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Kings

Oklahoma City Thunder point guard Josh Giddey is headlining Australia&rsquo;s 22-player pool for the 2024 Paris Olympics, as announced by Basketball Australia.
The 21-year-old young star, who also led the Boomers last year in the FIBA World Cup 2023, is joined by fellow NBA players Patty Mills (Miami Heat), Joe Ingles (Orlando Magic), Matisse Thybulle and Duop Reath (Portland Trailblazers), Josh Green and Dante Exum (Dallas Mavericks), Jock Landale (Phoenix Suns), and Dyson Daniels (New Orleans Pelicans).
Players with NBA experience are also in the squad, including Xavier Cooks, Jack White, Nick Kay, and Matthew Dellavedova as well as Kansas Jayhawks freshman and soon-to-be NBA draftee Johnny Furphy.
Rounding out the squad are eight current NBL players Chris Goulding, DJ Vasiljevic, Jack McVeigh, Keanu Pinder, Matthew Dellavedova, Sam Froling, Will Magnay, and Will McDowell-White.&nbsp;
The 22-man roster was announced and picked by Basketball Australia with their head coach Brian Goorjian at the helm. The Boomers aim to send a strong roster to Paris in hopes of a podium finish
One notable absence from the pool is former no.1 overall pick Ben Simmons, who withdrew from the squad yet again due to a nagging back injury that needed surgery.
&ldquo;We&rsquo;ve been actively monitoring the Aussie players across international leagues in USA, Europe, and Asia as well as domestically in the NBL and we&rsquo;re confident in the potential chemistry of this list,&rdquo; Goorjian said.
Australia will be in Group A with Canada, Greece OQT winner, and Spain OQT winner for the 2024 Paris Olympics slated later this year.

Oklahoma City Thunder point guard Josh Giddey is headlining Australia’s 22-player pool for the 2024 Paris Olympics.

Josh Giddey leads Australia Boomers’ player pool for Paris Olympics

MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) &mdash; Veteran Brooklyn Nets point guard Patty Mills and rising Oklahoma City star Josh Giddey are among the 10 NBA players selected in Australia&rsquo;s extended squad of 18 to prepare for the basketball World Cup.
Mills&rsquo; teammate Ben Simmons is still recovering from injury and wasn&rsquo;t picked for the squad&rsquo;s upcoming training camp, but coach Brian Goorjian hasn&rsquo;t ruled him out of calculations for the global tournament.
Matisse Thybulle, Joe Ingles, Jock Landale, Josh Green, Matthew Dellavedova, Xavier Cooks, Jack White and Dyson Daniels are the other NBA players picked for the extended roster, which will be cut to 12 before Australia&rsquo;s opening game against co-host Japan on Aug. 25.
&ldquo;It&rsquo;s been a thorough process. The coaches and I have had many discussions about getting the mix right but I&rsquo;m really pleased with where we&rsquo;ve landed with the guys we&rsquo;ve selected, there&rsquo;s a good balance across the court,&rdquo; Goorjian said in a statement Monday. &ldquo;The fact it&rsquo;s been so tough goes to show the depth of talent we have in Australian basketball right now.&rdquo;
Australia won the bronze medal at the Tokyo Olympics and will again be among the medal contenders in the FIBA World Cup, which is being co-hosted by Philippines, Japan and Indonesia.
The Boomers have been drawn into Pool E with Japan, Germany and Finland and will play their group-stage games in Okinawa.
Giddey, who was among the last players cut from the Olympic roster for Tokyo, will get his first chance to play for Australia at a major international meet.
&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve always dreamed of playing for the Boomers and representing Australia, so to get this opportunity is really special,&rdquo; Giddey said. &ldquo;There&rsquo;s a lot of talent in this squad and I think we&rsquo;ve got a good chance of matching it with every team -- I&rsquo;m excited for the challenge.&rdquo;
___
Australia squad: Xavier Cooks, Dyson Daniels, Matthew Dellavedova, Dante Exum, Sam Froling, Josh Giddey, Chris Goulding, Josh Green, Joe Ingles, Nick Kay, Jock Landale, Thon Maker, Will McDowell-White, Patty Mills, Keanu Pinder, Duop Reath, Matisse Thybulle, Jack White.

Patty Mills and Josh Giddey are among the 10 NBA players selected in Australia’s extended squad of 18 to prepare for the World Cup.

Patty Mills among 10 NBA players in Australia’s extended squad

LOS ANGELES (AP) &mdash; Sacramento coach Mike Brown has been lauding his team's depth all season. On Wednesday night the Kings showed it with one of their top players sidelined.
Despite Domantas Sabonis being out with an illness, the Kings extended their winning streak to five with a 116-111 victory behind 32 points from De&rsquo;Aaron Fox.
&ldquo;It was a good win by our guys. We've been saying all year we feel like we are a deep team," Brown said. &ldquo;Having that next man up mentality has been huge for us.
"Domantas is a huge part of our offense. And to have Fox step up the way he did was fantastic. When we were down, he got us back in it and when it was close, he got us some separation."
All five starters scored in double figures for Sacramento, including Richaun Harris, who started in place of Sabonis and had a season-high 16 points and 11 rebounds.
&ldquo;Domantas isn't a guy you can replace as one person,&rdquo; Harris said. &ldquo;We wanted to step up as committee and I wanted to control the glass as much as I could.&rdquo;
Harrison Barnes added 20 points and Kevin Huerter had 18 to help the Kings (25-18) move into third place in the Western Conference.
It is also the first time since the 2004-05 season that the Kings have had at least two five-game winning streaks in a season. It had a seven-game run in November.
LeBron James led Los Angeles with 32 points and Russell Westbrook added 19. The Lakers have dropped four of five with their last three losses coming by a total of 10 points.
&ldquo;We&rsquo;re definitely a ballclub that has zero room for error. We have to continue to play how we played the last couple of games and trying to play mistake-free basketball,&rdquo; James said.
The game was tied at 108 with 1:10 remaining before the Kings scored four straight points to get some breathing room. Barnes made a layup while being fouled by Westbrook and then hit the free throw with 50 seconds remaining.
Kendrick Nunn's 3-pointer got the Lakers to 112-111 with seven seconds left, but Holmes made a pair of free throws to push it back up to three.
&ldquo;Late in the game our fouling, not being disciplined, showing our hands all the way throughout the possession was pretty tough as well," Lakers coach Darvin Ham said. "We got up against the clock, a too much indecisiveness in terms of shooting it, passing it or driving.&rdquo;
Keegan Murray's dunk gave the Kings a 88-74 lead with 2:33 remaining in the third quarter before the Lakers rallied. Los Angeles made a 25-10 run over the next six minutes to take the lead.
The Lakers made four 3-pointers during the run, including two straight by Westbrook.
TIP-INS
Kings: Murray tied a season high with 10 rebounds. ... Guard Matthew Dellavedova also missed the game due to a stomach issue. ... Fox has at least 20 points in a half eight times this season, including twice in the first half.
Lakers: James had seven of his nine assists in the fourth quarter. ... Nunn had 14 points off the bench, including four 3-pointers. ... Westbrook was called for a technical early in the second quarter after being called for traveling. ... Los Angeles had a 14-point lead late in the first quarter but trailed 61-60 at halftime. .. Wenyen Gabriel (10 points) has scored in double figures in four straight games.
&nbsp;

The Kings extended their winning streak to five with a 116-111 victory over the Lakers behind 32 points from De’Aaron Fox.

Kings beat Lakers 116-111 for 5th straight victory

CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) — Kevin Huerter scored 26 points, Davion Mitchell added 23 points including two clutch jumpers late in the game as the Sacramento Kings rallied from a 15-point halftime deficit to beat the Charlotte Hornets 115-108 for their second straight win.
Huerter and Mitchell combined to go 10 of 16 from 3-point range and Harrison Barnes added 14 points as the Kings outscored Charlotte 37-18 in the third quarter.
P.J. Washington, who scored 31 points in an upset win over the Golden State Warriors on Saturday night, again led the shorthanded Hornets in scoring with 28 points. Kelly Oubre Jr. added 16 for Charlotte.
Charlotte’s Jalen McDaniels knocked down a 3-pointer from the corner with 1:09 left to tie the game, but Mitchell immediately answered with a pullup 3-pointer and a 19-foot jumper on consecutive possessions to put the Kings up by five with 24.2 seconds left.
“I kind of knew I had a mismatch and I knew I could have got to the rim. But they played back and I just stepped up and hit the shot,” Mitchell said.
“He brings a leadership presence from the bench,” Kings coach Mike Brown said of Mitchell, who was 9 of 11 from the floor. “He brings an understanding of what his role is and embraces his role. He's a guy that I know anytime we call his number he is going to be ready to play.”
The Hornets turned the ball over 21 times resulting in 25 points for the Kings. Sacramento also lived at the foul line, making 24 of 28 free throws taking advantage of 31 fouls called on the Hornets.
“If we turn the ball over 21 times and foul like that, we're not gong to win," Hornets coach Steve Clifford said. "Every drive, we fouled. We kind of gifted them like 10 or 12 points.”
Like the Hornets, the Kings were coming off a big win Saturday night after beating the Miami Heat at home.
It didn't look good early for Sacramento as the Hornets shot 60.5% in the first half to build a 67-52 lead at the break with all five starters scoring in double figures.
But the Kings stormed back in third quarter, outscoring the Hornets 37-18 behind 12 points from Huerter, who broke free for some open jumpers. Matthew Dellavedova gave the Kings their first lead of the game with 3:43 left in the third quarter on a 3-pointer from the right wing.
The Hornets would battle back to take the lead in the fourth quarter before the Kings rallied again with Huerter and Keegan Murray banging home back-to-back 3s with 4 1/2 minutes to play.
“We are fighting," Mitchell said of the team's win streak. “We are a team that don't quit. We try to play 48 minutes.”
FOX'S INJURY
De'Aaron Fox only played nine minutes after knocking knees with a Hornets player in the first half. Kings coach Mike Brown said he'll know about Fox's injury on Tuesday but doesn't believe it is serious.
WASHINGTON'S UPRISING
Washington continued to take advantage of his elevation to the starting role with restricted free agent Miles Bridges still out of the league while dealing with domestic violence charges. Bridges led the Hornets in scoring last season and the team is waiting to see what happens legally before making any decision on Bridges' future.
“He played terrific and got us back in the game,” Clifford said.
Washington is averaging 15.3 points and 4.3 rebounds per game.
TIP INS
Kings: Domantas Sabonis had 16 rebounds before fouling out with 2:24 left in the game.
Hornets: Continued to play without LaMelo Ball (ankle), Terry Rozier (ankle) and Cody Martin (quad). ... Outscored Sacramento 54-34 in the paint.
UP NEXT
Kings: At Miami on Wednesday night.
Hornets: At Chicago on Wednesday night.
___
More AP NBA: https://apnews.com/hub/NBA and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports

Kevin Huerter scored 26 points and the Sacramento Kings rallied from a 15-point deficit to beat the Charlotte Hornets 115-108.

