Eagles

In case you&rsquo;ve been overly consumed by the NBA, college basketball, or the WNBA off-season, now would be a great time to remind y&rsquo;all that the 2023 FIBA World Cup qualifiers are going on.
And in case you didn&rsquo;t know, the host countries for the 2023 World Cup are Japan, Indonesia and the Philippines &mdash; more on that later.
The last World Cup was right before the 2019-20 season, but feels so long ago because this whole COVID thing hadn&rsquo;t yet clapped us up. If you remember, the 2020 Olympics took place in 2021 &mdash; as in, last year. Yeah, I know, the international stuff can get confusing, but I&rsquo;m here to help you. Trust me.
Now, perhaps quietly to some, international play quickly resumed this past November with the first window of 2023 World Cup qualifying, which we&rsquo;ll recap shortly.
You have four sets of qualifying regions: Africa, Americas, Asia/Oceania, and Europe. There are six windows played over a 15-month span (starting from this past November), where the competing squads normally would participate in two games per window. COVID had other ideas &mdash; more on that later.
Currently, each region has groups of four, and the top three in each group will advance to round two following the June/July window. This current round of qualifying is between Nov. 20-30, Feb. 21-March 1, and June 27-July 5, after which we&rsquo;ll enter round two. Round two also occurs over three windows: August 22-30, Nov. 7-15, and Feb. 20-28, then those who will have qualified will enter group drawing next March, and we&rsquo;ll see them compete between August 25-September 10 &mdash; the World Cup.
Now, let&rsquo;s lay out all the things you should probably know and, if you see a number in parenthesis next to a team that&rsquo;s listed, that&rsquo;s their current world ranking, <a href="https://www.fiba.basketball/rankingmen">according to FIBA</a>. So if you feel like your people are being misrepresented, leave me alone and take that up with them. (Unless &hellip; unless you mean, you know, actual greater good/societal misrepresentation, then &hellip; let&rsquo;s talk, because me, too.)
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African Region
2019 WC qualifiers: Angola, Cote d&rsquo;Ivoire, Nigeria, Senegal, Tunisia
As they did in 2019, Africa will get five of the final 32 World Cup spots. Though they&rsquo;re hoping for a better result, because none of them advanced past&nbsp;group play. The Groups are as follows:
<ul>
<li>Group A: Nigeria (22), Mali (72), Cape Verde (74), Uganda (78),</li>
<li>Group B: Tunisia (28), Cameroon (64), South Sudan (82), Rwanda (84)</li>
<li>Group C: Angola (31), Cote d&rsquo;Ivoire (40), Central African Rep. (75), Guinea (99)</li>
<li>Group D: Senegal (34), Egypt (59), Congo DR (81), Kenya (103)</li>
</ul>
First Window Summary: Africa has a slightly different format. Groups A and C each played three games from Nov. 26-28, the biggest perhaps being Cape Verde&rsquo;s 79-71 upset over Nigeria, which helped move their ranking from No. 100 to No. 74 in the world. Thus, Groups A and C will return in the summer window. Nigeria and Mali are 2-1 and lead Group A, and Cote d&rsquo;Ivoire went 3-0 in November, sitting atop Group C. Groups B and D begin qualifying on Feb. 25 at Dakar Arena in Senegal, which will be three straight days of games through the 27th.
Tunisia&rsquo;s To Lose?: Tunisia went 10-2 in their World Cup qualifying for the 2019 tournament, and is expected to have similar production in group play here. Tunisia won the 2021 AfroBasket this past September, led by tournament MVP Makrem Romdhane, and All-Tournament guard Omar Abada. There&rsquo;s <a href="https://www.fiba.basketball/basketballworldcup/2023/african-qualifiers/news/the-african-champions-are-ready-to-soar-in-dakar" target="_blank" rel="noopener">also a chance star center Salah Mejri suits up for Tunisia</a>. The 7-foot-2 former Dallas Maverick <a href="https://www.basketball-reference.com/international/teams/tunisia/2019.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">led Tunisia with 16.4 points, 10.4 rebounds, and 3.2 blocks per game</a> in their second ever World Cup appearance three years ago.
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The Biggest What If: Tunisia plays Cameroon on Feb. 25. Cameroon is one of the many wild cards worth keeping tabs on. They still haven&rsquo;t been able to piece together the dream frontcourt of Joel Embiid, Pascal Siakam and Luc Richard Mbah a Moute, who hasn&rsquo;t played since the NBA bubble. <a href="https://www.libertyballers.com/2017/2/7/14539418/joel-embiid-named-cameroon-preliminary-roster-fiba-afrobasket-2017-luc-mbah-a-moute" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Embiid came close in 2017</a>, but ultimately didn&rsquo;t play. Obviously, NBA players rarely can compete in these qualifying windows because of, well, them being in the NBA. But if Cameroon could do well enough and qualify, who knows if that&rsquo;ll be enough to lure Embiid and Siakam into international play.
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American Region
2019 WC qualifiers: Argentina (silver medalist), Brazil, Canada, Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico, USA, and Venezuela.
The Americas will, again, send seven to the World Cup late next year. The Americas have the standard format across the board, so this window will mark two games for each club. The groups are:
<ul>
<li>Group A: Argentina (7), Venezuela (17), Panama (50), Paraguay (77)</li>
<li>Group B: Brazil (15), Uruguay (41), Colombia (67), Chile (68)</li>
<li>Group C: Canada (18), Dominican Republic (20), U.S. Virgin Islands (54), Bahamas (62)</li>
<li>Group D: U.S.A. (1), Puerto Rico (19), Mexico (24), Cuba (65)</li>
</ul>
First Window Summary: Argentina, Venezuela, Brazil, Uruguay, Canada, Dominican Republic and Mexico are all 2-0. U.S.A. and Puerto Rico are the only 1-1 teams in the Americas, and will play each other on Tuesday in Washington D.C. Notably, for Team U.S.A., Jim Boylen coached the club in the November window, in which they held off Cuba 95-90, then lost to Mexico in Chihuahua City, 97-88. Although Cuba is 0-2, their star, Jaisel Rivero, is good enough to steal them a game. Rivero put 34 (13-18 shooting) with 9 rebounds and 3 threes on Team USA in their narrow loss. Rivero currently competes with Liga ACB and EuroCup&rsquo;s Valencia Basket in Spain, where he averages 11.1 points (second on team) and 4.9 rebounds (third on team) across all competitions.
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21 points for <a href="https://twitter.com/isaiahthomas?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@isaiahthomas</a> last night, including 4 made threes, none bigger than this dagger. 👀 Team USA defeated Cuba 95-90 to start 2023 World Cup Qualifiers. They face Mexico tonight. 📹: <a href="https://t.co/nNQDfvcF82">https://t.co/nNQDfvcF82</a> (via FIBA) <a href="https://t.co/dhAUAUVHLy">pic.twitter.com/dhAUAUVHLy</a>
&mdash; Bryan Fonseca 🇵🇷 (@BryanFonsecaNY) <a href="https://twitter.com/BryanFonsecaNY/status/1465437069073858560?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 29, 2021</a>
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Uncle Iso Joe: Among <a href="https://www.fiba.basketball/basketballworldcup/2023/americas-qualifiers/game/0407/Mexico-USA#|tab=boxscore">the notables who suited up for Team USA in November</a> were Isaiah Thomas, Luke Kornet, Chasson Randle, Haywood Highsmith and Shaquille Harrison, among many other current and former NBA players. Seven-time All-Star and 40-year-old Joe Johnson, who famously was a Boston Celtic briefly earlier this season, is <a href="https://www.fiba.basketball/basketballworldcup/2023/americas-qualifiers/news/nba-experience-leads-revamped-united-states-roster-for-second-window-of-2023-fiba-world-cup-americas-qualifiers">confirmed to be suiting up with Team USA</a> in this February window. Brian Bowen II is the only player returning from the November window. Other Team U.S.A. members include current G Leaguers Jordan Bell, David Stockton, Langston Galloway and Justin Wright-Foreman, among others.
La Nueva Era de Baloncesto: Both Mexico and Puerto Rico announced new head coaches shortly before the November window. Mexico&rsquo;s led by long-time NBA assistant Kaleb Caneles, while Puerto Rico hired Nelson Colon, who is a three-time champion and Coach of the Year in Baloncesto Superior Nacional, Puerto Rico&rsquo;s top pro basketball league. Former long-time NBA guard Carlos Arroyo was also appointed the <a href="https://www.fiba.basketball/news/puerto-rico-appoints-carlos-arroyo-as-its-male-national-team-general-manager#:~:text=Americas-,Puerto%20Rico%20appoints%20Carlos%20Arroyo%20as%20its%20male%20National%20Team,of%20the%20men's%20national%20team.">Puerto Rican National Team&rsquo;s General Manager last June</a>.
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Both Puerto Rico and Mexico starting this cycle with new coaches, too: <a href="https://t.co/PCDaPmNumy">https://t.co/PCDaPmNumy</a>
&mdash; Bryan Fonseca 🇵🇷 (@BryanFonsecaNY) <a href="https://twitter.com/BryanFonsecaNY/status/1465151054278967302?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 29, 2021</a></blockquote>

