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According to Front Office Sports, <a href="https://frontofficesports.com/draymond-green-jordan-poole-fight-video/?fbclid=IwAR06DN4uNMRkH-dmcZ5KKm4FRXQVxiyw_yT7hl6mGwMiMUykbqM9l3VJ2Mc" target="_blank" rel="noopener">TMZ paid an estimated $120,000</a> for leaked footage of the Golden State Warriors' recent incident between Draymond Green and Jordan Poole.
The Warriors announced Saturday that they've <a href="https://www.si.com/nba/2022/10/07/warriors-investigate-jordan-poole-draymond-green-fight-video-leaked-tmz" target="_blank" rel="noopener">launched an investigation to see which one of their employees was responsible for the leak</a>.&nbsp;
On Friday, NBA trainer Chris Matthews a.k.a. Lethal Shooter &mdash; <a href="https://youtu.be/6VDwmFm5sOM" target="_blank" rel="noopener">who I interviewed on my podcast "The Rematch" last month</a> &mdash; tweeted his opinion on the matter, to which I responded:
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Not weird at all, employees of NBA organizations leak info to the media all the time. A lot of times media pay them to do so, like an inside informant/snitch. Been happening for decades, but whatever Warriors employee leaked this to TMZ should be fired.
&mdash; Etan Thomas (@etanthomas36) <a href="https://twitter.com/etanthomas36/status/1578395171338813441?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 7, 2022</a></blockquote>
The Athletic's David Aldridge and I have already <a href="https://youtu.be/ix8XD_4t3R0" target="_blank" rel="noopener">had a back-and-forth over my characterization of the media in the past</a>. When I posted the screenshot of my reply to Lethal Shooter's tweet on Facebook, David <a href="https://www.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=pfbid02UKeEzgNUhxZAtQVX32BRgJaQi9fUoF8yyehwZecVnFhMazKcMxagHoMtJNzBk16l&amp;id=100003621989018" target="_blank" rel="noopener">commented on it</a>, which brought about another healthy debate between us:
<blockquote>
David Aldridge: "Just curious: What evidence do you have that 'media' pay teams and/or team employees for information?"
Etan Thomas: "I did lump in TMZ and supermarket tabloid media into the big bucket of media. But they are the media, and every media outlet picked up their story on Draymond. But to answer your question, my eyes are the evidence that they have paid team employees, etc. for info. I first saw that my two years in the league with MJ (Michael Jordan). It happens quite a bit, as it happened here."
Aldridge: "I can't and won't go back and forth with you on this, but by definition, no one in the 'media' as I define that term &mdash; and, I think I have some standing here &mdash; pays for information. This is part of the problem: When entities like TMZ, Fox News, etc. are just called 'media' and people think everyone in my profession does what they do. That's the same B.S. you'd call out if someone made some blanket statement like 'NBA players are bad fathers' &ndash; which SI did back in the day, and for which SI was rightly, and roundly, criticized.&rdquo;
Etan: "I would have to respectfully disagree. TMZ, supermarket tabloids, etc. are in fact a part of the media whether you wanna claim them or not. I get why you don&rsquo;t, but they still are. Now, I didn&rsquo;t say all media. I didn&rsquo;t say most media. I said many times the media (pays for inside information), and that statement is 100% accurate because they (TMZ and those of their ilk) do this all the time. Respectfully, all media isn&rsquo;t good media. But it is interesting that I haven&rsquo;t heard any good media condemning TMZ either."
</blockquote>
I have the utmost respect for David, his body of work, his ethics and him as a person. I even interviewed him for <a href="https://a.co/d/3oYaKAD" target="_blank" rel="noopener">my book,</a> "Fatherhood: Rising to the Ultimate Challenge," back in 2013. As I mentioned before, I also had a great debate with him and Marc Spears of ESPN regarding the Old Media vs. New Media.
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However, on this topic, we have differing perspectives. Our Facebook exchange prompted me to reach out to Howard Bryant of ESPN and Michael Lee of the Washington Post &mdash; two more men in the media who I have a great deal of respect for &mdash; to further delve into this topic.
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First, here is my conversation with Howard Bryant:
Etan: Do you think it&rsquo;s ethical for TMZ, supermarket tabloids, etc. as members of the media to pay an employee for pictures or video or leaked footage in your opinion?
Howard Bryant: "So let&rsquo;s break this down. The word 'media' covers a lot of ground. In the current world of social media, podcasts, athletes executive producing documentaries, etc., media and journalism are not always the same thing. So to address your specific question, is it ethical to pay for material? Well, in traditional journalism, the answer is no. However, is it a practice that is a common practice? Sure. When Jackie Robinson retired in 1956, he sold his story to Life Magazine for $5,000. Is it ethical for someone to pay for a leaked tape of a racist owner talking about Magic Johnson? Is it ethical for someone to take a tape of something that doesn&rsquo;t belong to them &mdash; which I think is really the question &mdash; so if you have a tape of the Golden State Warriors practice, which is not yours, even though they say possession is 9/10ths of the law, to go and take that info and profit off of it? So let&rsquo;s break down the second piece of this...
Etan: Well, before you go there, I think everyone will agree on that part as far as the employee of the Warriors selling the info to TMZ. But I&rsquo;m not quite asking about it from the employee&rsquo;s standpoint, but more from the media-outlet standpoint.
Bryant: "So from the media-outlet standpoint, yes, it&rsquo;s news. And it depends on your policies, and that&rsquo;s the difference between what we would call 'reputable' media and 'tabloid' media. The tabloid media has always paid for information. If you go back and look at the British tabloids, that&rsquo;s all they do; that&rsquo;s why they call them 'paparazzi.' If you can snap me a picture of X athlete, I got $20 for you. If you can snap me a picture of X athlete and his family, I got $50 for you. If you can snap me a picture of X athlete and his mistress, I got $1,000 for you. They have been doing this forever. But for traditional, reputable journalism, the answer was always, 'No. We don&rsquo;t do that, period.'"
Etan: So you&rsquo;re saying there is absolutely no crossover of this practice into reputable journalism?
Bryant: "Well, what we are seeing now, especially in the age of documentary &mdash; everyone wants to get paid to talk. So the money piece of journalism is becoming a greater and greater piece of reputable journalism, and this disreputable piece has become even bigger because the celebrity side of it is becoming more and more important.&nbsp;
"So if you&rsquo;re TMZ right now, is it reputable? Probably not. But on the other hand, as these other sides become more and more powerful, would TMZ be doing the people somewhat of a service, however they obtained their information? Is it important for the public to know what happened? Absolutely."
Etan: So you&rsquo;re saying the ends justify the means?
Bryant: "I don&rsquo;t know... I&rsquo;m saying that is the quandary. Do you feel it&rsquo;s valuable journalism? Does the public need to know that Donald Trump said what he said on the Access Hollywood tape? Is that piece of information valuable to the public? Sometimes the answer is yes, sometimes it&rsquo;s no. Is it important for us to hear what <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/howard-beck-explains-differences-in-donald-sterling-robert-sarver-cases-" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Donald Sterling said</a>? That was the smoking gun that led to him being forced to sell the team. It literally changed the history of the NBA. So was it valuable? Yes. Would I have paid for it? No I wouldn&rsquo;t, but was it important? Sometimes that trash journalism that people have decried for a long time actually produces valuable information.
"The question is, how do we sit with that practice? Which I believe is your question. We would like to think that we take the improper obtaining of the information and we do proper things with it. Or do we just sink deeper into the gutter?"
Etan: Right. So the question then becomes: When do all of those involved become part of this improper or disreputable equation? And how can you separate TMZ and those of that ilk from the traditional, reputable media if the traditional media is complacent and finds value in what is produced from the disreputable media? Does what I'm saying make sense?
Bryant: "Makes perfect sense. And that again is the quandary. But let me answer the first part, then we&rsquo;ll get to the second part of your question. It&rsquo;s tough to just say 'the media, the media, the media.' It drives me crazy when athletes say that because I&rsquo;m like... y&rsquo;all are talking about yourselves too."
Etan: Of course, and this is what so many are pushing for the police to do with the so-called &ldquo;bad apples&rdquo; &mdash; although I don&rsquo;t agree with that theory; it&rsquo;s more of a bad system, but that&rsquo;s a whole 'nother discussion &mdash; but who better to criticize and hold the entire entity of the media accountable than someone from within? I&rsquo;m a part of the media now.&nbsp;
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Bryant: "Are you a journalist?"
Etan: Yes, I am.
Bryant: "Then the standards have to apply to you as well, right?"
Etan: Definitely, but I also feel that I am in the position where I can criticize from both sides, having been a player. Seeing a lot of what I don&rsquo;t like in the media and becoming a part of it, I'm attempting to do things differently and having the journalistic integrity to call out what I see as going against reputable media. So if I see someone like a TMZ and I say I have seen the media do this too often...
Bryant: "I hear you, but I would still make a distinction between tabloid journalism and our reputable journalism because we don&rsquo;t all operate the same way."
Etan: And I get that, but I will say that after TMZ did obtain this info, every media outlet &mdash; whether reputable or not &mdash; did report from that information; thus, becoming part of the equation. So if you are not condemning the practice, then the only possible conclusion or connection is that you are complicit, excusing and/or in support of it, right?
Bryant: "I hear you, but it&rsquo;s what you do with the information and how you use it. If you see the information of Ray Rice slugging his girlfriend in an elevator, that information that you obtained from TMZ or whoever, you then apply ethical journalistic standards to following the rest of that information. Your issue is more of the process of tabloid journalism and not of the media as a whole in and of itself, and I get that. But we have to ask ourselves, 'Is this information important for the public to have?' And many times, it is. Not always, but many times it is, and I think that&rsquo;s the difference
"Was it in the public&rsquo;s interest to know the details of what was in the Pentagon papers? One hundred percent, yes. Is it in the public's interest to know what Ime Udoka is doing in his private life? Not really. I don&rsquo;t think so. So there&rsquo;s a thin line. If the people in power are lying to you, the entire dynamic changes. Whether those people are an NBA organization, an administration in the White House, the police, a company, a business &mdash; it does change things. So yeah, it depends."
Etan: Are you at all surprised that you don&rsquo;t hear some of the reputable media outlets or journalists condemning the TMZs of the world or the supermarket tabloids that pay for stories and leaked footage and pictures, etc.?
Bryant: "No, not at all. But everyone has to understand &mdash; this has been going on for 100 years. So I think what it comes down to, that the instructions have decided and we went through this in journalism school, is that there are different layers to doing this job, and we&rsquo;re going to let the public decide who you trust.&nbsp;
"But that&rsquo;s why this job requires ethics. That&rsquo;s why this job is really, really important and shouldn&rsquo;t be taken lightly. The media has the goal of obtaining the truth so you can allow the people, who are sitting at home or listening to your podcast or reading your books, the chance to understand and make the discussions for themselves. And the other piece of this that we know is the institutions always lie to the people. So sometimes these things provide the counter. It&rsquo;s not my practice, but I can&rsquo;t lie and say I don&rsquo;t see the value in some instances of the practice."
Etan: Hmm...
Bryant: "But I do get your point. But let me add this: An even bigger problem is when the reputable guys like us think that we&rsquo;re better than everyone else. And when we fall down, then it provides the opportunity for anyone to say, 'Well, they&rsquo;re all the same.' When you have a reputable outlet trading access for information or the practice of withholding information from the public so someone can make money off of a book, and you hold all that information across a presidential election &mdash; and you know what I&rsquo;m talking about &mdash; that gives us more of a bad name than the TMZs and supermarket press. Although, I understand your overall point. But an argument could be made that that&rsquo;s also unethical and putting yourself ahead of the public. So that&rsquo;s why it&rsquo;s up to us to make sure that we are walking the walk."
Etan: That makes sense.
Bryant: "Listen Etan, I&rsquo;ve known you for a long time and have read your work for a long time and I appreciate the fact that you are trying to hold the media accountable. Because the fact of the matter is, if we reputable media start doing unethical things like the tabloid media, then it is all the same and your point holds. So yes, I appreciate you in this space."
Etan: Well, I appreciate you too, and that&rsquo;s why I wanted to reach out to you for this discussion. Very good breakdown, I appreciate you taking the time, sir.
Bryant: "Anytime Etan. This was a great discussion."
I also had a lengthy discussion with Michael Lee of the Washington Post.
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This, too, was a very open, honest and thorough talk about the ethics of journalism and tabloid vs. reputable media. You can listen to our conversation below:
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Etan Thomas has a healthy discussion with well-respected media members about the Warriors' leaked tape and journalistic practices.

