When Kennedy Atkinson signed up to be the coach for the Nets, many were convinced that his career as a coach was headed for the worst. You see, Atkinson had a fulfilling and formidable career as an assistant coach for eight years. The Nets on the other hand were not the choice team for many of those who were eyeing jobs as head coaches, despite an existing belief among NBA coaches that any job as head coach is a good job. Atkinson has however proved his basketball predictions

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The 2014-15 Western Conference was dominated by the eventual NBA champion, Golden State Warriors. With the Dubs in control of the number one spot from the tip, other squads battled for the other seven spots. One game separated the second seed from the sixth seed and SEVEN teams ended the season with 50+ wins. So yeah, the West is damn good, but that was last year…what happens now? 1. San Antonio Spurs *Photo via Getty Images I still can’t figure out how the Spurs were able to

Coaches have it the hardest in sports, especially in basketball. When things are going well, the players get all the credit, when things are going wrong the blame falls mostly on the coach’s shoulder. It is at times a thankless job, but if the coach can keep the outside noise from distracting himself and the team there’s a chance for success. Some of the coaches on this list have enjoyed success already, but will undoubtedly have to keep the outside noise from being a distrac

Quick Hits: - Predictions for each division’s best rookie, biggest bust, breakout player and MVP. Breakout Player: Jordan Adams, Memphis Grizzlies *Photo via Fox Sports It’s well known that coach Dave Joerger doesn’t like playing rookies, but fortunately for Jordan Adams, he’s made it to his second season in Memphis and ready for his closeup. Why didn’t Memphis go out and get a sharpshooter when shooting is clearly their biggest weakness? The answer may just be sitting on the

*Photo via NYPost Latvian native Kristaps Porzingis was the New York Knicks 4th overall pick in the 2015 NBA Draft. Before he even laced up his sneakers for his first NBA experience in the Summer League, naysayers immediately spewed their displeasure with the Knicks choice. “Boo’s” rained down on the then 19-year old on draft night, but in-time, those same boo’s became “ahhhhhhhhhh’s” once ‘The Zinger’ displayed his basketball abilities here, in America. Porzi averaged 10.5 p

*Photo via Getty Images The Brooklyn Nets have had a somewhat quiet offseason this summer. The Nets weren’t short of headlines the past couple of seasons, with big acquisitions that were supposed to take the team to the next step. This time around, the tables have turned with headlines about who has left Brooklyn. The organization made small moves in the offseason, bringing in a couple of cheap young veterans that can help the team in supporting roles. Out of those vets, I t

*Photo via NY Post Now that the Ty Lawson to the Houston Rockets hype has settled, let’s examine his role on the Rockets and what can be expected from him this upcoming season. Lawson brings an offensive skillset to the Rockets that the team has severely lacked, outside of James Harden of course. His ability to push the tempo, shoot from deep and create for his teammates should take the Rockets offense to new heights down in ‘Clutch City’. There have been questions as to whet

*Photo via NYPost Last season the Atlanta Hawks overachieved in every sense of the word and won a franchise high 60 games. Against the bloodbath known as the Western Conference, the Hawks went an impressive 21-8, which includes multiple wins over the Portland Trail Blazers, Los Angeles Clippers and the Houston Rockets. Hot’Lanta put on a display of dominance unlike any other during their 2014-15 campaign, as they made a mockery of any and every opponent-from late December tow

*Photo via USA Today The Even Wilder West… Let that championship banner hang! Cherish the moment on opening night when you receive your championship rings but don’t let it blind you, mighty Warriors of Golden State. This year’s road to victory will be significantly more difficult as the wild Western Conference of the NBA will be even wilder this season. In any sport, after you reach the mountaintop and experience the almighty feeling of triumph, you have a target on your head

*photo via NBA Here are NBA Finlas predictions from most of the OTG staff. The MVP will top off his special season with basketball's most prestigious award, and send LeBron to an all-time NBA Finals record of 2-4. Warriors in 6 - Max Russo I see the Warriors in 7. The bench will prove to be a factor for the Warriors.- Marc Cantave My finals prediction is Golden State in 6- Autumn Matthews Warriors in 5.- Brandon Maier GS in 5 thrilling games. They have unmatched quality dept

*Photo via Getty images Today was a tough loss for the Thunder , against the Houston Rockets. They never got a good lead in the game, and in the end a lack of clutch defense took away their chances to win the game when it got close. You can't blame Westbrook for the loss; he did miss crucial free-throws at the end of the game. But he also put up another triple-double, and it would be hard for me to blame a loss on a player who has to do almost everything for this team. The b

*Photo via USA Today The Cleveland Cavaliers are in second place in the Eastern Conference, as of April 1, at 48-27. Many people expected the Cavs to be up there with the roster they assembled in the 2014 offseason. However, that was not the case as the season started. They spent the latter part of 2014 playing.500 basketball and questions started to arise about the Cavs. Was Kevin Love going to leave at the end of the season? Can Kyrie and LeBron coexist? Will Blatt remain c

*Photo via USA Today If Russell Westbrook was on just about any other team in the NBA, he would be the clear-cut favorite for the MVP this year. Unfortunately, when many people think about the OKC Thunder, they think of it as “Kevin Durant's Team”. And since Durant is out for the season, many just write the Thunder off and any single player performance that is coming out of OKC. Lets look at the facts first: One of the main reasons Stephen Curry is the favorite to win the MVP

*Photo via USA Today The NBA Coach of the Year Award is basically a two man race between first time head coach, Steve Kerr of the Golden State Warriors and Mike Budenholzer of the Atlanta Hawks. It’s no surprise these two are the front runners for the nomination, as both their teams have run away with the best record in their respected conference, and have the best two records in the league. However before I tell you which one will win the award and why, I would like to recog

*Photo via USA Today The NBA is full of young talent waiting to break out into superstardom, and this years' rookies are getting their first crack at achieving that goal. Let's look at the various candidates for Rookie of The Year this season. First up, in no particular order, is Elfrid Payton of the Orlando Magic. Payton is having a pretty solid rookie year, as the 10th overall pick in last year’s draft. He's averaging 8.6 points, 4.2 rebounds, and 6.2 assists per game. Not

*Photo via USA Today It’s a classic storyline in the world of sports; a few important athletes suffer significant injuries, so their team must rely on the next man up to fill their shoes. Often times it doesn’t work out, but sometimes that next man up seizes his opportunity to shine and never looks back. Rookie power forward, Nikola Mirotic has done exactly that for the Chicago Bulls. In the month of March, Mirotic is averaging 21 points and 8 rebounds in 13 games, shooting 4

*Photo via USA Today On December 19, the Dallas Mavericks acquired Rajon Rondo in a trade with the Boston Celtics. The Mavericks were 19-8 at the time and many believed this trade would make Dallas a favorite to come out of the Western Conference. However the Mavericks have gone 25-18 since that trade and currently sit in the seventh seed in the conference. Dallas has suffered many injuries this year including a variety of injuries to starting center Tyson Chandler. To pro

*Photo via AP Stephen Curry of the Golden State Warriors and James Harden of the Houston Rockets are the top two MVP candidates in the league this season, at least for most people. But there is a man who is making a strong case to be MVP and he is none other than LeBron James of the Cleveland Cavaliers. Now the Rockets and Warriors have a better record than the Cavs, and Curry and Harden are playing MVP caliber basketball, but there is no one that means more to their team tha