Basketball Insiders Week in Review 8/9

David Stern on Adam Silver

By Moke Hamilton

Back in February, at New York University’s School of Professional Studies Tisch Institute for Sports Management, Media, and Business, David Stern gave a lecture on his commissionership and his 30-year tenure with the National Basketball Association.

Afterward, Commissioner Stern was kind enough to give me a few minutes of his time to discuss a number of things related to the NBA, its business, the new labor agreement and some of the issues that Commission Adam Silver has already had to deal with over the course of the early going of his tenure.

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The NBA’s Multi-Sport Athletes

By Joel Brigham

In show business, the ultimate achievement is the EGOT – earning an Emmy, Grammy, Oscar and Tony over the course of one’s career. The idea is that to be considered truly great, one must be universally excellent in one’s field, and in Hollywood (or Broadway), that extends beyond just being good at one thing. A truly legendary talent is great across the board, which is why fewer than 20 human beings have ever accomplished the EGOT. It’s a big deal.

Athletics work a little bit differently, but everybody grew up with that kid who was literally the best in school at every sport possible. He was the quarterback, point guard and pitcher and dominated in all three sports. Truth be told, there are probably quite a few professional athletes who grew up like that before having to decide on one sport or another as their go-to game.

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Top of the Class: Head Coaches

By Eric Saar

Basketball is very much a mental game that is won between the ears, which is where coaches come into play. The head coach motivates and directs his players. He gives them techniques, tendencies and other information they then use on the court.

Without the players, a coach would have no clay with which create his masterpiece. Without a coach, a team would just be a lump of clay. They need each other. When the two sides work well together and are on the same page, that’s when championships are won.

There is no single metric for determining whether a coach is good or not. While coaches get fired all the time, one way to see who the best coaches are is to look at who hasn’t been fired in a while (or at all).

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Projecting the Rookie of the Year Race

By Cody Taylor

With the calendar flipping over to August, this year’s class of rookies have been with their respective teams for about five weeks now. Players are starting to get a feel for their new team and, by now, have had extensive meetings with their respective coaching staff. They’ve had a taste of NBA action after playing a handful of games in Summer League. Although it’s just Summer League and a small sample size, we’re beginning to have an idea of how some players will adjust to the NBA.

Over the last 15 years, only five No. 1 picks have won the Rookie of the Year award. The lowest selection to win ROY was Michael Carter-Williams at No. 11 in 2013. This year’s crop of rookies seem poised to be one of the more competitive classes in recent memory.

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Will The Nuggets Stay In The Basement?

By Lang Greene

The Denver Nuggets are in the midst of a clear rebuild, coming off of back to back sub .500 seasons. Last month the team traded their best player in Ty Lawson to Houston for multiple players that weren’t part of the Rockets’ nightly rotation.

The Lawson deal officially put the stamp on the Nuggets’ desire to go in a different direction as a franchise. As with most teams on the rebound, there are very few pieces on Denver’s roster that are truly untouchable.

But forward Danilo Gallinari is one player that will enter next season with a bit more job security than the rest of his teammates.

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The Best Values in 2015 NBA Free Agency

By Eric Pincus

NBA free agency is mostly complete for the offseason.  A few stragglers like Tristan Thompson and J.R. Smith remain, but nearly all the deals to be made have been made.

With the salary cap at $70 million for the 2015-16 season, and a jump to nearly $90 million coming for 2016-17, which teams got the best values in free agency this summer?

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8 Young Players Poised for a Bigger Role

By Alex Kennedy

It’s August and that means NBA teams are for the most part finished making major offseason moves. By now, each team has a good idea of what their roster will look like this year.

One thing that’s becoming clear is that a number of relatively young players seem poised to take on an increased role in the upcoming season. Today, we take a look at eight young players (age 25 or younger) who will be asked to do significantly more for their respective team in the 2015-16 campaign.

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Injuries Happen, Don’t Blame National Teams

By Steve Kyler

With the news that Jazz point guard Dante Exum may have a serious knee injury, sustained during Australian National team play, the subject of NBA players risking their careers for their National Teams has come back to the surface.

Before we get too far into this, injuries happen. They even happen just getting off the sofa, just ask Greg Oden who suffered his first knee injury banging his knee on a coffee table. So trying to say that not playing for the Aussie team would have prevented Exum’s injury is a little short sighted. Players have to play to improve, and they have to play to stay in shape, something that’s required in the NBA’s uniform contract:

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The Worst Values in 2015 NBA Free Agency

By Ben Dowsett

A unique 2015 offseason has left the league in an unfamiliar place. An exploding cap is growing clearer on the horizon and because front offices are still in the process of deciphering the changes and applying them, we have a nearly unprecedented environment: Somehow, it’s become legitimately difficult to hand out a truly awful contract.

This isn’t to say certain deals won’t look bad at some point down the line. Guys get hurt, age strangely and in some cases fall off unexpected cliffs in production. There’s also no guarantee the cap remains intact with a 2017 labor stoppage looming large. But where a typical NBA summer will see at least a handful of deals collectively recognized as anywhere from irresponsible to blatantly ridiculous from the moment they’re signed, this year’s bonanza was docile in comparison. Many teams even found what could be fantastic bargains down the line, which we broke down in yesterday’s article about the best value contracts of the summer.

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Morris Situation Creates Uncertainty in Phoenix

By Jesse Blancarte

It wasn’t so long ago that the Phoenix Suns were considered a team on the rise. Suns general manager Ryan McDonough was making moves to usher Phoenix out of the Steve Nash era and into the future. For the 2013-14 season, Phoenix had a core of Eric Bledsoe, Goran Dragic, Alex Len, Channing Frye and the Morris twins (Markieff and Marcus).

The Suns went 48-34 that season, barely missed the postseason and were one of the surprise teams of the year, exceeding all preseason expectations. With an aggressive rebuild, a talented new head coach in Jeff Hornacek and confidence from a near playoff berth, the Suns’ future seemed bright. A big part of that bright future was the Morris twins.

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NBA 10 Years Later: Where Are They Now?

By Jessica Camerato

The landscape of the NBA changes from season to season. The accomplishments of some teams and players are a flash in the pan, while others achieve long-standing success. Take a look back 10 years ago to the end of the 2004-05 season to see who was dominating and where they are now.

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