Is it ethical for the media to pay NBA employees for leaked footage?

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In basketball, physicality is often akin to tug of war. Both sides are putting forth all their might, but one side has to topple the other into exhaustion &mdash; that&rsquo;s the nature of things. It doesn&rsquo;t mean one party didn&rsquo;t try as hard as the other. Sometimes, previous battles leave a deeper impact for one more than the other, and the next game is swiftly decided.
Amid these NBA Finals, the Boston Celtics and Golden State Warriors are engaged in a tug of war of physicality.
Game 1 went to Boston, who stymied Golden State&rsquo;s off-ball attack and applied its size to generate paint touches or open looks offensively.&nbsp;
Game 2 went to Golden State, who pressured Boston on the catch, extended its offense far away from the rim and sprung open shooters with hard-nosed picks.&nbsp;
Game 3 went to Boston, who chiseled itself into a 116-100 victory and snagged a 2-1 series lead, halfway from its first title in 14 seasons.&nbsp;
Physicality is a broad term, one that&rsquo;s been present through each of the first three Finals games. When teams say the opponent was more physical, that may sound cliche and coy, but there are nuances behind the ambiguity that provide a road map toward finer details. They reveal themselves through trends, statistics and on-court results.&nbsp;
Among those concepts for the Celtics in Game 3 was a revival of consistent driving and interior scoring. In their Game 2 loss, per NBA.com, they registered just 6 attempts in the restricted area (7.5% frequency), talled 47 drives and shot 15-of-43 (34.9%) on twos. On Wednesday, they tallied 26 attempts at the rim (29.2% frequency), recorded 61 drives and shot 30-of-54 (55.6%) on twos.
The leading proponents behind those contrasts were Jayson Tatum, Jaylen Brown and Marcus Smart, who combined for 48 of the 61 drives, three days after logging just 27.&nbsp;
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Boston wields a notable strength advantage on the perimeter over the Warriors, whose point-of-attack defense is susceptible to breakdowns. Limiting dribble penetration stems from Golden State's synergistic help and active rotations, not a cast of staunch isolation stoppers. The Celtics exploited that on Wednesday, with Andrew Wiggins, Stephen Curry and Otto Porter Jr. regularly the targets of this approach.&nbsp;
Whether the edge stemmed from speed, strength or a marriage of the two, Boston ball-handlers dependably fashioned successful downhill forays. Improved spacing compared to Game 2 aided their efforts; multiple teammates were no longer parked in the lane or cutting inside on drives. Robert Williams III also camped a bit farther from the hoop rather than directly in the dunker spot, and floated around to occupy help defenders.
The Celtics did well to move both Kevon Looney and/or Draymond Green away from the hoop during their stints, which left Golden State incapable of properly enforcing the paint. While Klay Thompson had some noteworthy moments of weak-side rim-protection in Game 2, those two bigs are the lone rotation players who reliably protect the basket for the Warriors. They were often not in position to do so during Game 3.
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Contributing to Boston&rsquo;s massively-heightened rim frequency was Williams III playing 26 minutes, his most of the series, and nearly double his 14 minutes in Game 2. Aside from a few riveting moments in the second half of Game 1, Williams&rsquo; inaugural Finals have been <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/can-robert-williams-find-a-home" target="_blank" rel="noopener">headlined by troubles</a>: poor pick-and-roll coverage, erratic decision-making as a helper and a struggle to discern his optimal defensive assignment.&nbsp;
Game 3 was easily his finest of the three thus far, notching 7 total steals/blocks, collecting 10 boards and scoring 8 points on 5 shots. His presence is indispensable for the Celtics. They need to play him and surf through the waves of frustration. That&rsquo;s why him being good feels imperative. Nobody else on the roster provides vertical spacing as a lob threat or inhabits the offensive glass like him.&nbsp;
When he survives defensively, as he did Wednesday, he poses grand issues for Golden State as an interior release valve and putback option. His length and explosiveness can overwhelm the Warriors&rsquo; undersized front line. Boston producing paint touches with Williams in the dunker spot has left Golden State in conflicting situations, unsure of whether to help on the drive and leave him open or stay back and risk an easy finish. The dimensions of his skill set are novel and critical.
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In the first half, the Celtics scored 68 of their 116 points and posted a sterling 136.0 Offensive Rating. Renewed driving profits were the headlining component, but they also functioned at a quicker pace. During the first two games, they averaged 95.5 possessions per night, while Thursday&rsquo;s first half saw the pace rise to 100.&nbsp;
Pushing the tempo to force cross-matches, typically with Al Horford against smaller defenders, seemed to be an emphasis &mdash; even if it was mostly confined to the opening 24 minutes. Horford&rsquo;s post-ups in the half-court throughout Game 2 were pretty fruitless. So, quick duck-ins prior to the defense organizing itself became the counter, and it yielded some welcomed possessions.&nbsp;
Clearly, Boston wants to deploy Horford&rsquo;s size in the paint. It merely needed a shrewder tactic. Empty-corner sets initiated early in the clock to highlight the size discrepancy between these clubs were also periodically featured.&nbsp;
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Boston winning the dance of physicality commenced almost immediately. Smart&rsquo;s screening was a weapon much of the night, beginning with a gnarly pick on Wiggins during its first offensive possession. The pick allowed Tatum to feed him and induced a shoddy stunt from Thompson, enabling Brown to knock down an open triple.&nbsp;
All night, the Celtics seemed to shrug off Golden State&rsquo;s potentially imposing pressure and spur defensive rotations. Smart&rsquo;s first crunching screen would not be his last, either. Boston spun its knack for dishing out and handling physicality into offensive advantages.&nbsp;
Physicality on its own is not inherently valuable. It has to do something and mean something; it needs purpose. The Celtics&rsquo; physicality very much had purpose in Game 3.
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(Side note: The last Tatum bucket in that montage is filthy stuff. Looney tries to disrupt his handle multiple times and funnel him to Jordan Poole&rsquo;s help on the left wing. But Tatum spins away from all of it, keeps the 6-foot-9, 220-pounder on his hip and converts a contested layup. The way he's navigated physicality this season has taken a vital jump and really stands out over the past three series.)
Much like Golden State&rsquo;s Game 2 offensive flurry, a combination of adjustments and uncharacteristic breakdowns from a stingy defense was responsible for the Celtics&rsquo; 116 points. On both occasions, the former was more salient, though the latter remained relevant.&nbsp;
Defense is a wildly fickle undertaking. One slight step in the wrong direction or incorrect shift of body weight can radicalize everything. A slightly improper angle around a screen or to cut off a drive reorients the possession. The same goes for how physicality manifests itself.
The best defenses minimize those events, but these Finals are underscoring that even elite units are susceptible to such ebbs and flows. Both teams embrace physicality. One isn&rsquo;t running away with the mantle of &ldquo;more physical.&rdquo; It&rsquo;s been a fluid title.&nbsp;
For now, thanks to refined driving, spacing and screening, Boston&rsquo;s the current keeper of that fluid title.
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Jackson Frank breaks down how the Celtics were able to win the battle of physicality with smarts in Game 3 of the NBA Finals.