Huerter, Mitchell propel Kings past Hornets 115-108

This marks the first time that NBA opening-night rosters have at least 120 international players in consecutive seasons

NBA features 120 international players from 40 countries, 6 continents

After a record 16-year run of futility, the Sacramento Kings are counting on Mike Brown to be the coach that will end the longest playoff drought in NBA history.
Brown takes over a downtrodden franchise that hasn't been to the postseason since 2006 but enters this season hoping that a coach with a history of defensive success is the ingredient needed to change the fortunes.
&ldquo;The connectivity of the group is fantastic,&rdquo; Brown said. "There&rsquo;s a great spirit and energy that you feel out there from our guys.&rdquo;
Whether that translates into enough wins in the competitive Western Conference is the big question.
Sacramento has some key pieces in place after acquiring two-time All-Star big man Domantas Sabonis to team with point guard De'Aaron Fox and drafting Keegan Murray fourth overall.
But entering a season with optimism and ending it that way are very different for the Kings.
&ldquo;We have to prove we are good enough to make it into that dance," general manager Monte McNair said. "We are going to need guys across the roster to step up, but we think we have the pieces here.&rdquo;
Brown is the 12th coach in Sacramento since Rick Adelman led the Kings to their eighth straight playoff berth in his final season there in 2006.
Since moving to California for the 1985-86 season, the Kings had a winning record all eight seasons under Adelman and a losing record every other year.
Brown comes with a proven pedigree during his seven-plus seasons as a head coach with a .616 win percentage for Cleveland and the Lakers. He went to the playoffs six times, including leading the Cavaliers to the Finals in 2007.
Brown's teams have typically been among the better defensive teams in the league and he will try to fix a team that finished in the bottom five in the league in defensive efficiency the past two seasons.
&ldquo;He&rsquo;s going to emphasize that every day,&rdquo; guard Davion Mitchell said. "The culture he came from when they were really good defensively, he&rsquo;s going to try and bring that to our team.&rdquo;
DYNAMIC DUO
The big move Sacramento made last season was to trade promising guard Tyrese Halliburton in a package to Indiana for Sabonis. The Kings hope Sabonis and Fox can provide a strong 1-2 punch with their ability to run the pick and roll. They showed flashes in their 13 games together down the stretch last season.
Sabonis averaged 18.9 points per game in his short time with the Kings, while Fox has topped 20 points per game for three straight seasons.
&ldquo;It&rsquo;s only going to get better," Sabonis said. "The more we play together, the more we will know our habits and what we like&hellip; we get a training camp together and as the season goes on our chemistry is going to get better and better.&rdquo;
ROOKIE WATCH
The Kings used the fourth overall pick on Murray from Iowa and the early returns have been positive. He had a strong performance in the Summer League and has impressed his new teammates in training camp.
&ldquo;He&rsquo;s a quiet guy but you can see how confident he is in his game," Mitchell said. "He&rsquo;s dynamic. He can do everything on the floor, shoot the ball, play without the ball.&rdquo;
NEWCOMERS
The big move the Kings made after the draft was a trade with Atlanta for Kevin Huerter, who provides a dependable outside shooter to pair with Fox in the backcourt. Sacramento also signed another shooter for the bench, inking Malik Monk in free agency.
The Kings then brought in several other players with connections to Brown to fill out the bench, including Kent Bazemore, Matthew Dellavedova, Quinn Cook, Chima Moneke, and KZ Okpala.
SCHEDULE STUFF
The Kings have a challenging early schedule with three games against the defending champion Warriors, a visit to runner-up Boston, two games against Miami, two versus Memphis, and a game against Phoenix before the end of November. There's also a six-game road trip in December, but if Sacramento survives all that, things should be a little easier afterward.

“The connectivity of the group is fantastic,” Brown said. "There’s a great spirit and energy that you feel out there from our guys.”

Kings hope new coach Mike Brown ends record 16-year playoff drought

Compared to a grind-it-away offseason last summer that helped earn him a huge payday, Cleveland Cavaliers big man Jarrett Allen has been traveling and spending much more time with family this go-round.
Allen's latest adventure? Canberra, Australia, where the 24-year-old is participating in the Basketball Without Borders Asia program as a coach for the first time in his career.
"I've been trying to come here to BWB for a while, but things just never lined up,&rdquo; Allen told Basketball News over the phone. &ldquo;I just liked the idea of the world-life travel, the connecting basketball globally, expanding the NBA globally. I just think it's a great opportunity to share the game.&rdquo;
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Working alongside Chicago Bulls guard Coby White, Dallas Mavericks swingman Josh Green and Phoenix Suns forward Cam Johnson, Allen&rsquo;s been appreciative to get to know the guys he competes against. Together, the four NBA players are providing their best knowledge and advice to the next generation of hoopers to ensure the game of basketball continues to thrive.
&ldquo;That's who's coming after us. That's literally the future of the game, both globally and in the States,&rdquo; Allen explained. &ldquo;We have to share our knowledge to the people coming after to just make things better for the future."
Part of the reason Allen feels so strongly about this is that he had the proper guidance when he was in these campers&rsquo; shoes.
&ldquo;I don't remember the names well. But just growing up, [during] my summer workouts when I was their age [at Texas], I used to practice against some college and NBA players,&rdquo; Allen said. &ldquo;They would always take the time to help me, to show me little tips about how they played the game, how they played their position, and just helped me get my game to the next level. So that's what I'm trying to do with these kids.&rdquo;
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With BWB Asia Camp wrapping up on Aug. 10, Basketball News spoke with Allen about his involvement, his offseason, the Cavs&rsquo; upcoming year and more.
I'm sure Matthew Dellavedova told you good things about Australia. Have you been there before?
Allen: "This is my first time, but so far so good (laughs)."
Did you get any good coaching tips from J.B. Bickerstaff?
Allen: "Ah, no! Actually, I could've asked him (laughs). Honestly, I've been meeting great coaches out here, great people. It's been an amazing experience."
Have you gotten any kinds of unique questions from the campers?
Allen: "The kids didn't really ask me questions. They were kinda shy. But one of the kids just asked about leadership and how to become a better leader, which is surprising. I bet you none of us would've asked that growing up. But it goes to show the kids are trying to be the best they can."
<div class="mceNonEditable"><spike>&nbsp;</spike></div>
How&rsquo;s the offseason gone for you?
Allen: "Offseason's going pretty well. It's been kinda just a normal offseason, honestly."
Is your finger feeling alright?
Allen: "The finger's completely healed, not even like I broke it anymore."
Are you eager to start back up again at your own training camp in Cleveland?
Allen: "Aw yeah. I mean, it feels like the season's been done for eight months. Around this time of the year, I get itching to play, I get ready to get back on the court. But the good thing [is] it's about two months away."
You and Darius Garland are going into your second-and-a-half season together basically. Why do you think you guys have meshed so well as a tandem, and how would you like to build on that this coming year?
Allen: "Things really clicked for us as soon as I got to Cleveland. Obviously, we all know he's an amazing point guard. But the thing that I don't think people realize is just how willing he is to learn the game, how willing he is to work with myself to try to figure out the best position for me to catch the ball and to just finish a lob. And I see it expanding even further.
"Just every single year, especially with him and I, we've improved our games together, improved our chemistry, improved how we play the game together. And I think we still have a long way to go."
What did you think of the team bringing in Robin Lopez? 
Allen: "I'm happy with the Robin [addition]. I know him from just playing against him on the court. He's a great dude. The Lopez brothers altogether, just the things beyond social media battles, great guys. Especially defending [Robin], [he's a] great player &mdash; Captain Hook (laughs). He has the best hook shot in the league."
Ricky Rubio&rsquo;s back in the fold too. The locker room&rsquo;s gotta be thrilled about that.
Allen: "It's so good to have Ricky back. Off the court, great guy. He was a glue guy for us, to be able to keep us together. [He] came in with a positive attitude every day, willing to work. And even especially on the court, he ran the offense, he got us to where we needed to be."
Are we going to see more of that <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3WVdTvfC2ik" target="_blank" rel="noopener">high-low action</a> with Evan Mobley?
Allen: "Oh absolutely, that's not going anywhere (laughs). I mean hey, we've got Lauri [Markkanen] too. We've got all three levels of scoring."
Is anybody coming into the paint after what you two did last year?
Allen: "(Laughs) You know, if they do, they're gonna know what happens."
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-theme="dark">
Kevin Love: 22 PTS, 6 REB, 6 3PM Jarrett Allen: 19 PTS, 11 REB, 5 BLK Evan Mobley: 17 PTS, 11 REB, 4 BLK The <a href="https://twitter.com/cavs?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@cavs</a> big men put in work in their win 💪 <a href="https://t.co/jSdNxx5rAl">pic.twitter.com/jSdNxx5rAl</a>
&mdash; NBA (@NBA) <a href="https://twitter.com/NBA/status/1466414382519398417?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 2, 2021</a></blockquote>

