Philadelphia 76ers rookie Ben Simmons has never held back in his criticism of the NCAA and the “one and done” rule.
The Australian Simmons was one of the biggest high school prospects in recent years but was required to go to college for a year because of the NBA’s rule that players have to spend a year out of high school before entering the NBA.
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While sitting down with Maverick Carter of LeBron’s UNINTERRUPTED, Simmons spoke openly about the hypocrisy of the NCAA, including when he first arrived as an 18-year-old to see his face plastered across billboards all over Baton Rouge.
Simmons told Carter this was a revelatory moment for him,
“It’s a dirty business. You have to put up with it, but at the same time, it just taught me a lot. I have an image and people wanted to use that, but now I have the opportunity to control that and what I do and who I work with. It helped me. At the same time, I feel like it was really sneaky, kind of.”
And when Carter asked him if he really learned anything while in school, Simmons was quick to say ‘nah,’
“I think no. I think I would’ve learned a lot more being around professional athletes. Looking back at it now, I don’t even really know what I learned financially or just being a person at LSU. I think I’ve learned a lot more this whole year, being in Philly and being a pro than I did in LSU.”
Simmons hit the nail on the head when he pointed out that if the NCAA wasn’t able to get the biggest high school stars to play in college, a lot of people would lose money,
“If we didn’t [go to college], a lot of people would be losing money, so I think that’s the main reason. If the NCAA didn’t have the stars coming through then people wouldn’t be watching.”
NCAA President Mark Emmert has previously responded to Simmons’ comments during a Showtime documentary last year that criticized the NCAA. Emmert made the astute point that the NCAA is not physically threatening athletes to go to college,
“If someone wants to be a pro basketball player and doesn’t want to go to college, don’t go to college. We don’t put a gun to your head. First and foremost, it’s about being a student at a university. We’re in the human development business.”
Miss me with that ‘human development business’ bullshit.
Ben Simmons is absolutely killing it in his rookie year after a foot fracture kept him out all last season. Shoutout to Simmons for balling and dropping knowledge.
It’s interesting to see how talk of the NBA’s greatest player of all-time (or G.O.A.T.) has progressed and eventually changed over time.
For the longest, well, at least as far as I can remember, barbershop talk and lunchroom debates always held Jordan and Kobe as the two finalists for the GOAT. The turn-around fade, relentless work ethic, and the ring quest made the two more comparable than anyone else. Jordan himself said that Kobe stole all his moves. Who else could we name as a better successor?
At least that was the sentiment before LeBron came along.
Between going to seven straight finals, single handedly defeating the NBA’s most winning regular season team, and breaking the championship drought in Cleveland, it’s understandable why people are more curious to see how LeBron, not Kobe, stacks up against Jordan.
I mean, last week against the Washington Wizards, LeBron — who is in his 15th season, by the way — put up 57 and 11 IN HIS 15th SEASON! That kind of consistency, on top of constantly breaking records, demanded that the conversation for GOAT change.
The conversation that was re-opened last night when a win over the Milwaukee Bucks marked the 1,072 game of James’ career; the same number of games that Jordan played.
It makes sense: games played provides a sample size long enough where we can see, on paper, how the two legends stack up. And best believe everyone was aware of it.
Lebron, who is 33 years old, has already bypassed Jordan in rebounds, assists, and games won and still has a good chance of surpassing Jordan in the categories he currently trails (Jordan retired at 39).
And although LeBron entered the NBA straight out of high school and Jordan took a year off, you can’t get mad at Bron’s ability to stay healthy and dominate for all these years.
Yet, on the other side of the argument Jordan purists will claim that, even still, MJ has a formidable lead in MVPs, rings, and almost every other hardware category. LeBron may break all of Jordan’s records, but will he ever be as successful and impactful as Jordan, who had two separate three-peats and went 6-0 in the finals?
In my mind, the fact that Jordan, someone who is a decade removed from the league, who played in a completely different era, is still able to have stats that stand against the test of time, makes him the GOAT.
Jordan is still being chased. It may be by a 6’8″, 235 lb. once in a lifetime athletic specimen, but LBJ hasn’t closed the ground quite yet. Until that day, it’ll be fun to discuss.
