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Jazz

PASAY CITY, PHILIPPINES &ndash; The Philippines&rsquo; San Miguel Beermen and Meralco Bolts will face the KT Suwon Sonicboom and the Macau Blackbears in the 2024-2025 East Asia Super League (EASL) season in the league&rsquo;s Tip-Off event today at the Mall of Asia Arena here.
This is the opening act of the tournament dubbed the Champions League in East Asia, with champion teams from each of the participating countries gunning for the crown of the best team in the region.
With that being said, let&rsquo;s dive into what to expect from the slate of games today.
How will the Beermen and the Bolts adapt to the international style of play?
Over the past few days, San Miguel and Meralco have been in the thick of the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) playoffs as both teams are battling hard to get out of the quarterfinals. And now they would have to be up to the challenge of transitioning and adjusting their play when they meet international counterparts from Korea and Macau.
This seems like a tough task ahead for the Beermen and the Bolts as they have been accustomed to playing the Filipino brand of basketball for over a whole season, and the little turnaround time could present some issues along the way.
The Koreans have always been known to be shooters and ball movers, utilizing their speed and team chemistry to damage their opponents. The Black Bears employ a similar playstyle, offering a variety of their shots from three as well as relying on production from their imports.
Nevertheless, San Miguel and Meralco are two of the best teams the Philippines has to offer, so it will be a fun matchup regardless as they showcase their brand of basketball to the visitors.
San Miguel Beermen and KT Suwon Sonicboom: The three-point game
According to stats from EASL, the Beermen and the Sonicboom are both great three-point shooting teams. Throughout the Beermen&rsquo;s 2023-24 PBA Commissioner&rsquo;s Cup run, they hit 10.8 3&rsquo;s per game at a 34% clip. In contrast, KT hit 9.2 3&rsquo;s per game last season in the KBL, scoring 35.2% of their shots from deep.
San Miguel sharpshooter Marcio Lassiter, who became the PBA&rsquo;s all-time 3-point leader with 1,251 career 3-pointers on Sep. 15, will lead the way for the Beermen, while Heo Hoon, who averaged 3.6 threes in the KBL Finals last season, will do the same for Suwon.
This will be a very interesting thing to monitor as the Beermen have had to deal with the newly implemented 4-point line in the ongoing PBA season, and this has led to interesting results. Teams have been playing less zone over in the country&rsquo;s scene so we might see the Sonicboom play some tough 1-on-1 defense throughout the game.
Meralco Bolts and Macau Black Bears: Bounce back or good start?
After a tough EASL season last year, the Bolts aim to improve and increase their wins this EASL season. Meralco has also bowed out of the current PBA playoff season, and now they shift their focus onto their EASL campaign hoping for better results.&nbsp;
On the other hand, the Black Bears come into the 2024-2025 season as an expansion team and are looking to start good and hot. They will make their debut in the East Asian League full of hope and optimism but armed with lofty expectations.
According to EASL&rsquo;s scouting report, the Black Bears are equipped with a fast-paced and free-flowing offense. Macau also runs most of its sets through floor general Damian Chong Qui, who just at 5-foot-9, operates well off of ball screens but can also pop out and hit an open 3. Jenning Leung, a sharp-shooting 6-foot guard out of Canada&rsquo;s McGill University, makes up an elite Black Bears&rsquo; backcourt and together these two are for sure going to give the Bolts a lot of problems.

The Philippines’ San Miguel Beermen and Meralco Bolts will face the KT Suwon Sonicboom and the Macau Black Bears in the EASL.

EASL Tip-Off Preview: San Miguel, Meralco go up against neighboring Korea, Macau

Last week, NBA legend Shawn Marion traveled to Abu Dhabi to support the 2023 NBA Abu Dhabi Games, which featured two preseason games between the Dallas Mavericks and Minnesota Timberwolves as well as youth clinics and fan events.&nbsp;
Marion led a skill-development clinic for youth athletes from Dubai's NBA Basketball School &mdash; a year-round basketball program in the UAE for boys and girls ages 6-to-18. He also judged a dunk contest, met with fans and took part in other NBA events alongside Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Ray Allen, Tim Hardaway Sr., Gary Payton, Sam Perkins, Kenny Smith, Ronny Turiaf and Salah Mejri.
Marion is an NBA champion, four-time NBA All-Star, two-time All-NBA selection and one of just five players in NBA history to record 17,000 points, 9,000 rebounds, 1,500 steals and 1,000 blocks (the other four are LeBron James, Kevin Garnett, Karl Malone and Hakeem Olajuwon). The Phoenix Suns recently announced that they'll retire Marion's jersey this season.
While in Abu Dhabi, Marion joined me on <a href="https://twitter.com/AlexKennedyNBA/status/1710458099448811578" target="_blank" rel="noopener">my new show "Running Up The Score"</a> to discuss his legendary career, the Suns' decision to retire his jersey, Mat Ishbia's impact since buying the franchise, the globalization of the NBA, how the game has evolved, whether he'll get back into podcasting and more.&nbsp;
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You&rsquo;re currently in Abu Dhabi for the Mavericks-Timberwolves preseason games and to host a basketball clinic with kids from the NBA Basketball School in Dubai. How is your trip going?&nbsp;
Shawn Marion:&nbsp;"Man, the trip is going amazing. This is a new culture for me; I've never experienced this, never been here. We're in a different part of the world right now and, I mean, I can tell you this: this is a place I'll definitely be coming back to. This is truly awesome. And, you know what, they're very passionate about [basketball]. I just had this meeting; I just came from an office visit and they had like 250 employees, but everybody spoke different languages! There were 16 languages being spoken! That tells you how diverse it is here, and they really pride themselves on that here. It's pretty amazing."
The globalization of the NBA has been a big priority for the league for some time. From when you were playing to now, do you see a big difference in terms of the NBA&rsquo;s worldwide popularity and international support?
Marion: "Yes. I think as you look at the lay of the land right now, the NBA and basketball is a global sport. But the way that the NBA has been able to grow it, they're taking it to other levels. They're starting NBA Academies and having clinics all around the world, and that just helps it grow even faster. Of course, TV and social-media content help as well, but the level it's growing at right now is unheard of."
The Phoenix Suns recently announced that they are retiring your jersey. Congratulations!
Marion: "Thank you!"
How did you find out that news and what was your reaction?
Marion: "I'm gonna be very honest and candid. Mat [Ishbia] called me as soon as he took ownership of the team and he was like, 'I'm not doing some of the shit that's been done [before]. I'm going to take care of you and reward you by retiring your jersey. I'm a man of my word, and that's what I'm going to do.' That's exactly what he said, and he did! Yep, it was that simple."
Ishbia is quickly winning over fans &mdash; he&rsquo;s spending money, making it easier to watch games, honoring past legends like yourself and so on. What do you think of Ishbia and the fresh start in Phoenix from an ownership perspective?
Marion: "I love it, man. I got a chance to see the practice facility; it's literally not too far from the place that I still have in Phoenix and I ain't been able to see [it before]. I ain't feel like... I feel like a weight was lifted off my shoulders to a certain degree. He's making the transition so easy. And he wants all the players who paved the way and set the foundation for the Suns organization and helped build that team into what the city loves and admires [to be involved]. He just wants everybody to be a part of it, man, and I love it. I think it's awesome. He's doing some amazing things out there."
The Suns have so much talent with Devin Booker, Kevin Durant, Bradley Beal and Jusuf Nurkic. What do you think of this year's team and do you think they can win it all?
Marion: "Man, I think they got a chance just like anybody else, but, of course, their [championship hopes] are probably a little bit more realistic than some other teams. I just hope they stay healthy. When you stay healthy, you give yourself a chance. That's the thing. A lot of teams deal with injuries, and they've been hit with the injury bug a little bit as well. But they've got Frank Vogel as the head coach out there now and he's a defensive-minded guy. They just made another trade and got some other pieces to add to it &mdash; Grayson Allen and Jusuf Nurkic. I think that happened while I was out here; I was at a meeting when I got the alert and I was like, 'Wow! They ain't playing no games right now!' Listen, at the end of the day, he's trying to give himself and the organization the best chance to win. That's what you gotta do."
You obviously helped change the game and were ahead of your time. Overall, what are your thoughts on the modern NBA?
Marion: "Listen, it's run-and-gun, it's feast-or-famine right now. We set the foundation for what [the game] is now. There's so much positionless basketball being played, and it's dynamic. You're seeing the transition and evolution of what we started back in my Phoenix days during the Seven-Seconds-Or-Less era. That's what we started, and that's what it is right now. And I don't see the game going back to two traditional big men ever again."
Throughout the 2000s, not having a specific position was a death sentence for a player; nobody wanted to be labeled a "tweener." Then, seemingly overnight, the NBA became obsessed with "positionless" players and the tweeners were suddenly the most valuable players. That's one of my favorite examples of how the NBA is always evolving.
Marion: "Here's the thing: people can say [they're positionless], but it don't mean they are. You know, to be a two-way player in this league is very rare, but to be a positionless player is even more rare. You could be a guy who can go out there and guard 1 through 5, but to actually do it &mdash; willingly do it &mdash; is a big difference! A lot of guys probably could do it, but they don't do it, you know? Right now, teams are playing positionless basketball because everybody's switching everything. Most guys don't really post up anymore either. It's all face-up game and jumpers. So, it's easy to just jump into that narrative and bandwagon, but if you look at the game as a whole though, it's more of a guard-heavy game now than it was prior to when we made that transition. It's just been a shift. A lot of bigs now don't post up anymore; they're face-up players [too]. That's the evolution of the game."
A few years so, you and I did some of the NBA Watch Parties together on Clubhouse. I also love that <a href="https://twitter.com/MainTeamSports2/status/1506615984173592589" target="_blank" rel="noopener">video where you jumped on Twitter Spaces</a> and educated fans about your career; it was incredibly entertaining. You're obviously passionate about this game. Have you ever thought of doing a podcast?
Marion: "Well, Alex, it's funny you say that. I actually had a podcast with one of my guys in Dallas, so I was one of the first guys to ever do it. I just didn't do any promoting or all of that stuff, but it was something that we did in the Mavs organization kind of early on &mdash; like way before everybody started getting into podcasts. And it was great! But the thing about podcasts is unless you got a set thing, you gotta create content all the time, and I was so busy focusing on trying to be a father first. That was my lane. And then I dibbled and dabbled in TV a little bit and thought about doing some broadcasting work, but, like I said, my priorities shifted because I'm a hands-on father. So, I couldn't keep doing it in Dallas because that was the situation, but I have thought about reopening that window.
"I do have a different side of the game that I like to talk about. I know narratives get created easily by the media, and we consume them and we digest them. It becomes part of our thought process of that player, of that team or whatever it is. But I was talking about this with one of my friends. I was telling him: it's easy for a [former] player to say, 'I can do this or that.' But what kind of player were you though? Because it's hard for a point guard to tell how to guard a big, or for a big to tell how to guard a point guard. But when I say it, I actually guarded all of them! I did it all! And I didn't just do it for a quarter or half a quarter. I did it for full games! So, when I sit there and I tell people that, people are like, 'Man, you know, I never thought about it from that standpoint.' I was like, 'Yo, I actually did this.' You know what I'm saying? Like, it's easy for somebody to say, 'I can guard somebody,' or, 'Oh, I'm a two way player; I can guard this player.' I'm like, 'Can you do it for a full game though?' I'm the only person ever to do it for full games."
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I love to ask players about big &ldquo;what-ifs&rdquo; from NBA history. There was a report a while back that you were nearly traded to the Boston Celtics as part of a three-team deal that would have sent Kevin Garnett to Phoenix and picks to Minnesota. Is that true and, if so, can you tell that story?
Marion: "It is true. But Phoenix wasn't gonna do the deal. They didn't think it was viable because they would have to change their style of play instantly because we're two different type of players. So, they didn't want it. KG was in Minnesota at the time, and I would've went to Boston and he would've came here (to Phoenix). At the time, Boston was losing; I think they had a losing record at that time. I was like, 'Uhh...' But I mean, we have no control over that. Some of the rumors that come out about trades are actually true, but both sides have to agree to it. People throw out deals all the time, [teams talk] all the time, so there's plenty of hypotheticals out there.
"But you wanna hear an untold true story? I never really fully ever became a free agent except my last year playing when I signed with with Cleveland. When I signed with Dallas, it was a sign-and-trade, so I was still under contract basically with Toronto. It was a sign-and-trade deal, so I never really tested the free-agency market like that. So, what happened was I was about to be a free agent or get traded, and this was around that same time as those KG rumors. Kobe [Bryant] called me and said, 'If you're really gonna go out on the market and it's a possibility [that you're changing teams], I want you to come out to L.A.' So, we was texting and he was like, 'Yo!' It ain't happen because they didn't have the money to pay me, but that's a story that a lot of people don't know about."
I love those kind of stories and it's always interesting to think how those potential moves could have changed NBA history.
Marion: "Oh, there were a lot of situations out there like that where [trade talks] were open! It was pretty fun. When you look at the business of the NBA, man, the optimism and [hope] of what could possibily be is what makes it so fun and dynamic &mdash; een with the trade that just went down with Damian Lillard. It's funny, Paul Pierce actually predicted that. He called that in July. He said, 'If I'm Dame, I would try to get to Milwaukee.' It's funny that he said that and I could see it [from Lillard's perspective]. But do I think they're better? Ehh, they lost a lot for that trade, you know? [Jrue Holiday]. Grayson Allen was a great player for Milwaukee. He is a great pickup for Phoenix. He's a hell of a player, a great player, dude. Like, he does a lot of small stuff. He's a very tough guy. I like him. It's something about him that I like. I like the little Duke dudes with that little rough-and-rugged side! But he's one of those guys who can hit shots, he's gonna play defense and he competes. He's actually a lot better than people give him credit for. He ain't got a chance to really showcase his skills, but he can play. And if they use him the right way, he can help them."
For sure. Thanks for your time, I really appreciate it!&nbsp;
Marion: "Anytime, man. You know, we have great conversations and stuff. I might contemplate doing a podcast again. I gotta have the mobile equipment. We'll see; I don't know. I gotta have a great co-host. I like people who shoot [straight]. I told this to a reporter, so I'll give this to you. I told this guy who was recording me yesterday: when you are doing your interviews, do not ask the same questions and stuff that somebody else asks. Do not&nbsp;ask the same stuff."
I'm sure that gets really annoying.
Marion: "It's so annoying. It's okay to piggyback off of answers just to get some kind of content to create something in your own way. But don't ask the exact same questions. You sound you are a true fan. I know you are a true fan of the game. Like, you really love this. And so [you] ask the questions that you wanna know from someone in my position! Forget about the stuff that's already been out there already! Create your own. We all got a story to tell."
For sure.
Marion: "And the thing is, I love my former guys talking about ball and stuff, but some of them talk like they was way bigger and better than they were. Some of these guys were below-average role players, but they talk like they were superstars! I'm like, 'What did you... How good was you? What did you do?!' (laughs) I'm like, 'He was a role player!' He was a solid role player! And look, I became a role player. But you know...
Yeah, but that was because of your longevity. You had four All-Star years before that.
Marion: "Yeah, that's about longevity and understanding that you gotta sacrifice to win. That's the biggest thing, you know? And I could have easily averaged such and such, but I was like, 'You know what? They don't need me to do that. I don't have to do that. If we can win and I'm averaging 16, 17 points, I'm cool with that. We gonna win, so I'm good with that. Let's win.' That was about getting them Ws.
"But that's something to think about though. You asked some great questions. That's the lane to go into. Those are the things to ask &mdash; the hypotheticals or something you [researched]. Like, 'You know what, he was pretty good at this, how did you pick up on that?' or, 'What's something that you did differently than everybody else?' Those are different questions, not the same questions [we always hear]. We get repetitively asked the same questions time and time again. It's boring. It sucks. I'ma be honest: it sucks. I hate it. It&nbsp;sucks!"
I can't imagine how old that gets.
Marion: "One thing that everybody was constantly asking me about was my shot. Everybody seemed to want ask me about my shot. But listen, you know what's really messed up about that though? One media person said it, so it went rampant and every media person wanted me to replicate the answer, right? Whether I like it or not, or whether I enjoy it or not. I did so much on the floor, but you wanna focus on something that nobody talks about? Nobody in the league talks about that. Don't nobody in the league shoot the same! ... I [used to get] pissed off, but now I respond and it's fine. 'It don't matter, don't nobody shoot the same. Next!' But why would you wanna talk about my shot, but then you won't talk about how I just had 25-and-15!"
Or that you shot 39% from three-point range one year!
Marion: "You wanna discredit me and what I did just to talk about my shot? Got it. I totally understand. There's certain lanes and narratives that will be pushed. I totally get it. I'm an owner now, so I see exactly what lane [they're in]; it's all marketing strategies. I know how it works and I know who controls it. Being on this side of the business, I know how things work now. But it's all good though. And it's all love. Thank you."
This interview has been edited for length and clarity. <a href="https://www.youtube.com/live/MwvBnhrrzgs?si=2BRrY0Vaq8WWyAPe&amp;t=1676" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Watch the full conversation here</a>.
Other news from around the web: <a href="https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/other/dress-to-impress-why-barbie-and-ken-are-the-hottest-couples-costume-this-halloween/ar-AA1iaTEh" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Barbie and Ken are the hottest couples costume this Halloween</a>

