SI.com's top 10 NBA features of 2015
To recap the year that was, SI.com has rounded up its 10 best NBA features from 2015. From Lamar Odom to Matt Barnes to LeBron James, the subjects varied significantly on our must-read NBA features and profiles of '15. Before diving in to the top 10, here are some of the stories that just missed the cut.
SI.com's honorable mention for 2015
• All there is to know about Russell Westbrook (Lee Jenkins)
• View from above: Anthony Davis sits atop the world (Rob Mahoney)
• The Man Behind The Swag: Nick Young (Lee Jenkins)
• Jimmy Butler: The NBA's unlikely breakout star (Ben Golliver)
• Humbled Dwight Howard ready to make sacrifices (Ben Golliver)
• Jerry West's fire burns as deep as ever with Warriors (Chris Ballard)
• The time Michael Jordan wore No. 12 (Chris Johnson)
• Warriors: From one dimensional to title favorites (Chris Ballard)
• The Craft: Favors adapts to new world of big men (Rob Mahoney)
• The overflowing legacy of Steve Nash (Lee Jenkins)
• Coaching Curry: Best shooter in the universe (Rob Mahoney)
• Ewing Conspiracy: A look back at the 1985 draft (Chris Ballard)
• From project to pillar: Drummond owning the middle (Lee Jenkins)
• Steve Kerr: The Golden State Warriors' ringmaster (Lee Jenkins)
• Kidd-Gilchrist's voice, jumper remain works in progress (Lee Jenkins)
Rocky Widner/NBAE/Getty Images
10. The gifts and ghosts of Lamar Odom
By Lee Jenkins | 10.15.15
"They called him The Package, because he contained so many gifts, and because people always seemed to be waiting for him. Lamar Odom would bolt unannounced from the University of Rhode Island's campus, turn off his cell phone, and check into a hotel so he could be alone. Three days later, he’d call head coach Jim Harrick. “This is The Package,” he’d say. “The Package has arrived.” One of those many gifts is his charm. Everybody laughed, as if the disappearances were a quirk, and not a signal." MORE
Nathaniel S. Butler/Getty Images
9. Golden Hours: Inside Warriors' celebration
By Lee Jenkins | 06.17.15
"The season of splash ended Wednesday at 2:18 a.m., on the loading dock at Quicken Loans Arena, 20 feet from the Warriors bus. Stephen Curry raised both arms, let out a triumphant roar, and in a fit of euphoria lost control of the Heineken in his right hand. He tried to catch the bottle, but it splattered against the cement, leaving a puddle of green shards and Dutch hops. A few of Curry’s teammates, waiting for him outside the bus, saw the final splash. They erupted in applause."MORE
Brian Lowe/SI
8. The Incredible Journey of Seth Curry
By Lee Jenkins | 09.08.15
"Seth Curry sat in a Hollywood parking lot, behind the wheel of a white GMC Yukon, unable to turn on the ignition. It was late afternoon, and traffic was building on the freeway leading back to his house in the San Fernando Valley, but for an hour he did not budge. He had already called friends and FaceTimed family. His brother and his father had told him how proud they were. But still he couldn't bring himself to drive home and celebrate. "I just sat there," Curry says. "I'm not an emotional person, but I was emotional then. I was reflecting on the whole journey I've had."MORE
AFP/Getty Images
7. Mookie Blaylock's downward spiral
By Greg Hanlon | 03.05.15
"(Mookie) Blaylock had always been quiet, kept to himself. Growing up in the rough, predominantly black Eastside section of Garland, Texas, just outside of Dallas, he kept his head down when he walked to the outdoor basketball courts. Even after he turned pro — after two years of junior college and two years playing for prominent University of Oklahoma teams — his taciturn, country boy demeanor remained. Instead of talking, he occupied his mouth with a lipful of dip and a toothpick. “Mookie had no problem being in a room with five or six other guys and never uttering a word,” said Sam Bowie, Blaylock’s close friend and a former teammate with the New Jersey Nets." MORE
Harry How/Getty Images Sport
6. Matt Barnes: The polarizing pariah
By Chris Ballard | 04.10.15
"When people talk about Clippers forward Matt Barnes, one word often comes to mind. That word is a--hole. “When he was with the Lakers, I hated him,” says Clippers center DeAndre Jordan. And I mean hated him." MORE
Jason Miller/Getty Images
5. LeBron's Time: Cavs star feeling urgency
By Lee Jenkins | 12.01.15
"LeBron James lay in bed at 2 a.m., listening to his wife and one-year-old daughter sleep. He had just returned home from Detroit, where the Cavaliers lost to thePistons and he surpassed Jerry West for 19th on the all-time scoring list. James reveres West—he devoured the Logo’s autobiography four years ago and related to his Finals torment—so James’s wife, Savannah, called with congratulations after the game. “We lost,” he said." MORE
Joe Murphy/SI
4. Who killed Lorenzen Wright?
By Jon Wertheim | 10.19.15
"Lorenzen Wright stood nearly 7 feet tall and weighed 225 pounds, much of it extravagant muscle. His high-wattage smile was framed by a goatee—“movie star looks,” said Michael Heisley, the late owner of the Grizzlies, one of Wright’s five teams during his 13-year NBA career. Still, Wright’s most striking feature might have been his voice, a low rumble that started deep in his gut and slowly worked its way up. With a hickory-smoked Southern drawl, the voice was straight out of a Memphis blues club. It seldom rose in volume or wavered in tempo. When you love life and it embraces you back, why yell, why panic? If the words alone weren’t bad enough, it was Wright’s tone that made the cell-phone call to 911 so unsettling. Frantic, high-pitched, full of anguish, the voice sounded only faintly like his: Gunshot…gunshot. “Goddamn!” MORE
Ronald Martinez/NBAE/Getty Images
3. Meet Warriors staffer with idea to start Iggy
By Lee Jenkins | 06.12.15
"Nick U’Ren’s official title is special assistant to the head coach and manager of advanced scouting, but at 28 he is not technically a coach or a scout. He compiles the playlist that the Warriors blare during practices, alternating Aerosmith and Drake. He edits the videos that they show during film sessions, splicing Klay Thompson highlights with Draymond Green spoofs. He rebounds for Stephen Curry, adding up his made three-pointers from every spot. When Steve Kerr has a radio interview, U’Ren is the one who reminds him, and when Kerr stages a bowling tournament, U’Ren is the one who divides the teams." MORE
Getty Images (3)
2. SI.com's Top 100 NBA Players of 2016
By Ben Golliver and Rob Mahoney | 08.31.15
"SI.com is proud to offer our list of the Top 100 NBA players of 2016, an exhaustive exercise that seeks to define who will be the league's best players in the 2015-16 season." MORE
1. Did Wilt Chamberlain have a son?
By Gary M. Pomerantz | 03.04.15
"In 2003, nearing 40, (Aaron) Levi finally began to search for answers to his questions. When he found and spoke with his biological mother, he heard in her accent that she was British. But that wasn’t the most surprising revelation. Levi was told that his biological father was the most transformative player in pro basketball history and one of the most transcendent athletes of the 20th century." MORE
