Boll Weevils

PASAY CITY, PHILIPPINES &ndash; Meralco Bolts&rsquo; guard duo Chris Banchero and Chris Newsome feel confident about their team&rsquo;s chances of going deep and winning it all in the 2024-2025 East Asia Super League (EASL) season.
Both Banchero and Newsome were key figures in Meralco&rsquo;s first win of the tournament against the Macau Black Bears. Newsome was the team&rsquo;s leading scorer with 18 points while Banchero was relentless in attacking the Black Bears&rsquo; paint, scoring 14 points, as the Bolts took the win 97-85.
&ldquo;We&rsquo;re definitely in it [EASL] to win it,&rdquo; Banchero said post-game. Last year we [Meralco] underperformed but we&rsquo;ve got a much better team now &ndash; we got DJ [Kennedy], Ange [Kouame], and AD [Allen Durham]. We&rsquo;ve got a really good team and we&rsquo;ve got a good chance to play some really good basketball.&rdquo;
Meralco just finished with a measly 1-4 record in EASL&rsquo;s last season. Now, the league added a new rule of allowing 2 imports plus a naturalized player, hence the addition of the naturalized Filipino Kouame. The Bolts certainly feel good now with the level of basketball they are playing and they&rsquo;re hoping to take it all the way. However, Newsome says the team is still wary of what&rsquo;s more to come and the expectations that come along with it.
&ldquo;We wanna just take it one game at a time and get as many wins as we can,&rdquo; Newsome said. The goal is to get to the semifinals, and once you get to the semis you can focus on the Finals &ndash; but of course, you gotta rack it up one win at a time.&rdquo;
Meralco is in Group B of the EASL along with the aforementioned Macau, Japan&rsquo;s Ryukyu Golden Kings, Korea&rsquo;s Busan KCC Egis, and Taiwan&rsquo;s New Taipei Kings. Only the top two teams of each group move onto the Final Four round, with a crossover semifinal format set place against Group A&rsquo;s top two finishers.
&ldquo;We tied our win total from last season and we have five more games to try to get wins and try to get into the [top two] of our group, and that&rsquo;s the goal &ndash; just to get to the semifinals. It&rsquo;s gonna take more than one win, it&rsquo;s gonna take more than two wins &ndash; but all we can control is take it one game at a time,&rdquo; Newsome added.
Banchero affirmed Newsome&rsquo;s statements but also added Meralco has to play better than they did as they go up the champions and runner-up of each East Asian country, a staple of international hoops in the region.
&ldquo;I&rsquo;m excited. I know we need to play better than we did so it&rsquo;s good to get that first win under our belt and take it onto the next &ndash; to try and get a win in Okinawa [against the Ryukyu Golden Kings,&rdquo; Banchero stated.
Watch the full interview here:
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(<a href="https://twitter.com/EASLofficial?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@EASLofficial</a>) Meralco Bolts&rsquo; guard Chris Banchero shares the team&rsquo;s expectations on this brand new EASL season: We&rsquo;re a much better team now &mdash; I&rsquo;m excited. We&rsquo;ve got a real good chance to play some really good basketball. <a href="https://t.co/G7tJKkKZFu">pic.twitter.com/G7tJKkKZFu</a>
&mdash; Mon Anthony Valmoria (@MorvalNBA) <a href="https://twitter.com/MorvalNBA/status/1842138442119164380?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 4, 2024</a></blockquote>

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Teammate Chris Newsome echoed the same insights: &ldquo;We just wanna take it one game at a time. We have 5 more games and that&rsquo;s the goal &mdash; to try and get to the semis [of the <a href="https://twitter.com/EASLofficial?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@EASLofficial</a>]. // <a href="https://twitter.com/basketbllnews?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@basketbllnews</a> <a href="https://t.co/PqTWZvV56C">pic.twitter.com/PqTWZvV56C</a>
&mdash; Mon Anthony Valmoria (@MorvalNBA) <a href="https://twitter.com/MorvalNBA/status/1842138551666003993?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 4, 2024</a></blockquote>

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Meralco Bolts’ guard duo Chris Banchero and Chris Newsome feel confident about their team’s chances of going deep and winning it all.

EASL: Chris Banchero, Chris Newsome says Meralco’s in EASL to ‘win it all’

SINGAPORE INDOOR STADIUM, SINGAPORE &ndash; The NBA G League United wasted no time in establishing their caliber after beating Quimsa, 78-65, on the first day of the FIBA Intercontinental Cup 2024 Thursday night here.
The Americans, mostly made up of former NBA players, G League mainstays, and bright young, upcoming stars took advantage of their height and athletic advantage against Argentinian side Quimsa.
&ldquo;We knew we&rsquo;re the most athletic team out here, so we tried to take advantage of that &ndash; and we did,&rdquo; Brodric Thomas said.
Former NBA player from the Golden State Warriors and Los Angeles Lakers Juan Toscano-Anderson led the way for the United with an all-around game of 13 points, 8 rebounds, 6 assists, and 3 steals while Deonte Burton, a former OKC Thunder player, top scored for the team with 17 points.
Thomas added 12 markers, while Rob Baker II and Charlie Brown Jr. chipped in with 11 apiece as the Americans had five players in double digits for their first win of the tournament.
The FIBA Intercontinental Cup is a tournament featuring the six champion teams from each continent, and the NBA G League United is representing the USA for North America. Quimsa, a club from Argentina, represents South America.
&ldquo;We wanted to be aggressive and make a statement. I believe the G League is the 2nd-best league in the world [after the NBA] and we wanna come and show that,&rdquo; Toscano-Anderson said post-game.
In the second match of the day, Spanish side Unicaja representing Europe dominated the Angolan squad Petro de Luanda representing Africa, 95-75. Tyler Kalinoski was phenomenal for Unicaja with 16 points on an efficient 6/9 shooting night in just 15 minutes.
The FIBA Intercontinental Cup 2024 continues tomorrow with Australian squad Tasmania JackJumpers battling against Quimsa in the first match then Lebanese side Al Riyadi going up against Unicaja still here at the Singapore Indoor Stadium.

The NBA G League United established their caliber after beating Quimsa, 78-65, on the first day of the FIBA Intercontinental Cup.

FIBA Intercontinental Cup 2024 Day 1: NBA G League United scores first win over Quimsa

Over the years, there are more and more American basketball players looking for opportunities overseas. There are only about 450 guaranteed spots in the NBA, plus a few two-way spots per team. If one can&rsquo;t crack an NBA roster, players often turn to playing abroad or in the NBA G-League.
For many players, going overseas is a sensible choice. There are many leagues to choose from, including the EuroLeague in Europe, NBL in Australia and Chinese Basketball Association in China.&nbsp;
Some Americans have found solace in the East Asia Super League &ndash; a rapidly growing tournament that is considered to be the "champions league" of East Asian basketball.&nbsp;
Jameel Warney, who plays for the Seoul SK Knights, has found success in Korea. After playing four years at Stony Brook and going undrafted in the 2016 NBA Draft, Warney established himself as one of the best American imports of all-time in the Korean Basketball League (KBL). Ever since arriving in Korea in 2019, the 6-foot-8 forward/center has amassed three MVP awards, three All-KBL teams and a KBL title.
Although Warney was not able to find NBA success, he has been thriving in Korea. Warney recently opened up about some of the differences between playing overseas and back home in the USA.
&ldquo;Well, it&rsquo;s a lot different,&rdquo; Warney said to BasketballNews. &ldquo;There&rsquo;s a lot of spacing in American play, but even here [Korea] and in Europe, it's kind of team-based [basketball]. You can clog the paint up in this side of the world and there&rsquo;s a lot of great shooting here, especially their big men&hellip; It&rsquo;s a lot of different stuff between these two things [like America and Korea], but I mean I enjoy both of them a lot and I love being here for the last five years."
Jamil Wilson, who played for Oregon and Marquette from 2009 to 2014 but went undrafted in the NBA, echoed Warney&rsquo;s statements.
&ldquo;It&rsquo;s just completely two different styles of basketball,&rdquo; Wilson said. "You get that everywhere you go. When I played here [in the Philippines], there was a different style of basketball played in Korea, where I am now. When I played in Europe, whether be it in Italy, Israel, Russia or anywhere like that in the past, it&rsquo;s just a different experience depending on where you are and how they play. Some countries like to play up-tempo, and some like to be really tactical with sets and things. So it just kinda depends on where you are and with the organization and the coaching staff as well.&rdquo;
Wilson has had stints in a lot of leagues in Europe before landing with the Korean side Anyang Jung Kwan Jang Red Boosters this year. Wilson says he has enjoyed the journey of playing overseas thus far.
&ldquo;I enjoy everything. Everywhere you go, it&rsquo;s a unique experience &ndash; culture and basketball itself &ndash; so I&rsquo;ve been enjoying my journey abroad and Korea&rsquo;s no different,&rdquo; Wilson said.
In choosing the place where they want to go and play next, however, Wilson shared a rather unique yet wholesome moment that he considers for himself and his career.
&ldquo;All of my decisions revolve around my son and spending time with him," Wilson said. "So whatever is time-flexible and allows me to spend the most time with him, that&rsquo;s probably what I&rsquo;ll do or where I go.&rdquo;
For Warney, it&rsquo;s all about the fans and the people in the organization. He mentioned the relationships he's built over the past few years he has been with the team.
&ldquo;The people, obviously,&rdquo; Warney said to BasketballNews when asked about considering where to play. &ldquo;I&rsquo;ve been with the same people for like the last five years. My head coach, he was the assistant for my first two years, but now he&rsquo;s the head coach and we have a great relationship. I&rsquo;ve been with (teammate) Yang Ming for five years and my translator also. So a lot of guys I&rsquo;m familiar with over the past couple of years.&rdquo;
Warney adds that he considers his long-time teammates and coaches as family: &ldquo;I think other people like being with different teams, it&rsquo;s like a one-year pitstop or maybe two then they go to a different team. [But] it&rsquo;s not like a business to me, I guess it&rsquo;s more of like a family/personal basis for me.&rdquo;
For DJ Stephens, he's drawn to certain leagues and teams with a solid fanbase. After a lengthy career in Europe, Stephens is now with the Chiba Jets in Japan and he appreciates the love that the Japanese fans show each and every game.
&ldquo;Some of the best fans I&rsquo;ve ever played for,&rdquo; Stephens told BasketballNews. &ldquo;They are real supportive in every game that we have and the arenas are sold out. Our fans buy merchandise with our names on it. You see towels being waved with players&rsquo; names on it. The fans are really loyal and supportive, so that&rsquo;s a big thing for a basketball player, to have a lot of support.&rdquo;
Some players spend several years in the NBA and experience some success, but then transition to overseas basketball (like the EASL) as they get older. Austin Daye, who won an NBA championship in 2014, can attest to this His main reason for coming to Asia to play basketball is to enjoy the game before he hangs it up and create memories with his teammates.
&ldquo;The decision to come here was pretty simple &ndash; I played with the same team last year. The drive of the coaching staff and the players, I know that they&rsquo;re looking to get to a championship. And as you get older, it&rsquo;s not so much about numbers and things like that. It&rsquo;s more about just having fun and trying to enjoy time as your career winds down &ndash; which mine is,&rdquo; Daye said.&nbsp;
Daye values winning more than anything, and he&rsquo;d be fine putting up lesser stats if he has an opportunity to win at this stage of his career.
&ldquo;Winding down and winning is something I would rather do than wind down just getting numbers and losing. So I chose to come here for this year because I want to try and win a championship," Daye said. "And next year, who knows? The same factors apply to me &ndash; just try to win, have a great time with teammates, and try to enjoy the experiences overseas.&rdquo;

