George Mikan: Defining NBA Star Power

More than any other professional team sport in America, the NBA has maintained a symbiotic relationship with its stars. The NBA–or “The League”, as it’s known by many–has been widely recognized as a star-driven league. Whether you’re a fan of the NBA, or just a casual observer, you can’t help but to identify the National Basketball Association with some of the greatest and entertaining players to ever have earned an NBA paycheck. Just in case you’re wondering about how long this star-driven system has been in place, we have to…

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NBA Dominance: Highlighting Seven Decades of Basketball Excellence

DOMINANCE.This is a word that is only reserved for the greats. To be more precise, this is a word that is reserved to describe the all-time greats. Many basketball pundits and experts have discussed the idea of placing such dominant basketball gods on a “Mt. Rushmore” of sorts—as a means of properly gauging their legendary contributions to the sport. As the National Basketball Association celebrates its 70th anniversary, it is only right that we highlight ten individuals whose indelible imprints on the game of basketball transcend the game itself. The…

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Memphis Grizzlies announces seeding schedule

Via the Memphis Grizzlies: The Memphis Grizzlies will resume the 2019-20 season on Friday, July 31 against the Portland Trail Blazers at The Arena at the ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex at Walt Disney World in Orlando, the NBA announced tonight. The Grizzlies are one of 22 teams that will be resuming the season and will compete in eight “seeding games” to determine the participants and order for the 2020 NBA Playoffs. Earlier today, the NBA and National Basketball Players Association (NBPA) announced that they have finalized a comprehensive…

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NBA to test for PEDs

When the NBA season resumes later this summer in Orlando, players will be subjected to testing for performance-enhancing drugs, according to The Athletic and Stadium’s Shams Charania. The NBA announced a plan to resume the season via a 22-team return to play format where playoff seeding and participation will be sorted out over an eight game stretch. The timing of and even the announcement itself is interesting. I will surmise that there will not be many players who test positive considering how far in advance players have been made aware.

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Rockets owner says Morey’s job is not in jeopardy

If the rhetoric of Houston Rockets team owner Tillman Fertitta is to be believed then general manager Daryl Morey will not have to worry about cleaning out his office (yet). Reporting from ESPN’s Tim MacMahon indicates that Fertitta hasn’t “wavered” on keeping Morey as the general manager. Morey’s job status has seemingly been on shaky ground since he tweeted his support of Hong Kong protesters back in October of 2019, which placed a great amount of strain between NBA and the Houston Rockets relationship with China. Speaking with the Houston…

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Wes Unseld passes away at 74

The year 2020 has claimed another basketball luminary. NBA Hall of Famer and Washington Bullets (for those who are ignorant to this bit of history, the Bullets are now the Wizards) legend Wes Unseld died Tuesday morning. In a statement released by the family Tuesday, it was indicated that Mr. Unseld had lengthy health issues, with the most recent being pneumonia. He was taken number 2 overall in the 1968 NBA Draft by the Baltimore Bullets, right after future teammate Elvin Hayes. He would be come only the second player,…

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Patrick Ewing home from hospital

NBA great and current Georgetown head basketball coach Patrick Ewing has returned home from the hospital after testing positive for COVID-19 last week. Ewing’s son and namesake, Patrick Ewing, Jr. made the announcement Monday on Twitter. The elder Ewing revealed Friday evening that he tested positive for the coronavirus. We at sneakershoptalk.com are certainly glad to hear that Ewing is now out of the hospital and wish him a continual and speedy recovery.

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Lakers to open team facilities on May 16

After getting the a-ok from Los Angeles county health and government officials, the L.A. Lakers are seemingly set to reopen their practice facilities Saturday, according to The Athletic and Stadium’s Shams Charania. The league gave the go-ahead for teams to reopen facilities starting May 8, but at this juncture there is no plans to resume the season. ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski reported that NBA Commissioner Adam Silver said in a conference call last Friday that the league was working on a plan that could entail playing games in one or two…

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Dallas Mavericks team facilities to remain closed

Wednesday the Cleveland Cavaliers, Denver Nuggets and Portland Trail Blazers announcing they would reopen their team’s facilities this week. The Los Angeles Lakers soon after announced they had targeted mid-May to reopen theirs, while the Houston Rockets indicates they would hold off until May 18. Teams in areas that have relaxed stay home orders have the option to follow suit and reopen facilities, per NBA rules. The Dallas Mavericks will not be one of those ball clubs. Team owner Mark Cuban made that clear Wednesday. Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN reports…

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Los Angeles Lakers plan to reopen facilities in mid-May

It seems that the dominoes are beginning to be put in place to clear a path to NBA basketball returning. Following the news of the Trail Blazers, Nuggets and Rockets re-opening their team facilities on Friday, the Los Angeles Lakers announced their intent to open their facilities May 16, according to reporting from The Athletic and Stadium’s Shams Charania. Other teams will likely announce their plans in the coming days.

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