Stephen A. Smith, one of the worst opinion-havers in the sports world, made some incredibly stupid comments about NBA players, new Nike warmup hoodies, and Trayvon Martin on his radio show last week.
Smith claimed that NBA players, specifically J.R. Smith, wearing the Nike warmup hoodies would make ‘white folks’ think that ‘Trayvon Martin being revisited.’
Here’s what Smith said:
“And in Game 1, when they played against Boston, J.R. Smith was sitting on that bench with a hoodie on. I don’t know why Nike made these damn uniforms that had hoods attached to it, by the way. You got a lot of white folks in the audience that are gonna think this is Trayvon Martin being revisited, and I’m not joking about it. The bench is no place for someone to be wearing hoodies.”
Smith then went on to say that he has ‘no problem with hoodies’ and that people shouldn’t be stereotyped for wearing hoodies while he… stereotyped players for wearing hoodies:
“I have no problem with hoodies. People shouldn’t be stereotyped and stigmatized for wearing hoodies. I totally agree with the Miami Heat, and Dwyane Wade, and LeBron James, and Chris Bosh, and Ray Allen, and all those guys when they donned those hoodies back then, after the shooting of Trayvon Martin by wannabe cop Mr. Zimmerman, who should have been convicted. But the bench? For a basketball player? Sitting on the bench with his team, that is no place for a hoodie. I don’t know why the hell Nike did that. They need to get rid of those damn hoodies. There’s no place for a hoodie. A hoodie shouldn’t be attached to a uniform that you can wear while you’re on the bench during a game, but J.R. Smith had it on.”
Obviously J.R. is not gonna let you use his name to make some wild point about white people and the new NBA warmups, so J.R. got his Twitter fingers all warmed up and went after Stephen A.
This man is always reaching. What does me wearing my Hoodie on the bench have anything todo with reminding “white people” of #trayvon
Stephen A. needs to relax (I’m fully aware that will never happen). Claiming that NBA players rocking hoodie warmups on the bench is going to somehow like conjure images of Trayvon Martin for white people in the audience is one of the most ridiculous things Stephen A. has ever said in his career of saying ridiculous shit.
Did J.R. need to clap back as wildly as he did? I mean, dude keeps it a buck one hundred percent of the time. As a shameless J.R. stan, I’m gonna side with him every damn time, but in this instance he’s completely right.
‘Tis the season of super teams. The Golden State Warriors, Minnesota Timberwolves, Oklahoma City Thunder, and the Cleveland Cavaliers are all stacked with at least three players who have made an All-NBA list, making this season the first of its kind.
Who would have known that the 2007 trade that sent Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen to the Boston Celtics would have led to this?
But if the assembling of super teams has taught us anything, it’s that just because you have the talent, that doesn’t mean it will come together (2010 Miami Heat, 2013 Brooklyn Nets, 2013 Lakers are just a few examples).
So it should be no surprise that Dwyane Wade, a 10-time all-NBA, 3-time champion, and MVP of the 2006 Finals, decided that he wants to come off the bench for the first time in his career.
Ty Lue told reporters today that Wade came to him personally to bench himself, meaning JR Smith will return to the starting lineup.
The Cavaliers’ new Kyrie-less starting lineup has failed to gel with Wade in the starting lineup. Through the first three games, the 14-year vet has been averaging 5.7 points and 3.3 assists in 23.7 minutes per game, shooting 28 percent from the floor.
In his words, he’s been having difficulty finding his rhythm.
The Cavaliers aren’t the only super team struggling right now.
The defending NBA Champion Golden State Warriors are 1-2, losing their home opener and an away game in Memphis where two-time MVP Stephen Curry got so frustrated, he threw his mouthpiece and was ejected from the game.
The 82-game season is definitely a slow grind. It will be interesting to see which teams figure it out and which fail miserably.
It’s finally here. After the wildest and most 2K-inspired summer in NBA history, there will actually be basketball again tonight.
With this comes the opportunity to analyze, prognosticate, and predict the upcoming NBA season. Will anyone come close to the Warriors? Will Russ repeat as MVP? Will LeBron throw the hands with Kyrie at midcourt before the game? Will James Harden and Chris Paul work? What young team will emerge as contenders this season?