A number of American players are competing in the EASL, which is considered the "champions league" of East Asian basketball.

Get to know the Americans playing in the East Asia Super League (EASL)

Soon, the world will know about the East Asia Super League.
The rapidly growing league across East Asia is set to have its biggest event yet: the EASL Final Four happening March 8-10 in Cebu, Philippines.
Dubbed the "Champions League" of East Asian basketball, the EASL combines the best clubs from the top leagues in East Asia with elite production value. The teams in the Final Four are Korea&rsquo;s Seoul SK Knights and Anyang Jung Kwan Jang Red Boosters, Taiwan&rsquo;s New Taipei Kings, and Japan&rsquo;s Chiba Jets. The Red Boosters come in as the defending champions following their win over their Korean neighbors, SK Knights, in last year&rsquo;s inaugural championship in Japan.&nbsp;
EASL&rsquo;s vision is to become one of the world&rsquo;s top professional basketball leagues. At the same time, EASL aims to elevate the sport of basketball across the East Asia region.&nbsp;
But what makes the league different is the style of play and the brand of basketball each team employs. While leagues like the NBA lean on athleticism, teams in the EASL use a lot of running and transition as well as relying on spacing.
&ldquo;Our play style is fast, and pretty open court. We use dynamic guards a lot and rely on spacing,&rdquo; New Taipei Kings&rsquo; Joseph Lin told BasketballNews in the opening press conference of the league&rsquo;s Final Four tournament. 
The 6-foot-1 Lin, the brother of former NBA player and champion Jeremy Lin, will attempt to bring the title to Taiwan as they go up against the Chiba Jets in the semifinals.
Anyang Jung Kwan Jang Red Boosters&rsquo; Filipino import Rhenz Abando echoed the younger Lin&rsquo;s sentiments as he came home to play in front of Filipino fans in Cebu: &ldquo;[Our play style] is also the same with Taipei, we are also fast and have a lot of ball movement and spacing.&rdquo;
Going up against Abando and the Red Boosters are the SK Knights in a rematch of last year&rsquo;s finals matchup. Star player Oh Jae Hyun reflects the opinions of the basketball played in the EASL.&nbsp;
&ldquo;Our team&rsquo;s main strength is fast-paced basketball, which requires rebounding and pressing the defense so we can force turnovers and push it on the other side,&rdquo; Hyun added.
Aside from Lin, a number former NBA players have played in the EASL including <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/east-asia-super-league-inside-a-basketball-startup-with-a-unique-vision">Lance Stephenson (Liaoning Flying Leopards), Shabazz Muhammad (Shenzhen Leopards), KJ McDaniels (TNT KaTropa), Jared Sullinger (Shenzhen Aviators), Jameel Warney (Seoul SK Knights) and Domantas Motiejunas (Shandong Golden Stars).</a> Austin Daye, a 2014 NBA champion with the San Antonio Spurs, is a teammate to Lin on New Taipei.
With the league&rsquo;s Final Four event aiming to have massive success in the Philippines, EASL CEO Henry Kerins is optimistic that the EASL will grow even more and increase the number of teams soon.
&ldquo;Our ambition is to expand from eight teams to 16 teams and that will include new geographies and new clubs,&rdquo; Kerins shared. &ldquo;Obviously, there&rsquo;s a huge amount of development and expansion for us to do and that&rsquo;s where the top basketball talent is right now &ndash; Asia.&rdquo;
Kerins further noted that this is only the start for EASL as it looks to increase its global market and viewership in the coming months and years.&nbsp;
&ldquo;Our focus right now is developing and expanding that and deepening both our penetration on the media partnerships. This is the beginning, and in 2025 you&rsquo;re going to see a much more mature and aggressive strategy for expanding that," Kerins said. "We will be expanding our presence and that will lead to more clubs participating &ndash; so hold for that in terms of our announcements but that&rsquo;s our vision and plan going forward.&rdquo;

Soon, the world will know about the East Asia Super League, which is about to hold its Final Four in the Philippines.

East Asia Super League set to have its biggest event yet in Cebu

The Cleveland Cavaliers are in the midst of an impressive season, boasting the fourth-best record (26-16) in the Eastern Conference after winning eight of their last nine games. 
Rookie Craig Porter Jr. has been a key contributor and one of the pleasant surprises of the 2023-24 season. Despite going undrafted, Porter has surprisingly emerged as a standout player. After starting point guard Darius Garland went down with an injury, Porter stepped up. In five games as a starter, he averaged 11.4 points, 7.4 assists, 6.2 rebounds, 1.4 blocks and 1.2 steals. 
In an interview with Alex Kennedy on the show &ldquo;Running Up The Score,&rdquo; Porter talked about his early success in the NBA and how he&rsquo;s surprised even himself with the way he&rsquo;s started his career.
&ldquo;I mean it's been very fast-paced," Porter said. "With all the injuries we&rsquo;ve had so far this season, I&rsquo;ve been pushed to play pretty early. So, the learning process has just been the same as the playing process, as soon as I got put in, I was learning everything and it was all new, but it has been an amazing journey so far.&rdquo;&nbsp;
The 6-foot-2 point guard is the only rookie averaging at least 10 points, 5 rebounds and 5 assists as a starter this season.
&ldquo;I am very surprised, because coming in on a two-way [contract] and spending training camp with everybody healthy, you don't necessarily think that four or five people are gonna get hurt and that's gonna be your first opportunity within the first two or three weeks of your first season,&rdquo; Porter said. &ldquo;Even to not play in the G League was kind of crazy to me &ndash; it was just so fast-paced and it just caught me off guard. I didn't think it was gonna be an opportunity that fast, but I figured it would be at some point.&rdquo;
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-media-max-width="560">
Running Up The Score starts NOW! Cleveland Cavaliers rookie Craig Porter joins me to discuss: 🏀 Terrific rookie season 🏀 Toughest player he&rsquo;s guarded 🏀 Studying Rajon Rondo 🏀 Support from Cavs fans 🏀 What he learned in JUCO WATCH: <a href="https://t.co/XjqLmh6hBI">https://t.co/XjqLmh6hBI</a>
&mdash; Alex Kennedy (@AlexKennedyNBA) <a href="https://twitter.com/AlexKennedyNBA/status/1750292459941171445?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 24, 2024</a></blockquote>

