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SlamBall co-founder Mason Gordon spoke to Alex Kennedy about the sport's return, the new season on ESPN and much more.

The return of SlamBall: Co-founder Mason Gordon discusses new season

Brendan Malone, whose coaching career spanned six decades, is the recipient of the 2023 Tex Winter Assistant Coach Lifetime Impact award, the National Basketball Coaches Association announced today.
&ldquo;Brendan Malone has been a name synonymous with NBA success for many decades,&rdquo; said Rick Carlisle, Indiana Pacers head coach and NBCA president. &ldquo;He's helped develop players and young coaches, and been a multiple NBA champion on Chuck Daly's Detroit coaching staff in 1989 and 1990. Congrats to Coach Malone on this prestigious recognition.&rdquo;&nbsp;
&ldquo;I want to thank the National Basketball Coaches Association for this award,&rdquo; Malone said. &ldquo;Tex Winter was a man I got to know and respect. I also want to thank all of the head coaches that I enjoyed working with during my 29-year career in the NBA, in particular Hubie Brown who brought me into the league; Chuck Daly and our two championships; the Van Gundys, Stan and Jeff, and Don Chaney. Lastly, I want to thank my wife Maureen and our six children for sharing my journey.&rdquo;
Wetting his whistle with a few years of coaching CYO basketball, Malone began his coaching career in 1967 at the legendary Power Memorial Academy in New York City where he won three city championships and three Coach of the Year awards.
He then moved to the college ranks in 1976 as an assistant coach at Fordham, then Yale, and then Syracuse. At Syracuse, the Orange went to the NCAA Tournament four times. Malone was a Syracuse assistant for the first five years of the Big East. He left Syracuse to become head coach at the University of Rhode Island (URI) in 1984.
While at URI in 1986, Hubie Brown recruited Malone to join him as an assistant for the New York Knicks, the beginning of his 29-year NBA career. Malone had three different tours with the Knicks, the most notable of which was the four years with head coach Jeff Van Gundy. From 1996 to 2000, the Knicks went 177-119 with two Eastern Conference Finals appearances, as well as a trip to the 1999 NBA Finals.
Malone was an assistant coach for Stan Van Gundy for five years (2007 to 2012) in Orlando. The Magic won 50-plus games four straight years, went to the Eastern Conference Finals twice, and to the 2009 NBA Finals.
Malone was also an assistant coach for Bob Hill and Rick Pitino in New York, Don Chaney in both Detroit and New York, Isiah Thomas in Indiana, Paul Silas in Cleveland and Stan Van Gundy in Detroit. He was also a scout for the Detroit Pistons.&nbsp;
But it was in Detroit with Chuck Daly that Malone made his name, orchestrating the Jordan Rules defense that helped propel the Pistons to back-to-back NBA championships in 1989 and 1990.
Malone was the first head coach of the Toronto Raptors in 1995-96 and also served as head coach of the Cleveland Cavaliers for 18 games in 2004-05.
In 27 seasons of NBA coaching, teams that Malone coached went to the playoffs 20 times, to the Conference Finals seven times, and to the NBA Finals four times, winning the title twice. His teams compiled a 1165-1001 record (.538).
Brendan and his son, Michael, who is the head coach of the 2023 NBA champion Denver Nuggets, are the only father-son coaching duo to have both won an NBA championship.
&ldquo;I want to thank the NBCA Selection Committee for acknowledging my father&rsquo;s impact and career in the NBA,&rdquo; Michael Malone said. &ldquo;His work ethic, his love of the game, and his passion for teaching were the foundation of my coaching career. This is a well-deserved honor and I feel very fortunate to be a part of this celebration.&rdquo;
Brendan Malone was enshrined in the New York Catholic High School Athletic Association Hall of Fame in 1993. In 1997, he was inducted into the Basketball Old-Timers of America Hall of Fame (which recognizes and honors individuals who have made outstanding contributions to New York City basketball). He is a 2017 enshrinee in the Power Memorial Academy Hall of Fame.&nbsp;
&ldquo;Assistant coaches generally operate behind the scenes and almost never receive enough public recognition for their team&rsquo;s success. However, any head coach will tell you that they are an indispensable part of the team equation,&rdquo; said David Fogel, NBCA Executive Director and General Counsel. &ldquo;Coach Malone&rsquo;s contributions to the accomplishments of his teams are well known inside the NBA and his contributions to the game continue through his son Michael&rsquo;s tremendous success. Congratulations to Brendan on this well-deserved honor.&rdquo;
The NBCA Tex Winter Lifetime Impact Award honors the tremendous achievements and commitment of Hall-of-Famer Tex Winter, who set a standard of innovation, integrity, competitive excellence, loyalty, and tireless promotion of NBA basketball throughout the course of his outstanding NBA coaching career.
The award is selected annually by the NBCA Selection Committee, comprised of some of the most respected coaches and executives in the game, including Rick Adelman, Hubie Brown, Doug Collins, Wayne Embry, Danny Ferry, Mike Fratello, George Karl, Doc Rivers, Rod Thorn and Lenny Wilkens.
This year&rsquo;s nominees included assistant coaches Bob Beyer, Dan Burke, Jeff Bzdelik, Gordon Chiesa, Carroll Dawson, Hank Egan, Jim Eyen, Brian Hill, Jim Lynam, Bob McAdoo, Brendan Suhr and Bob Weiss.
Prior recipients of this award are Ron Adams (2022), Dick Helm (2021), Bill Bertka (2019), Tim Grgurich (2018), Ron Rothstein (2017) and Phil Johnson (2016).

Brendan Malone is the recipient of the 2023 Tex Winter Assistant Coach Lifetime Impact award, the NBCA announced today.

Brendan Malone given Tex Winter Assistant Coach Lifetime Impact award

This year's NBA trade deadline challenged the glut of Western Conference contenders to test how far they would go to separate themselves from the pack.
Some teams, like the Phoenix Suns in their Kevin Durant blockbuster or the Dallas Mavericks in their Kyrie Irving acquisition, swung for the fences. Others &mdash; such as the Denver Nuggets, Memphis Grizzlies and New Orleans Pelicans &mdash; only nabbed a rotation player or two, opting to bet on their current core.
The Los Angeles Clippers appear to fall in the latter group, but we should not overlook their trade-deadline moves. With three separate trades, all in the final hours of dealmaking on Thursday, the Clippers added Bones Hyland, Eric Gordon and Mason Plumlee. They took calculated risks and changed three important spots in their rotation, hoping the current stalwart defense insulates a boost of offensive juice.
Hyland was one of the hottest names in the rumor mill last week after his <a href="https://www.denverpost.com/2023/02/09/nuggets-trade-deadline-bones-hyland-thomas-bryant-analysis/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">falling out with the Nuggets</a>. Los Angeles pounced and dealt two second-round picks for the former No. 26 overall selection in the 2021 NBA Draft.
Hyland quickly becomes the most promising developmental talent on the roster at 22 years old. But more immediately, he brings a high-charged dose of long-range shotmaking to the Clippers' bottom-10 offense.
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Bones Hyland hit a career-high 7 three-pointers to lead the <a href="https://twitter.com/nuggets?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@nuggets</a> to the win! <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/MileHighBasketball?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#MileHighBasketball</a><a href="https://twitter.com/BizzyBones11?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@BizzyBones11</a>: 26 PTS, 7 3PM <a href="https://t.co/IkJU5Ajf0U">pic.twitter.com/IkJU5Ajf0U</a>
&mdash; NBA (@NBA) <a href="https://twitter.com/NBA/status/1586207446678138883?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 29, 2022</a></blockquote>

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The combo guard profiles as one of the most extreme perimeter creators in the entire league. Some evidence: Hyland has attempted 118 self-created threes this season, according to PBP Stats, which would rank second on his new team behind Paul George (164) and far above the third-place guard he's replacing (Reggie Jackson, 66), in only 820 minutes this season. His 39.8% clip on those attempts ranks 13th among 81 players who have attempted at least 50 such shots.
To this point of his career, however, Hyland's primary impact has come from distance. He can attack the basket, but he's no more than a mediocre rim-pressure threat, and he's a very limited playmaker. Microwave shooting is an important skill that can swing a playoff series if active; it's unclear if Hyland can consistently impact the game this way.
That's why the Eric Gordon trade adds another level of intrigue. Gordon, a 34-year-old shooting guard, finally leaves a rebuilding Houston Rockets situation after years in and out of reported trade talks. He rejoins the franchise that drafted him seventh overall way back in 2008.&nbsp;
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Ty Lue on the <a href="https://twitter.com/LAClippers?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@LAClippers</a> new editions of Bones Hyland, Eric Gordon &amp; Mason Plumlee. <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/LAClippers?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#LAClippers</a> <a href="https://t.co/yxsD8SyutK">pic.twitter.com/yxsD8SyutK</a>
&mdash; Hoops &amp; Brews (@HoopsNBrews) <a href="https://twitter.com/HoopsNBrews/status/1624289182775656448?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 11, 2023</a></blockquote>

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Gordon has a 15-year history of solid, albeit streaky, pull-up shooting, and he can still slice his way to the rim with ease. Gordon has converted 67% or more of his shots within three feet of the hoop in each of the last three seasons, per Basketball Reference &mdash; and that's in a Houston offense that has looked pretty wonky at times.&nbsp;
The Clippers acquired Gordon in a three-team deal with the Rockets and Grizzlies that ultimately sent John Wall to Houston and Luke Kennard to Memphis. They now have a reshaped guard rotation that includes Hyland, Gordon, Terance Mann and Norman Powell &mdash; four complementary scoring threats next to Kawhi Leonard and Paul George.&nbsp;
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Entering Saturday, L.A. took just 30.2% of its shots at the rim, a 23rd-ranked rate, per Cleaning the Glass. Gordon's talents should directly help, and Hyland's perimeter prowess ideally opens up lanes for others to attack.
The four-man crew allows for some interesting lineup flexibility. Does head coach Ty Lue opt to keep Mann in the starting lineup and let Hyland bombard off the bench, knowing Gordon can also keep teams honest? Or can Hyland eventually work his way up to start and provide a more powerful perimeter impact than Reggie Jackson ever could &mdash; also leaving Mann to keep the heat on with the second unit?
With just those two, we already see that the Clippers want to apply more pressure from more angles, versus the stagnation that can arise with just Kawhi plus PG plus floor-spacers. Mason Plumlee continues the theme in his own way as a passing hub.
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Pretty easy to see how Mason Plumlee's playmaking would fit seamlessly into Sacramento's offense. Lots of CHA's sets are similar to SAC's. Plumlee is averaging 4.6 assists per 36 mins and would probably be fairly cheap considering his expiring $9M deal. Davis + Len + two 2nds? <a href="https://t.co/U52qzH2vnd">pic.twitter.com/U52qzH2vnd</a>
&mdash; Brenden Nunes (@BrendenNunesNBA) <a href="https://twitter.com/BrendenNunesNBA/status/1617660314237145088?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 23, 2023</a></blockquote>

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Los Angeles added the veteran center in a trade with the Charlotte Hornets that sent Jackson and a 2028 second-rounder to Charlotte. During our <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/watch-basketball-news-2023-nba-trade-deadline-show" target="_blank" rel="noopener">2023 NBA Trade Deadline Show</a>, Nekias Duncan and I both commented on the parallels between Plumlee and the team's 2021-22 backup center, Isaiah Hartenstein.&nbsp;
Last year, <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/nba-stats-notebook-isaiah-hartenstein-is-the-clippers-secret-weapon" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Hartenstein showed off his facilitation chops</a> by hitting cutters from the arc and operating out of some roll actions. He's in the sub-Nikola-Jokic tier of best big man passers in the NBA, and so is Plumlee.
For several seasons, the 32-year-old has consistently posted some of the best passing numbers in the league; his 18.0% assist rate is in the 92nd percentile among bigs this season, per Cleaning the Glass. Plumlee is assisting on 12.6% of his total passes, per Second Spectrum, which is the third-highest rate among centers.
Add in his stellar presence around the rim (73% shooting in that zone) and solid track record on the glass, and Plumlee seems about as ideal a fit at backup center as feasible. The healthy Clippers are looking at a Hyland-Gordon-Powell-Robert Covington-Plumlee second unit, with Nic Batum and Amir Coffey as additonal options. That is deep.
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The overarching worry: L.A. is tweaking the components of its top-10 defense &mdash; the backbone of its current fifth-place standing in the Western Conference. Hyland has serious defensive question-marks, Gordon is strong but undersized and Plumlee, while fundamentally sound, is by no means a rim-protector. Can the system and the prowess of the remaining players provide a stable floor? And if not, do the new pieces just fall out of the rotation, or do they unearth a new problem?
We likely won't know the final answer until the postseason. But the Clippers pointedly targeted several needs on Thursday, and the moves have more reward and more risk than they appear to at first. Even without adding a star, the Clippers have become another must-track team in the reshuffled West playoff race.

Ethan Fuller breaks down the Los Angeles Clippers adding Bones Hyland, Eric Gordon and Mason Plumlee prior to the trade deadline.

