Category: Sports News

At various points across January and February, the Atlanta Hawks looked like a team that needed the All-Star break. Heading into the break on the back of a three-game losing streak would be one such indicator that the break was a welcome one, and could use the team to rest, while also looking fondly at Jalen Johnson’s first All-Star game appearance, and subsequent triumph as part of the winning effort of Team Stars.

Now, the focus returns to the Atlanta Hawks, the team, as the second, unofficial ’half’ of the season looms large. So, with that said, let’s look ahead to the schedule that lies ahead for the Hawks, break it down month-by-month, and unpack the remaining schedule as the Hawks look to improve their place in the Eastern Conference standings; currently sat in 10th with a 26-30 record.

Starting with the remaining month of February:

Total games: 5

Home games: 4

Road games: 1

Back-to-backs: 1

Longest road trip: 1 game

Longest homestand: 4 games

Opponent winning percentage: 37.5%

The Hawks couldn’t have asked for much better in terms of an ease of schedule after the break. Yes, a difficult game against the Sixers on the road to return — and a much better than expected Sixers team since we last did this exercise in the preseason — is not entirely helped by the game being on the first night of a back-to-back with the Miami Heat in town the following night.

However, a game against the languishing, and openly tanking, Brooklyn Nets and, more notably, two fixtures against the Washington Wizards provide an ample opportunity for the Hawks to get a winning streak going. It’s never a guarantee; the Hawks have an unfortunate history of failing to beat the Wizards in seemingly favorable situations and expectations…

Of course, two Washington fixtures mean two meetings against former Hawk Trae Young for the first time since his in-season trade to Washington. However, Young’s injury status is currently unknown ahead of these two fixtures; the last update issued by the Wizards was that Young would be re-evaluated after the All-Star break.

That said, I’d be very surprised if he played in either of these games, with Washington objectives for the season pretty well-set. Still, there will be, undoubtedly, a tribute to the former franchise player and, hopefully, a kind reception for a player who, yes, was flawed, but provided a lot of memorable moments in his time as an Atlanta Hawk.

To March:

Total games: 15

Home games: 10

Road games: 5

Back-to-backs: 1

Longest road trip: 2 games (twice)

Longest homestand: 5 games

Opponent win percentage: 48%

The last ‘full-on’ month of the NBA season is on that is, again, pretty kind to the Hawks. They have a predominantly home-heavy schedule, with 10 of their 15 total games taking place at State Farm Arena. A mixed bag of opponents range from heavy-hitters such as the Eastern Conference-leading Detroit Pistons on the road, two games against the Boston Celtics, and a difficult road-tilt in Houston. You have a range of play-in teams such as Portland, Orlando, and Golden State, in addition to the play-in chasing Milwaukee Bucks.

Finally, you have a number of teams who have either actively given up — or very close to it — and these include the Nets, two games against the Dallas Mavericks, the Grizzlies, and the Sacramento Kings. Those two games against the Bucks could be critical to determining seeding, especially if Giannis returns for the Bucks. Similarly, the Orlando game may carry significant weight in the final standings among those play-in teams.

Recent acquistions/departees will be reacquainted in the month of March, with both Jonathan Kuminga, Buddy Hield, and Kristaps Porzingis all facing former teams in March 21st’s meeting against the Golden State Warriors. The Atlanta meeting between these two teams is usually a boisterous affair, especially if Steph Curry is in action, and with everything surrounding the Kuminga trade, I’m sure this game will be one to circle. A homecoming at the beginning of the month for Vit Krejci, now with the Portland Trail Blazers, is sure to be a popular one as Krejci was very well liked by his teammates.

Finally, to April:

Total games: 6

Home games: 2

Road games: 4

Back-to-backs: 0

Longest road trip: 2 games (twice)

Longest homestand: 1 game (twice)

Opponent win percentage: 53.3%

A difficult stretch to finish, and an extremely important couple of games, most notably on the road in Orlando and in Miami. At least one of those games is very likely to be a rehearsal of a play-in fixture to decide a potential postseason berth, in addition to potentially determine seeding and, potentially, who plays at home in the play-in tournament, versus being on the road. All three teams would consider their scenarios this season as disappointing, and none will provide an inch of advantage over fellow Southeast Division rivals. Time will tell whether the decisions from Orlando and Miami to stand-pat at the trade deadline — compared to the very active Hawks — will pay off in comparison to each other.

Elsewhere, a ‘gimme’ against the Brooklyn Nets is about the only respite compared to two games against two Eastern Conference juggernauts in the New York Knicks, and the rolling Cleveland Cavaliers (twice). Whether the Cavaliers will still be rolling by this stage of the season remains to be seen, but they are absolutely improved following the James Harden trade, and likely to be fighting for seeding by this stage of the season, with any seed from two-to-fifth still reasonably plausible for the Cavaliers. In other words, the Hawks should not expect an easy pass in these spots, and that will include the Knicks game, too.

Per Tankathon, the Hawks have one of the easier strengths of schedule remaining in the NBA; while this is a guarantee of absolutely nothing, it does suggest — and as we’ve looked at now — that the Hawks have a favorable situation to end their season on a more positive note. With the additions of Kuminga and Hield, in addition to Corey Kispert and CJ McCollum a month prior, the Hawks will hope that time in practice and integrate further into the team will provide them with a higher ceiling than when Young was with the team, and when Porzingis absent more often than not.

Irrespective of to what degree of success the Hawks achieve doing this, if any, their end-of-season scenario is unlikely to change: they’ll, very likely, be playing the play-in tournament for the opportunity to enter the NBA postseason as a seventh or eighth seed…just as they for a number of years now. However, a look not-too-far-East to New Orleans may provide a greater sense of optimism heading out of this season than previous seasons…

Until next time!

We have reached the final stop on this ride, the point where the road narrows and we finally reveal the last two tiers and the three players who sit above all else on the Phoenix Suns All-Time Pyramid. What started as a random idea, a Salad and Go cold brew in one hand as the calendar flipped, has slowly turned into something much bigger than I ever anticipated.

16,000+ words later, here we are.

This was always about more than rankings or arguments or filling space on the internet. The goal was simple, even if the execution was not. To build something that could live beyond the moment. Something we can reference years from now, something others might stumble upon long after we are gone. Through it, readers can understand who the best players in Suns history were. And why.