Celtics' physicality revitalized their offense in NBA Finals Game 3

The term "X-factor" is thrown out a lot when it comes to postseason analysis. Its usage typically has a positive connotation &mdash; a player who defies expectations and helps the squad grind out a win by doing things outside of his scouting report.
Think Derrick White, who played hero for Boston in Game 1 of the 2022 NBA Finals by splashing in 5-of-8 threes as a 31.2% regular-season outside shooter.
Here's the reality, though: Being an X-Factor doesn't always&nbsp;correlate to team success. As Jackson Frank wrote <a href="https://uproxx.com/dimemag/jordan-poole-nba-finals-warriors-celtics-analysis/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">this week</a>, Jordan Poole can swing the Finals in either direction. Through one game, Poole's gravitational pull certainly wasn't in the Golden State Warriors' favor.
Poole quickly rose to prominence after his debut playoff series against the Denver Nuggets, averaging 21.0 points per game on an incredible 71.5% True Shooting. His production tapered off in the following two series, though he was able to maintain his outstanding efficiency with 72.7% TS in the Western Conference Finals.&nbsp;
However, battling against the best defense in the league on the biggest stage possible could prove to be a different type of test, and we saw it unfold on Thursday night.
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Poole's Finals debut didn't go as planned. He mustered just 9 points on 2-of-7 shooting, turned the ball over four times and was a minus-19 in 25 minutes.
That's right. Golden State got outscored by nearly a point a minute when Poole was on the floor. His deficiencies were highlighted tenfold by a diligent, gritty and experienced Boston team that had the scouting report imprinted on the inside of their eyelids. The Celtics' brigade of switchy swindlers quickly turned Poole's dream-like postseason into a nightmarish scenario.&nbsp;
Poole's handle, sense of wiggle, fluidity and ability to create from a standstill are all special for a player his age. Some might call it unteachable. He's Golden State's most bursty creator for a reason, a player that can generate drive-and-kick magic by simply tapping the gas and zipping past his assignment to force the defense to converge. Many times, he'll use a medley of hesitation moves, head fakes and crossovers to initiate the slightest sliver of separation.
When it works, the highlights are delightful. When it doesn't, Golden State's pitter-patter motion offense quickly slips into a morass of standing around and clock-eating isolations.
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Boston was all too prepared for Poole's slippery nature, shutting off the water and turning Golden State's splashy whiz kid into a dried-up basin. The Celtics effectively let Poole dribble himself into a pretzel, flashing every And-1 move in his bag to no avail. When the Warrior guard did surge downhill, Boston quickly erased that airspace by hugging him close and pressuring his every dribble, disallowing opportunities to showcase his glitzy layup package.
Always quick to clamp down on an opponent's errors, Jayson Tatum and Marcus Smart each ripped away a steal against Poole when he showed his hand and made mistakes that a 20-year-old would: failing to strike from the triple-threat position in the first quarter and later foolishly attempting a spin-move in transition, both of which can be viewed in the clips below.
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Scoring-wise, Poole showed a clear perturbance versus Boston's pick-and-roll defense. Unlike Stephen Curry, Poole was unable to burn Boston with pull-ups when the Celtics unsheathed drop coverage in his presence. Playing Boston's bigs higher up the floor only further exposed Poole's limitations as a lead creator.
In the second clip from the video below, he nearly gave the phrase "buzzer-beater" a new meaning by smashing the shot clock with an errant shot after Al Horford stepped forward and shaded Poole toward the help of Smart.
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Shoot, even Payton Pritchard, Boston's most targetted defender in the previous three series, was able to survive in the minutes he was matched up with Poole. Pritchard has the requisite footspeed to keep tabs on Golden State's pesky lightning rod, whereas Poole lacks the core strength that normally overpowers and forces Boston's reserve guard off the floor.
Here, Pritchard does a nice job screeching over the top of Andre Iguodala's screen and rear view, contesting Poole into one of his four misses from deep on five total outside shots.&nbsp;
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One thing the Warriors should look to explore is involving both Poole and Curry in off-ball actions when the duo shares the floor. Doing so got Curry one of his cleanest looks of the game, and the same could easily go for Poole, who has shot 43.8% on catch-and-shoot playoff threes, should the roles be reversed. At the very least, using his scoring gravity away from the action is a far more prudent strategy than just spoon-feeding him a diet of pick-and-roll possessions in the friggin' Finals and hoping for the best.
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Look, it isn't inconceivable to imagine that the 22-year-old will eventually find his footing on offense; he's too gifted of a scorer to continue this type of production. What is concerning for Golden State was just how woefully underprepared Poole looked defensively on the final stage. The Warriors got eviscerated when they played Poole alongside either one of Curry (minus-13 together) or Klay Thompson (also a minus-13 together), and his inclusion in Golden State's small-ball lineup that went minus-9 in the fourth quarter was the ultimate nail in the coffin.
Poole looked overwhelmed by every aspect of the defensive side of the ball against a battle-tested Boston ball club, which, again, is understandable for a 22-year-old playing in his first Finals. His closeouts were sloppy and led to drives down the middle of the paint. Transition defense appeared purely optional. Maybe most importantly, Boston absolutely licked its chops at the thought of involving Poole in pick-and-roll actions. Tatum was able to beat Poole off the dribble and drive to the rim even with Poole in a drop. Yeah, that's how bad it was.
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Poole will be an evergreen target on defense against a Boston team that hunts mismatches like the Blade Runner, and if his offensive production can't overshadow his defensive deficiencies, Poole could quickly see his role diminish. Golden State has other options on the table if the lights prove to be too bright for the wunderkind combo guard.
The now-healthy Gary Payton II is just begging for an opportunity to muck things up versus Jaylen Brown and maybe Tatum. Otto Porter Jr. is arguably due for an uptick in minutes after his strong Game 1. Heck, even Jonathan Kuminga or Moses Moody could be worth a look should Boston's size and athleticism continue to bewilder Golden State's elder group.
Poole's meteoric rise has been something to behold, quickly establishing himself as one of the league's brightest up-and-coming stars after a sterling postseason. Boston and its titanium defense represent a whole new challenge, and an uptick in his production could very be the catalyst to Golden State hoisting the Larry O'Brien trophy in a few weeks' time.
With the Warriors in a 1-0 hole, Jordan Poole is now more than ever the ultimate X-Factor. What remains to be seen is which team, Boston or Golden State, will enjoy the spoils of his output.
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Matt Brooks goes in-depth on Jordan Poole's struggles in Game 1 of the NBA Finals against a stout Celtics defense.

Can Jordan Poole turn it around against the Celtics in the NBA Finals?

DALLAS (AP) &mdash; Luka Doncic knows the Mavericks haven't had home-court advantage in the playoffs since the young superstar came to Dallas.
Coach Jason Kidd might remember the last time the club did, since he was the point guard on the team that won the 2011 championship.
The Mavericks took an important step toward the elusive top half of the Western Conference playoff picture Sunday night.
Doncic scored 32 points and the Mavericks beat the Utah Jazz 114-100 for the inside track to the fourth seed in what could be a first-round playoff matchup.
The Mavericks (46-29) moved a game ahead of the Jazz (45-30) in the battle for the fourth and fifth seeds in the West and earned a split of the season series, with the home team winning all four games.
Dallas would have to finish a game ahead of Utah if the Jazz keep their Northwest Division lead over Denver. The Mavericks and Jazz have seven games remaining.
&ldquo;That's what we wanted, but it's a long way to go,&rdquo; Doncic said. &ldquo;We've still got to keep our composure, focus on the next opponent and try to win every game.&rdquo;
Rudy Gay scored 18 points for the Jazz, who lost their fourth in a row on a season-long, six-game trip that ends Tuesday night in Los Angeles against the Clippers.
Defensive stalwart Rudy Gobert was a late scratch for Utah because of the 7-foot-1 center's right leg contusion as another 7-footer, Hassan Whiteside, sat for the second consecutive game with a right foot sprain.
Bojan Bogdanovic was out for the ninth time in 10 games as he battles a right calf strain, and Utah had a scare in the third quarter when Donovan Mitchell left the game briefly after Dwight Powell landed on his lower right leg.
Mitchell stayed down in front of Utah's bench as play continued at the other end and limped to the bench when he finally got up. But Mitchell missed less than a minute and a half, finishing with 12 points on 4-of-13 shooting.
&ldquo;Most of their team wasn&rsquo;t playing, so you can&rsquo;t judge,&rdquo; Kidd said. &ldquo;We had a Christmas game out there without half our team. You only will be judged once the playoffs start. This wasn&rsquo;t a playoff game. No one&rsquo;s up 1-0.&rdquo;
Doncic beat the halftime buzzer with a longer 3-pointer to get the Mavericks within a point and set up a second-half surge as Dallas won for the 18th time in 22 home games.
Reggie Bullock connected on a season-high seven 3-pointers, finishing with 23 points on 7-of-11 shooting beyond the arc. He had consecutive 3s in the middle of the fourth quarter to give Dallas its biggest lead to that point at 17.
&ldquo;I thought Bullock's 3s were really big 3s,&rdquo; Utah coach Quin Snyder said. &ldquo;You can't take all of them away. There's a few that were really impactful.&rdquo;
Jalen Brunson had 22 points while matching Doncic with 10 rebounds and five assists. They were the first starting Dallas guards to have at least 20 points, 10 rebounds and five assists in the same game in franchise history.
Mike Conley and Jordan Clarkson scored 14 points apiece for Utah.
TIP-INS
Jazz: Snyder said Whiteside has been playing through soreness and mentioned feeling it in a loss at Brooklyn last Monday. Whiteside played the next game in Boston. &ldquo;It's a hard thing to predict, how long or how quickly,&rdquo; Snyder said of the outlook for Whiteside.
Mavericks: F Davis Bertans scored six points after missing three games with right knee soreness. ... G Sterling Brown was out again after entering COVID-19 protocols during the trip to Minnesota, where Dallas lost Friday.
NCAA CONNECTIONS
On the same weekend Villanova reached the Final Four, Brunson shared the floor with Utah's Eric Paschall, his teammate when the Wildcats won their second title in three years in 2018. Paschall made his third start of the season with Gobert out and scored 10 points. Jazz rookie Jared Butler, who scored seven points, was the point guard on Baylor's championship team last year.
UP NEXT
Jazz: After finishing the road trip at the Clippers on Tuesday, Utah returns home against the Lakers on Thursday. The Jazz are 2-0 against the Clippers and 0-2 against the Lakers.
Mavericks: The Lakers visit Tuesday before Dallas starts its final road trip of the regular season (four games) at Cleveland on Wednesday, the second night of a back-to-back.
&nbsp;