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Asia-Oceania Region
2019 WC qualifiers: Australia (finished fourth), China, Iran, Japan, Jordan, New Zealand, South Korea and the Philippines.
The hosts &ndash; Japan, the Philippines and Indonesia &ndash; typically automatically qualify for the World Cup. <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20171213161459/http:/www.philstar.com:8080/sports/2017/12/13/1767946/learning-2019-world-cup" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Indonesia&rsquo;s qualification is more provisional</a> due to their lack of international success. Japan and the Philippines are automatically in, but they&rsquo;re all scheduled to participate in World Cup qualifiers anyway.
In the 2019 World Cup, Asia/Oceania sent eight teams over, which they&rsquo;ll do again in 2023. Here are the groups:
<ul>
<li>Group A: New Zealand (27), South Korea (30), Philippines (33), India (80)</li>
<li>Group B: Australia (3), China (29), Japan (37), Chinese Taipei (66)</li>
<li>Group C: Jordan (39), Lebanon (55), Indonesia (91), Saudi Arabia (79)</li>
<li>Group D: Iran (23),&nbsp;Kazakhstan (70), Syria (85), Bahrain (104)</li>
</ul>
First Window Summary: Due to travel restrictions (COVID), <a href="https://www.fiba.basketball/basketballworldcup/2023/asian-qualifiers/news/update-to-the-fiba-basketball-world-cup-2023-asian-qualifiers" target="_blank" rel="noopener">several games had to be canceled</a>, so while the format was originally the same as the Americas, it came with some modifications. No one in Group A has played yet, so they&rsquo;ll each play four games to compensate, all of which will take place between Feb. 24 and Feb. 28. In Group B, only China and Japan were able to play, and China smacked them twice, 79-63, and 106-73. Australia and Chinese Taipei are each scheduled to play three times between Feb. 25 and Feb. 28. Japan will play twice in this window, once against each of them, and China will return for four games in the third window to end round one.
Medal Momentum: This will mark the first we see of Australia since finally winning their first medal at the 2020 Olympics (that were played in 2021). Australia had lost the bronze medal game in the 1988, 1996, 2000 and 2016 Olympics before finally medaling in their fifth attempt. In their history, they&rsquo;ve never had a better World Cup finish than in 2019, where they lost in &hellip; another bronze medal game. Perhaps Australia is really turning a corner now. &nbsp;
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🥉 HISTORY MADE 🥉 The Boomers have done it- Australia have secured their first ever men&rsquo;s basketball Olympic medal! The bronze is coming home! 💚💛<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Tokyo2020?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Tokyo2020</a> <a href="https://t.co/ngxiYRwHdk">pic.twitter.com/ngxiYRwHdk</a>
&mdash; Basketball Australia (@BasketballAus) <a href="https://twitter.com/BasketballAus/status/1423988352987013120?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 7, 2021</a>
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European Region&nbsp;
2019 WC qualifiers: Czech Republic, France (bronze medalist), Germany, Greece, Italy, Lithuania, Montenegro, Poland, Russia, Serbia, Spain (gold medalist), Turkey.
Europe is the largest region of basketball playing powers here, so their rules are slightly different. Instead of four groups, there are eight. As a result, they&rsquo;ll get 12 World Cup bids.
Here are the groups:
<ul>
<li>Group A: Serbia (6), Latvia (26), Belgium (36), Slovakia (63)</li>
<li>Group B: Greece (10), Turkey (16), Great Britain (44), Belarus (48)</li>
<li>Group C: Slovenia (4), Croatia (21), Finland (35), Sweden (51)</li>
<li>Group D: Germany (11), Poland (13), Israel (42), Estonia (49)</li>
<li>Group E: France (5), Montenegro (25), Hungary (43), Portugal (58)</li>
<li>Group F: Lithuania (8), Czech Republic (12), Bosnia (45), Bulgaria (53)</li>
<li>Group G: Spain (2), Ukraine (32), Georgia (38), North Macedonia (52)</li>
<li>Group H: Italy (9), Russia (14), Netherlands (47), Iceland (46)</li>
</ul>
First Window Summary: Everyone here was able to play two games in November. Your 2-0 teams are as follows: Belgium, Slovenia, Israel, France, Lithuania, Bosnia, Spain and Russia. Your 0-2 teams are Netherlands, North Macedonia, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Portugal, Poland, Croatia and Slovakia. Czech Republic was a story from the 2019 World Cup. They shockingly punched above their weight and reached the quarterfinals. Czech Republic, led by Tom&aacute;&scaron; Satoransky, finished sixth, one spot above Team U.S.A. But, so far, they haven&rsquo;t won a game in 2023 qualifying. Czech Republic lost to Bosnia 97-90 and Lithuania 74-66. They should have a breakthrough against Bulgaria on the 24th, but it&rsquo;ll be difficult to set themselves up for a repeat of 2019, which was their first World Cup bid.
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The State of Spain: After winning the 2019 World Cup with an incredibly stacked team, including tournament MVP Ricky Rubio, captain Rudy Fern&aacute;ndez, Marc Gasol and Willy Hernang&oacute;mez, Spain was knocked out of the Olympic quarterfinals by the United States. Their Olympic team featured many of their same heavy-hitters, including even Pau Gasol, who retired in October and is now a member of the International Olympic Committee. Like the United States, many of the players you&rsquo;d expect to see on their World Cup roster <a href="https://www.fiba.basketball/basketballworldcup/2023/european-qualifiers/team/Spain#|tab=roster" target="_blank" rel="noopener">likely won&rsquo;t participate much until then</a>. Even so, expect them to continue reigning as one of the top teams in the world. We could talk about the age factor around this time next year, perhaps.
The Sleeping Giant: Slovenia famously jumped 12 spots after their debut Olympic performance, largely led by Luka Dončić, accompanied by standout pro teammates Mike Tobey, Zoran (Goran&rsquo;s brother) Dragić,&nbsp;and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vlatko_%C4%8Can%C4%8Dar" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Vlatko Čančar</a>. Slovenia finished fourth, losing to Australia in the bronze medal game. They didn&rsquo;t qualify for the 2019 World Cup, but did win the 2017 EuroBasket, in which Goran won MVP and Luka, at 18 years old, was named to the All-Tournament team. (Anthony Randolph played for the Slovenian team, then. Who knew?!?) Dragić and Tobey are <a href="https://www.fiba.basketball/basketballworldcup/2023/european-qualifiers/team/Slovenia#|tab=roster" target="_blank" rel="noopener">listed on the roster for this window</a>. Look for them to continue raising hell in qualifiers, and if Dončić suits up, in the World Cup, too.
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For even more World Cup info and complete schedules, <a href="https://www.fiba.basketball/basketballworldcup/2023" target="_blank" rel="noopener">go here</a>.
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Bryan Fonseca gives an overview of the 2023 FIBA World Cup qualifiers.

Things to monitor as FIBA World Cup’s next qualifying window arrives

Several marquee players who were expected to hit the open market in 2022 have signed extensions, so next summer's free-agent crop isn't nearly as star-studded as other classes.
However, there are still plenty of quality players who may be up for grabs. In this three-part series, we&rsquo;ll examine the best players who will potentially enter free agency next July.&nbsp;
After previously <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/2022-nba-freeagent-rankings-harden-beal-among-top10-guards" target="_blank" rel="noopener">ranking the best guards set to hit free agency next summer</a>, let's examine the top free-agent forwards ready to enter the open market in 2021.&nbsp;
1. Michael Porter Jr. - Denver Nuggets - Restricted
Due to a back injury sustained in college, Porter Jr. was considered a boom-or-bust prospect when the <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/how-michael-porter-jr-became-a-star-after-career-ending-diagnosis" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Nuggets selected him with the 14th overall pick</a> in the 2018 draft. Well, three years later, MPJ has boomed. After Jamal Murray tore his ACL last season, Porter emerged as Denver's second option alongside Nikola Jokic and exceeded even lofty expectations. Over a 25-game stretch from late March through mid-May, MPJ averaged a whopping 24.0 points, 7.4 rebounds and 3.4 made three-pointers, while shooting a scorching 56.9% from the floor, 47.2% from downtown and 82.5% at the free-throw line. After the season, Denver's president of basketball operations <a href="https://www.denverpost.com/2021/06/18/nuggets-tim-connelly-michael-porter-jr-s-extension-jamal-murrays-return/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Tim Connelly said</a>: "Our M.O. is when we can, we try to lock guys up and reward them for what they've done." According to a <a href="https://www.denverpost.com/2021/06/18/nuggets-tim-connelly-michael-porter-jr-s-extension-jamal-murrays-return" target="_blank" rel="noopener">report by the Denver Post</a>, Connelly and his staff want to reach a contract extension with MPJ rather than have him hit the market as a restricted free agent next summer. However, per the report, "given Porter's history of back injuries, it's likely the Nuggets add some type of provision to help protect them." Porter is eligible for a five-year, $168 million extension.&nbsp;
2. Mikal Bridges - Phoenix Suns - Restricted
Another member of the 2018 draft class, Bridges isn't as offensively gifted as Porter Jr., but he has established himself as a <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/nba-mikal-bridges-phoenix-suns-breakout-season-three-point-shooting-pick-and-roll-defense-deandre-ayton-turnover-percentage-monty-williams-chris-paul-villanova-jay-wright-ashley-howard" target="_blank" rel="noopener">phenomenally well-rounded player and integral part of a Suns team</a> that advanced all the way to the NBA Finals last season. In the process, Bridges averaged a career-high 13.5 points, 4.3 rebounds and 1.9 threes while posting a True Shooting percentage of 66.7%. <a href="https://www.espn.com/nba/insider/story/_/id/31361074/lowe-ten-nba-things-like-including-limitless-flair-nikola-jokic-beef-stew-bully-ball" target="_blank" rel="noopener">According to ESPN's Zach Lowe</a>, rival executives expect Bridges to secure a deal in the neighborhood of $20 million per season on his next contract.
3. Joe Ingles - Utah Jazz - Unrestricted 
Ingles matched a career-high last season by averaging 12.1 points per game to go along with 4.7 assists, 3.6 rebounds, 0.7 steals and a career-best 2.7 made three-pointers per game. He finished the year ranked fifth among qualified players in three-point percentage (45.1%) and posted a phenomenal True Shooting percentage of 67.2% (with a 48.9/51.3/84.4 slash line), which was the third-best mark in the NBA and best among non-centers. In a league that places a high value on efficient scoring, Ingles' skill set is a highly sought-after commodity.&nbsp;
4. T.J. Warren - Indiana Pacers - Unrestricted 
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At the end of the 2019-20 season, Warren was playing the best basketball of his career. Over the six games the Pacers played in the Orlando bubble, Warren averaged 31.0 points, 6.3 boards and 3.7 made treys, while shooting over 57% from the floor and 52% from downtown. Unfortunately, that's the <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/a-100-million-payday-awaits-tj-warren-if-he-continues-to-silence-the-critics" target="_blank" rel="noopener">last time we've seen him healthy</a>. He appeared in just four games last season before undergoing surgery for a stress fracture in his foot in January. Worse yet, the Pacers announced earlier this month that Warren's recovery from the surgery has been slower than anticipated, and he will remain sidelined indefinitely. Warren will have to prove he is healthy over the second half of the 2021-22 season to boost his stock before hitting the open market.&nbsp;
5. Miles Bridges - Charlotte Hornets - Restricted 
After a relatively slow start to the 2020-21 campaign, Bridges exploded over the season's final six weeks. With LaMelo Ball, Gordon Hayward and Malik Monk all sidelined by injuries late in the year, Bridges was a focal point of the Hornets' offense. Over his final 15 games, Bridges averaged 21.0 points, 6.9 rebounds, 3.1 assists, 1.1 blocks and 3.1 made three-pointers while shooting over 50% from the floor, 42% from downtown and 84% from the charity stripe. If the Hornets don't sign Bridges to an extension, he'll be a restricted free agent next summer.&nbsp;
6. Kevin Huerter - Atlanta Hawks - Restricted
This offseason, the Hawks locked up both Trae Young (five-year, $207 million extension) and John Collins (five-year $125 million contract). Will they be able to come to an extension agreement with Huerter as well? In early August, Atlanta general manager Travis Schlenk told reporters the team would speak with Huerter's representatives: "His agent wanted to wait a little bit and get all his free agents signed before he went into extensions &mdash; less time-sensitive matters like the extension &mdash; but certainly his agent and Kevin are hoping to have that dialogue, and certainly we are as well. Our intention is to try and get something done with Kevin, for sure." <a href="https://www.si.com/nba/hawks/news/what-to-expect-from-kevin-huerters-ongoing-contract-negotiations" target="_blank" rel="noopener">According to Sports Illustrated</a>, "there is speculation that Huerter could garner between $15-$20 million a season."
7. Thaddeus Young - San Antonio Spurs - Unrestricted 
Young proved last season in Chicago that he is still capable of playing at a high level. In his age-32 season last year, Young averaged 12.1 points (on 55.9% shooting), 6.2 rebounds, 1.1 steals and 0.6 blocks in just 24.3 minutes a night off the bench. Most notably, he dished out a career-high 4.3 assists per game. Young had the highest plus/minus (+4.1) of any rotational regular on the Bulls roster, and Chicago was outscored by 5.9 points per 100 possessions with Young on the bench. Expect plenty of contenders to try and pry Young loose from San Antonio at the trade deadline next winter.&nbsp;
8. Blake Griffin - Brooklyn Nets - Unrestricted 
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After a disappointing two years in Detroit, Griffin reached a buyout agreement with the Pistons last March, enabling him to join the Nets. He signed with Brooklyn on March 8 and <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/blake-griffin-on-exit-from-pistons-nodunksin464days-narrative" target="_blank" rel="noopener">looked like a new player</a>, as Griffin averaged 10.0 points, 4.7 rebounds and 2.4 assists in 26 appearances. Over the final three games of Brooklyn's playoff series vs. the Bucks, Griffin averaged 15.3 points (on 58% shooting), 6.7 rebounds and 2.3 made treys. He signed a one-year deal with the Nets for the 2021-22 campaign and will hit the free-agent market again next offseason.&nbsp;
9. Marvin Bagley III - Sacramento Kings - Restricted
Unfortunately for Kings fans, after three years in the league, Bagley is probably best known as being the player selected ahead of Luka Doncic and Trae Young. While both Doncic and Young have led their teams to the postseason and secured $200+ million max extensions, Bagley has been unable to stay healthy (appearing in just 118 out of a possible 230 games since being drafted), and has seen his scoring average decrease in each of the past three seasons. However, Bagley won't turn 23 until March of next year and is blessed with the rare combination of size and athleticism that led to him being selected second overall in the 2018 draft. Assuming he doesn't ink an extension, Bagley will look to boost his stock by staying on the floor long enough to showcase his skill set in 2021-22.
10. Kyle Anderson - Memphis Grizzlies - Unrestricted 
It seems as though he's been around forever, but Anderson is just 27 years old and is coming off the best all-around campaign of his career. The man affectionately nicknamed "Slow-Mo" averaged a career-high 12.4 points last season to go along with 5.7 rebounds, 3.6 assists, 1.2 steals and 1.4 made three-pointers in 27.3 minutes per contest. Only three other players in the league matched or exceeded those per-game averages in each of those statistical categories: Kawhi Leonard, LaMelo Ball and James Harden.&nbsp;
Best of the Rest 
Robert Covington, Otto Porter Jr., P.J. Tucker, Jeremy Lamb, Derrick Jones Jr., Carmelo Anthony, Nicolas Batum (player option), Bobby Portis (player option), Al-Farouq Aminu, Andre Iguodala, Taurean Prince

Tommy Beer ranks the top players who could be available as part of the 2022 free-agent class. Today, he examines the top-10 forwards.