This pyramid is a snapshot of memory, effort, impact, and identity. It is imperfect by design, shaped by perspective, emotion, and lived experience. But it is honest. And now, with everything laid out and the foundation set, it is time to finish the thing and place the final names where they belong.

Somewhere along the way, a realization set in and stayed with me. This franchise may not have climbed all the way to the mountaintop and grabbed a championship banner, but that does not mean it lacks history, weight, or meaning. Far from it.

If your entire sports worldview begins and ends with championships, I genuinely feel bad for you. Not in a condescending way, but in a “missed out” way. Because you are skipping the best parts. You are ignoring the process, the moments, the nights that stayed with you long after the final buzzer. You are reducing something expansive into a single checkbox and calling it analysis.

Basketball is memory. It always has been. As you move through these names and the eras they lived in, nostalgia creeps in whether you invite it or not. That is the beauty of sports. In real time, you feel frustration, joy, anger, pride, and exhaustion. Only later do you really understand what you were watching, how it fit together, and why it mattered.

Those Seven Seconds or Less teams still carry disappointment because they never finished the job, and that reality does matter when you start stacking players and weighing legacies. Barkley and Booker have made the Finals, but like every season in the history of the organization, it ended with disappointment. But it does not erase the magic of what those seasons felt like, or how alive they made this fan base.

That is the spiritual side of sports, and that has been the most rewarding part of this whole exercise. Digging through player histories. Replaying moments in my head. Mining stats. Building graphics. Staring at old photos soaked in purple and orange. That shared color palette, those shared memories, that is the connective tissue. That is what binds us.

Reducing all of that to whether a championship happened is easy. Too easy. It lacks imagination. It lacks depth.

These final two tiers have depth. They invite debate. They demand context. And honestly, there is no wrong answer here. You could place any one of these final three players at the top of the pyramid and make a compelling case. I landed where I landed, and I am comfortable with it, but I also respect the arguments that go another direction.

So, before I explain why I made the final call the way I did, let’s talk about the last three players who occupy the top two tiers of the Phoenix Suns All-Time Pyramid.

I know the second that graphic hit your screen, you felt something. Maybe it was agreement. Maybe you nodded along. Maybe you muttered, “Voita, you’re an idiot, how could you possibly do that?” And honestly, that reaction is the whole point. That push and pull is what makes this such a good conversation in the first place.

So I am asking you for one thing before you sprint to the comment section with the keys smoking. Read the article. Give me the space to explain why I landed where I did, and why certain names went where they went. How I weighed what matters to me in a project like this. I am fully aware that I might not be right. But you know what? I might not be wrong either…

Tier 2: Organizational Royalty

Charles Barkley. The Round Mound of Rebound. If you are looking for the cleanest definition of a supernova in Phoenix Suns history, this is it. No player arrived in the Valley already in his prime with this level of gravity, personality, and immediate takeover energy the way Sir Charles did. This was not a slow burn. This was ignition.

He arrived after the 1992 Barcelona Olympics, riding global stardom into a brand new arena, a new uniform, and a new coach. The timing felt almost cinematic. Loud, eccentric, confrontational, brilliant, Barkley did not blend into Phoenix. He bent it around himself. That 1992–93 run remains one of the most electric seasons not only in Suns history, but in the storytelling fabric of the NBA itself, a moment where basketball felt bigger, louder, and impossibly alive.

I think it is fair to say that the 1992-93 season by Charles Barkley stands as the single greatest season by any player in Phoenix Suns history. Sure, Steve Nash came to Phoenix in his prime and won MVPs. Yes, that team went 62-20. Charles Barkley did that too, and then he carried the Suns all the way to the NBA Finals, doing it with a force of personality that rattled arenas and pulled the entire league into Phoenix’s orbit. Nash floated. Barkley detonated.

That first year, Barkley averaged 25.6 points per game and 12.2 rebounds, won the MVP, made the All-Star team, and earned First Team All-NBA honors. He checked every possible box a superstar season can check. In a moment when Michael Jordan was operating at the absolute peak of his powers, there was a real and serious conversation happening about whether Charles Barkley was the best player in the world.

That debate ultimately met reality in the NBA Finals, where Jordan averaged 41.0 points and 6.3 assists over six games and slammed the door shut, but for that stretch of time, it was not outrageous to ask the question. That alone tells you how high Barkley’s level was.

What followed was a meteoric rise for the Suns as a franchise. Phoenix was no longer a quiet basketball outpost or a historical footnote. After 24 years of existence and a lone Finals appearance in 1976, the city and the team finally commanded national attention. Charles Barkley did not only elevate the Suns on the court, he altered how the league viewed Phoenix altogether, and that impact is impossible to separate from the history of the organization.

Statistically, the Barkley run in Phoenix is as loud as it gets. Over 280 games across four seasons, he was an All-Star every year and made four All-NBA teams. While only one of those landed on the First Team in 1992-93, the consistency still matters.

When you scan the Suns’ record book, his name jumps off the page. He is number one all-time in player efficiency rating, number one in defensive rebounds per game at 8.4, and he owns the single-season mark as well, pulling down 9.1 defensive boards per night in that 1992-93 season. He sits second in rebounds per game at 11.5, trailing only Paul Silas, and despite spending only four seasons in Phoenix, he still ranks fourth in triple-doubles and seventh in total rebounds. That is how concentrated his impact was.

Meteoric is the right word.

When you talk about the greatest players to ever wear purple and orange, Charles Barkley is always part of the conversation. Personally, I think Shaquille O’Neal and Kevin Durant belong on that broader list too, which might be another pyramid project I just talked myself into. Still, if you place Barkley at the very top of your Suns pyramid, I am not here to tell you that you are wrong. The case is real, and it is powerful.

Where the discussion gets more layered is in the length and the ending of his time in Phoenix. The first two seasons live warmly in memory, full of energy, relevance, and belief. The final stretch was rockier, emotionally and structurally, and that tension is part of the story whether we like it or not. As Zach Bryan says in his song All Good Things Must Pass, “Nostalgia has a way of lookin’ better in your head.” (Did you honestly think I would write and this entire series without one Zach Bryan philosophical reference?! C’mon…you know me better than that…)

Even so, the weight of what he did here is undeniable. Four seasons. One MVP. One Finals run. A franchise lifted into the national spotlight. That is Tier 2 territory without question, a peak so high and so impactful that it still casts a shadow decades later

I’ve done a lot of soul searching over this thought exercise, and at some point, I had to be honest with myself and allow the list to breathe. Devin Booker was at the top when I started. That felt right in the moment. But the deeper I went, the more I realized his story is still being written, and as much as I believe in where it is headed, there are still rungs left on the ladder for him to climb.

