factor for the 2021-22 NBA season. There were a lot of factors that came into play such as injuries, […]

The 2021-22 NBA season is going to be an interesting year for the Denver Nuggets. Nuggets X Factor They will miss the services of Jamal Murray for a good chunk of the season as the guard is still recovering from the ACL tear he suffered in April. There’s no question that Nikola Jokic will double […]

Safe to say that gone are the days when fans and critics laughed at the New York Knicks for their misfortunes. Julius Randle is a bona fide All-Star and he has the proper supporting cast around him. The Knicks will be carrying a ton of momentum from last season’s relatively good campaign. Coupled with three […]

The Atlanta Hawks shocked the basketball world when they made it all the way to the Eastern Conference Finals in the 2021 NBA Playoffs. For all we know, this could be just a rehearsal for what’s to come in the 2021-22 NBA season. After all, it’s hard betting against Trae Young. There are three big […]

The Denver Nuggets will enter next season without the services of Jamal Murray at least to start the year. The team has not given a timeline but players who suffer a torn ACL need almost an entire year to fully recover and his injury occurred in April. This is obviously a blow to the Nuggets’ […]

The offseason was a treat to NBA fans as they saw their favorite teams beef up their roster to bolster their title hopes. Teams such as the Los Angeles Lakers, Chicago Bulls, Brooklyn Nets, and Miami Heat among others had some key additions. These teams were the talk of the town as fans started to […]

Luka Doncic knows Monta Ellis is one of the veterans who have worked out with the Dallas Mavericks. The 13-year NBA veteran, who actually spent two seasons with the Mavs, last played in the 2016-17 NBA season. This move by the front office seems to be in aid of the development of the relatively young […]

Given that the Utah Jazz finished first in the West yet were booted out early in the playoffs, this might suggest that the team needs a little tweak in their roster. Perhaps they need someone with some playoff experience or just a player who performs on a more consistent basis on offense. There are two […]

The Memphis Grizzlies are definitely one of the teams to watch out for in the coming seasons. They now have two budding stars in Ja Morant and Dillon Brooks. And over the next few seasons, safe to say that the front office will get players that complement the playstyles of these two young guns. Fortunately […]

After their offseason haul, the Chicago Bulls look promising as ever. Fans and analysts believe that they’ll make waves this upcoming season—with qualifying to the playoffs almost certain. As is the case with offseason tweaks, we need to watch the actual games to see if such adjustments were right. If they are, then all is […]

The Charlotte Hornets definitely got a boost in their rebuilding process after they got LaMelo Ball from the NBA Draft. Now, they have an identity as a team which, at least in theory, would make it easier to build a formidable roster. Since they are still in the early stages of the rebuilding process, the […]

In this specific post, we’ll continue our unhappy NBA stars series with a look at some Clippers trades LA can make to make a run to the Finals. Given the amount of unhappy stars in the league — Ben Simmons, Damian Lillard, De’Aaron Fox, and so many more — it’ll be interesting to see what […]

The Minnesota Timberwolves roster looks extremely good with Karl-Anthony Towns, D’Angelo Russell, Anthony Edwards, and Malik Beasley at the forefront. The 2021-22 NBA season could be their year to at least make the playoffs in the ultra-competitive Western Conference. In this specific piece, though, we’re looking at potential Timberwolves trades (with a twist). The Timberwolves […]

With a brand new NBA season just around the corner, fans are in anticipation if their favorite big men will finally be named an All-Star. There’s a lot of talented big men in the NBA which have made and will continue to make the All-Star team. However, it doesn’t mean that there’s space for some […]

With regards to the point guard spot, the names Chris Paul, Luka Doncic, Kyrie Irving, Stephen Curry, Damian Lillard seem synonymous with the term “All-Star.” Though these names are without a doubt the best in their position, it doesn’t mean that there’s no space for a few more. After all, almost every season, NBA fans […]

The 2021-22 NBA season is a few months away. This is the perfect time to field our predictions on who’s going to be the next big star of the league. There are actually a lot. The NBA is home to the best athletes and the smartest individuals out there. It would be foolish not to […]

The Atlanta Hawks’ first order of business was to remove Nate McMillan’s interim head coach tag. Now, McMillan is officially the head coach of the team. It sounds trivial but this is a great move and not just a symbolic one. The 2021-22 NBA season will mark McMillan’s first full season as the Hawks coach. […]

