Bulls

Spencer Davies speaks with Taqwa Pinero about his life journey and how he's preparing both the future and current hoop generations.

Taqwa Pinero's knowledge is its own currency, and he's paying it forward

The Basketball World Cup field is now filled, with Serbia grabbing the last spot in this summer&rsquo;s 32-team tournament.
Serbia clinched the berth with a 101-83 win over Great Britain on Monday. The win means two-time reigning NBA MVP Nikola Jokic of the Denver Nuggets will have the chance to play for a World Cup this summer, when the tournament gets held in the Philippines, Japan and Indonesia.
Serbia&rsquo;s win in Belgrade eliminated Belgium, the last team that still had a chance to qualify.
Most teams at the World Cup will use NBA players when they can. The U.S. used G League and internationally based players almost exclusively in its qualifying games, but it will go to a roster of NBA players for the tournament this summer.
&ldquo;We&rsquo;re looking forward to competing for another gold medal,&rdquo; USA Basketball men&rsquo;s coach Steve Kerr&nbsp;<a class="paragraph-link" href="https://twitter.com/usabasketball/status/1630387057129402370?s=20" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">said in a video released by the federation</a>&nbsp;Monday night. Kerr also lauded the work of U.S. qualifying team coach Jim Boylen, who led the Americans in all 12 of their games in those cycles.
Spain is the defending champion. The U.S. finished seventh at the last World Cup in 2019.
THE FIELD
Serbia qualifying means 10 of the top 11 teams in the world rankings reached the World Cup. The exception was No. 4 Argentina, the silver medalist in 2019.
No. 1 Spain, No. 2 United States, No. 3 Australia, No. 5 France, No. 6 Serbia, No. 7 Slovenia, No. 8 Lithuania, No. 9 Greece, No. 10 Italy and No. 11 Germany have qualified. There will be two first-round groups that include two of those teams. And none of the four teams involved in that scenario will be thrilled when they see that draw.
The lowest-ranked teams in the field are four of the five African qualifiers: No. 43 Ivory Coast, No. 55 Egypt, No. 63 South Sudan and No. 66 Cape Verde.
HELLO
Cape Verde, South Sudan, Georgia and Latvia are in the tournament for the first time.
THEY&rsquo;RE BACK
There are 23 teams that were in the 2019 World Cup and have qualified again for this year&rsquo;s event, a list led by the United States and Brazil &mdash; the only nations to appear in all 19 editions of the tournament.
Spain has been to each of the last 11 World Cups. Puerto Rico has been to each of the last 10.
The other 19 nations that are back from 2019: Angola, New Zealand, France, Greece, Australia, Lithuania, Serbia, Iran, Dominican Republic, Philippines, Montenegro, Jordan, Venezuela, Japan, Ivory Coast, Germany, China, Italy and Canada.
Finland, Slovenia, Egypt and Mexico are back in the field after last reaching the World Cup in 2014. Lebanon is back, after its most recent appearance was in 2010.
THEY&rsquo;RE NOT BACK
These nine nations appeared in the 2019 tournament and won&rsquo;t be back this summer: Argentina, South Korea, Turkey, Senegal, Nigeria, Tunisia, Poland, the Czech Republic and Russia.
FIBA banned Russia&rsquo;s teams and officials from its competitions last year in response to that country&rsquo;s invasion of Ukraine.
THE TOURNAMENT
The group phase &mdash; eight groups of four teams &mdash; runs from Aug. 25 through Aug. 30. The second round is Aug. 31 through Sept. 4.
Quarterfinal games will be played on Sept. 5 and 6. The semifinals are Sept. 8, and the championship and third-place game in Manila are Sept. 10.
That&rsquo;s about two weeks before NBA training camps are scheduled to open, barring a lockout this summer.
THE DRAW
Each nation will be assigned to a four-team opening-round group on April 29. The top two teams from each of those groups will make the second round.
The U.S. will play its group-stage games in the Philippines, and will stay there for the entirety of its stay in the tournament &mdash; as will the Philippines.
Slovenia and Japan will play group-stage games in Okinawa, Japan. Canada will play its group-stage games in Jakarta, Indonesia.
All teams will find out their opponents, and all the other teams that don&rsquo;t already know their group-stage destinations, at the April 29 draw.
AT STAKE
The World Cup will be a way for seven teams to qualify for the 2024 Paris Olympics. Of those, two will come from the Americas Region, two from Europe, one from Africa, one from Asia and one from Oceania.
The other five Olympic berths will be decided by qualifying tournaments this summer, with 40 nations set to be invited to play for those spots.
There are 39 nations that now have confirmed invitations: Argentina, Bahamas, Bahrain, Belgium, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Cameroon, Chile, Chinese Taipei, Colombia, Congo, Cuba, Czech Republic, Estonia, Great Britain, Guinea, Hungary, Iceland, India, Indonesia, Israel, Kazakhstan, Korea, Mali, Netherlands, Nigeria, North Macedonia, Panama, Poland, Portugal, Saudi Arabia, Senegal, Sweden, Syria, Tunisia, Turkey, Uganda, Ukraine, Uruguay and the Virgin Islands.
The 40th spot is likely to go to Croatia, a decision that FIBA is set to finalize on April 28.

The Basketball World Cup field is now filled, with Serbia grabbing the last spot in this summer’s 32-team tournament.

Serbia grabs the last spot in Basketball World Cup field

PARIS (AP) &mdash; NBA Commissioner Adam Silver had a meeting this week in Paris and was asked by a gracious host how he takes his coffee.
&ldquo;Un sucre?&rdquo; French President Emmanuel Macron asked.
Over that coffee, the leader of the NBA and the leader of France struck a deal to work together with hopes of continuing to grow the game of basketball internationally &mdash; a marriage of perfect timing, given how French star Victor Wembanyama is a few months from coming to the NBA and the Paris Olympics are about 18 months away.
The NBA announced some details Thursday, including a collaboration between the league and the LNB, which is France&rsquo;s top pro league; events that France and the NBA will work on together as part of the buildup toward Paris 2024; expanded youth programs; and additional work toward growing the game in Africa, with both the league and France committing to further investments there including facilities capable of playing host to Basketball Africa League games.
&ldquo;His belief, I think, is very similar certainly to the NBA&rsquo;s about the power of sport to bring people together and what a constructive force it can be and even as a global engine to create commonality and empathy among people,&rdquo; Silver said.
Macron, Silver said, happened to have his schedule align with a BAL game during a visit to Rwanda in the league&rsquo;s inaugural playoffs. Macron watched the game with Rwandan President Paul Kagame.
&ldquo;He&rsquo;s very familiar with all our global plans, in Africa particularly,&rdquo; Silver said.
Macron had other pressing matters on his schedule this week. At least 1.1 million people protested on the streets of Paris and other French cities Thursday amid nationwide strikes against plans to raise the retirement age, but Macron &mdash; who met with Silver on Wednesday in Paris, and was at a French-Spanish summit in Barcelona on Thursday &mdash; has said he will press ahead with the proposed pension reforms.
Basketball was likely only a brief distraction.
&ldquo;I am delighted and proud of the NBA&rsquo;s choice to make France and Paris one of its privileged playgrounds in the world,&rdquo; Macron said. &ldquo;It reflects the special and long-standing relationship that France has with the NBA. With the excellence of our training, the performance of our national teams and the hosting of the Paris 2024 Olympic and Paralympic games, we now have the opportunity to go further and engage in a useful and lasting partnership for the benefit of French basketball, as well as in support of our development policy in Africa.&rdquo;
The NBA is in the process of planning another game in Paris next year, Silver said; he spoke Thursday just before a game between the Chicago Bulls and Detroit Pistons, with Wembanyama and his family sitting courtside.
Silver and Macron also discussed plans for Paris 2024, including how the current schedule calls for preliminary games in Lille &mdash; about 140 miles north of Paris. That decision is not final, and has been the subject of some criticism given the high-profile status basketball has on the Olympic program.
&ldquo;He assured us everything would be OK,&rdquo; Silver said.
Other topics covered by Silver on Thursday included:
LABOR DEAL
Even though Silver and National Basketball Players Association executive director Tamika Tremaglio were in Paris this week, talks between the league and the union continued in New York.
&ldquo;Our colleagues are back in New York, negotiating as we speak,&rdquo; Silver said. &ldquo;They&rsquo;ve been meeting all week, just going issue by issue and trying to work through those issues that separate us. I would say, though, that I think we start from a very strong foundation.&rdquo;
The NBA and its players have until Feb. 8 if either side wants to opt out of the current collective bargaining agreement. That deadline has been pushed back once already from mid-December, and it would not be a surprise if it gets pushed back again.
&ldquo;There&rsquo;s a strong sense of partnership between the players and the league,&rdquo; Silver said. &ldquo;That doesn&rsquo;t mean we don&rsquo;t have disagreements.&rdquo;
Among the issues that the NBA and the NBPA have been discussing in recent weeks is a return to letting players enter the draft straight out high school without waiting a year &mdash; that move is expected to be included in the next CBA &mdash; along with what the league considers an &ldquo;upper spending limit&rdquo; that would significantly tighten the rules on how much teams can spend each year on their roster.
LEBRON&rsquo;S RECORD
With LeBron James now perhaps just a couple of weeks away from catching Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and becoming the NBA&rsquo;s career scoring leader, Silver revealed some of the notions the league is considering to pay tribute to the accomplishment.
&ldquo;There&rsquo;s no doubt we will stop that game and make sure we record for history, the ball, the basket, the uniform,&rdquo; Silver said. &ldquo;We&rsquo;ll stop and make sure that we&rsquo;ve done our jobs as the archivists of the NBA. At the same time, there&rsquo;s that balance that they will be playing against a team that will very much want to win that night and not be distracted. Most likely we will do something in the moment, but then we will plan a larger celebration.&rdquo;
James is on pace to break the record in early February &mdash; and if he does, it&rsquo;s likely that the bigger celebration Silver spoke of would come at the NBA&rsquo;s All-Star weekend in Salt Lake City later that month.
RETURN TO NORMALCY
The last time the NBA played in Paris before Thursday was January 2020 &mdash; just under two months before the league shut down because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
&ldquo;I actually remember when we were here then, that January in 2020, we started to see people wearing masks. People knew something was coming,&rdquo; Silver said. &ldquo;No one was predicting at that time that the world was going to shut down and we&rsquo;d go on to play in a bubble, etc. Our hope is, of course, that we&rsquo;ve bookended that pandemic, and the worst is behind us. We hope it is.&rdquo;
___
AP NBA: https://apnews.com/hub/NBA and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports

The leader of the NBA and the leader of France struck a deal to work together with hopes of continuing to grow the game of basketball.