That is not a knock. It is an acknowledgment of motion.

Booker is still adding chapters in real time. Every night reshapes the graphic. Every season stretches the ceiling. He has been here for 11 years now, drafted 13th overall out of Kentucky in 2015, and none of us truly saw this coming. We hoped for a Klay Thompson-type outcome. What we got was a franchise cornerstone, a player whose arc is still bending upward, and because of that, the top spot has to wait.

The numbers will keep shifting because he is still active, still stacking nights, still moving the goalposts. Even so, the shape of the résumé is already clear.

Devin Booker is the leading scorer in the history of the franchise. He sits third all-time in scoring average at 24.5 points per game. Five of the top ten scoring seasons in Suns history belong to him, and his 2023–24 season finished second all-time, ten points shy of Tom Chambers’ long-standing mark. In the postseason, he is second all-time in franchise history at 28.0 points per game across 47 games, which says plenty about how his game scales when the lights get brighter.

He is first all-time in three-point attempts and makes, second in free throw attempts and free throws made, third in minutes played, and third in overall free throw percentage. He owns a spot inside the top five single-season free-throw percentages at 91.9% in 2019–20, ranks fifth in defensive rebounds, and ninth in total rebounds in Suns history.

Taken together, it tells a very clean story. Devin Booker is the greatest scorer this franchise has ever had, not for a moment or a season, but across the full arc of a career. Efficient, repeatable, and relentless, with one of the purest jump shots the league has seen, and a nightly consistency that has defined an era of Suns basketball.

One of the real challenges Booker faces is the era he plays in. We have never had more access, more data, more angles, and more opportunities to dissect every possession a player has. You can go back and pick apart anyone on this pyramid if you want, but with Booker, it feels louder, sharper, more immediate.

We are all plugged in now, walking around with a tiny computer in our pocket, capable of amplifying every frustration, every missed rotation, every off-shooting night, and firing it straight into the void. I do it too. We all do. And through all of that noise, Devin Booker keeps showing up, night after night, carrying this organization with a level of consistency that is easy to overlook precisely because it has become normal.

There is also one detail that cannot be ignored when placing him in Suns history. He is 29 years old. There is still a massive portion of his story left to write in Phoenix. Steve Nash was 30 when he arrived in 2004 and reshaped the franchise. Booker is already deep into his Suns tenure, and while his game is not built the same way, not designed first to supercharge everyone around him, he has grown into a dangerous scorer and a capable playmaker who can bend games in multiple ways.

The fan in me wants him at the top of this pyramid right now. I feel that pull. But the honest version of this exercise says the moment has not arrived yet. He is building one of the greatest careers the franchise has ever seen, and that part is undeniable.

Where he ultimately lands will be decided by the chapters that are still coming, the ones that determine whether his story finishes as great, or transcendent, or something even heavier than that.

Tier 1: Face of the Franchise

Where do you even start with Steve Nash? I suppose the only honest place is the beginning.

Draft night, 1996, the 15th pick out of Santa Clara, a skinny kid from Canada who did not exactly scream future Hall of Fame point guard. At the time, he looked like someone who would survive in the league, maybe carve out a nice career, maybe bounce around a bit. What he eventually became was something far bigger than that.

Steve Nash did not grow into a star quietly. He grew into a force that reshaped the organization, the fan base, and eventually the way basketball itself was played. Trying to define him strictly through numbers almost misses the point, even though the numbers are good. His Suns averages line up closely with Jason Kidd in purple and orange. Both at 14.4 points per game. Kidd actually edges him in assists per game, 9.7 to Nash’s 9.4. On paper, that feels like a wash.

And that is exactly why statistics can lie to you.

Because what Steve Nash did was not about box scores. It was about movement, tempo, spacing, and belief. He turned Phoenix into a basketball laboratory, a place where the game moved faster, smarter, freer. He made shooters better. He made bigs richer. He made role players feel indispensable. Night after night, the ball popped, the floor stretched, and the Suns felt inevitable in a way that no spreadsheet can fully capture.

Steve Nash did not simply play basketball in the Valley. He changed how it was understood. He changed what fans expected. He changed what opponents feared. And in doing so, he left behind something that numbers alone will never be able to explain.

He could have been one of the great scorers of his generation if that had ever been the priority. The skill was there. The efficiency was there. His 43.5% shooting from three is the highest mark from beyond the arc in franchise history. He ranks second all-time in made threes at 1,051 and second in attempts at 2,417, which makes that percentage even louder. And yet, across ten seasons in Phoenix, he averaged only 3.2 attempts per night. The shots were available. He simply chose something else.

That choice tells you everything you need to know about Steve Nash.

He hit his share of unforgettable threes, the kind that live forever in highlight reels and late-night arguments, but scoring was never the point. His obsession was amplification. Make everyone else better. Pull defenders out of position. Turn good players into great ones and role players into weapons. That was the engine. That was the gift. That is why he won two MVPs.

Not because he poured in points, but because he unlocked entire rosters.

In his first MVP season, 2004-05, he averaged 15.5 points per game. That number still surprises people who did not live through it. What matters more is the 11.5 assists per night, the league-leading mark, and what happened around him. A team that had won 29 games the season before he arrived finished 62-20. That does not happen by accident. That happens when one player rewires how basketball is played.

It is difficult to fully articulate what Steve Nash meant to the Suns and to the league at large. People often point to 1992-93 as a turning point for the franchise, and it absolutely was. But what Nash did beginning in 2004 reshaped the entire sport. Pace changed. Spacing changed. Decision-making changed. The league we watch now traces a straight line back to what was happening nightly in Phoenix.

And then there are the numbers, which somehow still feel understated. He sits first all-time in franchise assists, finishing just shy of 7,000. He owns the second, third, fourth, fifth, sixth, and ninth best single-season assist totals in Suns history. He is first all-time in Suns free throw percentage at 90.7%, and he set the single-season franchise record in 2009-10 by hitting 93.8% from the line. He ranks third in win shares and third in total games played.

Steve Nash did not dominate the game by force. He bent it. He guided it. He made everyone around him sharper, faster, and more dangerous. And long after the numbers blur together, that feeling remains.