We decided to ignore all of those questions and instead pinpoint the players that make basketball the best sport on earth. The players that won’t make an All-Star team or win an award (unless it’s 6th Man of the Year) or decide the fate of the season.
These players have the perfect combination of skill on the court, hilarious hijinks off the court, and endless personality. Many of these players think higher of their own skills than the public or basketball intelligentsia at large. This is not a bad quality, in fact it’s what makes these dudes so fucking amazing to watch.
The NBA is all about entertainment, and these guys make it fun to watch every night, even if they aren’t the best players on the court.
Dion Waiters
After becoming a league-wide joke over the years for his penchant to call for the ball from players of a slightly higher profile, Dion Waiters had a breakout season last year on the resurgent Miami Heat.
The Heat started the season 11-30, only to go 30-11 for the rest of the season and Dion Waiters was a huge reason for that.
This year will see an expanded role for Dion on a pretty funky Miami Heat team. We’ll be here for all of the ridiculous isolation plays, the fadeaways, and the flexing. Never stop calling for the ball, Dion.
While LeBron may have gotten J.R. to bring down the hotboy a little bit, we know deep down in the depths of J.R.’s soul it’s just waiting to spring out and chuck up a contested fadeaway 3 with 19 seconds left on the shot clock.
Part of the entertaining part of watching J.R. is seeing him try to stifle the urge to shoot terrible shots. This is a man that said taking uncontested shots was “kind of boring.” It really doesn’t get any more legendary than that.
Also, there will be 5-10 times this season when J.R. becomes absolutely unguardable for like 5 minute stretches. These are the most sacred of basketball experiences.
Will Barton
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DC9svnK_y_g
The Denver Nuggets 6th man is up next in a long line of NBA hotboys before him. He’s rangy, he’s athletic, he also takes terrible shots.
Barton will lace up for a Denver Nuggets team that should be a bunch of fun to watch and get out and run whenever possible. The fact that he’ll be the first man off the bench guarantees that Barton will have the ball a lot.
Like J.R. and Dion, Barton can get as hot as anyone in the league and with an interesting group of young prospects and players coming into their prime (plus Paul Millsap), the Nuggets will be endlessly entertaining.
Nick Young/Omri Casspi
Yes, I have combined Nick Young and Omri Casspi into one amazing, 3-point shooting, whirling dervish of hotboydom.
The Warriors were able to add Nick Young and Omri Casspi for ridiculously cheap deals this summer, fortifying a bench that’s crucial to the way they play.
Now, when Curry, Steph, and/or KD takes a seat, Steve Kerr will unleash his second iteration of the splash bros in Young and Casspi, and endless fun and hilarity will ensue.
Nick Young is on a good team now, after spending the last four years of his career on shitty Lakers teams. This should both calm down his antics off the court (this is the sad part) but also take his game up another level. The potential for Swaggy P on this Warriors team is endless.
As for Casspi, he’s shot just under 40% from 3 over his career. Having these two come of the bench on the Warriors will be fucking amazing to watch.
Milos Teodosic
You just gotta love 30-year-old Serbian rookies. But Milos Teodosic is a 30-year-old Serbian rookie who is also the best passer on the whole planet.
The Clippers may miss Chris Paul and the timeline is probably running out on a championship run, let alone competing at the top of the Western Conference, but Teodosic will make this Clippers team so fun.
He’ll be flipping behind the back alley-oops to Deandre Jordan and Blake Griffin and chest bumping with Pat Beverly (who just missed out on this list).
Without Chris Paul bickering at every call, the Clippers may even be slightly tolerable. Teodosic will make this team awesome.
Larry Nance Jr.
The Lakers have a revitalized and young team with a bunch of interesting pieces.
Everyone is talking about Lonzo Ball, Brandon Ingram, and Julius Randle, let alone what superstar(s) will join them next summer, but the Lakers also have the most glorious dunker in the league.
This will be Nance’s third year in the league and he’s already put big men across the NBA on posters, including his now-teammate Brook Lopez.