The Portland Trail Blazers’ mission for the next few years is to make Damian Lillard stay. After all, the guard has been involved in all sorts of trade rumors after his team’s shortcomings of giving him the right players. The front office embarked on this mission by adding some players and making a coaching change. […]

After falling short of winning it all last season, the Brooklyn Nets trekked the offseason with one thing in mind: elevate the team to a championship level. They tried to achieve this mission thru some key signings and re-signings. Nets fans themselves were pumped after the team landed veteran guard Patty Mills and James Johnson. […]

The Milwaukee Bucks kept their offseason relatively simple. They won the title after all. This means that they already have the key ingredients intact. They just need a little seasoning here and there. With this in mind, they did experience a slight hiccup after one of the finest veterans of the game walked away. They […]

The Minnesota Timberwolves made two interesting changes in the point guard spot. They got rid of Ricky Rubio via trade and basically replaced him with Patrick Beverley. Whether or not this change made the team better is a matter of wait-and-see. Taking them at face value, let’s try to grade these free agency moves but […]

If you’re a basketball fanatic still stuck in limbo on which team to support, our suggestion is that today’s the day to hop on the Oklahoma City Thunder bandwagon. They have a promising future ahead of them. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander could be tagged as their best player. Others such as Lu Dort, Aleksej Pokusevski, Darius Bazley, […]

The Chicago Bulls were one of the big winners of the offseason. They just got a whole lot better after adding Lonzo Ball, Alex Caruso, and DeMar DeRozan. It just seems too good to be true. After years of heartbreak, Bulls fans now have infinite reasons to be excited. As we speak, these diehard basketball […]

The Cleveland Cavaliers made some bold moves in the offseason. As for one, they made a twin tower duo after securing Jarrett Allen to a hefty deal then drafting Evan Mobley with the third overall pick. They also acquired Ricky Rubio via trade for some much-needed veteran presence. These moves, coupled with the presence of […]

For the first time in 10 years, the Toronto Raptors will enter the new season without Kyle Lowry. It’ll be a tricky path to trek, especially given the developments in the Eastern Conference. Perhaps the good thing for the Raps is that they still have a pretty solid core from 2019. They also got a […]

Gone are the days when the New York Knicks were the laughingstock of the NBA. Last season marks the first time they made the playoffs since 2013. Along with their success, all the controversies on and off the floor seem to have been forgotten. We are now entering another golden era in one of the […]

The Portland Trail Blazers have been plagued with Damian Lillard trade rumors. The team’s underperformance and seeming lackadaisical attitude to giving Lillard the players he needs are the direct causes of such rumors. The front office made some series of moves in the offseason to quell these whispers. Whether they succeed in his mission is […]

The Washington Wizards could be tagged as the winners of the offseason after their series of great transactions. With the risk of losing Bradley Beal, the Wizards were hyper-aggressive in the offseason by landing a blockbuster trade involving Russell Westbrook. The question now is: will their new additions be enough to make them a perennial […]

The Atlanta Hawks raised eyebrows during their 2020-21 NBA season. Making the playoffs for the first time in three years was great, but making it all the way to the Eastern Conference Finals was something totally unexpected. In the upcoming 2021-22 season, they have a chance to mirror or and even surpass their previous success. […]

Despite taking the number one spot in the East last season, the Philadelphia 76ers fell short of winning it all. While their early playoff exit was due to a confluence of factors, what stands out the most is Ben Simmons’ lack of initiative. This is still an ongoing issue that the team is working on. […]

The rebuilding process for the Detroit Pistons continues. It definitely received a jumpstart after they picked Cade Cunningham as their first overall pick in the 2021 NBA Draft. Pistons fans should expect Cunningham and Jerami Grant to be the focal point of the playbook in the coming seasons. Maybe even Saddiq Bey or Josh Jackson […]

The Portland Trail Blazers entered the 2021 free agency with a clear mission: get Damian Lillard more help. Failure to do so could mean a trade request from their franchise star. They were able to acquire Cody Zeller, Tony Snell and Ben McLemore from the free agent market. Now, the question is: are these players […]

The 2021 offseason wasn’t the rosiest for the San Antonio Spurs. Amid all their struggles for the past two seasons, they lost DeMar DeRozan and Patty Mills — two foundational pieces that they can continue to build around. However, things don’t always pan out the way fans or analysts would wish. From the looks of […]