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You were right there in the thick of it before the injuries hit. Do you feel you guys would&rsquo;ve gotten further/made more of a run had everybody been healthy?
Allen: "You know, with that, you never can say for sure. I don't like saying if we could've made it or not because what happened, happened. But the possibility is definitely there, and the question is there, of just how far could we have made it."
Being sidelined had to sting, especially with the timing. You guys were surging before the All-Star break.
Allen: "Yeah, we were. It was the whole timing of the injury, right? When we were rolling and then, things started to not go where we wanted to go toward the end of the season. So this year, coming out, I think we're all full-steam ahead."
What&rsquo;s the vibe been with the guys?
Allen: "We have our own little group chat. We share memes, check in on each other every now and then. We're all [ready] to play again."
I'm sure the pictures from Kevin Love and Cedi Osman's weddings made it in there.
Allen: "(Laughs) I'm super excited for them."
<div class="mceNonEditable"><spike>&nbsp;</spike></div>
Here&rsquo;s something I always wanted to ask you &ndash; how did you get so invested in anime? Those likes pop up on the Twitter feed quite a bit! 
Allen: "(Laughs) I just think it's a fun thing to do. People have things that they like, have different types of hobbies, different things. That's just who I am. It's the things I like to do, things I don't mind sharing that I like."
Have you ever gotten fan art before?
Allen: "Some. Normally, me as <a href="https://www.funimation.com/shows/afro-samurai/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Afro Samurai</a> (laughs). But other than that, nothing too crazy."
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Background on Basketball Without Borders
<ul>
<li>Basketball Without Borders (BWB) is the NBA and FIBA&rsquo;s global basketball development and community outreach program that has been conducted annually since 2001.</li>
<li>The first-ever BWB camp took place in Europe in July 2001: Vlade Divac (Serbia) and Toni Kukoc (Croatia), together with former teammates from the Yugoslavia national team, reunited in Treviso, Italy to work with 50 children from the former Yugoslavia.</li>
<li>Since then the NBA and FIBA have staged 65 BWB camps in 42 cities in 30 countries on six continents with more than 3,700 participants from 133 countries and territories.&nbsp;</li>
<li>The NBA typically hosts four regional BWB camps over the summer (Africa, Europe, Asia, Americas), and in 2015 created the BWB Global camp, which is held annually at NBA All-Star for the top prospects from the previous summer&rsquo;s camps.</li>
<li>More than 310 current and former NBA/WNBA players have joined more than 240 NBA team personnel from all 30 NBA teams to share their expertise and knowledge with participants.</li>
<li>More than 100 former BWB campers have made it to the NBA or WNBA, including Marc Gasol, Joel Embiid, Pascal Siakam, Nicolas Batum, Jonas Valanciunas, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Jamal Murray, Danilo Gallinari</li>
<li>A record 41 former BWB campers were on opening-night rosters for the 2021-22 season.</li>
<li>The highest-drafted former BWB campers are:
<ul>
<li>No. 1 overall: Deandre Ayton (Bahamas; 2018), Andrea Bargnani (Italy; 2006)</li>
<li>No. 3 overall: RJ Barrett (Canada; 2019), Joel Embiid (Cameroon; 2014), Enes Kanter Freedom (Turkey; 2011)</li>
<li>No. 4 overall: Dragan Bender (Croatia; 2016)</li>
<li>No. 5 overall: Jonas Valančiūnas (Lithuania; 2011)</li>
<li>No. 6 overall: Josh Giddey (Australia; 2021); Danilo Gallinari (Italy; 2008); Bennedict Mathurin (Canada; 2022)</li>
<li>No. 7 overall: Killian Hayes (France; 2020), Lauri Markkanen (Finland; 2017), Jamal Murray (Canada; 2016)</li>
<li>No. 8 overall: Frank Ntilikina (France; 2017)</li>
<li>No. 9 overall: Deni Avdija (Israel; 2020) and Rui Hachimura (Japan; 2019)</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>

Spencer Davies chats with Jarrett Allen about his involvement with BWB Asia, his offseason, the Cavs’ upcoming year and more.

Jarrett Allen Q&A: Cavaliers' offseason, Basketball Without Borders

The Sacramento Kings announced that they have signed free agent guard Matthew Dellavedova.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-theme="dark">
Welcome to Sactown, <a href="https://twitter.com/matthewdelly?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@matthewdelly</a>! 🙌 <a href="https://t.co/JnZ6g4Z0Dl">pic.twitter.com/JnZ6g4Z0Dl</a>
&mdash; Sacramento Kings (@SacramentoKings) <a href="https://twitter.com/SacramentoKings/status/1553083812678098945?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">July 29, 2022</a></blockquote>

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<a href="https://twitter.com/MikeAScotto/status/1553093197462749186" target="_blank" rel="noopener">HoopsHype's Michael Scotto</a> reports that it's a one-year, partially guaranteed deal.
Dellavedova has played eight seasons in the NBA with the Cleveland Cavaliers and the Milwaukee Bucks.&nbsp;
This past season, the 31-year-old returned to Australia to play for Melbourne United, averaging 10.6 points, 4.9 assists, and 3.0 rebounds in 27 games.

The Sacramento Kings announced that they have signed free agent guard Matthew Dellavedova.

Kings sign Matthew Dellavedova to one-year deal

It&rsquo;s the most wonderful time of the year. The days are long, the nights are warm and the NBA Finals have come back around.
The Finals stage is where legacies are made. The entire season leads up to this series.
But with the good comes the bad; such is the nature of life. For those with allergies, like myself, June also brings about itchy eyes and a runny nose. And for basketball purists, the bad comes in the form of recycled cliche talking points that, at times, dwarf the discourse surrounding the game itself.
The Finals are where we finally find the answers to season-long, and sometimes career-long, questions.
Can Dirk Nowitzki lead a team to a title?
Did Kobe Bryant need Shaquille O&rsquo;Neal?
Is LeBron James clutch?
This season is no different.
Today's question du jour: Does Stephen Curry need a Finals MVP and another championship sans Kevin Durant to shore up his legacy as one of the 10 best to ever play the game?
One might think the Golden State Warriors would be impervious to these conversations. After all, they won an NBA championship in 2015, the same year they entered the upper echelon of the league before questions could even emerge. And yet, here we are &mdash; eight years, six Finals runs and three titles later &mdash; questioning Curry&rsquo;s greatness and ultimate legacy.
So, what is the answer to that aforementioned question?
First, let&rsquo;s take a look at Curry&rsquo;s legacy. In short, he is an all-time great who's responsible for revolutionizing the Three-Point Era.
It is too simple to reduce Curry to just "the greatest shooter of all-time&rdquo; and limit his skills to only one facet of his game. Because not only is Curry the greatest shooter ever, he is also an elite finisher with both his right and left hand, and he sports one of the best handles we&rsquo;ll ever see. And yet, despite all of his on-ball skills, he is even deadlier off the ball.
In the words of Warriors president and general manager Bob Myers, who joined The Morning Roast on 95.7 The Game on June 7: &ldquo;This guy is a made-man. Forget about this Finals; it's already been done. He's already done it. He's already proven it. I don't know what else he has to continue to prove.&rdquo;
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-theme="dark">
Bob Myers believes Steph Curry has nothing left to prove in the NBA Finals 🐐 <a href="https://t.co/JXkLpiRj4b">pic.twitter.com/JXkLpiRj4b</a>
&mdash; 95.7 The Game (@957thegame) <a href="https://twitter.com/957thegame/status/1534234887221219328?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 7, 2022</a></blockquote>