Shawn Marion opens up about the Suns retiring his jersey, nearly getting traded to the Celtics, Mat Ishbia, the modern NBA and more.

Shawn Marion on Suns retiring his jersey, near-trade to Celtics, more

Former No. 2 overall pick Jabari Parker is turning heads after taking some shots at the NBA.
The former phenom recently signed a one-year contract with FC Barcelona and when asked why he decided to join the EuroLeague rather than continue his NBA career, he didn't mince words.
"I just want to be a part of something legitimate. I want to be a part of [a league where] &lsquo;every game matters.' Sadly, the NBA is a business and there are 10-12 teams that try to win every game and the other half try to get a draft pick," Parker told <a href="https://www.eurohoops.net/en/trademarks/1557757/jabari-parker-longed-to-be-a-part-of-something-legitimate-in-a-new-home/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">EuroHoops</a>. "Where does that leave good players? You either have to be super good or bad to lose games. It&rsquo;s no excuse to see DeMarcus Cousins, Dwight Howard or John Wall, guys who are potentially going into the Hall of Fame&hellip; not have a job.
"We are seeing the league getting watered down, unfortunately. It&rsquo;s a lot of things that are out of our control. EuroLeague and the fans are expecting a lot, and we as players expect a lot from ourselves and we want to compete."
Parker didn't stop there. He also argued that EuroLeague rosters might be better than NBA rosters from top to bottom since there are more veterans.
"Euroleague might have, arguably, some of the better players consistently on a team," Parker <a href="https://www.eurohoops.net/en/trademarks/1557757/jabari-parker-longed-to-be-a-part-of-something-legitimate-in-a-new-home/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a>. "In the NBA, you have a lot of counterparts that don&rsquo;t really contribute to a talent, maybe [it's] political, maybe a favor, whatever. Out here, you have to play; you have to be able to be good, you have to have some experience and you see it with teams like us: [Alex] Abrines played with OKC, Jan [Vesely] played in the Wizards, Sato (Tomas Satoransky)&hellip;
"This is not like baseball where you have veterans that stay on a team; there is no minor league. Where is the room for experienced guys and veterans [on NBA rosters]? That arguably says that you do have some better talent [in the EuroLeague], just from the experience. If you have a roster full of guys that have been pro for 10-plus years, how are rookies or two-year guys exceeding them? You see that around Europe, with many other teams, not only ourselves. Real Madrid has some really good guys on their team too."
Parker's last NBA stint came to an end in January of 2022, when he was waived by the Boston Celtics. Rather than continuing to wait on an NBA call, Parker decided to sign abroad instead.
"I knew I wanted to play this season and I didn&rsquo;t want to wait," Parker <a href="https://www.eurohoops.net/en/trademarks/1557757/jabari-parker-longed-to-be-a-part-of-something-legitimate-in-a-new-home/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">explained</a>. "I didn&rsquo;t want to have to go through the extenuating process of trying to figure out an NBA team that was going to take a chance on me.
"As soon as we had the conversations with [FC Barcelona director] Mario Bruno Fern&aacute;ndez, I got down here. They pretty much gave me an offer that I couldn&rsquo;t refuse. I decided this was the best place for me."
Parker has suited up for six NBA teams: the Milwaukee Bucks, Chicago Bulls, Washington Wizards, Atlanta Hawks, Sacramento Kings and Celtics.
Throughout his eight-year NBA career, the 28-year-old averaged 14.1 points, 5.5 rebounds, 2.0 assists and 0.9 steals while shooting 49.4% from the field, 32.6% from three-point range and 74.3% from the free-throw line.&nbsp;

Former No. 2 pick Jabari Parker didn't mince words when discussing his move to the EuroLeague and how it compares to the NBA.

