'SportsNation' (ESPNews and WatchESPN.com at 7 p.m. ET)
It's been said that LeBron James lacks a killer instinct, that he doesn't have the Michael Jordan-esque ability to take over a game night in and night out. Do you agree? Vote » Is his legacy at stake? »
Derick E. Hingle/USA TODAY Sports
Mets third baseman David Wright trails the Giants' Pablo Sandoval by more than 200,000 votes in balloting for the National League All-Star starting lineup. But Wright was recently voted "MLB's Hottest Cub" by the readers of dating website Cougarlife.com, which pairs older women with younger men. Can you guess where this was headed?
The Mets acknowledged Thursday that they had scuttled plans to work with Cougarlife.com to promote Wright's candidacy. And Wright, uncomfortable with the extra attention amid the Mets' struggles, said he asked the team to tone down its ballot push. Did the Mets go too far? Does Wright deserve to be an All-Star?
Anyone who's been to high school knows looks are a factor in popularity. But is it a little strange to appeal to All-Star voters on a player's looks?
Pablo Sandoval leads the All-Star voting at third despite being on the disabled list. Should fans or players decide who starts the Midsummer Classic?
No one knows better than Tom Thibodeau just what Derrick Rose can do on the court. According to the Bulls head coach, the former league MVP has regained the level of speed and explosiveness he once had. Rose showed some of that explosiveness with an array of dunks in the Bulls postseason pregame warmups, but still felt he wasn't quite ready to return to the team's lineup. Should he have suited up and played? What will we see from him next season?
Derrick Rose was cleared to play by team doctors in early March, but his lack of confidence kept him out the entire 2012-13 season.
Before his injury, Rose was one for the quickest and most explosive players in the NBA, and often referred to as the league's best point guard.
The Bulls last won a NBA championship in 1998, the franchise hasn't been back to the Finals since.
Building on the trend of stars planning among themselves to create superteams, Chris Paul and Dwight Howard have reportedly been considering the idea of joining forces next season. The pairing looks good on paper -- Paul's clever distribution and Howard's potentially-dominant offensive game could be unstoppable -- but several factors could keep it from happening. If it does happen, however, it could be the biggest thing in basketball since ... well ... Howard pairing with Kobe Bryant. Or Paul pairing with Blake Griffin.
Rex Ryan's come under a lot of fire in his time as coach of the Jets, but he's still got a pretty healthy sense of self-regard. Ryan said in an interview with Newsday that he's a ''hell of a lot better coach than I'm given credit for'' and that people will look back on him and say, ''this dude can coach his butt off.'' Pretty standard stuff coming from Ryan, but where does he rank among the NFL's current crop of head coaches? Submit your rankings now!
Top NFL head coaches
Dennis Allen
Oakland Raiders
Bruce Arians
Arizona Cardinals
Gus Bradley
Jacksonville Jaguars
Bill Belichick
New England Patriots
Pete Carroll
Seattle Seahawks
Rob Chudzinski
Cleveland Browns
Tom Coughlin
New York Giants
Jeff Fisher
St. Louis Rams
John Fox
Denver Broncos
Leslie Frazier
Minnesota Vikings
Jason Garrett
Dallas Cowboys
Jim Harbaugh
San Francisco 49ers
John Harbaugh
Baltimore Ravens
Chip Kelly
Philadelphia Eagles
Gary Kubiak
Houston Texans
Marvin Lewis
Cincinnati Bengals
Doug Marrone
Buffalo Bills
Mike McCarthy
Green Bay Packers
Mike McCoy
San Diego Chargers
Mike Munchak
Tennessee Titans
Chuck Pagano
Indianapolis Colts
Sean Payton
Sean Payton
Joe Philbin
Miami Dolphins
Andy Reid
Kansas City Chiefs
Ron Rivera
Carolina Panthers
Rex Ryan
New York Jets
Greg Schiano
Tampa Bay Buccaneers
Jim Schwartz
Detroit Lions
Mike Shanahan
Washington Redskins
Mike Smith
Atlanta Falcons
Mike Tomlin
Pittsburgh Steelers
Marc Trestman
Chicago Bears
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Welcome to SportsNation! On Friday, we'll have baseball hall of famer, and ESPN MLB analyst, Barry Larkin, stopping by to chat about the MLB season and College World Series.
Larkin, @BLarkin_ESPN, a 12-time all-star, won the 1995 NL MVP and was a member of the 1990 Cincinnati Reds team that won the World Series.
Larkin played collegiately at Michigan, where his No. 16 is retired and this spring is working with the Capital One Cup, an NCAA Division I athletics award that honors the top men's and women's college programs in the country. Teams compete to earn points based on the final standings and polls across 39 sports. The winners get the Capital One Cup trophy and $400,000 for student-athlete scholarships.
Send your questions now and join Larkin Friday at 3 p.m. ET!
More Special Guests: Previous chats | SportsNation
The back-and-forth NBA Finals continued with a Spurs win in Game 5. San Antonio put down any challenges from Miami ruthlessly, with Manu Ginobili playing like a much younger version of himself and Danny Green setting the record for most 3-pointers made in an NBA Finals. Can the Heat come back when the series returns to Miami?
Jason Kidd retired earlier this month after racking up the second-most assists in NBA history. And although it's rare for a player to become a head coach so quickly, the new Brooklyn Nets navigator is hardly the first expert passer to get the top job with an NBA team. Counting Kidd, 11 of the NBA's 25 all-time assist leaders have gone on to become head coaches in the league. Can you name the other 10?
More games from ESPN Arcade »The Broncos released Willis McGahee on Thursday, leaving the 31-year-old running back in search of a team as training camp starts up. McGahee rushed for over 1,000 yards in 2011, but injuries limited him to 10 games and a little more than 700 yards last season. There is no shortage of rushers on the Broncos -- they'll have to decide between Ronnie Hillman and Montee Ball -- but sending off a veteran like McGahee isn't something a team does lightly.
The future of Boston Celtics coach Doc Rivers remains uncertain, with man and team staying mum but sources telling Chris Broussard that the title-winning coach "feels it may be time for a change." Rivers is the highest-paid coach in the league, but has spent nine seasons at the helm of a Celtics team that was bounced from the 2012-13 first round and is surrounded with questions: Will Kevin Garnett be back? What about Paul Pierce? Is Rajon Rondo the player around which to build? All of these and more could push Rivers out the door -- and he might have a suitor or two if he leaves.
The Heat's blowout of the Spurs in Game 2 seemed to signify a change in the way the NBA Finals would play out, but that was before the Spurs' role players took over. Now, the Heat are reeling from a 3-point assault they were unable to stop and questions linger over LeBron James' performance thus far. James has found ways to contribute other than scoring, but the Heat are simply a worse team when LeBron isn't scoring at the top of his ability. Miami has an opportunity to tie it up tonight -- or go into a 3-1 hole.
An off night wouldn't normally be a particular concern for LeBron, but he has spent the past three games failing to crack 20 points.
The Heat have tended to come back in grand fashion after playoff losses, and LeBron James has been a major factor in their resilience.
Tony Parker says he'll play tonight, but his hamstring could, well, hamstring him. He's not the only star whose Game 4 readiness is in question, however -- although not injured, neither Dwyane Wade nor Chris Bosh has been up to snuff in this series.
If you're in the L.A. area, we want you to be a part of our live studio audience!
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