Nance seems to try to get as high as humanly possible on every dunk while also trying to absolutely annihilate the defender pathetically standing in front of him.
Michael Beasley
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_MTQFoIqM0U
The beautiful Michael Beasley will be in the basketball mecca this season, wearing watches on his ankles, going to Up and Down, and jacking up shots as Jeff Hornacek and Knicks fans have conniption fits.
Beasley has one of the most aesthetically pleasing games in the league. His effortless offensive game is too smooth and who doesn’t prefer a lefty anyways? Beasley also has no shortage of confidence in himself, he told ESPN recently that he’s one of the best in the league,
“I still think I have a chance to be one of the best in the NBA. I’m your favorite player’s favorite player. And it’s not enough for me for him to know that. I want the world to know that. So I’m still working hard as if I can be the best ever. If you doubt it, if you don’t believe it, it will just make my story that much better.”
The Knicks are going to suuuuck, but Michael Beasley will make them worth watching.
Jonathan Simmons
Jonathan Simmons’ journey to the NBA has been wild.
He went to three different colleges, played semi-professional basketball, toiled in the D-League for years, then finally got his chance with the Spurs in the past two years and became a crucial part of Pop’s rotation.
Simmons signed a 3-year/$18 million contract with the Orlando Magic this summer, so all the great things that we saw in limited action for the Spurs; the long range, the ability to get red-hot in an instant, ferocious defense, and unending passion will be in a much more prominent role on the Magic.
Watch out for my dude Jonathan Simmons this season.
Maurice Harkless
There’s nothing overly interesting about Maurice Harkless’ game. He’s a solid player on a Trailblazers team that should be pretty good BUT the small print on Harkless’ contract makes him a very great player to watch.
Harkless has a stipulation in his contract that will pay him a bonus of $500k if he can shoot over 35% from 3. So when Harkless reached that percentage last season… he stopped shooting 3s.
Ingenious shit from Moe Harkless. Of course he’s from Queens.
Boban Marjanovic
I mean, I don’t know what to tell you if you don’t love seeing the 7’3″, 290-pound Boban lumbering around. WE NEED MORE BOBAN! GIVE ME ALL THE BOBAN!
I would say the NBA season is back — and, technically it is — but for me, it never left.
Summer league in Vegas, pro-am’s, preseason, and the blockbuster trades kept me fully engaged more than I could have hoped. And it all comes together tonight.
The Boston Celtics visit the defending Eastern Conference champion Cleveland Cavaliers, and the Houston Rockets go out to the Bay Area to face the reigning NBA champion Golden State Warriors.
There are too many storylines to know where to start.
Will LeBron play or will he hold off on the dramatics of facing former teammate Kyrie on the excuse of his ankle? How will Harden and Paul match up against the defending champs? Is Derrick Rose back in MVP form?
But there’s one storyline in particular that holds a little more weight: what the athletes will do during the anthem.
As much as we want to separate sports and politics, they’ve been intertwined with each other and instrumental in the fight against racial injustice for years.
It’s not always comfortable, but it serves a purpose. And right now sports and politics are at a head like no time before.
This of course stems from the NFL blackballing Colin Kaepernick after he decided to quietly kneel during the national anthem to bring awareness to the disproportionate rate that Black lives are taken by police officers in this country.
But now that the President has taken the issue personally it’s caused a reaction that’s rippled across the sports world.
On one hand, it’s become an act of solidarity among players in other sports to stand up to Trump by taking a knee, but on the other, it’s made some owners tighten policy.
U.S. national team star Megan Rapinoe became the first soccer player to kneel. Oakland Athletics catcher Bruce Maxwell became the first Major League Baseball player to kneel, and Tampa Bay Lightning player J.T. Brown became the first NHL player to protest police brutality during the national anthem.
“…If there is anything that is disrespectful to the flag then we will not play,” Jones said to The Dallas Morning News.
There is work still to be done.
Despite league commissioner Adam Silver’s memo back in September stating that protesting was against league rules, the NBA has been known as the most progressive league in the country.
Two years ago you saw the likes of Kobe, Derrick Rose, Kevin Garnett, and others wearing “I Can’t Breathe” shirts, which is more than any NFL player did.
