3 Point Buzzer

There has been a deserved buzz surrounding young big men in the NBA. Joel Embiid (22), Karl Towns (21), DeMarcus Cousins (26), Myles Turner (20), Kristaps Porzingis (21) and Anthony Davis (23) have demanded attention and proved that the league may be trending back toward the big men. Do not forget about 31-year-old Marc Gasol however. Gasol may not be as big a name to the average NBA fan as LeBron James, Steph Curry and Kevin Durant are. There are a swath of reasons Gasol is not as universally recognized as some of his superstar peers. For one, he is not the type of player to produce "SportsCenter Top 10" dunks, ally oops or rim rejections. He doesn't make killer crossovers or highlight-reel passes and he is not a freak athlete when stacked up against other stars. Top that all off by playing in Memphis, one of the smallest markets in the league, and you have a damn underrated and under appreciated player. None of that means he isn't the best all-around center in t

For me, Christmas Day is about two things: Family and Basketball. But not "basketball", I'm talking the best the NBA scheduling makers have to offer. A slate so saturated with superstars that names such as "Kawhi Leonard" and "Chris Paul" are just other members of the absolutely ridiculously talented fray. There are five games set to take action today, and here is basically an entertainment rankings of them. We of course start with the least watchable game, because I love buildups in life. 5. Chicago Bulls vs San Antonio Spurs WHY IT WILL STINK: The fact that this game is last on the list shows that the NBA does not mess around on Christmas Day.  However, these teams, while both top 7 in defensive rating, are just plain boring. Chicago plays at the pace it takes George RR Martin to finish a Game of Thrones book in order to cater to the needs of its molasses-like guards Dwyane Wade and Rajon Rondo as well as ground-bound big men in Taj Gibso

My favorite part about Thanksgiving is how everyone preaches to me humble and appreciative, but literally the next day they are trampling over each other for unneeded accessories during Black Friday. Never heard of irony? Well, that is it. Every NBA team, from the lowly Mavericks to the scorching Clippers, has something to be thankful for. Let's get started. Atlanta Hawks: Paul Millsap Even after Atlanta swapped Jeff Teague and Al Horford for Dennis Schroder and Dwight Howard, Paul Millsap is still the fulcrum on offense and defense. With Schroder working out the kinks as a starting point guard, Millsap has eased some playmaking duties off the young German's shoulders. Averaging 17 points, 8 rebounds, 4 assists, 1.7 steals and 1 block, Millsap is as complete a player as ever. His blocks are slightly down just because he has the massive Howard now gobbling them up underneath. Mills goes unnoticed to the average fan since he doesn't put up eye-googling numbers or have ma

The mad scientist behind the whole "process", Sam Hinkie, may be gone, but his vision is still living among fans, players and executives of the 76ers organization. It all started draft night 2013, where the 76ers, a solid and respectable playoff team, had a late lottery pick. Like most teams in that situation, they were predicted to choose the best player available to help take them to the next level for future seasons to come. Instead, Hinkie took the team down six levels, looking to capitalize in the long-term. He traded his 24-year-old starting point guard, Jrue Holiday, for the 6th pick in the draft and used that pick to select Nerlens Noel, who missed the entire season with a torn ACL. The first year under Hinkie was a miserable one production-wise, with the team stinking so bad they received the 3rd overall pick and 10th overall pick in the 2014 draft. The promise that elastic point guard Michael Carter-Williams had shown, was a small condolence for the pitiful re

The time has come. Russell Westbrook is about to face off against Kevin Durant for the first time since KD slithered out of Oklahoma City and fled to the team that had just beat him. It really is too bad the NBA scheduled Russ vs KD I on the second night of a back-to back for the Thunder, not to mention the game being in Oakland. It should definitely be in Oklahoma City, but oh well, life is not fair. Even though the Thunder have a superior record (4-0), they are the clear underdogs in the matchup. and Vegas agrees: Golden State is favored by -10.5 points heading into the slugfest. For the Thunder to come out with the victory, their number one priority has to be to play stifling defense. Obviously the Thunder need to execute offense effectively, but locking down Golden State's potentially devastating aerial attack should be of utmost focus. The Warriors are a little vulnerable defensively as of now; they have a whole in the middle of the defense the size of the Grand Canyon,