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Success in the NBA often comes down to opportunities and a player's situation. When Cavs head coach J.B. Bickerstaff texted Porter that he would be moving into the starting lineup, Porter initially thought he was joking. However, he quickly realized his coach was serious and began to prepare. He knew he had to make the most of the opportunity, and that's what exactly what he's done.
&ldquo;Once the first one [opportunity] came, I started playing well and I felt like I was ready. And then a couple of games later, I started some games and then I started earning more and more trust from everybody," Porter explained. "Then, it was just like, 'Okay, I know I'm with the Cavs full-time now.'"
When it comes to Porter's transition to the NBA, the 82-game schedule has been the toughest part.
&ldquo;[The schedule] is different, for sure. We&rsquo;re probably halfway through the year now and, I mean, it's just ridiculous. I didn't realize how many games you really play each week," Porter said. "It's taking some adjusting, but I just feel like once I figured out my routine, it kind of made everything a lot easier. And the [travel] is fun, you get to go see all these cities. It's crazy to think what basketball can do for you."
The 23-year-old out of Wichita State credited his age and maturity for helping him adjust to the NBA. Unlike a one-and-done rookie who came into the league at a young age, Porter believes his college experience has done wonders for him in terms of knowing his role on the team.
&ldquo;I did five years in college, so I feel like I just have been put in every situation that can prepare me to be a pro," Porter said. "I&rsquo;ve played the role of being just a role player, being just a defender, somebody who just sits in the corner&hellip; I'm just prepared for any role that I'm put in. I feel like nothing&rsquo;s too big for me to handle. Any situation I've been put in so far, I&rsquo;ve proven that I can just handle it and my maturity&rsquo;s probably the biggest thing that stuck out during all that."
Due to his solid play, Porter has been mentioned as a potential selection for the Rising Stars Challenge during NBA All-Star Weekend in February &mdash; a distinction given to the top rookies in the league. He shared what it would mean to him if he was selected.
&ldquo;It would mean the world (getting selected) not because I'm undrafted, but because of the journey that I've gone through. Even just the things I've done this season, I mean, if anybody deserves it, I feel like I do, for sure. But I'm not gonna be mad at it because I just wanna win at the end of the day. I would take winning over anything, obviously. But those personal goals of mine are getting into these things. I'm just gonna keep being me and playing the way I do.
"But obviously, yes, I would love to be in that stuff,&rdquo; Porter said with a big smile.

Craig Porter Jr. has been a key contributor for the Cleveland Cavaliers and one of the pleasant surprises of the 2023-24 season.