Evaluating the Clippers' three NBA trade deadline moves

For basketball fans, the NBA trade deadline is one of the most exciting days of the year. It&rsquo;s fun to track the rumors, react to trades and root for your favorite team to make moves.
However, for the players involved in these trades, it can be very stressful and emotional.
Most players spend deadline day looking over their shoulder, and there&rsquo;s a lot of anxiety and nerves around this time of year. There aren&rsquo;t many professions where your employer can ship you across the country without any notice, but that comes with being a professional athlete.
To get a sense of what it&rsquo;s like to be traded, Basketball News spoke to several former NBA players who opened up about getting dealt and what the process entailed.
<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OtyqvPS02_Y&amp;t=2886s" target="_blank" rel="noopener">RAY ALLEN</a>: &ldquo;When I got to Seattle, [here&rsquo;s] the way the trade went down. I was in Milwaukee playing for the Bucks and we flew to Seattle, and we had a practice that day. It was coming up on the trade deadline, and everyone was talking about Tim Thomas being traded. So we were on the Key Arena floor in Seattle and the media came rushing in. I'm sitting on the floor stretching and I'm looking around and as I turn [toward the media], all of these lights come on. And I'm like, 'What's happening? We're about to have practice.' And then I turn around and I'm like, 'What's going on?' And they're all looking and pointing at me. I&rsquo;m like, &lsquo;Me?!&rsquo; [The media members] are like, 'Yeah! You!' So we're stretching on one end and the other team is stretching on the other end, and [Bucks head coach] George Karl is down there on the other end. I kind of look around and I&rsquo;m looking up [at Coach Karl], and he takes off. So, I walk over to the media and said, &lsquo;What&rsquo;s going on?&rsquo; They were like, &lsquo;There was a trade.&rsquo; I&rsquo;m like, &lsquo;Who got traded?&rsquo; They were like, &lsquo;You.&rsquo; I go into the locker room and check my phone and it's blowing up. I got traded for Gary Payton. It was crazy to be traded to Seattle in the middle of the season. I go back [to Milwaukee], get my stuff, take my physical and fly back in. And my first game [as a Sonic] is against the Detroit Pistons.&nbsp;
&ldquo;I remember going out to lunch with Brent Barry, who was so great the whole time. He was such a jokester on the sly; he always had his little sarcasm that he'd add to any situation. He goes, 'Ray, just so you know, people aren't coming to the game to see you. They're coming to see the Barry brothers match-up.' Because Jon [Barry] was on Detroit. That was always Brett, with his dry humor. (Laughs) So, I'm watching the [Sonics'] film and Gary was &lsquo;The Glove&rsquo; &mdash; everybody knew how ferocious he was on defense. In Milwaukee, we had schemes, and I was used to that. But watching [the Sonics&rsquo;] film, Gary would come from one side of the floor and just start guarding a guy. And I was like, &lsquo;What scheme is that?&rsquo; And they were like, &lsquo;No, that&rsquo;s Gary&rsquo;s scheme.&rsquo; I noticed how the team was built around him, because a lot of the young players, they had kinda just waited on Gary to do whatever Gary did. So when I got there, Rashard [Lewis] was young and impressionable. We had Ansu Sesay, Reggie Evans, Jerome James and all of these young guys, and they all kinda just went as Gary went. So when I got there, I was like, 'Yo, get your shots up! I need you!' I was passing them the ball; I was flirting with triple-doubles like every other game. But I was like, 'You guys gotta [do something]!' They would just sit around, and I could tell the hole that Gary left &mdash; these guys were used to playing a certain way and kinda expecting him to do everything.&nbsp;
&ldquo;Rashard emerged because he started watching me come to the gym early every day and he would always say, 'Man, I want to make the money that you make and have the success that you've had. I really gotta start focusing in and taking this seriously&hellip;&rsquo; So, Rashard started getting to the gym early. He saw the work that I put in, and he saw that it was something that he could do and something he wanted for himself. I like to think that some of that money that he got from Orlando, he could have passed some of it [to me] on the side, but that didn&rsquo;t happen. (Laughs) But he was a great partner to have because he did get significantly better &mdash; so much better &mdash; from the time I got there to when we parted ways with him going to Orlando and me going to Boston. [I never talked to Coach Karl about him running away] and since then, George has always taken shots at me through the media or in writing his books. It's just the strangest thing because I always thought that we had a strong relationship as a player-coach.&rdquo;
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<a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/nba-news-etan-thomas-wpfw-dc-roundtable-drew-gooden-tony-massenburg-dave-zirin-john-wall-russell-westbrook-trade-washington-wizards-houston-rockets" target="_blank" rel="noopener">ETAN THOMAS</a>: &ldquo;I have a story from when I was with the Wizards. I was in [general manager] Ernie Grunfeld&rsquo;s office. We&rsquo;re talking about me going to big-man camp because they used to send a big man down to Florida to IMG Academy to work out with Robert Parish and Clifford Ray. So I&rsquo;m in there in the summer, and I&rsquo;m talking to him about big-man camp. And I&rsquo;ve heard a little bit of trade rumors, I&rsquo;ve heard whispers and stuff like that, but nothing major. So he&rsquo;s telling me, 'Yeah, you&rsquo;re coming back from your injury, we&rsquo;re looking forward to next year. We want to send you down to big-man camp and you&rsquo;re doing all this stuff, and Robert Parish is great to work with and Clifford Ray is this, and we&rsquo;re looking forward to everything with you and we&rsquo;ll see how you and Brendan [Haywood] can work together,' and all this different stuff. It was this whole long speech, right?
"Now I&rsquo;m driving from the Verizon Center home to PG County. I&rsquo;m not even off Route 50 yet, and I get a call from my agent who says, 'You just got traded.' I was like, 'Are you serious?' I was like, 'No, that has to be a mistake! I was just in Ernie Grunfeld&rsquo;s office like 10-15 minutes ago!' So, I had to do a U-turn, go back to the Verizon Center, clear out all my stuff, and then he shook my hand and said, 'Thank you for everything,' like the whole conversation 15 minutes ago never happened."
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<a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/heres-the-story-on-the-time-the-nuggets-traded-me-and-didnt-tell-me" target="_blank" rel="noopener">JAMES POSEY</a>: &ldquo;I was in my fourth season with the Denver Nuggets, and things hadn&rsquo;t really gotten off to the best start, to say the least. We were 6-18 and knew we were gonna have our hands full that night. Our opponent? The Dallas Mavericks. With Mike Finley, Steve Nash, Raef LaFrentz and Dirk Nowitzki, Dallas was no joke. They began the season 21-3, so in our morning shootaround, we were definitely engaged. Afterward, I showered and changed, went back home, took my pregame nap and was on my way back to the arena. I&rsquo;m driving and going over the gameplan in my head when I get a call from my agent. He said he was calling to 'check on me.' He asked me how I was doing and where I was. I thought the questions were a little strange, but didn&rsquo;t really think much of it. 'I&rsquo;m going to the arena, we got a game,' I said. 'You&rsquo;re going where?!' And that&rsquo;s how I found out I&rsquo;d been traded. We were both shocked, and for the same reason.
"Nobody communicated with me. I was literally a couple miles from the arena. Getting traded is a part of life as a professional athlete. And fortunately for me, I was young and, outside of the team, hadn&rsquo;t really had any family roots or ties to Denver. But that didn&rsquo;t completely remove the sting. I just considered myself lucky to not be in a situation where I also had to move a wife and three kids in the middle of the school year. Not every player is that fortunate. One minute, you&rsquo;re driving on the highway. The next minute, at a moment&rsquo;s notice, you have to start packing and prepare to make a new life in a new city. It&rsquo;s the hardest part of the job, and it&rsquo;s one that we all accept. But damn. When I got the news &mdash; again, I was literally five minutes from the arena and had done shootaround that morning with my teammates and coaches &mdash; I had mixed emotions. My initial reaction was just genuine shock, and even though resentment might be too strong of a word, I definitely felt some kind of way. 'They couldn't even tell me?'
"I can&rsquo;t speak for everybody, but I can definitely understand how being traded and not being told could make a player feel really disposable. Sometimes, people forget that players are people too. As far as I know, there&rsquo;s no specific rule about when you are no longer able to communicate with the coaching staff or the front office of a team that trades you, but in most instances, there would at least be a phone call or a text message from your old coach or GM or whoever. Just a, 'Thank you for your service, we wish you the best of luck,' something like that. From Denver, I got nothing. All those thoughts and feelings raced through my mind in the 30 seconds it took me to process everything and turn my car around. Then, naturally, I asked my agent the question everyone in my situation would ask. 'Where did I get traded to?' When he told me Houston, I perked up and immediately pressed the gas... I actually moved in with Nick Van Exel after the trade. He had a crib in Houston, so I stayed with him. When I found out about the trade, I just packed up as much of my clothes as I could and went to Nick&rsquo;s house. I stayed there until the end of the season, then I got my own spot. But yeah, if my agent hadn&rsquo;t called, I would've showed up at the arena and they probably wouldn't have even let me in.&rdquo;
<a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/nba-news-etan-thomas-wpfw-dc-roundtable-drew-gooden-tony-massenburg-dave-zirin-john-wall-russell-westbrook-trade-washington-wizards-houston-rockets" target="_blank" rel="noopener">DREW GOODEN</a>: &ldquo;I got drafted as the No. 4 pick in Memphis. Jerry West, it was his first year being the president of basketball operations for the Memphis Grizzlies, and I was his pick at No. 4, and I would say three or four months into that season, we were stockpiled at my position. We had Stromile Swift (who was drafted as the No. 2 pick two years prior to me), Pau Gasol (who was the No. 3 pick the year before my draft) and Shane Battier (who was the No. 6 or No. 7 pick that same year) and then the following year, they picked me at No. 4. So we had a lot of young talent, but we just could not put the pieces together to make something right. I heard the trade rumors. Rumors are rumors until they actually happen. It&rsquo;s funny, this story, because when I was hearing the rumors about me being traded, me and my agent had the discussion with Jerry West.
"Jerry West said, 'Drew, this is ridiculous, we have no intentions of trading you. Don&rsquo;t read the papers, you&rsquo;re going to be here a long time. So plan on wearing a Memphis jersey for a long time.' So I was like, 'Alright, that&rsquo;s cool; Jerry West gave me a straight-up answer, man! We&rsquo;ve got nothing to worry about! Let&rsquo;s just see what happens, man, let&rsquo;s ride this season out.' A day later,&nbsp;less than 24 hours later, I get a call from Dick Versace, who was an assistant general manager at the time saying, 'Drew, we&rsquo;ve got some news.' He said, 'You&rsquo;re on your way to the Orlando Magic; we just traded you for Mike Miller, the reigning Rookie of the Year.' And I was like, 'Wowww.' I was happy, don&rsquo;t get it wrong, I was happy that I was traded, but I was like, 'Wowww, Jerry West just told me that I was not going to get traded less than 24 hours ago, and then he has somebody else call me to tell me I was traded?!'"
<a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/nba-rumors-tj-ford-james-posey-interview-qa-milwaukee-bucks-toronto-raptors-indiana-pacers" target="_blank" rel="noopener">T.J. FORD</a>: "The way I got traded, I felt it was just cold-blooded. Getting traded for the first time is just a unique experience. I got traded in the summer, I think after Hurricane Katrina and all that; it was when the Essence Festival was in Houston for the first time. Somebody bought my house and I was supposed to move out a week later, but they told me they wanted me out on Friday. Now, I've got an appearance in Milwaukee on Saturday that I'm supposed to fly to on Friday&hellip; So I get to Milwaukee and I speak at Michael Redd's camp, but he wasn't there. It was just a strange day. Who comes to somebody's campand then they ain't there? That just didn't make sense to me. [I&rsquo;m thinking], &lsquo;Gosh, something ain't right.&rsquo;
"I ended up having dinner plans with Skip [Robinson], the public relations guy. He helped me do a lot of great things in Milwaukee. We go to dinner and I didn't really have no power at my house, so at the restaurant I&rsquo;ve got my phone and my charger, but they&rsquo;re not next to me. Skip answered his phone and he's sitting directly across from me and I just hear him go, 'No! No! You've got to be kidding me.' Then, he's like, 'Here, the GM wants to talk to you.' So, I'm like, 'What's going on?' The GM's like, 'How do you feel about going to Toronto?' I'm like, 'What are you talking about? Stop playing with me. Stop fuckin' with me. Seriously, what's going on?' He's like, 'No, for real. We just traded you for Charlie Villanueva and it hasn't hit the news yet and it probably won't tonight.' I'm like, 'Yo, Skip, he just told me he f*ckin' traded me. He must be joking with me.' So, I handed him the phone. I get my phone and I've got a bunch of missed calls from my mom.
"So I called my mom and she's like, 'Your agent has been trying to call you! He's been saying something about a trade?' I was like, 'I know! The GM just told me that he traded me, so it must be a joke or something. I don't know. I'll call you right back.' I called my agent right away. But before I was able to do that, they got a TV at the bar in the restaurant. And, remember, the GM just told me that nobody knew about it. But it had just hit the news. Not ESPN, I'm talking about the local news at 10. I'm like, 'Ah man!' It was the worst day, man. Worst day. I was hurt. That was a tough one&hellip; I was fortunate to always get traded in the summertime. I probably would've been really shocked if I had to move midseason. I felt like I was pretty blessed to get traded in the summertime, when you can really process it."