2022 NBA Free-Agent Rankings: Bridges, Bagley among top-10 forwards

The Little Guy From Bendigo doesn&rsquo;t quite roll off the tongue like Just A Kid From Akron, but like LeBron James, G League Ignite guard Dyson Daniels is trying to make his hometown famous.
It&rsquo;s apropos that Daniels is channeling his childhood hero, though his country neighborhood in Victoria, Australia is more rural and smaller than that of LeBron&rsquo;s well-known abode in Northeast Ohio. It&rsquo;s also located on another continent in another hemisphere, a place that many people in the United States have never heard about.
From news articles to funding to general support, Daniels has felt the love from his local community. So what better way to return the favor than to make it to the NBA?
&ldquo;I try not to take it as pressure, but I'm trying to do everything to get Bendigo and Australia on the map,&rdquo; Daniels told BasketballNews.com in a Zoom video interview. &ldquo;Just be the best version of me I can and do my best."
He&rsquo;s chosen to do that with the Ignite in America, as opposed to committing to college or signing with the popular National Basketball League Next Stars program close to home, a route he was extremely close to picking.
&ldquo;I was almost certain on it before I got offered to go play on the G League Ignite squad. I was almost certain on going to the NBL,&rdquo; Daniels said. &ldquo;That's obviously a very good pathway as well. We've seen it with [Josh] Giddey and a few other players.&nbsp;
&ldquo;But I think just the overruling factor was talking, having a few Zoom calls with [former Ignite] head coach Brian [Shaw] and [G League president] Shareef [Abdur-Rahim], and them telling us about the development you're gonna get on and off the court. You're gonna be busy all day doing basketball things and helping to get better life skills and stuff like that. But yeah, I think I made the right decision and I'm ready to get started."
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Just over a week ago, Daniels made the trek to America to begin a new chapter of his basketball journey in California. He&rsquo;ll be one of the standout prospects joining the likes of Michael Foster, Jaden Hardy, Scoot Henderson, MarJeau Beauchamp and Fanbo Zeng as a part of a highly-regarded Ignite squad.&nbsp;
In one of his first workouts following his arrival, Daniels got to exchange pleasantries with Jason Hart, the team&rsquo;s new head coach following Shaw&rsquo;s departure to the Los Angeles Clippers.
&ldquo;It was good to catch up with him,&rdquo; Daniels said. &ldquo;That's the first time I've ever seen him in person, but he believes in me. You've gotta earn your playing time, so when training [camp] starts, I'm gonna put in [the work] and I'm gonna make sure I earn it."
Fans and even front office decision-makers may be unfamiliar with Daniels and his skill set, as there&rsquo;s little film and box-score research that can be done on the 18-year-old. For some, that unknown factor might be cause for hesitation. Daniels, however, sees that as a golden opportunity to show what he&rsquo;s made of.
&ldquo;I try not to get in my head [and be] too involved in the mock drafts and things like that, but I guess being there, people haven't really seen me as much as some of the other guys,&rdquo; Daniels said. &ldquo;That's good for me, and I'm just here to show 'em that I'm gonna put in the work and try to get my name up top once they see me more. But yeah, ultimate goal is to go No. 1.&rdquo;
Daniels describes his game as &ldquo;unlike anyone else&rsquo;s.&rdquo; He doesn&rsquo;t model it after anybody, instead taking bits and pieces from multiple pros. Using his favorite NBA player, Russell Westbrook, as a blueprint, Daniels emulates a similar mentality. He likes to interrupt passing lanes and intercept the ball to get out into transition as his fellow Aussies, Ben Simmons and Matisse Thybulle, often do.&nbsp;
Defense leading to transition chances, he relays, is a signature tool in his arsenal.
&ldquo;That's how I generate a lot of my offense. I like to think of myself as just 'smart' defensively, being able to get steals, being able to guard 1-through-4, some 5,&rdquo; Daniels said. &ldquo;Get steals, play smart, rotate and generate offense then. But I'm a playmaker, I'm a big point guard, 6-foot-6, so I like to make plays off the dribble for my teammates and myself. Get into lanes and use my floaters is one of my keys.&rdquo;
Basketball News Lead NBA Draft Analyst Matt Babcock provided his own scouting report on Daniels:
Dyson Daniels has positional size, can create with the ball in his hands and is a terrific slasher and capable outside shooter. He has a lot of upside and is a high priority on our watch list for this upcoming season.
Once Daniels acclimates to the Ignite environment in Walnut Creek by getting to know his teammates and running through a few practices, he&rsquo;ll set more short-term objectives for himself. For now, he&rsquo;s been in the gym with trainer Jordan Lawley in L.A. to address some areas of his game that can be refined.
&ldquo;Just become a more consistent shooter, just tweaking a few things in my shot preparation that I need to do better,&rdquo; Daniels said. &ldquo;But I'm sure that's gonna come. It's come along nicely already. But that, and then tightening up my handle. I'm a bit taller [of a] point guard... some of those little guards can get in underneath you, so I'm sure that's what's gonna happen this year in the G League. Just tightening up my handle and being ready for anything are some things I'm trying to improve on.&rdquo;
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While he may have solid size and length now, it wasn&rsquo;t always that way for Daniels. Now at 6-foot-6, he argues that having to pick up skills when he was little helped him become the player he is now.&nbsp;
Daniels remembers being a small six-year-old kid playing point guard for a Division III team in a U-10 league, erratically sprinting on the floor and turning the ball over frequently. But from the day he touched a basketball, Daniels knew he was &ldquo;made for it.&rdquo; He would watch the NBA, NBL and any other hoop programming that would hit his television screen.
His father, Ricky, played two years at NC State and starred for the Bendigo Braves when he was younger. While his mom, Brikitta, has gotten Dyson right in terms of manners and keeping him in line, Ricky has helped Dyson from a young age in the backyard.&nbsp;
&ldquo;Both my parents have helped me a lot just to become the person I am,&rdquo; Daniels said. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s really good to have them and I get pointers off them... My biggest support system is my family, my close friends, close coaches and things that I have like that.&rdquo;
Daniels never stopped progressing, though, and began to make Division I teams in his pre-teens. Once that started happening, it caught the eyes of coaches near and far.
When he was 15, Daniels followed in his dad&rsquo;s footsteps by joining the Braves for a season at home in 2019. It was his first taste of semi-professional basketball, and matching up with bigger bodies was advantageous. But Daniels&rsquo; stock began to soar as soon as he moved to Canberra with the NBA Global Academy later that year.
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He&rsquo;s thankful for the entire staff, from NBA international director of basketball operations Chris Ebersole and content/program development lead Marie-Laurence Archambault in New York, to the coaches, trainers and everybody involved for the chance to be a part of the program. Competing in tournaments in Europe and America was paramount to his development, and he learned crucial off-the-court lessons in addition.
"I've changed so much &mdash; the person I am, the confidence I have now, the coaching that I was able to get there was phenomenal. We had the [Centre of Excellence] coaches as well. Going in there as well [at 6-foot-2], I was a little scrawny kid. Coming out, I've got a much bigger body... I had a huge growth spurt, 6-6. That helped me 'cause I was a point guard and already had those skills; it helped me, being 6-6, to still being a point guard.
&ldquo;So just building my body, building my life skills, building my basketball. They've helped me be able to see the floor better. I think IQ's something I've always had, but they've helped me to use it more and use it to my strengths. I've just learned so much from them.&nbsp;
Daniels is poised to become the second player in NBA Academy history to be drafted. The first was fellow Aussie Josh Giddey, whom he&rsquo;s been tight with since the duo&rsquo;s U-12 days playing for Victoria. They keep in touch and congratulate one another on their successes, so Daniels was thrilled when the Oklahoma City Thunder selected Giddey at No. 6 in the 2021 NBA Draft.
&ldquo;It was huge, man. I've known Josh for a while and seeing him put in the work when I was with him in the NBA Academy and then, get the opportunity to play in the NBL with the [Adelaide] 36ers and he excelled there, and he deserves every bit of it. It was really good seeing him [get drafted] and it was really good being able to play alongside him as well. That's my boy and I'm happy for him.&rdquo;
The progression for Daniels at the Academy paid off this past February, as the Australian senior national team brought him in to be a part of the FIBA Asia Cup Qualifiers. In his only game, Daniels led the team over New Zealand with 23 points, 6 steals, 4 assists and 3 rebounds.
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🇦🇺 17-year-old <a href="https://twitter.com/DysonDaniels?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@DysonDaniels</a> put on a show for the Boomers in their win over New Zealand <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/FIBAAsiaCup?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#FIBAAsiaCup</a> 📊 23 PTS | 4 AST | 3 REB | 6 STL <a href="https://t.co/5iuKo09tK7">pic.twitter.com/5iuKo09tK7</a>
&mdash; NBA Australia (@NBA_AU) <a href="https://twitter.com/NBA_AU/status/1363271752948744193?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 20, 2021</a></blockquote>

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&ldquo;That was really big for me as well. Being able to play for the Boomers in the Asia Cup Qualifiers at such a young age, some people don't get that opportunity,&rdquo; Daniels said. So obviously to be able to play, but to be able to have a really good game, that got me world looks and it helped me get to [be noticed]. [I'm] grateful for the opportunity from Adam Caporn to be able to play for the Boomers."
His momentum didn&rsquo;t stop there, either. He was a critical contributor for the Boomers&rsquo; U-19 squad in FIBA Basketball World Cup play, averaging 14.0 points, 5.3 rebounds, 4.6 assists and 2.3 steals over seven games.
Spending time with the Boomers, Daniels has developed a relationship with former NBA veteran Matthew Dellavedova. It&rsquo;s ironic because he remembers being eight years old attending a Peak event where both ended up doing basketball drills together. Fast-forward to today, and they&rsquo;re teammates representing Australia, and Daniels gets advice from the champion guard when he asks for it.
The Little Guy From Bendigo hasn&rsquo;t done too bad for himself, and the fun part has just begun. Daniels is preparing for his first season at the professional level, which is step one toward Daniels finding himself in NBA threads come this time next year.
&ldquo;I always want to be in the gym. I always want to be the best I can. I'm sure some people have them about 'em as well, but I don't want anyone to outwork me. I want to be the hardest worker there is,&rdquo; Daniels said.
&ldquo;It's a great feeling. I think in terms of feeling ahead of people, I wouldn't say I do. There's options for everyone that they can choose, like what they want to do with their careers and that. But choosing a professional career for me, I think was the right choice, and I'm ready for it. So yeah, I'm ready to get started and I'm very excited for it.&rdquo;

Spencer Davies chats with Dyson Daniels about the upcoming G League Ignite season, his development in Australia and more.