Silver, Macron meet to discuss goals with NBA back in Paris

When the season began, it wasn't clear how much longer Myles Turner would be with the Indiana Pacers.
That's still a reasonable question &mdash; but now there's another one alongside it: How much longer can those Pacers stay in the playoff race?
After losing 57 games a season ago, the Pacers are a .500 team at the moment &mdash; and that's despite dropping seven of their last 10. Coach Rick Carlisle's group can push the tempo, and the Pacers have a 22-year-old standout in point guard Tyrese Haliburton. Indiana is not a team that should be taken lightly.
&ldquo;They beat us the last time and they&rsquo;re ahead of us in the standings,&rdquo; Miami coach Erik Spoelstra said Monday when asked about not overlooking opponents. &ldquo;There is more parity, I think, overall in the league and I think it&rsquo;s good for the league."
The Heat did beat Indiana 87-82 on Monday night in what was easily the Pacers' lowest-scoring game of the season. They've been held under 100 points only one other time.
Indiana is fifth in the NBA in pace after ranking 18th last season.
&ldquo;I&rsquo;m not that surprised, seeing Ty ... for two months last year and knowing we&rsquo;d get (T.J.) McConnell back and he plays pretty fast,&rdquo; Carlisle said. &ldquo;But it does tell a story of who we are as a team and it tells a story that if we don&rsquo;t come up with rebounds, we&rsquo;re not going to be able to play fast. We love playing fast. It&rsquo;s fun (and) it&rsquo;s gotten interest from the fans in this team.&rdquo;
The Pacers are showing the type of improvement that can easily stay under the radar. They aren't leading their conference like New Orleans, another sub-.500 team from last season. Instead, they're in the middle of the pack in the Eastern Conference. Joining them there are the New York Knicks, who have won four straight to pull a game above .500 &mdash; after going 37-45 in 2021-22.
No matter how the rest of this season unfolds for the Pacers, they have some young talent they can get excited about. Haliburton is averaging a career-best 19.4 points per game in his third season. Bennedict Mathurin is averaging 17.6, and fellow rookie Andrew Nembhard had 31 points and 13 assists in <a href="https://apnews.com/article/indiana-pacers-golden-state-warriors-nba-sports-858f0912dc57c9407c81b68de5b174d1">a win over Golden State</a> last week. Nembhard also made a 3-pointer <a href="https://apnews.com/article/los-angeles-lakers-indiana-pacers-nba-sports-b6e1415dd4d8fa0fac2a10c8477da348">at the buzzer</a> to beat the Los Angeles Lakers last month.
That talented trio is one the Pacers can move forward with even if they end up dealing the 26-year-old Turner and 29-year-old Buddy Hield. Although for now, those two are still with Indiana and making their own contributions, averaging about 17 points apiece.
Turner is in the final year of his contract and could bring back a good haul in a trade. Indiana is still less than a year removed from a major makeover. The Pacers traded star forward Domantas Sabonis to Sacramento in February and received Haliburton in return. Hield also went to Indiana in that deal.
The Kings have certainly reaped the benefits. After losing 52 games last season, they're above .500 and positioned in the top six in the West. While it's not clear how long Hield will be with the Pacers, they're off to a decent start, too.
Indiana does have a couple of obvious weaknesses it needs to shore up. The Pacers are allowing opponents to shoot 25.8 free throws a game, the second-most in the NBA. Rebounding is also an issue. The 6-foot-11 Turner is one of the game's top shot blockers, but on the boards, the Pacers are vulnerable.
Indiana ranks 27th in the league in defensive rebounding percentage. The Pacers gave up 29 offensive boards to the Brooklyn Nets in Saturday's loss.
&ldquo;It&rsquo;s effort really and that&rsquo;s something we talked about in practice,&rdquo; Carlisle said. &ldquo;That&rsquo;s something we&rsquo;ve got to concentrate on. We need it to be a real wake-up call.&rdquo;
Indiana lost that game to a depleted Brooklyn team 136-133 despite 35 points from Haliburton. Then the Pacers dropped a low-scoring game to Miami. In the next couple of weeks, Indiana has a rematch with Golden State, plus games against Cleveland, Boston and New Orleans. That stretch might indicate whether the Pacers will remain an intriguing playoff contender.
___
AP Sports Writer Michael Marot in Indianapolis contributed to this report.
___
Follow Noah Trister at https://twitter.com/noahtrister

No matter how the rest of this season unfolds for the Pacers, they have some young talent they can get excited about.

Fast-paced Indiana holding its own in Eastern Conference

NEW ORLEANS (AP) &mdash; Kelly Olynyk doesn't want to get too giddy about how the Utah Jazz's offseason makeover is starting to look.
It sure is promising, though.
Lauri Markkanen capped a 31-point performance with clutch free throws late in overtime, Olynyk hit a go-ahead, driving scoop with 3 seconds to go, and the overhauled Jazz beat the New Orleans Pelicans 122-121 on Sunday night to remain unbeaten through three games under new coach Will Hardy.
&ldquo;Top to bottom, guys are playing hard, playing the right way, playing together, unselfish,&rdquo; Olynyk said. "It's been really fun to play the first three games.
&ldquo;We're getting better and learning more about each others' games,&rdquo; he added. &ldquo;It's been showing and it's exciting.&rdquo;
Utah had to regroup after losing a 17-point lead in the fourth quarter and trailing 110-107 when CJ McCollum hit a 3-pointer in the final minute of regulation. But Jordan Clarkson hit a tying 3 and Utah had the benefit of not having to play against Brandon Ingram or Zion Williamson in overtime.
Ingram left the Pelicans' home opener in the second quarter with concussion symptoms after a collision with teammate Naji Marshall. Williamson scored 25 points in his first regular-season game in New Orleans since May 4, 2021. But the star power forward also hit the floor hard on his lower back when Clarkson blocked his transition dunk attempt from behind in the fourth quarter.
&ldquo;A really great play by J.C.,&rdquo; Markkanen said of the block, which looked clean on video replays. &ldquo;We have guys making that extra effort every game.&rdquo;
Williamson, who checked out shortly after the play, never left the bench area to seek treatment. But also never re-entered the game. The Pelicans said afterward that he had a posterior hip contusion.
Utah led 102-85 on Clarkson's layup early in the fourth quarter, after which coach Willie Green called timeout.
New Orleans then responded with a 25-5 run in which McCollum and Trey Murphy each scored nine and Larry Nance Jr. dunked twice.
&ldquo;You definitely look at the things we did well and try to bottle those things up, but as I told our group, we can't wait to get hit first,&rdquo; Green said. &ldquo;We watched the film on Utah against Denver, we watched it against Minnesota. This is how they play. They're tough, they play fast, they offensive rebound the ball and they want to get a lot of 3s up.&rdquo;
McCollum, who finished with 28 points, also scored six points in overtime, but his off-balance, 27-foot attempt from the right wing at the end of overtime bounced off the rim.
Olynyk, who finished with 20 points, said the Jazz set up his game-winning basket by running players across the court.
&ldquo;Everybody fanned out, I thought I had a lane and took it and made a tough finger roll,&rdquo; Olynyk said.
Markkanen was 9 of 17 shooting, made two 3s and all 11 of his free throws. Clarkson finished with 18 points.
&ldquo;Our team&rsquo;s got heart,&rdquo; Hardy said. &ldquo;The fourth quarter got hard &mdash; could not make a shot.
&ldquo;Our guys just stuck with it,&rdquo; Hardy added. "This group is fun."
Murphy scored 16 points for New Orleans. Ingram had 10 points in 11 minutes before checking out for good. Nance also scored 10.
SETTING THE TONE
The Pelicans hadn't trailed during either of their first two games at Brooklyn and Charlotte, but Utah dictated the pace of play in the first half.
&ldquo;Their speed and their offensive rebounding hurt us,&rdquo; Green said.
Utah led by as many as 11 points in the second quarter when Jarred Vanderbilt's free throws made it 63-52 shortly before halftime, capping a 10-4 run that also included Vanderbilt's 3 and finger roll.
Herb Jones' free throw made it a 10-point game at the half.
TIP-INS
Jazz: Vanderbilt finished with 15 points. ... Markkanen's point total was his highest through the first three games. ... Utah shot 13 of 38 (34.2%) from 3-point range. ... Scored 21 points off 17 Pelicans turnovers.
Pelicans: Jaxson Hayes saw his first action this season after coming back from a left elbow injury. He played just three minutes and missed his only shot. ... New Orleans had 43 bench points.
UP NEXT
Jazz: At Houston on Monday night.
Pelicans: Host Dallas on Tuesday night.

The overhauled Jazz beat the Pelicans 122-121 on Sunday night to remain unbeaten through three games under new coach Will Hardy.

Markkanen, Jazz thwart Pelicans' comeback bid, 122-121 in OT

When defending its national championship last season, Baylor lost a top newcomer to an injury in the first scrimmage. A lingering foot injury eventually shut down a leading scorer, and the player known as &ldquo;Everyday Jon&rdquo; suffered a devastating knee injury.
Through all of that, after the departure already of a talented trio of guards from the title team, the Bears still won a share of their second consecutive Big 12 regular-season crown and were a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament. They overcame a 25-point deficit in the second half of their second-round game not far from home before falling in overtime to the eventual national champion.
Even with another restructured roster, Scott Drew goes into his 20th season as the Baylor coach with his fifth-ranked Bears the preseason Big 12 favorite.
&ldquo;Really like the returning upperclassmen,&rdquo; Drew said. &ldquo;The new guys are really bought in, and really great additions. The chemistry has been tremendous, and our staff really enjoys going to practice every day, working with our guys because they want to get better. Couldn&rsquo;t ask for more.&rdquo;
Leading scorer Adam Flagler (13.8 points per game) and big man Flo Thamba (6.2 points, 5.6 rebounds in 20 minutes per game) are the only returning starters. Guards LJ Cryer and Langston Love were cleared for practice, though post Jonathan Tchamwa Tchatchoua is still recovering from surgery to repair multiple torn ligaments in his left knee.&nbsp;
The Bears added transfer forwards Jalen Bridges (West Virginia) and Caleb Lohner (BYU), and their highest-ranked recruit ever: Keyonte George, a Texas kid who was a five-star guard at IMG Academy in Florida and was picked as the preseason Big 12 freshman of the year.
Cryer was in and out of the lineup because of his surgically repaired right foot, but still led the team in scoring (13.5 ppg) when he played his last game in mid-February. Drew expects Love, the 6-foot-5 guard who tore his ACL in the first scrimmage before last season, to have a big impact on the program though he will need some time to get back to game speed.
&ldquo;He&rsquo;s a tremendous competitor,&rdquo; Drew said. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s a connector. He brings people together &mdash; everybody, upperclassman, new players, staff have such respect for him.&rdquo;
FLAGLER ON POINT
The versatile Flagler is set to take over at point guard.
&ldquo;We all know he&rsquo;s a great shooter, scorer, but he&rsquo;s going to have an opportunity to show that he can run a team,&rdquo; Drew said. &ldquo;He can play on and off the ball, but he really takes care of the ball and he really does a great job pitching ahead in transition. ... Guys like playing with someone who moves the ball like he does.&rdquo;
GUARD PLAY
During their championship season, the Bears had the selfless trio of standout guards Jared Butler, Davion Mitchell and MaCio Teague. Baylor now has another pretty talented backcourt with Cryer, Flagler, George, Love and Dale Bonner, the transfer from Division II Fairmont State who turned into a key rotation player last season.
ONE AND DONE
Baylor lost a pair of one-and-done players, with forward Jeremy Sochan and guard Kendall Brown being NBA draft picks after their freshman seasons. Point guard James Akinjo was also there only one season after being a graduate transfer from Arizona.
OH CANADA
All the newcomers were part of the Bears&rsquo; summer trip to Canada for GLOBL Jam, where they represented the United States and advanced to the finals after upsetting host Canada.
&ldquo;I just feel like we came together as one early,&rdquo; said George, who averaged 22.8 points in those games. &ldquo;So we&rsquo;re better than a lot of college teams right now.&rdquo;
TITLE REMATCH
Baylor will be in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, on Dec. 2 to play second-ranked Gonzaga in a rematch of the 2021 NCAA championship game that the Bears won 86-70. After three consecutive home games to open the season, they go to Las Vegas to play No. 18 Virginia on Nov. 18, then No. 8 UCLA or No. 23 Illinois two days after that. Their Big 12 opener is at Iowa State on New Year&rsquo;s Eve.&nbsp;

Even with another restructured roster, Scott Drew goes into his 20th season as the Baylor coach with his Bears the conference favorite.