Basketball News spoke to several former NBA players who opened up about getting dealt and what the trade process entailed.

NBA veterans open up about getting traded: 'It was the worst day'

When the Oklahoma City Thunder begin their season against the new-look Minnesota Timberwolves on Wednesday night, it will officially mark the start of Year 10 for veteran big man Mike Muscala.
And for the 31-year-old Muscala, this season is about a lot of things &ndash; improving as a player, OKC growing as a team, mentoring the young core, and, most importantly, uniting people through basketball.
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Before the official start of his 2022-23 season, Basketball News had the chance to catch up with Muscala. We talked about his unique charity initiative with <a href="https://peaceplayers.org/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">PeacePlayers</a> International, his role as a mentor on the youngest team in the league and the expectations he has for his teammates&rsquo; development this season.
While at the Orlando Bubble in 2020, you were involved with a non-profit organization called PeacePlayers International. Can you tell us a little bit about your involvement with them, particularly while you were there? 
Mike Muscala: &ldquo;In the Bubble, I donated $100 for each three we made. I first heard about them through a friend I went to college with at Bucknell. He told me about them probably eight [or] nine years ago.
&ldquo;I got to know one of their co-founders, Brendon [Tuohey]. I just feel like their mission was really cool &ndash; bringing people together through basketball all around the world. I felt like [the three-point pledge] was a cool way to be able to donate to them, [and] help fund some of their operations as they work in a lot of U.S. cities like Detroit, [Los Angeles], and Brooklyn.&rdquo;&nbsp;
(Note: Despite the Thunder only making 188 threes in 15 games during the Bubble (which would equate to $18,800 in donations), Muscala ended up contributing $23,000 to the PeacePlayers organization.) 
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Mike Muscala. CLUTCH. <a href="https://t.co/vrecHtEqK4">pic.twitter.com/vrecHtEqK4</a>
&mdash; Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) <a href="https://twitter.com/BleacherReport/status/1293736008077340674?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 13, 2020</a></blockquote>

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There are thousands of charities out there, why choose <a href="https://peaceplayers.org/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">PeacePlayers</a>?
Muscala: &ldquo;I think it was just how specific it was to basketball. I&rsquo;ve been really fortunate to have met a lot of people through basketball that I probably would not have met otherwise. The fact that they are focused on bringing people together &mdash; especially in areas with a longstanding history of divide and conflict amongst people &mdash; I thought it was so cool that youth basketball [was being used] as a vehicle to help resolve some of those conflicts.&rdquo;
From your experience working with this organization, have you seen some positive change come out of this?
Muscala: &ldquo;Yeah, just seeing some of the studies they have run on what they have done. Hearing interviews from girls being like, &lsquo;I would have never played or gotten to know this other girl had it not been for PeacePlayers, and now, we&rsquo;re friends.&rsquo; Just seeing stuff like that is so cool. Putting people together, to meet one another [and] to become friends is cool.&rdquo;
After all your success with the organization in the past, you are now trying to continue your work with PeacePlayers in 2022-23. What is your plan for donation this season?
Muscala: &ldquo;My plan is to donate $100 for every offensive rebound we get this year, which is kind of similar to the three-pointers made [pledge] that we did in the Bubble. Brendon said it was fun for them when we did that. And I just thought it&rsquo;s an area of focus for me, personally, and our team this year, so it was a good way to tie all that together.&rdquo;
Okay, why is offensive rebounding a focus for you and the Thunder?
Muscala: &ldquo;I think with an offensive rebound, [what it] signifies in terms of hard work and hustle, [is] starting anew, all that stuff. People love to see that in a game, and I just thought it could be something fun for us to do, something motivating throughout the season.&rdquo;
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Last season, OKC finished 12th in offensive rebounds per game. That's already a solid mark, but there is still always room for improvement. Does the team have any plans for increasing that rate and, ultimately, the total of the donation?
Muscala: &ldquo;Yeah, we&rsquo;ve talked about it as a team. We have some tactics that we focused on [and] practiced. Specific times to crash [and] get on the boards, especially [cutting] from the corners. With more threes being taken every game, [there&rsquo;s] more of those long rebounds.
"If you just cut with a purpose, [even] if you don&rsquo;t get the ball, [have] the awareness to go up and try to rebound. Like Nicolas Batum last year, I feel like he did a great job of cutting and keeping possessions alive. That&rsquo;s so deflating for a defense. Find creative ways, but also putting in that work. A lot of times, it's just [about] hustle and kind of a mindset; it&rsquo;s something I used to be pretty good at early in my career and something I want to get back to [now].&rdquo;
Last season, you finished 19th in the NBA in <a href="https://dunksandthrees.com/epm" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Dunks and Threes&rsquo; EPM metric</a>, and you were one of two players 6-foot-10 or taller to shoot over 40% from three (All-Star big man Karl-Anthony Towns was the other). You clearly can still contribute at a high level, so why re-sign with a rebuilding Thunder team instead of offering your services to a potential title contender?
Muscala: &ldquo;This will be my fourth year with [Oklahoma City]. I really do believe in this team and this organization. It&rsquo;s a young team, but I love all the players that I get to play with, the coaching staff, [and all] the people in the organization. What this team means to this city is special. Being around for this process has been fun for me. There are a lot of great teams in the NBA. I&rsquo;ve been fortunate to play for a few other ones, but I love what [Oklahoma City] stands for, and I&rsquo;m just happy to be here.&rdquo;
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2021 Thunder Player Rankings⚡️ #6. Mike Muscala Moose had to be shut down midseason because a 7 footer hitting 4 or 5 3s off the bench every game isn&rsquo;t a wise way to end up with a Top 5 draft pick. Mike&rsquo;s love of OKC and the fans here has endeared him to the Thunder faithful. <a href="https://t.co/F0N6WDotxi">pic.twitter.com/F0N6WDotxi</a>
&mdash; Brandon Rahbar (@BrandonRahbar) <a href="https://twitter.com/BrandonRahbar/status/1401684498409050113?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 6, 2021</a></blockquote>

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You and Chet Holmgren are both from Minnesota, and part of your responsibility on this team is helping him (and the other youngsters) grow. How do you think your desire to mentor this new generation correlates with your desire to be so active in charity work?
Muscala: &ldquo;I think it's just [about] giving back to the game. You know, I want to coach when I&rsquo;m done playing. I think that&rsquo;s just the way to pay it forward. When I was a younger player, I had older players that led by example, like Al Horford, Paul Millsap [and] Kyle Korver. Guys like that, showed me... what focus and consistency were all about.
&ldquo;I think as I&rsquo;ve gotten older, I&rsquo;ve been more grateful for basketball. I think everyone can relate to that, you know? As [we] get older, [we] appreciate the things that have gotten [us] to this point. As an older player now, it&rsquo;s fun to still play the game, but also [important to be] around for the young guys because soon, it will be them in my position, giving back to even younger players. The cycle just goes on and on.&rdquo;
It's a new year with new excitement and new hope. How excited are you to see the growth of guys like Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Josh Giddey and the rest of the young core?
Muscala: &ldquo;I&rsquo;m really excited. Tre Mann also had a great summer. It was a really good preseason. (Mann averaged 16.0 PPG on 66.3% True Shooting). I&rsquo;m happy for them and excited to watch them continue to grow because they put the work in, always focus, are humble &mdash; and [they] want to get better.&rdquo;

Mat Issa goes 1-on-1 with Thunder veteran Mike Muscala to discuss his PeacePlayers initiative and how it ties into a young OKC team.

Mike Muscala Q&A: OKC Thunder's growth, PeacePlayers, focus in Year 10

Recently, the John Wall Foundation hosted an event at The Salvation Army, where John Wall opened up about how difficult the last few years have been for him. The five-time All-Star described the last few years as &ldquo;the darkest place I&rsquo;ve ever been in.&rdquo;&nbsp;
&ldquo;At one point in time, I thought about committing suicide,&rdquo; Wall admitted. &ldquo;I mean, just tearing my Achilles, my mom being sick, my mom passing, my grandma passing a year later &mdash; all of this in the midst of COVID at the same time&hellip; me going to the chemotherapy and sitting there, seeing my mom take her last breath, wearing the same clothes for three days straight and laying on the couch beside her. My team, the mother of my kids has been great, my two boys, it's my motivation for me. Looking at all that, I'm like, 'If I can get through this, I can get through anything in life.'
"Everybody goes through something, we all went through tough times, nobody's got it easy. But I don't think a lot of people could get through what I went through. To me, to be back on top where I want to be and see that the fans still want me to play, having support from my hometown, their support means a lot in a time where I had to go find a therapist.
"A lot of people think, 'I don't need help, I can get through it,' but you gotta be true to yourself, find out what's best for you, and I did that. I'm just happy to have this opportunity to play basketball again. I think everything I have been through has all been a part of God's plan&hellip; Even though I was in a dark place the last couple of years, I'm super excited... to play the game that I love."
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This admission sent shock waves throughout the entire sports world.&nbsp;
I reached out to former Washington Wizards center Marcin Gortat, who played with Wall for five seasons, to have a discussion about his former teammate.
Etan Thomas: What were your thoughts when you heard John Wall&rsquo;s interview detailing everything he has been through?&nbsp;
Marcin Gortat: &ldquo;First of all, I was shocked. I didn&rsquo;t know that he was going through so many different issues. I was a witness a couple years ago while we were teammates and there was this little 6-year-old girl, Miyah Telemaque-Nelson, who <a href="https://twitter.com/johnwall/status/537085825767735296?s=21&amp;t=isslghfV3tQMWGH-SXWKbg" target="_blank" rel="noopener">he had really connected with</a> who passed away from cancer. He had been raising money for her and doing charity work for her, and I remember the big impact her death had on him. He literally broke down during a postgame interview where he dedicated the game to her.&rdquo;
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Thomas: Yeah, I remember seeing that video. He really took that hard.
Gortat: &ldquo;Even harder than most people know. He was really down for a couple of weeks after that. So when I heard that he lost his mom and then his grandmother, I thought back to how hard he took [it] when little Miyah passed away. After hearing this past interview, I felt bad. Like as a former teammate, I should&rsquo;ve been supporting [him] more. Yeah, I texted with him a couple of times while he was in Houston. I knew he was struggling with the situation as far as the team and them pushing him to the side, so I knew that alone was catastrophic for him because I know how much he loves basketball. But couple that with losing people as close to you as your mother and grandmother [and that] had to have been just devastating.&rdquo;
Thomas: He mentioned that he has a positive outlook now and feels optimistic with his new situation with the Los Angeles Clippers, so that was good to hear.&nbsp;
Gortat: &ldquo;Yeah, I&rsquo;m hoping that basketball will be something that can help him since he seems to be in a much better situation with the Clippers so that will occupy his mind and his emotions somewhat, but I really hope he heals and gets all of the support toward his healing.&rdquo;
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Thomas: I definitely agree. One of the things that bothers me is when I hear different fans or people on social media or in the sports media reporting on rumors that are just inaccurate. They cast a negative light on an athlete based on these rumors. Stephen A. Smith <a href="https://www.si.com/nba/clippers/news/stephen-a-smith-apologizes-to-john-wall" target="_blank" rel="noopener">publicly apologized</a> to John for his role in demonizing him last season in Houston. I was glad to see him do that because the media really went after John Wall and swayed public opinion on him in a very cruel and uninformed way.&nbsp;
Gortat: &ldquo;Yeah and that&rsquo;s very unfortunate that that happens a lot in the media nowadays, but this is how it is in this league. A lot of people owe John Wall an apology. I understand the media has to write something or say something on their shows that&rsquo;s controversial and that gets all of the people&rsquo;s attention because that&rsquo;s what they are paid to do. But people who know John know that they were unfairly demonizing him. Not that he&rsquo;s perfect, nobody is perfect. Did he make mistakes? Yes, but everybody makes mistakes. But he is not the person they were making him out to be, and it&rsquo;s terrible how much that happens.&rdquo;
Thomas: I had a debate with David Aldridge and Marc Spears about the power of the media. Marc came out publicly and said that he regretted doing the interview, but I was trying to explain to them the power that the media has to sway public opinion, and how the media should be held accountable when they talk recklessly. And they just weren&rsquo;t willing to accept that the media has that kind of power. But this is a prime example. It&rsquo;s good that Stephen A. publicly apologized, but hopefully that changes the way he and many others in the media target players and demonize them because it happens too often. Just here with the Wizards, I saw it happen with Kwame Brown and with Chris Webber after he got traded (back when they were the Bullets). It really happens way too much.&nbsp;
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Gortat: &ldquo;I definitely agree. So let me say, as someone who played with John Wall for many years: When he is healthy, he is one of the best point guards in the league &mdash; hands down. The guy is a beast. I don&rsquo;t know what Houston was doing with him. That was completely absurd. Here you have a guy of his caliber and you have him sitting at home? Not even on the bench, but at home? I can&rsquo;t imagine how he felt going through that for [an entire] season? And to have these prominent people in the media vilifying him while he is going through all of this, as he&rsquo;s dealing with injury after injury and losing his loved ones?&rdquo;&nbsp;
Thomas: Yeah, I don&rsquo;t care if anyone says there wasn&rsquo;t any cruel or malicious intent behind their reporting &mdash; that doesn&rsquo;t mean that it wasn&rsquo;t still cruel and malicious.&nbsp;
Gortat: &ldquo;Exactly! Many people think athletes are like robots &mdash; like video game characters who just perform, and that&rsquo;s not true. We are human beings with emotions and we go through tragedies and hardships in life, but are still expected to push all that to the side and perform at the highest level every night. I remember seven or eight years ago when DeMar DeRozan was in Toronto and he was going through depression and he said that he was going to the games, but he wasn&rsquo;t really thinking about the games because he was dealing with so much personally.&nbsp;
&ldquo;The NBA is getting better at helping players now when they are going through tragedies, but we still have a long way to go. I remember my fourth year and definitely my fifth year playing in Washington &mdash; specifically when things with me and John were not the best &mdash; there was a lot that I was dealing with and I didn&rsquo;t have too much help. But honestly, it wasn&rsquo;t a concern. Many people just wanted me to perform and push my personal life to the side, and sometimes that&rsquo;s hard to do.&rdquo;
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Thomas: &ldquo;I can definitely attest to that. I lost my grandmother, who I was really close with, while I was playing with the Wizards. And I remember our trainer, Eric Waters, trying to rush me back and I was like, &ldquo;Can you give me a minute please?&rdquo; When I came back, that&rsquo;s when I had the first issue with Brendan Haywood. Normally, I would&rsquo;ve ignored him throwing tantrums over not getting enough playing time, but that day just wasn&rsquo;t the day, so I flipped on him. The team actually formed a human barricade and escorted him out of the locker room. Then, everyone &mdash; Ernie Grunfeld, Eric Waters, Coach Eddie Jordan &mdash; was like, &ldquo;What&rsquo;s wrong? Why did you get so upset?&rdquo;&nbsp; And I was like, &ldquo;I told y&rsquo;all I needed a minute!&rdquo;
Gortat: &ldquo;Yeah, and my issues with John kind of formed in a similar way, to be honest &mdash; because I was holding so much in and suppressing what I was going through and reacting to different things on the court like not getting the ball as much as I wanted to or us losing games I felt we should&rsquo;ve won. Interesting, I didn&rsquo;t know that&rsquo;s what started y&rsquo;all&rsquo;s issues.&nbsp;
&ldquo;Let me tell you this quick story. I went to Cleveland and I was on this stupid streak of 250 or 280 or something games [in a row] without missing a game, so I was playing like three seasons straight. And all of a sudden in December, my mom had a stroke. I got the message while I was in Cleveland and I was shocked. I broke down crying. They had found my mom after like a day-and-a-half, laying at home unconscious; my friend found her. So when I came back to the locker room that morning, I was there physically but I wasn&rsquo;t really there. But John and Brad [Beal] were the first people who said, &lsquo;Give him some space, let him go deal with what&rsquo;s going on with his family because that&rsquo;s bigger than basketball and he has our support.&rsquo; So, Coach [Randy] Wittman came down and told me, &lsquo;Go to Poland, don&rsquo;t worry about the team for now.&rsquo;
&ldquo;That meant a lot to me. They knew what I was going through. And when you&rsquo;re so close to a teammate, you feel their pain. And in turn, I know how close John was with his mom. He talked about her all the time. When we finally sat down and squashed our issues, we had a real &lsquo;kumbaya moment.&rsquo; We talked about all of our personal struggles, all that we were dealing with and had been dealing with. We cleared the air and connected on a whole &lsquo;nother level as teammates, and it was exactly what we needed. So, hearing last week that my teammate contemplated suicide was devastating. Yeah, we had our issues in the past, but none of that matters now. I am cheering for John and want him to be successful both on and off the court.&rdquo;
Thomas: I&rsquo;m glad we did this interview, to have us &mdash; two former Wizards &mdash; encourage our brotha. You know, once a Wizard, always a Wizard. I really want to see him do well too. I was already rooting for him to really have a new beginning with the Clippers and shine like the old John Wall, but now I&rsquo;m rooting for him times 1,000.&nbsp;
Gortat: &ldquo;I couldn&rsquo;t agree with you more! I wanna see John demolish every other point guard in the league. Just go on a tear. I remember seeing him battle every game &mdash; Kyrie Irving, Derrick Rose, Chris Paul &mdash; and people forget how good he was, how fast he was end to end, how explosive he was. John was special, and I want to see him get back to that. But more importantly, I want him to heal because he has literally gone through hell over these last years.&rdquo;