Luka Doncic scored 32 points and the Dallas Mavericks beat the Utah Jazz 114-100.

Doncic, Mavs top Jazz 114-100 for inside track to home court

On March 18, 1995, Michael Jordan shocked the sports world by announcing that he was coming out of retirement and returning to the Chicago Bulls with a short-and-sweet fax that read: &ldquo;I&rsquo;m back.&rdquo;
Almost exactly 27 years later, Tom Brady gave us the 2022 version of this fax, announcing that he was coming out of retirement and returning to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers with a short-and-sweet tweet that concluded: &ldquo;Unfinished business LFG.&rdquo;
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-theme="light">
These past two months I&rsquo;ve realized my place is still on the field and not in the stands. That time will come. But it&rsquo;s not now. I love my teammates, and I love my supportive family. They make it all possible. I&rsquo;m coming back for my 23rd season in Tampa. Unfinished business LFG <a href="https://t.co/U0yhRKVKVm">pic.twitter.com/U0yhRKVKVm</a>
&mdash; Tom Brady (@TomBrady) <a href="https://twitter.com/TomBrady/status/1503147141795045378?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 13, 2022</a></blockquote>

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Jordan sent his fax on a Saturday afternoon, taking attention away from the 1995 NCAA Tournament that had tipped off two days earlier. Brady sent his tweet on a Sunday afternoon, stealing the spotlight from the 2022 NCAA Tournament's Selection Sunday.
Rather than leaking the news anonymously or holding a press conference, both players took breaking the news of their return into their own hands. Jordan&rsquo;s agent, David Falk, has <a href="https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/12501628/michael-jordan-famous-back-fax-25-years-later" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a> that he wrote up several different press releases for Jordan to choose from, but MJ &ldquo;didn&rsquo;t like the feel of them... He said, &lsquo;I&rsquo;ll do it myself.&rsquo;"
Email wasn&rsquo;t popular yet, so Alyson Sadofsky, Falk's director of media services, couldn&rsquo;t send out a mass message; each fax had to be sent individually (which entailed making a cover sheet, sending the fax and waiting for a confirmation receipt). The fax was sent to local media in Chicago as well as national outlets such as the Associated Press, ESPN, The New York Times and The Washington Post, and it took two hours to inform every publication.
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Last month, Brady was frustrated when reporters leaked news of his (short-lived) retirement before he could announce his plans, so it&rsquo;s no surprise that the seven-time Super Bowl champion chose to speak directly to his fans when it came time to announce his return.
Using his iPhone, Brady posted the message on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook, racking up more than 3.2 million likes combined. Immediately, it became the top story on ESPN. And just like Jordan&rsquo;s announcement transcended the sports world, Brady&rsquo;s tweet was covered by basically every major media outlet (including <a href="https://abcnews.go.com/Sports/wireStory/tom-brady-returning-tampa-play-23rd-season-nfl-83427086" target="_blank" rel="noopener">ABC News</a>, <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2022/03/13/sport/tom-brady-returns-tampa-bay-buccaneers/index.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">CNN</a>, <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/sports/tom-brady-coming-return-tampa-bay-weeks-after-retirement-announcement" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Fox News</a>, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/03/13/sports/football/tom-brady-returning-buccaneers.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The New York Times</a>, <a href="https://www.npr.org/2022/03/14/1086395502/tom-brady-called-an-audible-and-is-not-retiring-after-all" target="_blank" rel="noopener">NPR</a>, <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/american-football/60185291" target="_blank" rel="noopener">BBC</a> and <a href="https://apnews.com/f6d646a9109b591183836fbf593c0f2b" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The Associated Press</a>).
Jordan was retired for 528 days, missing the entire 1993-94 NBA season and most of the 1994-95 campaign as he played minor league baseball for the Birmingham Barons. Brady was retired just 40 days, and he started dropping hints about a possible comeback less than a week after he announced that he was hanging up his cleats.&nbsp;
Neither comeback announcement came as a complete surprise. After all, Jordan had resumed practicing with the Bulls in the weeks before his fax, and there had been rumblings about a possible comeback. Brady was asked about the possibility of playing again on his <a href="https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/lets-go-with-tom-brady-larry-fitzgerald-and-jim-gray/id1584409759" target="_blank" rel="noopener">podcast</a> and responded: &ldquo;You never say never.&rdquo; This led to rampant speculation about a possible return, but it was far from certain. Even Bucs head coach Bruce Arians <a href="https://www.cbssports.com/nfl/news/bruce-arians-would-be-shocked-if-tom-brady-returned-to-nfl-in-2022-i-dont-see-it-happening/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">didn't think</a> Brady was coming back just a few weeks ago, saying, &ldquo;That would shock me&hellip; I don&rsquo;t see it happening.&rdquo;&nbsp;
All things considered, Brady&rsquo;s news was probably more shocking. Not only was his retirement so short-lived, but he&rsquo;s also 44 years old, whereas Jordan was 31 when he walked away. Like Brady, Jordan found it difficult to remain retired. After sitting out three seasons (from 1998 to 2000), a 38-year-old Jordan came out of retirement for a second time to join the Washington Wizards for two seasons.&nbsp;
In both sports, we&rsquo;ve seen that it's very difficult for legends to walk away from the game they love. In the NFL, Brady joins Brett Favre, Randy Moss, Deion Sanders, Reggie White, Ricky Williams, Randall Cunningham and his buddy Rob Gronkowski as players who came out of retirement. In the NBA, that list includes Jordan, George Mikan, Bob Cousy, Dave Cowens, Sidney Moncrief, Brandon Roy, Rasheed Wallace and Kevin Johnson among others.
On Sunday, Bucs fans got a taste of how Bulls fans must have felt in 1995. Few individuals have the ability to completely reverse a team&rsquo;s fortunes, but Jordan and Brady are obviously on that short list. Tampa fans were trying to talk themselves into Kyle Trask or Blaine Gabbert under center, but now they get a bonus year from the greatest quarterback of all-time and one more shot at a championship.&nbsp;
Following Brady&rsquo;s announcement, Tampa Bay&rsquo;s odds of winning the Super Bowl&nbsp;<a href="https://twitter.com/gregauman/status/1503156153794113543" target="_blank" rel="noopener">went from</a> 25/1 to 8.5/1, giving the Buccaneers the third-best odds in the NFL behind only the Buffalo Bills (7/1) and Kansas City Chiefs (7.5/1). In 2021, Brady and the Bucs defeated the Chiefs in the Super Bowl, becoming the first team in NFL history to hoist the Vince Lombardi Trophy in their own stadium.
Last season, Brady was the NFL MVP runner-up, and he finished the year with 5,316 passing yards, 45 total touchdowns and 12 interceptions. He led the Bucs to a franchise-best 13-4 record and nearly pulled off a miraculous 24-point comeback win against the Los Angeles Rams in the divisional round of the playoffs. However, the Rams kicked a game-winning field goal as time expired and went on to defeat the Cincinnati Bengals in the Super Bowl.
This will be Brady&rsquo;s age-45 season and his 23rd year in the NFL, as if this situation didn&rsquo;t have enough ties to Jordan. Now, Brady gets his own version of The Last Dance.

Alex Kennedy explores the similarities between Tom Brady's comeback tweet and Michael Jordan's legendary "I'm back" fax.