Cavs’ Craig Porter Jr. exceeding expectations, earning Rising-Stars buzz

Last week, NBA legend Shawn Marion traveled to Abu Dhabi to support the 2023 NBA Abu Dhabi Games, which featured two preseason games between the Dallas Mavericks and Minnesota Timberwolves as well as youth clinics and fan events.&nbsp;
Marion led a skill-development clinic for youth athletes from Dubai's NBA Basketball School &mdash; a year-round basketball program in the UAE for boys and girls ages 6-to-18. He also judged a dunk contest, met with fans and took part in other NBA events alongside Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Ray Allen, Tim Hardaway Sr., Gary Payton, Sam Perkins, Kenny Smith, Ronny Turiaf and Salah Mejri.
Marion is an NBA champion, four-time NBA All-Star, two-time All-NBA selection and one of just five players in NBA history to record 17,000 points, 9,000 rebounds, 1,500 steals and 1,000 blocks (the other four are LeBron James, Kevin Garnett, Karl Malone and Hakeem Olajuwon). The Phoenix Suns recently announced that they'll retire Marion's jersey this season.
While in Abu Dhabi, Marion joined me on <a href="https://twitter.com/AlexKennedyNBA/status/1710458099448811578" target="_blank" rel="noopener">my new show "Running Up The Score"</a> to discuss his legendary career, the Suns' decision to retire his jersey, Mat Ishbia's impact since buying the franchise, the globalization of the NBA, how the game has evolved, whether he'll get back into podcasting and more.&nbsp;
<iframe title="YouTube video player" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/MwvBnhrrzgs?si=eVIfF5h6J8LrK9aA&amp;start=1676" width="100%" height="325" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe>
You&rsquo;re currently in Abu Dhabi for the Mavericks-Timberwolves preseason games and to host a basketball clinic with kids from the NBA Basketball School in Dubai. How is your trip going?&nbsp;
Shawn Marion:&nbsp;"Man, the trip is going amazing. This is a new culture for me; I've never experienced this, never been here. We're in a different part of the world right now and, I mean, I can tell you this: this is a place I'll definitely be coming back to. This is truly awesome. And, you know what, they're very passionate about [basketball]. I just had this meeting; I just came from an office visit and they had like 250 employees, but everybody spoke different languages! There were 16 languages being spoken! That tells you how diverse it is here, and they really pride themselves on that here. It's pretty amazing."
The globalization of the NBA has been a big priority for the league for some time. From when you were playing to now, do you see a big difference in terms of the NBA&rsquo;s worldwide popularity and international support?
Marion: "Yes. I think as you look at the lay of the land right now, the NBA and basketball is a global sport. But the way that the NBA has been able to grow it, they're taking it to other levels. They're starting NBA Academies and having clinics all around the world, and that just helps it grow even faster. Of course, TV and social-media content help as well, but the level it's growing at right now is unheard of."
The Phoenix Suns recently announced that they are retiring your jersey. Congratulations!
Marion: "Thank you!"
How did you find out that news and what was your reaction?
Marion: "I'm gonna be very honest and candid. Mat [Ishbia] called me as soon as he took ownership of the team and he was like, 'I'm not doing some of the shit that's been done [before]. I'm going to take care of you and reward you by retiring your jersey. I'm a man of my word, and that's what I'm going to do.' That's exactly what he said, and he did! Yep, it was that simple."
Ishbia is quickly winning over fans &mdash; he&rsquo;s spending money, making it easier to watch games, honoring past legends like yourself and so on. What do you think of Ishbia and the fresh start in Phoenix from an ownership perspective?
Marion: "I love it, man. I got a chance to see the practice facility; it's literally not too far from the place that I still have in Phoenix and I ain't been able to see [it before]. I ain't feel like... I feel like a weight was lifted off my shoulders to a certain degree. He's making the transition so easy. And he wants all the players who paved the way and set the foundation for the Suns organization and helped build that team into what the city loves and admires [to be involved]. He just wants everybody to be a part of it, man, and I love it. I think it's awesome. He's doing some amazing things out there."
The Suns have so much talent with Devin Booker, Kevin Durant, Bradley Beal and Jusuf Nurkic. What do you think of this year's team and do you think they can win it all?
Marion: "Man, I think they got a chance just like anybody else, but, of course, their [championship hopes] are probably a little bit more realistic than some other teams. I just hope they stay healthy. When you stay healthy, you give yourself a chance. That's the thing. A lot of teams deal with injuries, and they've been hit with the injury bug a little bit as well. But they've got Frank Vogel as the head coach out there now and he's a defensive-minded guy. They just made another trade and got some other pieces to add to it &mdash; Grayson Allen and Jusuf Nurkic. I think that happened while I was out here; I was at a meeting when I got the alert and I was like, 'Wow! They ain't playing no games right now!' Listen, at the end of the day, he's trying to give himself and the organization the best chance to win. That's what you gotta do."
You obviously helped change the game and were ahead of your time. Overall, what are your thoughts on the modern NBA?
Marion: "Listen, it's run-and-gun, it's feast-or-famine right now. We set the foundation for what [the game] is now. There's so much positionless basketball being played, and it's dynamic. You're seeing the transition and evolution of what we started back in my Phoenix days during the Seven-Seconds-Or-Less era. That's what we started, and that's what it is right now. And I don't see the game going back to two traditional big men ever again."
Throughout the 2000s, not having a specific position was a death sentence for a player; nobody wanted to be labeled a "tweener." Then, seemingly overnight, the NBA became obsessed with "positionless" players and the tweeners were suddenly the most valuable players. That's one of my favorite examples of how the NBA is always evolving.
Marion: "Here's the thing: people can say [they're positionless], but it don't mean they are. You know, to be a two-way player in this league is very rare, but to be a positionless player is even more rare. You could be a guy who can go out there and guard 1 through 5, but to actually do it &mdash; willingly do it &mdash; is a big difference! A lot of guys probably could do it, but they don't do it, you know? Right now, teams are playing positionless basketball because everybody's switching everything. Most guys don't really post up anymore either. It's all face-up game and jumpers. So, it's easy to just jump into that narrative and bandwagon, but if you look at the game as a whole though, it's more of a guard-heavy game now than it was prior to when we made that transition. It's just been a shift. A lot of bigs now don't post up anymore; they're face-up players [too]. That's the evolution of the game."
A few years so, you and I did some of the NBA Watch Parties together on Clubhouse. I also love that <a href="https://twitter.com/MainTeamSports2/status/1506615984173592589" target="_blank" rel="noopener">video where you jumped on Twitter Spaces</a> and educated fans about your career; it was incredibly entertaining. You're obviously passionate about this game. Have you ever thought of doing a podcast?
Marion: "Well, Alex, it's funny you say that. I actually had a podcast with one of my guys in Dallas, so I was one of the first guys to ever do it. I just didn't do any promoting or all of that stuff, but it was something that we did in the Mavs organization kind of early on &mdash; like way before everybody started getting into podcasts. And it was great! But the thing about podcasts is unless you got a set thing, you gotta create content all the time, and I was so busy focusing on trying to be a father first. That was my lane. And then I dibbled and dabbled in TV a little bit and thought about doing some broadcasting work, but, like I said, my priorities shifted because I'm a hands-on father. So, I couldn't keep doing it in Dallas because that was the situation, but I have thought about reopening that window.
"I do have a different side of the game that I like to talk about. I know narratives get created easily by the media, and we consume them and we digest them. It becomes part of our thought process of that player, of that team or whatever it is. But I was talking about this with one of my friends. I was telling him: it's easy for a [former] player to say, 'I can do this or that.' But what kind of player were you though? Because it's hard for a point guard to tell how to guard a big, or for a big to tell how to guard a point guard. But when I say it, I actually guarded all of them! I did it all! And I didn't just do it for a quarter or half a quarter. I did it for full games! So, when I sit there and I tell people that, people are like, 'Man, you know, I never thought about it from that standpoint.' I was like, 'Yo, I actually did this.' You know what I'm saying? Like, it's easy for somebody to say, 'I can guard somebody,' or, 'Oh, I'm a two way player; I can guard this player.' I'm like, 'Can you do it for a full game though?' I'm the only person ever to do it for full games."
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I love to ask players about big &ldquo;what-ifs&rdquo; from NBA history. There was a report a while back that you were nearly traded to the Boston Celtics as part of a three-team deal that would have sent Kevin Garnett to Phoenix and picks to Minnesota. Is that true and, if so, can you tell that story?
Marion: "It is true. But Phoenix wasn't gonna do the deal. They didn't think it was viable because they would have to change their style of play instantly because we're two different type of players. So, they didn't want it. KG was in Minnesota at the time, and I would've went to Boston and he would've came here (to Phoenix). At the time, Boston was losing; I think they had a losing record at that time. I was like, 'Uhh...' But I mean, we have no control over that. Some of the rumors that come out about trades are actually true, but both sides have to agree to it. People throw out deals all the time, [teams talk] all the time, so there's plenty of hypotheticals out there.
"But you wanna hear an untold true story? I never really fully ever became a free agent except my last year playing when I signed with with Cleveland. When I signed with Dallas, it was a sign-and-trade, so I was still under contract basically with Toronto. It was a sign-and-trade deal, so I never really tested the free-agency market like that. So, what happened was I was about to be a free agent or get traded, and this was around that same time as those KG rumors. Kobe [Bryant] called me and said, 'If you're really gonna go out on the market and it's a possibility [that you're changing teams], I want you to come out to L.A.' So, we was texting and he was like, 'Yo!' It ain't happen because they didn't have the money to pay me, but that's a story that a lot of people don't know about."
I love those kind of stories and it's always interesting to think how those potential moves could have changed NBA history.
Marion: "Oh, there were a lot of situations out there like that where [trade talks] were open! It was pretty fun. When you look at the business of the NBA, man, the optimism and [hope] of what could possibily be is what makes it so fun and dynamic &mdash; een with the trade that just went down with Damian Lillard. It's funny, Paul Pierce actually predicted that. He called that in July. He said, 'If I'm Dame, I would try to get to Milwaukee.' It's funny that he said that and I could see it [from Lillard's perspective]. But do I think they're better? Ehh, they lost a lot for that trade, you know? [Jrue Holiday]. Grayson Allen was a great player for Milwaukee. He is a great pickup for Phoenix. He's a hell of a player, a great player, dude. Like, he does a lot of small stuff. He's a very tough guy. I like him. It's something about him that I like. I like the little Duke dudes with that little rough-and-rugged side! But he's one of those guys who can hit shots, he's gonna play defense and he competes. He's actually a lot better than people give him credit for. He ain't got a chance to really showcase his skills, but he can play. And if they use him the right way, he can help them."
For sure. Thanks for your time, I really appreciate it!&nbsp;
Marion: "Anytime, man. You know, we have great conversations and stuff. I might contemplate doing a podcast again. I gotta have the mobile equipment. We'll see; I don't know. I gotta have a great co-host. I like people who shoot [straight]. I told this to a reporter, so I'll give this to you. I told this guy who was recording me yesterday: when you are doing your interviews, do not ask the same questions and stuff that somebody else asks. Do not&nbsp;ask the same stuff."
I'm sure that gets really annoying.
Marion: "It's so annoying. It's okay to piggyback off of answers just to get some kind of content to create something in your own way. But don't ask the exact same questions. You sound you are a true fan. I know you are a true fan of the game. Like, you really love this. And so [you] ask the questions that you wanna know from someone in my position! Forget about the stuff that's already been out there already! Create your own. We all got a story to tell."
For sure.
Marion: "And the thing is, I love my former guys talking about ball and stuff, but some of them talk like they was way bigger and better than they were. Some of these guys were below-average role players, but they talk like they were superstars! I'm like, 'What did you... How good was you? What did you do?!' (laughs) I'm like, 'He was a role player!' He was a solid role player! And look, I became a role player. But you know...
Yeah, but that was because of your longevity. You had four All-Star years before that.
Marion: "Yeah, that's about longevity and understanding that you gotta sacrifice to win. That's the biggest thing, you know? And I could have easily averaged such and such, but I was like, 'You know what? They don't need me to do that. I don't have to do that. If we can win and I'm averaging 16, 17 points, I'm cool with that. We gonna win, so I'm good with that. Let's win.' That was about getting them Ws.
"But that's something to think about though. You asked some great questions. That's the lane to go into. Those are the things to ask &mdash; the hypotheticals or something you [researched]. Like, 'You know what, he was pretty good at this, how did you pick up on that?' or, 'What's something that you did differently than everybody else?' Those are different questions, not the same questions [we always hear]. We get repetitively asked the same questions time and time again. It's boring. It sucks. I'ma be honest: it sucks. I hate it. It&nbsp;sucks!"
I can't imagine how old that gets.
Marion: "One thing that everybody was constantly asking me about was my shot. Everybody seemed to want ask me about my shot. But listen, you know what's really messed up about that though? One media person said it, so it went rampant and every media person wanted me to replicate the answer, right? Whether I like it or not, or whether I enjoy it or not. I did so much on the floor, but you wanna focus on something that nobody talks about? Nobody in the league talks about that. Don't nobody in the league shoot the same! ... I [used to get] pissed off, but now I respond and it's fine. 'It don't matter, don't nobody shoot the same. Next!' But why would you wanna talk about my shot, but then you won't talk about how I just had 25-and-15!"
Or that you shot 39% from three-point range one year!
Marion: "You wanna discredit me and what I did just to talk about my shot? Got it. I totally understand. There's certain lanes and narratives that will be pushed. I totally get it. I'm an owner now, so I see exactly what lane [they're in]; it's all marketing strategies. I know how it works and I know who controls it. Being on this side of the business, I know how things work now. But it's all good though. And it's all love. Thank you."
This interview has been edited for length and clarity. <a href="https://www.youtube.com/live/MwvBnhrrzgs?si=2BRrY0Vaq8WWyAPe&amp;t=1676" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Watch the full conversation here</a>.
Other news from around the web: <a href="https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/other/dress-to-impress-why-barbie-and-ken-are-the-hottest-couples-costume-this-halloween/ar-AA1iaTEh" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Barbie and Ken are the hottest couples costume this Halloween</a>