John Wall recently opened up about his struggles. Former Wizards centers Etan Thomas and Marcin Gortat discuss his comments.

Marcin Gortat: 'A lot of people owe John Wall an apology'

Welcome to Basketball News' 10-part mini-series, Blazing the Trail, where Mat Issa breaks down the most revolutionary players of the 1990s and 2000s. Throughout this series, we'll examine how these players changed basketball and pioneered their respective skills. 
In this second installment, Mat goes in-depth on two-time All-Star power forward Rashard Lewis and his lasting impact as a stretch 4 with insight from Bob Beyer and Ahmad Ajami, two former Orlando Magic assistants who worked closely with Lewis. 
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Like many things in basketball, the concept of the "stretch 4" was not invented in the 2000s.&nbsp;
However, before the turn of the century, the archetype was almost exclusively viewed as a matchup-based tool. Using a baseball analogy, it was like having a lefty reliever in the bullpen reserved for specific circumstances rather than an ace at the head of your rotation.
But that all changed when a combination of untimely injuries and coaching ingenuity led to Orlando Magic head coach Stan Van Gundy starting Rashard Lewis at the power forward position. Lewis became a true All-Star while playing the stretch 4 and helped influence this revolution.
What Made Lewis Special&nbsp;
Like his stretch-4 predecessors, Lewis was lethal from the perimeter. In the 2008-09 season, he shot nearly 40% from downtown while leading the NBA in total three-point makes and attempts.
Despite his prowess, Lewis was far more than just a stationary sniper. During his formative years, he underwent what I call "the Anthony Davis growth trajectory" &mdash; a phenomenon where a basketball player grows up playing as a guard, hits an unforeseen massive growth spurt and then matures into a big with guard skills. And, because that happened, Lewis was able to combine a 6-foot-10 stature with his bucket-getting chops, which earned him the moniker: &ldquo;Sweet Lew.&rdquo;
Sweet Lew quickly became a defense's worst nightmare.&nbsp;
&ldquo;At that time, length and athleticism at the 4 wasn&rsquo;t as prevalent as it is now,&rdquo; said Ahmad Ajami, a former Magic assistant coach under Van Gundy for five seasons between 2007 and 2012.
&ldquo;He could play both inside and out,&rdquo; Van Gundy&rsquo;s longtime right-hand man Bob Beyer stated about Lewis.
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Too big for smalls, too fast for bigs. This was a recurring storyline throughout Lewis&rsquo; career.&nbsp;
That narrative reached its climax during Orlando&rsquo;s iconic 2009 Eastern Conference Finals bout with the LeBron James-led Cleveland Cavaliers. During that series, Lewis burned slow-footed big men Zydrunas Ilgauskas and Anderson Varej&atilde;o with his superior quickness, and alpha'd the smaller Delonte West by elegantly lofting jumpers over top of him.
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&ldquo;The guy who probably [doesn&rsquo;t get] the credit that he deserves is Rashard... It [all] goes back to Rashard,&rdquo; Beyer recalled when describing Orlando&rsquo;s success against Cleveland. &ldquo;Rashard could exploit their two bigs out there.&rdquo;
In the six-game series, Lewis eviscerated Cleveland, averaging 18.3 points on 64.0% True Shooting, all while hitting some <a href="https://youtu.be/KXy51IiFwlU" target="_blank" rel="noopener">critical</a> shots en route to Orlando&rsquo;s only title appearance of the aughts.
On-Court Production&nbsp;
Throughout his career, Lewis&rsquo; impact derived primarily from his value as a scorer and spacer. During his All-Star campaign in 2008-09, he was second on the Magic in both scoring volume and efficiency (among players who played at least 50 games). He also ranked in the 93rd percentile in spacing league-wide, according to BackPicks.com.
The impact metrics available at the time seem to agree with his nomination, painting Lewis as a <a href="https://twitter.com/matissa15/status/1552312398425505799?s=20&amp;t=NTXuTyPlBNy_vSgSTYRC4Q" target="_blank" rel="noopener">fringe All-Star contributor</a>.
However, what he accomplished by working in unison with Magic frontcourt mates Dwight Howard and Hedo T&uuml;rkoğlu was much more important than his individual success. In isolation, each member of the trio was a solid offensive player. But in the aggregate, the three coalesced to form a multi-faceted machine.&nbsp;
On the surface, this particular Magic team greatly resembled the infrastructure of the two-time world-champion Houston Rockets from the 1990s. Under the guidance of Rudy Tomjanovich, those Rockets deployed a progressive 4-out, 1-in offensive scheme with the legendary Hakeem Olajuwon flanked by four shooters on the perimeter.
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However, those Houston teams were founded on Olajuwon&rsquo;s reputation in the post that allowed him to regularly commandeer the attention of a second defender (<a href="https://streamable.com/g76o6v" target="_blank" rel="noopener">like this</a>). Meanwhile, Howard was more of a play-finisher than a pure isolationist on the low block.
&ldquo;Dwight could really excel when he was on the move. He was a good runner in transition. He was a good roller in pick-and-rolls,&rdquo; Beyer said. &ldquo;Runner, roller and the other thing &mdash; we would get a lot of spin-out lobs.&rdquo;
Pair Howard's finishing with T&uuml;rkoğlu&rsquo;s size, ball-handling and pull-up shooting, and add Lewis&rsquo; expansive scoring repertoire, and you had a recipe for offensive brilliance.
The Magic (<a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/nba-blazing-the-trail-steve-nash-phoenix-suns-mike-dantoni-raja-bell-steph-curry-all-time-great-point-guard" target="_blank" rel="noopener">like the D&rsquo;Antoni-led Suns</a>) were a pick-and-roll-centric team, with their pet play being a three-man action involving their frontcourt triumvirate.
Beyer said that Orlando called it a &ldquo;Thumb Down Spread,&rdquo; basically a middle pick-and-roll featuring T&uuml;rkoğlu as the ball-handler and Howard as the screener, with Lewis lurking one pass away.
Here&rsquo;s a demonstration of the play in theory and in practice (with a <a href="https://medium.com/the-basketball-dictionary/roll-replace-a8ff659fb5d9#:~:text=Definition%3A%20A%20pick%2Dand%2D,the%20paint%20to%20the%20perimeter." target="_blank" rel="noopener">roll-and-replace</a> wrinkle from Lewis):
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Visual diagram presented by Luceo Sports
&ldquo;That was our go-to play,&rdquo; Beyer said. &ldquo;It forced the defense to protect the basket... because Dwight [was] such a dynamic roller. If you consistently dropped your big back to take the roll away, Hedo was more than capable of making that three-point shot or pull-up two. We would run the roll-and-replace action where we would come and lift Rashard up, and then, there&rsquo;s another deadly three-point shooter.
&ldquo;You&rsquo;re talking about scoring options at all three of those positions on the floor."
(Beyer also mentioned another variation of the play that utilized Lewis as the screener called the &ldquo;Thumb Up Spread,&rdquo; <a href="https://streamable.com/vqacfu" target="_blank" rel="noopener">literally signaled by a thumb up</a>.)
Typically, the major drawback that comes with playing these offensively-slanted lineups comes at the defensive end, as more offense usually means less defense. But this iteration of the Magic defied the laws of statistics, touting the No. 1 defense in the NBA in 2009.
The keystone to this formidable front was, of course, Howard.
&ldquo;[You&rsquo;d] be hard-pressed to find a rim-protector and [overall] defender &mdash; on-ball and off-ball &mdash; like Dwight,&rdquo; Ajami stated.
And despite his slender frame causing some issues against "classical" power forwards (see: 2009 Finals), Lewis compensated for his deficiencies by leveraging his great length and sound hands (87th percentile steal rate in 2009, per Cleaning the Glass) to create chaos on and off the ball.
&ldquo;Both Rashard and Hedo T&uuml;rkoğlu were so long,&rdquo; Beyer said. &ldquo;They were very intelligent [and used] their length to defend guys. They were active with their hands. Their closeouts were appropriate &mdash; based on who they were guarding. And, if they were to get beat, they still had confidence that the next play could be made by Dwight to clean it up.&rdquo;
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While some view their magical run as an anomaly, the threesome operated at the level of a true contender. According to PBP stats, in the 1,268 minutes Lewis, Howard and T&uuml;rkoğlu shared in 2008-09, the Magic posted a Net Rating of plus-12.68 (the equivalent of a 71-win pace in an 82-game season).&nbsp;
For reference, that is a higher <a href="http://www.pbpstats.com/lineup-subunits/nba?LineupId=200782-201572-201950-203114-203507&amp;TeamId=1610612749&amp;Season=2020-21&amp;SeasonType=Regular%2BSeason&amp;SubUnitSize=3">NET</a> number than what the trio of Jrue Holiday, Khris Middleton and Giannis Antetokounmpo posted during their championship season with the Milwaukee Bucks.
&ldquo;Nobody would have ever guessed that we would have been as successful as we were,&rdquo; Ajami smiled. &ldquo;But we were right there.
&ldquo;That group of guys was extremely special.&rdquo;
Weaving the Thread &nbsp; In a <a href="https://theathletic.com/1504385/2020/01/07/orlando-magic-forgotten-3-point-innovators/">feature article</a> from 2020, The Athletic's Josh Robbins credited two factors for Van Gundy&rsquo;s decision to start Lewis at the 4: &ldquo;Necessity and smart thinking.&rdquo;&nbsp;
For some context, the Magic initially planned to start traditional power forward Tony Battie. But when he was ruled out for the entirety of the 2007-08 campaign, Van Gundy decided to experiment with Lewis playing the stretch 4 full-time.
However, dig into the weeds a little further, and one could posit that this innovation was more than happenstance, and that Van Gundy and Lewis had seen this before.
In 2008-09, Orlando&rsquo;s three-point attempt rate (3PAr) had a frequency 11.1% higher than the league average. Let&rsquo;s look at teams that posted a similar relative 3PAr that came before them:
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An interesting cast of characters indeed (man, Pitino's teams loved to let it fly).
Now, let&rsquo;s narrow our focus to three specific instances:
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First are the 1996-97 Miami Heat, led by "The Godfather" Pat Riley. Who was his lead assistant during that time? None other than Stanley Alan Van Gundy.
Secondly, the 2003-04 Seattle SuperSonics. Before he landed in Orlando, Lewis had some practice slotting in at power forward under Sonics head coach Nate McMillan &mdash; spending 20% of his minutes that season at the 4 spot, per Basketball-Reference. Although, it is worth noting that Vladimir Radmanović was Seattle's primary stretch 4 (playing 80% of his minutes at power forward).
And lastly, the 2006-07 Houston Rockets. It was the last pit stop for the legendary Jeff Van Gundy, Stan&rsquo;s younger brother. Also featured on that team was Tracy McGrady &mdash; a player whom Lewis has <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oc1snSMtaSU" target="_blank" rel="noopener">publicly acknowledged he studied and modeled his game after</a>.&nbsp;
&nbsp;&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t know if I would specify it that cleanly," Beyer said with a chuckle. "But I do know this: I know how much Stan values shooting, and I know how much Stan is always trying to come up with lineups where the best players are on the floor together. So, your theory makes a lot of sense to me.&rdquo;
The point is that, whether it was an intentional decision, a freak coincidence, or a case of cryptomnesia, you can see that past experiences in Lewis and Van Gundy&rsquo;s professional lives had them trending in this direction the entire time. And together, they made sweet music.
Impact on Today&rsquo;s Game
Unlike Steve Nash, finding direct descendants for Lewis is more of an arduous endeavor because, nowadays, seemingly everyone employs a stretch 4 to some degree. In this past season alone, 15 players listed as power forwards on Basketball-Reference surpassed 4.4 three-point attempts per game (Lewis&rsquo; career average).
Ajami stated that, because of the absence of positional constructs in modern-day basketball, he only thinks about positions as who you guard on defense.
&ldquo;Basketball has almost become positionless,&rdquo; Ajami said. &ldquo;To me, you playing the 4 or 5 really just means who on the other team you're defending because, for us, our 4 and our 5... have got to be able to do the same things we ask our 2 and our 3 to do.&rdquo;
With that said, more direct comparisons still exist.
In 2020-21, the Utah Jazz led the league with a relative 3PAr of plus-9.6. One could find a lot of parallels between their frontcourt of Joe Ingles, Bojan Bogdanović and Rudy Gobert and the one the Magic rode to the NBA Finals. (Bogdanović plays the role of Lewis in this analogy.)
Coming into the 2018 NBA Draft, <a href="https://theathletic.com/266715/2018/03/09/potential-knicks-lottery-pick-profile-michael-porter-jr/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">some scouts</a> viewed Michael Porter Jr. as a new-age version of Lewis. And when his back was right, Michael Malone would frequently run jumbo frontcourt lineups featuring MPJ, Aaron Gordon and Nikola Jokic. (Coincidentally, Malone&rsquo;s father Brendan was an assistant coach on those Magic teams).
You can even see some influence from the Magic on this current iteration of the Cavaliers &mdash; <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/in-the-nba-length-matters-unedited" target="_blank" rel="noopener">three seven-footers in the frontcourt</a> with Lauri Markkanen operating as their de facto Lewis.
Ironically enough, Lewis&rsquo; legacy has made his offensive archetype less unique than it was when he was playing (something we will see a lot in this series). None of the heirs to Lewis we listed have achieved All-Star status because the stretch 4 has become a staple feature on every team.
Nonetheless, Lewis and those Magic teams pushed the limits of what was once thought possible for the position &mdash; the hallmark feature of any basketball pioneer.
And for his overarching impact on the game, Lewis deserves his respect, his All-Star nominations and, most of all, his own chapter in the history of the NBA.
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Tune in next week for Part III of Blazing the Trail, which focuses on Shane Battier &mdash; the data-ball defender.
<a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/nba-blazing-the-trail-steve-nash-phoenix-suns-mike-dantoni-raja-bell-steph-curry-all-time-great-point-guard" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Click here to read Part I: "Steve Nash, the magician who danced in the paint."</a>