No. 5 Baylor preseason Big 12 favorite for Drew’s 20th season

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) &mdash; Jordan Clarkson scored 29 points on 7-for-12 shooting from 3-point range to lead Utah's rally, and the Jazz outlasted former teammate Rudy Gobert and the Minnesota Timberwolves 132-126 in overtime Friday night.
Lauri Markkanen had 24 points and 13 rebounds and got a leaner in the lane to fall with 12 seconds left in the extra period to put the Jazz up by four.
Mike Conley gave the Jazz the lead for good with a 3-pointer with 1:01 left. Gobert had a dunk foiled by a foul on Conley with 34 seconds to go, and he missed both free throws to finish with nine points and 23 rebounds.
Anthony Edwards scored 30 points, Karl-Anthony Towns had 27 points and D'Angelo Russell added 23 points including the tying jumper with 4.4 seconds left in the fourth quarter. Jaylen Nowell pitched in 18 points for the Timberwolves, who led by as many as 17 points in the first half.
Clarkson and Kelly Olynyk &mdash; who had 21 points &mdash; made a pair of 3-pointers apiece during a 12-2 spurt that gave the Jazz a 120-113 lead, but they didn&rsquo;t score over the final 1:54 of regulation.
Gobert&rsquo;s three-point play with 44 seconds to go brought the Timberwolves within two, when he grabbed his own miss, drew the foul on Olynyk and let out a primal scream from the flex pose.
When Markkanen missed a jumper on the other end, Olynyk was called for a foul in the rebound tangle with Towns. Russell faked Conley to the floor with a killer crossover to set up his pull-up bank shot that tied the game.
NEW JAZZ
The Timberwolves turned a 16-point lead into a six-point deficit during the third quarter in their <a href="https://apnews.com/article/oklahoma-city-thunder-minnesota-timberwolves-nba-sports-dangelo-russell-b6fb2c0f0b38f74ecd307b062b64c5b7">season-opening win</a> over Oklahoma City, and they came out of halftime with another janky performance against the Jazz with unforced errors and awkward shots that killed the fast-breaking success they enjoyed in the first half.
<a href="https://apnews.com/article/minnesota-timberwolves-utah-jazz-nba-entertainment-sports-30765f1caacff7e3e99aa0674dee7ffb">The trade</a> that sent Gobert to Minnesota and a package of four players and five first-round draft picks to Utah was only part of the <a href="https://apnews.com/article/utah-jazz-nba-sports-donovan-mitchell-salt-lake-city-13283e998c91371e3336b24f7ecff4e6">offseason makeover</a> for the Jazz, who made the playoffs in each of the last six years but never made it past the second round.
Gobert's good friends, Clarkson, Conley and Rudy Gay, remained &mdash; he met them for dinner the night before &mdash; but the rest of the roster was unrecognizable to the 7-foot-1 native of France whose first nine seasons in <a href="https://apnews.com/hub/nba">the NBA</a> were with Utah. The new faces included new coach Will Hardy, who's just four years older than Gobert.
After an eye-opening <a href="https://apnews.com/article/utah-jazz-boston-celtics-denver-nuggets-nba-sports-2bf55150bd73796de42e437b0d9569a0">21-point victory</a> in their home opener over Denver, the Jazz delivered a promising follow-up against another 2022 playoff team. They trailed 15-3 out of the gate and by 16 points midway through the second quarter, before Markkanen and Olynyk began giving the Timberwolves a fair fight in the paint with help from Jarred Vanderbilt and rookie Walker Kessler.
QUICK VISIT
Malik Beasley and Vanderbilt were two of the key role players Minnesota sent to Utah for Gobert, and their return to Minnesota was acknowledged with a brief welcome during pregame introductions. Rookie Walker Kessler got one from the public address announcer, too, even though he spent only one full day in Minnesota and barely a week on the roster after he was drafted out of Auburn and included in the trade as one of the first-rounders.
TIP-INS
Jazz: Vanderbilt had four points and 14 rebounds in 25 minutes. ... Beasley had 15 points including two big 3-pointers in the fourth quarter.
Timberwolves: Towns is 11 for 27 from the floor in two games. ... Sixth man Kyle Anderson left with back spasms in the first quarter after playing just 38 seconds. He did not return to the bench.
UP NEXT
Jazz: Play at New Orleans on Sunday night on the second stop of a three-game trip.
Timberwolves: Play at Oklahoma City on Sunday night, before three more home games next week.

Lauri Markkanen had 24 points and 13 rebounds and got a leaner in the lane to fall with 12 seconds left to put the Jazz up by four.

Jazz rally to beat Wolves 132-126 in OT reunion with Gobert

Nikola Jokic is about to start his chase toward something that hasn&rsquo;t been done in nearly 40 years.
A player winning back-to-back NBA MVP awards is rare, something that&rsquo;s happened only 13 times in league history. And having done that last season, Jokic &mdash; the cornerstone of the Denver Nuggets &mdash; is now trying for something even more unusual: winning it three years in a row.
The only players who have pulled off that feat are Bill Russell (1961, 1962, 1963), Wilt Chamberlain (1966, 1967, 1968) and Larry Bird (1984, 1985, 1986).
The Nuggets aren't keeping that fact a secret from Jokic.
&ldquo;No, I challenged him,&rdquo; said Nuggets coach Michael Malone, who flew to Serbia last summer to surprise Jokic with his second straight award.
Jokic is obviously among the favorites. Until this past season, there had never been a stretch of four consecutive international MVPs in the NBA. Jokic changed that, winning each of the last two awards after Milwaukee&rsquo;s Giannis Antetokounmpo (Greece) won in 2019 and 2020.
And right now, it would seem almost likely that the MVP streak for non-U.S.-born players goes to five in a row, with Jokic, Antetokounmpo, Dallas&rsquo; Luka Doncic (Slovenia) and Philadelphia's Joel Embiid among the favorites. Embiid was born in Cameroon and holds French and now U.S. citizenship.
<a href="https://sportsbook.fanduel.com/navigation/nba?tab=player-awards">FanDuel Sportsbook</a> says Doncic is the favorite, just ahead of Embiid and Antetokounmpo. Jokic is fourth in terms of lowest odds, tied with Brooklyn&rsquo;s Kevin Durant and just ahead of Memphis&rsquo; Ja Morant, Boston&rsquo;s Jayson Tatum and Golden State&rsquo;s Stephen Curry.
POP STUFF
San Antonio&rsquo;s Gregg Popovich has faced 163 different coaches so far in his legendary career. That list should reach at least 166 this season, with him slated to oppose Los Angeles Lakers coach Darvin Ham, interim Boston coach Joe Mazzulla and former Spurs assistant Will Hardy &mdash; now the coach in Utah &mdash; all for the first time.
There have been 322 coaches in NBA history, not including Popovich, who have coached at least 10 games. Popovich, the NBA&rsquo;s all-time wins leader, has faced more than half of them &mdash; 50.3%, or 162.
Popovich turns 74 on Jan. 28, and he's the oldest active head coach in the NBA.
It's no secret that Popovich enjoys talking about and, of course, sipping fine wine. But six of the players on San Antonio's season-opening roster probably won't have much to say about that topic; Jordan Hall is 20 and the Spurs have five other players &mdash; Joshua Primo, Blake Wesley, Dominick Barlow, Malaki Branham and Jeremy Sochan &mdash; who are still 19 as this season begins.
The Spurs' group of 19-year-olds, incidentally, are five of the NBA's 17 youngest players who made rosters or got two-way deals to start the season.
SPO WATCH
Miami&rsquo;s Erik Spoelstra &mdash; whose tenure with the Heat is the second-longest of any current coach in his current job, behind only San Antonio&rsquo;s Gregg Popovich &mdash; should move into the top 20 on the NBA&rsquo;s all-time wins list this season.
Spoelstra starts the season with 660 wins, behind No. 22 Mike Fratello (667), No. 21 Mike D&rsquo;Antoni (672) and No. 20 Red Holzman (696). No. 19 John MacLeod (707) is within legitimate reach for Spoelstra this season as well.
Philadelphia&rsquo;s Doc Rivers enters the year No. 9 on the list with 1,043 wins, which is 55 behind No. 8 Larry Brown. Indiana&rsquo;s Rick Carlisle has 861 wins, three back of No. 14 Jack Ramsay.
FIT TO BE TIED
For only the second time in the last 23 seasons, the Western Conference didn&rsquo;t win the season-long series against teams from the Eastern Conference.
In the regular season, the East went 226-224 against the West &mdash; bolstered by a 3-0 record on the final day with Chicago topping Minnesota, Boston rolling past Memphis and Atlanta defeating Houston.
Throw in Golden State&rsquo;s 4-2 mark against Boston in the NBA Finals, and the final games-won tally for the full season was West 228, East 228.
The only other time since 1998-99 that the East won the regular season series vs. the West was 2008-09, going 231-219. In the other 21 regular seasons over that span, before last year, the West had gone 5,149-3,910 vs. the East &mdash; a .568 winning percentage.
AGE GAME
The youngest player in the league entering this season is Detroit&rsquo;s Jalen Duren, who was born Nov. 18, 2003.
Yes, that means he wasn&rsquo;t born yet when some current players were already in the league. LeBron James and Udonis Haslem both played their 11th career games on the day Duren was born.
That isn&rsquo;t the only age quirk this season.
The 42-year-old Haslem is older than five current head coaches &mdash; New Orleans&rsquo; Willie Green, Memphis&rsquo; Taylor Jenkins, Oklahoma City&rsquo;s Mark Daigneault, Utah&rsquo;s Will Hardy and Boston interim coach Joe Mazzulla. Golden State&rsquo;s Andre Iguodala is older than than the last four names on that list; James is older than the last three.
There are 19 players currently on rosters who are older than Hardy (including Jazz players Rudy Gay and Mike Conley) and 23 players older than Mazzulla (including Boston forward Al Horford).
ODDS ARE
Oklahoma City has been favored in five games over the last two seasons. That&rsquo;s the fewest games in a two-year span by any team over the last decade; Philadelphia was favored in a combined six games over the 2015-16 and 2016-17 seasons.
That said, the Thunder were a great bet last season. They covered in 63% of their games, just behind Memphis (64%) for the best such rate in the NBA. The worst was Portland, which covered 38% of the time.
This much is certain: The team that was favored in more games than anyone else last season won&rsquo;t have that same distinction this year.
Last year, the Utah Jazz were favored in 73 of the 82 regular-season games, ahead of Phoenix (70), Milwaukee (66), Golden State (62), Boston (61) and Miami (59). With Donovan Mitchell now in Cleveland and Rudy Gobert now in Minnesota, the Jazz won&rsquo;t be favored anywhere near that often this season.
LEBRON CLIMBING
LeBron James isn&rsquo;t just on target to become the NBA&rsquo;s all-time scoring leader this season; he&rsquo;s 1,325 points behind Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, and at his average career scoring pace would need about 49 games to move into the No. 1 spot.
He&rsquo;s also set to keep moving up a bunch of other lists, including:
&mdash; Assists: James is seventh right now with 10,045, behind No. 6 Magic Johnson (10,141), No. 5 Mark Jackson (10,334) and No. 4 Steve Nash (10,335). That would put him behind only John Stockton (15,806), Jason Kidd (12,091) and Chris Paul (10,977 entering this season).
&mdash; Games: James has been in 1,366, currently 14th-most all-time. He needs to appear in 27 games to pass Tim Duncan (1,392) for 10th on the NBA career list, and could potentially catch Kevin Willis (1,424) for eighth.
&mdash; 3-pointers: James is 11th in NBA history with 2,140, three behind Portland&rsquo;s Damian Lillard and the retired Paul Pierce, who enter this year tied for ninth.
&mdash; Seasons: James is entering Year 20. He&rsquo;ll be the ninth player to appear in 20 seasons.
SPEAKING OF 20
Miami&rsquo;s Udonis Haslem will be the 10th player to appear in 20 seasons, assuming that LeBron James gets into a game before Haslem does.
Haslem is one of only three players to spend 20 years with one team, joining Dallas&rsquo; Dirk Nowitzki (21) and the Lakers&rsquo; Kobe Bryant (20).
If Carmelo Anthony, who is unsigned, gets into a game this season, that'll mark Year 20 for the former Syracuse great as well.
REMEMBERING RUSSELL
All players will wear Basketball Hall of Famer Bill Russell's No. 6 on the right shoulder of their jerseys this season, commemorating the life of the 11-time NBA champion with the Boston Celtics and civil rights activist who died this summer.
Also, all courts in the NBA will have a &ldquo;6" on the sideline near the scorer's table. And no player who isn't already wearing No. 6 will be allowed to wear it ever again; Russell is the first to have his number retired across the entire league.
Among those still wearing the No. 6 jersey because they were wearing them previously: LeBron James, Washington's Kristaps Porzingis and Chicago's Alex Caruso &mdash; who wanted to change numbers as a tribute to Russell this season, but said he had his request denied.
POINTS MARK
The NBA is 26,324 points away from reaching 14 million all-time.
A record 291,912 points were scored last season, including playoffs. There have been years where more points were scored on average per game &mdash; 16 of them, actually. NBA games saw an average of 220.6 points last season, 16 points per game less than the record of 236.6 set in 1961-62.
At last year's pace, the 14 millionth point would be scored roughly 120 games into this season. or sometime in early November.