Not to mention 35.1 percent of “professional positions” held in Silver’s office are held by people of color and 38.8 percent by women, according to the NBA. That’s the highest in pro sports, by far.
And although Adam Silver is right — the rulebook indeed states NBA players must “stand and line up in a dignified posture” during the anthem — it’s up to the NBA players to use their power to stand up to that rule.
There are some indications that they might.
J.R. Smith did not take kindly to Silver’s statements and when asked if he’d protest the anthem, LeBron said his voice is more important than his knee, and to his defense, he’s been vocal as anyone in his position.
The NBA players should take a knee in solidarity to show the President that he has no choice but to take seriously the issues affecting the African American community.
Being that the NBA is majority black, the reigning NBA Champions have decided to skip the White House visit, and the popularity around the sport is at an all-time high, this has to be the time for NBA stars to take a stand.
Despite Jerry Jone’s decree, the NFL announced it has no plans to force players to stand during the national anthem. This establishes a precedent for the NBA players to start a strike of their own.
Kneel, lock arms, or sit, there must be a continued effort made to carry on the burden the NFL players and even some ESPN commentators have carried in order for these messages to be heard.
This season is shaping up to be one of the most exciting in years, I’m just hoping it’s one of the most impactful, too.
“Damn, I swear sports and music are so synonymous ’cause we wanna be them and they wanna be us.”
Truer words have never been spoken. As the great philosopher Aubrey Graham stated, there has always been a special bond between rappers and basketball players.
So the fact that Damian Lillard is balancing a successful basketball career and — as of today — able to drop his second major album, Confirmed shouldn’t surprise us.
Back in May, Dame explained the album’s title on his Instagram as he wrote, “I’ve never had issues with stardom. I’m also not new to music. I’ve always created music while playing at every level of basketball.
“But now this is no longer an experiment. This is my second album. I’m putting out respectable music yearly. I’ve invested in that. I’m settled in. I don’t feel the need to answer questions or address concerns. This is who I am and what I do.”
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But as today got here and his album became available for streaming, I found myself hesitant to give Lillard a fair shot.
Despite his efforts to promote, invest, and set time to put this album together I still asked myself how good is Dame, really?
In the past, Tony Parker, Kobe Bryant, Shaquille O’Neal, Metta World Peace, and Lou Williams all pursued rap careers and we all saw how those faired. Why give Dame Dolla a chance?
The number of athletes who’ve tried and fail at music are so high, it’s created this stigma that new rapper athletes have to overcome.
And it’s not like it hasn’t balanced out. Master P and his son are examples of the playing field being even. The Game can hoop a little, but surely not at an elite level.
So naturally, there’s this myth that you cannot do both, that your skillset is bound to either art or sports.
But Dame proves that wrong.
If you remember it was the internet — the people, essentially — that first raised their collective eyebrows at Dame’s rapping capabilities back when he spit that insane freestyle on Sway in 2015.
You’ve also never seen an athlete get this much support in his musical endeavors. It’s usually clowned and not taken seriously.
.@Dame_Lillard is better than a bunch of these rappers and he does this in his free time after averaging 27 PPG, 6 APG and 5 RPG last year.
Not to mention the rap game sees something in Dame’s art. His last album, 2016’s The Letter O, has Jamie Foxx, Lil Wayne, and Marsha Ambrose on it — big names for an NBA player’s debut rap project.
Even from competitors like Iman Shumpert — who isn’t chump change on the mic either — gave him props.
While still picking himself for pro baller with the best bars, on Complex’s Everyday Struggle Shump admitted that Dame has a different lane, saying he’s a Meek Mill, Nipsey Hussle, inspirational bars type rapper.
Although dismissing rapper athletes is tempting, I think we owe it to Dame to give his project a spin.
He’s humble on and off the court, plays his heart out, and has a hell of a come up story.
Rap gives us an in-depth look at an artist’s life and being that Dame is a superstar basketball player, we have a unique opportunity to view a player in a way we haven’t before.
Confirmed is available for streaming on all platforms today.