In his "Blazing the Trail" series, Mat Issa focuses on two-time All-Star Rashard Lewis and his lasting impact as a stretch 4.

Blazing the Trail: Rashard Lewis, the All-Star stretch 4

Pat Riley spoke on Monday.&nbsp;
It rarely happens now, these Riley pressers. You get one after the season, you might get one before the season and you might get one after the trade deadline if something happens. But for the most part, other than seeing him sitting alongside Alonzo Mourning watching Miami Heat games, this is it for most of us. Often seen, seldom heard.&nbsp;
So, when he speaks, it sparks a gathering, especially after a season like this one. The Heat were one shot away from beating the Boston Celtics and facing the Golden State Warriors in the NBA Finals. One ballsy, controversial, &ldquo;f*** you&rdquo; shot from Jimmy Butler in the face of a backpedaling Al Horford would&rsquo;ve completed one of the greatest comebacks &mdash; and most epic collapses &mdash; in NBA playoff history. (The Celtics led 98-85 with 3:30 left, and just 98-96 when Butler pulled a three with about 10 seconds left.)
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<a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/2022-nba-offseason-preview-what-takes-the-miami-heat-over-the-top" target="_blank" rel="noopener">I already previewed Miami's offseason</a> &mdash; chiefly centered around the pending decision on Tyler Herro&rsquo;s future &mdash; which Riley also spoke about on Monday. For this article in particular, our focus will be on Bam Adebayo, who drew the ire of many casual and diehard Heat and NBA observers underwhelmed by his postseason offensive consistency.
You either think he isn&rsquo;t as good as advertised or are frustrated because of your expectations for him. Or... or... or... you watch the Heat with an understanding that, while he could be better offensively, maybe he isn&rsquo;t wholly to blame for these apparent shortcomings &mdash; if we&rsquo;re calling it that.
Riley recognizes the latter.&nbsp;
&ldquo;(Adebayo&rsquo;s) been asked to do a lot of things as a young player, and he has grown into being very efficient at doing those things,&rdquo; Riley said. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s almost that learning curve of being a facilitating big, either at the elbow, on handoffs, on pick-and-rolls. He&rsquo;s always getting somebody open. Duncan [Robinson] should pay him half his check, Tyler [Herro] should pay him half his check, Max [Strus] should pay him half his check.&rdquo;
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-theme="dark">
Pat Riley on Bam Adebayo: He's always getting someone open. Duncan, Tyler and Max should give him half their check. This could be a year on how can Bam be developed in a way to improve his consistent shot ability every night. Getting 15 shots every night. <a href="https://t.co/AKzCpqQgc8">pic.twitter.com/AKzCpqQgc8</a>
&mdash; Brendan Tobin (@Brendan_Tobin) <a href="https://twitter.com/Brendan_Tobin/status/1533879183482535936?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 6, 2022</a></blockquote>

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The Adebayo conundrum is layered. It requires context that may bore you, especially if you just care about the superficial, click-baity sh**. The theories might not move you, substantive as they appear, so let&rsquo;s say what&rsquo;s real.
Though Adebayo will be 25 in July, the five-year pro has only been a full-time starter for three seasons.
In his first two years, he primarily came off the bench until taking the starting role from Hassan Whiteside toward the end of the 2018-19 season. He started 22 of the last 23 games of his sophomore campaign, and the 22 were consecutively from Feb. 27 through April 9.
In the summer of 2019, <a href="https://www.si.com/nba/2022/04/06/bam-adebayo-will-never-forget-gregg-popovich-cut-team-usa-2019#:~:text=Adebayo%20was%20cut%20from%20Team,that%20won%20gold%20in%20Tokyo.">he was famously cut from Team USA&rsquo;s underwhelming World Cup team</a> that finished seventh. Still, Adebayo <a href="https://www.basketball-reference.com/awards/awards_2020.html">nearly went on to win Most Improved Player in 2020</a>, and he probably should&rsquo;ve over Brandon Ingram, who was the No. 2 overall pick just four years prior. (But anyway...)
In his three seasons as a starter, he&rsquo;s been an All-Star caliber player, has been named to the All-Defensive Second Team every year and has finished in the top five for Defensive Player of the Year all three times &mdash; a feat matched only by Rudy Gobert in that span. Offensively, he&rsquo;s grown from a rim-runner and lob threat with a &ldquo;Clint Capela&rdquo; ceiling out of the 2017 NBA Draft to a versatile hub who activates the team&rsquo;s shooters. Those shooters led the Heat to their season-best 37.9% shooting from three during the regular season. That&rsquo;s a product of multiple years of point-center work, not just this season.
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But the team&rsquo;s &ldquo;shortcomings&rdquo; &mdash; an unfair term to an awesome squad that was among the last three standing, but still &mdash; have publicly been placed on Adebayo&rsquo;s broad shoulders, to some extent.
Now, more context.&nbsp;
We&rsquo;ll ignore that Adebayo had COVID to close the regular season (<a href="https://account.miamiherald.com/paywall/stop?resume=259746525">thus, unable to join the Heat on a trip to the Bahamas</a>) because it didn&rsquo;t appear to have any long-lasting effects, sure. At one point, his availability for Game 1 against the Atlanta Hawks was in question, but he was ready. He didn&rsquo;t break 10 shot attempts until Game 4 and didn&rsquo;t have an Adebayo-like offensive game &mdash; the All-Star kind &mdash; until Game 5, the series&rsquo; closer with an injured Butler watching.&nbsp;
With Joel Embiid off the floor against the Philadelphia 76ers, Adebayo recorded 47 points, 21 rebounds and 7 assists on 15-of-21 shooting and 17-of-19 on free throws across Games 1 and 2. He, again, only broke 10 field goal attempts one time in the series&rsquo; final four games. It was Game 4, where he finished with 21-7-4 on 9-for-12. In the seven games against the Celtics, it was a bit more all over the place &mdash; but it encompassed this year&rsquo;s Adebayo-playoff experience.&nbsp;
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And yet, even with the offensive seesaw, without Adebayo&rsquo;s defense, there is no Game 7. There is no pushing the Celtics to seven. There might not even be a Celtics series. That&rsquo;s how good Adebayo is defensively, yet the offensive glimpses leave you pleading for more, because of the elite two-way possibilities. And it&rsquo;s understandable.&nbsp;
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Not to be overly simplistic, but if the Heat, I don&rsquo;t know, shot better than 31.3% from three in the playoffs &mdash; seven percentage points lower than they did when leading the league in the regular season &mdash; Adebayo isn&rsquo;t magnified to this degree. We can look at Adebayo and say: Hey, you&rsquo;ve gotten 30-plus against the Celtics&rsquo; elite defense without Butler, with heightened focus on you, and were unstoppable. Why can&rsquo;t you do this all the time? However, it&rsquo;s complicated.
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For one, when you watch the Heat, there honestly aren&rsquo;t a lot of plays drawn up for Adebayo to just go. <a href="https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/five-on-the-floor-miami-heat-nba/id1336060206" target="_blank" rel="noopener">It&rsquo;s a point made on 5 On The Floor all the time</a>, primarily by Heat reporter Alex Toledo of 5 Reasons Sports. Adebayo&rsquo;s primary offensive assignment is to activate their shooters.
&ldquo;You don&rsquo;t realize what he does to get people open,&rdquo; Riley said at his presser, speaking of Bam. &ldquo;A lot of that has to do with how other teams are playing (Adebayo), dropping way back, and we can get that shot. Maybe we look for that a little bit too much.&rdquo;
But Riley later adds a wrinkle that a portion of Heat fans and even media have been calling for since Adebayo&rsquo;s emergence.
More... simply, more.&nbsp;
&ldquo;This could be a year, and (Heat head coach Erik Spoelstra) and I will sit down a talk about it, about how can Bam be developed in a way to improve his consistent shot ability every night,&rdquo; Riley said. &ldquo;Getting 15 shots every night, quality shots that he can get, he can create &mdash; whether it&rsquo;s in the post or at the elbow. He can be very prolific at times, but it can&rsquo;t always be on effort, on running, on getting offensive rebounds, on lob dunks, on little floaters.&rdquo;
And the frustrating thing for some is, the teases and flashes are there.
The two-way versatility, the ability to be a walking mismatch to opposing bigs, the fakes, the handle, the bounce passes to cutters, the mid-range jumper when he takes it confidently; it&rsquo;s why I, personally, said he&rsquo;s a jumper away from being a Kevin Garnett remix, and that was in 2019. It&rsquo;s what we saw when Adebayo <a href="https://www.basketball-reference.com/playoffs/2020-nba-eastern-conference-finals-heat-vs-celtics.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">was the best player in the Eastern Conference Finals less than two years ago</a>, averaging 21.8 points, 11.0 rebounds, 5.2 assists, 1.7 steals, and 1.0 blocks on 60.8% shooting, while doing all he does on defense. (He would&rsquo;ve won that new Larry Bird MVP trophy had it been around.)
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&ldquo;I do think there&rsquo;s a part of him that can grow. That depends on a bit on your overall offensive philosophy and how much you want to change that," Riley continued. "I think there&rsquo;s another level at his age now that we need more consistency in his ability to get good shots, create good shots, and scoring.&rdquo;
The bottom line is that Adebayo is arguably the best defender in the NBA, and most certainly in any rational observer&rsquo;s top five as a floor. That can&rsquo;t be taken for granted, even though it clearly is, largely due to the offensive questions. As hard as he works on the defensive end &mdash; switching more than anyone, legitimately guarding 1-through-5 and being the defensive cheat code that engineers Spoelstra&rsquo;s vision &mdash; having him additionally as a No. 1 option on an NBA champion is unrealistic.
But having him as a No. 3 alongside Butler and Herro, or someone else not yet on the roster, is a place you&rsquo;d rather be. If the Heat want more of a focus on Adebayo&rsquo;s offense, they could manufacture it themselves. And he obviously has to hone his tools to prepare for, in theory, an increased role and usage.&nbsp;
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Personally, I think adding a mid-range, foul-line/elbow jumper he&rsquo;s confident enough in to pull regularly will go a long way, and it might be all he needs. Y
You start there, and a lot else could follow, especially while continuing to be an offensive hub.&nbsp;
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Bryan Fonseca reviews Pat Riley's presser to cap the Heat's season and how Bam Adebayo's offense will be a huge focus this summer.