The AP highlights important milestones, numbers and records in the NBA that could be achieved in the 2022-23 season.

NBA 2022-23: 10 things to know about the upcoming season

Now that their rebuild is complete, the Portland Trail Blazers are looking to build chemistry.
The Blazers blew up their roster last season, trading away guard CJ McCollum and a host of others. They brought in new talent, <a href="https://apnews.com/article/portland-trail-blazers-nba-sports-damian-lillard-69fd44ce4e650da44a9c8850a43b2035">building around six-time All-Star Damian Lillard and new backcourt partner Anfernee Simons</a>.
But will it be enough to push the Blazers deep into playoffs, or perhaps to a second NBA title? That's the question.
Even Lillard doesn't know what will happen &mdash; but he likes the fresh start.
&ldquo;I think that&rsquo;s the biggest difference is how fresh it is. It gives you something to be excited about because you just don&rsquo;t know, you know what I&rsquo;m saying? You don&rsquo;t know what to really expect. And that&rsquo;s been fun for me,&rdquo; Lillard said. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s getting to know the younger guys, some of our newer guys, and building those relationships. It&rsquo;s not it&rsquo;s not the same old thing. It&rsquo;s something new and it just feels fresh, you know? It just feels good.&rdquo;
The Blazers went 27-55 last season, their worst finish since 2005-06 when they won 21 games. Over the course of the season, the Blazers used 34 different starting lineups.
Lillard played in 29 games, the result of a nagging abdominal injury that required surgery in January. Simons took over and performed well &mdash; averaging 23.4 points and 5.8 assists as a starter &mdash; but he too was shut down for the final 17 games as the Blazers focused on their makeover.
Coach Chauncey Billups, embarking on his second year, said the key for the Blazers is connection. To spur that bonding, the team opened the preseason in Santa Barbara, California.
&ldquo;The most connected teams are very successful. That&rsquo;s our goal for our team and that&rsquo;s the kind of team that I want to build,&rdquo; Billups said. &ldquo;I want to be the type of team that nobody really wants to play against.&rdquo;
NEWCOMERS
Portland was active in the offseason, acquiring Jerami Grant from Detroit and picking up <a href="https://apnews.com/article/golden-state-warriors-portland-trail-blazers-nba-sports-san-francisco-b4cb17faeb0263478862b9be287fd5ec">free agent Gary Payton II, who won an NBA title last season with the Golden State Warriors</a>.
Grant averaged 19.2 points in 47 games last season with the Pistons. He played with Lillard on the gold medal-winning U.S. team at last year&rsquo;s Tokyo Olympics.
Payton averaged 7.1 points and 3.5 rebounds in a key reserve role for the Warriors.
<a href="https://apnews.com/article/portland-trail-blazers-nba-sports-detroit-pistons-jerami-grant-02f2a354a675c2b10bdaf3267d2b92e9">The Blazers also selected Shaedon Sharpe with the seventh overall pick in the draft</a>. The 6-foot-6 wing from Canada was a five-star recruit who committed to Kentucky but never played for the Wildcats.
UP FOR GRABS
With Lillard, Simons, Grant and center Jusuf Nurkic all likely to start, Billups said the one undecided starting position to open training camp was at small forward.
Nassir Little, Josh Hart and Justise Winslow have competed for that spot throughout the preseason. Little injured his shoulder last season and then underwent core surgery in May.
Hart came to the Blazers last season in the trade that sent McCollum to the New Orleans Pelicans. Winslow was acquired in a trade with the Clippers.
Hart appeared to be the front-runner as the regular season drew closer.
IN THE LONG RUN
Lillard and Simons both signed offseason extensions with the Blazers, so their on-court relationship will certainly have a chance to grow.
<a href="https://apnews.com/article/portland-trail-blazers-nba-sports-detroit-pistons-damian-lillard-ebebb6cf42aaabe26efaa43d94bc21b1">Lillard agreed to a $122 million extension that will keep him in Portland through the 2026-27 season</a>. Simons signed a four-year extension this summer worth a reported $100 million.
ARE WE DONE YET?
<a href="https://apnews.com/article/portland-trail-blazers-nba-business-sports-ea54ebac9fe95af4586e3f8b3c931c17">General manager Joe Cronin</a> said at the start of the preseason that while he's always looking to improve, he's excited about the current roster. The implication was that Portland was going to stand pat, for now.
&ldquo;We&rsquo;re very confident that we&rsquo;re going to be a very entertaining and watchable product and a very competitive group that we&rsquo;re hoping makes a lot of noise not just this year, but for many years to come,&rdquo; Cronin said. &ldquo;We understand that we&rsquo;re constantly, continually trying to get better, but the foundation that we have right now, we&rsquo;re really encouraged by and really excited to see them get out there and play.&rdquo;

Chauncey Billups, embarking on his second year as head coach, said the key for the Blazers is connection.

Lillard, Simons anchor backcourt of new-look Trail Blazers

EL SEGUNDO, Calif. (AP) &mdash; Several months after the basketball world collectively assumed Russell Westbrook and the Los Angeles Lakers were definitely headed for a breakup, the guard reported to training camp Monday wearing the same gold jersey.
Westbrook's return to the Lakers is among the biggest surprises to come out of an eventful NBA summer &mdash; and nobody knows for certain how long it will last given the trade rumors still swirling around the 2017 MVP.
But Westbrook and his fellow Lakers &mdash; even Patrick Beverley, his former nemesis &mdash; are determined to make it work after it decidedly did not during his first season back home in LA.
&ldquo;Whether they want me here or not doesn&rsquo;t really matter, honestly,&rdquo; Westbrook said. "My job is to be a professional. Show up to work like I&rsquo;ve always done thus far. Do my job to the best that I know how to, and that&rsquo;s it. We all have jobs that sometimes people at our jobs don&rsquo;t like us and don&rsquo;t want us there, as you (reporters) could probably attest."
LeBron James, Anthony Davis and Westbrook are back to try it again after they managed to play in only 21 games together last season. Injuries to James and Davis were the primary factors in the Lakers' dismal 33-49 campaign, but Westbrook's inability to mesh with his new teammates and coach Frank Vogel's concepts was another harbinger of disappointment.
Westbrook's 18.5 points per game were his fewest since his second NBA season 12 years earlier, and his 7.1 assists were well off his best seasons. While his field goal percentage was decent on paper, Lakers fans became infuriated by his struggles with mid-range shots or from distance as he made only 7.0 field goals per game &mdash; again his worst performance in 12 years.
General manager Rob Pelinka didn't deny he has explored ways to move Westbrook and his massive salary. He also praised the high-scoring guard for his offseason work and his growing bond with Darvin Ham, who got his first head coaching job in part because of his determination to get Westbrook into roles he can play.
&ldquo;He&rsquo;s all-in to do whatever it takes for this team to win, in whatever role that means,&rdquo; Pelinka said of Westbrook. &ldquo;I think coach Ham is going to bring another level out of him that we didn&rsquo;t see last season.&rdquo;
Ham reiterated his strong support of Westbrook and praised the guard's offseason commitment to teamwork and improvement. He also praised the relationship between Westbrook and Beverley, whose public sparring over the past several seasons left some NBA observers thinking they couldn't possibly be teammates with the Lakers.
That's all nonsense, according to Beverley, the pugnacious veteran guard who joined the Lakers in a trade last month.
&ldquo;If I had to pick a best friend out of the team, and you usually have those, it would be him," Beverley said. &ldquo;Obviously, you guys think that we have the worst relationship in the world, and at times on the court, just like in a profession, I know a lot of you guys don&rsquo;t like each other, either. You guys aren&rsquo;t the best co-workers, so it&rsquo;s that same vibe. But when you get two people who love winning, two alpha males, and you put them together it usually works. I&rsquo;m super-excited to see how it goes.
"In order to get to where we&rsquo;re going, (the Lakers) have to become great friends, so I&rsquo;m super-excited about that."
JAMES STAYING PUT
While Westbrook's future remains somewhat uncertain, James is back for his 20th season with Kareem Abdul-Jabbar's career scoring record in sight this winter. The superstar also agreed to a two-year, $97.1 million contract extension through the 2024-25 season, and James said he's "committed to the franchise for as long as my career, as long as my contract is."
HEALTHY AGAIN
Davis is also back at full health after a round of injuries that have forced him to miss more games than he has played in the past two seasons. While Davis' absences are the single biggest reason for the Lakers' mediocrity during that span, he is encouraged by the offseason roster makeover that provided LA's Big Three with a fresh supporting cast.
&ldquo;It's totally different from last year,&rdquo; Davis said. &ldquo;We had a lot of vets, and this year we've got guys we kind of need to speed up and help out. I'm excited for these young guys to learn, and they're going to bring the energy out of us. Last year, we were a little slower. These guys are going to be running, and it's going to push us to play at their speed.&rdquo;
SLOW GOING
Ham's Lakers will ramp up slowly to full capacity in training camp: German guard Dennis Schr&ouml;der could miss the first week while sorting out normal visa issues, while new signees Troy Brown Jr. (back) and Lonnie Walker IV (ankle) will be limited early in workouts. Point guard Kendrick Nunn, who missed all of last season with a bone bruise, is fully healthy.

