Sheridan Hoops Radio

All-Star Weekend is over, and the young kids -- John Wall and Kyrie Irving -- stole the spotlight from their older peers by winning the Slam Dunk title and the Al-Star MVP awards. Thee other "young" guy on prominent display was Adam SIlver, the new commissioner, whose news conference Saturday evening was both balanced and boring.  We learned that Silver grew up a Knicks fan, has no plans to expand the league beyond its current 30 teams, and wants to have all of the league's teams to be profitable. What is he going to do about the playoffs? That question went unasked and unanswered.  But rest assured, Silver will have a problem on his hands this spring when the first round of the Eastern Conference playoffs will be a collective dud. And maybe the second round, too. What can be done to remedy this situation? My answer comes in thios podcast with 95.7 The Game in San Francisco.

I was a guest on Sirius XM's NBA show today, which was co-hosted by former Memphis Grizzlies coach Lionel Hollins. Turning the tables, I opened the segment -- even though I was the interviewee -- by asking Hollins why he wasn't in Detroit taking command of the Pistons after the firing of Maurice Cheeks. Hollins came right out and said he is interested in the job, but that nobody from Detroit had reached out to contact him. Hollins also revealed that he expects his old team to make a cost-cutting move before the deadline, because certain players are going to achieve bonus money that will move the Grizzlies above the luxury tax threshold. Give a listen to what was quite the newsy interview.

Andrew Bynum is going to spend the next several weeks getting into shape and waving a towel for the NBA-leading Indiana Pacers, who have no plans to rush him into action after signing him last week. Is that a plan that makes sense? In this interview with Jody MacDonald of CBS Sports radio, we debated that question -- and I weighed in with the opinion that it is better to have a third option at center behind Roy Hibbert and Ian Mahinmi than to sit back and watch Bynum sign elsewhere -- perhaps even with an Eastern Conference contender that the Pacers might meet in the playoffs. Jody Mac, because of his Philadephia roots, did not exactly agree. It make for a lively back and forth as part of an around-the-NBA discussion. Enjoy.

It now seems only a matter of days before Mike Woodson becomes the first coach fired in the 2013-14 NBA season. As reported by our New York-based columnist, Michael Scotto, Woodson and his assistants are expecting to lose their jobs by the All-Star break, with Herb Williams taking over for the remainder of the season. What could prevent it from happening? It might take a win over the Oklahoma City Thunder on the road Sunday to keep the axe from falling. Why is it happening? That is Topic A of this around-the-NBA discussion on the Big O Show on AM 640 Sports in Miami from Friday afternoon.

The NBA does not give out midseason awards. We do at SheridanHoops.com. Chris Bernucca wrote a fantastic column with his picks for everything from Most Valuable Player to Executive of the Year, and a clickthrough is recomended just so you can read the snarky remarks he adds at the end of each category. Bernucca is quite witty. And his column includes so many notes from around the NBA, it'll make your head spin. I, too, have some picks for midseason awards, and I shared them in this interview with Spence Checketts and Gordon Monson on 1280 The Zone in Salt Lake City. Enjoy.

Adam Silver said the NBA is "looking at everything" when it comes to making changes for the future. The first thing he needs to look at is changing the league's playoff format. When spring arrives and there are eight first-round series, we can guarantee that four are going to be lousy unless they go seven games; and four are going to be so compelling that we'll all feel cheated if they don't go seven games. Of course, we are talking about the Eastern Conference playoffs in the first reference; the West playoffs on second reference. And this is going to be a major problem ratings-wise, because many folks on the East Coast simply do not have the luxury of staying awake until 1 a.m. or later to catch the good stuff. How to fix it? Cross-seeding is my idea, allowing for West teams to play East teams in the playoffs. Seed the teams 1 through 16, and go the rest of the way as though it is the NCAA tourney.  Travis Rodgers of KLAA Radio in Los Angeles had an idea of his own, and we discussed those proposals and took a quick swing around the league in this interview from Monday morning. Enjoy.