The Little Guy From Bendigo: Dyson Daniels is unlike anyone else

Five years after the NBA Global Academy opened its doors, Australian swingman <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/draft/big-board/players/joshua-giddey" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Josh Giddey</a> is set to become the first graduate selected in an NBA Draft on Thursday night.
&ldquo;I give a lot of credit to the NBA Academy,&rdquo; Giddey said at his pre-draft media availability. &ldquo;They got me in there at an early age, when I personally thought that I didn&rsquo;t have a big future in basketball. They got me in and they believed in me when I didn&rsquo;t necessarily believe in myself. I was there for 18 months and they worked with me every day, so I give &lsquo;em a lot of credit.&nbsp;
&ldquo;They developed me and pushed me in the right direction and set me up to where I am today, essentially. So, the NBA Academy was big for me. It allowed for me to go overseas and get the exposure that I wouldn&rsquo;t have gotten if I stayed back home in Melbourne. It&rsquo;s a big honor and it makes me pretty happy to be the first NBA-Academy player to be drafted.&rdquo;
Chris Ebersole, the NBA's senior director of international basketball operations, worked closely with Giddey during his time at the NBA Academy and Basketball Without Borders (BWB), and he's watched as the son of two professional basketball players went from an off-the-radar prospect to a top-10 projected pick in rapid fashion.
Ebersole knew Giddey from an early age through Marty Clarke and members of the Academy's coaching staff. (Clarke was actually teammates with Giddey's father, Warrick, in the NBL.) Having shown promise at BWB Asia, Giddey found his way to the Academy in 2018.&nbsp;
When Giddey arrived in Canberra, Australia, he was around 6-foot-5 with a good amount of potential. When he left, he was a 6-foot-8 sensation who was highly coveted by NBA decision-makers. Even Ebersole couldn&rsquo;t predict that his ascent would happen this fast.
&ldquo;To be completely honest, I don't think any of us had potential lottery pick in the 2021 draft in our sights for Josh at the outset,&rdquo; Ebersole told BasketballNews.com in a phone interview.
To be fair, Giddey didn't see this coming either.
&ldquo;Up until I moved to the Academy, I was a good player, but nothing special,&rdquo; Giddey <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/nbl-adelaide-36ers-josh-giddey-good-chance-ill-be-declaring-for-2021-nba-draft-prospects-australia" target="_blank" rel="noopener">told our Matt Babcock back in March</a>. &ldquo;I was challenged every day by my teammates and my coaches, and at times, I struggled early on and didn't enjoy myself. But as I grew into it, I fell in love with wanting to get better, and my coaches never took it easy on me &ndash; and that was a massive part of my development.&rdquo;
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Giddey didn&rsquo;t make an Australian junior national team until he played for the U18 club. But as he grew literally, Giddey also grew skillfully. Between sprouting three inches to 6-foot-8, developing his perimeter skills, improving as a playmaker and asserting himself as a lead ball-handler, it was clear that his ceiling was rising as a player -- and that was before any draft buzz.
&ldquo;I think from that point [of making the U-18 squad], that was maybe when a switch sort of went off that he had a chance to be special in basketball,&rdquo; Ebersole said. &ldquo;I think it's always been a dream for him, but the fact that he went through some of that adversity at a young age and the disappointment of not making some of those teams probably fueled him. And by the time he was 18, he was not only making a state team, but he was excelling on it and leading those teams.
&ldquo;In basketball terms, in relative terms, you could sort of label him as a late-bloomer in terms of how quickly his stock has risen. I think a lot of those traits have been there the whole time, but a lot of times it's confidence, it's putting it all together on the court, and I think that's the part that's really blossomed.&rdquo;
It&rsquo;s not just his size that stood out, either.
&ldquo;Beyond that, he's also developed his game, and that part is really the key. There are not a lot of 6-foot-8 people out there who are able to do what Josh can do on the court,&rdquo; Ebersole said. &ldquo;I mean the size certainly helps, but the development of his game in terms of growing into such a rare level of passer and leader of an offense on the court, I think that's the part that catches most people's attention &ndash; just how advanced he is in those areas of his game.&rdquo;
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The Academy traveled to different tournaments and took on varying levels of competition. Ebersole recalls the 2020 Torneo Junior Ciutat L&rsquo;Hospitalet, a tournament that featured the top junior teams around Europe. Giddey <a href="https://www.sportingnews.com/au/nba/news/australias-josh-giddey-mvp-nba-global-academy-fc-barcelona-2020-torneo-junior-ciutat-de-lhospitalet/10xt6unne3wrg1b6j6ljrut7yc" target="_blank" rel="noopener">led the Academy to a win in Spain over the local FC Barcelona club</a> and earned MVP honors after averaging 11.2 points, 8.4 rebounds and 4.6 assists per game.
Giddey saved his best performance for last, contributing 15 points, 11 rebounds and three assists in the tournament final.
&ldquo;He was never fazed,&rdquo; Ebersole said. &ldquo;He elevated his game... He makes those jaw-dropping plays look routine. Just an interesting part of his game is that he's able to make passes that no one else on the court, or watching the games, could see [coming]. And so, he'll make a pass and you're almost wondering where the ball is going, and it'll end up in the hand of his teammate right under the hoop. He does that multiple times a game (laughs). He can throw all different types of passes with both hands from any angle, and so he actually ends up making these extraordinary plays look very routine in his game.&nbsp;
&ldquo;There have been countless examples of that just watching him, whether it's games at some of our events [in the] States or overseas; you see him make those types of passes and you just kinda look at each other on the sidelines and you sorta shake your head. It's so advanced, it's so rare to see a player of his age with that understanding of all the moving pieces on the court.&rdquo;
Just two months later, instead of coming to the United States to prepare for the NBA via college or the G League Ignite, Giddey elected to sign with the Adelaide 36ers of the National Basketball League as a part of its Next Stars program (just like LaMelo Ball and R.J. Hampton). It turned out to be a brilliant choice, as Giddey boosted his stock even further.
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With the 36ers, Giddey won the NBL Rookie of the Year Award. He averaged the most assists in the league (7.6), and led Adelaide in rebounds per game (7.3). Giddey also scored the fourth-most points per game (10.9) on the team, while playing the second-most minutes per contest (32.1). The 18-year-old also became the youngest player in NBL history to record a triple-double (taking the record from LaMelo). Then, he did it again the very next night, making him <a href="https://nbl.com.au/news/night-of-sixers-celebrations-against-bullets" target="_blank" rel="noopener">the only Australian to have triple-doubles in consecutive games</a>.
&ldquo;Obviously, his time in the NBL [was] a huge factor in developing his confidence,&rdquo; Ebersole said. "He was handed the keys in a lot of ways when he got to Adelaide. The fact that he was able to translate all those skills in a league of that caliber... the NBL is a league of grown men and really talented players. For him to go in and showcase his skills at that level and translate them so quickly at that level, I think, is a huge boost for his confidence. I think at each level, he's able to now realize that he can impact these games and he's not out of place and he can hold his own.&rdquo;
"Great kid, very nice," Giddey's 36ers teammate and former NBA pro Brandon Paul told BasketballNews.com. "I think he's more mature than his years the way he carries himself on and off the court, and he's just someone who's got a crazy ceiling."
Giddey&rsquo;s stint with the 36ers ended on May 16, when both parties agreed to allow him to begin preparing for the 2021 NBA Draft. He carried over the momentum from the NBL into this summer, joining the Australian team&rsquo;s pre-Olympic training camp as one of 24 invitees and giving him a chance to play with some fellow Aussies whom he'd looked up to. Many NBA scouts and executives were in attendance to observe the practices and exhibitions.
&ldquo;He's definitely garnering significant attention throughout this whole process,&rdquo; said Ebersole, who was present with Giddey in Las Vegas. &ldquo;And of course with his time in Adelaide in the NBL &ndash; although there was maybe some limitation on how many scouts could get there to see him just given some of the restrictions on travel &ndash; it was clear the buzz around him was picking up during that time frame... I think he's gotten somewhat used to it.&rdquo;
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Even though the Boomers left Giddey off their Olympic roster, they did name him as a replacement player and the experience was beneficial.
&ldquo;It was fun. Obviously, it sucks I didn&rsquo;t make that team, but I still got to be around the guys and be able to train and compete against them every day right up until they left,&rdquo; Giddey said. "So for me, it was great because I got to compete against guys like [Matthew Dellavedova], Patty Mills, Joe Ingles &ndash; and then learn and train against them every day. So it was such a beneficial kinda month, two months for me, being able to learn from those guys.&nbsp;
&ldquo;And then, it&rsquo;s such a good environment to me. I think for me going forward, it&rsquo;s gonna be critical to get this early taste of it because hopefully [in] the next 12-15 years, I&rsquo;m gonna have a long career playing with the national team.&rdquo;
Ebersole is a California native, and he describes Giddey's personality as similar to his own: laid-back and self-deprecating. He says that Giddey is always fun to be around and has great leadership qualities. He can lead by example, but he's also a good communicator with both teammates and coaches alike.
"I've seen him interact with people and [he's] always very welcoming, even when he's being hounded," Paul added.
Ebersole assures that Giddey is a &ldquo;hooper at heart.&rdquo; As for his off-court interests, the young Aussie is a sneakerhead.&nbsp;
When asked what kind of team or situation would be conducive to Giddey thriving as a rookie, Ebersole confidently said &ldquo;anywhere.&rdquo;
&ldquo;I don't think there's necessarily one team or type of team that sticks out,&rdquo; Ebersole said. &ldquo;I think he does have such a versatile game that he'll be able to have an impact anywhere he goes... He's sort of proven that he can be that primary ball-handler, lead operator out of the pick-and-roll. But if he goes to a team where he's asked to play off the ball and go into some of those secondary actions, I think he's fully capable of doing that as well. When he was with our Academy, he played both roles at different points, so I think he's fully capable offensively playing either role.&nbsp;
&ldquo;Defensively, I think that's one part of his game that people may be questioning. But I think he actually has a chance, just given his size, to be a multi-positional defender too and be able to guard multiple positions. He's versatile on both sides of the ball, and that's gonna allow him to thrive [in] whatever situation that may be. I think he's got a good chance &ndash; whether it's the primary guy or the secondary ball-handler &ndash; to impact offenses and keep the ball moving, which is his number one NBA skill at this point.&rdquo;
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"I love passing the ball and he loved shooting the ball" 🇦🇺 <a href="https://twitter.com/joshgiddey?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@joshgiddey</a> on his friendship with <a href="https://twitter.com/Adelaide36ers?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@Adelaide36ers</a> guard and fellow NBA Academy alumni <a href="https://twitter.com/Mojaveee?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@Mojaveee</a> and how they continue to push each other. <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/GiddeyUp?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#GiddeyUp</a> Watch the 2021 NBA Draft, July 30 on <a href="https://twitter.com/ESPNAusNZ?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@ESPNAusNZ</a> and NBA League Pass. <a href="https://t.co/IyEf9UQiyt">pic.twitter.com/IyEf9UQiyt</a>
&mdash; NBA Australia (@NBA_AU) <a href="https://twitter.com/NBA_AU/status/1419103123092623360?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">July 25, 2021</a></blockquote>