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Myers is correct. Curry has cemented himself as an all-time great.
But all titles matter, and winning this one is important for Curry&rsquo;s legacy. Just as the fourth title mattered to LeBron. Just as the fourth and fifth mattered to Kobe. Just as the fifth and sixth mattered to Michael Jordan.
They all matter when cementing your legacy.
And that&rsquo;s because, unlike other accolades, championships are not debatable. Being the last team standing is a matter of fact, and not decided on by a select group of media.
Players aren't awarded titles. They win them. Curry&rsquo;s greatness is shown by reaching this objective season after season. With each new ring, it cements what should never be up for debate.
Finals MVP, however, is a subjective award. And when it comes to subjectivity, Curry&rsquo;s greatness regularly gets called into question. Being a pioneer in any industry means having your name etched into the history books, but with that comes some bad: you&rsquo;re ahead of your time. And, as a result, people often can&rsquo;t keep up with your greatness as it happens.
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Take the 2015 NBA Finals, for example, Curry&rsquo;s impact was not immediately visible on the box score; although, he was no slouch there either. Curry finished the series averaging 26.0 points, 6.3 assists and 5.2 rebounds per game on .443/.385/.885 shooting splits. (An efficiency dip from the regular season, where he averaged 23.8 points, 7.7 assists and 4.2 rebounds per game on a .487/.443/.914 slash line.)
They were numbers that paled in comparison to LeBron, who finished the series with averages of 35.8 points, 13.3 rebounds and 8.8 assists per contest, leaving many to believe Curry failed in the role of a superstar on the biggest stage.
Dominance in the form of counting stats is easy to quantify, but dominance in creating an ecosystem that benefits those around you &mdash; is not. Thus, the true value of Curry is hard to measure.
And that&rsquo;s why, of the 11 votes for Finals MVP, LeBron received four, Andre Iguodala received seven and Curry received headlines calling Matthew Dellavedova his kryptonite.
That&rsquo;s right. Curry received no votes, and Iguodala won the 2015 Finals MVP.
Many voters point to the tides turning after Game 3. The Cleveland Cavaliers had taken a 2-1 series lead, and the Warriors adjusted by swapping Iguodala in for Andrew Bogut in the starting lineup &mdash; a rare move that offered major benefits on both sides of the ball.
At a distance, the case for Iguodala over Curry for Finals MVP is such:
Iguodala guarded the best player in basketball and limited LeBron&rsquo;s impact to sub-40% shooting, the Warriors never lost a game once he entered the starting lineup, and, as a starter, he averaged 20.3 points, 7.0 rebounds and 4.0 assists per game. He also shot 47.8% from the floor and 40.9% from three, numbers that closely resembled Curry&rsquo;s with much better efficiency.
Take a closer look, and we can see how that&rsquo;s all the more reason Curry deserved the Finals MVP. Without taking anything away from Iguodala, who was a valuable piece that allowed the Warriors to unlock this lineup, Steph made it unstoppable.
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Introducing Iguodala into the starting lineup in place of Bogut allowed the Warriors to play a five-out lineup with passing.
Curry, being the best shooter ever, gets the most attention, and the way he moves off-ball &mdash; constantly in motion and always a threat to shoot &mdash; opens the floor up for all of his teammates in ways that are not yet quantifiable. Curry running by two defenders and pulling them towards him is not a screen assist, but it still opens up a driving lane or a shot in a similar way.
Iguodala directly benefited from that gravity. According to NBA.com, 46% of the shots Iguodala took were considered &ldquo;wide open&rdquo; with the closest defender at least six feet away, and 20% were considered open with a defender four-to-six feet away.
With Bogut on the floor, the Cavs could tilt their defense toward Curry without any blowback. With Iguodala&rsquo;s passing and shooting in Bogut&rsquo;s place, the Cavaliers' defense was forced to make a choice. More often than not, their decision was to dare Iguodala to shoot, and to his credit, he knocked them down.
Curry&rsquo;s court vision and decisive actions create excellent opportunities for teammates, as he led the Warriors in assists. Iguodala was the prime beneficiary, accounting for nearly 40% of his points as a starter in catch-and-shoot situations, according to NBA.com. (That includes all of his made field goals in the deciding Game 6.)
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Decades from now, when people think back on the Warriors&rsquo; first championship, losing Finals MVP to Iguodala won&rsquo;t be an indictment on Curry and his game, but instead on our ability to appreciate what doesn&rsquo;t show up in the box score.
It&rsquo;ll be a capsule in time, defined by our limited scope.
The predicament is similar to the NBA's 2007 Defensive Player of the Year award.
Marcus Camby won the award, given to the best defender in a season, over Tim Duncan, who finished third behind San Antonio Spurs teammate Bruce Bowen.
Despite being one the greatest defensive anchors of all time, Duncan never won the honor &mdash; a gaffe on the part of voters and a result of our limited ability to measure defense.
In 2007, after finishing with his second blocks title in what would be a three-year reign, Camby was awarded Defensive Player of the Year instead.
Over time, we&rsquo;ve come to learn that blocking shots, though flashy and easily quantifiable, is far less a marker of a great defender than one who deters opponents from even attempting a drive.
NBA.com can track how well opponents shot against you in various areas on the court, and despite Camby&rsquo;s higher blocks-per-game average of 3.3 to Duncan&rsquo;s 2.4, players shot 8.3% worse when met by Duncan over Camby in the restricted area.
Blocks per game also remains the sole stat that favors Camby over Duncan defensively. The Denver Nuggets even performed better defensively with Camby on the bench.
<table style="border-collapse: collapse; width: 67.1558%; height: 132px;" border="1">
<tbody>
<tr style="height: 22px;">
<td style="width: 29.0771%; height: 22px;">Defensive Metric</td>
<td style="width: 16.18%; height: 22px;">Marcus Camby</td>
<td style="width: 13.7594%; height: 22px;">Tim Duncan</td>
</tr>
<tr style="height: 22px;">
<td style="width: 29.0771%; height: 22px;">Defensive Efficiency</td>
<td style="width: 16.18%; height: 22px;">105.6</td>
<td style="width: 13.7594%; height: 22px;">96.5</td>
</tr>
<tr style="height: 22px;">
<td style="width: 29.0771%; height: 22px;">Defensive Win Shares</td>
<td style="width: 16.18%; height: 22px;">5.1</td>
<td style="width: 13.7594%; height: 22px;">6.8</td>
</tr>
<tr style="height: 22px;">
<td style="width: 29.0771%; height: 22px;">Defensive Box Plus-Minus</td>
<td style="width: 16.18%; height: 22px;">3.9</td>
<td style="width: 13.7594%; height: 22px;">3.2</td>
</tr>
<tr style="height: 22px;">
<td style="width: 29.0771%; height: 22px;">Opponent FG% in RA</td>
<td style="width: 16.18%; height: 22px;">60.5%</td>
<td style="width: 13.7594%; height: 22px;">53.2%</td>
</tr>
<tr style="height: 22px;">
<td style="width: 29.0771%; height: 22px;">Defensive Pts Per Poss.</td>
<td style="width: 16.18%; height: 22px;">+2.5</td>
<td style="width: 13.7594%; height: 22px;">-8.8</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
And though not one of these stats alone is a clear indicator of which player is a better defender, all of them together make it pretty obvious that Duncan was better than Camby in 2007.
Then, there are other factors that can&rsquo;t be measured, like how often the presence of a defensive force such as Duncan prevents teams from even passing to a guy guarded by the stalwart.
Defensive Player of the Year awards began in 1982-83. Ten of the first 28 winners led the NBA in blocks. Since then, no player who led the league in blocks has gone on to win DPOY. Nowadays, it would be laughable to base a defensive argument on something as basic as blocks.
I think this is how we&rsquo;ll understand Curry not winning a Finals MVP in his first three chances, namely in 2015. The Finals MVP is supposed to highlight the most valuable player during the most important stretch of basketball all year. That was undeniably him.
The mark of a great offensive player is that teams would prefer to play 4-on-3 versus 1-on-1, and in 2015, Iguodala benefited from being the man open. But that&rsquo;s entirely thanks to the gravity of Stephen Curry.
Because, at the end of the day, every NBA defense is trying to get the ball out of Steph's hands.
And, in the words of Max Kellerman, they want Iguodala.&nbsp;
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Imman Adan details how Stephen Curry's impact can't be quantified by looking back on the 2015 NBA Finals.

Understanding Stephen Curry's gravity and a 2015 NBA Finals MVP gaffe

Australia&rsquo;s <a href="https://nbl.com.au/news/nbl-season-schedule-puts-fans-first" target="_blank" rel="noopener">National Basketball League season</a> has been pushed back by two weeks and is set to open Dec. 3 with a debut home game for expansion team the Tasmania Jack Jumpers against Adelaide 36ers.
The NBL said the season start was rescheduled with the intention of having fans in the stadiums as Australia moves toward easing restrictions in place for the COVID-19 pandemic.
&ldquo;The new start date gives us a greater level of comfort and flexibility as we navigate through the current environment and prioritise having our growing number of fans courtside around the country and in New Zealand,&rdquo; NBL Commissioner Jeremy Loeliger said on Tuesday.
The New Zealand Breakers will be based in Australia at least until early 2022, when organizers are hoping borders will open and the competition can go back to a more regular format.
&ldquo;We are confident that as the country opens back up, our schedule will open up with it and we will get back to running the competition like we used to with all teams playing and traveling from their home bases,&rdquo; Loeliger said.
Defending champion Melbourne United will open against the Kings in Sydney on Dec. 5, with ex-Cavaliers point guard Matthew Dellavedova making his NBL debut for the title-holders.&nbsp;
Dellavedova helped the Cavs win the 2016 NBA title, ending a 52-year championship drought for Cleveland&rsquo;s pro teams. He is on a three-year contract with Melbourne.
Parts of Australia&rsquo;s two most populous states &mdash; New South Wales and Victoria &mdash; have been in lockdown for months because of surging coronavirus cases but are starting to ease restrictions for fully vaccinated people.
Loeliger said 99% of the league&rsquo;s players have received at least their first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine.
&ldquo;We&rsquo;ve ensured that we&rsquo;ve delivered a really extensive education program for clubs and players to ensure that they are aware of the implications of not being vaccinated, both from a health perspective but also from a practical perspective and what that could mean in terms of crossing between state borders or international borders,&rdquo; he said.
The New Zealand Breakers and the Illawarra Hawks have each released a player who refused to be vaccinated.

The NBL start was rescheduled with the intention of having fans in the stadiums as Australia moves toward easing COVID restrictions.

