When Branch Rickey took a chance on the athletic Kansas City Monarchs second baseman, Jackie Robinson, the former Brooklyn Dodgers executive was asked why. "[A box score] doesn't tell how big you are, what church you attend, what color you are, or how your father voted in the last election. It just tells what kind of baseball player you were on that particular day." [caption id="attachment_13665" align="ali ...

[caption id="attachment_12848" align="aligncenter" width="600"] Photo Credit: Steve Dykes / EPA[/caption] On January 23rd the Los Angeles Lakers lost on the road to the Grizzlies 106-93 and dropped to 17-25 to 12th place in the Western Conference. Most experts by now had completely counted the Lakers out and gave them no shot at making the playoffs. The story of the Lakers’ ineffectiveness and futility head ...

The Los Angeles Lakers were expected to be among the NBA’s elite during the 2012-13 NBA season. Clearly, those expectations have all but evaporated now. Adding future Hall-of-Famers like Dwight Howard and Steve Nash along with solid players like Antawn Jamison and Jodie Meeks looked great on paper. However, it is apparent now that this combination does not work on the court. [caption id="attachment_12430" a ...

When it comes to sports, everyone seems to have short-term memories. Players that are viewed as heroes one season are considered washed up the next. Coaches that win the Coach of the Year Award are fired the next season. A guy like Spencer Hawes will trend worldwide just because Blake Griffin dunked him on, and there is NEVER a time when Spencer Hawes should be trending worldwide… In today’s NBA, it is near ...

Center Lorenzen Vern-Gagne Wright was born in Memphis, TN and played his high school ball in Memphis. He moved on to play for the hometown Tigers and was selected as a 3rd Team All-American by the Associated Press during his sophomore year. Wright was part of the 1994-1995 Memphis Tigers team that made it to the Sweet Sixteen and still contained members from a team with Anfernee “Penny” Hardaway. Selected 7 ...

…And here’s the grand finale, my top 20 players in the NBA heading into the 2012-2013 season. Some quick refreshers: Age and contract are not factored in—the question is simply how much do I like each player for this season To qualify, players must have played at least one game in the league last season (sorry Andrei Kirilenko) and be on a current NBA roster And, again, no rookies (Anthony Davis will not be ...

The Eastern Conference Finals between the Celtics and the Heat went to seven games. The Western Conference Finals between the Thunder and Spurs was an exciting six game series. The NBA lucked out this year, with exhilarating playoffs that made this woeful New York Rangers fan forget about not making it to the Stanley Cup. What made these four teams so exciting to watch? The “Big 3s” that each team had. The ...