There is has been a ton of discussion around the Western Conference about who is All-Star worthy, and the latest player gaining some traction is Memphis Grizzlies point guard Mike Conley, whose team is within sight of .500 despite playing most of the season without Marc Gasol. If the Grizzlies can make a push over the break-even mark by the time coaches' ballots are due Jan. 27, can be make the cut? It's a crowded house out there -- and let's not forget that the final Western Conference All-Star will be selected by incoming commissioner Adam Silver. As noted in this interview with Eric Hasseltine on 92.9 Radio in Memphis, it'll likely be the first thing Silver does to piss people off in three or four NBA cities.

The titile of this post says it all: Is DeMarcus Cousins an All-Star? Well, I'll say this -- as I say in this interview with Grant Napear of KHTK Radio in Sacramento -- he is certainly an All-Star talent, and I have even given him an All-NBA third team vote in the past. But then I'll also ask you this: Is Gordan Hayward an All-Star?  Again, the Jazz shotmeister is certainly an All-Star talent, but an All-Star? I'll leave that for the coaches to decide, since the coaches are the ones who pick the reserves. But I'll warn both Cousins and Hayward that coaches value winning above all else. And they abhor players who put up great stats on terrible teams. Now, it is debatable whether the Kings and/or Jazz are terrible teams. They have both put up some exceptionally quality wins in the past couple of weeks, but they have the misfortune of playing in the highly competitive Western Conference, where there will be at least 4 good teams in the draft lottery this year. As for the All-Star Game, let's assume the five starters are going to be the five players who are leading the balloting (with the exception of Kobe Bryant, who is injured and likely will not play. Incoming commissioner Adam Silver will pick his replacment). The coaches will select seven reserves. In the backcourt, Bryant and Stephen Curry are the leading vote-getters, and Kevin Durant, Dwight Howard and Blake Griffin are the leaders at the three frontcourt positions. Who are the seven most worthy players after that?  Hard to find room for Cousins or Hayward. More at www.sheridanhoops.com.      

Carmeo Anthony has 30 million reasons to remain with the New York Knicks after he becomes an unrestricted free agent this summer. But if the Knicks don't have his word that he'll re-sign with them for five years at a max salary, can they afford to take the risk that he might leave? That is the question owner Jim Dolan and his tight-lipped lieutenants are asking themselves as New York struggles through the first half of the season, entering tonight's game against the Miami Heat as the 11th-seeded team in the Eastern Conference, tied in the win column with the overachieving Philadelphia 76ers and the underachieving Cleveland Cavaliers. Across the East River, the Brooklyn Nets just won their fourth straight game, preventing the Golden State Warriors from becoming the first team in NBA history to go undefeated on a road trip of seven games or more. So while the Nets are making positive headlines, the Knicks are suffering. They go into tonight's nationally televised game against the Miami Heat as the league laughingstock, and they don't gave the fallback of having a chance to win the draft lottery because they traded away their 2014 pick in the deal to acquire Anthony. Is it time to declare the Anthony era a failure? And if so, is it time to get what they can for 'Melo rather than risk losing him for nothing to a team such as the Lakers would will be able to offer him a max contract?  I discussed that scenario -- along with several other topics from around the NBA -- in this interview with Bob Kemp on SportsZone 1060 in Phoenix. Enjoy.

I have already made my thoughts known on the Luog Deng-Andrew Bynum trade in a column, the gist of whih is that the big loser in this deal was the Lakers. Go ahead and click through and give it a read as you listen to this audio from the NBA's Sirius-XM radio channel, in which I go into further detail about why Mitch Kupchak blew a golden opportunity to set the Lakers up for having a spectacular team -- and not having to pay the repeated luxury tax -- in the 2015-16 season, when Kobe Bryant will be in the final season of his contract. But that is not all we touched on in this wide-ranging interview with hosts Frank Isola and Mateen Cleaves. With Chris Paul and Russell Westbrook out for the next several weeks with injuries, who is the best point guard currently playing in the West? The choices are Stephen Curry and Damian Lillard, and I not only answered the question, I made the hosts answer it, too. (Can't help myself; I am still a reporter at heart, and reporters ask questions).  Andre Miller of the Nuggets also gets discussed, as do Stephon Marbury, Delonte West and Bobby Brown -- of of whom are currently playing in China. Enjoy.