Jabari Parker: NBA is 'watered down,' less legitimate than EuroLeague

The NBA announced that the Dallas Mavericks will play a preseason game against reigning EuroLeague champion Real Madrid at the WiZink Center in Madrid on Oct. 10, 2023, at 8:45 p.m. CET.
This will be the NBA&rsquo;s eighth game in the Spanish capital and 20th game in Spain overall, and it will mark 35 years since the NBA's first game in Spain in 1988.
The Mavericks currently feature four-time NBA All-Star and All-NBA First Team member Luka Dončić, who joined Real Madrid at the age of 13 and became the youngest-ever EuroLeague MVP and EuroLeague Final Four MVP when he led Real Madrid to the 2018 EuroLeague title at age 19. The Mavericks also feature 2016 NBA champion and eight-time NBA All-Star Kyrie Irving.
Real Madrid features Spanish legend and former NBA draftee Sergio Llull as well as several former NBA players, including Rudy Fern&aacute;ndez, Mario Hezonja, Džanan Musa and Sergio Rodr&iacute;guez. Real Madrid has won a record 36 La Liga ACB championships and is the winningest team in EuroLeague history with 11 titles.
The matchup marks the first preseason NBA game in Madrid since 2016, when Dončić and Real Madrid hosted the Oklahoma City Thunder. In 1988, the Boston Celtics played two games in Madrid against the then Yugoslavian Men&rsquo;s National Team and Real Madrid.
Prior to the game in Madrid, the Mavericks will play two preseason games against the Minnesota Timberwolves on Oct. 5 and 7 as part of The NBA Abu Dhabi Games 2023.
&ldquo;Bringing the live NBA experience directly to our passionate international fans is an important part of our year-round efforts to grow basketball and the NBA around the world,&rdquo; said NBA deputy commissioner and chief operating officer Mark Tatum. &ldquo;We&rsquo;re excited for the Mavericks to play Real Madrid and look forward to engaging with fans from Spain and across Europe around this historic matchup.&rdquo;
&ldquo;Following our preseason games in Abu Dhabi, we are thrilled to play the game we love for the MFFLs in Madrid,&rdquo; said Mavericks CEO Cynt Marshall. &ldquo;Our team is lucky to have one of the greatest international NBA ambassadors in Luka, and we look forward to connecting with Real Madrid and their fans.&rdquo;
&ldquo;Facing an NBA team is always special, but on this occasion even more so, as it will give us the opportunity to once again enjoy a Real Madrid legend and NBA star like Luka Dončić, who proudly carries the name of our club and presumes of being a Madridista wherever he goes,&rdquo; said Real Madrid ambassador Felipe Reyes. &ldquo;It will be a great spectacle and a very exciting moment for all madridistas and basketball lovers.&rdquo;
Tickets for the game will go on general sale Aug. 31.&nbsp; Fans can check Real Madrid&rsquo;s <a href="https://www.realmadrid.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.realmadrid.com/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1693516418041000&amp;usg=AOvVaw1N6d_mVGbXuv9mwGvRYEfp">website</a> for more information. The game will air live in the U.S. on NBA TV and Bally Sports Southwest. Additional broadcast distribution details will be available at a later date.
There have been 16 NBA players from Spain, including 2023 Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame inductee Pau Gasol. NBA games have aired in Spain since the 1987-88 season, and the league opened its office in Madrid in 2007.&nbsp;
NBA games are currently available in Spain on NBA League Pass via the NBA App, including 39 weekend games during the 2023-24 season that will air in primetime in Europe as part of the league&rsquo;s &ldquo;NBA Saturdays and NBA Sundays&rdquo; initiative.

The Dallas Mavericks will play a preseason game against reigning EuroLeague champion Real Madrid at the WiZink Center in Madrid.

Dallas Mavericks, Real Madrid to play preseason game in Madrid

The NBA announced that 242 players have filed as early-entry candidates for the 2023 NBA Draft. Here is the complete list.

NBA announces 242 early-entry candidates for 2023 NBA Draft

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

SAN JUAN (AP) &mdash; Former NBA All-Star center DeMarcus Cousins joined the Guaynabo Mets of Puerto Rico&rsquo;s professional basketball league on Tuesday.
The Guaynabo Mets said in a statement that the 32-year-old free agent Cousins &ldquo;still has what it takes to play in the NBA&rdquo;, but &ldquo;is taking his talents to basketball-crazy Puerto Rico.&rdquo; Details on the contract weren&rsquo;t immediately available.
&ldquo;DeMarcus is one of the best basketball players of his generation, and from a talent standpoint, he will be one of the best to ever play&rdquo; in the Puerto Rican league, Mets co-owner Marc Grossman said. &ldquo;His ability to shoot and stretch the floor should be a great fit.&rdquo;
Cousins was the fifth overall pick in the 2010 NBA draft. He most recently played for the Denver Nuggets and Milwaukee Bucks in the 2021-22 season. Cousins also had stints with the Sacramento Kings, New Orleans Pelicans, Golden State Warriors, Los Angeles Lakers, Houston Rockets and Los Angeles Clippers.
Cousins, who played college basketball at Kentucky, averaged 19.6 points and 10.2 rebounds per game during his NBA career.
Puerto Rico&rsquo;s league, named Baloncesto Superior Nacional, has brought several former NBA players in recent years.

Former NBA All-Star center DeMarcus Cousins joined the Guaynabo Mets of Puerto Rico’s professional basketball league on Tuesday.

DeMarcus Cousins joins Guaynabo Mets in Puerto Rican league

College basketball is full of excitement and drama. While winning a national championship is the ultimate goal for every team, there have been many loaded squads that came up short.&nbsp;
While the teams on this list didn&rsquo;t win a title, they are still often mentioned among the best teams in the history of college basketball. Here are the best college-basketball teams that failed to win it all.&nbsp;
11. 1965-66 Kentucky Wildcats
The 1965-66 Kentucky Wildcats were coached by Adolph Rupp and their talented roster included future NBA stars Pat Riley and Louie Dampier. The Wildcats finished the season with a record of 27-2 and advanced to the national championship game, where they faced the Texas Western Miners. In a game that would later be immortalized in the movie "Glory Road," the Miners upset the Wildcats, 72-65.
10. 2006-07 Ohio State Buckeyes
Led by future No. 1 overall draft pick Greg Oden and longtime NBA point guard Mike Conley, the Buckeyes were hoping to win their second national championship in program history. Ohio State, traditionally a football school, finished the season 35-4 and ranked No. 1 in the AP poll. The Buckeyes advanced to the national championship game, where they faced a loaded Florida Gators squad that was led by future NBA All-Stars Joakim Noah and Al Horford.&nbsp;
In the national championship game, Oden avoided the foul trouble that had plagued him earlier in the tournament and put up a dominant 25 points and 12 rebounds. However, it wasn&rsquo;t enough, as the Gators defeated the Buckeyes 84-75 behind Horford's 18 points, 12 rebounds, 3 assists and 2 blocks. Four players from the Buckeyes' roster would go on to play in the NBA: Conley, Oden, Daequan Cook and Othello Hunter.
9. 2004-05 Illinois Fighting Illini
The 2004-05 Illinois Fighting Illini were a dominant force in college basketball. Coached by Bruce Weber and led by Dee Brown and Deron Williams, the Illini won their first 29 games of the season and finished with a 37-2 record.&nbsp;
Illinois advanced to the national championship game, where they faced the North Carolina Tar Heels (who were led by Raymond Felton, Sean May, Rashad McCants and Marvin Williams). Despite a valiant effort, the Illini fell just short, losing 75-70. Five of their players would go on to play in the NBA: Williams, Brown, Luther Head, Roger Powell and James Augustine.
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8. 2007-08 Memphis Tigers
Yes, John Calipari has back-to-back teams on this list. Coach Cal&rsquo;s 2007-08 Memphis Tigers were absolutely loaded and they were led by Derrick Rose, who would go on to be the No. 1 pick in the 2008 NBA Draft and the youngest MVP in NBA history in 2011. Chris Douglas-Roberts, Joey Dorsey and Antonio Anderson were also key contributors who eventually had stints in the NBA.
The Tigers finished the season with a record of 38-2 and they advanced to the national championship game, where they faced the Kansas Jayhawks. Despite a strong effort, the Tigers were unable to overcome the Jayhawks. Memphis missed a number of late free throws, which opened the door for Mario Chalmers to hit <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/march-madness-ranking-the-top11-ncaa-tournament-buzzerbeaters" target="_blank" rel="noopener">one of the most memorable buzzer-beaters in modern NCAA Tournament history</a> and force overtime. Kansas would go on to win, 75-68.
7. 1974-75 Indiana Hoosiers
Led by head coach Bob Knight, the 1974-75 Indiana Hoosiers finished the season with a record of 31-1 and advanced to the Final Four, where they faced the Kentucky Wildcats. Despite a strong effort, the Hoosiers were upset by the Wildcats, 92-90.&nbsp;
The Hoosiers would have eight players who would go on to play in the NBA: Scott May, Steve Green, Kent Benson, Quinn Buckner, John Laskowski, Bob Wilkerson, Tom Abernethy and Wayne Radford.
6. 1996-97 Kansas Jayhawks
The 1996-97 Kansas Jayhawks featured a pair of future NBA stars (Paul Pierce and Raef LaFrentz) and one of the best coaches in college-basketball history (Roy Williams). The Jayhawks finished the season with a record of 34-2 and advanced to the Final Four, where they faced the&nbsp; Arizona Wildcats.&nbsp;
Pierce put together a monster performance &mdash; 27 points, 11 rebounds, 3 threes, 2 blocks and 2 steals on 69.2/60/100 shooting splits &mdash; but it wasn't enough to defeat Mike Bibby&rsquo;s Wildcats. The Jayhawks lost 85-82 in overtime. In addition to Pierce and LaFrentz, Kansas had four other players go on to the NBA: Scot Pollard, Billy Thomas, Jacque Vaughn and Ryan Robertson.
5. 2014-15 Kentucky Wildcats
The 2014-15 Kentucky Wildcats, coached by John Calipari, featured quite the collection of young, high-upside talent. Led by future NBA superstars Karl-Anthony Towns and Devin Booker, the Wildcats finished the season with a perfect record of 38-0.
Kentucky advanced to the Final Four, where they faced the Wisconsin Badgers and were ultimately upset 71-64. In total, a whopping nine Wildcats would go on to play in the NBA: Towns, Booker, Trey Lyles, Willie Cauley-Stein, Aaron Harrison, Andrew Harrison, Tyler Ulis, Dakari Johnson and Alex Poythress.
4. 1984-85 Georgetown Hoyas
The 1984-85 Georgetown Hoyas, coached by John Thompson, were a powerhouse team that featured future NBA star Patrick Ewing. The Hoyas finished the season with a record of 35-3 and advanced to the national championship game, where they faced the Villanova Wildcats.&nbsp;
In one of the biggest upsets in college-basketball history, the Wildcats defeated the Hoyas 66-64. In addition to Ewing, Georgetown had four other players who went on to play in the NBA: Reggie Williams, Bill Martin, David Wingate and Michael Jackson.
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3. 1992-93 Michigan Wolverines
The prior season, the Fab Five took college basketball by storm, with bald heads and baggy shorts. They started five true freshmen and had a great season, making it all the way to the national championship game, where they were handled by a veteran Duke squad that was led by Christian Laettner, Grant Hill and Bobby Hurley, losing 71-51.
In the 1992-93 season, the Wolverines were widely regarded as the most talented team in the country and they were the favorites to win it all. Unfortunately, they fell short to North Carolina in the national championship game in one of the most memorable endings in sports history. Future No. 1 pick Chris Webber called a timeout that Michigan didn&rsquo;t have, as they lost 77-71. Michigan had five players who would later play in the NBA: Webber, Jalen Rose, Juwan Howard, Jimmy King and Eric Riley (plus Rob Pelinka would go on to run the Los Angeles Lakers' front office).
2. 1982-83 Houston Cougars
Led by future Hall-of-Famers Hakeem Olajuwon and Clyde Drexler, the 1982-83 Houston Cougars were known as "Phi Slama Jama" for their high-flying style of play. The Cougars were a dominant force on both ends of the court. They advanced to the Final Four, where they faced the N.C. State Wolfpack. Despite a 20-point lead in the second half, the Cougars were upset by the Wolfpack, 54-52. In addition to the superstar pairing of Olajuwon and Drexler, Houston also had two other players who would go on to play in the NBA: Michael Young and Larry Micheaux.
1. 1990-91 UNLV Runnin' Rebels
The 1990-91 UNLV Runnin' Rebels are one of the greatest college basketball teams of all-time, despite not winning the national championship. Coached by Jerry Tarkanian, the Rebels had an incredible season, finishing with a record of 34-1.&nbsp;
Led by Larry Johnson, Stacey Augmon and Greg Anthony, the Rebels played an up-tempo style of basketball that was both thrilling and effective. In the Final Four, they lost a close game to the Duke Blue Devils, who would go on to win the national championship. Johnson, Augmon and Anthony would go on to thrive in the NBA, and two other Rebels would also make it to the league (Elmore Spencer and Eyric Gray).
Would you rank these teams differently? Who is missing from this list? <a href="https://twitter.com/basketbllnews" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Tweet us your thoughts now</a>!

