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Poll: Is Tracy McGrady A Hall-Of-Famer?

August 27th, 2013 at 8:48am CST by Luke Adams

When Tracy McGrady officially announced his retirement from the NBA yesterday, a debate over his Hall of Fame candidacy got underway almost immediately. Because McGrady left the door open to continue his playing career overseas, the clock on his eligibility won't start ticking yet, but his NBA resumé appears to be complete.

An ESPN.com 5-on-5 panel unanimously agreed that McGrady deserves to be elected to the Hall of Fame, but in an Insider piece for ESPN.com, Kevin Pelton points out the many pitfalls of the 34-year-old's candidacy: Back and knee injuries may have prevented him from reaching his full potential, and limited his career totals — he's only 57th all-time in NBA scoring, for instance, trailing several non-Hall-of-Famers. Additionally, despite a cup of coffee for the Spurs in 2012/13, McGrady never played regular minutes for a team that advanced beyond round one of the playoffs.

Nonetheless, as Pelton notes, no player that has earned All-NBA honors seven or more times has failed to be elected to the Hall. And when peak performance is considered, rather than career value, McGrady stacks up favorably against the best players of his generation.

What do you think? Does McGrady deserve to be elected to the Hall of Fame in a few years, or does his candidacy fall just short?

Poll: Biggest Bust Of 2013 NBA Draft?

August 25th, 2013 at 7:47pm CST by Zachary Links

Last week, we asked Hoops Rumors readers to weigh in on who they think will be the Rookie of the Year out of the 2013 Draft. Victor Oladipo of the Magic was the leading votegetter with over 26% of the vote while Kelly Olynyk of the Celtics finished second with about 16%. Interestingly, No. 1 overall pick Anthony Bennett got about 7% of the vote, putting him behind the likes of Trey Burke, Cody Zeller, and the ever popular "someone else".

There are definitely some intriguing prospects coming out of this June's draft, but let's face it, the 2013 class has nothing on the 2014 class and it might even be one of the weaker drafts of the last decade, if you believe what some scouts had to say. It's time to look at the glass half empty and decide who will be the biggest bust out of the top ten picks. Remember: disappointment is relative to the expectation level. What might be a decent career for someone later in the draft could be viewed as abject failure for someone at the top. Happy voting!

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Poll: Where Will Jason Collins Play Next Season?

August 24th, 2013 at 6:58pm CST by Spencer Lund

In April this year, Jason Collins came out as the first active male homosexual athlete in an American professional sport. So far, he's failed to find an NBA team that can use his defense, size, toughness and veteran leadership.

This isn't so much related to his sexual orientation, but the fact he's a 12-year journeyman big in a league that's increasingly made a backup center somewhat superfluous.

Kevin Arnovitz of ESPN.com wrote earlier today that an informal poll of league executives and general managers during Las Vegas' Summer League shows that Collins stands a good chance to land on an NBA roster as a 12th, 13th, or 14th man. The belief is he'll catch on as we progress towards training camp and teams look to flesh out their rosters. The informal poll by Arnovitz mirrors the one ESPN.com's Marc Stein conducted among general managers the day after Collins came out in Sports Illustrated.

Some teams have shown an interest already, but we're still more than a month from the start of training camp, and Collins is unsigned. Here's a look at some of the teams that have expressed interest, but so far failed to sign the veteran center.

The last team he played for, the Wizards, do not appear likely to bring the big man back as he was included in the Jordan Crawford trade primarily to make the numbers work.
The Nets were also interested in Collins since he last played with Kevin Garnett and Paul Pierce with the Celtics before being dealt to Washington.
Y! Sports' Adrian Wojnarowski reported that when the Celtics traded Collins to the Wizards in February, Garnett was said to have been "extremely frustrated."
Collins also has a history with the Nets' Jason Kidd and new assistant coach Lawrence Frank, after playing under Frank during Kidd's run with the Nets earlier in the millennium.
But because Reggie Evans was not ultimately included in the trade bringing Pierce and KG to Brooklyn, the need for Collins to backup KG and Brook Lopez dissipated.
The Pistons expressed exploratory interest in Collins earlier this month. But after he worked out for them, they elected not to sign the 34-year-old out of Stanford.
Collins expressed an interest in returning to the Celtics weeks before coming out as gay.

So Collins is still a free agent despite most executives believing he'll find a roster spot before the season starts.