Nash gave the Suns legitimacy. He gave them relevance. He gave them gravity. He led the league in assists five times during his ten seasons in Phoenix, and the winning followed right along with him. From 2004 through 2012, the Suns went 405-235. That is not a hot stretch. That is sustained excellence. And he was the best guy on the court every night.

In the postseason, he was still Steve Nash, averaging 18.2 points and 9.7 assists on absurd 50/38/90 shooting splits. And yet, the one thing missing still hangs in the air. He never reached the NBA Finals in a Suns uniform. The Spurs and the Mavericks made sure of that.

But yes, he absolutely should sit at the top of the pyramid. Because what he did? It was Nashty.

There was one part of this project that ended up being trickier than I expected, even though by the time I reached the end it all settled into place, and that was naming the tiers themselves. The labels are mostly arbitrary, an attempt to give each level a little more personality than Tier 1, Tier 2, Tier 3, and so on, but the final tier carries real weight. “The Face of the Franchise”. That is the one where people tend to pause, reread, and start forming opinions immediately.

When you really think about it, the player at the top of any pyramid, for any team, is exactly that. The face. The name that comes to mind first when the organization is mentioned. The mental shortcut your brain takes before you even realize it is happening. That is why the final two tiers matter so much, because all three of those players qualify depending on who you ask.

If you are a newer fan, or someone who came of age watching this current era, Devin Booker is the answer without hesitation. If you are ten or fifteen years older, your brain probably goes straight to Steve Nash. And if you go back another generation, you are likely landing on Charles Barkley, because of what Suns basketball meant nationally at that moment, the visibility, the swagger, the feeling that Phoenix was suddenly on the map.

That is what makes the question so personal. The answer changes based on memory, age, and lived experience. There is no universal response, and that is part of what makes this exercise worth doing in the first place.

For me, when I step back and look at the totality of the franchise history, Steve Nash is the answer that holds up the longest. Fifty years from now, even if no one is playing basketball anymore and all that remains are stories, clips, and context, what Nash did and how he did it will still resonate.

The journey has ended. The pyramid is built. The conclusions, though, remain open, because there are still chapters waiting to be written, still performances left to deliver, still awards that have not found their owner.

I want to thank everyone who leaned into these conversations with me over the past few weeks. This was ambitious, something I had kicked around in my head more than once, and then finally decided to sit down and do. A free weekend turned into digging through data, combing through box scores, rewatching highlights, designing graphics, and slowly letting the history of this franchise breathe again. It became more than a project. It became an experience, one that sparked a handful of other thought exercises I might circle back to someday.

By the end of it all, I feel like I landed where I was supposed to land, even if it took longer than expected to get there. I still believe Devin Booker should be the face of the franchise because when his career reaches its conclusion, I believe that is exactly what he will be. That conviction never left me.

What changed came late in the process, during the final pass through the pyramid, while writing the closing pieces and assembling the Steve Nash graphic.

Seeing it all laid out again, the weight of what Nash accomplished in Phoenix hit differently. The longevity. The sustained success. The way he carried the organization year after year and reshaped how basketball was played, not only in the Valley but across the league. He matched the tenure Booker already has, and paired it with a level of consistent winning that is incredibly difficult to maintain.

Nash never reached the NBA Finals in Phoenix, but there are real reasons for that, reasons rooted in usage, roster depth, and the physical toll placed on guards asked to carry everything every night. Mike D’Antoni rode him hard. The margins were thin. The league was unforgiving.

It is a reminder of how difficult it is to win a championship as the best player on a team when you are a guard. You absorb contact. You take the hits. We saw it with Kevin Johnson. Paul Westphal never broke through either. Chris Paul and Devin Booker both reached the Finals, only to run into teams powered by dominant size and strength.

That context matters. It always has.

This pyramid is not a verdict carved in stone. It is a snapshot in time, shaped by history, memory, and perspective. And if there is one thing this exercise reinforced, it is how rich this franchise’s story really is, championship or not.

There are lessons tucked into this whole exercise. There are flowers that deserve to be handed out. There is appreciation to be felt and shared.

The Phoenix Suns have never climbed all the way to the top of the mountain, but that does not mean they have failed to give us something meaningful to hold onto. There is beauty in the process. There is beauty in the game itself. There is beauty in the history, in the conversations that history sparks, in the nights spent inside an arena or on a couch, living and dying with every possession.

Looking back through this pyramid forced me to sit with memories, some joyful, some frustrating, all of them personal. Players I grew up watching. Players I learned about later through numbers, stories, and grainy highlights. Friends and family who were part of my Suns’ experience. Some of them are still with us. Some of them are not.

That is part of the responsibility that comes with being a fan, and part of the responsibility I feel as a writer. To carry those stories forward. To keep them alive. To share them openly. To welcome new fans into the fold without acting like gatekeepers or arbiters of truth.

This was always a subjective process. Disagreement is baked into it. You might not see the pyramid the way I do, and that does not make either of us wrong. Sports history lives in memory as much as it lives in data, and memory is personal by nature. The arguments are part of the fun. The debate is the point.

Alright, maybe there is one exception. If you have Deandre Ayton on this pyramid, we might need to talk. That one probably came from a spreadsheet and not from watching the games. A joke. Mostly.

More than anything, I had fun doing this. I hope you had fun reading it. I hope you learned something you did not know before. I hope it led to a conversation, a text thread, a late-night argument, or a shared laugh. Because that is what makes sports matter. It is never only about the action on the floor. It is about the people watching, reacting, remembering, and connecting through it all.

That is what rooting for the purple and orange has always been about.

Jerome Tang called his Kansas State basketball team "embarrassing." No argument on that point. K-State fans wore paper bags over their heads. Embarrassed by all of it, the university fired Tang.

Tang won't be the last college basketball coach fired these next several weeks. The hot seat steams from Syracuse to LSU to Oklahoma and lands in between.

Adrian Autry, Syracuse

Why it’s hot: Syracuse is mired in a yearslong nosedive. Never mind the glory days, is it too much to ask the Orange to make the NCAA Tournament? No, it shouldn’t be too much to ask. It might be time for Syracuse to break with the Jim Boeheim coaching tree.

March Sadness: College basketball's 10 most disappointing teams

Bracketology: Who is rising in latest March Madness predictions

Jeff Capel, Pittsburgh

Why it’s hot: This is Capel’s eighth season. He’s been to the NCAA Tournament once. This season has been a disaster, including losses to Hofstra and Quinnipiac. If Pitt keeps Capel, take that as a sign it’s too poor to pay his buyout. There’s no other case for retention.