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Revisiting 11 loaded NCAA-basketball teams that failed to win it all

Longtime pro Jordan Crawford opens up to Spencer Davies about his unpleasant NBA experience, his Detroit connection and more.

Ex-NBA pro Jordan Crawford has a story to tell — and a whole lot more

MILWAUKEE (AP) &mdash; Giannis Antetokounmpo&rsquo;s absence couldn&rsquo;t prevent the Milwaukee Bucks from extending the longest winning streak in the NBA this season.
Jrue Holiday scored 33 points and&nbsp;produced a critical steal,&nbsp;Brook Lopez made a&nbsp;tiebreaking layup&nbsp;with 24.8 seconds left and the Bucks edged the Phoenix Suns 104-101 on Sunday for their 14th consecutive victory.
The rematch of the 2021 NBA Finals didn&rsquo;t include either Antetokounmpo or new Suns superstar Kevin Durant, but it still featured 14 lead changes and plenty of late drama.
&ldquo;Both teams obviously have history,&rdquo; Lopez said. &ldquo;Those are the fun games, where the refs let it get physical a little bit, you can really go after each other. It was a great atmosphere.&rdquo;
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Brook Lopez. DPOY. 22 PTS | 13 REB | 4 BLK <a href="https://t.co/SEll68fw0n">pic.twitter.com/SEll68fw0n</a>
&mdash; Milwaukee Bucks (@Bucks) <a href="https://twitter.com/Bucks/status/1629959992920150018?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 26, 2023</a></blockquote>

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Durant has yet to appear in a game for the Suns and hasn&rsquo;t played since Jan. 8 because of a sprained right medial collateral ligament. Antetokounmpo was out with a bruised right quadriceps after leaving in the first quarter of the&nbsp;<a class="paragraph-link" href="https://apnews.com/article/milwaukee-bucks-miami-heat-nba-sports-giannis-antetokounmpo-edebcb9e73b4c3da3b24727448f11ec5" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Bucks&rsquo; 128-99 victory over the Miami Heat</a>&nbsp;on Friday.
&ldquo;It&rsquo;s enough where he can&rsquo;t play today, but I think we&rsquo;re also confident that this is just a fairly common occurrence in our league,&rdquo; Bucks coach Mike Budenholzer said before the game. &ldquo;You hit knees, you knock, sometimes it takes a day or two, and it&rsquo;s really nothing more than that.&rdquo;
Holiday led all scorers, while Lopez had 22 points and 12 rebounds. Khris Middleton added 11 points and 10 rebounds.
Devin Booker scored 24 points, Deandre Ayton had 22 and Chris Paul added 18 for Phoenix. Ayton also had 11 rebounds.
After Booker made a game-tying jumper with 33 seconds left, the Bucks called a timeout and got the ball to Middleton, who found Lopez for the go-ahead layup.
Holiday said he initially expected Middleton to shoot the ball.
&ldquo;It&rsquo;s a great play,&rdquo; Holiday said. &ldquo;At first, I kind of saw it, but I thought that Khris was going to shoot it because that&rsquo;s just what &lsquo;K&rsquo; does. But he&rsquo;s a playmaker. He&rsquo;s not just a scorer.&rdquo;
Phoenix called a timeout and went back to Booker, who lost possession as Holiday forced the steal and Lopez got the loose ball.
&ldquo;That&rsquo;s just the defender he is, the player he is,&rdquo; Lopez said of Holiday. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s one of the top two-way players in the league, at least the top three. Just absolutely phenomenal. Just the best two-way player in the league. Those are the plays he makes just time and time again.&rdquo;
Booker said there was contact on the play, but no foul was called, a reflection of the game&rsquo;s physical nature.
&ldquo;I was touched,&rdquo; Booker said. &ldquo;But I did the same thing to Jrue on the other end. On that play, he hit my arm. But it&rsquo;s playoff-type basketball and refs are going to let things go. And that was that.&rdquo;
Joe Ingles made the first of two free throws to extend Milwaukee&rsquo;s lead to 103-100 with 11.3 seconds left. Ingles missed the second free throw and the ball initially was ruled out of bounds on Milwaukee.
But after Budenholzer challenged the call, replays determined the ball actually went out on Phoenix&rsquo;s Terrence Ross. Holiday sank the first of two free throws with 10 seconds left but also missed the second, making the score 104-100.
Booker was fouled on a 3 by Ingles with 0.9 seconds left but missed the first free throw. Booker made the second and intentionally missed the third, but Lopez got the rebound to seal the victory.
TIP-INS
Suns: Booker increased his career point total to 12,143 to overtake Shawn Marion (12,134) for fourth place on the Suns&rsquo; all-time list. The Suns&rsquo; career scoring leader is Walter Davis, with 15,666 points from 1977-88. ... The Suns lost for just the fifth time in their last 17 games.
Bucks: Wesley Matthews missed a second straight game due to a right calf strain. He also won&rsquo;t be available Tuesday at Brooklyn. ... Pat Connaughton returned after missing the Heat game with a sore left calf, but he went scoreless in 13 minutes. ... Ex-Suns forward Jae Crowder had seven points. He made two 3-pointers during Milwaukee&rsquo;s fourth-quarter comeback. ... The Bucks&rsquo; franchise record for consecutive wins is 20 straight during their 1970-71 championship season.
UP NEXT
Suns: At Charlotte on Wednesday.
Bucks: at Brooklyn on Tuesday.

Giannis Antetokounmpo’s absence couldn’t prevent the Bucks from extending the longest winning streak in the NBA this season.

Bucks outlast Suns 104-101 for 14th consecutive victory

LeBron James is on the verge of eclipsing Kareem Abdul-Jabbar's all-time NBA scoring mark of 38,387 career points. At his current 29.3 point-per-game season average, James is nine games away from breaking a record that, for a long time, seemed close to untouchable.
James' transcendant greatness forces us to reevaluate what constitutes an "unbreakable" record. So what are some other examples across sports?
Starting with other basketball records, Abdul-Jabbar still boasts the NBA's all-time mark for made field goals with 15,837. James, despite his historic scoring, currently sits a whopping 1,882 made baskets behind Abdul-Jabbar. Even the Father Time doubters can't expect James to get there before he retires.
The career rebounding leaders are Wilt Chamberlain (23,924) and Bill Russell (21,620). No other player has ever reached 18,000 boards. Barring a drastic change to the game, it's safe to say those two marks will stand the test of time. Chamberlain's 100-point game, along with <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/basketball-news-what-are-the-most-unbreakable-individual-records-in-nba-history-lebron-james-wilt-chamberlain" target="_blank" rel="noopener">several other single-game and season-highs</a>, also seem untouchable.
Pete Maravich holds the NCAA record for most career points (3,667); he averaged over 40 points per game and set the bar in just three seasons. Antoine Davis of Detroit-Mercy is currently second and giving his best shot, but even at 3,274 points, he's well behind as he nears the end of a five-year college career.
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And Pistol Pete doesn't even come close to Pearl Moore, who holds the women's college all-time scoring mark with 4,061 career points &mdash; the vast majority coming during her time at Francis Marion University between 1976 and 1979. Here's why <a href="https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/pearl-moore-didnt-need-a-3-point-line-to-dominate/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Moore isn't shown on NCAA leaderboards.</a>
Lastly, while Abdul-Jabbar (and soon James) rest atop the NBA's scoring list, we simply cannot forget about Oscar Schmidt. The Brazilian legend is believed to be the leading basketball scorer of all-time across professional competition with a whopping 49,737 points. Go learn about Schmidt if you haven't yet.
Now let's switch gears and highlight other sports.
Even after the NFL's 21st-century passing surge, no receiver has come within 5,000 yards of Jerry Rice's 22,895-yard total. The San Fancisco 49ers legend holds several league records, but this one in particular feels unreachable.
Cal Ripken Jr.'s games-played streak (2,632 games) is one of Major League Baseball's most iconic records, spanning over 16 seasons. Modern sports science knows the value of rest during a long baseball season, so this record&nbsp;should&nbsp;stay forever. Another streak built to last: Joe DiMaggio's 56-game hitting streak in 1941.
On the other side of the plate, Nolan Ryan's 5,714 strikeouts dwarf any other pitcher and lead second-place Randy Johnson by 900 K's. Cy Young's whopping 749 complete games, like Ripken's appearance streak, is also immortalized with help from today's game. Young's dominance at the turn of the 20th century came at a time when pitchers breezed through complete games. That won't happen anymore &mdash; the active leader is Adam Wainwright with just 28.
Any hockey record associated with Wayne Gretzky is probably unbreakable &mdash; as Shoresy says, "Don't nickel-and-dime the Great One!" &mdash; but his hallowed 2,857 career points might be the most outrageous career tally in all of sports. Gretzky would still&nbsp;be the all-time points leader even if he never scored a goal thanks to his 1,963 assists. However, like with LeBron, the hockey world is on watch for Alex Ovechkin to overtake Gretzky's 894 career goals. Ovechkin, age 37, is 84 goals away.
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Motorsports can add an unbreakable record of its own. Richard Petty, driver of the famed No. 43, has 200 NASCAR wins to his credit, which is nearly double any other driver (David Pearson has 105). He dominated in an era during the 1960s and 1970s with uneven parity and a jam-packed schedule, so it's also illogical to think we'll see someone match his 10 consecutive victories in 1967.
Soccer has existed for so long and in so many places that all sorts of renowned records are scattered across the world. But two legends continue to be on top. Pele's 92 hat tricks are by far the most by a male player; Christiano Ronaldo is a distant second with 60.&nbsp;
Canadian legend Christine Sinclair has the most recorded international goals in soccer history by any man or woman. She surpassed the United States' Abby Wambach in 2020 and is still charging ahead, with 190 to her current total across over 20 years of international competition.
Michael Phelps is the most dominant Olympic athlete ever. His 28 gold medals are the most by any athlete by far &mdash; including 23 golds, the only person to ever eclipse double-digit gold medals. Additionally, Simone Biles' 19 world gold medals, including the Olympics and other competitions, more than double the next-closest gymnast.&nbsp;
Finally, we reach several records that seem impossible to break, unless the same record-setting athlete tops themselves. Katie Ledecky is the picture of pushing limits in the pool, setting so many fastest times that a tweet like this feels like the fairest way to sum up her stardom:
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15:37.99?!?<a href="https://twitter.com/katieledecky?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@katieledecky</a> just clocked the 14th-fastest swim in HISTORY, and now owns 18 of the top-20 times ever recorded in the event 😲<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/TYRProSeries?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#TYRProSeries</a> <a href="https://t.co/v8VO3VVrbt">pic.twitter.com/v8VO3VVrbt</a>
&mdash; USA Swimming (@USASwimming) <a href="https://twitter.com/USASwimming/status/1614416917984595969?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 15, 2023</a></blockquote>
And you can debate the validity of the sport all you want, but what Joey Chestnut has done in the world of competitive eating feels inhuman. He holds 55 records involving 55 food disciplines, including the 76 hot dogs eaten in 10 minutes during the 2021 Nathan's Famous Fourth of July Hot Dog Eating Contest. He has not relinquished the hot-dog-eating crown since 2007.
Will LeBron James' final point tally reign like these records? It's too early to say, but by holding the honor, the King joins some of the pillars of American and international sports.