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

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

Russell Westbrook's one-and-a-half year stint with the Los Angeles Lakers obviously didn't go as planned, which led to the former NBA MVP getting traded to the Utah Jazz, who ultimately bought him out. This cleared the way for Westbrook to sign with the Los Angeles Clippers back in February.
Westbrook struggled throughout his time with the Lakers, but he played much better after joining the Clippers. The team was clearly impressed with Westbrook's contributions, as they re-signed Westbrook on a two-year, $8 million contract earlier this offseason.
Westbrook clearly didn't fit with the Lakers' personnel, and he seems to feel that he wasn't utilized correctly while donning the purple and gold. But how was Westbrook as a teammate during his stint with the Lakers? What kind of presence was he off the court and in the locker room?
Recently, on the <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VARxWc0V84g" target="_blank" rel="noopener">"All The Smoke" podcast</a>, Lakers guard Austin Reaves was asked about his experience playing with Westbrook, with former NBA veteran Matt Barnes noting that Westbrook gets a bad rap from outsiders. Reaves had nothing but praise for the nine-time All-Star.
"He&rsquo;s one of the best teammates I&rsquo;ve ever had," Reaves said. "As a person, you can&rsquo;t get much better. I got COVID in December of my rookie year in Minnesota, and I was stuck there for like seven days. It was rough, but he reached out like three or four times, asked me if I needed anything, offered to send me stuff, whatever I needed. So as a person, you couldn&rsquo;t get better. And same as a teammate. He was always empowering everybody to really be better and do better. Like you said, he gets a bad rap, and I don&rsquo;t really understand why."
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This isn&rsquo;t the first time that the narrative about Westbrook hasn't lined up with what his teammates and coaches say about him.
Bradley Beal, who played with Westbrook on the Washington Wizards, has raved about Westbrook&nbsp;"as a leader, as a player, as a father, as a man."
&ldquo;He&rsquo;s the best teammate, probably, I&rsquo;ve ever had," Beal <a href="https://www.slamonline.com/news/nba/bradley-beal-considers-russell-westbrook-the-best-teammate-hes-ever-had/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a>. "And just in terms of leadership, probably one of the best leaders I&rsquo;ve been around. Because he holds himself accountable. He holds himself to a certain standard.&rdquo;
Paul George, who plays with Westbrook on the Clippers and who previously teamed up with Russ on the Oklahoma City Thunder, explained what makes Westbrook such a great teammate and leader.
"One thing with Russ is that he had a special relationship with everybody on the team," George <a href="https://youtu.be/4pHaeRIfHRI" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said on his podcast</a>. "He would have a conversation with Steve-o (Steven Adams) about New Zealand stuff, rugby, and then he'll have a conversation with me about fishing, then he'll have a conversation with Jerami Grant on anime. He just had a connection with everybody on the team where [once] you get on the floor, it was chemistry. 'This dude really knows me, he really rocking with me. Hell yeah, I wanna play for him, I'm bought in.' 
"I thought that was really special. I've never seen that. Usually the star players, they're not assholes, but they have a special relationship with three or four guys, and the rest is just like, 'Oh yeah, that's my teammate.' Russ was like... everybody was his boy. It was dope, it was the craziest thing I've witnessed... But talk about leadership, Russ was a leader, man."
Scott Brooks, who coached Westbrook in Washington and Oklahoma City, <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/nba-stop-hating-on-the-brodie-russell-westbrook-legacy-shouldnt-be-complicated-washington-wizards" target="_blank" rel="noopener">spoke to Basketball News' Jannelle Moore</a> two years ago about the negativity surrounding Russ and how he's misunderstood.
&ldquo;He does incredible work off the court. He&rsquo;s a great role model. He&rsquo;s a great father, husband, brother, son. He does a lot of great things and, for some reason, that doesn&rsquo;t always match up to the narrative that&rsquo;s out there," Brooks <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/nba-stop-hating-on-the-brodie-russell-westbrook-legacy-shouldnt-be-complicated-washington-wizards" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a>. "I think everybody should appreciate all the things that he brings and the talent he has and the energy and the effort that he brings every night. 
"That&rsquo;s what everybody should be focused on. We all know what sells. We&rsquo;ve been hearing about it since I came into the league: negativity sells. Sometimes when you don&rsquo;t want to do a deep dive, [you&rsquo;ll] take someone else&rsquo;s opinion and continue to re-write what you&rsquo;ve heard and what you&rsquo;ve read. I think that&rsquo;s a mistake by the parties that do that."
Juan Toscano-Anderson admits that he didn't like Westbrook before they were teammates. But after playing alongside Russ on the Lakers, everything changed.
"It's funny because before I met Russ, I didn't really like Russ. And I think a lot of people have that type of lens about Russ just because he's so competitive," Toscano-Anderson <a href="https://www.yardbarker.com/nba/articles/juan_toscano_anderson_says_russell_westbrook_is_one_of_the_best_teammates_hes_ever_had_amazing_teammate_and_person/s1_16751_38063139" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a>. "From the little time that I've known Russ... I've had some great teammates, [but] Russ is probably in my top-five [or] top-three teammates I've ever had. He's an amazing teammate and an amazing person."
At this stage of his career, Westbrook's resume is extremely impressive: a former NBA MVP, nine-time All-Star, nine-time All-NBA selection, three-time assist champion and two-time scoring champion. He's a member of the NBA's 75th Anniversary Team, and he'll almost certainly be a first-ballot Hall-of-Famer. And regardless of the narratives and negativity, he'll also go down as an all-time great teammate.

What kind of teammate is Russell Westbrook? Some of his former teammates (including Austin Reaves) shared their experiences.

Lakers' Austin Reaves: Russell Westbrook is 'one of the best teammates'

Academy Award winner Michael Douglas loves basketball. He&rsquo;s a big Miami fan, mainly because of his relationship with Heat President Pat Riley. He&rsquo;s followed the game for decades.
He&rsquo;s gone to a couple French league games in recent weeks for one reason:&nbsp;<a class="paragraph-link" href="https://apnews.com/article/nba-sports-basketball-las-vegas-6f4ac3d44f624ef36ddb00e314cf0401">Victor Wembanyama,</a>&nbsp;the 7-foot-3 French phenom who is already capturing the basketball world&rsquo;s imagination and attention.
&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve seen Victor play twice in person and twice on television,&rdquo; Douglas, who has been working near Paris playing the role of Benjamin Franklin, told The Associated Press. &ldquo;And I went specifically to just see him play.&rdquo;
As Douglas said in his famous role as Gordon Gekko, &ldquo;I wanna know where he goes.&rdquo;
So does everybody else. Finally, the answer is coming. On Tuesday night, Chicago plays host to the NBA draft lottery, an event where 14 ping-pong balls go into a hopper, and the numbers of the first four balls to pop out will be matched to a combination assigned to a team.
That team wins the No. 1 pick. Spoiler alert: They&rsquo;ll use it to choose Wembanyama on June 22.
&ldquo;Pray for Victor,&rdquo;&nbsp;<a class="paragraph-link" href="https://twitter.com/SeanTPendergast/status/1627126316431540224" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Houston owner Tilman Fertitta</a>&nbsp;told Houston television station KPRC back in February at a Mardi Gras celebration, when the Rockets were in the second half of their dreadful season and with the team well on its way to the lottery at that point.
He didn&rsquo;t say Wembanyama. He didn&rsquo;t have to. Everybody knows what he meant.
The Rockets, San Antonio and Detroit&nbsp;<a class="paragraph-link" href="https://apnews.com/article/wembanyama-nba-draft-spurs-ee1a9bd2232173666d3302bb491c7c5c">all have the best chance of landing Wembanyama</a>&nbsp;&mdash; 14% apiece, or about 7-1.
The odds decrease a bit as one goes down the line of the other lottery hopefuls: Charlotte (12.5%), Portland (10.5%), Orlando (9%), Indiana (6.8%), Washington (6.7%), Utah (4.5%), Dallas (3%), Chicago (1.8%), Oklahoma City (1.7%), Toronto (1%) and New Orleans (0.5%).
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&ldquo;I&rsquo;m alive. I have ears and I can see TV and there&rsquo;s a lottery. Yes, I&rsquo;ve thought about it,&rdquo; San Antonio coach Gregg Popovich said on the day his team&rsquo;s season ended in April. &ldquo;Duh. Did you think I didn&rsquo;t, that I live in a phone booth?&rdquo;
NBA rules prohibit teams from discussing draft-eligible players publicly, until they&rsquo;re announced as candidates for the draft. Key word there: publicly. They&rsquo;ve all been talking among themselves about Wembanyama for a couple of years now, trying to find the new ways to describe a skyscraper of a teen who can shoot, pass, dribble and defend.
So have a ton of NBA players, even the game&rsquo;s biggest stars. LeBron James famously called Wembanyama &ldquo;an alien,&rdquo; and Giannis Antetokounmpo &mdash; who said he enjoyed hearing that Wembanyama counts him among his favorite players &mdash; insisted that the kid should make immediate impact in the NBA.
&ldquo;At the end of the day, as we know, NBA players also will want to make sure that when someone gets so much hype, that they let him know what it&rsquo;s about,&rdquo; NBA great and soon-to-be Basketball Hall of Famer Pau Gasol said. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s going to be challenged. But great players thrive off of challenge, right? So, I expect him to continue to progress and continue to get better and continue to show why people are so excited about him at this point.&rdquo;
There are some other sure-fire lottery picks in this draft that should make teams better as well &mdash; among them, Alabama&rsquo;s Brandon Miller, twin brothers Amen and Ausar Thompson of the Overtime Elite program, and Scoot Henderson of the G League Ignite. It was announced Monday that&nbsp;<a class="paragraph-link" href="https://apnews.com/article/stephen-curry-scoot-henderson-nba-draft-20cc165a9d8516ad940cc519a5494072">Henderson will be mentored on and off the court by four-time NBA champion Stephen Curry</a>&nbsp;of the Golden State Warriors.
&ldquo;I have been watching Scoot and his family for a while now, and I am beyond impressed with what he has accomplished thus far, and excited to watch him take control of his future and grow,&rdquo; Curry said while announcing the alliance with Henderson &mdash; whose team played against Wembanyama&rsquo;s team last fall in a pair of exhibitions near Las Vegas, part of the buildup toward this draft.
<a class="paragraph-link" href="https://apnews.com/article/nba-sports-russell-westbrook-draft-20110cf4506dd900f48d84fefd673077">Henderson exudes confidence,</a>&nbsp;and believes he&rsquo;s earned the right to be in the No. 1 conversation.
&ldquo;I think I can make a big difference,&rdquo; Henderson said.
Wembanyama won&rsquo;t be at the lottery; his French team, Boulogne-Levallois, has a game Tuesday. It&rsquo;ll be a little after 2 a.m. Wednesday in Paris when the results are announced.
It&rsquo;ll be the start of a new chapter,&nbsp;<a class="paragraph-link" href="https://apnews.com/article/wemby-victor-wembanyama-nba-draft-f5be654cce544c675559bad526220a9e">as his current one is coming to a joyful end.</a>&nbsp;The winding-down of his French career has been a celebration, and it&rsquo;ll only continue.
Wembanyama&rsquo;s pro career started with the French club Nanterre. His Metropolitans 92 team went to Nanterre last week and got an 82-72 victory &mdash; and it seemed like none of the home fans cared that their team lost.&nbsp;<a class="paragraph-link" href="https://twitter.com/Agence_Comsport/status/1656051950083776513?s=20" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Wembanyama went into the stands after the game,</a>&nbsp;hugging Nanterre fans and posing for pictures, before returning to the court and hugging team officials and others as tears welled in his eyes.
They are saying &ldquo;au revoir.&rdquo;
The NBA is about to say &ldquo;bonjour.&rdquo;
&ldquo;I found Victor highly intelligent, he speaks English well, taught himself by English speaking television shows,&rdquo; Douglas said. &ldquo;He has a close-knit family and is very tight with his management team. He seems to have an inquisitive mind, interested in many things off the court.&rdquo;
And as for what Douglas tells Wembanyama about what awaits, his answer was simple: Enjoy.
&ldquo;The pressure of being No. 1 is a high-quality problem,&rdquo; Douglas said. &ldquo;Don&rsquo;t let it overwhelm the joy of the moment. Victor is an impressive all-around young man.&rdquo;
Let the journey begin.