Tom Brady’s comeback tweet is modern version of MJ’s ‘I’m back’ fax

Civil Rights attorney Lee Merritt discusses the power and influence the NBA has, and can continue to have &mdash; if the NBA continues using its platform, voices and resources to fight for justice.&nbsp;
Lee Merritt is one of the attorneys for Ahmaud Arbery&rsquo;s family &mdash; a 25-year-old black man who was murdered while on a run near Brunswick, in Glynn County, Georgia. A verdict of life imprisonment was just announced in the case, in which three men were convicted of murdering Arbery. While Lee Merritt is definitely relieved about the verdict, we discuss the long road ahead to achieve justice and equality for all. Merritt is running for attorney general in Texas and I would love to see the NBA duplicate what the WNBA did, when they threw their support behind Raphael Warnock, an Atlanta-area pastor who was running as a Democrat at the time for (and would eventually win) one of Georgia&rsquo;s seats in the U.S. Senate.&nbsp;
This was a great discussion.
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Etan Thomas: So this time last year, I interviewed a group of WNBA players, [including] Renee Montgomery and Elizabeth Williams, who both played for the Atlanta Dream at the time, [as well as] Tierra Ruffin-Pratt, Angel McCoughtry &mdash; and Eric Garner's daughter, Emerald. And <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/wnba-nba-kelly-loeffler-atlanta-dream-renee-montgomery-elizabeth-williams-swin-cash-etan-thomas-activism-black-lives-matter-activist-movement-vote-warnock-shirts" target="_blank" rel="noopener">we discussed what the WNBA did to galvanize support for Raphael Warnock, and ultimately get him in office and Kelly Loeffler out of office</a>. And it was really amazing. Because for one, Raphael Warnock was polling at 9% before the WNBA got involved. And he won &mdash; in Georgia, of all places.&nbsp;
So I want to see how we can galvanize the NBA to duplicate that with you, as you're running for attorney general in the state of Texas. So that's why I reached out to you to have this interview with you. I've been following you for a long time and I'm a big fan of the work that you do. And so, I'm going to send this interview to the NBA, to the <a href="https://www.thesocialchangefund.org">NBA Social Change Fund</a>.
Which, for those that aren't familiar, it was birthed out of the Bubble season. After the NBA players went on strike, after Jacob Blake was shot multiple times in broad daylight, in front of his children. The NBA Social Change Fund was formed by Chris Paul, Carmelo Anthony and Dwyane Wade, and is aimed to support critical issues in the black community.
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So that's why after speaking to Allisa Charles-Findley, who is Botham Jean's sister &mdash; and I actually interviewed her for my new book, &ldquo;<a href="http://www.akashicbooks.com/catalog/police-brutality-and-white-supremacy-the-fight-against-american-traditions/">Police Brutality and White Supremacy: The Fight Against American Traditions.</a>&rdquo;
She was one of the people I interviewed, along with Atatiana Jefferson's family, who I know that you work with as well &mdash; so we came up with the idea of conducting this interview with you, to try to galvanize that support from the NBA. Some people are like, "Alright, you usually do basketball stuff. Why are you interviewing a politician right now?" But that's the reason why. So thank you for taking this time.
Lee Merritt: "Sure, I really appreciate that. During most of my career, I've enjoyed the support of the National Basketball Association. I can recall in 2017, a young man named <a href="https://www.dallasnews.com/news/courts/2018/08/29/jordan-edwards-made-the-case-against-roy-oliver-unlike-any-murder-trial-dallas-had-ever-seen/">Jordan Edwards </a>was slain in Balch Springs, Texas.&nbsp;
"It was in the middle of the NBA playoffs &mdash; and Steve Kerr, who had suffered family tragedy as well, identified with that family, reached out, invited them to the playoff games [and] got his brothers to take their mind off of it for a bit.
"I actually used to coach basketball myself. I was a coach down at South Atlanta High School. I coached Derrick Favors, I coached against Cousins and Walls* when they were high school students. And I enjoy a relationship with them today, continuing to give back to the community of Atlanta.
"And yeah, the names that you mentioned that you work with, Chris Paul has supported the work and the families I represent. Dwyane Wade and his wife, Gabrielle Union, [have] been major, major supporters over the course of my career.
"And, just as I transition away from representing one family at a time and start talking about representing larger groups of people and going towards policies, I certainly think the NBA can play a major role &mdash; in not only the success of the campaign, but championing some of those issues that we're fighting for on a case-by-case basis, and taking it to one of the biggest states in the country and really impacting national policy."
Etan: So, let me ask you to review some of the cases that you've worked with before, and the people that you've represented. We could start off with Ahmaud Arbery.
Merritt: "Sure. I came to represent the Ahmaud Arbery family before the video was released of his brutal slaying in South Georgia. Many [...] will recall that he was a South Georgia jogger. On February 23, 2020, he was targeted by three white men who have now been each <a href="https://abcnews.go.com/US/jury-reaches-verdict-ahmaud-arbery-death-case/story?id=81353504">convicted of murder</a>, and are facing life sentences in the state of Georgia, as well as federal hate crime charges.
"I've also represented... Unfortunately, the list of families that I've represented is quite extensive. I represent over 67 families who have suffered misuse of force, that lost a loved one, as a result of the deadliest police culture in the world. Some of the names that your viewers may have heard of.
"You mentioned [...] <a href="https://www.star-telegram.com/news/local/crime/article236198028.html">Atatiana Jefferson</a>.&nbsp;
"Of course, that case is ongoing. <a href="https://abcnews.go.com/US/death-innocent-man-timeline-wrong-apartment-murder-trial/story?id=65938727">Botham Jean</a>, who was an accountant eating a bowl of ice cream in his own apartment complex.&nbsp;
"<a href="https://www.latimes.com/nation/la-na-illinois-police-shooting-guard-20181112-story.html">Jemel Roberson</a> was a security guard in Chicago. Had just stopped a mass shooting, and was shot in the back by a police officer who must have mistook him for a gunman.&nbsp;
"<a href="https://www.cnn.com/2021/05/13/us/california-attorney-general-sean-monterrosa-shooting/index.html">Sean Monterrosa</a> in California.
"But the bulk of my work has been in Texas. I represent <a href="https://foxsanantonio.com/news/local/damian-daniels-family-responds-to-no-indictment-for-deputy-that-killed-him">Damian Daniels</a>, a veteran shot to death in his home.&nbsp;
"<a href="https://www.chron.com/news/houston-texas/houston/article/Family-of-woman-killed-by-Baytown-officer-13872709.php">Pamela Turner</a> in the Houston area.&nbsp;
"And like I said, we could probably spend the rest of this podcast going through the list of names."
Etan: Wow! So now you're running for attorney general in Texas. And for those that don't know, what exactly are the responsibilities of an attorney general?
Merritt: "The attorney general of Texas, and an attorney general in any state, is the legal voice for the people. They're supposed to serve as the spokesperson for what justice is in a municipality. And so we've seen it, in cases like Breonna Taylor, where we had a really bad attorney general interfere with accountability in that case, in the form of Daniel Cameron. We've seen the opposite end of that spectrum with Keith Ellison and the work that he's done in Minnesota. Prosecuting the officers responsible for the death of George Floyd and, most recently, Daunte Wright.
"But even beyond the criminal justice aspect, the attorney general&rsquo;s office, particularly in the state of Texas, impacts virtually every aspect of Texas life. So property taxes, school protection. And we've heard a lot recently in the news about the CRT [Critical Race Theory] scam, where they're trying to erase entire portions of our history in the name of not getting anyone upset.
"From the border crisis, to really economic empowerment in our schools. There's so many businesses that are attempting to get off the ground, but don't have access to the kind of governmental loans and support that our white counterparts do.
"All of those things run through the attorney general's office. It's a very, very influential office. More or less the second-in-command in the state of Texas."
Etan: Now, Ken Paxton, [is] who you would be running against, and who is the current attorney general &mdash; and has been since 2015. I want to talk about the stark differences between the two of you, because it's really night and day.
But I want to start off with this, because the Jan. 6 insurrection [anniversary] is upon us. And you know, I'm looking at him, looking at the footage, and I see him at a rally right before the insurrection, almost like leading the charge. Explain to me, let's start off with there, about the stark differences between you and Ken Paxton.
Merritt: "Well, there is a clear contrast. You know, Texas was in the national news because of [its] unique voter suppression laws. They passed some laws that would make it more difficult for the black and brown people in the state, people with disabilities and marginalized communities to vote.
"It was so upsetting that certain members of the Texas legislature left the state and went to DC &mdash; refused to participate in that session in order to fight for voting rights. Now, I was present with them. I thought that was a fight worth standing with people for, providing both legal advice and strategies, working with the labor community and others to take on voting issues in Texas.
"By contrast, the last sort of infamous trip of the attorney general, the current attorney general, to our nation's capital was on Jan. 6. And we don't know exactly what he did there, because he has not participated in an ongoing investigation in terms of his potential criminal liability for helping to incite a riot.
"But he was very publicly on camera, encouraging the soon-to-be riders and insurrectionists that the election was stolen, that they had a responsibility to fight. And he invoked the name of Texas when he did it. He said, "You all should fight, because Texans fight." And he laid out that he had fought to overturn the results of the free and fair election. And yeah, that's our top legal position in the state, advocating for the overthrow of our government."
---------------
We then went on to discuss particular differences between him and Ken Paxton such as his position on education, police reform, border, gun training before owning a gun, and we cleared up the misconceptions on CRT, being anti-police vs. anti-police brutality, Second Amendment rights, etc.
---------------
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Etan: So let's go to the NBA, and how important it is for the NBA to continue to promote, to continue to use their platforms, to be able to &mdash; I mean, this is the thing. It's important to do that part. But now we have to take it a step further.
And I think the NBA has been doing a great job of promoting, raising awareness. You saw it all especially during the Bubble season, after the entire country was promoting and demonstrating and protesting what happened with George Floyd, what happened with Breonna Taylor [and] Ahmaud Arbery.
You saw John Wall and Bradley Beal here in D.C. leading protests. You saw all the Ball brothers, you saw Russell Westbrook in L.A. You saw Jaylen Brown and Enes Kanter Freedom too, in Boston &mdash; of course everything that LeBron was always doing.
But now it's like, it needs to be a step further, like the next step. And I think that you, with what you are trying to implement in Texas as the attorney general, is that next step. Because you have to be able to have someone in place that's on the right side of wanting to be able to create something that functions properly. So just talk about that, how this is like the next step that should happen. Along with [...] raising awareness and protesting and everything like that.
Merritt: "Yeah. I can recall, we were in the middle of the NBA playoffs when Jacob Blake was repeatedly shot in his back by a Milwaukee police officer. And I was watching the game, and Chris Paul had just gone off, sort of a historic performance.
"And <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nxcNbbyg0ZI">they interviewed him</a> right after the game. And they said, 'You know, Chris, you were playing...' I think he was playing his old team, the Houston Rockets. He was with the Oklahoma City Thunder [...], where Derrick Favors is currently.
"And they said, 'Tell us about this performance against your old team. You had a chance to really show them that you still got it.' And he said, 'Yeah, I don't really care about that. That's cool. And that's what I'm paid to do. But a law enforcement officer in my community has just shot someone in their back several times. He was unarmed and nonviolent. Let's talk about that.'
"I think it's on the players to stand up like Chris Paul did, and like you said, like people have done, in a systemic way across the National Basketball Association &mdash; where the pundits and the media might tell you, 'Could you just shut up and dribble.' We've heard that refrain before.
"It's important for the players to say, "No, actually I won't. This is my community. What's going on in our community, it's urgent. It's a crisis. It's not something that we want to put off for a later conversation or for the offseason. But where it happens, I'm going to stand up to it. And I will get involved in elections. And I will use my resources and time and attention to shine a light on these issues that must be addressed."
Etan: You know, it's interesting. In my book, &ldquo;<a href="http://www.akashicbooks.com/catalog/we-matter-athletes-and-activism/">We Matter: Athletes and Activism</a>&rdquo; I interviewed Jahvaris Fulton, who is Trayvon Martin's brother. And in the interview, he told me how &mdash; and when he said this, it kind of threw me,&nbsp; because I didn't expect him to say it &mdash; he said that if it weren't for NBA players and celebrities and everybody like that, talking about his brother, he didn't think that anybody would know his name. And I was like, "Wow, that's kind of strong. Why do you say that?"
So then he explained to me how, when Trayvon Martin was first killed, his family was trying to get the local news people to cover it and they didn't want to cover it. They said, "Okay, another young black man was killed. That's not newsworthy."
And I was like, "That's what they told you?" He said, "Yeah," he was like, "We don't have no evidence. We don't have no video of it. Just your word saying that he [was] killed, that's not newsworthy." And he gave a shout-out to Roland Martin and some of the black news people, who were covering it. But he said, "But no local news people wanted to cover it."
So then he said, "But then, LeBron James started talking about it. And Dwyane Wade started talking about it. And then the entire Miami Heat team posed in the hoodies." So then he said, "So then you had everybody like, 'Okay, what is this that LeBron James is discussing? And why is Dwyane Wade feeling so passionate about this, and talking about his kids, and about this case?' Then everybody started to gravitate towards it and cover it and everything like that."
But he said [...] before, they couldn't get anybody to cover it. And that's just... It's unfortunate that it is that way, because people should have a regard for human life anyway, without an athlete having to speak about it. However, the athlete speaking about it is what drew the attention &mdash; and that just shows where athletes have to continue to do that, continue to use your voice and your platform to be able to speak to these causes.
And also to take it a step further by having laws being changed, and people who are in positions to fight for laws being changed, like [you are]. You know what I mean? And running for attorney general &mdash; [who] are in positions to actually implement some things so these things don't just continue to keep happening.
Merritt: "Yeah. I can remember in 2016, we saw two high-profile officer-involved shootings back-to-back, Alton Sterling and Philando Castile. It was the same weekend, and it was almost like a dark cloud being hanged over impacted communities. And if you and I saw each other on the street, we would make eye contact and say, 'You know, man, this is becoming too much.'
"Dallas had a protest &mdash; I was living in Dallas at the time. And they had a protest downtown, where we marched and we discussed what happened, and started to talk about organizing police reform. And at the end of that protest, a vigilante named Micah Xavier Johnson, targeted law enforcement officers and shot five police officers and a couple of civilians as well. And you could imagine the national outcry about Black Lives Matter, and how they put law enforcement lives at risk.
"And everyone began to ignore the fact that people were there for protesting peacefully about police violence &mdash; that was back-to-back and overwhelming. And while it was a tragedy for our entire community that law enforcement officers were targeted by Mr. Johnson, there was also an ongoing crisis in our community, that was the reason that all those people had gathered and made targets of themselves.
"And it was Dwyane Wade. LeBron was still, I think, in 2016, with the Miami Heat. So it was Wade and LeBron who came forward at the ESPY Awards that weekend and re-centered the conversation. And said, 'That's terrible what happened in Dallas, and we back the blue. We stand for the law enforcement officers.'
&ldquo;But understand that our community is also under attack. And it's two sides of the same coin. We don't tolerate violence directed at law enforcement officers. And we cannot continue to tolerate violence directed at our community.
And it saved the national conversation so that we could get back to what had brought us all there in the first place. And so, yeah, members of the NBA have the opportunity, in [the] state of Texas, but [also] throughout the country, the voices of the NBA are critically important to that."
<img src="https://cdn.basketballnews.com/images/story/body/violalogo1_lg.png" alt="" width="666" height="333" />