Ethan Fuller looks at some of the most untouchable records in sports, including marks held by Wayne Gretzky and Jerry Rice.

What are the most unbreakable individual records in sports history?

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

Following a 12-year NBA career, Shareef Abdur-Rahim retired from basketball on September 22, 2008. The former All-Star, Olympic gold medalist and No. 3 overall pick averaged 18.1 points and 7.5 rebounds over the course of 836 NBA games.
After his playing days, Abdur-Rahim spent five years as an assistant coach and assistant general manager with the Sacramento Kings, then served as the general manager of the NBA G League&rsquo;s Reno Bighorns. From there, he spent two years working in the NBA league office.
All of these jobs helped prepare him for his current role: president of the NBA G League. Over the last four years, the 46-year-old has helped the G League grow &ndash; from the launch of the G League Ignite to the league&rsquo;s expansion into Mexico with the addition of the Mexico City Capitanes (the first G League team outside of the United States and Canada).&nbsp;
Abdur-Rahim opened up to Basketball News about the G League&rsquo;s growth, the league&rsquo;s decision to acquire the Capitanes, what his job entails and much more.
The G League acquired the Mexico City Capitanes from the Liga Nacional de Baloncesto Profesional. What went into the decision to add the Capitanes to the G League?
Shareef Abdur-Rahim: &ldquo;Starting broader, there&rsquo;s the ongoing commitment that the NBA has had to Latin America and Mexico City. [Tonight] is the 31st game that the NBA has brought to Mexico, and there&rsquo;s an overall commitment of developing players and developing basketball there &ndash; we have an NBA Academy there. So, I think that was really the start, just the commitment that the NBA has had over the years to Mexico and Latin America.&nbsp;
&ldquo;Then, from a G League perspective, we are flexible and positioned in a way where we can add a team. The process of doing that isn&rsquo;t as extensive as it is [in the NBA] &ndash; even though it&rsquo;s been a lot of work. We can add a team and have a permanent residency in Mexico City in a way that maybe right now the NBA can&rsquo;t. It just made a lot of sense and, so far, it&rsquo;s been going really well. We&rsquo;re really proud of the opportunity we have with Capitanes."
As you mentioned, tonight will be the 31st NBA game in Mexico City, and today marks the 30th anniversary of the NBA&rsquo;s first-ever game there. How have the local fans responded to the Capitanes and has the G League become more popular in Mexico?
Abdur-Rahim: &ldquo;Everything points to it being positive. It&rsquo;s early, so it&rsquo;s hard to say the total impact and the numbers and that sort of thing. But you think of having 50 games broadcast in Mexico [and the impact that has]. Attendance has been strong. Merchandise of the Capitanes is selling well and setting records in the G League, setting a new tone for what teams can do with merchandise. Last year, when they weren&rsquo;t in Mexico City, you had fans traveling to the United States to support the team. Not to mention, the size of the market and everything we can do there. It&rsquo;s early, but all of the early indicators are extremely positive and point to there being a lot of excitement and support around the team.&rdquo;
(Editor&rsquo;s Note: The Capitanes&rsquo; home debut drew a crowd of 7,391 fans, which is the largest home-opener crowd in the G League since 2019.)
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Does the G League hope to continue expanding and adding more international teams in the near future?
Abdur-Rahim: &ldquo;It&rsquo;s not something that I&rsquo;ll close the door on. But I can say: there aren&rsquo;t a ton of markets &ndash; maybe Canada &ndash; where you have the travel ease. Mexico comes with some challenges, but [it&rsquo;s somewhere] our teams can get to. I wouldn&rsquo;t close the door on it, but it&rsquo;s not something that we&rsquo;re focused on at the moment.&rdquo;&nbsp;
The G League is known for getting creative and trying new things, especially in recent years &ndash; from creating the G League Ignite, to acquiring the Capitanes, to experimenting with different rules. Are there any other creative ideas you guys are actively considering?&nbsp;
Abdur-Rahim: &ldquo;This year, all of our overtime games have the final target score &ndash; the first team to 7 is the winner. That&rsquo;s just innovation and trying things and experimenting with rules; that&rsquo;s kinda the lifeblood and DNA of the G League. It&rsquo;s something that we always want to look at and try to do. We want to be a little bit different. That&rsquo;s always a part of what we do, and we&rsquo;ll keep doing that. Historically, a lot of that [experimenting] has been based on basketball rules, but we want to continue to push the envelope from a business and fan-engagement standpoint as well.&rdquo;
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You were named the president of the NBA G League in 2018, and the league has seemingly made huge strides over the last four years. From when you took over to now, what are your thoughts on the G League&rsquo;s growth and how far it has come?
Abdur-Rahim: &ldquo;I&rsquo;m excited about it, but I think we&rsquo;re still just scratching the surface as far as what we can be. I&rsquo;m just looking forward to us continuing to grow, continuing to try new things and continuing to be bigger and stronger as a basketball league, but also an overall business.&rdquo;
The G League Ignite have attracted top prospects and helped them become top picks in the NBA Draft. What are your thoughts on the Ignite and the success they&rsquo;ve had?
Abdur-Rahim: &ldquo;We&rsquo;re really proud of them. I think there have been something like eight NBA draft picks and 10 players overall who are in the NBA. And I think we&rsquo;ve got another good group this year. I&rsquo;m really proud of what we&rsquo;ve been able to do with the Ignite and what they mean to the G League and the opportunity we&rsquo;ve been able to give young players.&rdquo;
You played in the NBA for more than a decade, and then you worked as an NBA assistant coach, an NBA assistant GM and a G League GM before becoming president of the G League. How did your time as a player, coach and executive help prepare you for your current role in the G League?
Abdur-Rahim: &ldquo;I think those jobs all prepared me in different ways for this role and kinda giving me context about the G League. They definitely prepared me, man. And they positioned me and set me up to learn and grow. Some of my skills and the information I have come from my past, and then there was a lot that was left for me to learn and get up-to-speed with, and that&rsquo;s what I&rsquo;ve tried to focus on and do.&rdquo;
Can you share what a typical day is like for you and what your job as NBA G League president entails?&nbsp;
Abdur-Rahim: &ldquo;A typical day ranges from speaking to our G League team presidents and owners about how we continue to grow the G League and grow our game, to visiting markets and those sort of things, to meeting with our business partners &ndash; be it someone like The General Insurance, who is a new partner, or someone like ESPN, who is a more established partner. I think of myself like the chief advocate of the G League &ndash; telling our story, communicating the vision and sharing the prospects of our league.&nbsp;
&ldquo;And then there is the stuff that&rsquo;s fun like watching basketball, talking about basketball. [Having conversations like], &lsquo;What&rsquo;s the future of basketball?&rsquo; Thinking of how we can continue to make the league better for our players. Our players are unionized now, so there&rsquo;s now an element of my day where I&rsquo;m co-existing with and working in partnership with the players&rsquo; union. It&rsquo;s all of that. There are some standard meetings and stuff that we do, but every day has a level of variety and I enjoy that.&rdquo;
Do you have goals going forward &ndash; either individually or for the G League as a whole?
Abdur-Rahim: &ldquo;Yeah, I think we kind of go through a [goal-setting] process as a league, and my goals are all pretty much connected to our league. For one, we want to continue to be the best place in the world to develop and prepare for the NBA. I know people hear that and think of players, but it&rsquo;s really for all people at this point &ndash; coaches, officials, business people, operations people, media, everything. We want to continue to establish that pipeline even more. We think we have something really exciting and special with the G League when we look at how the talent in the league is evolving and our connection to the NBA, so we want to continue to sell that story and build our audience. I think that telling our story and sharing that message [is important] along with continuing to build up our teams. The success at our team level and, locally, engaging with communities and having 30 strong teams is important, so we want to continue to do that. And we want to keep trying new things. Try to do things in a way that distinguishes the G League in its own way, so it is its own brand. That&rsquo;s what we want to do.&rdquo;
<div class="mceNonEditable"><spike>&nbsp;</spike></div>
I feel like there used to be a stigma that came with playing in the G League, especially if you were a top pick or a veteran player. Now, there are so many players with G League experience and it feels like that stigma is gone, which is great. Why do you think that is?
Abdur-Rahim: &ldquo;Well, I think it&rsquo;s two things. For one, I think players have seen so many examples of players who have had success &ndash; guys like Jeremy Lin, Seth Curry, Khris Middleton and all of our alumni. There are stories every year of players who start in some form in the G League and then elevate, so we&rsquo;ve become a real option for players and not something that&rsquo;s looked down upon. And then I think the integration with the NBA &ndash; with so many NBA teams owning G League teams and being connected to their G League team and truly integrating and seeing value in their G League team &ndash; has just improved the experience. Without a doubt, NBA teams know and understand the talent in the G League and have continued to invest in the G League, so the experience for players continues to get better, the coaching continues to get better and the opportunities for players continue to get better. As a league, we continue to try to improve the quality of life and the opportunity and the platform [for players] &ndash; from the number of teams, to the number of nationally televised games, to adding international games, to having higher salaries, to having more opportunities to get called up or signed to the NBA. All of that has just changed the idea of the G League and we want to continue to build on that.
&ldquo;This is a really exciting time for the G League. We have 30 teams for the first time &ndash; the 28 teams that are connected to NBA teams and then the two independent teams that have their own focuses and purposes &ndash; the international team in Mexico and the [Ignite] for young players. If you look at the young talent across our league, I think it&rsquo;s really a changing dynamic of our league where it&rsquo;s not just the players who have been overlooked anymore; now, we have these young, exciting players that NBA teams have assigned. We&rsquo;ve had 14 first-round picks get assigned [this season], from Washington&rsquo;s Johnny Davis to Charlotte&rsquo;s Mark Williams. In the past, lottery picks weren&rsquo;t really assigned to the G League, [but that&rsquo;s changing]. You also have the younger players who are sort of in-between like Sharife Cooper, Mac McClung &ndash; really good players who are just on the cusp &ndash; to experienced players like Jahlil Okafor, Norris Cole who are waiting to see what their next opportunity will be. I think it&rsquo;s just a really exciting time for our league and we want to continue to elevate it and tell our story.&rdquo;
You&rsquo;ve been very successful since retiring. What advice would you give to active players who are approaching retirement?
Abdur-Rahim: &ldquo;If possible, I think it starts earlier than retirement. People tell you this forever, but just know that your time as a player will end, so try to be curious and try to learn as much as you can and don&rsquo;t just limit yourself to just what you do on the court. There&rsquo;s so much that&rsquo;s going on around the game, so try to be curious about that and build relationships. And then, take your time to really find where your path is and what things you want to contribute beyond just being on the court. I think those are some of the really important things. Start early if you can. Be curious and learn as much as you can. Always value relationships &ndash; the same people I dealt with as a player are a lot of times the same people that I&rsquo;m dealing with in my role now. It is a transition, but be open to continue learning and don&rsquo;t be afraid of it.&rdquo;

NBA G League president Shareef Abdur-Rahim opens up about the league's growth, international expansion and more.

Shareef Abdur-Rahim on NBA G League's growth, Ignite's success, more

Spencer Davies details Jamal Cain's climb from Pontiac, Michigan to the NBA level through the lens of longtime friend Mychal Covington.