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Ebersole acknowledges that he's impressed with how Giddey has handled the pre-draft process and the hype surrounding him. The 18-year-old has approached it with humility, staying grounded and true to himself while &ldquo;keeping those blinders on.&rdquo;
&ldquo;I don't think it's easy for a young person to have this amount of pressure and success and expectation placed upon them in such a short amount of time, especially in Josh's case &ndash; where only a few years ago, he was not on anyone's radar in terms of the NBA-draft potential,&rdquo; Ebersole said. &ldquo;[It] speaks to the type of worker he is, the type of focus he has.
"And that, of course, bodes well for his future &ndash; because once he gets to the NBA, that noise only grows. The fact that he's been able to sort of stay on course through all of this and not get side-tracked or distracted, I think, speaks to that character he has.&rdquo;
In a day&rsquo;s time, Giddey will hear his name called by NBA Commissioner Adam Silver.&nbsp;
&ldquo;It's a dream come true for him to be drafted, and I think even for him growing up, this was obviously a dream, but only in the last two years has it really accelerated and evolved into reality,&rdquo; Ebersole said. &ldquo;I think for him, it's somewhat surreal &ndash; but I know he's really excited and probably somewhat anxious to figure out where he's going to end up, as is the case, I think, with every prospect in the draft. But I think he's just beyond excited to finally realize his dream.&rdquo;
And the moment that Silver utters those words, Ebersole will not only be happy for Giddey, but for those who will come after him in the NBA Global Academy.
&ldquo;We're definitely proud of him, obviously. To have our first graduate to be drafted be somebody like Josh &ndash; who's a selfless player, who has just a great approach to the game and approach to life &ndash; I think it makes it that much more special,&rdquo; Ebersole said. "I think it opens the doors to future breakthroughs.
"Our first draft pick in the 2021 draft will likely be Josh, and then you turn around and look at the door that&rsquo;s gonna open. In 2022, we expect to have multiple draft picks coming out of the NBA Academy program. We've now had NBA-Academy alumni in each of the first two years of the G League Ignite program (Princepal Singh and Dyson Daniels) and expect that to continue to grow... It's going to inspire future generations. There's a generation of young Australian players who are looking up to Dyson Daniels, young Argentinian players looking up to Francisco [Caffaro], young Indian players looking up to Princepal Singh. All of these individual successes are great in their own right, but they also open up the possibilities to so many others, so that's the part that really gets us excited. It's much bigger than any one player.&rdquo;
Giddey echoes those sentiments, and is honored to be a part of a global movement in basketball that is only getting stronger.
&ldquo;On the international scale, you see how big the game&rsquo;s growing worldwide, outside of America. I think it&rsquo;s good for players all around the world because they can look at role models in their countries and see how well they&rsquo;re doing, and it allows the next generation to come through," Giddey said. "So, it&rsquo;s exciting times for basketball all around the world. And I think it&rsquo;s evident now, with countries beating the States &ndash; when 10 years ago, it was America just dominating on a world stage. So, it&rsquo;s really good to see.&rdquo;
BasketballNews.com's Senior NBA Draft Analyst Matt Babcock has Josh Giddey projected to go No. 7 overall to the Golden State Warriors in his <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/draft" target="_blank" rel="noopener">latest 2021 NBA Mock Draft</a>.

Spencer Davies chats with NBA international basketball ops director Chris Ebersole, who witnessed Josh Giddey's meteoric rise firsthand.

In the blink of an eye, Josh Giddey ascended to top NBA Draft prospect

LAS VEGAS (AP) &mdash; These games don&rsquo;t count. Right now, that is the only saving grace for USA Basketball.
And for quite probably the first time in 29 years of NBA players suiting up for the national team, they heard boos when a game ended &mdash; on home soil, no less.
Patty Mills scored 22 points and Australia held the U.S. without a field goal for the final 4:34 on the way to beating the Americans 91-83 on Monday night, dropping the three-time defending Olympic gold medalists to 0-2 in their five-game slate of exhibitions leading up to the Tokyo Games.
Joe Ingles scored 17 points, Matisse Thybulle scored 12 and Chris Goulding had 11 for Australia.
Damian Lillard led the U.S. with 22 points, while Kevin Durant scored 17 and Bradley Beal finished with 12. But the Americans wasted a 10-point second-half lead, and have dropped back-to-back games for just the third time since NBA players began wearing the red, white and blue in 1992.
The other instances: two straight in the 2002 FIBA World Championship and two straight in the 2019 Basketball World Cup. The U.S. finished sixth in the first tournament, seventh in the other. And while these are glorified scrimmages, this much is already certain &mdash; a medal seems far from a lock for the U.S.
Jayson Tatum&rsquo;s layup with 4:35 left put the Americans up 82-80. Australia scoured the U.S. 11-1 the rest of the way, and Mills &mdash; who plays for U.S. coach Gregg Popovich in San Antonio &mdash; did most of the damage for the Boomers down the stretch.
Favored by 16.5 points before the game,&nbsp;<a class="" href="https://sportsbook.fanduel.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">according to FanDuel Sportsbook</a>, the Americans looked the part for much of the first half. A 20-6 run &mdash; capped by five points from Select Team call-up Keldon Johnson &mdash; put the U.S. up by eight late in the opening quarter, and Lillard closed out his 16-point first half with a 3-pointer 31.7 seconds before intermission that gave the Americans a 46-35 lead.
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The halftime lead was nine, the same lead that the U.S. had early in the third quarter against Nigeria before letting it slip away.
And the same thing happened in this one.
The third-quarter lead for the U.S. was as big as 10 and was 58-50 when Lillard made a 3-pointer midway through the period. But Australia closed the quarter on a 19-6 run, Goulding hit a 3-pointer as time expired and Australia took a 69-64 lead into the final 10 minutes.
TIP-INS
Australia: The Boomers, according to USA Basketball&rsquo;s archives, are now 2-28 all-time against the Americans in senior men&rsquo;s national competition. The other Australian win came in a pre-World Cup exhibition in 2019.
USA: The Americans changed the starting lineup, with Jerami Grant in for Jayson Tatum and Draymond Green in for Bam Adebayo. ... The U.S. was outrebounded 32-25.
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LOVE OUT
Kevin Love, who played only three minutes in Saturday&rsquo;s loss to Nigeria, was the only Olympic-teamer who didn&rsquo;t get into the game for the U.S. The Americans used 10 players; the eight other Olympians in Las Vegas, plus Select Team promotees Johnson and Darius Garland. The Olympic-bound trio of Khris Middleton, Jrue Holiday and Devin Booker remain at the NBA Finals.
BAYNES HURT
Australia center Aron Baynes limped off 3:49 into the game after a collision with Beal. Baynes was defending as Beal drove at him, and Baynes grabbed at his right knee following the contact. He went to the locker room, then returned to the Boomers&rsquo; bench later in the first half but did not return.
UP NEXT
Australia: Faces Nigeria on Tuesday in Las Vegas.
USA: Faces Argentina on Tuesday in Las Vegas.

Australia beat the Americans 91-83 on Monday, dropping the three-time defending Olympic gold medalists to 0-2 in their exhibition slate.