Etan Thomas is joined by Lee Merritt on "The Rematch" to discuss social justice and the NBA's role in societal change.

Lee Merritt: The NBA could impact public policy and elections

As NBA Summer League kicks off, the <a href="https://www.tampabayprocombine.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Tampa Bay Pro Combine</a> will be well-represented, as a number of alumni from the inaugural TBPC have been invited by NBA teams to be a part of the Las Vegas event that begins this Sunday.
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Here's the list of TBPC alumni who will be at NBA Summer League:
<ul>
<li>Justin Turner, Bowling Green: San Antonio Spurs </li>
<li>Terry Taylor, Austin Peay: Indiana Pacers</li>
<li>Asbjorn Mitgaard, Grand Canyon: Orlando Magic </li>
<li>Tahj Eaddy, USC: Orlando Magic</li>
<li>Jordan Goodwin, Saint Louis: Washington Wizards</li>
<li>Chandler Vaudrin, Winthrop: Cleveland Cavaliers</li>
<li>Micah Potter, Wisconsin: Miami Heat</li>
<li>Giorgi Bezhanishvili, Illinois: Denver Nuggets</li>
<li>Chudier Bile, Georgetown: Denver Nuggets</li>
<li>DJ Funderburk, NC State: Utah Jazz</li>
<li>Ryan Daly, St. Joseph's: Chicago Bulls</li>
<li>Sterling Manley, North Carolina: Chicago Bulls</li>
<li>Troy Baxter Jr., Morgan State: Chicago Bulls</li>
<li>Mitch Ballock, Creighton: Philadelphia 76ers</li>
<li>Justin Jaworski, Lafayette: Atlanta Hawks </li>
<li>Jahvon Blair, Georgetown: Milwaukee Bucks</li>
<li>D&rsquo;Mitrik Trice, Wisconsin: Milwaukee Bucks</li>
<li>Damien Jefferson, Creighton: Sacramento Kings</li>
</ul>
NBA Summer League kicks off on Sunday at 4 p.m. ET and will be running until Aug. 17, when a champion is crowned.

18 players who took part in the inaugural Tampa Bay Pro Combine are headed to NBA Summer League in Las Vegas.