“This process started out about hair, but it’s turned into something more for me. I’m really grateful to my teammates and friends for being willing to help me talk through such a difficult subject, one that I’m still learning about and working my way through. Over the course of the last few years and all these hairstyles, I’ve learned that there’s a difference between ‘not caring what other people think’ and actually trying to walk around for a while in another person’s shoes. The conversations I had weren’t always very comfortable, and at times I know I didn’t say the right things. But I’m glad I had them — because I know as an Asian-American how rare it is for people to ask me about my heritage beyond a surface level.”
I mean, fair enough. This seems like a little bit of an extra interpretation of a hairstyle, but props to Lin for recognizing the cultural ramifications of wearing dreadlocks.
But not everyone was happy about the dreads. Former NBA ballplayer Kenyon Martin posted a now-deleted Instagram video yesterday roasting Jeremy Lin’s appropriation. Martin said,
“Do I need to remind this damn boy that his last name Lin? Like, come on man. Let’s stop this, man, with these people, man. There is no way possible that he would have made it on one of our teams with that bulls–t goin’ on on his head. Come on man, somebody need to tell him, like: ‘All right bro, we get it. You wanna be black.’ Like, we get it. But the last name is Lin.”
Pretty hilarious from K-Mart, seems like some solid low-level roasting but Jeremy Lin has thought a lot about this and came back with a very Ivy League comeback to Martin’s post, politely pointing out the fact that Martin has Chinese tattoos.
“Hey man, it’s all good. You definitely don’t have to like my hair and [are] definitely entitled to your opinion. Actually I [am] legit grateful [for] you sharin it [to be honest]. At the end of the day, I appreciate that I have dreads and you have Chinese tattoos [because] I think its a sign of respect. And I think as minorities, the more that we appreciate each other’s cultures, the more we influence mainstream society. Thanks for everything you did for the Nets and hoops . . . had your poster up on my wall growin up.”
Those are some choir boy bars right there. But Lin actually makes a really interesting point about minorities in America embracing other cultures and thusly bringing more exposure and attention to them. Lin further told the New York Post,
“At the end of the day … we need to spend a little more time thinking about what it’d be like to be somebody else. He said what he said but I’m not really that offended. If that’s how he thinks, that’s how he thinks. But my job is to be gracious, loving and if I can just share with him a little of my side I think the next time maybe he’ll have a different viewpoint.”
Kenyon came through with another deleted Instagram video kind of pulling back from his comments saying he was playing around,
“I see I ruffled a few of y’all’s feathers, so: good. Take y’all comments to the bank and see what they give y’all for ’em. But that man grown. That man can rock whatever hairstyle he wanna rock. That don’t mean I have to like it or agree with it. Second of all, I’m grown. I can say whatever I wanna say about whatever I wanna say about. It ain’t about race, it ain’t about none of that. Like, grow up people. It was a joke. But I don’t like it, I don’t agree with it, so it is what it is.”
I gotta be honest, when I first saw Lin’s dreads I was pretty taken aback.
It seemed like a textbook cringeworthy appropriation of another culture, but dude is so damn thoughtful about it and is actually bringing some really interesting insight to the issue of cultural appropriation that I can’t help but say SHOUTOUT J LIN AND HIS DUMB DREADS. Keep living your best life Jeremy.
With the NBA season less than two weeks away, we’re getting more and more hype as each day passes. The focus all offseason has been on the rich getting richer, with all the contenders jockeying for position to compete with the Warriors.
The Cavs recruited a bunch of former All-Stars in Derrick Rose, D Wade, and Isaiah Thomas to replace the departed Kyrie Irving. As for Kyrie, he’s headed to Boston with Gordon Hayward to form a new-look Celtics team that will be must watch TV.
The Warriors still have the best team by far, and added Nick Young and Omri Casspi, who will rain 3s and bring some serious explosion off the bench.
The Thunder might have the most enjoyable 2K team of all-time, bringing in Hoodie Melo and Paul George to team up with MVP Russell Westbrook.
This team should score and score some more and charming New Zealander Steven Adams will be waiting to swat away anyone who dares enter the paint.
There’s so much talent in the NBA right now, almost every team has intriguing pieces worth tuning in to see on any given night (except the Pacers, please for the love of God don’t watch the Pacers).
