Jason Collins, a 12-year N.B.A. veteran, has come out as the first openly gay male athlete playing in a major American team sport.
“I’m a 34-year-old N.B.A. center. I’m black and I’m gay,” Collins writes in the May 6 edition of Sports Illustrated. The magazine published the article online Monday morning.
The announcement makes Collins a pioneer of sorts: the first player in the N.B.A., N.F.L., N.H.L. or Major League Baseball to come out while still pursuing his career. Other gay athletes, including the former N.B.A. center John Amaechi, have waited until retirement to divulge their sexuality publicly.
Collins, who split this season between the Boston Celtics and the Washington Wizards, will become a free agent on July 1. He intends to pursue another contract in the summer, which may serve as a test for how N.B.A. teams respond to the announcement.
There is no secret behind the end of the 2014 NBA season and that years top free agent, Lebron James. There is also no secret behind top marquee teams, I’m looking at you L.A Lakers, freeing up cap space that year to land the current best player in the NBA. There is also no surprise behind the rumors of “The King” returning to his hometown Cleveland Cavaliers for one last stint. To that I say: Keep dreaming Cleveland.
Lebron James left Cleveland in 2010
It’s sad to see how quickly the Cleveland Cavaliers fell after the departure of Lebron James back in 2010. They fired coach Mike Brown, who they just recently rehired, months before James left. Since then there’s very very little they’ve gotten right outside of their lottery pick up of up and coming All Star Kyrie Irving. Since 2010 they’ve gone 19-63, 21-45, and 24-58 under coach Byron Scott, who is now unemployed.
Cleveland fans would love a Mike Brown and Lebron James reunion
Entering the 2014 season the Cleveland Cavaliers will have an estimated $29 million in free cap space to sign a number of players or just give Lebron a max contract and a blank check. I can’t say I have much faith in the Cavaliers front office to work out a smart business decision, but players such as Luol Deng, Rudy Gay, Andre Iguodala, and Paul George are all free agents that year as well. Match any of them with Kyrie Irving and you will easily have an amazing duo to play and dominate in the immediate future.
Current Cavaliers Point Guard Kyrie Irving
Speaking of Kyrie, he is the only person the Cav’s front office should be concerned of keeping very happy. He is the only player on the roster who a team should be built around. Hey Cleveland! Kyrie Irving is going to be an All Star very soon, he’s going to be a top Point Guard in this league even sooner; Cleveland, this is your next star!
Here I can do it for you Cavaliers front office and best of all is that I won’t charge you a penny. Throw out your pipe dreams of landing Lebron in 2014 and start shopping the free agent market, use your incredibly valuable top draft picks wisely, and also keep Mike Brown around for his contract length, he is a good coach.
Lastly…if I was a Cavaliers fan I’d never want a star player who went out like this, back in my hometown’s uniform.
This is the beginning of the 2013 NBA Playoffs and for all the Knicks fans out there, today’s Knick win (85 – 78) against the Boston Celtics is a little bitter, but a lot sweet.
Bitter because as New Yorkers, we stand by Boston with all they’ve gone through over the last week. A week that brought them two bombings, killing three innocent people and wounding many more on Monday, then climaxing on Friday with the suspense filled, all day coverage where one suspect was killed and the other captured.
And in the beginning of game one at The Garden, the Knicks showed ample respect to Boston, but then it was time to play.
In a game that was close throughout, Carmelo Anthony stayed true to form. He played 41 minutes, scored 36 points and pulled down 6 rebounds. His play today helped New York overcome a fourth quarter deficit and helped the Knicks hold Boston to a total of 8 points in that quarter. Boston went a full 5 minutes without scoring to start the quarter.
“It’s going to be a battle,” Anthony said. “Although we won today, we really didn’t do anything. We’re just protecting our home court. Game 2 will be even tougher, even harder.”
J. Smith continued his great play, picking up 15 points, 5 rebounds in 31 minutes of play. Kenyon Martin proved valuable with his 10 points, 9 rebounds in 28 minutes. With his history of defence, this 2013 playoff is sure to be something special.
Boston was led by J. Green, who played 46 minutes and scored 26 points. Paul Pierce contributed 21 followed by Bradley with 15. Kevin Garnett’s play was below average. He played 37 minutes, but had only 8 points in the whole game.
The two teams will play game two of the series on April 23, at 8PM Eastern.
Tracy McGrady during his tenure with the Houston Rockets
Tracy McGrady, at one time he was probably the best player in the NBA and once the poster player on every kids wall. That’s saying something considering the league was full of superstars ranging from Allen Iverson, Vince Carter and Kobe Bryant during McGrady’s reign. T-Mac, as is his best known nickname, played 14 years in the NBA playing with the: Toronto Raptors, Orlando Magic, Houston Rockets, New York Knicks, Detroit Pistons, Atlanta Hawks, the Chinese League Qingdao Eagles and now with the San Antonio Spurs. During his career McGrady has made the All Star Team 7 times, was a two-time NBA Scoring Leader, the Most Improved Player in 2001, and has made the All NBA First Team twice. The one thing missing from T-Mac’s career accomplishments is a NBA Championship.
