Failures in New York prove you can't buy success in NBA

Among the six taxpayers this season -- the two New York teams, Miami, Chicago (minus Derrick Rose) and the two teams in Los Angeles -- the only potential

Failures in New York prove you can't buy success in NBA

Among the six taxpayers this season -- the two New York teams, Miami, Chicago (minus Derrick Rose) and the two teams in Los Angeles -- the only potential Finalists appear to be the Heat and Clippers. More frugal organizations that are exercising financial discipline to stay below the tax threshold are thriving. This will be worth monitoring over the rest of the season and in years to come, but it appears as if the failures of New York are helping the belt-tightening goals of the new CBA to come true.

"If I'm healthy and the situation is right, I'm going to be back playing," he said, which could lead to a repeat of the daily questions over his availability that followed the Bulls through the postseason last spring.

F -- Josh Smith, 28 ... 43.9 miles
F -- Paul Millsap, 28 ... 42.8 miles
F -- Luol Deng, 28 ... 42.5 miles
F -- Dirk Nowitzki, 35 ... 41.4 miles
F -- Carmelo Anthony, 29 ... 41.3 miles
F -- LeBron James, 28 ... 41.0 miles
G -- Kevin Martin, 30 ... 41.8 miles
G -- Steve Blake, 33 ... 41.8 miles
G -- Joe Johnson, 32 ... 40.7 miles
G -- Tony Parker, 31 ... 40.4 miles

Published Dec 6, 2013

Senior Writer, Sports Illustrated Sports Illustrated Senior Writer Ian Thomsen, who joined the magazine in 1998, is one of SI's top basketball scribes. Along with writing columns and features for SI, Thomsen is a frequent contributor to SI.com. Before joining SI, Thomsen spent six years in Europe as the sports columnist for the International Herald Tribune, the world's largest international English-language daily. While at the paper Thomsen wrote about an array of sports for a global audience, including the major world and European soccer tournaments, the 1995 Rugby World Cup, Olympic Games, Ryder Cups, Grand Slam tennis events, Grand Prix auto races and, very rarely, cricket. Thomsen, who graduated from Northwestern with a journalism degree in 1983, was a feature writer for The National Sports Daily during its short, expensive run of 1990-91. His first job was with The Boston Globe, where he covered Doug Flutie's Boston College Eagles and all three of the Celtics-Lakers NBA Finals of the 1980s. Thomsen was a feature writer at SI before taking on the NBA beat fulltime in 2000. With Luis Fernando Llosa and Melissa Segura, Thomsen covered the 2001 scandal of overaged Little League pitcher Danny Almonte and wrote the first SI cover story on Kobe Bryant in 1998. Thomsen lives with his wife and two children near Boston.