Outwork everybody: Two-way Heat rookie Jamal Cain catches you sleeping

The season isn&rsquo;t even two weeks old. Only 5% of the games have been played. Drawing any conclusions at this point would be ridiculous.
Except, perhaps, this one: The Los Angeles Lakers are in trouble.
The Lakers are taking <a href="https://apnews.com/article/los-angeles-lakers-denver-nuggets-nba-sports-7b0f85af40a87094c2d47289bf06bd75">an 0-4 record into Friday&rsquo;s game at Minnesota</a>. They&rsquo;re at the bottom of the Western Conference, and if Orlando wasn&rsquo;t 0-5 the Lakers would have the worst record in the NBA. They&rsquo;re 78-87 since winning the 2020 NBA title. <a href="https://apnews.com/article/kobe-bryant-los-angeles-lakers-nba-sports-basketball-629ff8ed250c8bd969461db178c91e85">LeBron James &mdash; on pace to pass Kareem Abdul-Jabbar as the NBA career scoring leader in a few months</a> &mdash; is winless after four games for the second time in his career, the other being his rookie season.
&ldquo;There&rsquo;s plenty of time for us to right the ship,&rdquo; Lakers coach Darvin Ham said. &ldquo;It starts now. It starts yesterday.&rdquo;
It should have started in July.
The Lakers surely know this: James is at his best when surrounded by shooters. They maximize the value of his passing game and they open lanes for him to attack the rim, which even in Year 20 he does probably as well as anyone.
And this team, evidently, doesn&rsquo;t have shooters. The Lakers better go find some.
<a href="https://apnews.com/article/kobe-bryant-los-angeles-lakers-nba-sports-business-9607b103973941f78e2a2425f3fdf028">Frank Vogel got blamed</a>, <a href="https://apnews.com/article/los-angeles-lakers-nba-sports-basketball-russell-westbrook-f04900c25b080a4d97a37a8fbf355f0b">Russell Westbrook gets shamed</a>, and it&rsquo;s entirely possible that neither of those guys is the primary reason why the Lakers are struggling. They were 8 for 30 &mdash; 26.7% &mdash; from 3-point range against Denver on Wednesday night. They&rsquo;re shooting 22.3% from beyond the arc so far this season, by far the worst in the NBA. Small sample size, but awful nonetheless.
&ldquo;We&rsquo;ve got to make some shots,&rdquo; James said after the 110-99 loss to the Nuggets.
It sounds simple. It isn&rsquo;t.
The last time a team shot worse than 22.3% from 3-point range in a season was 1990-91. Washington &mdash; then the Bullets &mdash; shot 19.4% that season. They made only 55 shots from deep that whole season. It wasn&rsquo;t really a part of the offense.
Now, 3&rsquo;s are essential. Vital. An absolute must. The Lakers are averaging 25 points per game from 3-point range. The league average, entering Thursday, is 36. That&rsquo;s an 11-point difference. The Lakers aren&rsquo;t good enough right now to make up an 11-point difference.
&ldquo;Obviously, it&rsquo;s four games. Obviously, the four games that we&rsquo;ve been playing have been on national TV. Obviously, everyone&rsquo;s been able to watch,&rdquo; Lakers guard Patrick Beverley said. &ldquo;The critique is there for everyone to do. But it&rsquo;s the game of basketball. Everyone&rsquo;s going to even out.&rdquo;
It&rsquo;s not just the shooting. Westbrook isn&rsquo;t healthy; hamstrings are touchy, so who knows when he&rsquo;ll be right again. Anthony Davis &mdash; the guy who was supposed to extend James&rsquo; career by being Robin to his Batman, or even vice versa &mdash; has been dogged by injury after injury, and he was grabbing at his left side repeatedly in Wednesday&rsquo;s loss in Denver. The Lakers didn&rsquo;t have Kendrick Nunn at all last year, they haven&rsquo;t had Dennis Schroder yet this year and won&rsquo;t for probably a few more weeks.
It&rsquo;s always something.
But shooting better is the quickest fix.
Miami figured out the formula that turned James into a champion: surround him with shooters and let him work. In the Miami days, it was Shane Battier, Mike Miller, Mario Chalmers and &mdash; of course &mdash; Ray Allen. The Cleveland title year, he had J.R. Smith and Kevin Love, with Kyrie Irving knocking down perhaps the biggest 3 of that season in Game 7 of the 2016 NBA Finals. The title year with the Lakers, there was Danny Green.
On this Lakers team, there&rsquo;s ... well, not really anybody yet.
Key word: Yet. A trade has to be coming.
Blaming Westbrook isn&rsquo;t fair. He&rsquo;s not an elite shooter. Never has been. This isn&rsquo;t news. But he averaged 18.5 points, 7.4 rebounds and 7.1 assists last season. He was one of five players who finished last season with those averages. Five. Luka Doncic, James Harden, Dejounte Murray and two-time reigning MVP Nikola Jokic were the others. Saying 33-49 was Westbrook&rsquo;s fault is comical.
But his massive-and-expiring contract that will bring back the most in return, and that&rsquo;s why he&rsquo;ll be the player that is moved if the Lakers find a dance partner.
The Lakers aren&rsquo;t the only team off to perhaps a surprising &mdash; not the good kind of surprising &mdash; start. Brooklyn is taking a 1-3 record into Dallas on Thursday night. Philadelphia is 1-4 going into its game Friday at Toronto. Miami avoided a 1-4 start by winning in Portland on Wednesday.
But 1-3, 2-3 and 1-4 all are better than 0-4. The West is loaded. The Lakers have given all the contenders a head start. And if the Lakers don&rsquo;t make a move soon, this season looks destined to end like last season did: badly, and early.
___
Tim Reynolds is a national basketball writer for The Associated Press. Write to him at treynolds(at)ap.org

“There’s plenty of time for us to right the ship,” Lakers coach Darvin Ham said. “It starts now. It starts yesterday.”

The Lakers are going to have to look for some help

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

After three seasons as an assistant coach in the G League, Xavier Silas has landed his first head coaching job with the Guaynabo Mets of Baloncesto Superior Nacional in Puerto Rico.
&ldquo;It's a team that has had a really good history. They went to the championship not last year, but the year before, so they have a really nice base and foundation of what they're trying to do. The owners [Marc Grossman and Mark Linder], everybody has been super nice and helpful with everything, so I think it's gonna be a good situation,&rdquo; Silas told Basketball News over the phone.
&ldquo;The coaching journey has been great. Every year I've gotten better and been able to show that I'm kind of good at this thing, you know?&nbsp; It's a great opportunity and it's exciting. I'm looking forward to it, man. Honestly, it's a really good team; a lot of good returners. Of course, I always put high expectations on myself, but I'm going down there to make some noise for sure.&rdquo;
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-theme="dark">
Silas comandar&aacute; a Guaynabo🔥🏀<a href="https://twitter.com/mets_guaynabo?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@mets_guaynabo</a> anunci&oacute; la contrataci&oacute;n para la temporada 2023 del dirigente con experiencia en <a href="https://twitter.com/nbagleague?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@nbagleague</a> 🙌 <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/EsElBSN?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#EsElBSN</a> <a href="https://t.co/gGK288I7Z6">pic.twitter.com/gGK288I7Z6</a>
&mdash; #EsElBSN (@bsnpr) <a href="https://twitter.com/bsnpr/status/1577691371116417030?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 5, 2022</a></blockquote>

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Silas spent last season as the offensive coordinator for the Motor City Cruise (Detroit Pistons), who went 23-9 and finished second in the G League Eastern Conference. Prior to that, he held the same position for the Delaware Blue Coats (Philadelphia 76ers) in the 2020-21 campaign, and helped lead them to the G League Finals.
&ldquo;For the last three years, I&rsquo;ve been grinding,&rdquo; said Silas, whose coaching career began in the NBA&rsquo;s Assistant Coaching Program that led to an opportunity with the Blue Coats as an assistant in 2019-20. &ldquo;Hubie Brown, Phil Jackson, all those guys kinda got their start in Puerto Rico. That&rsquo;s what&rsquo;s so attractive to me, and it&rsquo;s also a very competitive league.
&ldquo;The guys that are playing in there, all the imports have played in the NBA and a lot of the guys that are actually Puerto Rican have played in the NBA. When you start looking at those rosters and see who&rsquo;s playing down there, it&rsquo;s a very, very competitive league. So it&rsquo;s great. It&rsquo;s a great opportunity to go down there, get better and win&hellip;[My goal is to] put together the best team, being as prepared and organized as I can be and going down there and trying to win a championship. That&rsquo;s really what I&rsquo;m focused on.&rdquo;
Prior to getting into coaching, Silas was a pro basketball player from 2011 to 2018, including stints in the NBA, G League and overseas.

Xavier Silas opens up about his first head coaching gig in Puerto Rico and why he jumped at the opportunity.

Xavier Silas hired as head coach of Guaynabo Mets in Puerto Rico

In his "Blazing the Trail" series, Mat Issa analyzes the offensive splendor of Dirk Nowitzki and the dramatic evolution of his career.

Blazing the Trail: Dirk Nowitzki, the unicorn that became world champion

FIBA EuroBasket is making a triumphant comeback this week after five years away from competition. Per ESPN, that's the <a href="https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/34457762/eurobasket-2022-scores-schedules-teams-news-updates" target="_blank" rel="noopener">longest gap in the tournament since World War II</a>, so EuroBasket 2022 should turn out to be a remarkable celebration of basketball's growth across Europe.
A&nbsp;lot has changed in five years. Luka Doncic was the "chosen one" of European hoops in 2017 as an 18-year-old suiting up for Slovenia, Giannis Antetokounmpo had just won Most Improved Player with the Milwaukee Bucks and earned his first NBA All-Star appearance, and Nikola Jokic had yet to clear 30 minutes per game in an NBA season.
Today, the three international stars are among the faces of basketball in the NBA and around the world, and the trio will compete in EuroBasket 2022. That's just the tip of the iceberg as far as the immese talent slated to participate. We've already gotten a peek of what the action could look like via the FIBA World Cup Qualifiers that have taken place over the past week.
EuroBasket features 24 teams in four groups, with action beginning on Thursday and culminating in a gold-medal showdown on Sept. 18. Here's a rundown of the must-see NBA players (as of last season), international stars and top prospects (under age 23) in each group.
(Note: If a player is listed as "questionable," it is because their playing status is uncertain. Not all EuroBasket rosters have been finalized, so several countries' teams may look slightly different. <a href="https://www.fiba.basketball/eurobasket/2022/news/roster-tracker-fiba-eurobasket-2022" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Here is a full roster tracker</a>.)
GROUP A: SPAIN, TURKEY, MONTENEGRO, GEORGIA, BELGIUM, BULGARIA
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-theme="dark">
Alperen Sengun against Serbia: 17 PTS | 13 REB | 2 AST | 2 BLK | 61 TS% Spearheaded the Turkey comeback in the third quarter 🔥<a href="https://t.co/faBFt2SQLe">pic.twitter.com/faBFt2SQLe</a>
&mdash; Jackson Gatlin (@JTGatlin) <a href="https://twitter.com/JTGatlin/status/1563966082322468869?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 28, 2022</a></blockquote>