The question remains: where will Jason Collins play next season, if at all?

Poll: Fab Melo Vs. Tony Wroten

August 23rd, 2013 at 4:51pm CST by Luke Adams

After a busy month of July in which we saw 13 different trades officially consummated, things have slowed down considerably in August, but we've still seen a pair of deals finalized: The Grizzlies acquired Fab Melo from the Celtics for Donte Greene's non-guaranteed contract and cash, then sent Tony Wroten to the Sixers in exchange for a future second-round pick.

Both Melo and Wroten were drafted a year ago, with Melo going 22nd overall and Wroten going three picks later at No. 25. Neither player contributed much in his rookie season, but not much was expected of either guy right away — Melo was considered a raw project, while Wroten entered the NBA at age 19.

Even so, after a year, both players are already on their second NBA teams. The Celtics had to include $1.66MM in cash to move Melo, though that was more a result of the team's proximity to the tax line than an indicator of the big man's worth. Meanwhile, the second-round pick the Grizzlies acquired in the Wroten deal is heavily protected and may never change hands. In other words, two players drafted in the first round were acquired for virtually nothing just one year later.

Of course, not all first-round picks develop into useful NBA rotation players, but it's probably too early to give up on either Melo or Wroten. So today's poll question is this: Which player would you rather roll the dice on? If your favorite team decided to take a flier on one of the two 2012 first-rounders, would you prefer the former Syracuse center or the ex-Washington guard?

Poll: Who’d Make The Best NBPA President?

August 21st, 2013 at 10:58pm CST by Alex Lee

We learned tonight that Chris Paul will replace Derek Fisher as the president of the NBA Players Association. It is no secret that Paul is exceptionally popular among the NBA's players and fans, as Sean Deveney of Sporting News writes in his story about Paul's new position. Deveney also notes that the point guard has been involved in the union since he was a rookie, which allows him to utilize star power and knowledge in a position and union that desperately need both.

Since rumors of LeBron James eyeing the position surfaced in late July, the idea of a league star as the union front man has been universally advocated after more than a decade without one. But is that advocacy on point? And if so, is CP3 the man to prove it? There are a lot of new faces in new roles this year, from commissioner to NBPA president, so this selection could have legitimate ramifications. Let us know what you think, and feel free to elaborate in the comments section.

Poll: Which Amnestied Player Would You Rather Sign?

August 20th, 2013 at 7:30pm CST by Zachary Links

Yesterday, Luke Adams ran down the status of this year's amnesty victims. Only 14 NBA teams came into the summer of 2013 with the ability to use the amnesty provision and just five took advantage of the provision and released a player in July during the '13 amnesty period. Three of those players have already found new homes for the 2013/14 season. Metta World Peace hooked on with the Knicks after intimating for a good while that he would explore opportunities in China. Mike Miller returned to the Grizzlies after being cut loose by the Heat. Linas Kleiza had his $4.6MM deal taken off the books by the Raptors and signed a two-year pact in Turkey. Still left: Drew Gooden and Tyrus Thomas.

Things have been fairly quiet on both players. Thomas was said to have been of interest to the Knicks, but we haven't heard anything on that front in over a month. Meanwhile, we haven't heard any reports on Gooden since he was let go on July 16th.

The Bobcats cut bait with Thomas, the former No. 4 overall pick, in order to give themselves enough breathing room to sign Al Jefferson. Thomas hasn't been able to stay on the floor much in his last three seasons, seeing time in just 121 games. In that stretch, he averaged just 7.0 PPG and 4.0 RPG, not quite the production they would have liked from someone making $17.1MM over the next two seasons.

Gooden, 32 in September, was on the block for a while in Milwaukee, so it wasn't a surprise to see him cut loose last month. He had arguably his best season as pro in Milwaukee in 2011/12, averaging 13.7 points and 6.5 rebounds in 26.2 minutes per game, which added up to a PER of 18.88. However, he was only able to play in 16 games for the Bucks last season.

Both veterans are on the market for any NBA club to pickup – who would you rather have on your team?

Poll: Who Will Be Rookie Of The Year?

August 19th, 2013 at 10:30am CST by Luke Adams

Gary Bedore of KUSports.com published a story over the weekend in which he spoke to former Jayhawk Ben McLemore about his goals for the 2013/14 season, and McLemore's desire to prove that the six teams who passed on him on draft night made a mistake.