Tampa Bay Pro Combine to be well-represented at NBA Summer League

Georges Niang tied a career high with 24 points and the NBA-leading Utah Jazz beat the short-handed Houston Rockets 124-116 on Saturday night to reach 50 victories.
Jordan Clarkson scored 21 points, and Bojan Bogdanovic added 20 &mdash; his seventh straight 20-point performance &mdash; for the Jazz.
Utah finished 5-0 on its homestand despite missing All-Stars Donovan Mitchell and Mike Conley again.
&ldquo;We just had to really fight through mentally. And just keep pushing ... that&rsquo;s how we stuck out this win, but I ain&rsquo;t going to lie to you: This season has been grueling and tiring, but it is what it is and we came here to work,&rdquo; Clarkson said.
Niang took advantage of some post-ups in the paint and was a sharpshooter from beyond the arc. Starting just his eighth game, Niang scored 10 points in the third quarter and his 3-pointer with 2:50 left in the period gave Utah its largest lead, 96-75.
&ldquo;I know he&rsquo;s gonna be at the right spot at the right time,&rdquo; Utah's Joe Ingles said of Niang. &ldquo;If I get in the lane and I key to the corner, he&rsquo;s going to be somewhere in that area and he will definitely shoot it so it&rsquo;s a good look for us, when he&rsquo;s out there playing like that with confidence.&rdquo;
The usually mild-mannered Niang was so fired up, he drew a technical for taunting after draining a 3 that tied his career high of 24 early in the final period. He was 6 of 8 on 3-pointers.
&ldquo;I usually hold my emotions, and I just happened to lose my cool. That&rsquo;s not who I am or aspire to be,&rdquo; Niang said. &ldquo;I thought he had brushed me in the face on purpose. So I told him that he was too late, like, he wasn&rsquo;t going to get to my shot anyway.&rdquo;
Rudy Gobert had 13 points and 14 rebounds for the Jazz.
The Rockets have lost five straight and 20 of their past 23 games.
&ldquo;They fought hard and they battled. Another hard-fought game just like last night. Again, I was super proud of this group,&rdquo; coach Stephen Silas said.
Khyri Thomas and KJ Martin each had career highs of 27 for Houston. Thomas has scored 47 in two games with the Rockets, and Martin marked his third straight 20-point game and fourth of his career.
&ldquo;I just look at it as an opportunity to go out and play basketball. I love to do it, so I just come out every night and compete as hard as I can,&rdquo; Martin said.
Both teams were playing the second night of back-to-back, which led to some sloppy play. The Jazz improved to 12-2 on zero days rest.
The undermanned Rockets used a starting lineup with Martin at 6-foot-7 as the tallest player to face the 7-foot-1 Gobert. Danuel House Jr. and D.J. Augustin moved off the injury report and onto the court for first time in weeks to give Houston eight available players.
TIP-INS
Rockets: Injury list was voluminous: Avery Bradley (personal), Sterling Brown (knee), Dant&eacute; Exum (calf), Eric Gordon (groin); David Nwaba (wrist), Kelly Olynyk (ankle), Kevin Porter Jr (ankle), John Wall (hamstring); D.J. Wilson (health protocols), and Christian Wood (ankle). ... Houston used its 40th different starting lineup in 68 games. ... Jae&rsquo;Sean Tate was assessed a flagrant-1 for hitting Gobert in the face in the third quarter.
Jazz: Clarkson has made a 3 in 90 straight games. ... Utah outscored Houston in the paint, 56-46. &hellip; The Jazz swept the season series with the Rockets, 3-0. ... Ingles got a technical foul with 2:10 remaining and then left the game.
UP NEXT
Rockets: At Portland on Monday night.
Jazz: At Golden State on Monday night.
___
More AP NBA: https://apnews.com/hub/nba and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports

Utah finished 5-0 on its homestand despite missing All-Stars Donovan Mitchell and Mike Conley again.

NBA-leading Jazz are first team to 50 wins with 124-116 victory over Rockets

Elgin Baylor, the Lakers&rsquo; 11-time NBA All-Star who soared through the 1960s with a high-scoring style of basketball that became the model for the modern player, died Monday. He was 86.
The Lakers announced that Baylor died of natural causes in Los Angeles with his wife, Elaine, and daughter Krystal by his side.
With a silky-smooth jumper and fluid athleticism, Baylor played a major role in revolutionizing basketball from a ground-bound sport into an aerial show. He spent parts of 14 seasons with the Lakers in Minneapolis and Los Angeles during his Hall of Fame career, teaming with Jerry West throughout the &rsquo;60s in one of the most potent tandems in basketball history.
&ldquo;Elgin was THE superstar of his era &mdash; his many accolades speak to that,&rdquo; Lakers Governor Jeanie Buss said in a statement announcing Baylor's death.
Baylor&rsquo;s second career as a personnel executive with the woebegone Los Angeles Clippers was much less successful. He worked for the Clippers from 1986 until 2008, when he left the team with acrimony and an unsuccessful lawsuit against owner Donald Sterling and the NBA, alleging age and race discrimination.
The 6-foot-5 Baylor played in an era before significant television coverage of basketball, and little of his play was ever captured on film. His spectacular style is best remembered by those who saw it in person &mdash; including West, who once called him &ldquo;one of the most spectacular shooters the world has ever seen.&rdquo;
Baylor had an uncanny ability to hang in mid-air indefinitely, inventing shots along the way with his head bobbing. Years before Julius Erving and Michael Jordan became international superstars with their similarly acrobatic games, Baylor created the blueprint for the modern superstar.
Baylor soared above most of his contemporaries, but never won a championship or led the NBA in scoring largely because he played at the same time as centers Bill Russell, who won all the rings, and Wilt Chamberlain, who claimed all the scoring titles. Knee injuries hampered much of the second half of Baylor&rsquo;s career, although he remained a regular All-Star.
West and Baylor were the first pair in the long tradition of dynamic duos with the Lakers, followed by Magic Johnson and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar in the 1980s before Kobe Bryant and Shaquille O&rsquo;Neal won three more titles in the 2000s.
But Baylor&rsquo;s Lakers lost six times in the NBA Finals to the Boston Celtics and another time to the New York Knicks. Los Angeles won the 1971-72 title, but only after Baylor retired nine games into the season.
Baylor arrived in the NBA in 1958 as the No. 1 draft pick out of Seattle University. He immediately set new superlatives for individual scoring, with a 55-point game in his Rookie-of-the-Year season before scoring 64 on Nov. 8, 1959 &mdash; then the NBA single-game record, and the Lakers record for 45 years until Bryant broke it.
Baylor became the first NBA player to surpass 70 points with a 71-point game Dec. 11, 1960, against New York. Chamberlain set the record of 100 points in 1962.
Baylor averaged 38 points in the 1961-62 season despite doing active duty as an Army reservist. He scored 61 points in a playoff game against Boston in 1962, a record that would stand for 24 years until Jordan broke it.
Baylor averaged 27.4 points and 13.5 rebounds during his 14-year career. He scored a total of 23,149 points in 846 games, and was inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame in May 1977.
Elgin Gay Baylor was born in Washington, D.C. on Sept. 16, 1934. He was named after his father&rsquo;s favorite watch, an &ldquo;Elgin&rdquo; timepiece. Although he starred at two high schools, Baylor struggled academically and briefly dropped out, working in a furniture store and playing in local recreational leagues.
Baylor went to the College of Idaho because he was given a scholarship to play both basketball and football, but the school fired its basketball coach and cut several scholarships a year later. Baylor transferred to Seattle and played from 1956-58, averaging 31.3 points per game and leading the team to the 1958 NCAA championship game, where it lost to coach Adolph Rupp&rsquo;s Kentucky Wildcats.
The year before the Lakers persuaded Baylor to leave college a year early, the club was near bankruptcy after finishing 19-53, falling far since their glory years in the late &rsquo;40s and early &lsquo;50s in Minneapolis with center George Mikan.
Baylor transformed the franchise with his scoring and style. Minneapolis beat the Detroit Pistons and the defending champion St. Louis Hawks in the 1959 playoffs to make it to the NBA Finals, losing to the fledgling Celtics dynasty.
Baylor averaged 24.9 points, fourth in the league, and was third in rebounding with 15 a game. He was easily voted Rookie of the Year.
The Lakers moved west to Los Angeles in 1960, and Baylor became the centerpiece of their Hollywood revival. He averaged 34.8 points in the Lakers&rsquo; first season in Los Angeles, second in the league to Chamberlain.
Jerry West arrived from West Virginia in 1960, and they immediately clicked, averaging 69.1 combined points per game. Baylor played in only 48 games on weekend passes because his military service, but the Lakers still won the Western Conference by 11 games.
Baylor&rsquo;s 61-point performance against the Celtics in Game 5 of the finals put the Lakers ahead 3-2 in the series, but they lost to the Celtics in overtime in Game 7 &mdash; the pinnacle of the Lakers&rsquo; suffering at Boston&rsquo;s hands.
Frank Selvy missed a 10-foot jumper that would have won the game in regulation. In film of that moment, Baylor appears poised to get Selvy&rsquo;s rebound, then disappears from the screen. Baylor contended he was pushed out of bounds by Boston&rsquo;s Sam Jones.
&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve always felt that was our championship,&rdquo; Baylor told the Riverside Press-Enterprise in 2000.
He never got closer to a ring.
The following season Baylor became the first to finish in the NBA&rsquo;s top five in four different statistical categories: scoring, rebounding, assists and free-throw percentage. The Lakers reached the finals again &mdash; and lost to the Celtics again.
Knee problems that began in the 1963-64 season started a slow decline for Baylor. He never averaged more than 30 points a season again, though he remained a competent scorer.
Baylor played his last full season in 1968-69, and suited up only sporadically until retiring at 37 in the fall of 1971.
Baylor&rsquo;s post-playing career never lived up to the magic of his on-court skills.
The expansion New Orleans Jazz hired him as an assistant coach for their debut season in 1974, and he eventually replaced Butch van Breda Kolff as coach during the 1976-77 season, going 86-135 in parts of three seasons. Pete Maravich&rsquo;s Jazz never made the playoffs, and Baylor resigned after the 1978-79 season.
In April 1986, the Clippers hired Baylor as their vice president for basketball operations. The Clippers made the playoffs in 1992 and 1993, but the franchise became the modern model of sports ineptitude for most of his tenure with poor drafting, indifferent fans and skinflint financial dealings.
Sterling largely was blamed for the franchise&rsquo;s ineptitude, while Baylor received both admiration for his tenacity and ricidule for his inability to fix the Clippers&rsquo; woes.
Their 22-year relationship ended abruptly in October 2008 when the club put coach Mike Dunleavy in charge of personnel decisions.
Baylor, then 74, filed a $2 million lawsuit against the Clippers, Sterling and the NBA in February 2009, alleging he was fired because of his age and race. Baylor also said the Clippers grossly underpaid him.
The Clippers denied the allegations and said Baylor had resigned voluntarily. A Los Angeles County jury unanimously ruled in the Clippers&rsquo; favor in March 2011, refusing to award any damages.
Besides his wife and daughter, Baylor is survived by a son and daughter, Alan and Alison, from a previous marriage, and sister Gladys Baylor Barrett.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-theme="dark">
Elgin Baylor: Forever part of our Lakers Family. <a href="https://t.co/zcRhVUSSmx">pic.twitter.com/zcRhVUSSmx</a>
&mdash; Los Angeles Lakers (@Lakers) <a href="https://twitter.com/Lakers/status/1374064950767804422?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 22, 2021</a></blockquote>

<script src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js"></script>

___
Baylor played 14 seasons in the NBA, all with the Lakers -- both in Minneapolis and Los Angeles -- making the All-Star Game 11 times and the All-NBA team 10 times. In his career he averaged 27.4 points per game and 13.5 rebounds. He was inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame in 1977.
<a href="http://basketballnews.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" data-stringify-link="http://BasketballNews.com" data-sk="tooltip_parent" aria-describedby="sk-tooltip-1849">BasketballNews.com</a> extends its deepest sympathies and condolences to Baylor's loved ones at this difficult time.