On Tuesday night, one lucky NBA team will land the No. 1 pick and the right to draft potential superstar Victor Wembanyama.

Victor Wembanyama to learn NBA destination at Tuesday's Draft Lottery

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) &mdash; The Minnesota Timberwolves are fired up for the postseason.
Whether they have enough depth and maturity to stay a while is to be determined.
Timberwolves center Rudy Gobert was sent home after throwing a punch at teammate Kyle Anderson during an argument on the bench in the second quarter Sunday against New Orleans, shortly after ace defender Jaden McDaniels put his availability in doubt by hitting a wall out of frustration.
&ldquo;This is probably one of the grittier wins I think anyone will ever be a part of. The things we went through in today&rsquo;s game are not normal. Hit after hit, we just found a way to lean on each other,&rdquo; point guard Mike Conley said. &ldquo;The most important thing is we could have easily splintered. Whether it was Kyle and Rudy or hearing news about Jaden, it was one hit after another, but it just brought more out of us. We dug down deep.&rdquo;
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Kyle Anderson and Rudy Gobert had to be separated after a heated altercation during a timeout. <a href="https://t.co/HVuPNdjrxs">pic.twitter.com/HVuPNdjrxs</a>
&mdash; SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) <a href="https://twitter.com/SportsCenter/status/1645164936199303172?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 9, 2023</a></blockquote>

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Gobert sent a group-text apology to the team, Conley said. Coach Chris Finch declined to speculate about potential punishment for Gobert, who was playing with back spasms after being listed as questionable.
Gobert also apologized in a&nbsp;<a class="paragraph-link" href="https://twitter.com/rudygobert27/status/1645220661177008133?s=20" target="_blank" rel="noopener">post on Twitter</a>.
&ldquo;Emotions got the best of me today,&rdquo; he wrote. &ldquo;I should not have reacted the way i did regardless of what was said.&rdquo;
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Emotions got the best of me today. I should not have reacted the way i did regardless of what was said. I wanna apologize to the fans, the organisation and particularly to Kyle, who is someone that i truly love and respect as a teammate.
&mdash; Rudy Gobert (@rudygobert27) <a href="https://twitter.com/rudygobert27/status/1645220661177008133?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 10, 2023</a></blockquote>

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Anderson, a fiery but respected leader who has given the Wolves a big boost with his versatility and experience in his first season with the team, engaged in a heated discussion with Gobert about one of the many sequences that had gone wrong to that point while the team was in a huddle during a timeout late in the second quarter.
Gobert then ended the argument by&nbsp;<a class="paragraph-link" href="https://twitter.com/SportsCenter/status/1645164936199303172" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">raising his arm</a>&nbsp;to strike Anderson in the upper chest with his hand, before the two were separated and Gobert was taken back to the locker room. Taurean Price also reacted to Gobert&rsquo;s swing by jumping out of his seat to give Gobert a shove.
&ldquo;I think tempers just flared,&rdquo; Anderson said afterward. &ldquo;That&rsquo;s all.&rdquo;
Anderson said he didn&rsquo;t think the two would have trouble getting along moving forward.
&ldquo;We want to win games. It is what it is. It ain&rsquo;t the first time someone has swung on me,&rdquo; he said.
President of Basketball Operations Tim Connelly issued a statement confirming the Timberwolves decided to send Gobert home after the second-quarter flap.
&ldquo;His behavior on the bench was unacceptable, and we will handle the situation internally,&rdquo; said Connelly, whose first big move on the job last summer was to acquire Gobert from Utah in a&nbsp;<a class="paragraph-link" href="https://apnews.com/article/minnesota-timberwolves-utah-jazz-nba-sports-26b3c07948dc5cd6e28b8f7da887517f">blockbuster trade</a>.
The Wolves&nbsp;<a class="paragraph-link" href="https://apnews.com/article/timberwolves-pelicans-gobert-anderson-playin-fd50dbdafeea6eaaf20fd463e268f7ae" target="_blank" rel="noopener">beat the Pelicans 113-108</a>&nbsp;to finish in eighth place in the Western Conference and draw a play-in tournament matchup with the Los Angeles Lakers by moving ahead of New Orleans in the standings. They were headed to a loss and the lower seed with a lifeless first half.
After Anthony Edwards settled for a step-back 3-pointer that fell short, the Pelicans raced the other way for a dunk by Brandon Ingram for a 48-36 lead that triggered a timeout by Wolves coach Chris Finch with 4:23 remaining before halftime. Then came the fight.
The Wolves announced at halftime that Gobert and McDaniels would not play the rest of the way. McDaniels,&nbsp;<a class="paragraph-link" href="https://twitter.com/ESPNNBA/status/1645174595169710086" target="_blank" rel="noopener">it turned out</a>, had hit a wall in the tunnel that leads to the locker room out of frustration in the first quarter and did not return. ESPN and The Athletic reported that McDaniels broke his hand.
&ldquo;Certainly immaturity has been one of our issues all season,&rdquo; Finch said.
The Wolves have long been adept at making situations harder on themselves. The easier games have actually been the hardest part for the Wolves this season, with a total of 16 losses to the bottom 10 teams in the league. Win just two more of those, and they would&rsquo;ve avoided the play-in tournament. Four more wins, and they would have the No. 4 seed and home-court advantage in the first round.
&ldquo;But those days are gone. We have to focus now on what we&rsquo;ve got and moving forward,&rdquo; Finch said.

Rudy Gobert was sent home after throwing a punch at teammate Kyle Anderson during an argument on the bench on Sunday.

Timberwolves send Rudy Gobert home after fight with Kyle Anderson

Spencer Davies tells the complex story of Eban Hyams, the first Indian-born international professional basketball player.