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So while all the preseasons focus has revolved around the big teams revamping their rosters in the hopes of competing with the Warriors, there are a bunch of teams out there that will not come close to a championship this year but will be fun as shit to watch.
Here’s a list of 5 teams that are worth clearing the schedule for. These teams will compete to varying degrees, but certainly not lift the Larry O’Brien Trophy.
Milwaukee Bucks
The Milwaukee Bucks made the playoffs as the 6 seed in the Eastern Conference last year and they should be hovering around the middle to top of the East this season if all goes according to plan.
They’re led by Giannis Antetokounmpo, The Greek Freak, who is mini-LeBron. Giannis can pretty do everything on the court, he led the Bucks in points, steals, blocks, assists, and rebounds last year. He was the only player to do that in the league. That’s brazy.
Giannis is somehow still only 22 (!) and head coach Jason Kidd loves throwing him in weird matchups where Giannis runs point surrounded by smaller players, giving opposing teams headaches as to how the hell to matchup with this dude.
Besides Giannis, the Bucks have last year’s Rookie of the Year in Malcolm Brogdon, the underrated Khris Middleton, the gangly shot-blocker John Henson, and the wonderful Thon Maker.
Thon Maker’s evolution into a stretch center who can bomb from 3 will be a great subplot to watch with the Bucks, as will their weird trap defense, in which they surround opposing teams with their litany of lanky 7’0″ wingspans and force you into action. Sometimes it doesn’t really work at all, but it’s fun to watch!
When Jabari Parker comes back (he’s targeting a February return) from ACL surgery, the Bucks and Kidd will be able to do even weirder shit with their lineups.
If everyone stays healthy and Giannis keeps developing, the Bucks could fuck around and give the Cavs and Celtics serious headaches in the East.
Philadelphia 76ers
Shoutout The Process.
Poor Sam Hinkie laid the groundwork for this current Philly team by hilariously sucking for years and got canned as soon as it was slowly coming to fruition. Pour one out for Yung Hinkie.
I have no idea what this 76ers team is going to be like, but with former lottery picks Markelle Fultz, Ben Simmons (the 1st overall picks from last two years), and Joel Embiid finally taking the floor together, there is some serious talent on display.
At 7’0″ Embiid can handle the ball, cross up a defender, and splash a pull up in his face. He can post up with his back to the basket and spin right past his helpless defender. He can shoot 3s. He claims that he learned to shoot by just watching videos of “normal white people” shoot on YouTube. Dude is a Cameroonian treasure.
Everyone please keep Embiid’s health in your thoughts as we need this dude playing. Regardless, the Sixers will definitely limit his play time as a precaution.
Ben Simmons has flown way under the radar, but there’s a reason he was the number 1 overall pick last year, dude is a freak.
Despite all the talent, the 6ers are really fucking young. It would be a small miracle if they make the playoffs, let alone win more than 30 games, but god damn is it gonna be fun every night.
The Heat don’t have a player like Giannis or Embiid, a young, transcendent talent that will (barring injury) be a staple of the NBA for the next decade, but they do have a hilarious rag-tag group of some awesome players.
Point guard Goran Dragic is still doing his little herky jerky lefty drives to get to the rim, Hassan Whiteside will not let you anywhere near the paint, Dion Waiters has the biggest balls in the league, and James Johnson has cool hairdos.
(Quick little shoutout to my fellow Cuse alum Dion Waiters, one of the most enjoyable dudes in the NBA. After becoming a punchline over the years for his irrational confidence, he proved all the haters wrong with a great season last year and signed a four year $52 million contract this offseason. Keep thriving Dion.)
Throw in young talents Justise Winslow and Josh Richardson (who are still very raw, relatively unknown commodities) and the Heat should compete for a low-end spot in the Eastern Conference playoffs.
Head coach Erik Spoelstra is one of the best in the game and he always figures out how to get the best out of his squad. The Heat started last season 11-30 and ended up .500, tied with the Bulls for the 8th seed, but lost out on a tie-breaker.
It’s unclear whether the Heat are the team that went 11-30 or 31-12, probably somewhere smack dab in the middle, but they’ll be a tough matchup every single night even if their fans don’t show up until the 2nd half.