“T-Mac to the rack!!”
Tracy McGrady was an awe to watch him play, as he was just so explosive in his drives to the basket. It became normal to hear “T-Mac to the rack!” followed by the loud cheer and applause from the crowd watching a true superstar perform on a level above anyone else. His best known performance came from his time in Houston as he scored thirteen points in a mere thirty-three seconds. This man could score on a level well beyond any player during his prime, the game of basketball came too easy to T-Mac during his greatest years. It’s a shame then to have seen Tracy McGrady slowly decline in his later years due to injuries and just the miles of playing catching up to him. At the end of the 2012 season with his contract with the Atlanta Hawks done, it looked like Tracy McGrady had no where else to go in the NBA; McGrady signed overseas to the Qingdao Eagles in the CBA (Chinese Basketball Association).
McGrady played in China for their leagues 2012-2013 season where his numbers were respectable to say the least
Two days ago on April 16th, T-Mac was signed to join the playoff bound San Antonio Spurs to help bolster their team. While Tracy McGrady is past his prime and his body is hampered by nagging injuries, he still has shown to still be able to play on a high level accompanied by flashbacks of his earlier dominance. While I doubt T-Mac will make that much of a difference to the Spurs overall playoff success or failure, I am happy enough to see T-Mac back in the NBA. Maybe..just maybe I will hear the words “T-Mac to the rack!” echo through my television one last time.
The Maurice Podoloff Trophy is given to the Most Valuable Player each year in the entire NBA. This year the clear favorite to win his fourth MVP award if Miami Heat Forward Lebron James. I will not sit here and say Lebron James is not an amazing basketball player, but I do not believe he deserves the award this year. Yes, he led the Miami Heat to a franchise record 27 win streak, yes he is the most dominant player right now, and yes he is a full-fledged superstar, but he is on a team built to achieve above and beyond the known limits. He is a very important corner-stone to the team, but not the most valuable player in the league.
2008 NBA MVP Kobe Bryant
No matter what arena you see him play, no matter what team he is playing against, Kobe Bryant will always hear “M-V-P! M-V-P!” chants. Oddly enough Kobe has only won one NBA MVP award back in 2008. This year he easily deserves to be a front-runner in the MVP conversation. The horribly underachieving Lakers have been willed on by Kobe alone and even though he is now out with a season ending Achilles tear, he has gotten them into the 8th seed of the playoffs.
Clippers Guard Chris Paul
Chris Paul (a.k.a CP3) has made the Clippers the team in Los-Angeles now and for years to come. He will become the corner-stone of the new dominant west coast force that are the Clippers. Chris Paul is long due for a MVP award and after watching him this year lead the Clippers to their first division title in decades, hitting the 50 win mark for the first time since 1976, and taking the Clippers on a dominant and undefeated month of December.
New York Knick Forward Carmelo Anthony
Carmelo Anthony is poised to win his first NBA Scoring Title after this season just nudging out Oklahoma City’s Kevin Durant. Over the month of April Carmelo has averaged nearly 29 points per game and lead his Knicks on a 13 game win streak that ended in Chicago. Anthony has always been an elite scorer but this season in New York he is proving to be a real MVP candidate. Over this season the Knicks were written off as “too old” but they have secured a second placed seed in the Eastern Conference and will match up against Boston in the first round (a real good game by the way). While Carmelo’s stats are no where as nice as James or other players, his Knicks are only 6-7 without him. I would easily give him the MVP Award this year since Melo is long overdue and has clearly proven his worth.
Spurs Guard Tony Parker
Ah, Tony Parker, he was once the “dark horse” MVP candidate throughout this season. In 65 games this season, Parked has averaged 20.4 points, 7.6 assists, while shooting 52.4%, and 35.3% from beyond the arc. He has once again lead the San Antonio Spurs to a 58-23 record while securing the second place seed in the Western Conference. Earlier this season some people would’ve penciled in Parker as the favorite to win the MVP as he was and the Spurs were just on a roll. Sadly in the month of April he has dropped off due to injuries and has only played four games. No matter what though, Tony Parker is still the dark horse candidate to win MVP.
Once again, I am not putting down Lebron James and his amazing talent and ability to play the game of basketball. He is the most dominant force in basketball right now and will be for a couple more years. James though, does not deserve another MVP award as he is clearly not the most valuable player for the team compared to others. Sadly though, a fourth trophy is inevitable.