The Pau Gasol-for-Andrew Bynum trade talks appear to be dormant but not dead. The Lakers would like to get another worthy asset thrown into in the deal ... but so would the Cavs. And you know what? I have to side with the Cavs and general manager Chris Grant on this one. By taking Gasol's $19.3 million salary off the Lakers' books, they will drop Los Angels below the luxury tax threshold, saving the Buss family in the area of $20 million. But that's only the start of it. The Lakers also will be under the tax next season, and that gets them out of danger of being subject to the dreaded repeater tax, which is levied against teams that exceed the tax threshold four times in five seasons. So it's not just the current $20 million that the Cavs would be saving the Buss family, it is untold tens of millions more in two seasons when the Lakers figure to be a taxpaying team once again in the final season of Kobe Bryant's extension. So multiply that $20 million by a factor of at least two -- probably more given the punitive nature of the repeater tax, and you get an idea of how valuable acquiring and waiving Bynum can be to the Buss family fortune. Which is why if I am Chris Grant, I keep saying "no" to Los Angeles unless and until they throw Nick Young into the deal. More on that trade, other trade chatter ... and a closer look at the struggling Memphis Grizzlies in this podcast with Three Shades of Blue radio on WHBQ radio in Memphis.

By now you have probably heard the news that Andrew Bynum had been suspended indefinitely for conduct detrimental to the team, and that the Cleveland Cavaliers will look to trade him before the remainder of his two-year, $24 million contract becomes guaranteed on Jan. 7. Would anyone want him? All character issues aside -- and there are plenty of those -- this is still a player who started for the Western Conference All-Stars just two seasons ago. And 7-footers, even former All-Stars with knee issues, don't grow on trees. If you could get him in exchange for an expiring contract, would you do it? Becuase there are plenty of players on expiring contracts whose salaries are roughly the same as Bynum's. One such possibility is Kris Humphries of the Boston Celtics, and one has to wonder whether the Atlanta Hawks will kick the tires on a potential Bynum deal now that it appears Al Horford is done for the season with a torn pectoral muscle. More on Bynum, plus a spin around the league, in this interview with John Jastremski of CBS Sports Radio.

The Brooklyn Nets entered the season with championship expectations and one of the most talented rosters on paper. However, Brooklyn has failed to meet those lofty expectations and the roster has failed to develop chemistry thanks largely to injuries. Michael Scotto covers the Nets for Sheridan Hoops as an NBA columnist. In this podcast with FOX Sports Radio he examines Brooklyn’s bleak 2014 outlook and if it’s time to sell at the trade deadline or hold onto the core pieces for another run next season at full strength. Scotto joined Chris Rix and Arnie Spanier of FOX Sports Radio to detail Brooklyn’s rapid decline

We have quite the interesting post up today from Evan Abrams, known on Twitter as @Betropolitan, who lists the odds -- and they are very long odds -- on anybody other than the Indiana Pacers or Miami Heat emerging from the Eastern Conference. You can even get 40-1 odds on the Detroit Pistons, who have defeated both of those conference powerhouses. Those are the same odds listed for the Brooklyn Nets and New York Knicks, who both have major problems on their hands and no easy solutions. In this interview with Jody MacDonald on WFAN in New York, we hit on the problems of the local teams, what the silver lining is for each of them, and what can be done via trade or via patience for the Knicks and Nets to turn their seasons around.

Every now and then I appear on the BBC World Service, which is broadcast in about 1,800 different countries -- or something just short of that number. I aways enjoy explaining the NBA to the Brits, because their knowledge of basketball still trails their knowledge of cricket by something like 1,800 percent. In this appearance, we discused the lack of rivalries in today's NBA -- which is astonishing to the British because teams can play each other as many as 11 times during a season, as the Pacers and Heat did last season. But there is no rivalry between those teams ... and there probably still won't be one, although it could be building if Indiana manages to do into Miami this coming Wednesday night and knock off the Heat. In my opinion, it'd probably take a 4-0 or 3-1 season series by the Pacers just to stoke the rivalry, and then there would need to be another fiesty seven-game series with some histrionics thrown in -- just like Reggie Miller did in the old days when he openly admitted he "hated" the New York Knicks. Now that was a rivalry. But these days, the NBA is devoid of them, as LeBron James recently pointed out. Enjoy.