USA Basketball falls again, this time 91-83 to Australia

The following is an excerpt of L. Jon Wertheim's book, &ldquo;<a href="https://www.amazon.com/Glory-Days-Changed-Culture-Forever/dp/1328637247" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Glory Days: The Summer of 1984 and the 90 Days That Changed Sports and Culture Forever</a>,&rdquo; which is out today <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Glory-Days-Changed-Culture-Forever/dp/1328637247" target="_blank" rel="noopener">on Amazon</a>. 
In Indianapolis, a popular 1984 parlor game entailed coming up with the best comparison for the Hoosier Dome, the white monstrosity that had sprouted to blight the city&rsquo;s skyline. It&rsquo;s like a giant biscuit made from scratch. No, it looks more like a giant pile of white deer crap. The indoor venue was built with the intent of enticing a professional football team to relocate to town&mdash;and on those grounds, it was stunningly successful. On March 28, 1984, the Colts organization had loaded up a fleet of moving vans, left Baltimore under cover of darkness, and decamped to Indianapolis.
But with the 1984 NFL season still weeks away, the first event held inside the Hoosier Dome was, appropriately, a basketball game. As Bob Knight, the unofficial emcee, told the crowd that night, July 9, 1984, &ldquo;I heard today that basketball was invented in Springfield, Massachusetts, and that is true.&rdquo; (Pause for effect.) &ldquo;God had it invented there so we could import it to Indiana.&rdquo; Deafening applause followed.
Knight and his minions had come to Indianapolis as part of a pre-Olympic summer barnstorming tour. In order to help the team coalesce into a unit, in order to simulate real competition under international rules&mdash;and in order to get them the hell out of southern Indiana in the summer&mdash;USA Basketball had arranged for a series of games against makeshift teams of NBA players. Like a summer concert tour, the circuit threaded its way through an assortment of cities, some (Minneapolis) more logical than others (Iowa City?).
Apart from offering an entertaining summer basketball exhibition, the games doubled as an exercise in patriotism. Knight had already stressed this aspect with his players. Time and again, he reminded them that they were playing as representatives of America, which, as the coach put it, was one of the great civilizations in world history. Knight also constantly reminded them of recent Olympic basketball history. Though 12 years had elapsed, Knight often invoked the gold-medal game in the 1972 Olympics, when the Russians &ldquo;won&rdquo; an atrociously officiated contest 51&ndash;50, the outcome so dubious and controversial that the American players never accepted their silver medals.
With the Soviet boycott of the 1984 Games, there would be no Cold War flashpoint or baked-in rival this time. Still, these were our boys&mdash;the same age as soldiers&mdash;going off to do battle in an international theater, representing their country and wearing uniforms emblazoned in red, white, and blue.
This patriotic strain was especially vivid in Indianapolis on this night. It was the Monday after Fourth of July weekend. And the unit was led by Knight, a man nicknamed the General, who had started his coaching tour of duty at West Point and fancied himself a military historian. The ragtag mix of NBA players forming the opposition were coaxed into interrupting their summer on the grounds that they were fulfilling a patriotic duty, serving as sparring partners for the American unit.
At the entrance to the Hoosier Dome, local Girl Scout troops handed out miniature American flags to the 67,596 fans who attended, at the time the largest crowd ever to watch a basketball game indoors. During the pregame ceremonies, Knight welcomed the crowd and then handed the stage over to none other than Ronald Reagan. The president had taped a message that played on the video board, declaring that Knight&rsquo;s collection of players was &ldquo;not just a team. They&rsquo;re the American team.&rdquo;
Amid all this patriotic (jingoistic?) fervor, few fans noticed a small interlude on the court. During the pregame warm-up, Michael Jordan, shod now in the Fastbreak model by Converse, the sponsor of the Olympic team, unspooled a series of jump shots. After one errant attempt, his ball squirted away from him, crossed the DMZ of half-court, and bounded into enemy territory, the opponent&rsquo;s side of the floor.
It found its way into the hands of Larry Bird. Fresh from winning the NBA title a few weeks earlier, Bird had, somewhat grudgingly, paused his off-season ritual&mdash;consisting mostly of beer drinking and fishing&mdash;to take part in this exhibition, a few hours&rsquo; drive from his famed hometown of French Lick, Indiana.
For Bird, though, there were no exhibition games. Only competitions. Jordan wore a sheepish, congenial My bad, Larry, smile as he came to retrieve his ball. Bird, the NBA&rsquo;s reigning MVP, was less congenial. Sneering dismissively, he kicked the ball over Jordan&rsquo;s head and back to the other end of the court, the indoor equivalent of Get off my lawn, kid. Jordan walked back, shaking his head, interpreting it as a bit of validation. He was already worthy of Larry Bird&rsquo;s mind games. See you in the NBA, pal.
That night, the U.S. women&rsquo;s basketball team served as something of a warm-up act. Led by Cheryl Miller&mdash;whose kid brother Reggie would be drafted by the Indiana Pacers three summers later and leave as the franchise&rsquo;s most decorated pro basketball player&mdash;the U.S. women cruised to a 97&ndash;54 win over a patchwork team of former college players. &ldquo;Not much to complain about,&rdquo; said the coach, Pat Summitt, who had turned 32 a few weeks before.
As for the main event, the men&rsquo;s game, Bird tricked Jordan into a pair of quick fouls and the NBA All-Stars&mdash;featuring most of Bird&rsquo;s Celtics teammates as well as the Detroit Pistons&rsquo; star guard Isiah Thomas, who had played for Knight at Indiana&mdash;took a 16&ndash;10 lead. But then the Olympians took over, benefiting from superior depth, cohesion, and ambition. They pulled away in the second half and won 97&ndash;82. Bird had 14 points. Jordan had 12. Seven months later, when Jordan next appeared at the Hoosier Dome, he and Bird would be on the same side of the court, teammates representing the Eastern Conference at the NBA All-Star Game.
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Apart from simulating battle, the barnstorming tour gave rise to a certain esprit de corps, a chemistry among the unit. Knight experimented with lineups and was intentionally vague and erratic about his rotation.
Players also experienced Knight&rsquo;s brutal, military-style authority. Within a few years, autocrats like Knight would be subject to the equivalent of court-martial&mdash;&ldquo;You can&rsquo;t handle the truth!&rdquo; we might have later said&mdash;for breaches of basic human decency. But in 1984, Knight&rsquo;s M.O. was still acceptable, perhaps especially heading into an international competition.
For Knight, basketball was never about missed shots or made shots. It was about manifestations of character. Were you tough and durable and courageous and unswerving in your convictions? Or did you play with what Knight perceived to be the twin curses of softness and indecision?
Some players recoiled from Knight&rsquo;s style. (That included Larry Bird, who, recruited by Knight in the mid-seventies, had gone home after a homesick month on campus in Bloomington and then transferred to Indiana State.) Others responded to it. Jordan was not merely unbothered by Knight; he warmed to his discipline and his combustible personality and saw value in both. It was all in service of winning. And what&rsquo;s wrong with the alpha acting like the alpha?
Patrick Ewing would later tell the story that one night he and Jordan began play-wrestling in the living quarters. Nothing malicious, just two bored and athletic kids fooling around. Though Jordan spotted Ewing six inches and perhaps 50 pounds, he got his man in a headlock. Ewing capitulated. Neither thought much of it, but the next day Ewing couldn&rsquo;t move his neck.
Worse, he had to tell Knight what had happened and that Jordan had been the culprit. &ldquo;Coach Knight was mad,&rdquo; Ewing recalled to the writer Jack McCallum in his excellent book Dream Team. &ldquo;But only at me. Michael? Nothing happened to him. Nothing ever happened to Michael.&rdquo;
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Which wasn&rsquo;t entirely true. Knight went after Jordan plenty. But sometimes it was to test Jordan&rsquo;s resolve. Other times it was to send a message: No one is above the law. (On these occasions, Knight would sometimes warn Jordan what was coming.)
Jordan&rsquo;s college coach, Dean Smith, was a strong authority figure who brooked no bullsh**. But this was at an entirely different level. Which was fine by Jordan. Asked&mdash;as he invariably was throughout the tour&mdash;to compare coaches, Jordan smiled and offered a winning line: &ldquo;The only different thing is the vocabulary. From Coach Smith I learned the four-corner offense. From Coach Knight I learned the four-letter word.&rdquo; (Wait for laughter.) &ldquo;I&rsquo;ve heard some of the words before that he&rsquo;s used, but never from a coach.&rdquo;
Referring to Knight by his first name, he continued, &ldquo;Bobby doesn&rsquo;t scare me. I&rsquo;m taller than him.&rdquo; (Wait for more laughter.) &ldquo;But I see what gets him mad, and I make sure I don&rsquo;t do it. He&rsquo;s taught us all a lot, and his way of getting a point across doesn&rsquo;t take the fun out of this. Now, if you ask me whether I&rsquo;d want to play for him for four years, I&rsquo;d have to think about it.&rdquo;
Jordan was more amused than anything else by Knight&rsquo;s eruptions. He often confided in [George] Raveling&mdash;who had known Knight since the late 1960s and counted him as a friend&mdash;jokingly referring to Knight as &ldquo;your boy.&rdquo; As in: You&rsquo;re never going to believe what your boy did today. Or: Check out what your boy called me this morning.
All bullies, though, need a target, and Wayman Tisdale, a silky lefty forward from Oklahoma, was a particular victim of Knight&rsquo;s. Confidants of Knight&rsquo;s explain that he didn&rsquo;t hold Tisdale&rsquo;s college coach, Billy Tubbs, in especially high esteem. Tubbs&rsquo;s teams played a high-scoring, defense-free style, absent of structure. (By received wisdom, Tubbs played comparably fast and loose with the NCAA rule book.) Knight was going to impose discipline and, by proxy, repudiate Tubbs and his slapdash approach to basketball.
During a practice before an exhibition in Greensboro, Knight stopped the session and demanded a black Magic Marker. He then bent down, wrote an X on the floor, and added a date. As Knight knelt on the court for this art project, the players exchanged quizzical looks. When the coach finished, he declared, &ldquo;I just wanted to mark the time and place that I first saw Wayman Tisdale take a charge.&rdquo; More than once, the General kicked Tisdale out of the gym, leaving the player in tears. Asked what he thought of Knight&rsquo;s methods, Tisdale would say, &ldquo;When I go back to Oklahoma, I&rsquo;m gonna find everyone I used to think was mean, and I&rsquo;m gonna hug &lsquo;em.&rdquo;&nbsp;
While it wasn&rsquo;t quite the Harlem Globetrotters vs. the Washington Generals, with scripted outcomes and storylines, everyone knew the rules of engagement for these exhibition games. The NBA players were expected to try hard, but not their hardest, and keep the games close. They were not supposed to win. So they didn&rsquo;t. But the games were often competitive, sometimes intensely so.
On July 12, the Olympians played an exhibition game in Milwaukee. Before the game, Tim Hallam, a young staffer in the Bulls&rsquo; public relations office, drove up from Chicago with a photographer. His task: get Michael Jordan to pose for a portrait photo in a Bulls uniform. Hallam introduced himself to Jordan for the first time and was impressed when the kid smiled, looked him in the eye, and seemed to grasp the exercise. Hey, a team needs to sell tickets. I&rsquo;m the new draft pick. This comes with the territory.
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But with tip-off looming, there was no time to set up proper lighting. So there, in the middle of the locker room in Milwaukee, surrounded by teammates, Jordan changed out of the Olympic uniform and into the Bulls uniform and sat for the damn photo. While he would later razz Hallam about this imposition on his time&mdash;this, the very first of countless requests the Bulls&rsquo; public relations staff would make over the years&mdash;on this night, Jordan could not have been more accommodating.
While Jordan was posing for the photo shoot, Knight was in the other locker room, encouraging two of the NBA stars, Mike Dunleavy and Doc Rivers, to knock his players around a lot. They obliged. So did their teammate, Mickey Johnson, of the Golden State Warriors, who took advantage of the tour&rsquo;s unlimited fouls policy, committing 13 infractions. But when the game turned from physical to violent, Knight reconsidered, screaming at the referees to get control of the game: &ldquo;Too much is at stake.&rdquo;
In the second half, Jordan went in for a breakaway dunk. Dunleavy swooped in, extended his right hand, and raked Jordan across the face. After thudding to the ground, Jordan popped up like a jack-in-the-box, glowering and looking to fight Dunleavy. By the time he was restrained by teammates, he was already cocking a fist. &ldquo;I didn&rsquo;t come out here to not play hard,&rdquo; Dunleavy said. &nbsp;(Seven summers later, Jordan would get his revenge, winning his first NBA title in 1991 as the Chicago Bulls defeated the Los Angeles Lakers, a team coached by&nbsp;.&nbsp;.&nbsp;. Mike Dunleavy.)
After the game in Milwaukee, Knight was still hot. He declared Charley Vacca, a college official, &ldquo;the most incompetent sonofabitch I&rsquo;ve seen referee. . . . What do you want me to do, sit on my ass and let a million-dollar player&rsquo;s career be ruined by some a**hole with a whistle?&rdquo;
Apart from a**holes with whistles, the tour was a smashing success that achieved its goal. Some games were blowouts, the team playing in harmony. Other games were close, and the Olympians were forced to show some mettle, scoring baskets and making critical stops on defense. But the Olympians played against the best and brightest in the NBA (Bird in Indianapolis; Magic Johnson in Minneapolis; Clyde Drexler in Iowa City; Alex English and Kiki Vandeweghe in Phoenix). In the end, the Olympians won all eight games; roles and responsibilities became more clear; collectively and individually, confidence swelled.
But the tour also did something else: it highlighted the lavish skills of Michael Jordan. The games foreshadowed just how seamlessly Jordan&rsquo;s game, his explosive athleticism, his position&mdash;for that matter, his disposition&mdash;would translate to the NBA.
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Jay Bilas had finished his sophomore year at Duke and played sporadically on the basketball team. He&rsquo;d harbored interests beyond basketball and that summer served as a production assistant for ABC for Olympic basketball telecasts. While most of his work came at the L.A. Games, Bilas was also assigned to work some of the exhibition games between the Olympians and the NBA players.
Having played against Jordan at the rival school less than half an hour away, Bilas had seen Jordan put up 20 points a game in the Atlantic Coast Conference. He was unsurprised when he attended a pregame practice in Minneapolis and it was abundantly obvious that Jordan was the best player on the team.
But then the game started. Jordan was competing against the likes of Magic Johnson, Kevin McHale, Isiah Thomas, and Mark Aguirre. &ldquo;He was still the best player&mdash;by far,&rdquo; says Bilas. &ldquo;It was pretty clear that there wasn&rsquo;t anybody in the NBA or internationally that could hang with him. Jordan did stuff where it was like Are you kidding me? And I saw him do it in college a little bit, but this was a different level. I remembered, as a kid, people used to say that when Mickey Mantle made contact, his bat made a different sound from everyone else&rsquo;s. It was like that. He was making moves and you were like It&rsquo;s just different. No one else is doing that.&rdquo;
Toward the end of the tour, the U.S. team played a collection of All-Stars in Phoenix. After Jordan dropped 27 points and the Olympians won their eighth-straight game, 84&ndash;72, the opposing coach was visibly slack-jawed. How good was Jordan? &ldquo;He&rsquo;s as gifted a player as any I&rsquo;ve ever seen play ball,&rdquo; responded Pat Riley, the Lakers&rsquo; coach&mdash;who was, bear in mind, just a few weeks removed from watching Larry Bird, Kevin McHale, Magic Johnson, James Worthy, and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar duel for seven games in a classic series. &ldquo;What happened here and then through the Olympics will only make him better. I don&rsquo;t think he realizes how good he really is.&rdquo;
<a href="https://twitter.com/jon_wertheim" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Follow L. Jon Wertheim on Twitter: @jon_wertheim</a>
<a href="https://www.amazon.com/Glory-Days-Changed-Culture-Forever/dp/1328637247" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Buy this book on Amazon: Glory Days: The Summer of 1984 and the 90 Days That Changed Sports and Culture Forever</a>
<img style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" src="https://cdn.basketballnews.com/images/story/body/51a5kbejdpl-_sx329_bo1%2C204%2C203%2C200_-1_lg.jpg" alt="" width="347" height="522" />

Jon Wertheim details the ascent of Michael Jordan, who was no longer a college player and not yet a pro, in the summer of 1984.