Australia’s 2021-22 NBL season tip-off delayed until December

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

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

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

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

Five years after the NBA Global Academy opened its doors, Australian swingman <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/draft/big-board/players/joshua-giddey" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Josh Giddey</a> is set to become the first graduate selected in an NBA Draft on Thursday night.
&ldquo;I give a lot of credit to the NBA Academy,&rdquo; Giddey said at his pre-draft media availability. &ldquo;They got me in there at an early age, when I personally thought that I didn&rsquo;t have a big future in basketball. They got me in and they believed in me when I didn&rsquo;t necessarily believe in myself. I was there for 18 months and they worked with me every day, so I give &lsquo;em a lot of credit.&nbsp;
&ldquo;They developed me and pushed me in the right direction and set me up to where I am today, essentially. So, the NBA Academy was big for me. It allowed for me to go overseas and get the exposure that I wouldn&rsquo;t have gotten if I stayed back home in Melbourne. It&rsquo;s a big honor and it makes me pretty happy to be the first NBA-Academy player to be drafted.&rdquo;
Chris Ebersole, the NBA's senior director of international basketball operations, worked closely with Giddey during his time at the NBA Academy and Basketball Without Borders (BWB), and he's watched as the son of two professional basketball players went from an off-the-radar prospect to a top-10 projected pick in rapid fashion.
Ebersole knew Giddey from an early age through Marty Clarke and members of the Academy's coaching staff. (Clarke was actually teammates with Giddey's father, Warrick, in the NBL.) Having shown promise at BWB Asia, Giddey found his way to the Academy in 2018.&nbsp;
When Giddey arrived in Canberra, Australia, he was around 6-foot-5 with a good amount of potential. When he left, he was a 6-foot-8 sensation who was highly coveted by NBA decision-makers. Even Ebersole couldn&rsquo;t predict that his ascent would happen this fast.
&ldquo;To be completely honest, I don't think any of us had potential lottery pick in the 2021 draft in our sights for Josh at the outset,&rdquo; Ebersole told BasketballNews.com in a phone interview.
To be fair, Giddey didn't see this coming either.
&ldquo;Up until I moved to the Academy, I was a good player, but nothing special,&rdquo; Giddey <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/nbl-adelaide-36ers-josh-giddey-good-chance-ill-be-declaring-for-2021-nba-draft-prospects-australia" target="_blank" rel="noopener">told our Matt Babcock back in March</a>. &ldquo;I was challenged every day by my teammates and my coaches, and at times, I struggled early on and didn't enjoy myself. But as I grew into it, I fell in love with wanting to get better, and my coaches never took it easy on me &ndash; and that was a massive part of my development.&rdquo;
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Giddey didn&rsquo;t make an Australian junior national team until he played for the U18 club. But as he grew literally, Giddey also grew skillfully. Between sprouting three inches to 6-foot-8, developing his perimeter skills, improving as a playmaker and asserting himself as a lead ball-handler, it was clear that his ceiling was rising as a player -- and that was before any draft buzz.
&ldquo;I think from that point [of making the U-18 squad], that was maybe when a switch sort of went off that he had a chance to be special in basketball,&rdquo; Ebersole said. &ldquo;I think it's always been a dream for him, but the fact that he went through some of that adversity at a young age and the disappointment of not making some of those teams probably fueled him. And by the time he was 18, he was not only making a state team, but he was excelling on it and leading those teams.
&ldquo;In basketball terms, in relative terms, you could sort of label him as a late-bloomer in terms of how quickly his stock has risen. I think a lot of those traits have been there the whole time, but a lot of times it's confidence, it's putting it all together on the court, and I think that's the part that's really blossomed.&rdquo;
It&rsquo;s not just his size that stood out, either.
&ldquo;Beyond that, he's also developed his game, and that part is really the key. There are not a lot of 6-foot-8 people out there who are able to do what Josh can do on the court,&rdquo; Ebersole said. &ldquo;I mean the size certainly helps, but the development of his game in terms of growing into such a rare level of passer and leader of an offense on the court, I think that's the part that catches most people's attention &ndash; just how advanced he is in those areas of his game.&rdquo;
<img style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" src="https://cdn.basketballnews.com/images/story/body/nba-academy_kcr73e8twrdd17vg5u66aoa2s_lg.jpg" alt="" width="555" height="312" />
The Academy traveled to different tournaments and took on varying levels of competition. Ebersole recalls the 2020 Torneo Junior Ciutat L&rsquo;Hospitalet, a tournament that featured the top junior teams around Europe. Giddey <a href="https://www.sportingnews.com/au/nba/news/australias-josh-giddey-mvp-nba-global-academy-fc-barcelona-2020-torneo-junior-ciutat-de-lhospitalet/10xt6unne3wrg1b6j6ljrut7yc" target="_blank" rel="noopener">led the Academy to a win in Spain over the local FC Barcelona club</a> and earned MVP honors after averaging 11.2 points, 8.4 rebounds and 4.6 assists per game.
Giddey saved his best performance for last, contributing 15 points, 11 rebounds and three assists in the tournament final.
&ldquo;He was never fazed,&rdquo; Ebersole said. &ldquo;He elevated his game... He makes those jaw-dropping plays look routine. Just an interesting part of his game is that he's able to make passes that no one else on the court, or watching the games, could see [coming]. And so, he'll make a pass and you're almost wondering where the ball is going, and it'll end up in the hand of his teammate right under the hoop. He does that multiple times a game (laughs). He can throw all different types of passes with both hands from any angle, and so he actually ends up making these extraordinary plays look very routine in his game.&nbsp;
&ldquo;There have been countless examples of that just watching him, whether it's games at some of our events [in the] States or overseas; you see him make those types of passes and you just kinda look at each other on the sidelines and you sorta shake your head. It's so advanced, it's so rare to see a player of his age with that understanding of all the moving pieces on the court.&rdquo;
Just two months later, instead of coming to the United States to prepare for the NBA via college or the G League Ignite, Giddey elected to sign with the Adelaide 36ers of the National Basketball League as a part of its Next Stars program (just like LaMelo Ball and R.J. Hampton). It turned out to be a brilliant choice, as Giddey boosted his stock even further.
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With the 36ers, Giddey won the NBL Rookie of the Year Award. He averaged the most assists in the league (7.6), and led Adelaide in rebounds per game (7.3). Giddey also scored the fourth-most points per game (10.9) on the team, while playing the second-most minutes per contest (32.1). The 18-year-old also became the youngest player in NBL history to record a triple-double (taking the record from LaMelo). Then, he did it again the very next night, making him <a href="https://nbl.com.au/news/night-of-sixers-celebrations-against-bullets" target="_blank" rel="noopener">the only Australian to have triple-doubles in consecutive games</a>.
&ldquo;Obviously, his time in the NBL [was] a huge factor in developing his confidence,&rdquo; Ebersole said. "He was handed the keys in a lot of ways when he got to Adelaide. The fact that he was able to translate all those skills in a league of that caliber... the NBL is a league of grown men and really talented players. For him to go in and showcase his skills at that level and translate them so quickly at that level, I think, is a huge boost for his confidence. I think at each level, he's able to now realize that he can impact these games and he's not out of place and he can hold his own.&rdquo;
"Great kid, very nice," Giddey's 36ers teammate and former NBA pro Brandon Paul told BasketballNews.com. "I think he's more mature than his years the way he carries himself on and off the court, and he's just someone who's got a crazy ceiling."
Giddey&rsquo;s stint with the 36ers ended on May 16, when both parties agreed to allow him to begin preparing for the 2021 NBA Draft. He carried over the momentum from the NBL into this summer, joining the Australian team&rsquo;s pre-Olympic training camp as one of 24 invitees and giving him a chance to play with some fellow Aussies whom he'd looked up to. Many NBA scouts and executives were in attendance to observe the practices and exhibitions.
&ldquo;He's definitely garnering significant attention throughout this whole process,&rdquo; said Ebersole, who was present with Giddey in Las Vegas. &ldquo;And of course with his time in Adelaide in the NBL &ndash; although there was maybe some limitation on how many scouts could get there to see him just given some of the restrictions on travel &ndash; it was clear the buzz around him was picking up during that time frame... I think he's gotten somewhat used to it.&rdquo;
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Even though the Boomers left Giddey off their Olympic roster, they did name him as a replacement player and the experience was beneficial.
&ldquo;It was fun. Obviously, it sucks I didn&rsquo;t make that team, but I still got to be around the guys and be able to train and compete against them every day right up until they left,&rdquo; Giddey said. "So for me, it was great because I got to compete against guys like [Matthew Dellavedova], Patty Mills, Joe Ingles &ndash; and then learn and train against them every day. So it was such a beneficial kinda month, two months for me, being able to learn from those guys.&nbsp;
&ldquo;And then, it&rsquo;s such a good environment to me. I think for me going forward, it&rsquo;s gonna be critical to get this early taste of it because hopefully [in] the next 12-15 years, I&rsquo;m gonna have a long career playing with the national team.&rdquo;
Ebersole is a California native, and he describes Giddey's personality as similar to his own: laid-back and self-deprecating. He says that Giddey is always fun to be around and has great leadership qualities. He can lead by example, but he's also a good communicator with both teammates and coaches alike.
"I've seen him interact with people and [he's] always very welcoming, even when he's being hounded," Paul added.
Ebersole assures that Giddey is a &ldquo;hooper at heart.&rdquo; As for his off-court interests, the young Aussie is a sneakerhead.&nbsp;
When asked what kind of team or situation would be conducive to Giddey thriving as a rookie, Ebersole confidently said &ldquo;anywhere.&rdquo;
&ldquo;I don't think there's necessarily one team or type of team that sticks out,&rdquo; Ebersole said. &ldquo;I think he does have such a versatile game that he'll be able to have an impact anywhere he goes... He's sort of proven that he can be that primary ball-handler, lead operator out of the pick-and-roll. But if he goes to a team where he's asked to play off the ball and go into some of those secondary actions, I think he's fully capable of doing that as well. When he was with our Academy, he played both roles at different points, so I think he's fully capable offensively playing either role.&nbsp;
&ldquo;Defensively, I think that's one part of his game that people may be questioning. But I think he actually has a chance, just given his size, to be a multi-positional defender too and be able to guard multiple positions. He's versatile on both sides of the ball, and that's gonna allow him to thrive [in] whatever situation that may be. I think he's got a good chance &ndash; whether it's the primary guy or the secondary ball-handler &ndash; to impact offenses and keep the ball moving, which is his number one NBA skill at this point.&rdquo;
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-theme="dark">
"I love passing the ball and he loved shooting the ball" 🇦🇺 <a href="https://twitter.com/joshgiddey?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@joshgiddey</a> on his friendship with <a href="https://twitter.com/Adelaide36ers?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@Adelaide36ers</a> guard and fellow NBA Academy alumni <a href="https://twitter.com/Mojaveee?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@Mojaveee</a> and how they continue to push each other. <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/GiddeyUp?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#GiddeyUp</a> Watch the 2021 NBA Draft, July 30 on <a href="https://twitter.com/ESPNAusNZ?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@ESPNAusNZ</a> and NBA League Pass. <a href="https://t.co/IyEf9UQiyt">pic.twitter.com/IyEf9UQiyt</a>
&mdash; NBA Australia (@NBA_AU) <a href="https://twitter.com/NBA_AU/status/1419103123092623360?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">July 25, 2021</a></blockquote>