"I feel I come in with a chip on my shoulder," McLemore said. "I feel I am going to work hard to get Rookie of the Year. I know the mindset I’m going to come in and show everybody I could be the alpha dog and win that Rookie of the Year. I’m definitely going to work hard to get that."

The 2013 draft didn't feature a consensus first overall pick, and the player considered by many to be the best prospect in the class (Nerlens Noel) is still recovering from an ACL injury. As such, the field is wide open for McLemore or anyone else to earn those Rookie of the Year honors.

With Noel likely to miss the start of the season, and a few rookies unlikely to play significant roles right away for their respective teams, not all of this year's lottery picks are in position to compete for the award. But from the No. 1 pick (Anthony Bennett) on down, there are plenty of candidates. Who's your choice to become the 2013/14 Rookie of the Year?

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Poll: Which Western Team Finishes Higher?

August 17th, 2013 at 9:41pm CST by Spencer Lund

After the new five-year $60MM contract Nikola Pekovic agreed to earlier this week, the Timberwolves have their three core players, Kevin Love, Ricky Rubio and Pek, healthy and ready to compete for a Western Conference playoff spot this season. Sam Tongue of Blazers Edge, compared the 'Wolves with another team in a similar spot out West, the Trail Blazers.

During their podcast on Friday, Matt Moore and Zach Harper of CBS Sports (by way of the Dallas Morning News) discussed two more teams that are on the Western Conference playoff periphery coming into the new season: the Pelicans and Mavericks.

With most NBA observers confidently predicting playoff spots (barring a significant injury) for the Rockets, Thunder, Spurs, Grizzlies, Clippers and Warriors out West, that leaves 2 slots open for the rest of the Western Conference's remaining 9 teams.

The Nuggets, Timberwolves, Mavericks, Trail Blazers, Lakers and Pelicans, all either made moves this offseason to improve, or in the case of the Nuggets and Lakers, lost enough personnel to be considered a fringe contender with the rest of these teams despite making the postseason last year.

So which of these teams on the cusp of the Western Conference playoffs, finishes higher during the 2013/14 season?

Poll: Did Wolves Make Good Deal For Pekovic?

August 15th, 2013 at 4:56pm CST by Luke Adams

Typically, it doesn't take long after free agency opens for the offseason's biggest available names to come off the board. Chris Paul reached an agreement with the Clippers almost immediately on July 1st, while even Dwight Howard had finalized his decision just five days into July.

However, the player receiving the third-most guaranteed money among 2013's free agents, Nikola Pekovic, didn't agree to terms with the Timberwolves until yesterday. Despite not having to compete with many rival suitors, the Wolves went to five years and $60MM for their big center, making him the summer's highest-paid restricted free agent. Pekovic could also earn another $8MM in potential incentives.

There's an argument to be made that the Wolves overpaid Pekovic, and were bidding against themselves. After all, the team originally wanted to make a deal in the neighborhood of four years and $48MM. Only the Sixers had the cap space available to make a similar offer, and Philadelphia certainly didn't seem to have the interest. In the end, Minnesota committed a fifth year to a 27-year-old who has had only one standout year, and has yet to play 70+ games in any of three NBA seasons.

On the other hand, talented centers in their prime aren't easy to find, and given the deals we've seen other free agent big men sign in recent years, Pekovic looks like a reasonable value. He comes at a cheaper annual rate than Roy Hibbert (four years, $58MM+) and Brook Lopez (four years, $60MM+) and is only slightly pricier than more one-dimensional centers like DeAndre Jordan (four years, $43MM+) and JaVale McGee (four years, $44MM). The Wolves wouldn't have been able to find a player of his caliber anywhere else, and by relenting and giving Pekovic the fifth year he wanted, the team avoided a repeat of its Kevin Love situation. The Wolves also didn't exceed the $12MM annual salary they initially offered.

So what do you think? Did the Wolves unnecessarily overpay to bring back Pekovic? Did they get a steal by locking up a rising star in his prime for the next five years? Or does the deal seem about right for both sides?

Poll: Is PED Use Prevalent?

August 13th, 2013 at 10:01pm CST by Michael Pina

In light of NBA Deputy Commissioner Adam Silver's recent comments to the New York Post regarding PED use and future testing throughout the league (the NBA is unable to enhance its testing system until the Player's Association appoints a new executive director and president), do you think basketball has a problem?

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