Following an offseason of trade rumors, Russell Westbrook is back with the Lakers alongside LeBron James and Anthony Davis.

Westbrook back with Lakers after offseason of trade rumors

Wholesale organizational changes are already on the way in Utah.
Following another disappointingly quick postseason exit, the Jazz are facing massive decisions this offseason. One domino has already fallen that&rsquo;s sent reverberations throughout Salt Lake City, as head coach Quin Snyder resigned last Sunday. An elite tactician, Snyder&rsquo;s loss is going to be felt immensely for the Jazz in the short-term, but this makeover was long overdue.
Utah&rsquo;s roster is extremely top-heavy with inconsistent depth behind its starting unit. A regular-season juggernaut, the Jazz routinely rolled through the Western Conference to a top seed. When the playoffs arrived, Utah&rsquo;s system would routinely get picked apart, while also having no reliable bench pieces outside of Jordan Clarkson.
Also, the chemistry issues between Donovan Mitchell and Rudy Gobert continue to fester under the surface. What exactly is going on between the two star players in Utah? With the exit of Snyder, who was a big proponent of Gobert, it feels like the three-time NBA Defensive Player of the Year is a likely candidate to <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/examining-potential-trade-destinations-for-rudy-gobert" target="_blank" rel="noopener">get traded this summer</a>. However, with a massive contract that could cripple many salary books around the league, finding fair value in return may be very difficult for Utah.
Are the Jazz ready to do whatever it takes to appease Mitchell, their face of the franchise who's been an All-Star since 2020? In order to keep him in Salt Lake City, it&rsquo;s probably what needs to be done.
It wasn&rsquo;t an accident that ESPN&rsquo;s Adrian Wojnarowski immediately <a href="https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/34043904/donovan-mitchell-surprised-disappointed-sources-say-quin-snyder-leaves-utah-jazz" target="_blank" rel="noopener">reported</a> that Mitchell was &ldquo;unsettled,&rdquo; &ldquo;unnerved,&rdquo; and &ldquo;disappointed&rdquo; the moment Snyder left the Jazz. Mitchell wants to know what&rsquo;s next for Utah, and the organization will risk losing him if their plans don't align with his vision. There are already rumors surfacing that Mitchell wants Utah to hire New York Knicks associate head coach Johnnie Bryant, who was previously with the Jazz from 2014-to-2020.
Bryant is interviewing for the Jazz job alongside the following names: Terry Stotts (former Portland Trail Blazers head coach), Frank Vogel (former Los Angeles Lakers head coach), Kevin Young (Phoenix Suns assistant), Adrian Griffin (Toronto Raptors assistant), Charles Lee (Milwaukee Bucks assistant), Will Hardy (Boston Celtics assistant) and Joe Mazuzulla (Celtics assistant). There will be even more candidates added to the list, as Utah will conduct an expansive search for the next lead voice to replace Snyder.
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Jazz executive Danny Ainge has his work cut out for him to retool this roster on the fly while mending the star&rsquo;s relationship with the organization. If Mitchell went to Ainge and said, "It&rsquo;s either me or Gobert," what would happen? Pandora&rsquo;s box is just waiting to be opened in Salt Lake City. The Jazz could go just about any route and it wouldn&rsquo;t be surprising.
Outside of the looming Mitchell/Gobert decision, it could be most realistic for Utah to tweak the roster along the edges. Bojan Bogdanovic, a 33-year-old sharpshooter who is now on an expiring contract, makes a lot of sense as a player who could be on the move. Royce O&rsquo;Neale and Clarkson also make sense as potential trade pieces the Jazz can float out there to extract some value. Mike Conley is another name to keep an eye on, but it&rsquo;s going to be tough to find any takers on two more years of his $22-plus-million contract, especially after his porous postseason performance at age-34.
If Utah is willing to move Bogdanovic, O&rsquo;Neale and Clarkson, this could bring back some interesting returns for the Jazz. The Jazz inquired about Jerami Grant prior to the trade deadline, so could they pursue him again for added defensive versatility? Those are the types of transactions to monitor for Utah, regardless of what happens next with Mitchell and Gobert.
&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve always believed in player involvement,&rdquo; Ainge said this week on the Jazz&rsquo;s YouTube channel. &ldquo;I was always appreciative when Red Auerbach would ask me a question about things going on with our team, a potential trade he was contemplating. I&rsquo;ve involved my players. Some of it is you would like to know what they have to say, because they may know somebody. They may have played with somebody. So, in our situation, if there&rsquo;s been a particular player that has an association or sort with a specific coach, I absolutely would be mistaken if I&rsquo;m not going to spend time with that player.
"And then, there&rsquo;s times you just want them to feel included, want to make them aware of the process that you&rsquo;re going through. But I felt as a coach or executive with players that you have to sell them on what you&rsquo;re doing, whatever it is, making a trade they may not like; you have to be able to sell why you&rsquo;re doing it, and ultimately that&rsquo;s just to get them into the right frame of mind so they can give that change an opportunity to succeed. I believe players are partners in this thing too, so, yes, I think player involvement is important.&rdquo;
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Doesn&rsquo;t that sound like Ainge is speaking directly about the ongoing situation with Mitchell, potentially alluding to why they requested an interview with his preferred head coaching choice in Bryant? It certainly feels that way, with how Ainge explained player involvement in a coaching search.
The current state of this Utah franchise reeks of awkward dynamics. Is Mitchell going to force his way out if the Jazz don&rsquo;t hire Bryant? Even if Mitchell stays put for the 2022-23 campaign, who else is surrounding him on the Jazz&rsquo;s roster? It seems unlikely that Gobert sticks around, especially with his large super-max contract. Plus, key pieces such as Bogdanovic and Clarkson could net an interesting return that allows the Jazz to tweak the top of the rotation.
The pressure is on this offseason to fix the Jazz and prevent a painful full-scale rebuild. When opening night comes around, it's very possible that the Jazz will be completely unrecognizable.
Following Snyder's resignation, everyone around the NBA is waiting to see what domino falls next.
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The Jazz's first big domino has fallen, and what happens next could be painfully awkward between Donovan Mitchell and Rudy Gobert.

An awkward offseason looms for the Jazz as they try to avoid rebuild

By appearing in the Western Conference Finals, the Dallas Mavericks showed that they have collected some of the ingredients of an NBA title contender.
Prior to that, the Mavs had not made it out of the first round of the playoffs since winning the Finals in 2010-11, and had exited the postseason in the first round each of the last two years. Even this season, Dallas had its doubters in the first round against the Utah Jazz, and most of the national audience was against them versus the dominant Phoenix Suns.&nbsp;
Then, the Mavericks won. Luka Doncic continues to ascend as one of the best basketball players on the planet. Several supporting cast members helped carry the load as well, whether it was Jalen Brunson in the first round, Maxi Kleber's Round 2 fireworks or Spencer Dinwiddie's production in the West Finals.
For so long, the narrative in Dallas had been: Does Luka have any help? After 2021-22, we at least know the Mavs have pieces to the puzzle. This summer presents the opportunity to shape the vision of a championship under Doncic and second-year head coach Jason Kidd.
The Mavericks boasted the sixth-best Defensive Rating (109.4) in the NBA during the regular season, per Basketball-Reference. That's impressive growth from a 20th-ranked unit in 2020-21 that didn't undergo massive roster overhaul. Our <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/how-do-the-mavericks-have-an-elite-defense" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Nekias Duncan covered Dallas' defense back in January</a>, and it kept up the work even after trading Kristaps Porzingis away in the deal that returned Dinwiddie and Davis Bertans.&nbsp;
No single, All-Defense-caliber player even stands out on the roster right now. Dorian Finney-Smith is very solid and so is Frank Ntilikina, though his minutes are too inconsistent currently. It's a true team-wide shift that significantly raises the team's floor come playoff time.&nbsp;
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With that being said &mdash; finding a true center to anchor the paint and provide stability on the glass remains a high priority. Dallas was 15th among the 16 playoff teams in offensive rebounding percentage (45.1%) and second chance points per game (9.0). They also gave up 14.2 second-chance points per game to their opponents, ranking fourth-highest in the postseason. The Mavs scored just 42.9 points in the paint per game during the regular season (ranked 29th of 30) and 35.4 in the playoffs (13th of 16) despite boasting two of the league's best driving threats in Doncic and Brunson.
Dwight Powell is a fine, rotation-caliber NBA player, but his minutes decreased in each subsequent series. Kleber is an awesome sharpshooting big and solid defender, but not an impactful interior presence.
Fortunately, there are several available free agents who Mavs president and general manager Nico Harrison could pursue in his second offseason with the team. Unfortunately, they have severely hamstrung themselves financially. According to Spotrac, they're a luxury taxpayer, which only leaves a mid-level exception worth just over $6.3 million to spend on a free agent. Dallas has virtually no path to cap space this season.
Jusuf Nurkic and Mitchell Robinson are the biggest names to hit unrestricted free agency as a center. They would almost instantly plug the rebounding hole, but are they the types of defenders and rim-runners who would thrive with Doncic? And is there a realistic way for the Mavericks to even sign them?
Other free agent centers who could fit in the mid-level exception include JaVale McGee, Andre Drummond and Bismack Biyombo, for some quick suggestions. Dallas does also hold a $10.2 million trade exception that it created when the team traded Josh Richardson to the Boston Celtics. It expires on June 27, before free agency begins, but it provides another avenue to acquire a rotation-level player.
It might make more sense for the Mavs to pursue a sign-and-trade with a restricted free agent. Obviously, Deandre Ayton is the marquee man. Evan Sidery toyed with <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/examining-potential-destinations-for-deandre-ayton" target="_blank" rel="noopener">potential trade packages for the Suns</a>; could Dallas offer something in this ballpark?
I personally am intrigued by Mo Bamba's potential fit. The 2018 No. 5 overall pick had a solid developmental year in Orlando, but appears to be the odd man out in a crowded young locker room. Bamba feels like a worthwhile gamble as a rebounder and rim-protector with a bit more mobility and shooting than your traditional bruising center.
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Of course, all this free agency discussion will come after the Mavericks address their largest elephant in the room. Jalen Brunson broke out as a secondary scorer this season, culminating in his huge games that gave Dallas the edge against Utah. <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/examining-potential-destinations-for-jalen-brunson" target="_blank" rel="noopener">He's an unrestricted free agent</a> who deserves a bag this summer.
"It&rsquo;s the top priority,&rdquo; Harrison said about re-signing Brunson in his <a href="https://www.mavs.com/brunson-is-top-priority/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">exit interview Friday</a>. &ldquo;We got to figure that out. Obviously, we&rsquo;re not in control of it. But he&rsquo;s definitely a priority. We want to re-sign him. He knows it. And we want him back. He&rsquo;ll be a big part of our future.&rdquo;
The Mavs' last route to improve is with their No. 26 overall draft pick. Dallas has been a mixed bag with drafting in recent seasons, but this is the first year Harrison will be at the helm after the franchise passed on the process in 2021. Most recently, the franchise selected Josh Green at No. 20 and Tyrell Terry at No. 31 in 2020. Green's development has been slow but notable through two seasons, while Terry is no longer in the organization.&nbsp;
Matt Babcock's latest&nbsp;<a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/nba-draft" target="_blank" rel="noopener">2022 NBA Mock Draft</a> projects the Mavericks to select Max Christie, a freshman wing from Michigan State. Christie was a five-star high school talent who struggled to produce as a college freshman. But his tools as a shooter, scorer and on-ball defender have all flashed and can be sharpened in the right environment.&nbsp;
Aside from Brunson, reserves Trey Burke and Theo Pinson are the only other players entering free agency. However, Dallas notably has just four players under fully guaranteed contracts in 2023-24, per Spotrac: Doncic, Finney-Smith, Bertans and Tim Hardaway Jr. If the squad underwhelms next year, the 2023 offseason could open up a serious roster makeover.&nbsp;
Dallas is on the cusp of true title contention. This offseason is all about checking off some final boxes, keeping the successful core intact and adding depth to a team that persevered through several injuries during the season.
If the summer breaks right, it wouldn't be surprising to see the Mavericks emerging as everyone's favorite championship sleeper by October.
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The Mavericks exited the Western Conference Finals with a strong playoff run, but have several glaring needs.