Baylor died from natural causes, according to the Lakers.

Lakers' legend Elgin Baylor passes away at 86

$25K fine for Jordan Clarkson as a result of making contact with an official.
Source: <a style="color: #ffffff;" href="https://twitter.com/BobbyMarks42" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Bobby Marks of ESPN (Twitter)</a>
ANALYSIS: Utah Jazz guard Jordan Clarkson made contact with an official in last night&rsquo;s loss to Phoenix after stealing an inbound pass. Clarkson stole the pass and then when going to retrieve the ball he ran into an official with the ball proceeding to go out of bounds, resulting in a Jazz turnover. Clarkson lightly shoved the official away after running into him, which has now resulted in a $25K fine for Clarkson.
Clarkson has gotten off to a good start to the season for Utah averaging 16.5 points over 22 minutes on the court.

Jordan Clarkson has been fined $25K for making contact with an official in last nights game.

Jordan Clarkson fined $25K for making contact with official

The Milwaukee Bucks are on the clock.
For the second straight season, they&rsquo;ve flamed out in the second round after a dominant regular season showing. In addition to that disappointment, they now enter arguably the most pivotal offseason in franchise history. Giannis Antetokounmpo, the reigning MVP and Defensive Player of the Year is super-max extension-eligible. If he turns it down -- at this point, why would he commit now? -- they&rsquo;ll need to make a splash to strengthen their title odds. Anything short of a Finals appearance next season could spell bad news for their hopes of keeping their superstar.
The Bucks won&rsquo;t have cap space to work with, but that shouldn&rsquo;t be much of an issue because all of their important pieces are locked in for next season. They&rsquo;ll have the non-tax payers mid-level exception available to them, and have enough mid-sized contracts to make a <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/nba-trade-rumors-possible-destinations-victor-oladipo-indiana-pacers">splash in the trade market</a> if they so choose. 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/milwaukee-bucks-salary-cap-space-2020/">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
Wesley Matthews*: Bring Him Back
Matthews routinely took on the most demanding perimeter defensive assignments throughout the regular season, while knocking down over 36 percent of his threes on decent volume. He then upped the ante in the postseason, something that the Heat -- and Jimmy Butler specifically -- got a firsthand look at.
<img style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" src="https://basketballnews-media.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/images/story/body/usatsi_14895014-1_lg.jpg" alt="" width="860" height="AUTO" />
Matthews fits into one of the NBA&rsquo;s most valuable role player archetypes: a true 3-and-D wing. For that reason, it&rsquo;s fair to expect him to opt-out of his $2.7 million and see if he can grab a portion of a contender&rsquo;s mid-level exception. The Bucks should have a leg up in that situation; not only can they toss out a little bit more money with his Early Bird Rights, Matthews is more than familiar with the area having played at Marquette and slots in nicely as a fit alongside the most dominant paint presence in the sport right now. At any rate, the Bucks should do what they can to bring him back.
Kyle Korver: Circle Back Later
Korver is a strong locker room presence and one heck of a shooter, having made nearly 42 percent of his triples last season. He has clear value as a spacer and off-ball mover, even if his role needs to be limited in the postseason because of his defensive limitations. There are more talented free-agent perimeter guys on the market -- heck, there are intriguing young guards like Sterling Brown and Pat Connaughton on the current roster that have a claim for more minutes next year if the Bucks bring them back. It shouldn&rsquo;t cost more than the veteran's minimum to bring Korver back in any case, so doing some shopping first makes sense. &nbsp; Robin Lopez*: He&rsquo;ll Be Back
Lopez was mostly fine as a backup, operating as an extension of Milwaukee&rsquo;s &ldquo;no paint shots no matter what&rdquo; ethos. He contested shots at the rim, boxed out for others and oscillated between flipping up those swooping hook shots and chucking threes above the break to middling results (33.3 percent). There are better backups out there, but it&rsquo;s hard to see him turning down a player option worth a hair over $5 million.
Free Agent Guards
Mid-Tier Options: Jordan Clarkson
It&rsquo;s fun to speculate about the Bucks trading for a shot creator. Chris Paul is a popular name; Victor Oladipo is starting to pick up some steam. You can talk yourself into a one-year Mike Conley gamble if you squint hard enough.
What if the need isn&rsquo;t that stark? If you&rsquo;re of the mindset that the Bucks need a boost, but not an All-Star-caliber boost, bringing Clarkson into the picture would fit that idea.
Clarkson is coming off of, by far, the most efficient season of his career. He gave the Jazz a much-needed scoring punch once he arrived, averaging 15.6 points with a 56.9 True Shooting percentage during the regular season. Both of those marks increased (16.7, 57.7) during Utah&rsquo;s first-round showdown with the Denver Nuggets.&nbsp;
Him trading out some of his frustrating long-twos for threes made him a more efficient option. He&rsquo;s an underwhelming defender to be kind about it, but the Bucks have the personnel to mask some of his limitations. Going after Clarkson with the mid-level exception would allow the Bucks to bolster their guard room, or at least provide some insurance if they do decide to enter the trade market.&nbsp;
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.&nbsp;
Free Agent Wings
<img style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" src="https://basketballnews-media.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/images/story/body/usatsi_13904691-1_lg.jpg" alt="" width="860" height="AUTO" />
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 boost Milwaukee&rsquo;s transition attack with his athleticism, and could add some much-needed randomness as an off-ball mover in half-court situations. He should be an option even if Matthews returns.
Bargains: Garrett Temple*
Temple would give the Bucks another 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, Paul Millsap
If Gallinari is serious about going the &ldquo;winning &gt; pay day&rdquo; route, then it&rsquo;s hard to envision a better landing spot for him than Milwaukee. He would immediately boost Milwaukee&rsquo;s shooting and shot creation. His ability as a downhill creator would be a welcome addition to a team that doesn&rsquo;t have much outside of Giannis and Bledsoe (and even that&rsquo;s a bit of a wildcard).&nbsp;
Millsap slipped a bit last season, sometimes laboring while operating as Denver&rsquo;s back-line defender in their aggressive pick-and-roll scheme. Still, he&rsquo;s able to hold his own against power wings and fours and provides a little bit of everything on offense. He&rsquo;s coming off the best shooting season of his career (43.5 percent from three), though that came on limited volume. He can mash smaller players on the block and flow between rolling and popping in pick-and-roll.&nbsp;
<img style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" src="https://basketballnews-media.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/images/story/body/usatsi_14077116-1_lg.jpg" alt="" width="860" height="AUTO" />
He could operate as a "super sub" in Milwaukee while providing plenty of late-game flexibility. Want to size up? Sit Bledsoe and run something like Middleton-Matthews*-Giannis-Millsap-Lopez to close out games. Sizing down and switching? Bledsoe-Matthews-Middleton-Millsap-Giannis could do the trick.
Bargains: Lance Thomas, Carmelo Anthony
Lance 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 9th man to get you through the regular season.&nbsp; Anthony proved last season he had a little left in the tank as a shooter and mid-post creator. He&rsquo;s still a mess defensively, but that can be hidden with the perimeter quickness, length and size Milwaukee can play. For the minimum, why not juice the bench a bit?
Free Agent Bigs
Bargains: JaVale McGee
The Bucks likely won&rsquo;t be in the market for a big unless Robin Lopez declines his player option, which is hard to see happening. If Lopez does go, they could pry McGee out of Los Angeles.&nbsp;
He remains one of the NBA&rsquo;s top lob threats, equipped with solid leaping ability and a silly catch radius. He uses those limbs to putback misses and swat shots on the other end. Fouls and an inability to navigate space limit his ceiling, though he&rsquo;d only be needed for 12-15 minutes to spell Brook Lopez. You can make the argument that the Bucks are lacking a true vertical spacer outside of Giannis. "The Lopii" mostly operated as pick-and-pop threats last season. Adding that element to their half-court attack could make things easier for everyone involved, even if it&rsquo;s mostly a regular season thing.

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

2020 Free Agency Preview: Milwaukee Bucks

Here is the latest news on the Top 25 Free Agents in the NBA for the 2014-15 season, as ranked by Chris Sheridan of SheridanHoops.