Los Angeles Lakers
Everyone is talking about what the Lakers are going to do next offseason.
Will they assemble the Banana Boat All-Stars and lure LeBron, Melo, Chris Paul, and D-Wade to LA? Is Paul George already a given to go to the Lakers? Will LaVar Ball get a front office position? It’s all on the table.
But for all the noise about next season, the Lakers will be super fun this season. Rookie Lonzo Ball is really, really good and his foul court passes out of nowhere and general unselfishness will encourage all-around better ball movement from the entire team.
It’s unclear exactly what Brandon Ingram is, he showed flashes of brilliance last season, but also looked disinterested and sluggish at times.
Julius Randle isn’t built in the stretch four mold that’s become so fashionable these days but he plays all out every possession, bullying defenders in the paint and gobbling up rebounds. He’s like Zach Randolph-lite, without all the weed.
Brook Lopez shoots 3s now, so that should be interesting, although he’s still incredibly weird looking.
Larry Nance will dunk all over your face.
There’s virtually no chance the Lakers are anywhere near the playoffs this season, the West is just way too stacked, but watching them will be an enjoyable experience on any given night.
The Denver Nuggets barely missed out on the playoffs last season in the jam-packed West and should be fighting for a low seed again this season.
Jamal Murray and Gary Harris form a very low key exciting young backcourt. Both can bomb it from deep and make intelligent plays to get in the paint.
Adding the great Paul Millsap to the front court should help the Nuggets’ ball movement and spacing (and less Kenneth Faried wild card moves).
Wilson Chandler is still doing his thing, getting some buckets and playing some solid defense with a little head high going.
But the Nuggets are a must-watch team because of Nikola Jokic.
This dude is an absolute monster. In his second year in the league, Jokic developed into one of the best centers in the league. After the All-Star break, he averaged 17.7 PPG, 11.6 RPG, and 6.1 APG. He can score, he can play defense, he will snatch a rebound directly from your helpless paws, and he has point guard-level court vision.
Surrounding Jokic with cutters and smart offensive players makes this Nuggets team a very interesting proposition in the West.
As always, teams will struggle to play in Denver because of the altitude and legal weed.
Cop League Pass and sacrifice all valuable relationships to watch these teams. You will not regret it.
On Friday September 29th, 2017 Russell Westbrook signed the most lucrative contract extension in NBA history. It’s a worthy prize for a player that is one of the hardest and most determined workers in the league.
There was so much noise after Kevin Durant left OKC for Golden State last summer. The Thunder wouldn’t be able to compete, they’d ruined one of the greatest young cores ever with bad management, Westbrook couldn’t thrive without Durant.
All Westbrook did in the absence of Durant was win the MVP while averaging a triple-double, a feat that hadn’t been accomplished since the 60s.
What makes Russell Westbrook so special is his myopic focus to be the best. That focus is what made the Thunder legitimate competitors last year despite losing the best basketball player on the planet. That focus means he’s ready to keep going. He told reporters after he signed his new contract,
“My focus never shifted. I mean, obviously I didn’t talk to you guys, so you guys were kind of making up your own assumptions, but my focus never changed. For me, you know, taking my time, family is the most important thing to me, and that’s what I was focused on. When it’s time to focus on basketball I do that, and that’s it.”
But this focus was also borne out of tragedy.
Westbrook made a pact with Khelcy Barrs, his high school teammate and best friend growing up, to go to UCLA and then play in the NBA. Barrs was actually a better prospect than Westbrook while they were in high school. But Barrs died suddenly at the age of 16 after a pick up game due to an enlarged heart.
This drove Russell to go even harder, to live out his dream for both himself and his late friend.
“Russell is living his dream for his friend. I believe Khelcey’s energy is in Russell, pushing him to be the MVP of the NBA…. The situation with Khelcey, I’m almost 100 percent sure that even tonight, even today, that happening gives him that extra drive, that extra push. It will never allow him to quit, just because of that.”
Russell Westbrook has gone from a tweener, defense-only guard to a historically great player in the NBA. And to this day, Westbrook is playing for the memory of his late best friend.