Setbacks and bouncebacks: On Eban Hyams, India's first pro ballplayer

Cleveland Cavaliers president Koby Altman is typically one of the NBA's busiest executives when the trade deadline comes around. In fact, since taking over for David Griffin as the Cavs' general manager in July 2017, there hadn&rsquo;t been a single deadline where he stood pat.
On Thursday, that changed, as the Cavaliers decided not to make a trade.
&ldquo;My guys over there, they said, 'Koby I'm proud of you,' for not [making a move],&rdquo; Altman said with a grin at Cleveland Clinic Courts in his first media appearance this season. &ldquo;Because you could make deals. You can. There's things you can land the plane on. Don't just do something to do something. Let's be very, very intentional with what we're doing. It's different when you're in asset collection mode. It's different when you're trying to accumulate picks. That becomes a different motivation. I think where we are now is being very, very intentional [with] how you're going to help this young core grow and set them up for success. And if the move wasn't there to do it, don't do it. I guess we sat this one out.
&ldquo;I think there's value in continuity. I think there's value in giving this group a runway. And sometimes as a GM, you just say to yourself, 'Don't mess this up.' And I think that was a big key for us this deadline. [That's] not easy for me; you guys know I'm volume-heavy. But to take a step back and realize the growth we've seen already, mixed with the results... I didn't see anything that was appreciably gonna make us better and put us over the top. And so, I'm really happy with where we are and where we're going.&rdquo;
We all know the NBA community abides by a what-have-you-done-for-me-lately code, but remember Donovan Mitchell? The 26-year-old first-time All-Star starter who&rsquo;s already stamped his name in the Cavs history books and helped lead Cleveland to a torrid start? One of the best shooting guards in the league who&rsquo;s already won two Player of the Week awards and has brought 39 games worth of playoff experience with him to the team? The dude who <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/nba-breaking-news-donovan-mitchell-scores-nbaseasonhigh-cavs-franchisebest-71-in-win" target="_blank" rel="noopener">dropped 71 freaking points in one night</a>?
Lest we forget that Altman already launched his full-court heave on the first day of September, prior to the frenzy that was this past week.
&ldquo;I'm really glad we did what we did in the summer, to bring in a Donovan Mitchell, because it's so competitive &mdash; hyper-competitive in the trade market, hyper-competitive in the standings. And so, that was our big move to really lift our ceiling,&rdquo; Altman said. &ldquo;I knew that we weren't going to top that move come trade deadline (laughs). I think it's been a seamless fit. I think it's been some really exciting basketball... I think we had a great future without Donovan, and I can't imagine not having him right now.
&ldquo;We don't need to take swings. We don't need to take these &lsquo;find this incredible talent that you have to build around&rsquo; (approaches). I think we've found that, which is the hardest part. And now, does it work within the group and does it make the team better?&rdquo;
Altman&rsquo;s reasoning behind this approach is logical in short-term and long-term lenses. First and foremost, he brought up the delicate nature of a rare, connected locker room. That&rsquo;s why, though he&rsquo;ll leave open the idea of scouring the buyout market with an open roster spot available, everything will be about fit and skill set when it comes to any addition.
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The Cavs are in a position that they haven&rsquo;t been in during his tenure. They boast the fifth-best record in the NBA while employing the second-youngest starting five (average age of 23.2 years old) in the league, and a majority of that core still has yet to experience postseason basketball.
&ldquo;There's no trade I could've accomplished that was going to account for Darius Garland playing in his first playoff series, Evan Mobley playing in his first playoff series, Isaac Okoro playing in his first playoff series. We have to go through that as a team,&rdquo; Altman said. &ldquo;We're gonna have to go down the stretch here and battle for our position. We're gonna have to go in, hopefully, knock on wood, to a playoff series and see what that feels like, and I'm excited about that.&nbsp;
&ldquo;And that's the growth, that's the maturation that I wanna see from this group down the stretch, and really take a step back and let them experience this kinda basketball that's very, very new for us, and give them the runway to achieve, have setbacks and grow from those experiences. But it's a really, really exciting place to be... Give this group what they deserve [with] what they've already accomplished.&rdquo;
Given his expiring contract situation, there were a lot of questions surrounding Caris LeVert, a hot name on the trade front. Multiple teams inquired about his status with the Cavs and what it&rsquo;d take for the franchise to part ways with him. Altman instead revealed that &ldquo;there&rsquo;s a lot of interest to keep him here,&rdquo; and explained his rationale behind sticking with LeVert.
&ldquo;We acquired Caris last year in vastly different circumstances. If you remember, we had Darius Garland and no other ball-handlers; Ricky [Rubio] was out for the year, we had lost Collin [Sexton] for the year. And so, we brought Caris in under vastly different pretenses. I think what he's done this year is try to adapt his game to two ball-dominant, all-world guards," Altman said. "He's gotten better at his spot-up shooting; he's at a career-high this year at 37% in terms of shooting, and that's not even his real piece. He's just a really good basketball player, and I think he's embraced the challenge of being a defensive stopper.
&ldquo;The thing that really speaks to me too is, and I'm a softy for this, but guys that really want to be here. Guys that show up every day to work, that have a great attitude, that whatever their role is &mdash; and he had to take a substantial step back, be a sixth-man type when he could be starting in the NBA on a lot of different teams &mdash; and being like, 'I want to make this work. I want to be here.' That's meaningful to me, that's meaningful to this organization and it's a big reason why he's here. The other thing too is, let's be honest, we're not playing guys 82 games a year anymore. And to be able to spot start Caris at times is an absolute luxury. We learned that last year we can't have enough ball-handlers. We'll see in the playoffs. I know it's been a few years now, [but] to break your man off the dribble when everything else breaks down and your set play is not working, you're gonna need guys to go get some stuff for you and manufacture some runs. He remains a very important part of what we're doing. He's just a really good basketball player. I know he's thrilled to still be here, and we're happy that he's here as well.&rdquo;
As per usual, Kevin Love&rsquo;s name surfaced in rumblings for another year. This time around, it made sense because he&rsquo;s recorded five straight DNP-CDs and missed action in the three previous games due to a bothersome thumb injury. Cavs head coach J.B. Bickerstaff stated Wednesday night that the veteran big man is healthy and available, but wants to see what this new, healthy iteration of the team can do.&nbsp;
Asked about Love, Altman responded by saying that he&rsquo;s never had conversations with him or his representation about a buyout and doesn&rsquo;t anticipate it happening. He did however share that he and the 35-year-old have talked about making a sacrifice and staying ready when his chance to play comes again. Altman feels he&rsquo;ll have that opportunity at some point this season.
After striking a rhythm over the last week, Altman is pleased with what he&rsquo;s seen from this current Cavs rotation that&rsquo;s added some bodies off the injured list. Ricky Rubio &mdash; whom he considers midseason acquisition-like &mdash; came back in the fold less than a month ago and is rounding into form with the bench bunch, and Dean Wade has been getting his legs back under him since returning on Jan. 21, providing meaningful spacing and defensive chops.
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Are the <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Cavs?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Cavs</a> finding stability? J.B. Bickerstaff, Evan Mobley, Jarrett Allen and Dean Wade weigh in (with hand signals and all 🎢). <a href="https://twitter.com/basketbllnews?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@basketbllnews</a> <a href="https://t.co/oTD1TBWkyl">pic.twitter.com/oTD1TBWkyl</a>
&mdash; Spencer Davies (@SpinDavies) <a href="https://twitter.com/SpinDavies/status/1623719182910070786?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 9, 2023</a></blockquote>

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When the franchise pulled the trigger on the Mitchell blockbuster, it created a significant void left by now-Utah-Jazz-All-Star forward Lauri Markkanen. For much of the season, the wing has been anything but consistent and a point of contention around town. A whopping 18 different starting lineups is an obvious indication of that, which has included starts at small forward from LeVert, Okoro, Wade and Lamar Stevens. (That&rsquo;s due to injury and mixing and matching.)
However, to Altman&rsquo;s point of internal additions, Cleveland has seen a fresh version of Okoro emerge since the turn of the new year. From Jan. 4 and on &mdash; when &ldquo;Ice&rdquo; reentered the starting five &mdash; the burly third-year swingman over 19 games has averaged 9.1 points, 3.3 rebounds, 1.8 rebounds and 1.1 steals per contest on 58.5% from the field, including a scorching 49.0% clip beyond the arc.&nbsp;
Coupling his already-stout defense with the threat of knocking down triples in the corner &mdash; and playmaking for teammates off the catch when closed out on &mdash; has helped Okoro earn the Cavs&rsquo; trust.
&ldquo;I&rsquo;m so happy for Isaac, who puts the most work in that now he deserves that sorta 3-and-D position that we drafted him as, that can guard 1-through-4, that really puts pressure on the defense,&rdquo; Altman said. &ldquo;I think what you're seeing from us and from Isaac specifically is a dude that, right away, you feel that defense as soon as you get across half-court, or you want to take a shooter out and he's making you catch 40 feet out. That sets the tone for your defense, and he does that remarkably well. And now, he's hitting the three-ball and giving space to our guards, which we really need.&rdquo;
It also played a factor in Altman avoiding a potential disruption in Okoro&rsquo;s rhythm.
&ldquo;Obviously, everybody wants more shooting. It's something I looked at. But I also know... where are those minutes gonna go to?&rdquo; Altman argued. &ldquo;And that starting five, which has been really good with Isaac Okoro, who are you taking off the floor there when that group as a starting five is a plus-7.3 net rating with a substantial size now? Who are you taking off the floor there, right?
&ldquo;Between him, Dean, Cedi [Osman], we always wanted to hopefully have that be internal and not use more assets to go outside and hope it works. That's the other part too is, at the deadline, you're making these deals and hoping that it fits. You're ingratiating a new person into this system, everybody has to adapt around this person, you have to change the way you play a little bit to accentuate their positives. Keeping the continuity and letting the internal growth happen, I think, was a big part of (standing pat). And seeing those signs certainly gave us pause to... Isaac's only 22 years old, and he's getting better every single day. Let's let that play out.&rdquo;
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Flexibility is still present in Cleveland&rsquo;s books despite being over the salary cap. Altman noted how Mobley still being on his rookie-scale deal will allow the Cavs to re-sign LeVert and Love and use their mid-level exception if they choose. There are also second-round picks at their disposal, and if Thursday taught us anything, it&rsquo;s that they can be quite valuable.
Mitchell and Garland are meshing well with one another as the games pass, Mobley and Jarrett Allen have not shown signs of slowing down and Okoro is coming into his own. Rubio, LeVert, Wade and Osman have had their moments individually and are looking to put it all together to bolster the bench production. As long as the team can stay away from the injury bug, with a softer schedule in the second half of the season, there&rsquo;s no reason to expect any kind of decline. &nbsp; The overlying theme of the Cavs' strategy at this point? If it ain&rsquo;t broke, don&rsquo;t fix it.

Spencer Davies summarizes Cavaliers president Koby Altman's first press conference of the season after a quiet trade deadline.