Opening night was very satisfying. We had LeBron up to his usual tricks, Porzingis swishing threes, Damian Lillard exploding against the Jazz and the Spurs spoiling the Warriors' home debut with Kevin Durant. Night two was better. There was so much talent. So much excitement. So much drama. 1. The Heat are still good Despite losing Chris Bosh, Dwyane Wade, Luol Deng and Joe Johnson this offseason, the Heat still came out with the victory. What may have been even more impressive was that they did so starting Luke Babbitt and Dion Waiters, two players who simply should not be starting games now or ever. The Heat won thanks to their "Big 3" of Hassan Whiteside, Goran Dragic and Justice Winslow. Whiteside was the best player of the game, effortlessly scoring 18 points, grabbing 14 rebounds and 4 blocks in just 31 minutes of action. I don't know why nobody gave this guy a chance when he was in his early 20s, fighting to remain in the league. 2. Poor Dirk and HOLY

Only three games were played, but that did not stop the NBA from delivering on an explosive opening night filled with a bit of everything: jokes, blowouts, exciting play and tight games. Buckle your seatbelt, this one was a Grand Theft Auto experience. 1. Lebron James will never age. Entering his age 32 season after a magnificent, yet tank-draining Finals experience, there was a bit of a drop-off expected in LeBron's play this season. After all, his mid-thirties are a only few years away, the usual twilight of NBA careers. Well, LeBron basically shoved out all the "aging" talk in the same way he shoved the Warriors' faces down a toilet last finals. In just 32 minutes of action, he notched a triple double, scoring 19 points on an uber efficient 9-14 shooting, dishing 14 assists and 11 rebounds. The last time a player scored a triple double on opening night was Jason Kidd way back when the first iPhone came out, in 2006. Not only do his numbers speak for themselve

The Black Mamba may have slithered into the shadows of retirement, but hope is just starting to crack through the darkness that the last three years have brought. The Los Angeles Lakers have the second-most championships in NBA history. Their identity has always been defined by star players and rings; lots and lots of rings. Their fanbase is as accustomed to winning as the NFL is accustomed to fining players for touchdown celebrations.   That must make the Lakers’ recent three year dip (a combined 65-181 record) hard to stomach for a fan base spoiled by a disproportionate number of victories over the past decades. My two cents worth: Try being a 76ers fan. However, to quote Harvey Dent from the Dark Knight , “the night is darkest just before the dawn. And I promise you, the dawn is coming.” The Lakers had been suffering from a three-year hangover period of the golden days, when Kobe had a clean achilles, Phil Jackson was the coach and Pau Gasol was still a Lake

After recent derogatory slurs directed toward women, Donald Trump attempted to defend himself. In his own words, via a video posted on his Twitter feed: “This was locker-room talk. I'm not proud of it. I apologized to my family, I apologized to the American people. Certainly I'm not proud of it but this is locker room talk.” Trump’s defense is invalid because he never even went into the intricacies of what real “locker-room talk” actually is. As a result, real athletes who are parts of real locker rooms every day across professional sports came firing back with abandon, along with insights into what actually happens behind closed doors. There is no doubt that some crude things are said in the privacy of locker rooms, or any private dwelling for the matter. If each and every person had a microphone on them for their whole lives, I’m sure they have all said some ugly remarks they would not want repeated. Athletes are humans, just like us, and they have joked about me

The idea of hope for better things to come is an ideal that propels many people in the world. The concept that if one keeps plugging, extraordinary rewards will follow. In professional sports, the annual drafting of college players into the major leagues is an exercise of hope for everyone involved. Fans get their hopes up. Executives drool at the tantalizing possibilities of a young star on their roster. Coaches dream up ways to use their shiny new toys. The players themselves look forward to a little help. It’s all gonna work out; until it doesn’t. Between the NFL, NBA and MLB, there is an average of 30 young men picked in the 1st round of each draft. About only 50% of them pan out and actually, you know, aren't terrible. Why is it that sports executives paid millions of dollars to choose the best players in the world to play on their teams fail half of the time? There are a couple of reasons. For one, being a successful athlete at any pro level is extremely difficul

So much happens in only a year, but in the football world, entire teams and organizations can be turned over by the time the calendar flips. This time last year, Chip Kelly was still running the Eagles, the Bills were going to lead the league in sacks and Andrew Luck was going to take the Colts to the Super Bowl. Oh, and the Browns were on a new coaching staff (at least some things never change). Here is a team-by-team record prediction along with a snippet of reasoning. Arizona Cardinals: 13-3 The offense returns everyone who scored a touchdown last year and the defense has some excellent playmakers in Patrick Peterson, Tyrann Mathieu, Chandler Jones and Calais Campbell Atlanta Falcons: 7-9 Aside from the indestructible Julio Jones at wide receiver and lockdown cornerback Desmond Trufant, there is simply not enough talent on this team. Also, Matt Ryan has inexplicably become a below average quarterback after eight-plus years of competence. Baltimore Ravens: 10-6 This m