Heat's Pat Riley, like most of us, wants more Bam Adebayo offense

March Madness is underway!
Across the country, teams are competing in conference tournaments and trying to punch their ticket for the NCAA Tournament. Selection Sunday is almost here, and then the tourney starts next Tuesday.
If you missed any of the Day 2 action, here's a recap of what went down on Thursday.
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Games of the Day
Indiana def. Michigan 74-69 &mdash; B1G Second Round
With 11:03 remaining, Michigan led 60-43 and appeared to be in complete control. The Hoosiers would go on a 20-2 run and took the life right out of the Wolverines, completing the comeback by winning 74-69. Trayce Jackson-Davis led all players with 24 points and 4 blocks in a stunner. Indiana faces No. 1 Illinois next.
Texas A&amp;M def. Florida 83-80 in OT &mdash; SEC Second Round
This one was wild. The Aggies dominated all afternoon and held a 9-point lead with 1:07 to play, but the Gators went on a 12-3 run of the next 50 seconds to tie it at 70-70, forcing the game into overtime. They stayed deadlocked at 78-78 with 1:10 left in overtime when Hassan Diarra hit a triple with one second on the clock to win 83-80. A huge win for a true Bubble Team in A&amp;M.
Arizona def. Stanford 84-80 &mdash; Pac-12 Quarterfinals
The largest lead either way today was 7 points &mdash; in a game where Stanford was given a whopping 5% chance of victory. The Cardinal took a 75-74 lead with just over three minutes to go, but the Wildcats had answers. Kerr Kriisa exiting with injury is important to monitor, but Christian Koloko led the team with 24 points as Arizona survives and advances.
Miami (FL) def. Boston College 71-69 in OT &mdash; ACC Quarterfinals
Kam McGusty led the Canes with 16 points in the nail-biter, as they avoided the upset in overtime. Only one basket was scored in the final 2:30 of the contest &mdash; a Jordan Miller layup that sealed the deal. A big save by Miami.&nbsp;
Villanova def. St. John&rsquo;s 66-65 &mdash; Big East Quarterfinals
The Red Storm let a 17-point second half lead slip away to end their season. Villanova was carried by its starting five, with only 7 points coming from the bench unit. Caleb Daniels led the way with 19 points and 7 rebounds. Justin Moore added 15 points of his own.&nbsp;
Toledo def. Central Michigan 72-71 &mdash; MAC Quarterfinals
In a game where the largest lead was 7 points for each team, Toledo held on for the 1-point win. Harrison Henderson scored with 20 seconds remaining to make it 71-70 Central Michigan, but a RayJ Dennis layup with 10 seconds left would seal the deal. Setric Milner Jr. led the way with 22 points for the Rockets. It's a big win for Toledo who currently projects a No. 13 seed.
Providence def. Butler 65-61 &mdash; Big East Quarterfinals
This one was back-and-forth from the tip, as the teams traded leads the entire contest. Tied at 55 with 3:06 remaining, Simas Lukosius hit a big pair of free throws for Butler to take the lead, but Al Durham hit a huge triple with 43 seconds to go for the Friars to take a 61-59 lead. Durham would follow with a dunk at the end of the game to seal the deal at 65-61. Despite the loss, it was a hard-fought game by the Bulldogs.&nbsp;
Wyoming def. UNLV 59-56 &mdash; Mountain West Quarterfinals
The Cowboys held a 9-point lead in the second half, but allowed the Rebels to fight their way back into it. Xavier DuSell hit a huge three with 30 seconds, and then, Brendan Wenzel iced the game with a pair of free throws. A great game from UNLV&rsquo;s Bryce Hamilton comes up just short.&nbsp;
Akron def. Buffalo 70-68 &mdash; MAC Quarterfinals
This was a fight from start to finish. Led by Ali Ali&rsquo;s 19-point effort and a pair of Greg Tribble free throws with four seconds remaining, the Zips survive and advance. They will face No. 1 seed Toledo on Friday afternoon in the MAC semis.
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The Upsets, the Madness
Oklahoma def. Baylor 72-67 &mdash; Big 12 Quarterfinals
The Sooners took the lead with 11:51 to play and never gave it back. With a balanced offensive attack of five players in double-digits, Oklahoma shocked the Bears. Jacob Groves led the way with 15 points, while Marvin Johnson provided 12 off the bench.&nbsp;
Vanderbilt def. Alabama 82-76 &mdash; SEC Second Round
Bama led by 10 points at the break but Scotty Pippen Jr. and Co. had other plans. Vandy roared back to take a 68-67 lead with 4:26 to play, and was able to hold the Crimson Tide off the rest of the way. Jordan Wright hit a pair of free throws late to ice the game, and the Commodores advance. Pippen Jr. ended with 26 points and 7 assists.
TCU def. Texas 65-60 &mdash; Big 12 Quarterfinals
The Horned Frogs had a win probability of 29.3% entering this one, and that&rsquo;s all they needed. After being down 40-20 in the first half, TCU did a complete 180 and outscored the Longhorns 45-20 the rest of the way. Mike Miles and Co. are setting themselves up well, and will take on the Kansas Jayhawks in the Big 12 semis.
Penn State def. Ohio State 71-68 &mdash; Big Ten Second Round
The Nittany Lions were given a 24.2% chance of winning today, and they did just that behind Sam Sessoms' 18 points off the bench. Jalen Pickett also had a huge game with 16 points, 8 rebounds and 5 assists. Penn State moves on to play No. 3 Purdue.&nbsp;
Grambling def. Southern 60-58 &mdash; SWAC Quarterfinals
Led by Tra&rsquo;Michael Moton&rsquo;s 12 points, 11 rebounds and 9 assists, Grambling took the lead with 10 minutes left in the game and never gave it back. The Tigers will face Texas Southern next.&nbsp;
Tulsa def. Wichita State 73-67 &mdash; American First Round
The Golden Hurricane had four players with 10 or more points, including two with at least 20. After an 11-19 season, this was a nice win for Tulsa as it tries to make a late push in the conference. Tulsa will move on to face No. 2 SMU.&nbsp;
Portland State def. Southern Utah 77-65 &mdash; Big Sky Quarterfinals
The Vikings entered this game under .500 on the season, but put up 77 points on 51.9% shooting from the floor. They held Southern Utah to a lowly 36.8% from the floor and are able to advance.
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Standout Performers
Noah Fernandes (UMass): 29 points, 7 assists
Spencer Jones (Stanford): 28 points, 8 rebounds
Jimmy Boeheim (Syracuse): 28 points, 7 rebounds, 3 steals, 2 assists
Keegan Murray (Iowa): 26 points, 8 rebounds, 2 assists, 1 steal
Grant Sherfield (Nevada): 25 points, 6 assists, 3 rebounds
Joel Murray (Long Beach State): 25 points, 4 assists, 3 rebounds
Trayce Jackson-Davis (Indiana): 24 points, 8 rebounds, 4 blocks, 10-17 FG
Wendell Moore Jr. (Duke): 26 points, 8 assists, 3 rebounds, 1 block, 1 steal
Nate Watson (Providence): 26 points, 7 rebounds, 9-14 FG
Scotty Pippen Jr. (Vanderbilt): 26 points, 7 assists
Tristen Newton (East Carolina): 26 points, 9 rebounds, 6 assists
Jordan Walker (UAB): 26 points, 5 steals, 3 rebounds, 3 assists
EJ Liddell (Ohio State): 25 points, 8 rebounds, 2 blocks
Orlando Robinson (Fresno State):&nbsp;25 points, 11 rebounds, 3 assists
Christian Koloko (Arizona): 24 points, 9 rebounds, 10-12 FG
Dillon Jones (Weber State): 23 points, 11 rebounds, 3 steals
Julian Champagnie (St. John&rsquo;s): 23 points, 9 rebounds, 4 steals, 3 assists
Jaime Jaquez Jr. (UCLA): 23 points, 11 rebounds, 4 assists, 2 steals
Prentiss Hubb (Notre Dame): 23 points, 5 assists
Zyon Pullin (UC Riverside):&nbsp;23 points, 5 assists, 4 rebounds
Amadou Sow (UC Santa Barbara): 21 points, 16 rebounds, 2 assists, 2 blocks
Bryce Hamilton (UNLV): 22 points, 7 rebounds, 3 assists
Mahki Morris (Abilene Christian): 22 points, 4 assists, 2 rebounds
Chuba Ohams (Fordham): 20 points, 16 rebounds, 2 steals
Darien Jackson (Tulsa): 20 points, 10 rebounds, 2 assists, 2 blocks
Brady Manek (UNC): 21 points, 7 rebounds, 3 assists
Malique Jacobs (Kent State): 21 points, 10 rebounds, 2 assists
Kowacie Reeves (Florida): 21 points, 6 rebounds
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2022 NBA Draft: Prospect Watch&nbsp;
Keegan Murray (Iowa): 26 points, 8 rebounds, 2 assists, 1 steal
Wendell Moore Jr. (Duke): 26 points, 8 assists, 3 rebounds, 1 block, 1 steal
EJ Liddell (Ohio State): 25 points, 8 rebounds, 2 blocks
Orlando Robinson (Fresno State):&nbsp;25 points, 11 rebounds, 3 assists
Christian Koloko (Arizona): 24 points, 9 rebounds, 10-12 FG
Jaime Jaquez Jr. (UCLA): 23 points, 11 rebounds, 4 assists, 2 steals
Tari Eason (LSU): 19 points, 5 rebounds, 2 steals, 2 blocks
Justin Lewis (Marquette): 17 points, 7 rebounds, 2 steals
Ochai Agbaji (Kansas): 18 points, 3 rebounds, 2 steals
Trevor Keels (Duke): 14 points, 3 rebounds, 3 assists
Jabari Walker (Colorado): 18 points, 16 rebounds
Iverson Molinar (Miss. State): 19 points, 2 rebounds, 2 assists
Julian Champagnie (St. John&rsquo;s): 23 points, 9 rebounds, 4 steals, 3 assists
Collin Gillespie (Villanova): 14 points, 6 rebounds, 3 assists
David Roddy (Colorado State): 13 points, 6 rebounds, 2 assists, 2 blocks
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March Madness is underway! If you missed any of the Day 2 action, here's a recap of what went down during Thursday's games.