How the summer of 1984 foreshadowed Michael Jordan's NBA greatness

It's been a long, long time since the New York Knicks played games in May that impacted anything other than ping-pong balls.
Yet, Monday's victory over the Memphis Grizzlies was the Knicks&rsquo; 37th win this season, which means New York will finish the regular season with a winning record for the first time since the 2012-13 campaign.
Remarkably, with less than two weeks remaining in the 2020-21 season, New York has an outside chance to finish Top-3 in the Eastern Conference standings (and no chance of finishing Top-3 in the draft lottery). Needless to say, Knicks fans are <a href="https://twitter.com/TommyBeer/status/1388472589035708417?s=20">excited</a> and <a href="https://twitter.com/TommyBeer/status/1389623942160265223?s=20">enthusiastic</a> about the team's immediate future.&nbsp;
However, it's not just the rest of May that New Yorkers can look forward to. Considering the tantalizing young talent already on the roster, the organization's abundance of cap space, the coaching staff and front office captaining the ship, and the treasure trove of draft picks the Knicks possess, the future of the franchise is quite bright.&nbsp;
When discussing the pieces already in place, it makes sense to start with Julius Randle. As was noted <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/basketball-news-king-of-new-york-why-julius-randle-belongs-in-nba-mvp-conversation-ny-knicks">in this space</a> last month, Randle, shockingly, has played at an <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/basketball-news-king-of-new-york-why-julius-randle-belongs-in-nba-mvp-conversation-ny-knicks">MVP-level</a> for much of this season. When he got off to an incredible start, pundits predicted he'd slow down considerably as the season wore on. Instead, Randle has somehow become more effective and efficient. During the Knicks&rsquo; current scorching stretch, in which they've won 12 in their past 13 games, Randle is averaging 29.4 points, 8.3 rebounds, 5.8 assists and 3.5 made three-pointers, while posting a True Shooting percentage north of 60%.
Randle, who was named the East&rsquo;s Player of the Month for April (joining Carmelo Anthony and Patrick Ewing as just the third Knick to win this award over the past 35 years), is just 26 years old.
Randle isn't the only player who has taken significant steps forward in 2020-21. R.J. Barrett's improved jumper has been arguably the most pleasant revelation in a season full of unexpected surprises.
Over the first 50 games of his NBA career, Barrett shot 39% from the floor, below 32% from behind the arc and 59% from the free-throw line.&nbsp;&nbsp;
Over his past 50 NBA games, Barrett is shooting 47% from the floor, above 45% from downtown and 74% from the charity stripe.&nbsp;
Dating back to late February, Barrett is one of only six players to average at least 18 points, five rebounds and three dimes while shooting above 45% on field goals and 42% on three-pointers. The other five? Stephen Curry, Kevin Durant, Nikola Vucevic, LeBron James and Julius Randle.
And Barrett still can't legally buy a beer, as the kid won't celebrate his 21st birthday until June. He'll be younger than many of the players selected in the first round of the 2021 draft.&nbsp;
Three days after Barrett's birthday, Immanuel Quickley will turn 22. The Knicks <a href="https://t.co/A1Mt9xY2Gn?amp=1">were knocked</a> for drafting IQ with the 25th overall selection last summer (CBS Sports infamously slapped the Knicks with a <a href="https://www.cbssports.com/nba/news/2020-nba-draft-grades-pick-by-pick-results-tracker-and-analysis-for-completed-rounds-1-and-2/">"D+" grade</a>), but the youngster has exceeded expectations since setting foot on an NBA court. Because he's spent the season coming off the bench, 13 rookies have logged more minutes than Quickley so far, but he still ranks inside the top-five among all first-year players in points, made free throws and made three-pointers, and inside the top-10 in dimes. (Despite having played fewer minutes than LaMelo Ball, Quickley has tallied more points, threes and free throws.) And the advanced analytics are even more impressive: according to <a href="https://www.nba.com/stats/players/traditional/?sort=PLUS_MINUS&amp;dir=-1&amp;Season=2020-21&amp;SeasonType=Regular%20Season&amp;PerMode=Totals&amp;PlayerExperience=Rookie">NBA.com</a>, Quickley <a href="https://twitter.com/TommyBeer/status/1389313567388733448?s=20">leads all rookies</a> in Offensive Rating, Defensive Rating, and Net Rating.
The Knicks have outscored their opponents by <a href="https://www.nba.com/stats/players/traditional/?sort=PLUS_MINUS&amp;dir=-1&amp;Season=2020-21&amp;SeasonType=Regular%20Season&amp;PerMode=Totals&amp;PlayerExperience=Rookie">171 points</a> with Quickley on the court this season. Only eight qualified rookies have posted a positive plus/minus this season. And, other than IQ, none have a plus/minus higher than +62. Quickley is on pace to become just the fifth rookie over the past decade to post a season-long plus/minus north of +200. The other four are Ben Simmons, Donovan Mitchell, OG Anunoby and Jayson Tatum.
Randle and Barrett are the franchise's foundational building blocks, and Quickley is already a solid NBA rotation player, which is quite rare for a rookie.
Coming into this season, Mitchell Robinson was also viewed as a critically important piece. However, limited to just 31 games due to a pair of serious injuries, Robinson's future is a bit murky. Yet, he's only 23, and the Knicks can exercise a team option for only $1.8 million to keep him in New York for at least one more year before making a long-term decision. (New York could also explore inking him to an extension this summer, possibly at a discount, if they feel he's their center of the future.)
Obi Toppin, the No. 8 overall pick in the 2020 NBA draft, has been relatively disappointing this season, considering he was 22 years old on draft day and advertised as "NBA-ready." However, it's important to note that despite his relatively advanced age, Toppin is a late-bloomer. He wasn't recruited out of high school and was a full-time starter for just one season at Dayton. In addition, Toppin has had some encouraging flashes over the past few weeks, as the Knicks coaching staff attempts to make better use of his rare combination of size and athleticism.&nbsp;
As far as what the rest of the roster may look like moving forward, there are more questions than answers.
Yet, that's partly due to the fact that the Knicks have a very clean cap sheet. New York will have the opportunity to enter the upcoming offseason with more than $60 million in cap space, the most of any team in the league.&nbsp;
Often the toughest jump to make for an NBA franchise is the quantum leap from a mid-tier team to a legitimate championship contender. Based on their success this season, the Knicks have the pieces in place to remain respectable in 2022 and beyond. But will they be able to enter the league's upper-echelon? To do so, they'll need to import a superstar.&nbsp;
Like Charlie Brown winding up to kick Lucy's football, Knicks fans have grown accustomed to their team clearing out massive amounts of cap space only to strike out in free agency, getting rejected by their top targets and overpaying for over-the-hill veterans. So, why would this summer be any different?&nbsp;
Well, in years past, the Knicks have entered free agency reeking of desperation. Free agents couldn't help but smell the stench. Coming off losing season after losing season, the Knicks could offer max money and a chance to play in New York City, but very little in terms of supporting talent already on the roster. This summer, the Knicks (especially if they can stay in that fourth or fifth seed and make some noise in the playoffs) will be viewed as a team on the rise, having continuously built positive momentum for the past four months. Their recruiting pitch will feature the opportunity to play alongside an All-NBA forward in his prime, as well as promising youngsters still locked into rookie contracts.&nbsp;
And the person now making that pitch is Leon Rose, a former agent who has represented and cultivated strong relationships with some of the biggest names in the sport. Rose has surrounded himself with a stellar staff, and the early returns on their first flurry of moves (signing Alec Burks and Nerlens Noel, trading for Derrick Rose, etc.) have returned impressively solid dividends.&nbsp;
The other factor in the equation is the head coach whom Rose hired. Tom Thibodeau is widely considered one of the favorites to take home the Coach of the Year award, and for good reason. The Knicks&rsquo; turnaround this season is even more remarkable when you recognize New York went 21-45 in 2019-20 and brought back much of the same roster. (Four starters in Monday's win in Memphis &mdash; Randle, Barrett, Elfrid Payton and Taj Gibson &mdash; also started the Knicks&rsquo; final game last season).
Consider this: New York's combined record over their previous two seasons was 38-110 (72 games under .500). New York's record this season is 37-28 (nine games over .500).&nbsp;
Thibs also has his team playing its best basketball at the right time. The Knicks have posted the league's best record (13-3) over the past month. Over this same stretch, they rank third overall in Defensive Efficiency (107.5) and lead the entire league in both Offensive Efficiency (119.0) and Net Rating, having outscored their opponents by 182 points over their past 16 games.&nbsp;
Circling back to the free-agency discussion, having a respected leader in control is typically appealing to players who want to win. Prospective free agents often search for situations where a principled culture has been established. Just across the river, the Brooklyn Nets proved they were a team headed in the right direction before they convinced Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving to take them to that next level.
Under Thibodeau, and his highly respected assistant coaches, the Knicks are building a well-earned reputation as a collection of gritty, defensive-minded, team-first talent.
Additionally, New York isn't solely dependent on free-agent signings to infuse the roster with newfound talent.&nbsp;
The Knicks have maintained the rights to all of their future first-round picks and own the Dallas Mavericks&rsquo; first-rounder this summer (unprotected) and Dallas' selection in 2023 (top-10 protected) as a result of the Kristaps Porzingis trade.&nbsp;
Since we mentioned his name, it's important to note that the Knicks&rsquo; turnaround is tied, at least tangentially, to the Porzingis trade. New York trading away KP instead of inking him to a $158.2 million extension, and including Tim Hardaway Jr.'s massive contract in the deal, enabled New York to enter the summer of 2019 with money to burn. The Knicks obviously failed to lure in the free agents they most desired (Kevin Durant, Kawhi Leonard, Kyrie Irving), but the front office pivoted by inking Randle to a three-year, $62 million contract which, in hindsight, looks like a stroke of genius. In addition, the Knicks used $15 million of that cap space to sign Marcus Morris, who was dealt to the Clippers at the deadline for a 2020 first-round pick, which turned into Immanuel Quickley. And this season, New York used Dennis Smith Jr. as a trade chip to acquire Derrick Rose, whose contributions have been critical to the Knicks&rsquo; recent run.&nbsp;
All told, the Knicks own the rights to seven first-round draft picks over the next five years. Only two teams in the league (the OKC Thunder and Houston Rockets) have more future first-rounders. New York also owns 11 second-round selections over the next six years.&nbsp;
Knicks fans are focused on the remainder of the 2020-21 campaign, as they should be. For this eternally tortured fanbase, no playoff game could possibly be taken for granted. Yet, whenever this unexpectedly entertaining season finally reaches its conclusion, fans can take solace, having faith they likely won't have to deal with another arduous, prolonged stretch of playoff-less springs. In fact, the franchise is properly positioned to continue its impressive push toward consistent contention.

The Knicks are winning for the first time in a long time, and their future is promising due to their young core, cap room and draft picks.

The Knicks are (finally) winning: Is this only the beginning of their run?