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

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

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

SAITAMA, Japan (AP) &mdash; Patty Mills really wants no part of the talk that he turns into a different player when he puts on the uniform of the Australian men&rsquo;s national basketball team. He almost rolls his eyes when he senses the question coming.
He&rsquo;s heard it for years.
&ldquo;I am who I am,&rdquo; he said.
Here&rsquo;s who he is: The leader of an Australian team that certainly has enough talent to end the country&rsquo;s 0-for-forever medal drought in major international competition, the quarterback of a team that came to Tokyo believing it could win a gold medal, and one of the two flagbearers chosen by his nation to carry the colors into these Olympics &mdash; the first indigenous Australian to have that honor.
He is Captain Australia.
&ldquo;He&rsquo;s exceptional,&rdquo; Australian teammate Nic Kay said. &ldquo;The way he leads the group on and off the court, the stuff he does behind the scenes for everyone is unreal.&rdquo;
His play in the international game tends to be exceptional as well.
&mdash; Mills has three 30-point games in his NBA career, spanning 829 contests.
&mdash; He also has three 30-point games in the Olympics, all in the span of his last 11 games on sport&rsquo;s biggest stage.
&ldquo;Just give him the ball,&rdquo; Australia&rsquo;s Dante Exum said. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s an amazing player.&rdquo;
Mills scored a team-high 25 points in Australia&rsquo;s 84-67 over Nigeria to open the Tokyo Games; the Boomers play Italy on Wednesday as group play continues. He was the leading scorer in the 2012 London Olympics, the leading scorer for Australia again at the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Games, the leading scorer for the Boomers in the 2019 Basketball World Cup as well.
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These numbers don&rsquo;t necessarily support his argument that he&rsquo;s doesn&rsquo;t become better in the international game.
&ldquo;It&rsquo;s just the different roles that I play,&rdquo; Mills said. &ldquo;That&rsquo;s the easy answer.&rdquo;
And it&rsquo;s not necessarily incorrect, either. Mills is usually an off-the-bench player in the NBA, but with Australia he&rsquo;s usually the go-to and in the starting lineup alongside fellow veterans like Joe Ingles, Aron Baynes and Matthew Dellevedova.
&ldquo;Patty is being relied upon more here,&rdquo; Australia coach Brian Goorjian said. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s got tremendous confidence. He&rsquo;s got the ball a lot more in his hands. ... He&rsquo;s a feature for us, for sure.&rdquo;
This very easily could be the last major international event for the Australian core featuring the likes of Mills and Ingles. Mills turns 33 next month and is already up to 11 NBA seasons, the last nine of them in San Antonio.
And they&rsquo;re still waiting for the breakthrough medal.
Australia has made the bronze-medal game in the Olympics four times; it is 0-4 in those games. In a 2016 contest against Spain, Mills was whistled for a foul with 5.4 seconds remaining &mdash; replays suggested the call was questionable &mdash; and the Boomers lost on the resulting two free throws.
The team also played for bronze at the World Cup two years ago, after losing in double overtime to Spain in the semifinals and then getting outscored 42-19 in the final 16 minutes against France and blowing a 15-point lead in the bronze-medal game.
In Tokyo, the goal is simple: &ldquo;Tunnel vision,&rdquo; Mills said, on a medal.
He refuses to concede that he becomes a different player in these games. There is no argument, however, that he wants a different outcome this time.

Patty Mills always seems to step up and play his best basketball with the Australian national team.

Olympics seem to draw out Patty Mills' best: 'I am who I am'

CLEVELAND (AP) &mdash; Matthew Dellavedova is taking his game back Down Under.
The former Cavaliers point guard signed a three-year contract Friday with Melbourne United, the defending champion in Australia&rsquo;s National Basketball League.
Dellavedova, affectionately known as &ldquo;Delly&rdquo; to his teammates and fans, had two stints over six seasons with Cleveland, which signed him as an undrafted free agent in 2013.
Dellavedova helped the Cavs win the 2016 NBA title, ending a 52-year championship drought for Cleveland&rsquo;s pro teams.
The 30-year-old signed as a free agent with the Milwaukee Bucks, but returned to the Cavs in a trade midway through the 2018-19 season.
Dellavedova's last two seasons were marked by injuries, including a concussion that limited him to just 13 games this past season. Although he was a mentor to young guards Collin Sexton and Darius Garland, the Cavs were not planning to re-sign him as a free agent.
Dellavedova will play in his third Olympics for Australia this summer in Tokyo.

The former Cavaliers guard signed a three-year contract with Melbourne United, the defending champion in Australia’s NBL.

Former Cavs G Dellavedova signs 3-year deal with Melbourne

The field for men&rsquo;s basketball at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics is set.
Following an unlikely victory over a Team Canada squad packed with NBA players, the Czech Republic defeated Greece and won a spot in Team USA&rsquo;s group in the FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament stage.
Canada&rsquo;s national team, which included Andrew Wiggins of Golden State for the first time, was eliminated by the Czechs 103-101 in overtime on Saturday night on a buzzer-beating game winner by Tomas Satoransky with 0.9 seconds left.
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🇨🇿 <a href="https://twitter.com/satoransky?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@satoransky</a> banks it to give Czech Republic the win over Canada in OT and advance to the <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/FIBAOQT?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#FIBAOQT</a> Final! <a href="https://t.co/b6rrI4SFuu">pic.twitter.com/b6rrI4SFuu</a>
&mdash; FIBA (@FIBA) <a href="https://twitter.com/FIBA/status/1411451753271152640?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">July 3, 2021</a></blockquote>

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Then on Sunday, the Czechs won 97-82 over Greece. The Greeks cut their deficit to five points in the third before the Czechs outscored them 29-7 during the rest of the frame. Jan Vesely had 26 points, 8 rebounds, 5 assists and 5 steals.
The Czechs will be going to the Olympics for the first time since the formation of their country in 1993, and it's the first time it will be a part of the Games since 1980, when it was a part of Czechoslovakia.
"They're a veteran team that took advantage of us in a lot of different areas. They dominated us on the glass 35-23, their assists were 25-12. The effort was there, but the game wasn't. But that's due to the brilliance of the Czech Republic. They were just much better than us," Greece head coach Rick Pitino said.
Keep that upset in mind when the Olympic Games begin, because strange things happen in FIBA tournaments.
Slovenia, Germany and Italy also qualified for the Tokyo Games, which begin July 24. Gregg Popovich&rsquo;s loaded Team USA plays its first game July 25 against France. The Americans are locks to get to the knockout phase, set to play the Czech Republic and Iran in the Group Phase, and their side of the quarterfinal bracket will include opponents to be determined after a draw on Aug. 2.
Based upon the qualifying tournaments, Slovenia will be one of the toughest opponents simply because they have Luka Doncic. The Dallas Mavericks star took MVP honors in Kaunas, Lithuania on Sunday after putting up a triple-double of 31 points, 11 rebounds and 13 assists in front of 11,561 fans at the Zalgiris Arena in a 96-85 victory over Lithuania.
"We're making history for our country," Doncic said. "We can just go up from here."
Slovenia is going to the Olympics for the first time, knocking out a Lithuania team that has been qualifying for the Olympics and the World Championship/World Cup with regularity for three-and-a-half-decades. Doncic&rsquo;s teammates carried him off the court on their shoulders following the victory, which was fueled by a 14-0 run after Lithuania closed to 71-69.
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🎵 M-V-P, M-V-P, M-V-P! 🎵 A historic night for <a href="https://twitter.com/luka7doncic?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@luka7doncic</a>, who helps 🇸🇮 book a ticket to <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Tokyo2020?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Tokyo2020</a> with a triple-double performance! ✈️ 📊 31 PTS 11 REB 13 AST | 42 EFF <a href="https://t.co/QAXqv8AfwO">pic.twitter.com/QAXqv8AfwO</a>
&mdash; FIBA (@FIBA) <a href="https://twitter.com/FIBA/status/1411765468545753092?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">July 4, 2021</a></blockquote>