March Madness: Conference tournament Thursday recap

The National Basketball Association (NBA) today announced plans for the first NBA Week Mexico City 2021 presented by AT&amp;T, a multi-day celebration of the growth of basketball and the NBA in Mexico ahead of the league&rsquo;s 75th Anniversary Season.
NBA Week Mexico City 2021, which will take place from Thursday, Sept. 23 &ndash; Sunday, Oct. 3, will feature a wide range of experiences for fans and players, including interactive basketball-themed activities, pop-up events, youth and elite basketball development programming, and the first virtual innovation summit featuring speakers from across the NBA family, headlined by NBA Deputy Commissioner and Chief Operating Officer Mark Tatum and NBA 2K League President Brendan Donohue.&nbsp; Fans can participate and receive access to additional information, exclusive content and more by registering at <a href="http://www.nbaweek.com.mx">www.nbaweek.com.mx</a>.
&ldquo;The NBA has incredibly dedicated fans and partners across the country, and NBA Week Mexico City is a culmination of their continued support,&rdquo; said NBA Mexico Vice President and Managing Director, Raul Zarraga.&nbsp; &ldquo;We are committed to engaging fans and players in Mexico in new and unique ways and remain focused on creating more opportunities for young people to enjoy the game.&nbsp; We&rsquo;ve never been more excited about the future of the NBA in Mexico and look forward to celebrating our 75th Anniversary Season with fans throughout the country.&rdquo;
Initial activities for NBA Week Mexico City 2021 include:
NBA Cave (Sept. 23-26)
NBA Cave is a pop-up fan experience that will be hosted next to NBA Tienda in Polanco and offer fans an array of basketball-themed games and activities.
NBA Academy Exhibition Games (Sept. 24-25)
Players from NBA Academy Latin America, NBA Academy Africa and the Atlanta-based organization The Skill Factory will compete in exhibition games at La Loma Centro Deportivo in San Luis Potos&iacute;, the home of NBA Academy Latin America.&nbsp; Games will be livestreamed on <a href="http://www.nbaweek.com.mx">www.nbaweek.com.mx</a> and called by broadcaster &Aacute;lvaro Mart&iacute;n and analyst Carlos Morales.
NBA Locker Fan Experience (Sept. 24-26)
Twelve lockers, each featuring a unique historical NBA fun fact will be placed throughout the Antara Mall in Mexico City as part of an NBA scavenger hunt.&nbsp; A map will be available on <a href="http://www.nbaweek.com.mx">www.nbaweek.com.mx</a>.&nbsp; The NBA Locker Fan Experience will also offer interactive digital content, photo opportunities and more entertainment for fans.
Her Time To Play Clinic (Sept. 25)
Former WNBA player Allison Feaster and NBA staff will lead a virtual basketball and leadership development clinic for girls ages 13-16.&nbsp; The NBA and WNBA created Her Time To Play in 2018 to inspire the next generation of girls to play basketball in a positive and healthy way and provide them with ways to engage with one another through the game.
Jr. NBA Mexico Finals (Sept. 26)
Sixteen of the top male and female youth basketball players in Mexico will compete in a virtual skills challenge via the HomeCourt app as part of the 2021 Jr. NBA Mexico Finals.&nbsp; Top performers from the qualifying competition (Sept. 8-21) on HomeCourt will earn a spot in the Finals.&nbsp; Winning boys and girls teams (4 players each) will be crowned.&nbsp; The Jr. NBA Mexico Finals will be livestreamed on <a href="http://www.nbaweek.com.mx">www.nbaweek.com.mx</a> on Sunday, Sept. 26 at 12:00 p.m. CDMX.
NBA Time Machine Experience (Sept. 28)
13 lucky influencers will be joined by an NBA legend for an NBA Time Machine Experience as they revisit a classic game and participate in a live Q&amp;A.
Innovation Summit Presented by SAP (Sept. 29)
The first NBA Week Mexico City Innovation Summit presented by SAP will bring together experts from a range of industries, including sports, entertainment and technology, for a series of virtual panels.&nbsp; Guest speakers will include NBA Deputy Commissioner and Chief Operating Officer Mark Tatum; NBA 2K League President Brendan Donohue; NBA Senior Vice President, Head of Global Strategy &amp; Innovation Matt Wolf; NBA Senior Vice President, Head of Gaming &amp; New Business Ventures Scott Kaufman-Ross; NBA Vice President, Team Marketing &amp; Business Operations Stacy McWilliams; San Antonio Spurs Executive Vice President of Revenue, Brand &amp; Communications Brandon Gayle; SAP Mexico Head of Innovation &amp; Solutions Rosendo Perez; AT&amp;T Mexico Vice President and General Manager, Business Sales &amp; Solutions Ana Michelle; and Gatorade Sports Science Institute Latin America Scientific Consultant Lourdes Mayol.&nbsp; The panelists will discuss the NBA&rsquo;s upcoming 75th Anniversary Season, innovation across the league and its teams, the business of sports, sports betting, esports and the <a href="https://2kleague.nba.com/">NBA 2K League</a> &ndash; a professional esports league co-founded by the NBA and Take-Two Interactive Software, Inc. (NASDAQ:TTWO), which launched in 2018 and features the best NBA 2K players in the world.
NBA Beyond the Lines Art Exhibition (Oct. 1-3)
The work of local artists showcasing the spirit of the NBA will be on display at the NBA Beyond the Lines Art Exhibition, which will be located at Lago Tanganica 67, Polanco.
In addition to AT&amp;T, partners supporting NBA Week Mexico City 2021 include Gatorade, Hennessy and SAP.&nbsp; For the latest details on NBA Week Mexico City 2021, including opportunities to participate, fans can visit <a href="http://www.nbaweek.com.mx">www.nbaweek.com.mx</a>.
Fans in Mexico can find more information&nbsp;about the NBA at <a href="http://NBA.com/Mexico">NBA.com/Mexico</a>, on Facebook (<a href="https://www.facebook.com/NBAMexico/">@NBAMexico</a>), Twitter (<a href="https://twitter.com/NBAMEX?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor">@NBAMEX</a>) and Instagram <a href="https://www.instagram.com/nbamex/?hl=en">(@nbamex</a>), and use the hashtags #NBAMexicoWeek and #NBA75.

The NBA will hold a multi-day celebration of the growth of basketball and the NBA in Mexico ahead of its 75th Anniversary Season.