Each day, BasketballNews.com scours #NBATwitter to bring you the best tweets from the previous day.
Some are insightful, some are just hilarious (so we had to include them). Without further ado, here are the tweets of the day for February 10, 2021.
Hometown Hero
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Fun fact from the NBA's International PR team: Yuta Watanabe and Rui Hachimura together account for 46% of all jerseys sold on Japan's online NBA store.
&mdash; 𝐀𝐚𝐫𝐨𝐧 𝐑𝐨𝐬𝐞 (@AaronBenRose) <a href="https://twitter.com/AaronBenRose/status/1359178502482898945?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 9, 2021</a></blockquote>

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Not many fan bases love their players the way that fans in Japan love Toronto&rsquo;s Yuta Watanabe and Washington&rsquo;s Rui Hachimura. The Raptors as a team are also the best selling franchise in Japan.
I Do Art
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Some recent details <a href="https://t.co/OZnzCte0mA">pic.twitter.com/OZnzCte0mA</a>
&mdash; Jack Perkins (@purehoop) <a href="https://twitter.com/purehoop/status/1359192283262849024?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 9, 2021</a></blockquote>

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Unique basketball art is something so admirable for someone who can draw a cloud and not much else. Zion resting under a tree in the style of Rip Van Winkle is as comforting as it is incredible.
Out With the Old&hellip;
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They&rsquo;ve started to replace the artwork outside Toyota Center with current <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Rockets?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Rockets</a>, including John Wall and DeMarcus Cousins. Harden and Westbrook used to makeup a majority of the artwork on La Branch St. <a href="https://t.co/G0lgz3WWP4">pic.twitter.com/G0lgz3WWP4</a>
&mdash; Alykhan Bijani (@Rockets_Insider) <a href="https://twitter.com/Rockets_Insider/status/1358276064888430592?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 7, 2021</a></blockquote>

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And in with the new. The James Harden era of the Houston Rockets still feels current, as the trade still doesn&rsquo;t feel real. But to the organization, there is a new pair of sheriffs in town.
MVB
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Blake Griffin talking about becoming the first ever back-to-back Blake of the Year winner. Absolutely electric. <a href="https://t.co/y8jXbDxdcl">pic.twitter.com/y8jXbDxdcl</a>
&mdash; Nicolas (@NicolasHenkel) <a href="https://twitter.com/NicolasHenkel/status/1359303519887646723?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 10, 2021</a></blockquote>

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Blake Griffin&rsquo;s Rookie of the Year and All-NBA years may be behind him, but he is the only athlete in the history of the world to win Blake of the Year back to back. Take that, Giannis.
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THE MOTOR CITY. WHERE YOUR FAVORITE TEAM GOES TO DIE. The Detroit Pistons knock off the Brooklyn Nets, continuing their reign over the NBA&rsquo;s top teams. Unbelievable team effort. <a href="https://t.co/8zgXR2Of6G">pic.twitter.com/8zgXR2Of6G</a>
&mdash; Nicolas (@NicolasHenkel) <a href="https://twitter.com/NicolasHenkel/status/1359329234691518465?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 10, 2021</a></blockquote>

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Bonus shoutout to Nicolas for this gem.
 First-Team All-Wink Murder
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Me while playing heads up, seven up: <a href="https://t.co/mG3LP4aINu">pic.twitter.com/mG3LP4aINu</a>
&mdash; karlee (@kdubsyaa) <a href="https://twitter.com/kdubsyaa/status/1359341671532683264?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 10, 2021</a></blockquote>

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Jimmy Butler getting caught doing what all players do -- trying to sell a call -- looks exactly like cheating in Heads Up 7 Up, or when you&rsquo;re pretending to be sick to stay home from school and waiting for your mom to go back downstairs.
Is This Season Even Real?
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The Pistons lead the NBA in wins that make SportsCenter do a whole segment on what&rsquo;s wrong with the team they just beat
&mdash; Anthony Broome (@anthonytbroome) <a href="https://twitter.com/anthonytbroome/status/1359332047127523328?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 10, 2021</a></blockquote>

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And has anyone told Shaq that the Pistons are still a team that exists? Detroit may be dead last in the Eastern Conference, but the team's 6 wins have come against Boston, Phoenix, Miami, Philadelphia, Brooklyn and the Lakers. Nothing makes sense anymore.
See a tweet that should be featured in tomorrow's Tweet of the Day piece? Send it to <a href="https://twitter.com/kelsea_lately" target="_blank" rel="noopener">@kelsea_lately</a>.

Every day, our Kelsea O'Brien scours #NBATwitter to find the best posts. Here are the tweets of the day for Feb. 10, 2021.

NBA Tweets of the Day: Jimmy Buckets, Oscar Winner

The Houston Rockets swung for the fences last summer, flipping Chris Paul and six afros-worth of picks to the Oklahoma City Thunder for Russell Westbrook. That wouldn&rsquo;t even be the largest stylistic shift the Rockets would go through. They&rsquo;d eventually punt on the idea of centers in favor of maximizing their ability to play small, highlighted by the mega-trade that sent Clint Capela to the Atlanta Hawks, with then-Minnesota Timberwolves wing Robert Covington coming to Houston.
At their best, the Rockets bombed away from three with even more boldness, switched everything on defense, then blitzed teams in transition. At their worst, a.k.a. the back end of their second-round matchup with the Los Angeles Lakers, the lack of size hurt them at the rim and on the glass. The lack of an interior presence also made them more limited offensively; pick-and-rolls were used almost exclusively as a means to generate a switch instead of creating downhill advantages.&nbsp;
Now, with new general manager Rafael Stone and new head coach Stephen Silas, the fun will really begin.
The Rockets have no real avenue to cap space regardless of what they decide in terms of renouncements. They&rsquo;ll operate as an over-the-cap team and have a non-taxpayer mid-level exception (worth over $9 million) at their disposal. The question is how much owner Tilman Fertitta is willing to spend. The always-informative Keith Smith has a more thorough breakdown of their cap situation, which you can find <a href="https://www.slamonline.com/nba/houston-rockets-salary-cap-space-2020/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">here</a>.&nbsp;
Let&rsquo;s take a look at some guys they&rsquo;ll look to bring back, as well as some targets that could help them come back stronger than ever.
Key In-House Decisions
Austin Rivers*: Bring Him Back
Rivers is one of the NBA&rsquo;s underrated drivers, utilizing a quick first step and channeled aggression to generate looks at the rim. He isn&rsquo;t much more than a rudimentary playmaker, but his north-south style has helped juice the Rockets&rsquo; second unit over the past couple of seasons. That&rsquo;s been especially important within the context of Eric Gordon&rsquo;s injuries and the general hot-and-cold nature of his game. Rivers is also one of the notable voices in that locker room, something that shouldn&rsquo;t be dismissed when discussing his value. Even if Rivers declines his $2.4 million player option, I wouldn&rsquo;t expect him to command more than a portion of a team&rsquo;s MLE -- and that&rsquo;s on the high end. He should be back.
<img style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" src="https://basketballnews-media.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/images/story/body/usatsi_14743540-1_lg.jpg" alt="" width="860" height="AUTO" />
Jeff Green: Bring Him Back
If Green&rsquo;s career was a book, it&rsquo;d likely be dubbed: &ldquo;The Boy Who Cried Potential.&rdquo; He never became a star, and the boom-or-bust nature of his game has confounded many. Quietly, though, he&rsquo;s settled in as a solid bench big. He especially thrived as the Rockets&rsquo; backup center last season, possessing just enough shooting and ball skills to dust enemy giants while offering versatility defensively.
Green has utility at both forward spots and should be a no-brainer to bring back assuming a bidding war doesn&rsquo;t ensue.&nbsp;
Free Agent Guards 
Bargains: Tyler Johnson
Johnson had a pretty quiet regular season campaign, kicking things off in Phoenix before finding his way to the Brooklyn Nets mid-season. Johnson performed well in the postseason, averaging a shade under 14 points while unloading the clip from deep (39.3 percent on 7.0 attempts). He&rsquo;s a fearless driver and underrated rebounder; he isn&rsquo;t afraid of mixing it up with bigger players. There&rsquo;s a pretty natural fit offensively alongside Harden or Westbrook as part of a staggered unit.
Free Agent Wings 
Mid-Tier Options: Justin Holiday
Holiday is more 3-and-Decent than 3-and-D, but he&rsquo;s coming off of the best shooting season of his career (40.5 percent from three-point range on 4.5 attempts) while being a credible option against 2s and 3s. He&rsquo;d be a natural fit for the Rockets&rsquo; transition attack. His off-ball randomness -- his ability to relocate around the perimeter, or catch ball-watching defenders off guard with hard cuts -- also fits well.
Bargains: Kent Bazemore, Garrett Temple*
The idea of Bazemore -- an athletic, 3-and-D wing that can defend 1-through-3 -- is probably a little better than the reality. Still, he can knock down open shots, is an active mover off the ball and competes defensively against both wing positions.&nbsp;
Temple would give the Rockets a plus, multi-positional defender with a solid three-point stroke (35.3 percent over the past five seasons). The asterisk is present on Temple's name because the Nets hold a $5 million team option on him, though it&rsquo;d come as no surprise if they let Temple walk to free up tax room to bring back Joe Harris. 
Free Agent Forwards 
Mid-Tier Options: Danilo Gallinari&nbsp;
If Gallinari is serious about going the &ldquo;winning &gt; pay day&rdquo; route, the Rockets would be a pretty fun landing spot for him. He would immediately boost their shooting and half-court shot creation. He can get to the rack -- and the free throw line -- on his own, but being able to play off of the dribble penetration of Westbrook and Harden would make life a lot easier for him.&nbsp;
Bargains: Lance Thomas, Luc Mbah a Moute
Thomas has flown under-the-radar for years as a sneaky-solid forward defender that can knock down open threes. He&rsquo;s converted 38.5 percent of his triples over the past five seasons, though that comes on limited volume. He&rsquo;d be a solid get as a ninth man to get you through the regular season.
Mbah a Moute signed a &ldquo;substitution contract&rdquo; with the Rockets back in July, replacing Thabo Sefolosha. He&rsquo;s fallen victim to his own body, with injuries derailing his last three seasons. It&rsquo;s probably far-fetched to expect him to get back to his 2017-18 form, but he could serve as a nice &ldquo;break-glass-in-case-of-emergency&rdquo; defender during the season. There&rsquo;s obvious familiarity here -- why not?
Free Agent Bigs 
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Mid-Tier Options: Serge Ibaka
This would rely on negotiation talks breaking down with the Raptors. They will have his Bird Rights, thus giving them an avenue to pay Ibaka much more than any other contender sans the Miami Heat, and even they would get outbid. If Ibaka is okay with taking the MLE, the Rockets would be a natural landing spot because of his intersection of shooting and rim protection.&nbsp;
Bargains: Meyers Leonard, Nerlens Noel, John Henson, Harry Giles
Leonard&rsquo;s free-agency value will come down to which version from last year teams feel they&rsquo;ll be getting. If it&rsquo;s the regular-season version -- where Leonard helped anchor one of the best starting lineups in the NBA with his shooting (41.4 percent from three), screening and vocal quarterbacking defensively -- then you could argue he should command a portion of the MLE. If it&rsquo;s the postseason version, where Leonard looked out of place defensively and his lack of three-point volume really stood out, the vet minimum could be all he musters.
Noel is your classic toolsy big whose reputation precedes him a bit. He is talented, of course; he&rsquo;s able to sky for lobs, can knock down the occasional jumper (though you don&rsquo;t want him taking many of them), has wing-like mobility in space and can send shots into orbit. The issue with Noel, aside from help, has been his propensity to go for the home-run on defense, which often leaves him out of position when those gambles fail.
He was a bit more under control in Oklahoma City last season; shockingly, he had his most efficient year to date. There&rsquo;s room for him to command a portion of some team&rsquo;s mid-level exception, but it wouldn&rsquo;t shock me to see him take another prove-it type deal for a contender to set himself up for a pay day in 2021.
Henson entered the league as a classic screen-and-dive big, using his broomstick arms to convert lobs and clean up on the offensive glass. He&rsquo;s been a prolific shot-blocker throughout his career, though he&rsquo;s never been strong enough to deal with post brutes. He&rsquo;s attempted to stretch his game over the past two seasons with mostly &ldquo;meh&rdquo; results on an even more &ldquo;meh&rdquo; sample. The intrigue would be providing Harden or Westbrook with a lob target. If the spot-up three experiment continues and has some success, that would be an obvious bonus.
Giles has a bit of an injury history, dating back to his high-school days. Multiple lower-body injuries have sapped some of his athleticism, and he&rsquo;s still a fluid, jumpy big who can feast in transition. The intrigue lies in his on-ball skill; he&rsquo;s quietly one of the better passing big men in the league already. There&rsquo;s some serious &ldquo;throw-it-to-him-in-the-high-post-and-let-him-do-stuff&rdquo; potential waiting to be untapped. If the Rockets are serious about adding some optionality to their half-court attack -- and want to take a young flier -- Giles is a nice place to start.&nbsp;

Nekias Duncan breaks down the Rockets' own free-agent decisions and suggests some players that Houston should target at each position.

Johni