Jake Diebler, Ohio State

Why it’s hot: On one hand, Diebler’s buyout would be a de minimis housekeeping cost for a revenue behemoth like Ohio State. On the other hand, the Buckeyes are on the bubble for the Big Dance. If they go dancing, there’s probably nothing to see here. If not, stay tuned.

Kim English, Providence

Why it’s hot: Providence became an NCAA Tournament regular under Ed Cooley, English’s predecessor. With English, the Friars are a Big East doormat. A recent loss to St. John’s included a brawl, the latest embarrassing moment in a bad season.

Steve Forbes, Wake Forest

Why it’s hot: Forbes won 25 games in his second season. An affable coach, he’s delivered some decent years and good soundbites. Eventually, though, every coach needs an NCAA bid. Forbes, now in Year 6, hasn’t gotten Wake Forest there.

Earl Grant, Boston College

Why it’s hot: Grant isn’t the sole problem at Boston College. This program lost its way almost 15 years ago and hasn’t found its way back. But Grant hasn’t been the solution, either. This bleak season includes a loss to Central Connecticut. That's the definition of a call to action.

Penny Hardaway, Memphis

Why it’s hot: Hardaway is following a good year (he won 29 games last season) with one of his worst. Memphis probably would hesitate before firing one of its own, but Hardaway knows as well as anyone this program has standards. He’s not meeting them.

Bobby Hurley, Arizona State

Why it’s hot: It’s never a good sign when a coach admits he’s “failing.” Hurley offered that brutal assessment after a loss in January. Well, you said it, coach. Prep the buyout cannon, but hold off on firing after ASU’s upset of Texas Tech.

Matt McMahon, LSU

Why it’s hot: McMahon was great at Murray State. He’s gone splat at LSU. If LSU wants to be an “everything school,” it must fix its basketball program. What better time than with a new athletic director, new president and new board of supervisors chairman? Would Will Wade listen to a "strong-ass offer"?

Wes Miller, Cincinnati

Why it’s hot: Bob Huggins and Mick Cronin set a high bar for Cincinnati. Miller isn’t meeting the standard through five seasons. Cincinnati isn’t the type of program that’s OK with going 0-for-5 in NCAA bids under the same coach.

Porter Moser, Oklahoma

Why it’s hot: Like his SEC counterpart McMahon, Moser thrived at a mid-major but fizzled in the Power Four ranks. A tale as old as peach baskets. Oklahoma endured a nine-game losing streak earlier this winter. That’s the foundation for a firing.

Lamont Paris, South Carolina

Why it’s hot: Paris has a meaty buyout, and South Carolina football coach Shane Beamer will enter this season on the hot seat. How many buyouts do the Gamecocks want to stomach this year? And yet, two straight disaster seasons leave Paris in trouble.

Damon Stoudamire, Georgia Tech

Why it’s hot: Within an ACC with a handful of bad teams, Georgia Tech might be the worst.The decision here will be a test of how badly (and how quickly) first-year Georgia Tech athletic director Ryan Alpert wants to address this program.

Blake Toppmeyer is a columnist for the USA TODAY Network. Email him at BToppmeyer@gannett.com and follow him on X @btoppmeyer.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: College basketball coach hot seat includes Penny Hardaway, Porter Moser

James Harden is a walking paradox.

The newest Cleveland Cavaliers star is a man who’s inarguably changed how basketball is played — especially by those at the top of the game. He has birthed an entire generation of players who put their own spin on the heliocentric, perfectly spaced, three-outcome offense he pioneered. Jayson Tatum, Trae Young, Luka Doncic, and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander are all offshoots of this mold.

The main difference? Two of those players have won a championship. Harden hasn’t. And until he does, Harden won’t get as muchvalidation for changing the game as he deserves.

“At this point of his career, he’s still very, very talented, very, very good,” Donovan Mitchell said. “You look at the desperation of him. The first thing we talked about was, like, man, this could be his last chance to try and go ahead and get a ring. And we’re all in the locker room with the same mindset. So when you have that desperation from everybody up top, everybody else follows.”

On one hand, it’s fair to judge Harden for not being able to deliver a championship. Basketball is a team sport, but when your team’s entire philosophy is built around making sure one person can succeed, you can’t really divorce the team results from the individual.

At the same time, winning a championship is outside of just one person’s control, and it always will be.

“This whole ring culture thing is crazy,” Mitchell said. “It is what it is, right? I can’t fight it. It’s just what it is. That’s the way we value people.”

Two weeks ago, if you told a Cavs fan that there would be a packed house for a weekday game against the shamelessly tanking Washington Wizards team, with nearly everyone in attendance there to see Harden’s debut with the team, they would’ve thought you were crazy. But reality is often stranger than fiction.

We live in a world where James Harden isn’t just on the Cavaliers, he’s why they’re the favorites to represent the Eastern Conference in the NBA Finals.

The Cavs are soaring up the standings and playing their best basketball of the season. Harden’s ability to unlock Jarrett Allen, provide elite three-level scoring, and, most importantly, not take away from what Mitchell does best is a large reason why the team is succeeding.

The on-court production that Harden provides is apparent. Fans are typically going to like the guys that makes their team good. But embracing Harden to this level and this quickly speaks to how Harden is one of the most entertaining players when you remove the outside noise about his playing style.

For many basketball fans, Harden represents what’s wrong with the current NBA.

Harden hops from team to team as the ultimate basketball mercenary. He is the basketball epitome of the three-outcome baseball player, but in this instance, it’s threes, rim attempts, or free throws. And, the lengths he goes to initiate and highlight defensive contact can be revolting if he’s doing so against your favorite team.

These criticisms are completely fair, but they shouldn’t overshadow the artistry and skill that Harden plays with.

In many ways, Harden is the Drake of basketball. He has the talent and mastery of the craft to be one of the most aesthetically pleasing players of all-time, but sacrificed it all at the altar of commercial success.

Instead of prioritizing the technical mastery of Kobe Bryant operating in the midrange, Harden bypasses that part of the floor altogether by seeing how many steps he can take without dribbling to get from the three-point line to the basket.

Instead of going to the basket with the combination of force and grace that Dwyane Wade did, he’s seeing if he can hook a defender’s arm and still get an off-balance floater to fall.

