Archives › Ira Winderman
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Now comes Chris Bosh‘s turn. Two months after LeBron James received his enraged embrace upon his post-free-agency return to Cleveland, Bosh gets his turn Wednesday in Toronto. Amid talk of Raptors fans giving him the Vince Carter treatment (security remains beefed up to this day whenever Vince heads north of the border) and Raptors players…
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Winderman: Lakers shouldn’t trade Bynum now because they’ll need to later
Feb 9, 2011, 8:19 PM EDT
Let’s see: You don’t trade Andrew Bynum because it compromises the Lakers’ size advantage. You don’t trade Andrew Bynum because it compromises the Lakers’ already questionable defense. You don’t trade Andrew Bynum for Carmelo Anthony because Jim Buss loves the guy to pieces. Fair enough. All (except the latter) legitimate points. But here’s another one:…
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Winderman: All-Star reserves show things still deeper out West
Feb 3, 2011, 8:35 PM EDT
Thursday’s lesson is simple and to the point. West? Good. East? Not so good. Granted All-Star selections are subjective. But after the All-Star reserves were announced Thursday night for the Eastern Conference, there sort of was a shrug, a “that’s about right” reaction. No righteous indignation. One can only muster so much outrage over the…
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Winderman: Will coaches pick four Celtics for Eastern All-Star reserves?
Jan 27, 2011, 3:48 PM EDT
Thursday night merely is the show. No actual work is involved, as the results of fan balloting for All-Star starters are revealed. Then conference coaches take over from there, having to fill out ballot for the seven reserves in each conference (Commissioner David Stern selects replacements for any injured players). This year, it will be…
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Now comes Part II of the Melo melodrama, and this could be even more intriguing. Not by volume, of course. The next incarnation won’t be a 15-player package. Rather, it will be fascinating to see just how much a team is willing to ante up for a potential four-month rental. In many ways, Anthony could…
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Winderman: Lose a free agent? You should get another draft pick.
Jan 13, 2011, 4:16 PM EDT
Among counterproposals offered recently by the National Basketball Players Association during collective-bargaining negotiations were various means to make it easier to facilitate trades. That, of course, is the type of item you put on the table as a means to eventually remove it when it comes down to cash concerns. But last summer, and this…
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So just over a year after arriving, Ron Artest apparently is having issues with the Lakers. Does this surprise anybody? Or could it be that Artest becomes just the latest one-and-done example in this league, a player who is everything as advertised upon arrival in terms of basketball skills and then becomes everything as advertised…
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Winderman: This season, to the conference winners go the spoils
Dec 29, 2010, 4:36 PM EDT
No, this is not the NFL, where regular-season dominance translates into a playoff bye. But this season, there just might be a similar reward forthcoming in the NBA. With all due respect to the Bulls and Jazz and others teams perhaps outplaying their expectations to this point, each conference appears to have three prime championship…
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Well, the Magic, Wizards and Suns showed us, didn’t they? More to the point, they shut us up. “No one is taking on Gilbert’s deal.” “The Magic aren’t unloading Rashard’s contract.” “The Suns are stuck with Turkoglu.” We all either said it or thought it. For years, the crutch in shooting down the wildest trade…
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Winderman: Stoudemire vs. Bosh moves from free agency to Madison Square Garden
Dec 16, 2010, 12:17 PM EDT
We’re not sure if Friday’s Heat-Knicks game will match Wednesday’s Celtics-Knicks for drama. But the matchup already has presented Miami and New York with a win-win situation. The Knicks have their singular star in Amare Stoudemire. The Heat have their complete complement in Chris Bosh. Although this will be the first time the power forwards…
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Winderman: The mid-level exception battleground — do you want two Jason Kaponos?
Dec 8, 2010, 8:58 PM EDT
How generous of the players’ union, offering to include not one but two mid-level exceptions in their latest collective-bargaining proposal. Chuckle first, then recognize you can never have too many Jason Kaponos. Of all the dollars and nonsense to come out of the back and forth between the league and the union as the current…
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For a moment, let’s move past the powder, the banned T-shirts, the extra security. Instead, let’s move into the moment itself, the heated, contentious atmosphere that will greet the Miami Heat during its Thursday visit to Quicken Loans Arena. It will be as close as the NBA gets to playoffs in early December. And it’s…
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The Miami Heat would like a do-over. No, not on the offseason haul of LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh. But rather on the approach. Uh, yeah, perhaps they did get just a wee bit ahead of themselves. “It’s not easy putting this kind of talent together,” Wade acknowledged in the wake of losses…
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Winderman: “Respect for the Game” not easy to define, even for LeBron, Terrence Williams
Nov 8, 2010, 7:41 PM EDT
While much has been made of the NBA’s crackdown on “respect for the game,” with the league’s whistle-blowing onslaught of technical fouls, the sought-after upgrade in decorum is actually more about respect for referees. But what exactly is respect for the game? Is it sideshow antics during games that seemingly make players bigger than their…
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For a moment, let’s move past the Big C, because that part of this Kevin Garnett debate is reprehensible, if uttered in any context. Instead consider something a bit more germane to these sports pages. And that’s Part B. Charlie Villanueva violated a prime tenet of the game and well could find himself receiving a…
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Contraction as collective-bargaining threat is lamentable on so many levels. In does little to advance the process, offers a solution to nothing. But contraction as a means toward competitive renewal? It is an option that should not be summarily dismissed, albeit one better debated at a time other than amid the expiration of a CBA.…
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Winderman: What 29 other teams? League hops on Heat hype express, too.
Oct 19, 2010, 10:50 AM EDT
So exactly how embarrassed is the NBA about the rest of its product? How uncomfortable is the league with its other 29 teams that after an offseason of decrying the arrogance of the Miami Heat and the team’s Big Three, the league jumps aboard the hype express? If you haven’t seen yet, TNT announced it…
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The team that would challenge 72-10 is 2-2 (unless you insist on counting a victory over CSKA Moscow, then it is 3-2). Of course, the team that would challenge 72-10 has been on true display for a grand total of 3 minutes, 17 seconds. That was when Dwyane Wade was lost in the exhibition opener…
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Video: Bosh: 'We'll see who hits first'
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Video: PBT Extra: LeBron's legacy at stake, Duncan's safe
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Video: Clippers, Celtics discussions 'can't be wrong'
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Video: Elliot looks ahead to Game 6
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Video: The Hype: How much would you pay to punch someone?
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Video: If Heat lose, 'all hell will break loose'