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"I don't care about the MVP," Doncic said. "We won here. We're going to the Olympics, the first time in our country. It's amazing. I think every kid dreams about being in the Olympics. I did, too. So, here we are. We fought really, really hard, and I think we deserve to be here."
Slovenia will play Argentina on July 26, Japan on July 29 and reigning World Cup champion Spain on Aug. 1. The top two teams in each group, plus two wild cards, will make the Olympic quarterfinals.
The qualifying tournaments were played in Canada, Lithuania and Croatia, and all of the home teams failed to qualify. Croatia did not even make it to the final game, getting eliminated by Germany 86-76 on Saturday before Germany defeated Brazil 75-64 on Sunday in the Olympic qualification game.&nbsp;
Brazil, which qualified for London 2012 and hosted Rio 2016, won its first three games by 26, 27 and 28 points, but Germany got 28 points from Moritz Wagner of the Orlando Magic and several crucial defensive possessions in the fourth quarter to pull off the upset. Isaac Bonga of the Washington Wizards did not play. Germany will be grouped with Italy, Nigeria and Australia in Tokyo.&nbsp;
The Aussies, aka the &ldquo;Boomers,&rdquo; have added Matisse Thybulle of the Philadelphia 76ers to a squad that already includes NBA players Aron Baynes, Joe Ingles, Matthew Dellavedova and Patrick Mills.
In Belgrade, Achille Polonara, who plays for Fenerbahce in Turkey, picked up MVP honors after scoring 22 points with 12 rebounds, as Italy defeated home-team Serbia 102-95 in the final match. Italy will be heading to the Olympics for the 13th time, but the first since 2004 in Athens when it picked up the silver medal after losing to gold medalist Argentina.
The Serbians took the defeat hard.
"This is not a failure, this is a disaster. We wanted to make the people happy. I have to apologize for this. With this approach and this game, we do not deserve to go to the Olympic Games,&rdquo; said Nemanja Bjelica of the Miami Heat.
Nikola Jokic of the Denver Nuggets, the MVP of the 2021 NBA season, opted not to play for the Serbian national team this summer.
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With the qualifiers over, here is the Olympic field:
<ul>
<li>Group A: United States, Iran, France, Czech Republic</li>
<li>Group B: Australia, Germany, Italy, Nigeria</li>
<li>Group C: Argentina, Japan, Slovenia, Spain</li>
</ul>
The Olympic men&rsquo;s basketball tournament begins July 24, and Team USA&rsquo;s first game will come against France at 8 a.m. EDT on July 25. The Americans play Iran on July 28 and the Czech Republic on July 31. The quarterfinals begin Monday, Aug. 2, and the gold medal game is Aug. 7 at the Saitama SuperArena.&nbsp;
Team USA opens training camp Tuesday with one of its <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/usa-basketball-announces-us-olympic-mens-basketball-team-2020-tokyo-olympics-games-japan-fiba" target="_blank" rel="noopener">strongest rosters ever</a>. Alphabetically, it is Bam Adebayo (Miami Heat), Bradley Beal (Washington Wizards), Devin Booker, Phoenix Suns, Kevin Durant, Brooklyn Nets, Jerami Grant (Detroit Pistons), Draymond Green (Golden State Warriors), Jrue Holiday (Milwaukee Bucks), Zach LaVine (Chicago Bulls, Damian Lillard (Portland Trail Blzers), Kevin Love (Cleveland Cavaliers), Khris Middleton (Milwaukee Bucks) and Jason Tatum (Boston Celtics). Gregg Popovich of the Spurs is the head coach.
On Saturday, Nigeria will play Team USA at 8 p.m. EDT at Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas in the first of five exhibition games before leaving for Japan. If Booker, Middleton and Holiday go to a Game 7 in the NBA Finals, they will be flown to Tokyo by the American federation in time to be ready for the first game, outgoing <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/boredom-is-one-enemy-team-usa-must-fight-at-2020-tokyo-olympics" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Team USA managing director Jerry Colangelo said last week</a>.

Chris Sheridan recaps this past weekend's qualifying round in FIBA men's basketball for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.

Team USA to face Czech Republic at Tokyo Olympics after stunner in Canada

Spencer Davies breaks down the Cavs' offseason and speaks to a source close to the team about what's next for the franchise.

Cavs banking on organic growth, supplementing talent to take next step

CLEVELAND (AP) &mdash; Cavaliers forward Kevin Love has apologized for <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/nba-news-something-has-got-to-give-with-kevin-love-cleveland-cavaliers-koby-altman-discipline" target="_blank" rel="noopener">his on-court tantrum on Monday</a> night, saying his behavior was out of line and out of character.
&ldquo;That wasn't me,&rdquo; Love said.
The five-time All-Star spoke Wednesday following Cleveland's shootaround practice before facing the Orlando Magic. Love did not take any questions from reporters after speaking passionately for 13 minutes about the incident, his frustration in dealing with an injury this season and his continued struggle with mental health.
&ldquo;I (messed) up,&rdquo; Love said, using an expletive to open his remarks. &ldquo;Everyone knows that. My intent wasn&rsquo;t to disrespect the game, my intent wasn&rsquo;t even for the damn ball to go inbounds. It was a moment that I got caught up in."
Late in the third quarter against Toronto, a frustrated Love, who was upset with the officials for some non-calls, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uEoQu4jBPTg">angrily tapped the ball back into play on an inbounds pass</a>. The loose ball was grabbed by the Raptors, who made a 3-pointer and went on to win <a href="https://apnews.com/article/nba-toronto-cleveland-cavaliers-isaac-okoro-matthew-dellavedova-ef4e2ecc093470aa4a413aa00c16f63c">112-96</a>.
Video of the tantrum went viral on social media, and Love was blistered by fans and media for behavior called &ldquo;childish&rdquo; and &ldquo;unacceptable.&rdquo;
Cavaliers coach J.B. Bickerstaff called it a &ldquo;lapse in judgment&rdquo; and said Love, who didn't speak to the media following the game, apologized to his teammates.
Love said he didn't realize how bad the incident looked until after the game and he felt embarrassed and ashamed.
The Cavaliers were missing seven players with injuries for the game, and Love's outburst only compounded things for a young team stumbling to the season's end.
&ldquo;I put myself here,&rdquo; Love said. &ldquo;It wasn't about my teammates. It wasn't about the coaching staff. ... It shouldn't happen, but at the same time it was a little blown out of proportion.&rdquo;
Love said he has only respect for Bickerstaff and his teammates. He believes they've accepted his apology knowing how hard he has worked this season to come back from a calf injury that sidelined him for two months.
"I'll ride or die for J.B. and I'll ride or die for our guys," he said.
<a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/nba-news-something-has-got-to-give-with-kevin-love-cleveland-cavaliers-koby-altman-discipline" target="_blank" rel="noopener">For more on Love and his pattern of outbursts, check out Spencer Davies' recent column.</a>

Kevin Love has apologized for his on-court tantrum on Monday night, saying his behavior was out of line and out of character.

Cavaliers' Kevin Love apologizes for outburst: 'That wasn't me'

What Kevin Love did was unprofessional, inexcusable and frankly, immature.
Unless you&rsquo;ve been living under a rock or aren&rsquo;t a fan of the NBA, chances are you&rsquo;ve come across the viral clip of Love angrily batting a ball inbounds after a referee tossed it over to him. That&rsquo;s where we&rsquo;re going to start.
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That's some high IQ ball right there, <a href="https://twitter.com/iAmSJ?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@iAmSJ</a> <a href="https://t.co/Y5N6ckYCgS">pic.twitter.com/Y5N6ckYCgS</a>
&mdash; Toronto Raptors (@Raptors) <a href="https://twitter.com/Raptors/status/1386850611593990149?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 27, 2021</a></blockquote>