And instead of hunting for threes by tirelessly navigating off-ball screens like Ray Allen, he’s going to cut out the middle man and create that look himself by taking the largest possible step backward he can and hoist the shot up that way.

These changes have been looked at as deskilling the game, when in reality, it’s just a simplification.

Taking exaggerated step-back threes or contorting your body to highlight contact on drives while still keeping your balance requires incredible talent. Being able to do these things as an individual player, and not relying on others to run specific sets to get these shots off reduces variables and leads to more predictable positive outcomes. This is what has led to Harden consistently captaining elite offenses, regardless of the team context, for the last 17 years.

Some changes to the game are embraced. The way Stephen Curry revolutionized how we thought about three-point shooting and how to create those looks was celebrated. Harden’s ruthless efficiency hasn’t been, even though he’s done more to change how the game is played at the highest level than Curry ever did.

At the height of his powers, Harden completely eliminated the midrange shot and focused only on taking threes, shots at the rim, or getting to the free-throw line. He also played in systems with perfect spacing and minimal off-ball movement. Harden needed to know where everyone was on the court. If the help came, he made the correct pass out to the assist.

During his MVP season, this style of play led to being in the 100th percentile in points per shot attempt, usage, and assist percentage. All the while, with just a slightly below-average turnover rate, which is exceptional considering how much he handled the ball. In short, there are very few offensive engines — especially those that are guards — who have put together as special a season.

This style of play should’ve been the NBA intelligentsia’s dream. Harden is the personification of basketball’s version of Moneyball, with his ruthless pursuit of figuring out how to apply his skills best to get the most success for himself and his team. Instead of being celebrated, he was derided for ruining the game.

Harden is unquestionably one of the best guards ever, and his influence on how the game is played is rivaled by only a few in history, regardless of team success. That, however, won’t be how history remembers him unless he plays a significant role on a championship team.

Fortunately for him, this Cavs team gives him another chance to change that narrative, and he knows it.

“I don’t know how many times I’ve really said that throughout my career,” Harden said about the championship possibilities. “Given the depth, the shooting, the athleticism, the versatility that we have, yes.” 

Maybe validation doesn’t truly matter for Harden. He doesn’t seem like someone who lies awake at night thinking about how the rest of the world perceives him, unlike one of his former teammates in Oklahoma City. At the same time, it would be a disservice to how we talk about the game if he isn’t remembered as one of the very best players of his generation years down the line. And that isn’t right.

Just because you don’t like how the artist applies their skills doesn’t make them less of one.

“But at the end of the day, I don’t think it’s fair,” Mitchell said. “I don’t think it’s right. But, whatever.”

In last summer’s NBA Draft, Cooper Flagg went first to Dallas, Rutgers’ Dylan Harper second to San Antonio, Baylor’s V.J. Edgecombe third to Philly and Flagg’s Duke teammate Kon Knueppel fourth to Charlotte.

In retrospect, San Antonio might have made a mistake. He would have been a great fit with Victor Wembanyama and more importantly, he would have fit in philosophically with what the Spurs have always looked for: smart, team-oriented players.

Woulda, coulda, shoulda. Too late now. And anyway, Knueppel has been great with the Hornets.

After they picked him, a lot of people thought he had gone too soon, but someone with the team – we can’t remember who – said they thought they might have gotten the best player in the draft.

It’s still early, but they might be right, and at a minimum, almost everyone underestimated Knueppel’s impact. He’s been a revelation.

It’s been fun to watch people realize his impact. In this video from All-Star Weekend, Milwaukee’s Giannis Antetokounmpo spends a little time talking to Knueppel. He demonstrates a move and compliments Knueppel, a rookie, for understanding something that a lot of players have never figured out.

Antetokounmpo goes on to say that Knueppel is one of the smartest rookies he’s ever seen and that, in so many words, his future is bright.

At the end, Knueppel, a Milwaukee native, is clearly excited that the hometown hero is impressed. Who wouldn’t be?

It's mid-February, which means it's time for college basketball fans to get serious about NCAA Tournament brackets.

Conference championships just around the corner, meaning March Madness is nearly here. At this point of the 2025-26 season, we have a good idea of which teams are headed to the Big Dance — and which teams have work left to do.

Bracketology: Who is rising in latest March Madness predictions

March Sadness: College basketball's 10 most disappointing teams

Last year at this time, it was easy to predict an SEC team would win it all, as the conference was dominating the top 25. Eventually, it was Florida that won the national championship.

That conference has taken a step back this year, with the Big Ten emerging as the conference to watch. In USA TODAY Sports' latest look at the bracket, Georgia, UCLA, Ohio State, TCU are the last four teams in the tourney, through Tuesday, Feb. 17. Conversely, New Mexico, California, Missouri and Santa Clara are the first four teams out of the tournament.

Here's an updated look at the NCAA Tournament bubble, with which teams are locks and likely in the field as the conference tournaments begin this week:

NBA tanking has reached a breaking point, but a modified “Gold Plan” draft format could reward late-season wins, restore competitive integrity, and make every game in March and April matter again.

The first question at NBA Commissioner Adam Silver's annual All-Star Weekend press conference on Saturday was about the league's most pressing issue: tanking.

Just two days earlier, the league fined the Utah Jazz $500,000 and the Indiana Pacers $100,000 for "conduct detrimental to the league," due to roster management designed to lose games to improve their chances to land the top pick in a 2026 draft that's expected to be one of the most talented in recent memory. While teams have historically tried losing games in March and April, Utah was cited for games on Feb. 7 and 9, where it benched top stars Lauri Markkanen and Jaren Jackson Jr. for the fourth quarter in winnable games after playing in the first three. (Earlier Thursday, the Jazz announced that Jackson would undergo season-ending knee surgery.)

“Overt behavior like this that prioritizes draft position over winning undermines the foundation of NBA competition and we will respond accordingly to any further actions that compromise the integrity of our games,” Silver said in Thursday's press release. Silver doubled down Saturday, saying that we're seeing worse tanking behavior that we've seen in recent memory and "what we're doing, what we're seeing right now is not working; there's no question about it."

Adam Silver’s full response to tanking: pic.twitter.com/zxw6aET8vK

— Rob Perez (@WorldWideWob) February 14, 2026

Luckily for the NBA, my solution for tanking is already successfully implemented in other sports leagues and would promote and incentivize winning and competitive basketball for the league's worst teams during the regular season's waning months.

