If there’s ever a time during the year that is an absolute wasteland when it comes to NBA news, it’s when teams complete their rosters and everyone waits for training camp. No wonder the number one news item at the moment is LeBron James tying the knot.
Not that it would have gone unnoticed during the regular season as well. James is probably one of the five-six most famous athletes in the world, so about everything he does, on the basketball court or not, is very high profile, even when he doesn’t try to make it look like it.
But for those who can’t go by without NBA news every day of their lives, this truly is as close to prohibition as you can get. The only thing going on is players getting call ups to training caps, and the only recognizable names making some sort of headlines recently were Michael Beasley, who the Heat seem intent on giving another change, and Mike James making another run at a spot on an NBA roster with the Chicago Bulls.
Other than that? Speculations. How good the Detroit Pistons will be with their slightly unbalanced lineup that includes Josh Smith, Andre Drummond and Greg Monroe. Smith is talking about anticipating the fight for lobs, alley oops and rebounds in this bunch, but others are questioning this team’s ability to succeed as they’re very limited when it comes to stretching the floor.
Injuries and comebacks generate some excitement, but not much. Derrick Rose is definitely healthy for the opening game. Kobe Bryant? He’ll probably be. Rajon Rondo? Probably not. Which means the Boston Celtics are going to be horrible early on, and only slightly better once Rondo returns.
And that’s about it. For those with a basketball bug there is the Eurobasket which has some NBA players to follow on it, but not enough to generate a huge buzz for the tournament among NBA affectionados.
When the NFL and College Football are rearing their heads as they wake up from their slumber, nothing is strong enough to prevail. Maybe Floyd Mayweather remaining undefeated and picking up more money than any other athlete in history ($41.5 million). When that happens, James getting married is the only thing that seems actually interesting about the most popular (globally) league in North America.