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Top NBA Players: Juan Hernangomez (Spain), Willy Hernangomez (Spain), Furkan Korkmaz (Turkey), Cedi Osman (Turkey), Goga Bitadze (Georgia), Sandro Mamukelashvili (Georgia)
Top International Players: Rudy Fernandez (Spain), Lorenzo Brown (Spain), Shane Larkin (Turkey), Bojan Dubljevic (Montenegro), Retin Obasohan (Belgium), Sasha Vezenkov (Bulgaria)
Notable Prospects: Usman Garuba (Spain), Vrenz Bleijenbergh (Belgium), Alperen Sengun (Turkey), Marko Simonovic (Montenegro)
Spain and Turkey might not have quite the Tier 1 star power of some other countries, but both squads are fun and deep. Fernandez and Brown are stalwarts who have starred on their respective European teams for years. Then for Turkey, Osman and Korkmaz are NBA rotation players boosted by an electric point guard in Larkin.
We'll hopefully get to see the pair of Houston Rockets sophomore talents as well. Sengun impressed with his flashes last season and has already created highlights with Turkey over the summer. Garuba was quieter as a rookie, but has experience on a large Spanish stage with his time playing for Real Madrid.&nbsp;
GROUP B: BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA, FRANCE, GERMANY, HUNGARY, LITHUANIA, SLOVENIA
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-theme="dark">
Luka Doncic drops 25 PTS, 11 REB, 8 AST in win over Estonian National team 🔥😭<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/MFFL?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#MFFL</a> <a href="https://t.co/4khnb7BEr3">pic.twitter.com/4khnb7BEr3</a>
&mdash; MFFL NATION (@NationMffl) <a href="https://twitter.com/NationMffl/status/1562897679155204098?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 25, 2022</a></blockquote>

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Top NBA Players: Jusuf Nurkic (Bosnia and Herzegovina), Evan Fournier (France), Rudy Gobert (France), Timoth&eacute; Luwawu-Cabarrot (France), Daniel Theis (Germany), Dennis Schr&ouml;der (Germany), Domantas Sabonis (Lithuania), Jonas Valanciunas (Lithuania), Ignas Brazdeikis (Lithuania), Luka Doncic (Slovenia), Goran Dragic (Slovenia), Vlatko Cancar (Slovenia)
Top International Players:&nbsp;Dzanan Musa (Bosnia and Herzegovina), Elie Okobo (France), Guerschon Yabusele (France), Thomas Huertel (France), Vincent Poirier (France)
Notable Prospects:&nbsp;Th&eacute;o Maledon (France), Franz Wagner (Germany), Rokas Jokubaitis (Lithuania), Ziga Samar (Slovenia)
Yeah, this group is absolutely loaded. Five of the six rosters could potentially boast multiple players with 2021-22 NBA experience. Slovenia, led by Doncic and Dragic, is considered a favorite to win EuroBasket. But France has a loaded roster (though no Victor Wembanyama), too. They'll be worth checking out additonally because Okobo has been balling in Europe since leaving the NBA.
New York Knicks fans might want to circle Lithuania as the team to watch. They'll receive a nostalgia injection in the forms of Brazdeikis and Mindaugas Kuzminskas, and they'll get a glimpse of the future with Jokubaitis, the team's 2021 draft-and-stash guard. Franz Wagner is one of the best young talents in EuroBasket too, making Germany a team to monitor.
GROUP C: CROATIA, ESTONIA, GREAT BRITAIN, GREECE, ITALY, UKRAINE
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-theme="dark">
Giannis Antetokounmpo <a href="https://twitter.com/Giannis_An34?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@Giannis_An34</a> dropped 26pts 7rebs in the <a href="https://twitter.com/FIBAWC?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@fibawc</a> Qualifiers win for Greece. Watch all the games of the <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/FIBAWC?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#FIBAWC</a> Qualifiers on Courtside 1891 <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/WinForAll?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#WinForAll</a> <a href="https://t.co/t7JNIYvGgG">pic.twitter.com/t7JNIYvGgG</a>
&mdash; Swish Cultures (@swishcultures_) <a href="https://twitter.com/swishcultures_/status/1564222344067010561?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 29, 2022</a></blockquote>

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Top NBA Players:&nbsp;Bojan Bogdanovic (Croatia), Dario Saric (Croatia), Ivica Zubac (Croatia),&nbsp;Giannis Antetokounmpo (Greece), Thanasis Antetokounmpo (Greece), Tyler Dorsey (Greece), Simone Fontecchio (Italy), Alex Len (Ukraine), Svi Mykhailiuk (Ukraine)
Top International Players: Mario Hezonja (Croatia), Sacha Killeya-Jones (Great Britain, questionable),&nbsp;Nick Calathes (Greece), Georgios Papagiannis (Greece, questionable), Kostas Papanikalou (Greece), Kostas Sloukas (Greece, questionable), Nicolo Melli (Italy)
Notable Prospects:&nbsp;Karlo Matkovic (Croatia), Roko Prkacin (Croatia),&nbsp;Issuf Sanon (Ukraine), Nico Mannion (Italy)
Three of the Antetokounbros (the above two, plus Kostas, who is questionable at this time) could assemble for their home country. Greece also has a handful of international stars who might play; their roster has yet to be finalized. Giannis Antetokounmpo dropped 40 points in a World Cup Qualifiers loss against Nikola Jokic and Serbia, so it's safe to say he's firing on all cylinders.
Croatia, however, might be my pick for most intriguing team in the tournament. They have a trio of NBA players, plus a former top-five pick in Mario Hezonja. Prkacin has been on NBA Draft radars for several years now, and Matkovic just went No. 52 overall in the 2022 Draft to the New Orleans Pelicans. This is a fun mix of talent at different stages and platforms.
GROUP D: CZECH REPUBLIC, FINLAND, ISRAEL, NETHERLANDS, POLAND, SERBIA
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They call him the MVP for a reason 🃏 Deadly in so many ways, Nikola Jokic was in top form for Serbia during World Cup Qualifying 😤<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/FIBAWC?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#FIBAWC</a> x <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/WinForSrbija?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#WinForSrbija</a> 🇷🇸 <a href="https://t.co/1ZqvDPLQsi">pic.twitter.com/1ZqvDPLQsi</a>
&mdash; FIBA (@FIBA) <a href="https://twitter.com/FIBA/status/1564286832510226436?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 29, 2022</a></blockquote>

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Top NBA Players:&nbsp;Vit Krejci (Czech Republic), Tomas Satoransky (Czech Republic, questionable), Lauri Markkanen (Finland), Nikola Jokic (Serbia), Nemanja Bjelica (Serbia, questionable),&nbsp;
Top International Players: Jan Vesely (Czech Republic), Vasilije Micic (Serbia, questionable), Nikola Milutinov (Serbia)
Notable Prospects: Deni Avdija (Israel), Yam Madar (Israel), Balsa Koprivica (Serbia, questionable)
Nikola Jokic instantly makes Serbia a frontrunner for the gold, but the nation could have several veterans backing him up in a potential deep run. Micic in particular should be on NBA fans' radars as a player who could immediately come over and produce in the league. The 28-year-old guard won two EuroLeague titles and was named MVP in 2021. Oklahoma City currently owns his draft rights, though he was mentioned frequently in offseason trade rumors.&nbsp;
Israel has a pair of notable young talents leading the way. Deni Avdija took a legitimate step forward in his second year with the Washington Wizards. Madar, meanwhile, has been playing overseas as a draft-and-stash prospect selected by the Boston Celtics in 2020.

Giannis Antetokounmpo, Nikola Jokic and Luka Doncic lead a stellar group of competitors in EuroBasket 2022.