2022 NBA offseason preview: What's next for the Dallas Mavericks?

Sr. NBA Draft Analyst Matt Babcock shares his experience of moving to Bologna, Italy, where he became an assistant coach for a professional basketball team before becoming a sports agent. Check out <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/my-past-life-as-a-sports-agent-going-to-california" target="_blank" rel="noopener">part 1</a> about how he got his start and <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/my-past-life-as-a-sports-agent-the-2006-nba-draft" target="_blank" rel="noopener">part 2</a> about helping players prepare for the 2006 NBA Draft.
It was 2006, I was 22-years old and I was set to begin my first full-time job out of college as an assistant coach for Virtus Bologna, a professional basketball team in Bologna, Italy. Before leaving for Europe, I stayed at my parents' house in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. I had received my travel itinerary via email, so I packed up all of my stuff, purchased a couple of Italian phrasebooks and hugged my mom. Then, my dad drove me to Chicago for my flight, and before I knew it, I was off to Italy.
After a long travel day, I made it to Bologna. I had not been given many details about my arrangements before landing. I knew that I would be an assistant coach and that the team would cover all of my expenses, but I didn't know where I would be living. I didn't even know if anyone would pick me up at the airport. I didn't have anyone's contact info from the team. To say an unknown world awaited me would be a significant understatement. I was a bit anxious.
I exited the plane and made my way to the baggage claim. I had hoped to see a driver holding a big sign with my name, but I did not see anyone like that. I collected my two massive bags that contained pretty much everything I owned at that point, took a seat and waited, hoping someone from the team was coming to pick me up. I was exhausted and grew increasingly anxious the longer I waited. I began to think, "Did I make a mistake coming here?"
Finally, a man approached me and said with a thick Italian accent, "Matt?"
I felt like I had been rescued from a deserted island.
The man pointed to a logo on his shirt that read, "Virtus Bologna." It was evident that he did not speak English. I didn't speak any Italian, so I'm sure you can imagine how everything carried on. We shook hands, and he directed me to follow him to his car, which was seemingly a team-issued van. After about a twenty-minute drive and no words exchanged, we arrived at a small hotel. A receptionist translated for us when we walked into the hotel, which was a huge relief. She explained that the team was on the road, but someone would reach out to me on the hotel phone the next day. (I didn't use my cell phone, as international roaming charges were costly at the time.)
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I was exhausted but also starving, so I asked the receptionist if any restaurants would be serving food at that hour. She directed me to a place nearby. I walked into the restaurant, and no one spoke English very well. I sat down at a table with my Italian phrasebook in hand. I ordered a pizza and a glass of red wine&mdash;I was in Italy, after all. After a long day and night, I was tired and stressed. Having been a young guy on my own in a foreign country was difficult. The language barrier was challenging, and all of the unknowns were nerve-wracking. I again questioned if I had made the right decision accepting that job. However, the waitress brought out my pizza and glass of red wine, and let me tell you, they were perhaps the best things I had ever tasted in my entire life! Subsequently, my stress subsided a bit, and although I still didn't know what to expect next, I could relax and appreciate the opportunity.
The following day, I woke up at about 3:00 AM because of jet lag. After hours of killing time, a man named Daniele Cavicchi called me on the hotel phone. He introduced himself in a thick Italian accent, saying he was the team's assistant coach (there was only one before I came). He told me they were happy to have me and that he would pick me up in a few hours. He explained that the team had the day off, but I would meet with the head coach and general manager.
When Daniele picked me up, I instantly liked him and thought he was a nice guy. Although he was older than I was, maybe in his late 20s, he was a relatively young coach. So he naturally became my "go-to guy" while I was there. Anyway, we got into his car, and we were off to the practice facility. He told me that he was from Bologna and would show me around the town. He gave me the lay of the land as we drove around, similar to a tour guide. Daniele explained that it was essentially a college town, with the university being the oldest in the world, established in 1088. He continued to explain that within Italy, a country known for its food and wine, that specific region was the best and even the home of bolognese sauce. It had been dark the night before when I arrived, so that car ride with Daniele was when I realized that Bologna was an extraordinary place, rich in culture and history. The more he described the city, and the more I saw it, the more excited I became to be there. I couldn't believe that was where I would be living. It felt like a dream come true.
When we arrived at the team's offices, my first meeting was with the team's head coach, Zare Markowski. A classy gentleman from Macedonia, he was a veteran coach that seemed to have coached nearly everywhere at some point in his career. Our initial meeting was brief as he pretty much just welcomed me. However, despite only meeting with him briefly, I found him to be a charming guy.
My second meeting was with the general manager, Piergiorgio Bottai, a businessman from "Roma." After meeting him, it was apparent from his enthusiasm that he was the main reason I was there. He outlined his vision for me and laid out the details of my arrangements during my stay. He told me I would be an assistant coach, and my primary responsibility was to develop their players individually. They also wanted me to occasionally direct the youth team's practices with a translator. He continued to tell me that they had an apartment for me in the "city centre," which also happened to be in the same building as the team's owner. I would have access to a nice restaurant, and I could eat there whenever I'd like, order whatever I'd like and always put it on the team's tab. He then explained that Mercedes-Benz sponsored the team, so players and staff members were given courtesy cars, myself included. It was apparent that the team had intended to take great care of me while I was there.
Following my meetings, Daniele brought me downstairs to give me all of the team-issued gear: a team jacket, polos, t-shirts, etc. I felt part of the team, and everyone was very welcoming.
After leaving the practice facility, Daniele and I had a great dinner at the team restaurant, and then I settled into my apartment afterward. It was "perfetto." The following day was my first day of practice, where I was set to be introduced to the team as their new assistant coach. Although it had been a hectic couple of days, and I was nearly 5,000 miles from home, I went to sleep that night with my mind at ease. Everything was "molto bene!"
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Matt Babcock discusses his stint as an assistant coach in Italy, which helped lay the groundwork for his later job as an NBA agent.

My past life as a sports agent: Bologna, Italy

When the Celtics slumped off the Madison Square Garden court following a buzzer-beating loss to the New York Knicks on Jan. 6, they were a team without direction.
The setback dropped the Celtics to 18-21 and into 11th place in the Eastern Conference. It also came on a night in which they had given up a 25-point lead &ndash; the fifth time since the start of the season they had surrendered an advantage of 19 or more points.
It felt like the preamble to a lost year following the franchise&rsquo;s offseason makeover that included a transition from Brad Stevens to rookie head coach Ime Udoka.
It turns out that game may have been the inflection point the Celtics needed to turn things around.
Buoyed by the offensive production of Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown, as well as a defense that rates as the best in the NBA during that stretch, Boston is suddenly one of the league&rsquo;s hottest teams with the playoffs just three weeks away.
Since their humbling loss in New York, the Celtics (47-29) have gone an East-best 29-8, are up to fourth place in the East and suddenly in position to compete for the conference&rsquo;s top seed.
&ldquo;It&rsquo;s been a journey. We&rsquo;ve had to find our identity,&rdquo; said Tatum, who&rsquo;s averaging 27.1 points per game and has scored 30 or more points 15 times during the current stretch. &ldquo;We have lost some teammates, got some new guys. We&rsquo;ve had to battle, but it&rsquo;s been fun. Even some tougher times, looking back I think we benefitted from it, and it made us better along the way.&rdquo;
The resurgence also came amid not only technical adjustments on the court but following some bold moves by Stevens in his new role as the team&rsquo;s president of basketball operations.
With his team finally finding some traction and in the midst of a 13-4 stretch after the New York loss, Stevens still shook up the roster at the trade deadline, dealing seven players, including guards Dennis Schr&ouml;der, Josh Richardson and big man Enes Freedom, along with a 2022 first-round pick, and netting the Celtics guard Derrick White and center Daniel Theis.
The moves helped get them under the luxury tax threshold and cleared up some chemistry issues that were apparent early in the season.
A team that also had trouble sharing the ball is now assisting on 60% of its field goals, ranking 14th in the league. Last season Boston ranked 27th in the same category.
&ldquo;The unselfishness is there,&rdquo; Udoka said. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s becoming contagious.&rdquo;
Brown said it&rsquo;s the culmination of the patience everyone in the locker room has had to allow things to come together.
&ldquo;Everything takes time,&rdquo; Brown said. &ldquo;Everybody wants everything to work right away. But new team, new coaching staff, just kind of working through some things and trying to figure some things out. Watching a lot of film and making so we can believe in ourselves and stuff like that. A lot of adversity early in the season. I missed 15 games. COVID. There was a lot of things going on. And now, we&rsquo;ve kind of got our feet under us. Things are going a lot better for us.&rdquo;
They&rsquo;ll have to lean on that new foundation after getting hit with a fresh dose of adversity after big man Robert Williams suffered torn cartilage in his left knee during the team&rsquo;s win over Minnesota on Sunday.
The injury will require surgery, keeping him out for the rest of the regular season and likely well into the playoffs.
It will require more production from veteran Al Horford, as well as third-year forward Grant Williams and Theis.
Point guard Marcus Smart said it&rsquo;s a challenge they are ready to confront.
&ldquo;I think with us, the advantage that we have with that is we went through 30-something games without our full roster,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;We had to learn to adjust and play like that. (Williams' injury) definitely is a hit to us, but we know Rob wouldn&rsquo;t want us to hold our heads. And we&rsquo;re not going to do that.
&ldquo;We still have other guys who&rsquo;ve been waiting for their turn to step up if that&rsquo;s the case. And that&rsquo;s just what it is. We&rsquo;ve had the advantage to be able to adjust and play without certain guys and it&rsquo;s just one of those moments where we have to do it again.&rdquo;
___
More AP NBA: https://apnews.com/tag/NBA and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports

Boston is suddenly one of the league’s hottest teams with the playoffs just three weeks away.