At the 2012 MIT Sloan Sports & Analytics Conference, University of Missouri PhD student Adam Gold presented an anti-tanking plan for hockey. He proposed that once NHL teams were eliminated from playoff contention, every win and overtime loss would count as draft ranking points, with the draft order determined by the most successful bad team toward the end of the season rather than by the bad team that tanks to finish with the worst record. The PWHL adopted the "Gold Plan" in 2024, and the NBA can and should implement a modified model to prevent teams from intentionally losing games in February, March, and April.

Once an NBA team reaches 40 regular-season losses, it can start accumulating wins toward its draft position, which is determined by the teams that win the most games after it's essentially eliminated from playoff contention. At the All-Star break, Sacramento and Indiana are already past 40 losses, while Utah, Washington, and Brooklyn are at 38-39 defeats. This plan ensures that the worst teams will actually want to win games at the end of the season, making the final contests of the year impactful and meaningful for all 30 teams.

Would teams try to tank at the beginning of the season rather than reach 40 losses more quickly? Potentially, but intentionally losing games at the beginning of each season is harder to accomplish for both teams and players, and the NBA's antennae would be on high alert to punish teams over the first half of the season that try to manipulate rosters the way Utah did earlier this month.

Players don't want to tank because their play impacts their stats, which impact their future contracts, and players are competitors who want to win and want to be viewed as winners. Unless they have rock-solid job security, coaches don't particularly like tanking either.

"I don't think it would work with me. I don't think it's right," Hall of Fame former head coach George Karl told Boardroom last week at the premiere for Prime Video's ABA docuseries Soul Power. "There's a problem that I think the commissioner has got to address."

There's no foolproof way to completely eliminate tanking. Whether you eliminate certain draft pick protections in trades, take away draft lottery ping-pong balls, lock the lottery order at a certain date, or prevent teams from taking luxury tax payments, there isn't a perfect plan out there that would eliminate tanking for good. But the Gold Plan would eliminate late-season tanking for good, with increased penalties and scrutiny for early-season offenders that would be too obvious to ignore.

All 30 teams would be motivated to win in March and April, giving every game meaning, purpose, and high stakes heading into the playoffs. And what a breath of fresh air that would be.

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Back in October, before this NBA season began, did you perhaps open up a sports betting app on your phone and wager on how many wins the Boston Celtics would achieve? Did you say they would win at least 48? Maybe 50? More than 50?

If so, then the odds are good that you’re about to win some money. At the All-Star break, the Celtics rank fifth in the entire league at 35-19 – a winning percentage of .648 that equates to a 53-29 record over a full season. Barring any unfortunate developments, the Celtics should finish in a far better position than almost anyone expected.

If you saw all that coming, you’re smarter than I am. Last season, I correctly predicted the Celtics would win 61 games, and I’ve been pretty close to the right number in most other recent years. This season, however, I dropped my expectation to 44 wins. That’s because the narratives appeared reasonable: With so much talent lost in the off-season, and with the replacements being primarily young and unproven, there seemed to be no way for Boston to avoid the “gap year” that many NBA observers were forecasting.

There’s no denying it. I was guilty of underestimating the Celtics.

My mistakes didn’t end there. I said Derrick White would make the All-Star team (he didn’t); Jayson Tatum’s absence would be so harmful (it’s been manageable) that his haters would apologize (they haven’t); and the Cs would be more effective if they’d speed up their offense (at 95.7, they’re dead last in pace for the second straight year, yet are second in offensive rating at 120.2).

There’s more. I was sure they’d be pounded on the glass (but in fact, they’re eighth in the league with 45.4 rebounds per game, and seventh in rebound percentage at 51.4%); they’d struggle on defense (nope, their current defensive rating is ninth-best at 112.6); and they’d be especially vulnerable inside (they actually have allowed just 40.9 paint points per game, second best in the league).

My one consolation was I had plenty of company in being wrong. The most optimistic guess here at CelticsBlog was a 48-win season. Also, in hindsight, we now see numerous mainstream news outlets whose crystal ball apparently wasn’t crystal-clear. Here’s a sampling of wayward prognostications.

Yahoo! Sports, Oct. 7, 2025 – Boston Celtics 2025-26 season preview: Will this be a lottery team without Jayson Tatum?

Over/under win total: 40.5

Not only would it be fine and completely justified for Boston to dip under .500 this season, it would be advisable to do so! I’ll take the under, at the risk of making Mazzulla rage-weep tears of blood and swear an unrelenting vendetta against my family, friends and still-living former teachers.

ESPN.com, Oct. 20, 2025 – 2025-26 NBA season preview: Rankings, predictions, odds

Chances to make playoffs: 51.8%

Projected wins: 40.1

Biggest thing we’ll be talking about this season: What is the plan for what should be a gap season? The Celtics are a proud bunch, and coach Joe Mazzulla and Co. believe they can be a factor while Jayson Tatum recovers from a torn Achilles. But without Tatum and experienced bigs in the rotation, how competitive can this team be — and what happens if Derrick White and/or Jaylen Brown miss time?

SB Nation, Oct. 16, 2025 — NBA power rankings: 2026 championship chances from No. 30 to No. 1

16. Boston Celtics (and miss playoffs)

Is Jayson Tatum actually going to play this season after suffering a torn Achilles in the Eastern Conference semifinals? It seems insane to me, but Tatum is already running and dunking, and clearly wants to give it a go. This Boston team sure seems built for a gap year while Tatum rests and recovers if you ask me. This might be one of the worst front courts in the league after Al Horford, Kristaps Porzingis, and Luke Kornet departed in free agency, leaving Neemias Queta, Chris Boucher, Luka Garza, and a lot of question marks. I understand the logic that Jaylen Brown and Derrick White are just too good to fail, and it’s possible Payton Pritchard puts his name in All-Star consideration with a bigger role. Even if Tatum comes back, I don’t think the Celtics have any shot at winning the East, so to me it makes it all moot. Finishing in the lottery and with a crack at another potential young star should be in the Celtics’ best long-term interest, but it’s hard to do that with championship-caliber players like these.

CBSsports.com, Oct. 21, 2026 – NBA season predictions: Expert picks for full standings and 2026 NBA Finals

Note: This site listed picks in chart form with seven participants. The Celtics were ranked as high as sixth in the East and as low as 12th. Two of the writers predicted Boston would miss the playoffs.