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It&rsquo;s no secret that the louder national outlets and the talking heads are going to make this into something it&rsquo;s not, so let&rsquo;s provide some context as to why Love was fired up in the first place.
On the possession prior to the meltdown, the 32-year-old was attempting to box out ever-so-active Toronto Raptors big man Khem Birch, which resulted in a foul and Love&rsquo;s knee hitting the floor hard; he actually ended up with quite a floor burn. About a minute later, the equally-as-active Freddie Gillespie bumped him on a similar play, and his force sent Love into the stanchion underneath the basket as Malachi Flynn got a layup out of it. Love glanced over at the official on the baseline and was unhappy with a lack of a loose ball foul call. So to vent his frustration, Love decided to hand-deliver a free three points to Toronto by punching the ball in bounds, giving Stanley Johnson the easiest steal (and assist) of his professional career.
Now, let&rsquo;s lay out the reasons that this act was selfish and wrong. For starters, Love is the oldest, most seasoned player on this mostly young Cleveland Cavaliers team. He and Matthew Dellavedova are the only ones that are left from the championship years, and are considered the dependable veterans of this group to guide those inexperienced players and set an example. With that decision, Love showed that it is okay to pout and cost your team points and momentum when you don't get your way.
Speaking of which, that&rsquo;s the second point to make: the Cavs were *in the game*. With fewer than two minutes remaining in the third quarter, the Raptors were clinging to a six-point lead in a game where they had to stave off a feisty Cleveland bunch that was missing seven players, including Collin Sexton. That advantage ballooned to nine, and then 11, to close the period because of Love&rsquo;s mistake. One would think he&rsquo;d have a little more emotional maturity to center himself in a two-possession contest.
But that kind of leads to the third thing: this is not the first time Love has lashed out. This has been a pattern since he and the Cavs decided to continue their relationship post-LeBron James, when the two parties came to a four-year, $120 million extension agreement in the summer of 2018. While hindsight is 20-20 in both cases, that deal has not amounted well to either -- on the cap sheet or on the floor.
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Let&rsquo;s make this perfectly clear: Love hurting his toe in that preseason and having to step away four games into that contract absolutely sucked, and it was just the beginning of an incredibly unfortunate trend that he&rsquo;s dealt with since. Through no fault of his own, the veteran simply has not been able to stay on the floor. Anybody can imagine the mental toll that can take on somebody&rsquo;s psyche, especially if you&rsquo;ve played the game for as long as he has. He even talked as recently as March about how difficult this latest calf injury was to heal, strictly from the impact it had on his mind more than the physical aspect.
However, the situation is what it is. Love has played 96 games out of a possible 208, which equates to 46% if you&rsquo;re wondering. If we&rsquo;re being honest, that could be what he&rsquo;s frustrated about, which is understandable.&nbsp;
Still, getting into a shouting match with then-head-coach John Beilein and general manager Koby Altman in a practice wasn&rsquo;t the way to handle that. Throwing up your hands mid-game, clapping at a then-20-year-old Collin Sexton and chucking a ball for a &ldquo;pass&rdquo; to Cedi Osman wasn&rsquo;t the way to handle that. Showing up your teammates and head coach and deliberately turning the ball over in a winnable game because you got pushed around, even if you might&rsquo;ve been justified in your aggravation, is not the way to handle that.
(According to a <a href="https://sports.yahoo.com/sources-kevin-love-apologized-to-the-cavaliers-after-inbounds-play-161921633.html?guccounter=1&amp;guce_referrer=aHR0cHM6Ly90LmNvLw&amp;guce_referrer_sig=AQAAAN2xZ1KlOb25Q-73M0qf-qQbJ06Guw3Y7UkYv-TlNAwEIq9BLCNefOrDBoXRfIYCaT068yp_7fakV_jtV1wceA9emYXbK1PmfEjEK8y12BZk8xjwWA0bu5xiRXgJonGuzQwL16wJgIlLj_wxUh2vcW6YjlHYrUSlAfXW1zHaRIO9" target="_blank" rel="noopener">report from Chris Haynes of Yahoo Sports</a>, "Love&rsquo;s intent wasn&rsquo;t to slap the ball inbounds, sources said. Love was frustrated with officials and not his team&rsquo;s performance, sources said.")
Cleveland.com&rsquo;s Chris Fedor reported that a <a href="https://www.cleveland.com/cavs/2021/04/kevin-love-is-supposed-to-be-one-of-cleveland-cavaliers-leaders-which-is-why-his-behavior-is-unacceptable-chris-fedor.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">source texted him that the behavior was "unacceptable."</a> Cavs head coach J.B. Bickerstaff relayed that he apologized to his teammates; Love did not speak to the media following the game. It might&rsquo;ve been a good time to clear the air, however, cooling down before addressing the matter could have been a smart decision.
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In terms of discipline, the Cavs and general manager Koby Altman can&rsquo;t be soft here. They <a href="https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&amp;rct=j&amp;q=&amp;esrc=s&amp;source=web&amp;cd=&amp;cad=rja&amp;uact=8&amp;ved=2ahUKEwiKkqPa2p7wAhWoTN8KHdx0DtcQFjAFegQIAhAD&amp;url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.espn.com%2Fnba%2Fstory%2F_%2Fid%2F25332090%2Fjr-smith-away-cavs-team-seeks-trade&amp;usg=AOvVaw1LupbzCDqCFFWfbY_VYii5">sent JR Smith home in 2018</a> due to his discontent. They came down hard on Kevin Porter Jr. with suspensions and <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/nba-rumors-cleveland-cavaliers-expected-to-move-kevin-porter-jr-locker-room-outburst" target="_blank" rel="noopener">ended up trading the blossoming guard following a heated argument</a>. They recently <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/nba-rumors-andre-drummond-trade-possibilities-destinations-no-contract-buyout-toronto-raptors-dallas-mavericks-brooklyn-nets-sacramento-kings-new-york-knicks" target="_blank" rel="noopener">kept Andre Drummond away from the team</a> to try and find a new home for him (though that was less of a punishment and more of a situation). The point is, with these examples: What should make Love immune from paying the price?
There&rsquo;s no demand to sit him down or release him; that would be way too reactionary. But a few games of an in-house suspension or DNP-CDs would be appropriate at the least. Haynes reported late this morning that the team is taking care of the matter internally, yet <a href="https://twitter.com/ChrisBHaynes/status/1387064877789765635?s=20" target="_blank" rel="noopener">"focused on turning the page"</a> after Love's apology.
If Cleveland wants to create the culture it desires, it needs to address this elephant in the room. Love has meant a great deal to this franchise, has stuck through thick and thin and continues to be important for the next generation of wine-and-golders. On the floor, the difference he makes is legitimate.
That being said, something has to be done to stop this juvenile pattern of habits. Every time Love has an episode like this, the immediate response is, &ldquo;Damn, he really hates Cleveland,&rdquo; or &ldquo;he doesn&rsquo;t get along with Sexton.&rdquo; Both are hardly anywhere near the truth, and guess what? He signed the contract, a fruitful one at that.
Instead of constantly looking for a reason why these things are happening, maybe we need to realize that there&rsquo;s only been one constant.
It&rsquo;s time to be the adult in the room.

Spencer Davies breaks down Kevin Love's latest incident, why this pattern is unacceptable and how the Cavs should handle it.

Something's got to give with Kevin Love

Cavaliers forward Larry Nance Jr. broke his right thumb in Sunday's loss at Washington and likely will miss the remainder of the season.
Nance's injury was one of several suffered by Cleveland players and will leave the Cavaliers short-handed for Monday night&rsquo;s game against Toronto in Florida.
Guard Matthew Dellavedova is out with a neck strain and after receiving four stitches when he was accidentally head-butted. Also, center Isaiah Hartenstein and forward Lamar Stevens suffered concussions against the Wizards.
Leading scorer Collin Sexton missed the game with a concussion he got last week in Charlotte. He also has been ruled out again, and there's no timeline on a return.
The broken thumb is the latest medical setback for Nance, who missed seven games recently with an undisclosed illness and more than a month with a broken left hand.
The 28-year-old Nance is averaging 9.3 points and 6.7 rebounds in 35 games.
Cleveland has 12 games left in a season that has been marred by injuries.
___
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Cavaliers forward Larry Nance Jr. broke his right thumb in Sunday's loss at Washington and likely will miss the remainder of the season.

Cavs' Nance breaks thumb, 2 others concussed against Wizards

In BasketballNews.com's latest roundtable discussion, we asked our staff the following question:
Which active NBA player would make the best coach someday?
Nekias Duncan: I think it has to be Chris Paul. His IQ is insane, he&rsquo;s a tremendous leader, and he has plenty of experience calling out sets on both ends. Heck, he already runs camps. It should be a pretty easy transition for him, if he ever wants to do it.
Alex Kennedy: Every offseason, the NBA does <a href="https://www.nba.com/news/2020-21-gmsurvey">an annual GM survey</a> where they ask executives a bunch of questions about the upcoming season, and they always ask this. Over the years, the GMs have made some good calls; for example, they correctly predicted that Steve Nash and Chauncey Billups could become solid coaches someday. This year, their pick was Chris Paul (who received 36% of votes). Rajon Rondo (29%) was their runner-up, followed by Udonis Haslem (7%) and Garrett Temple (7%). Paul is the obvious choice, but Haslem and Temple were the first names that popped into my head. Haslem has basically been a well-paid assistant coach on the Miami Heat in recent years, and players really respect him. Temple has an incredible basketball IQ and he&rsquo;s known for being a terrific leader, plus he has a ton of relationships with players, coaches and executives around the NBA. After Troy Brown Jr. was traded to the Chicago Bulls recently, Temple told me that he was excited to take Troy under his wing, sharing some veteran tips with him and working on his defensive angles. Haslem and Temple seem more likely to take on a coaching gig than Paul, but all three would probably thrive.
Spencer Davies: When you think of the great cerebral minds in this league, the first man that comes to mind is LeBron James. Seriously, just listen to him replay scenarios and situations that happened verbatim. However, he&rsquo;s already shot down the idea of any coaching future. Chris Paul is definitely up there, just for the sheer fact that he can process things mentally probably better than anybody else in the NBA. Harrison Barnes seems to fit the bill as well. Something that&rsquo;s pretty common, though, is players who aren&rsquo;t exactly in the spotlight nor have the flashiest numbers during their career turning into top-tier leaders on the sidelines. So because of that, I&rsquo;ll go with two role players who could be solid coaches: Garrett Temple and Matthew Dellavedova.
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Jonathan Concool: Knowing that the high-profile players usually don&rsquo;t pursue coaching in their post-playing career, I&rsquo;m going to go with Jared Dudley. The 35-year-old has played 14 seasons and is currently on the Los Angeles Lakers, though he is currently sidelined with a torn MCL. Even when healthy though, Dudley hasn&rsquo;t seen the floor much, as the value he provides goes beyond on-court statistics. The Lakers coaching staff has praised Dudley for the leadership and basketball knowledge he brings to the team, and I think he could transition to some sort of coaching role when he retires.
Moke Hamilton: Being successful as a coach is just as much about having the requisite personality traits as it is about knowing the game. This question is also really one that should be answered based on personal experiences with a player and/or having relationships with guys who have shared a locker room with him. So without knowing every player in the league well, for me, the answer is Ed Davis. Davis has never really been a household name, so to speak, but I got to know him well during his time in Toronto and Brooklyn. You never find him without his iPad mini. He&rsquo;s always studying. He&rsquo;s taken a number of younger players under his wing, and strikes an excellent balance between challenging guys and teaching them. Years ago, I recall one of his understudies telling me that Davis has everything he needs to be a head coach, and I second that sentiment. There&rsquo;s a reason he&rsquo;s always able to find a job in the league.
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Mark Gunnels: Give me Rajon Rondo. First he was groomed by the likes of Paul Pierce, Kevin Garnett, and Ray Allen at an early age and now he's widely recognized as one of the best floor generals of this generation.&nbsp;
Ethan Fuller: I think Kyle Lowry brings everything you could ask for in a potential NBA coach. He has loads of playoff experience, including a championship run, and has always shined the spotlight away from himself and made his teammates better. Lowry's energy and I.Q. have manifested on the court. I've also never heard a bad word about him as a person. He'd be an ideal mentor, tactician and leader once his playing days are over.
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Jannelle Moore: Draymond Green would make the best coach in the future because his approach to the game is so cerebral. Think of how he makes his impact. His attention to detail is incredible, and he knows exactly how to pick apart defenses with his playmaking and how to disrupt offenses. And he&rsquo;d be able to disseminate this information in a way that his players can comprehend.&nbsp;

Which active NBA player will make the best coach someday? Our BasketballNews.com staff weighs in.