Sticking to blueprint has keyed Celtics' second-half turnaround

MIAMI (AP) &mdash; Jaylen Nowell scored 16 points, Karl-Anthony Towns and Anthony Edwards each added 15 and the Minnesota Timberwolves beat the Miami Heat 113-104 on Saturday night.
The Timberwolves have won seven of eight games.
Tyler Herro scored 30 points for the Eastern Conference-leading Heat. They had 37 points in the second half after scoring 42 in the second quarter. Miami has lost two of three.
Miami's Markieff Morris had six points and four rebounds in 17 minutes off the bench in his first game in more than four months. He missed 58 games due to a whiplash injury suffered in a Nov. 8 scuffle with Denver&rsquo;s Nikola Jokic.
Towns hit an 11-foot jumper with 3:53 left to give Minnesota the lead for good at 102-100.
The Heat played without Jimmy Butler (toe irritation), Caleb Martin (knee), and Victor Oladipo (knee). Oladipo's absence was planned after he played in three games in a five-day span for his first games in nearly a year following surgery.
Herro scored 18 of his 21 first-half points during Miami's 42-point second quarter that helped build a 67-55 halftime lead. Adebayo added 15 first-half points.
Taurean Prince's 3-pointer at the third-quarter buzzer gave Minnesota an 89-86 advantage. Malik Beasley scored nine points &mdash; three 3-pointers &mdash; in the third quarter for the Timberwolves.
TIP-INS
Timberwolves: Barring all-out collapse, Minnesota will finish with a winning record for the second time in the last 17 seasons. The other instance was 2017-18 (47-35). ... This game was the only one in an eight-game stretch (concluding Wednesday) in which Minnesota was facing a team with a winning record. Next Saturday, the Timberwolves start a stretch where they'll play seven straight games against teams over .500.
Heat: Butler missed his 22nd game of the season. He has missed &mdash; for injury, illness or other reasons &mdash; 27% of Miami's regular season games over his three years with Miami. ... After playing seven games in a span of 11 days, a stretch that ended Saturday, the Heat now play just four games in the next 11.
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THE END
This was the end of Minnesota's 13th and final back-to-back this season. Miami completed its 12th of 14 back-to-backs; the others are coming March 25 and 26 (hosting New York and Brooklyn) and April 2 and 3 (visiting Chicago and Toronto).
SPOELSTRA MILESTONE
The game was the 1,100th regular-season contest for Miami's Erik Spoelstra, making him just the fifth coach in NBA history to have that many with one franchise. The others: newly minted NBA wins leader Gregg Popovich of San Antonio (2,031 as of Saturday), Jerry Sloan (1,809), Red Auerbach (1,192) and John MacLeod (1,122).
UP NEXT
Timberwolves: At San Antonio on Monday night.
Heat: Host Detroit on Tuesday night.

Jaylen Nowell scored 16 points, Karl-Anthony Towns and Anthony Edwards each added 15 and the Timberwolves beat Heat 113-104.

Timberwolves beat Heat 113-104 for 7th win in 8 games

Once again, the NBA Slam Dunk Contest was a complete failure &mdash; an utter disaster for the viewing audience, which ended with Obi Toppin nabbing the award. How can the Association save what was once its most hyped event of All-Star weekend? Long gone are the days where Zach LaVine and Aaron Gordon would have epic face-offs, or when Dwight Howard would bring out all the props. Or of course when Nate Robinson was sky walking at his size.
In 2022, the dunk contest became arguably the least memorable event from All-Star Saturday. It was fun seeing the new rules for the Skills Challenge, keeping viewers engaged and making the event more tiered. Nowadays, the Three-Point Contest is becoming the biggest draw. Karl-Anthony Towns put on a show, as the Minnesota Timberwolves&rsquo; big man scored 29 points in the final round.
Exiting Cleveland, how exactly will the dunk contest be saved? It has reached discouraging new (low) levels, and this just felt like rock bottom.
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Next year&rsquo;s All-Star Game is being held in Salt Lake City, Utah. Want an easy fix to bring more entertaining dunks? Let&rsquo;s finally get Donovan Mitchell to defend his championship won back in 2018. This whole weekend could be a showcase for Mitchell, who does continue to fly under the radar a little bit as a well-known star-level player.
It can&rsquo;t just end there, though. What&rsquo;s the long-term, permanent solution to reviving the event? That&rsquo;s where this all gets discombobulating. The bar has been raised so high in previous years that even some jaw-dropping athletic dunks no longer bring the same pizazz. That&rsquo;s simply an impossible standard&nbsp;to reach on a consistent basis.
In a, let's say, unrealistic reality, every year superstars would line up trying to be in the dunk contest. Let&rsquo;s say next season for example featured Mitchell, Ja Morant, LaVine, Gordon, Toppin and 2022-23 rookie Jaden Ivey from Purdue. That lineup alone is bringing in all the attention. The thing is, that&rsquo;s not a regular occurrence. The main showcase is supposed to be the All-Star Game, where all the game&rsquo;s superstars put on their show each Sunday night in mid-February.
But this is turning out to be a true eye sore from the weekend in Cleveland. Missed dunks galore led NBA legend Dwyane Wade to rate the festivities a &lsquo;6&rsquo; after it ended.
&ldquo;We always have an off year,&rdquo; Kenny Smith said during the TNT broadcast. &ldquo;Even LeBron James has off games.&rdquo;
At this point, it might take a LeBron-like player to make this even feel anywhere close to where it was a decade ago. Mitchell, Morant, LaVine, are you listening? Whatever Adam Silver needs to do in order to convince these top-tier players to participate, those steps should be happening in short order.
It&rsquo;s sad to say, but the longstanding NBA Saturday night showstopper is fading off into the distance. There&rsquo;s no quick fix to this event. Sure, maybe we get a heart-pounding event next year in Salt Lake City featuring Mitchell, but what about the year after in Indianapolis? There&rsquo;s a lot of scenarios that could go down, but it&rsquo;s weird to even be writing out how far it has fallen, as far as thrilling moments.
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For the NBA to make sure the dunk contest doesn&rsquo;t continue to sink to lower levels, my best guess is to bring the host city&rsquo;s superstar as a headliner. Mitchell with the Jazz in 2023 &mdash; then the Pacers&rsquo; top draft pick from the 2022 NBA Draft (ex: Ivey or Paolo Banchero). That&rsquo;s one way to bring more eyes to the event locally, but also make it a showcase for the player in his own arena. The only other one that makes sense is to bring stars to the table however you can. Coax Morant in somehow, a player who continues to make highlight reels each game for the Grizzlies.
There&rsquo;s not a quick fix. It&rsquo;s going to need to be a shared idea and common goal between the NBA and its players to put on a star-studded lineup each year.
After this weekend in Cleveland, I&rsquo;m walking away with more questions than answers now when it comes to a potential dunk contest extreme makeover.

After another uninspiring NBA Slam Dunk contest, how can the once proud event be saved? There's no quick fix, but here are some ideas.

Is there a quick fix to reviving the NBA Slam Dunk Contest?

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.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-theme="dark">
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>
<script src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js"></script>
</blockquote>
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

Long overdue for a makeover, the Portland Trail Blazers became sellers at this year&rsquo;s trade deadline. CJ McCollum, Norman Powell and Robert Covington are all gone in place of more youth and future cap flexibility.
With Damian Lillard presumably out for the rest of the season, this provided Portland the ideal opportunity to hit the reset button. The main question, though, always circles back around to Lillard&rsquo;s long-term future with the Blazers.
Is Lillard seriously going to sit through an extended rebuild through his mid-30s? With three years remaining on Lillard&rsquo;s contract in 2022-23, here&rsquo;s the current core group to move forward with: Anfernee Simons, <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/nassir-little-sheer-will-intensity-gives-portland-trail-blazers-a-boost" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Nassir Little</a>, Josh Hart, Keon Johnson, Justise Winslow, Didi Louzada, Greg Brown III.
Simons has proven to be a real building block during his full-fledged breakout campaign, but there are many questions outside of him. Little has <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/qa-nassir-little-on-blazers-struggles-his-development-gm-change" target="_blank" rel="noopener">flashed some improvements</a>, but consistency for him was still needed before going down with an injury. Hart and Johnson were the primary pieces returned in the Blazers&rsquo; midseason roster remake.
In the end, will that crop of young players be enough to keep Lillard content while also competing within an actual championship window? That answer remains murky at best, particularly a Finals appearance being close to feasible.
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Portland created oodles of flexibility this summer via free agency or the trade market to improve rapidly around Lillard. If the next disgruntled star wants out this summer, the Blazers can at least have a seat at the table as potentially realistic destinations. They are set up well with future draft capital, plus multiple young players and a large, soon-to-be expiring contract with Eric Bledsoe.
The franchise can get into many discussions simply based off the variability of its asset collection. They could&rsquo;ve gotten more in both deals &mdash; which could loom large if they swing-and-miss this offseason &mdash; but the idea on paper makes sense.
The Blazers' last roster makeup was based around the dynamic high-usage backcourt of Lillard and McCollum. The backcourt's defensive abilities, or lack thereof, limited its potential ceiling. In the next chapter for Portland, what will be necessary to build an instant contender?
With it being unlikely that the Blazers land a star-level player, the NBA Draft is their best bet to reshaping on the fly while also achieving another chapter post-Lillard. In the McCollum trade, Portland received a 2022 first-round pick from the Pelicans where it&rsquo;s likely to convey this season (protected 1-4, 15-30).
With two top-10 picks at its disposal, Portland has the artillery to make some splashy moves on draft night, whether it be acquiring two young prospects or a seismic blockbuster trade.
Lillard seemingly is fine on the surface signing another record-breaking contract with the Blazers, but, deep down, when will this reach a level of discontent where lines are drawn? When will Lillard make the pressure too hot for the Blazers to handle? For a scorer of Lillard&rsquo;s caliber, he deserves to legitimately chase championships during the second half of his prime years. At the moment, that destination isn&rsquo;t realistically in Portland.
Building a team around young players and maybe a re-signed Jusuf Nurkic isn&rsquo;t going to make even a noticeable dent in the Western Conference. Sure, Simons is a fun backcourt partner with Lillard, but it keeps Portland in the same position it was with McCollum all these years already.
This is what makes the Jerami Grant rumors so interesting around the Blazers entering such an important offseason. As said on <a href="https://twitter.com/i/spaces/1mrxmaWXOqwxy?s=20" target="_blank" rel="noopener">BasketballNews.com's Trade Deadline Twitter Space</a>, HoopsHype&rsquo;s Michael Scotto relayed Grant to Portland was generating the most buzz before the deadline with less than 24 hours to go. Grant&rsquo;s fit with Lillard and the Blazers would be excellent, finally providing a real two-way wing next to his offensive profile.
Grant, Lillard and Simons is something to build around, but it&rsquo;s again another roadblock when seriously considering a real Finals push. If we&rsquo;re being honest, Grant is the likely move Portland makes to push more chips in with Lillard. How it plays out is a completely different story though.
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For both Lillard and the Blazers, the realization that it might be time for a split is closing in. As we just saw in the Super Bowl with Los Angeles Rams quarterback Matthew Stafford, staying loyal forever doesn&rsquo;t always lead to the ultimate prize. Stafford <a href="https://www.cbssports.com/nfl/news/matthew-stafford-trade-rams-send-two-first-round-picks-a-third-round-pick-and-jared-goff-to-lions-for-qb/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">requested a trade</a> from the lowly Detroit Lions and instantly won a championship with Los Angeles.
Lillard is the NBA&rsquo;s version of Stafford, so loyal to a fault and always putting the team on his back. Stafford eventually knew the time arrived to make a change for his legacy's sake. Lillard has to be envisioning this when canvassing Portland&rsquo;s future outlook.
It&rsquo;s again slowly bubbling under the surface, but the Blazers remain one of the most intriguing teams in the league for yet another offseason. How Portland maneuvered at the deadline gave a sneak peek into what should be a summer with gigantic stakes.
Now, we wait and see how it all unfolds for an organization with change occurring on all levels.
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After a roster overhaul, which direction will the Portland Trail Blazers pursue? Damian Lillard's long-term future depends on it.