* * * * *

On top of all that, the NBA itself indicated the Celtics would fall a notch or two. Boston didn’t play on the official opening night and was omitted from the Christmas Day schedule for the first time in several years.

When the Celtics began the season losing their first three games, it appeared that the narratives were coming true. Yet today, the Celtics are not scuffling to make the Play-In – they hold second place in the East by one-half game over their nemesis, the New York Knicks. Last May, shortly after the Celtics were eliminated and Tatum was hospitalized, a Knicks fans was talking trash to me on the BlueSky platform. His comment: “Enjoy the rebuild.”

Wonder if he’s looked at the standings lately?

Putting that fun aside, the Celtics and all Boston fans know too well that fortunes can change in an instant. There’s no guarantee that the Cs continue to win at the same pace. However, there are reasons they’ve overcome expectations.

Everyone on the roster has contributed to wins at some point, including young players who are just now getting their first opportunities to perform. And if a 10-year veteran can have a breakout season, Jaylen Brown is doing just that. Equally important, President of Basketball Operations Brad Stevens, Head Coach Joe Mazzulla, the assistant coaches, and the entire behind-the-scenes staff are brilliant at what they do.

As Jaylen put it recently:

The Celtics have made the playoffs for 11 consecutive years. That’s the longest active streak in the NBA, and it’s about to become 12 straight. Maybe the only mistake I made, that everyone made this season, was not trusting them.

For more analysis of how the Celtics remain successful, check these current CelticsBlog articles.

There’s No Salary Cap on Basketball IQ — The Week in Green

How does Boston’s competition stack up after the trade deadline?

The Celtics weren’t supposed to be this good. What should fans expect now?

Three statistical paradoxes that explain the Celtics’ overachieving season

Derrick White doesn’t need to make shots to be elite

Jaylen Brown loves these Celtics — and he’ll shout it from the rooftops

What lies ahead

There are 28 games remaining, divided equally between home and away. Here are some of the storylines that will be most prominent over the final weeks of the season. (I’ll keep predictions to a minimum.)

40-20 rule:
Conventional NBA wisdom says that a true title contender will win 40 games before losing 20. The Celtics need to win five straight to make that happen. It’s achievable, but unlikely, because their first four games after the All-Star break will be on a Western road trip versus four teams above .500: Golden State Warriors, Los Angeles Lakers, Phoenix Suns and Denver Nuggets. Then they’d have to beat the Brooklyn Nets in their first game back in Boston.

The Denver contest is set up to be a scheduled loss: second night of a back-to-back, last game of the week-long trip, being played in the altitude of the Mile-High City, versus the potent Nuggets (currently 35-20) led by MVP candidate Nikola Jokic. If the Celtics actually do win their next five in a row, we should all get very, very excited.

Schedule:
The Celtics will be tested again by a five-day road trip in March: at Cleveland, San Antonio, and Oklahoma City. After that, 10 of their last 16 will be at home, including four of the last five. Their final road game will be on April 9 at New York, possibly with second-place in the East at stake. The regular season concludes on April 12 with the Orlando Magic visiting Boston.

Incorporating Vucevic:
The acquisition of Nikola Vucevic gives the Celtics an experienced and talented big man who can rebound and stretch the floor. The task now is to get him comfortable with the system and to create an effective tandem with Neemias Queta. Luka Garza will get fewer minutes, but stuff happens. Vooch is the guy the Cs will count on in the postseason.

Jayson Tatum:
Will Tatum return or not? If he does play, how effective will he be? Those are the questions that will determine if the Celtics are just a feel-good regular-season story, or a real contender with a chance to return to the Finals. There are only five rotation players from the 2024 championship squad still on the roster today, Tatum being one. The Celtics have found ways to win in the regular season without him, but they won’t in the postseason. It’s just that simple.

Assuming Tatum does return, there are two dates that stand out as the best options. On February 27, the Nets visit the Garden, and during the following week there are three more home games. That period would be a solid opportunity for a test run that could incorporate some rest, avoid travel, and gradually build up Tatum’s minutes.

Similarly, March 14 has the Washington Wizards visiting Boston, followed by five of the next six games at home. At that point, 16 games would remain on the schedule, which might or might not be enough time for Tatum to get reacclimated. It’s difficult to imagine him being ready for the postseason if he attempts his comeback any later than that.

* * * * *

How did your predictions turn out so far? Let us know in the comments.

No one likes to lose. Even worse, no one likes to be blamed for losing. Lonzo Ball says he feels he became a scapegoat for fans this season when the Cleveland Cavaliers were struggling.

“I don’t feel like I’m playing as badly as people are saying,” Ball said on his podcast. “I know I’m the scapegoat right now, but look, that comes with the name, though, and that comes with what they brought me in for, so it’s granted, I’m not going to say I was playing great.”

The full quote is more reasonable than what has gone viral on Twitter. Ball recognizes he fell short of the expectations he brought to Cleveland. His only disagreement is that he doesn’t believe he was as bad as the discourse suggested. Now, that’s something we can argue on the merits. But I think it’s worth being fair to what Ball was actually saying.

“Can I play better? Yes. Have I been playing terrible? I don’t think I have,” Ball said.

Ball was brought to Cleveland with the hopes of being their version of Jrue Holiday or Alex Caruso. A defensive-minded guard who can playmake and potentially space the floor. At his best, Ball flashed the potential to be that in the past

That never materialized in Cleveland. Ball shot just 30.1% from the floor and was a non-threat to score. That drastically limited his ability to create for others — and his defense wasn’t as good as advertised. His poor three-point shooting was the nail in the coffin.

“To me, I’m just missing shots.” “People say, ‘Oh well, he’s shooting 25 percent.’ Well, let’s actually take the percentages and talk about what that is, I’m taking four shots a gameand making one of them, that’s sh****, but I promise we’re not winning or losing off of four shots.”

It would be silly to suggest that Ball was the primary reason for Cleveland’s struggles. The early portion of the season saw injuries, poor effort, and bad shooting across the board. Ball was only one part of the equation. Though he certainly wasn’t helping them when he was on the floor.

“I don’t feel like I’m the worst in the NBA,” Ball said.

Ball finished in the 0th percentile for points per shot attempt and the 1st percentile in turnover percentage. The Cavs were 5.5 points worse with him on the floor, placing him in the 25th percentile for on/off rating. As a reminder, you want to be in the higher percentiles.