How hard must it be to be the top brass of the Los Angeles Lakers, at this moment? They have the No. 2 pick in the draft, but no first-round pick next year, and they have some hard decisions to make — with the very real possibility if they get things wrong, come Thursday, their […]

[Read more →]

Let me mention it again. I have been outside the U.S. for all but a few months since October of 2009. I remain a fan of all American team sports I once covered as a journalist — baseball, football, basketball … But I cannot say I have, week in and week out, seen all the […]

[Read more →]

For quite some time now, I have not been good at staying up all night. When I was younger, sure. Not anymore. Either I fail at it, and wake up several hours after whatever I was waiting for is finished, or I make it through the game or the flight and then sleep badly and […]

[Read more →]

The Cleveland Cavaliers put the Boston Celtics out of their misery tonight. (And I do so like the idea of the Celtics being stomped into a greasy little green spot on their home floor. Can we do this every year?) And up next, the Cavs and LeBron James against the Golden State Warriors in the […]

[Read more →]

The NBA has become a bit unbalanced. Twenty-eight teams can do all the coaching, scouting, planning and plotting, building and rebuilding they want … and it will not change a basic, unalterable reality: They have no chance against the Golden State Warriors and the Cleveland Cavaliers. Which ought to make for a fascinating championship series, […]

[Read more →]

Tonight is the night. The night when the ping-pong balls land and it is determined who drafts in the top three of the NBA lottery. In a matter of minutes the Los Angeles Lakers have a chance to go No. 1 or No. 2 or No. 3 in next month’s talent-heavy NBA draft … or […]

[Read more →]

Not going to happen. No championship for the Los Angeles Clippers. Not this year. Not next year. Not ever. This is a team that has had most of this decade to figure out how to take advantage of their core four players, who helped them win 50 games for five consecutive seasons … and they […]

[Read more →]

The NBA is a fairly big attraction, in France, a nation which also has produced the greatest number of foreign players in the league, about a dozen. The New York Times today has drawn a link between a Franco-American wannabe baller — who did heavily accented commentary for French television for much of two decades […]

[Read more →]

Perhaps you have been following the great debates over who should win the Most Valuable Player race in the NBA. The 2016-17 competition is about as hot as it gets. People of intelligence and good will can make a case for at least four players, and that is leaving Stephen Curry, the two-time defending MVP […]

[Read more →]

While slogging through the hills of northern Spain, it was easy to lose track of stories he or she thought were important, before. And after. Top of the list on the sports side, for me … is the Lakers’ ridiculous five-game winning streak that cost them a chance to have the second-best position in the […]

[Read more →]