FIBA EuroBasket 2022: Top teams, players and prospects to watch

Welcome to Basketball News' 10-part mini-series, Blazing the Trail, where Mat Issa breaks down the most revolutionary players of the 1990s and 2000s. Throughout this series, we'll examine how these players changed basketball and pioneered their respective skills.
In this fifth installment, Mat goes in-depth on one of the most versatile defenders of all-time: Andrei Kirilenko. He explains what made him different from other off-ball rovers who came before him, with insights from his former coaches, teammates and more.
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No player in this series has garnered more anticipation than Andrei Kirilenko. A quick survey of the internet yields countless articles and <a href="https://youtu.be/XGkSph7VDrU" target="_blank" rel="noopener">YouTube videos</a> that are all centered around the same premise:
Kirilenko would be a perfect fit in today&rsquo;s era.
Did Kirilenko serve as the prototype for the modern-day defender? During his prime, was he a revolutionary and a superstar?&nbsp;
Let's find out.
WHAT MADE KIRILENKO SPECIAL?
In baseball, a "five-tool player" is bestowed this label if they display excellence in five categories: hitting for average, hitting for power, fielding, speed and throwing.
Similarly, Kirilenko excelled in five different defensive disciplines.
<img src="https://cdn.basketballnews.com/images/story/body/kirilenko-five-tool-defender.jpg" alt="Visual Created by Mark Cheung" width="487" height="520" />
Tool No. 1: Man Defense
&ldquo;His technique was fundamentally instinctive,&rdquo; said Gordon Chiesa, Kirilenko&rsquo;s former coach in Utah.
Kirilenko touted great length, reflexes and an active &lsquo;tap-dancing&rsquo; stance (see clips below) that enabled him to keep the ball in his line of sight at all times.&nbsp;
On top of that, he mastered the &lsquo;flick-hand technique,&rsquo; which aims to force ball-handlers to dribble East to West rather than North to South (since it's harder to get in the paint when you can&rsquo;t move forward).
"[Your] defensive hand is on the ball side, and [you're] flicking [your] hand up towards the ball &ndash; without losing [your] balance &ndash; to make their dribble lateral, so that it's more protective [rather than] more downhill," Chiesa explained to Basketball News.
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Tool No. 2: Versatility&nbsp;
While Kirilenko&rsquo;s primary assignments were forwards, he was capable of guarding shiftier speedsters and gargantuan bruisers as well.
&ldquo;You could literally put him on just about anyone,&rdquo; recalled Michael Ruffin, Kirilenko&rsquo;s former teammate who is now an assistant coach with the Phoenix Suns. "[He] had the speed, quickness, length to keep up with guards&hellip; on the perimeter. That&rsquo;s who he would end up guarding a lot [of the time].&rdquo;
Kirilenko even developed antidotes to deploy when going up against the more powerful, low-post big men of the time.
&ldquo;Even on the post with a bigger, banging guy&hellip; he could make it difficult for them to get the ball deep by fronting them,&rdquo; said Charlotte Hornets assistant Tyrone Corbin, who coached Kirilenko in Utah. "What he would do is put the work in early [in the post] to make the catch a little further out, so they wouldn&rsquo;t catch it so deep in the paint.&rdquo;
And if the big man somehow managed to receive the entry pass?
&ldquo;He would go after the ball and keep them off balance that way,&rdquo; Corbin explained.
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Tool No. 3: Off-Ball Disruptor
&ldquo;The thing I remember about him most is that he [was] a defensive playmaker,&rdquo; Chiesa said.
Each season from 2001 to 2011, Kirilenko finished in the 96th percentile or higher in Cerebro Sports&rsquo; Defensive Statistical Impact metric (which measures defensive playmaking).&nbsp;
&ldquo;What made Kirilenko brilliant, I call it early eyes,&rdquo; Chiesa explained. &ldquo;He could read plays before [they] happened&hellip; and he was able to be cat-quick and jump in the passing lanes to steal the ball, block a shot or pickpocket somebody.&rdquo;
Among other things, Kirilenko was adept at doubling down from the perimeter &ndash; the concept of rotating over from the perimeter to double a player on the low block (which was particularly important during that era considering the high volume of post-ups).
&ldquo;People never understood how long he really was,&rdquo; Corbin said. &ldquo;He could be at the <a href="https://medium.com/the-basketball-dictionary/the-basketball-dictionary-5c3835e9fe58#:~:text=Nail%3A%20The%20spot%20in%20the,the%20middle%20at%20all%20costs." target="_blank" rel="noopener">nail</a>/elbow, and a guy could get the ball in the post and turn to dribble or make a move, and he&rsquo;s on top of them knocking the ball out.&rdquo;
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Tool No. 4: Motor
Legendary Jazz coach Jerry Sloan was known for stressing the importance of conditioning in all his practices.
&ldquo;That&rsquo;s one of the biggest sticklers with Coach Sloan: you had to be in great shape,&rdquo; Corbin emphasized. &ldquo;Most of the things that we did every day involved some kind of drill [with] conditioning as part of the drill.&rdquo;
Upon reflecting on his experiences, Ruffin agreed with Corbin&rsquo;s assessment.
&ldquo;The philosophy of the team&hellip; was that every time you stepped on the court, you go hard,&rdquo; Ruffin said.
Kirilenko did not deviate from this mission statement. During his iconic run in the 2003-04 NBA season (more on that in a bit), he finished in the 94th percentile in minutes played. And he spent every second of those nearly 2,900 minutes stalking the terrain at a frenetic pace.
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Tool No. 5: Shot-Blocking
Kirilenko was a human eraser of the highest order, and his acumen as a shot-blocker is what separated him from the likes of Shawn Marion &ndash; the other multi-faceted forward of that time.
During his career, Kirilenko posted a whopping seven seasons with a block percentage of 4% or higher. Marion, on the other hand, never surpassed 3%.&nbsp;
With his condor arms, impeccable timing and recovery speed, Kirilenko was terrific at swatting away attempts.
&ldquo;Super timing. Super, super timing," Corbin said. "And his ability to recover &ndash; to get from point A to point B &ndash; especially off the ball when he could be on the weakside. A guy could drive thinking he was open; [Kirilenko] would get from where he was to the ball quickly before the guy could alter his shot or see him coming.
&ldquo;As good as he was on the ball, he was better coming off the ball because guys couldn&rsquo;t see where he was coming from.&rdquo;
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ON-COURT PRODUCTION
Prior to the 2003-04 NBA season, ESPN writer Frank Hughes <a href="https://www.deseret.com/2003/10/5/19788279/little-expected-of-jazz" target="_blank" rel="noopener">predicted</a> that the Utah Jazz would lose more games than any team in NBA history.&nbsp;
Not only did Utah outperform these not-so-lofty expectations, they came within one game of the playoffs in the loaded Western Conference.&nbsp;
So, what happened?
&ldquo;When things like that usually happen, you look back, and you&rsquo;re like, &lsquo;Oh, we missed on three or four of those players. They were way better than we thought,'&rdquo; said David Locke, who has been the radio voice of the Jazz for 13 years.
&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t think that exists on [the Jazz&rsquo;s] roster. I think the only one we missed on was a 22-year-old Andrei Kirilenko [who] was just a way better player and more important than people realized.&rdquo;
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Advanced data helps us understand Kirilenko's impact that season. Basketball Reference&rsquo;s Box Plus-Minus paints Kirilenko as a <a href="https://www.basketball-reference.com/leagues/NBA_2004_advanced.html#advanced_stats::bpm">top-three player</a> in the league that year, with the next-best Jazz player ranking 75th. While top-three may be unlikely, he was pretty darn close.
In 2003-04, Utah's defense was 2.2 points stingier per 100 possessions with their Swiss-army-knife defender on the floor (which ranked in the 72nd percentile, per Cleaning the Glass).&nbsp;
What&rsquo;s more, AK-47's value extended beyond his defense. He also boasted a progressive offensive game &ndash; one that improved Utah&rsquo;s attack by 9.5 points per 100 possessions (ranking in the 97th percentile, per Cleaning the Glass).&nbsp;
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Along with being a revolutionary defender, Kirilenko had an incredibly modern (and underrated) offensive game. He was a decisive passer, an eager cutter, a fearless driver, and a FT drawing machine. He would have been the perfect player in today's read-and-react react game. <a href="https://t.co/dvEZTxxWDJ">pic.twitter.com/dvEZTxxWDJ</a>
&mdash; Mat Issa (@matissa15) <a href="https://twitter.com/matissa15/status/1562527132013604865?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 24, 2022</a></blockquote>

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Put those two outputs together, and the Jazz had a +11.8 efficiency differential per 100 possessions when Kirilenko was on the court. That year, the only other All-Stars to achieve that mark were Kevin Garnett (the 2003-04 MVP), Shaquille O&rsquo;Neal, Jason Kidd and Brad Miller.&nbsp;
(Note: On the <a href="https://open.spotify.com/episode/260tNesWxrhH93RDQP06pS?si=79381e7876574e8f" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Blazing the Trail podcast</a>, historian Cody Houdek and I broke down where Kirilenko ranked in the league that season, and we ultimately landed on him falling somewhere in the 8-12 range).
BLAZING THE TRAIL
Chiesa&rsquo;s Jazz spent the late 1990s being vanquished by a team that rostered a player in Kirilenko&rsquo;s likeness: Scottie Pippen.
&ldquo;Defensively, [Pippen] was a defensive playmaker who could guard all five positions, and that was Kirilenko,&rdquo; Chiesa compared.&nbsp;
Despite their similarities, Pippen&rsquo;s approach was more <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N9vFHYVXtRk" target="_blank" rel="noopener">on-ball orientated</a> (juxtaposed with Kirilenko&rsquo;s primarily off-ball style). A more perfect progenitor for this inspector-gadget model exists by way of 1970s stalwart Bobby Jones.&nbsp;
&ldquo;Absolutely,&rdquo; Chiesa exclaimed when asked about the two forwards' similarities.&nbsp;&ldquo;Just like Kirilenko &ndash; 6-foot-9, [220] pounds, gangly, high hips, [could] run the floor, defensive playmaker...&rdquo;&nbsp;
Like Kirilenko, the Secretary of Defense touted the illustrious <a href="https://streamable.com/3ynktv" target="_blank" rel="noopener">five defensive tools</a> and, as a result, left a significant mark on that end of the floor &ndash; quarterbacking five top-5 defenses during his 10-year tenure in the NBA.
Both defensive roamers by nature, Kirilenko was able to become arguably more impactful than his predecessor thanks to the abolition of illegal defense rules in 2001. Before this rule change, zone defense was banned, and if teams/players wanted to execute these exotic coverages, they had to do so covertly, which greatly mitigated the value of off-ball roamers such as Jones.
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IMPACT ON TODAY'S GAME
In the era of pace and space, the logical defensive counter to this increased surface area is to obtain personnel who can cover this space efficiently.&nbsp;
As alluded to in the previous section, rule changes enabled Kirilenko to operate unrestricted in a manner his forefathers never could. And this confluence of events, combined with his unique physical tools and instincts, made him the prototype for the space-ball defender.
Today, the NBA landscape is littered with players who resemble Kirilenko's robust defensive palate. Nearly every prominent defender in the Association has shades of Kirilenko&rsquo;s design in their own game.&nbsp;
For instance, All-Defensive First Team forward Mikal Bridges shares Kirilenko&rsquo;s length and motor.&nbsp;
&ldquo;I think that [Kirilenko] is actually a lot like Mikal,&rdquo; said Ruffin, who coaches Bridges on the Suns. &ldquo;They are both extremely long, they move really well [when] negotiating screens, both have good motors, and they both take pride in defending.&rdquo;
As for reigning Defensive Player of the Year Marcus Smart, Ruffin said that he inherited Kirilenko&rsquo;s versatility. Like Kirilenko, Smart regularly faces off against defenders far larger than him in stature, and he holds them off using the same <a href="https://streamable.com/5x6n4y" target="_blank" rel="noopener">fronting techniques</a> Corbin alluded to earlier.&nbsp;
Draymond Green, arguably the best defender of his generation, may share the most similarities with Kirilenko &mdash; possessing all five of his fancy utensils. And similar to how Kirilenko surpassed Jones, Green one-upped AK-47 by adding a rim-deterrence component to his game.&nbsp;
The best paint protectors deter opponents from taking shots in the restricted area entirely, and Green is no exception. This past season, opponent rim frequency decreased by 5.4% when he was on the court (which ranked in the 99th percentile, per Cleaning the Glass). Unfortunately, Kirilenko's presence didn&rsquo;t have the same effect, as the opponent's rim frequency <a href="https://cleaningtheglass.com/stats/player/2029/onoff#tab-opp_shooting_freq" target="_blank" rel="noopener">oftentimes</a> increased when he was on the floor.
Thanks to the movement initiated by Kirilenko (and capitalized on by Green), every team is looking for the next torchbearer to the space-ball-defender lineage.
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In fact, Utah may have just stumbled upon its second iteration of the archetype in recently acquired Jarred Vanderbilt. When asked about their parallels, Chiesa pulled out his notes from when the Jazz and Timberwolves faced off on December 31, 2021, and read them aloud:
&ldquo;Lengthy frame, long arms, pretzel legs&hellip; wily defensive ball-retriever, glides in from perimeter to block shots, active back-tipper into transition, early-eyes anticipator, in and out of the passing lanes, steal maker&hellip; around the ball consistently.&rdquo;
Sound familiar?
Meanwhile, in Toronto, the Raptors believe they hold the key to the next link in the five-tool chain in reigning Rookie of the Year Scottie Barnes.&nbsp;
&ldquo;I think Scottie is overall a better talent [than Kirilenko]," Raptors assistant coach Adrian Griffin told Basketball News. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m not taking anything away from Kirilenko&hellip; but I think there is something special about Scottie.&rdquo;
Seeing the direction the league is going, it makes sense why people always ponder how Kirilenko would fare in today&rsquo;s game.&nbsp;
But don&rsquo;t let his status as a revolutionary fool you; he was a damn good player during his time too.&nbsp;
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Check back next week for Part VI of Blazing the Trail, which focuses on Shawn Kemp, the aerial artist.&nbsp;
<a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/nba-blazing-the-trail-reggie-miller-the-moving-target-indiana-pacers-rik-smits-dan-burke-michael-jordan-joe-dumars-golden-state-warriors-chris-mullin-steph-curry-klay-thompson">Click here to read Part IV: Reggie Miller, the moving target</a>
<a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/nba-blazing-the-trail-shane-battier-the-databall-defender-memphis-grizzlies-houston-rockets-miami-heat-daryl-morey-david-fizdale-detroit-pistons-draymond-green" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Click here to read Part III: Shane Battier, the data-ball defender</a>
<a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/nba-blazing-the-trail-rashard-lewis-all-star-stretch-four-orlando-magic-stan-van-gundy-dwight-howard-hedo-turkoglu" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Click here to read Part II: Rashard Lewis, the All-Star stretch 4</a>
<a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/nba-blazing-the-trail-steve-nash-phoenix-suns-mike-dantoni-raja-bell-steph-curry-all-time-great-point-guard" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Click here to read Part I: Steve Nash, the magician who danced in the paint</a>

Andrei Kirilenko was a five-tool defender who was ahead of his time. Mat Issa looks back on AK-47's career and impact on today's NBA.