As Blazers begin makeover, does Damian Lillard staying even make sense?

Indiana Pacers big man Domantas Sabonis could end up being the biggest name that's dealt prior to Thursday's trade deadline.
While the Washington Wizards and Sacramento Kings are the two teams that have consistently been linked to the two-time All-Star, HoopsHype's Michael Scotto wouldn't be shocked if a random team comes out of nowhere to win the Sabonis sweepstakes.&nbsp;
"For Sabonis, he's the kind of guy where I could see a dark-horse team kind of coming out of nowhere and going all-in [to acquire him]," Scotto said on <a href="https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/2022-nba-trade-deadline-preview-breaking-down-the/id1528900732?i=1000550304493" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The Alex Kennedy Podcast</a>. "I don't want to throw any teams out there. But I just think it comes down to Indiana trying to squeeze teams [and get more], just like Orlando did with Nikola Vucevic a year ago. I think it's really the same scenario... I've reported that the Pacers want a Nikola-Vucevic type of package for Sabonis."
Last year, the Orlando Magic shocked everyone when they traded Vucevic to the Chicago Bulls for Wendell Carter Jr., Otto Porter Jr. and two first-round picks. Like Vucevic last year, Sabonis is a two-time All-Star who's under contract for two more seasons beyond this one (earning $18.5 million).
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One team that could make sense as a dark-horse suitor is the New Orleans Pelicans, who have expressed interest in Sabonis. The Pelicans have been one of the most active teams in trade talks over the last few weeks and while they have <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/pelicans-really-aggressive-in-pursuit-of-guards-on-trade-market" target="_blank" rel="noopener">mostly been linked to guards</a> (including C.J. McCollum and Eric Gordon), they certainly seem to be buyers as the deadline approaches.
If a surprise teams fails to emerge, Scotto believes the Kings have the trade chips to land Sabonis.
"Sacramento has all of the assets to get that done," Scotto said. "To me, they also have the desperation factor because they're trying not to miss the playoffs again and set the record [for the longest playoff drought]. And they need a high-caliber big. If they acquire Domantas Sabonis, they haven't had a guy like that since Chris Webber &mdash; an All-Star big at that position who can really make a difference for them."
It remains to be seen if Sacramento is willing to meet Indiana's asking price.&nbsp;
The Wizards "would love" to acquire Sabonis and pair him with Bradley Beal, but they "may not have the assets" to get a deal done, according to <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UGRj31TZBhI" target="_blank" rel="noopener">ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski</a>.&nbsp;&nbsp;
This season, Sabonis is averaging 18.9 points, 12.1 rebounds, 5.0 assists and 1.0 steal on .580/.324/.740 shooting splits. The Pacers are 19-36, which is the third-worst record in the Eastern Conference. Given the team's struggles, a <a href="https://twitter.com/wojespn/status/1490441389188030471" target="_blank" rel="noopener">"dramatic trade deadline makeover"</a> seems imminent.

The Wizards and Kings have consistently been linked to Domantas Sabonis, but it's possible he lands on a dark-horse team instead.

A surprise team may come out of nowhere to land Domantas Sabonis

It turns out that hoarding assets and a ton of "almost trades" may not be the best approach to build a franchise. The Boston Celtics are in the midst of suffering the ramifications of such an approach.&nbsp;
Boston has played the third-most games that come down to "clutch time," just one behind the Los Angeles Lakers and two behind the Milwaukee Bucks. They have won just 9 of those 26 games. Their .346 win percentage in clutch situations is only better than the Indiana Pacers, Orlando Magic and San Antonio Spurs; three teams you do not want to be in the same company as this season if you have serious playoff hopes.
It is hard to imagine that a team with Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown, two undeniable stars, could be currently a half-game from not even making the Play-In Tournament. The Cs still have Marcus Smart with an emerging Robert Williams for their defensive needs, but the rest of the roster just does not make sense.
<a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/news/authors/bryan-fonseca" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Bryan Fonseca</a> <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/the-case-against-and-for-separating-jayson-tatum-and-jaylen-brown" target="_blank" rel="noopener">took a dive into the Tatum-Brown pairing</a>, and he'll join me on this quest to solve this riddle that is the currenly-spiraling Boston Celtics. I will explore the need for a point guard in Part I, while <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/part-two-what-fours-best-fit-beside-jayson-tatum-and-jaylen-brown" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Bryan addressed the frontcourt in Part II</a>.
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Dennis Schroder and the Celtics were a marriage of neccesity rather than pure desire. Schroder bet on himself, leaving the best he ever had to look for even better, only to find out he made a mistake. Swiping through NBA Free Agency Tinder, the Celtics and Schroder matched because they both had a void to fill. After trading Kemba Walker to the Oklahoma City Thunder for a reunion with Al Horford, newly-named president Brad Stevens had only Smart and Payton Pritchard on the roster to run the point.
Boston had an All-Star point guard for three straight seasons, and then, last year, Walker was often injured, which led to his departure. Going from big-name point guards to unproven floor generals, the Celtics gave Schroder a prove-it deal. But all it has proved so far is that he is not a fit to lead this team at the point position.
As a matter of fact, Schroder is not really fit to be the lead point guard on any team. The best seasons of his career arguably came as a backup to Jeff Teague in Atlanta. Once the Teague era ended, the Hawks, and Schroder's value, fell off a cliff.&nbsp;
In 2015-16, the final year of Teague, Schroder carried a plus-7.5 Net Rating along with his career-best Defensive Rating of 95.9. In those two following seasons as the lead guard in Atlanta, Schroder was an overall minus-8.2 with an average DRTG of 109.3.
When Schroder returned to backup duty in Oklahoma City for both Russell Westbrook and Chris Paul, his NET jumped up to plus-3.6 and plus-5.5 respectively.
Looking from the lens of plus-minus, 4 of his 5 worst seasons are his rookie campaign and every year he was the primary point guard. The evidence is there: He's not built to lead a team that way.
Through trial and error, the Celtics now know that, and are reportedly open to moving him (<a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/celtics-have-been-extremely-active-in-trade-talks-ahead-of-deadline" target="_blank" rel="noopener">and other veterans</a>) elsewhere to open up time for their young guys. So where/who do they turn to? Smart at the point alongside Brown, Tatum, Al Horford and Williams is a plus-17.6 NET with 324 total possessions per Cleaning the Glass. But can the group get it done in the fourth quarter?
If Ime Udoka and Stevens believe they can, then moves should be made to ensure the team's depth on the bench. If not, the Celtics need grab a floor general off the trade market. Here are some scenarios:
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Memphis Grizzlies
<img src="https://cdn.basketballnews.com/images/story/body/tradenba-snap-1642999154372_lg.png" alt="" width="651" height="252" />
Tyus Jones is arguably the best backup point guard in the NBA and the current leader in Assist-to-Turnover ratio among qualified players (5.40). The Grizzlies are who they are in large part due to his ability to run the bench unit, but also hold the fort down if Ja Morant misses time.&nbsp;
So, why would Memphis do this? Well, the Grizzlies are not pressured to win the title this year. General manager Zach Kleiman has danced to the beat of his own drum, and will not accelerate his timeline simply because the team is ahead of schedule. Morant is due a rookie-scale max extension, and the Grizzlies will almost certainly have to fork over a near max to Desmond Bane when that time comes. On top of that, Jaren Jackson Jr. is already on the books for a $100 million extension, so money is tight in Memphis.
Kleiman is all about cashing in his assets; Memphis can't afford to pay Jones, so he could very well seek compensation now rather than let him walk in the offseason for nothing. Tyus will almost certainly be a starting point guard for someone next season, so Boston should look here first.
Memphis gets some expiring money back and a protected first-round pick for a player that would significantly help Boston's post season push. (It should be noted that Memphis may also try to get a hometown discount with Jones and keep him this offseason.)
Houston Rockets
<img src="https://cdn.basketballnews.com/images/story/body/tradenba-snap-1642999830049_lg.png" alt="" width="650" height="282" />
Speaking of the Grizzlies, they once traded Chandler Parsons to the Atlanta Hawks for Solomon Hill and Miles Plumlee. A genius financial move by Memphis. Kleiman broke down the Parsons contract into two easier-to-move contracts to get Parsons off the books.
The motivation for Houston here would be similar. Schroder is an expiring deal that the Rockets could buy out immediately, while Horford could be shipped to a third team to be broken down even further.&nbsp;
This issue with this trade on the Celtics' side is that Josh Richardson has been good for them, and while you upgrade the point guard position, the wing depth takes a hit. This is an all-in move for Boston that would most certainly be followed by either a trade for another wing or picking up a wing on the buyout market.
What does John Wall look like? Does he fit with Tatum and Brown? These are the questions that must be answered for this idea to even be kicked around. It's a rather unlikely scenario, but the market for quality point guards is quite dry.&nbsp;
San Antonio Spurs
<img src="https://cdn.basketballnews.com/images/story/body/tradenba-snap-1643000352154_lg.png" alt="" width="650" height="312" />
Here is your home-run swing. Bryan and I could not think of another available point guard (Malcolm Brogdon is ineligible to be moved) for Boston to pursue, so he mentioned this as a big swing. It may very well take more than two protected first-round picks &mdash; whether that is more picks or someone like Aaron Nesmith. The Spurs most likely have no interest in moving Murray this season, but for the right price, who knows.&nbsp;
This would be a massive deal for the Celtics. They would get a perfect point guard to play alongside Tatum, Brown and Smart, as well as a veteran in Thaddeus Young, who is <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/spurs-thad-young-frustrated-about-role-this-situation-is-not-ideal" target="_blank" rel="noopener">still waiting to pounce on an opportunity to play</a> after a <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/thaddeus-young-was-blindsided-by-spurs-trade-bulls-said-hed-be-back" target="_blank" rel="noopener">solid year in Chicago</a>. Young is almost certainly going to be moved, and if the Celtics could land him with Murray, Boston &mdash; while not becoming title favorites &mdash; could fight its way out of the Play-In Tournament.
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Danny Ainge is no longer at the helm, so what will Stevens do in his first season running the show? This roster clearly needs an immediate makeover, and it starts with repairing the point guard position.&nbsp;
Read <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/part-two-what-fours-best-fit-beside-jayson-tatum-and-jaylen-brown" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Part II of this series</a>, where Bryan Fonseca addressed the Celtics' frontcourt options in the trade market. 
Looking to go to the hottest concerts, sports, theater &amp; family shows near you? Get 100% guaranteed tickets to more than 125,000 live events from TicketSmarter, the official ticket marketplace of BasketballNews.com. <a href="https://www.ticketsmarter.com/?utm_source=basketballnewscom&amp;utm_medium=tsaff&amp;utm_campaign=referral" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Order online now</a>!

Justin Lewis looks at Boston's point guard dilemma and potential trade ideas for the Celtics in Part I of his series with Bryan Fonseca.

Maceo