There is always a sense of urgency on the Los Angeles Lakers team every year from first tip-off to the last game of the season. Every year the team is built, taught, and coached in a “win now” mode. This year is no different and that sense of “win now” is even more urgent than any other time I can remember. The driving force behind this Lakers team to win a championship is once again Kobe Bryant, but this year he has very good reason to be willing himself and his team to victory. You see, father time is catching up with Kobe Bryant and he is in the twilight of his storied career.
Kobe Bryant, aka the “Black Mamba” is playing his 17th season as a pro and he is guaranteed to be around for one last season. In those seventeen seasons he has played 1232 games as of today, racked up over 45,000 minutes, and is currently 5th on the All Time Leading Scorers list with 31,415 points, and this man is 34 years old. Let that all sink in for a minute. Oh wait let me also add he is shooting a near career high field goal percentage, leading shooting guards in assists per game, and is on par to become the 4th leading scorer within the next couple of games. Alright now I will give you another minute to let that all sink in. While I can be treated to see the explosive play of Lebron James, the effortless scoring barrage from Kevin Durant, and other young NBA players every night, I am still amazed to see a man who has put so much wear and tear on his body still produce at these levels.
Many consider Kobe to be in the Top 5 greatest players to ever grace any professional basketball court, he is also considered the second greatest Shooting Guard (NBA icon Michael Jordan is of course number one here). Looking upon his earned accomplisments, records, and accolades it is easy to understand why his name comes up in such conversation. Bryant has earned numerous awards in his professional career, but let me just name the highlights. He is a 5 time NBA Champion, 2 time Finals MVP, 15 time NBA All Star, 4 time All Star MVP, and has two gold Olympic Gold Medals from Beijing and London. On top of those NBA accomplisments, Kobe is considered one of, if not the greatest, to ever play for the Los Angeles Lakers organization. The Black Mamaba holds the Lakers records for: career points total, most points in a single season, most played games, and most points in a single game.
Kobe is pursuing in tying if not surpassing NBA icon Michael Jordan in rings at six; While many around the league, myself included, do not see this Lakers team even reaching the playoffs, doubters only seem to fuel the Mamba into playing at an all time high for his career. This amazing play has earned him his newest nickname, “Vino”, referring to him only getting better with age. While father time still continues to tick against Bryant’s favor, seeing one of the greatest play in basketball history play at such a level is an honor.
While Byant himself has not confirmed his retirement after his 18th season, there is a lot of doubt of him coming back for one last hurrah. The day Kobe Bean Bryant hangs up his purple and gold armor while be a day of days, as an icon and face of the NBA finally can go home and rest.
Kobe Bryant can be followed on Facebook and his recent Twitter account
The Knicks began the season looking like they could be competing for the top spot in the East. A solid starting 5 and a deep bench combined with Carmelo Anthony’s MVP caliber first half was making for some exciting basketball. However, the Knicks limped into the all star break and have started the second half of the season with two very different but equally crushing losses.
Losing to Indiana is not shameful. Not showing up at all to play the game is very shameful. Then to go into Toronto and play the Raptors for what should be an easy win for the Knicks and to be dealt a heart breaking loss. It’s easy to wonder if the Knicks are beginning to crumble. At the begining of the season I wondered if the high average age would become an issue late in the season and it seems that my worries may have been well founded.
One idea to mix things up is by inserting Amar’e into the starting 5. No matter what the team does though, it’s all up to the players and head coach Mike Woodson. The Knicks opted to not make any significant changes at the trade deadline, only signing Kenyon Martin to a 10 day deal. The organization obviously feels that they have the right players on this team. What do you think? Can the Knicks straighten themselves out or are they done for?
We use cookies to improve your experience on our site. By agreeing to this, we can analyze browsing behavior and unique IDs on this site. Declining or revoking consent may affect certain features.
Functional
Always active
The technical storage or access is strictly necessary for the legitimate purpose of enabling the use of a specific service explicitly requested by the subscriber or user, or for the sole purpose of carrying out the transmission of a communication over an electronic communications network.
Preferences
The technical storage or access is necessary for the legitimate purpose of storing preferences that are not requested by the subscriber or user.
Statistics
The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for statistical purposes.The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for anonymous statistical purposes. Without a subpoena, voluntary compliance on the part of your Internet Service Provider, or additional records from a third party, information stored or retrieved for this purpose alone cannot usually be used to identify you.
Marketing
The technical storage or access is required to create user profiles to send advertising, or to track the user on a website or across several websites for similar marketing purposes.
To provide the best experiences, we use technologies like cookies to store and/or access device information. Consenting to these technologies will allow us to process data such as browsing behavior or unique IDs on this site. Not consenting or withdrawing consent, may adversely affect certain features and functions.
