Michael Collins

Q&A: Ben Madgen on Leaving the NBL, Belgian Chocolate and his Future in the Game

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It has been an eventful year for the NBL. A familiar champion was crowned, Wollongong and Townsville fought for survival and won, Kestelman bought (and likely saved) the league, NBL players became NBA names and in the end, an air of excitement has swept the sport for the first time in years. But even with the NBL’s newfound stability and… Read more →

The Setting of the Suns

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There is a useful gauge of an NBA franchise’s sanity levels sweeping through the league this off-season. It’s coming in 140-word character limits and occasional grass emojis. The Sacramento Kings were appropriately first on the twitter-block with perhaps the finest collection of passive-aggressive tweets involving DeMarcus Cousins and non-Kings Andre Iguodala and Carmelo Anthony. One hoped the off-season insanity that… Read more →

Warriors Rode Small-Ball Adjustment to NBA Title

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Nostalgia be damned. The Finals flushed out big men with the same velocity that Game of Thrones handles well-read, good-natured people. As Steve Kerr denoted after game five, “It’s just not a series for bigs right now.” Andrew Bogut’s role was reduced to setting screens between Draymond Green and the referees in timeouts. Even David Lee’s mini-revival proved to be… Read more →

Changing of the Guard

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The enduring image of the 2007 NBA Finals is Tim Duncan placing his right hand on LeBron James’ shoulder and telling him, “This is gonna be your league in a little while. I appreciate you giving us this year.” Timmaay was right, of course. This has been LeBron’s league for quite some time now, and in the East, he has… Read more →

Matthew Dellavedova: Against All Odds

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There’s not much to see on the drives through Maryborough or Cleveland, where the excitement peaks at either the Gold Panning Championships or the National Sports Collectors Convention. But drive slowly… if you’re lucky, you might catch a glimpse of one of the best underdog stories of the NBA playoffs. You might’ve heard about him. His name is Matthew Dellavedova… Read more →

How the Point Guard Battle Will Decide the Hawks-Wizards Series

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Just six weeks ago, Randy Wittman seemed to have lost the Wizards’ fan base and its locker room, while the Hawks were the deadly darlings of the NBA. But something strange happened over the last few weeks, where plights have reversed and fortunes shifted. Wittman slid Paul Pierce to the four, was introduced to the whiteboard and Bradley Beal remembered… Read more →

Aron Baynes, Blake Griffin and the Legacy of the AND1 Mixtapes

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The San Antonio Spurs are defined by their diamonds in the rough. Guys like Danny Green and Patty Mills have extracted NBA careers in Texas. But something struck me just before I watched Blake Griffin and Chris Paul disembowel the Spurs in Game One: Aron Baynes was this year’s 2013-14 Regular Season Patty Mills. The defending champs survived Tiago Splitter’s… Read more →