NBA Week Mexico City to celebrate growth of basketball in Mexico

Once listed as the <a href="http://www.espn.com/college-sports/basketball/recruiting/playerrankings" target="_blank" rel="noopener">top recruit in the Class of 2022</a> in ESPN's Top 100, Emoni Bates announced last week that he would be reclassifying into the Class of 2021.
According to multiple reports, Bates has <a href="https://usatodayhss.com/2021/emoni-bates-reclassification-final-four?fbclid=IwAR1v9HawRlpAHvLriI_O1T_rpLZeTjU9Dc_AapZ47qCFR1aHCNffS0DTRAI" target="_blank" rel="noopener">cut down his list</a> to the NBA G League Ignite, Memphis, Michigan State, and Oregon.
With plenty of options to choose from now in amateur-to-pro preparation, it is becoming a new trend for elite high school athletes to bypass the development that the high school level could provide for their games. And while the traditional college route has been gaining traction with top high school recruits due to the NIL decision by the Supreme Court, Bates has been open to going the professional route straight out of high school.
The Athletic&rsquo;s Brendan Quinn reported in March that Bates will in fact take his talents to the G League and seek the &ldquo;most lucrative deal the G League can muster&rdquo; prior to turning pro after the fact.&nbsp;
24/7 Sports writer Jerry Meyer wrote in <a href="https://247sports.com/Player/Emoni-Bates-46056542/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">his scouting report of Bates</a>: &ldquo;Extremely thin but has great length for such a skilled player. Plays with strength, though, and doesn&rsquo;t avoid contact... Quick twitch athlete who moves feet well and is quick off the floor. Elite three-level scorer. Has deep range off catch or dribble. Can score in a multitude of ways... Handles well, has plethora of moves and can attack either direction. Has a feel as a passer. Dangerous offensive rebounder. Good defensively when focused. Has defensive versatility. Elite, elite prospect."
Already signed to the G League Ignite is five-star recruit Jason Hardy, whom CBS Sports <a href="https:%20//www.cbssports.com/nba/news/2022-nba-mock-draft-paolo-banchero-to-thunder-chet-holmgren-to-magic-among-way-too-early-projections/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">predicts to go No. 4 in the 2022 NBA Draft</a>. The team also rosters five-star guard Scoota Henderson &mdash; another top-10 prospect &mdash; and five-star power forward Michael Foster.
With the addition of Bates, the G League Ignite could be well on their way to forming a "Fab Five" by landing the best prospects at each position, which could be the growing trend amongst top high school recruits in the near future.
It&rsquo;s important to note that, because Bates doesn&rsquo;t turn 19 until January 2023, he would not be eligible for the next year's draft. However, he won't be alone, as the Ignite signed Scoota Henderson for two years since he reclassified as well (and also won&rsquo;t be draft eligible until '23).
Now, here's a little bit about the G League Ignite: &nbsp;
In year one, the G League Ignite experiment proved to be a great success, as three players were selected during the 2021 NBA Draft. The Houston Rockets selected Jalen Green with the No. 2 overall pick, the Golden State Warriors selected Jonathan Kuminga with the No. 7 overall pick and the Milwaukee Bucks selected Isaiah Todd at No. 31 (he was later traded to the Washington Wizards).
That trio is now a trendsetter, as top high school recruits will likely feel much more comfortable following in those footsteps of pursuing this alternate path to the NBA and bypassing the traditional NCAA route.&nbsp;
However, this route isn&rsquo;t for everyone, but rather a small subset of the creme de la creme. Each of these three players was a five-star high school recruit in 2020 before joining the Ignite, so it&rsquo;s not for everyone. Still, it does provide a viable option for that special elite-of-the-elite group who choose not to opt for the traditional college route.
The NBA maintains its controversial age limit of draft-eligible athletes, requiring them to attend college for at least one year (one-and-done rule), so the need for an alternative is tremendous.&nbsp;
The mastermind behind the G League Ignite program is former NBA player Shareef Abdur-Rahim. He installed this experiment with the overall mission of providing &ldquo;NBA Draft readiness and growth of professional life skills.&rdquo;
The G League Ignite compensates players for their services (unlike the NCAA) and prepares them to be a professional athlete &mdash; both on and off the court &mdash; while playing with and against NBA veterans or other professional leagues. The program teaches the young men about what it takes to be a professional, and it includes courses on media training, financial literacy training and Zoom sessions with former NBA veterans to prepare them for what they are walking into.
For years, the National Basketball Players Association has attempted to do something similar in a crash course for a weekend for incoming NBA rookies, but what Abdur-Rahim has done is expand that training into a year-round program. So with financial backing of Commissioner Adam Silver and the NBA, we have had the birth of a true NBA developmental team.&nbsp;
To discuss this further, I had<a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/podcasts/the-rematch/episodes/basketballnews-com-episode-30-g-league-ignite-head-coach-jason-hart-talks-evan-mobley,-ignites-draft-success" target="_blank" rel="noopener"> the opportunity to catch up with Jason Hart</a>, the newly-named head coach of the Ignite and my former teammate at Syracuse University.
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Etan Thomas: ​Coach Jason Hart, how are you doing, sir?
Jason Hart: ​Good man. Glad to be here. How you doing, man?
Etan: ​I'm good. My point guard for four years at Syracuse University and the new head coach of the G League Ignite, I want to say big congratulations to you.
Jason Hart: ​Thank you, man. Thank you. It's an honor to be here obviously with you, but also excited to get a chance to coach at the professional level.
Etan: ​So I know this is something you've been wanting to do for a long time and you have had this love for coaching for a long time. So just talk to me about how excited you are about this opportunity.
Jason Hart: ​Well, I'm super excited. I got into coaching obviously to give back and stay connected with the game. College was where I wanted to be. It has always been a dream of mine to be a college head coach. Unfortunately, that didn't happen. And when the opportunity presented itself in the G-League, I jumped on it and I'm happy to continue my coaching career, obviously at a higher level.
Etan: ​So let's get into the G League Ignite, a lot of people don't really understand the setup. They've been signing top prospects to play against G League veterans to prepare them for the NBA draft and the Ignite are based in California, and they're expected to play more of a traditional G League schedule this coming year. But talk to everybody about how it actually works.&nbsp;
Jason Hart: ​So the G League Ignite was created by Shareef Abdur-Rahim a very good friend of mine dating back from our days in Sacramento. Obviously, he's the president of the G League. And so this team was formed to keep our high school basketball stars from taking their talents overseas when RJ Hampton and LaMelo Ball went to Australia to play. It was an idea that was created for high school players who are good enough and who we think are good enough to have a chance to go to the next level, stay and develop in somewhat of a farm system, hone their talents against not only G Leaguers, but draft-pick kids who are playing for the Lakers or the Clippers and take the time to develop those guys, and then they go and get drafted in June.
​It was also formed to help these young men become pros off the court as well. It's a transition from high school, from them eating candy before the games to now understand how to take care of their bodies and get their minds mentally prepared to play against professionals. So it's more of a hands-on approach with 18-year-olds who have a high skill set, high level of talent and putting them in a position to succeed, and then surrounding them with veterans who are going to show them the ropes of the NBA lifestyle, of the NBA, and being able to push them in moments in the games to get them uncomfortable outside of their box. Also academically you have a scholarship for when you want to go back to school, there&rsquo;s a pilot program through a few universities particularly Arizona State. And they can go to school and get their degree if they want to choose that route as well, but they have an academic piece too. And then also they get paid a handsome amount of money for basically a season. But it's not for everybody. It's not for kids who need more time to develop in college, but it's for special-types-of-talent kids. Jalen Green, Jonathan Kuminga, those two are two of the players that played in the league.
Etan: ​One person that comes to mind is Winfred Walton. I think he would have been fantastic for a program like this. People don&rsquo;t understand how good he was, people forget. Let's talk about him for a minute, because when we got to Syracuse, it was right after John Wallace and Cuse In The House and they had just played in the championship game. So, you had John Wallace, you had Otis Hill, you had, Jason Cipolla, they were all on the court. So we come in there young, you know, fresh out of high school. And Fred went in there and was like, let's play us against y'all. You remember And pointed to us the other freshman. John Wallace said y'all not ready for that yet, and Fred was like whatever we're ready. Let's go. So it was me, you, Rock, Ramel Lloyd, Leshaun Howard and Fred.
​We had like our own Fab Five, to be honest with you. It&rsquo;s just that Fred didn't work out and had to leave and Rock transferred. But we had a crew. Talk about that when we scrimmaged them because they had just come back from playing in the national championship game, right, against Kentucky. And Fred was going to work.
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Jason Hart: ​Fred, like you said, he was a next-level of talent. Obviously, he had a chance to go out of high school and get drafted, but the G League Ignite program would have helped him because it would have allowed him to obviously be paid, but he was an elite talent. His body was already developed. He would've been able to do that. And we would have had him in a structured environment where we can watch his every move, mental aspect of the game and see that his dreams come true. But definitely, he was elite. He would have benefited from this program, but also he could have gone straight out of high school. He was that good. And his confidence was crazy. I think his game was more mature obviously than ours. He was special. I remember the school gave him No. 44. And they crossed out 44. So nobody could touch it. So that tells you how special he was coming in.&nbsp;
Etan: ​So I want to talk about that game though, because that game, he was going to work on John Wallace.&nbsp;
Jason Hart​: Well, Fred was bigger than J Dub. John was maybe 6-8, 6-9, for sure. Fred was 6-10 and a half, 235 [pounds] at 18 years old. So I remember the game and John Wallace was coming off a high, maybe one of the better players in the entire country for college. And so I remember man, we played them and Fred kind of gassed that game up. And we was like, okay, well we gotta play them. But you know what? That mindset right there, they don't do that anymore. In the college game they don't play pickup anymore versus the older guys and our guys, our generation now is suffering from let's just do skill work all the time. And so how we pulled ourselves up, we used to play pick up all the time. That doesn't happen anymore. Especially at the college game. It's more we set up appointment times to where we can do all skill work. And amongst the players, they don't like to do pickup anymore.
Etan: ​That's crazy, but going back to the G League Ignite, they had two players in the draft taken with Jalen Green going to Houston and Jonathan Kuminga going to Golden State, and both still have tremendous upsides. So with them having this success that they had going the route of going to the G League Ignite team as an alternative to going the college route or going overseas and hearing the announcers gush over them, the way that they did. Do you think that this is now going to really open the flood gates for high school players to really do the same, the top, top high school players?
Jason Hart: ​I think it just gives them another option. Obviously, they have the G League experience. You have the Overtime [Elite], it's another high school league that they formed. And they're getting paid out of that as well. I just think that with those two guys, obviously being that it was the inaugural season and they were able to get drafted so high. I think it gives the top-level players, an opportunity to come showcase their talent versus pros and being able to be coached and putting their environment to where it's going to help them succeed on and off the court. College is not for everybody. Like we just said, if Winfred didn't have to go to college, he probably would have been in the pros and had a 10-year career. So I think given our kids, the culture, the basketball coaching options to help them be successful. And that's what it's designed to do. And hopefully, it attracts more talent and it keeps this thing going.
Etan: ​I don't think attracting the talent is going to be a problem you know, to be honest with you,
Jason Hart: ​It's getting the right ones and then giving the kids just options. And so when you have options in life and you make the right decision, it obviously leads to a bright future.
Etan: ​That's definitely true. So, you said that you hope that they give you know, keep attracting talent. I don't know the rules, you know what I mean? So I don't want to, if you're not supposed to mention anything or how they do tampering, I don't even know how the rules are. So if you're looking at, you know watching high school now, who are some guys that you think could make that jump you know, to go to the G League route? Not saying that you're recruiting them to come to you or anything. I just want to make that clear for all that you know, NBA compliance people, whatever, not asking that. And that's not what coach Hart is saying. Just who are some people who could make that jump now that you see?
Jason Hart: ​Well, I'm not sure how the rules are set up, but we are actively recruiting the players that go to the power five schools, the elite schools. And so I don't know if we can say the names because they're not signed to us. It's just like a kid getting recruited to UCLA or Duke. We can't promote a player that's not signed to us. But when we are recruiting, we are sitting next to the Kentuckys and the Kansases. And it's not more of a being a threat, but obviously it's just options. And so your favorite top high school players, international players, 18, 19-year-old, same thing. It's a wide margin of players, of areas we try to cover. And obviously, we are looking for the top youth talent in high school and overseas.
Etan: ​So you are able to go to the top. So say like, we just had the EYBL Peace Jam Fest. You're able to go there and just right next to the coaches?
Jason Hart: ​I'm at the NBA Top 100 camp right now.
Etan: ​In Orlando.
Jason Hart: ​Yeah. And Rod Strickland &amp; Shareef Abdur-Rahim were at Peach Jam.
Etan: ​Got you. So it's the same you're at the same places.
Jason Hart: Yes, same places. I don't want schools to be like, man, they [are] trying to steal our players. That's not the goal. That's not, the intent is to give options for those who don't want to attend college and have the ability and confidence about themselves that they're ready to be professionals at an early age.
Etan: ​I definitely agree. So now as far as players going into the G League, and this is the part where I'm going to be really interested in to see how that develops &mdash; because I think that the NIL change will help some players in making the decision who are in a tough financial home situation and want to go pro for that reason. Well, now it will say, okay, well now I can make some money and take care of my family and stuff like that while I'm in school. I think that will help keep some guys in college a little bit longer. But more so about the G League and I don't want to, you know, I touched on the point earlier, but I want to keep on it because with these two high draft picks, in my opinion, I think it has to be the thought of every top high school player out there that if they did it and they hear the announcers gushing over them, the way that they did, they went number two and number seven.
So now they're like, okay, I could definitely do that. And I think it's going to open it up even more so where y'all might have to even be turning guys away, like, okay, we can't take any more high school guys. Or we're going to even open up another team up to the same thing. I think that many high school guys are going to grow up to be going this route. Do you agree with that?
Jason Hart: ​I totally agree. And during the draft, the G League Ignite team got a lot of positive remarks. And like I said, it's an option for players who have the ability and are ready. It&rsquo;s not for everybody, I can&rsquo;t say that enough. But I think those two guys obviously being the trend-setters and Isaiah Todd was another player that was drafted. Trend-setters in terms of the new age where we living in. I mean, this is something that was unprecedented being at this team was formed last year. And to have two lottery picks with the first seven picks and then another one at No. 31, it's definitely going to open the flood gates, but it also has to be a right fit. And it has to be something that you're willing to sacrifice and learn and be willing to accept coaching. But, you know, Hey, come join the G League, if that's your goal. And I'm saying it on your show. It's a win-win for all and hopefully, we can keep this thing going and make this team a destination for the elite talent.

Etan Thomas writes about Emoni Bates' reclassification and the route he may take, and also speaks with G League Ignite head coach Jason Hart.

Is the G League Ignite the best option for Emoni Bates?

MIAMI (AP) &mdash; Udonis Haslem finally played, and made an immediate impact for the Miami Heat.
He scored twice, making both his shots.
He took a charge.
And then he got ejected.
Haslem can finally say that he has played in 18 NBA seasons &mdash; and it was a memorable, albeit brief, appearance. He got two technical fouls and was ejected with 10:19 remaining in the first half, less than three minutes after getting into a game for the first time all season.
&ldquo;If this is the last one, I finished it the only way Udonis Haslem could &mdash; with an ejection," Haslem said.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-theme="dark">
The Haslem ejection made Pat Riley sooooo happy <a href="https://t.co/7FovKTTuU4">pic.twitter.com/7FovKTTuU4</a>
&mdash; Brendan Tobin (@Brendan_Tobin) <a href="https://twitter.com/Brendan_Tobin/status/1392999607043600388?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 14, 2021</a></blockquote>

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He took offense to getting pulled down by Philadelphia's Dwight Howard, then had words with the 76ers' veteran as they went nose-to-nose. Haslem and Howard both got technicals, then Haslem got a second one and was sent off.
His final line: 2 for 2 from the field, four points, one rebound, two technicals, one ejection, in about 2-1/2 minutes.
Haslem, who turns 41 on June 9, became the oldest player to appear in a game for the Heat and the oldest to get on an NBA floor for any team this season. Cleveland&rsquo;s Anderson Varejao, 38, was the oldest to play in the NBA so far in 2020-21; the next-oldest to play this season was Miami&rsquo;s Andre Iguodala, 37.
Haslem got a layup with 2.3 seconds left in the quarter, putting Miami up 38-20 in the early going. It was his first basket at home since Nov. 12, 2019. His second basket was a baseline jumper early in the second quarter, and the ejection happened 48 seconds later.
At 40 years, 338 days, Haslem was 269 days older than Juwan Howard was when he made his final appearance with the Heat on April 17, 2013. Haslem has not said if he will consider retiring this summer; the Heat have told him that he would be welcomed back in his unique role &mdash; as a captain and behind-the-scenes leader who doesn&rsquo;t play &mdash; if he&rsquo;d like to remain on the active roster for at least another year.
&ldquo;I just take it one day at a time, and we&rsquo;ll figure it out,&rdquo; Haslem said earlier this month. &ldquo;The goal now is to win a championship. And then, you know, we&rsquo;ll go from there. I can&rsquo;t really think past today. I&rsquo;ve been told just take it one day at a time and you know when I get to the summer, that&rsquo;s when I think about that.&rdquo;
His on-court role has diminished greatly in recent seasons. Thursday marked only his 15th appearance in the last three seasons, just his fifth in the past two seasons.
But the Heat continue signing him to contracts, mostly of the one-year variety &mdash; the one-year deal he signed for this season was his ninth contract with Miami in those 18 years &mdash; because they greatly value his leadership and voice in the locker room. Haslem is often referring to as a keeper of the culture that team president Pat Riley, managing general partner Micky Arison and coach Erik Spoelstra have instilled over the years.
&ldquo;Everybody in this building, and most importantly in that locker room, knows the level of impact that he has," Spoelstra said.
Now that he&rsquo;s officially an 18-year member of the Heat, and only the Heat, Haslem becomes the sixth name on the list of players who have spent that much time with one franchise. Dirk Nowitzki spent 21 years with Dallas, Kobe Bryant 20 years with the Los Angeles Lakers, Tim Duncan spent 19 with San Antonio, John Stockton spent 19 with Utah and Reggie Miller spent 18 with Indiana.
Before Thursday, Haslem last played for Miami on Aug. 14, 2020, during a game inside the restart bubble at Walt Disney World in Lake Buena Vista, Florida. Thursday marked his first appearance in a game at Miami&rsquo;s home arena since Feb. 22, 2020.
Haslem is one of only two players &mdash; Dwyane Wade being the other &mdash; to appear on all three of Miami&rsquo;s NBA championship teams. Haslem is the only player to be with the Heat for all six of their Eastern Conference championships and is the franchise&rsquo;s all-time leading rebounder.
In addition to holding the team rebounding record, Haslem &mdash; a Miami native who is a lock to have his No. 40 jersey retired one day by the franchise &mdash; ranks second behind only Wade on the Heat lists for games played and minutes played, plus is seventh on the team all-time scoring list.
Haslem was undrafted after his college career at Florida. He played professionally in France for one season before getting a tryout with the Heat in 2003, remaining with his hometown NBA club ever since.
A sign of his longevity: He's had 150 teammates in Miami during his 18-year career.
___
More AP NBA: https://apnews.com/hub/NBA and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports

Udonis Haslem's first appearance of the season resulted in four points, one rebound, two technicals and an ejection.

The captain: Haslem makes season debut, scores, gets ejected

Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban opens up about NFTs, the future of NBA Top Shot, cryptocurrency and much more.

Mark Cuban on NFTs: 'NBA Top Shot has the biggest, most rabid community'

Etan Thomas, Dave Zirin, Drew Gooden and Tony Massenburg discuss what John Wall meant to D.C. and Russell Westbrook's fit on the Wizards.

Etan Thomas, Drew Gooden, Tony Massenburg, Dave Zirin on Wall-Westbrook deal

Jamal Murray led the Nuggets to a 114-106 win on Tuesday that cut the Lakers' lead to 2-1 in the Western Conference Finals.