Koby Altman counting on Cavaliers' continuity, growth from within

Since Nike made the decision to end its relationship with Kyrie Irving and <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/nba-nike-employs-adl-tactics-as-they-officially-drop-kyrie-irving-etan-thomas-torraine-walker" target="_blank" rel="noopener">discontinue his signature shoe</a> after he shared the documentary "Hebrews To Negroes," many brands have reportedly reached out to his camp to attempt to lure him into joining them &mdash; Adidas, New Balance and PUMA to name a few.&nbsp;
During a postgame conference while discussing being a shoe company free agent, the lone company Irving has publicly acknowledged as a possibility was SIA Collective. In addition, he explained that he is not in a rush and wants to take his time to find the right place so he doesn&rsquo;t duplicate a similar situation as the one he had with Nike, who he referred to as &ldquo;that other brand.&rdquo;&nbsp;
&ldquo;Number one, I&rsquo;m in no rush to make any business decisions right now&hellip;. I just want to take my time," Irving said on Dec. 28 after the Brooklyn Nets' win over the Atlanta Hawks. "In terms of SIA Collective &mdash; great brand, great brothers, great operation team behind the scenes. But again, I'm looking for a home where we can build a huge marketplace and I can have some ownership, and that takes time to build. So I&rsquo;m willing to stay patient, but work with people that are willing to work with me.
&ldquo;SIA Collective has been a great brand to converse with, but I don&rsquo;t want to settle with one. I think I just want to keep my options open, look for ownership and enjoy the free agency for a little bit. It&rsquo;s been a long time coming, and then, I think there are a lot of details that are going to come out in the future about what was actually going on. And I think once my platform is created, when I can do that, then we'll share that. But shout out to SIA Collective and everybody that's been recruiting me during the process. I&rsquo;m appreciative. But I&rsquo;m definitely not going to go back into a similar contract that I was in &mdash; or any type of situation or circumstance that I was in or similar to what I was at &mdash; with that other brand.&rdquo;
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Kyrie Irving was asked about his sneaker free agency &amp; touched upon what went wrong with Nike "There are a lot of details that are going to come out in the future about what was actually going on. I'm not going to go into a similar contract I was with at the other brand" <a href="https://t.co/K8AUxOEXnh">pic.twitter.com/K8AUxOEXnh</a>
&mdash; Nets Videos (@SNYNets) <a href="https://twitter.com/SNYNets/status/1608333645558816770?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 29, 2022</a></blockquote>

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Since then, many have been asking: Who is SIA Collective, and what are they about?&nbsp;
On <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/podcasts/the-rematch/episodes/basketballnews-com-episode-62-devlin-carter-talks-his-desire-to-partner-with-kyrie-irving,-owning-his-own-brand,-fashion,-more" target="_blank" rel="noopener">the latest episode of the The Rematch</a>, I had the opportunity to sit down with the founder of SIA Collective, Devlin Carter, who founded the company in 2019. SIA Collective, which stands for Somewhere in America, is an independent, Black-owned shoe and apparel company.
Almost immediately after Nike dropped the Nets star, Carter took to social media to make a public plea to Kyrie to sign with SIA Collective instead of Adidas or PUMA or New Balance or any of the other companies that have reached out following the Nike divorce. The main theme of his pitch is that he is open to offering Irving the very ownership that he expressed is his desire. In Carter's words: "When you have that nobody can drop you because they don&rsquo;t agree with something you do or say.&rdquo;&nbsp;
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During our interview, Carter detailed his meeting with Kyrie&rsquo;s entire team, and expressed why he feels SIA Collective would be the perfect fit for Irving.
Etan Thomas: So, you <a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/Cly41bVvJvZ/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link" target="_blank" rel="noopener">made the video</a> initially after Nike decided to essentially drop Kyrie Irving making the plea to him to consider joining SIA Collective, and the response from the video was that a lot of people in the community started tagging Kyrie in your video to try to connect you with Kyrie, so walk us through what happened after that point.
Devlin Carter: :Sure. So after I made the video, I got a DM of Kyrie&rsquo;s agent Shetellia Riley Irving saying, 'Hey, send me an e-mail at your earliest convenience.' So I sent the e-mail and they responded asking when I was available for a Zoom call. I responded, 'Whenever you guys are, I&rsquo;m open. Whatever y&rsquo;all want (laughing). We can do it right now if you want.'
"So we had it scheduled for Friday &mdash; not this Friday that just passed, but the prior Friday. So we had that set up, and in between that meeting, I also sent them a shoe that we&rsquo;ve been working on called the EVO Bounce, which is a performance basketball shoe. So I sent them some images of it. I had my photo shop guy mock it up in a Brooklyn Nets design and put a No. 11 on it. And (Shetellia) hit me right back and asked, 'When could you get us this shoe?' So I explained to them that, right now, we were in the sole process. So we&rsquo;re making the sole and adding the technology to it, but I said, 'As soon as we&rsquo;re done, I&rsquo;ll send you as many samples as you need.'"
Etan: So they had a quick response?
Carter: "Yes, and I can tell by how quickly they responded that they liked the design of the shoe. That&rsquo;s one thing that I don&rsquo;t have any issues or concerns about is my ability to design a dope looking basketball shoe for Kyrie. So then, from there, we had the meeting on the Zoom call, and it&rsquo;s me, his agent Shetellia Riley Irving, Kyrie&rsquo;s dad (Drederick) and another gentleman who is Kyrie&rsquo;s brand manager. So we&rsquo;re all on the Zoom and Shetellia is quarterbacking the call. And she tells the gentlemen to tell me about themselves, so basically, they&rsquo;re pitching me. And I&rsquo;m thinking, 'Wow, I think I should be pitching myself to y&rsquo;all.'"
Etan: Right, right, but they&rsquo;re telling you about who they are.
Carter: "Yeah. So Kyrie&rsquo;s dad &mdash; super cool, super down to earth. He&rsquo;s telling me how he worked in finance and is from the Bronx. And the brand manager told me how he started with Kyrie and (how) he used to work with Nike, but left Nike to work solely with Kyrie, and how he helps his sister (Asia) with her branding and whatnot. And Shetellia tells me how she worked at BET and launching Power 105.1 (in New York). And then, they asked me how I started, my whole background in fashion design. Then, they started pitching questions."
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Etan: What were some of their questions?
Carter: "One of their questions was how long have I been doing this. They asked about my company and our sales, and I told them that I started in 2019 and we&rsquo;ve done over $40 million in sales really without any advertisement at all. I feel like spending money on advertisement doesn&rsquo;t really reach your core, and she liked that concept as well.&nbsp;
"They also asked me about technology, if I had any patents on technology. And I said, 'Right now, we actually do have a new foam that we&rsquo;re developing and it&rsquo;s just about done, so we&rsquo;ll be putting a patent on that.' But then, I was just honest with them and said, 'Listen, no matter what technology I design and I patent, (China companies) are going to steal it if they want to steal it; they steal Nike&rsquo;s stuff all the time. That&rsquo;s just the way it works. But I told (Irving's team) one thing you will not have to worry about is technology, and whatever he wants his shoe to feel like and whatever he wants in there, we can do it.&nbsp;
"Here&rsquo;s the thing &mdash; these avenues and all of this stuff have never been open to us. Because an athlete has always been just an endorser. So Nike&rsquo;s not going to take you to their factories and say, &ldquo;Yeah, this is where we get our air cushion and 'This is this and this is that, this is such and such who runs the factory and you can e-mail him at any time with any adjustments you want to make.' They&rsquo;re not going to want to give you that level of say in your signature shoe. They&rsquo;re going to keep that gate closed to you."
Etan: Right, and that was actually a thing because Kyrie reportedly wanted a say in the design of his shoe at Nike.
Carter: "Right, and I told them, 'I can open that gate for you.' My whole pitch with them at the end of the day was... I said, 'Listen, I&rsquo;m not doing this for the money. I&rsquo;m set for life. I own real estate, I&rsquo;m good, my kids are good. I&rsquo;m not doing it for that. I&rsquo;m doing this for the message that it sends. This is transcending if we could make this happen.' And who better to do this than a player like Kyrie? Because at the end of the day, Kobe [Bryant] wanted to do something like this. He wanted to start Mamba Sports; he did not want to be signed with Nike forever because he opened his eyes and saw that there was a better way to do this &mdash; ownership vs. being an employee.&nbsp;
Etan: Interesting. I didn&rsquo;t know that.
Carter: "Yeah, and it&rsquo;s not that only Nike can do this stuff. Look at D-Wade (Dwyane Wade) with Li-Ning; their shoes are outperforming Nike&rsquo;s shoes. Nike does not possess a monopoly on superior technology or anything. Technology is simply monetary, meaning anybody can get the technology if they have the money. The shoe just needs to be a good foam, you need to have a good shank plate and a good lockdown. That&rsquo;s really all a basketball shoe really needs, but we can take it to that next level and add the extra cushion and add the extra foam and add the custom orthotics. We have the capability to do all of that. But again, because we&rsquo;ve never been privy to this information, to us, it seems so foreign."
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Etan: I posted on social media that Adidas and PUMA and New Balance have reached out to Kyrie for potential sponsorship deals, and I posted it alongside an <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/nba-nike-employs-adl-tactics-as-they-officially-drop-kyrie-irving-etan-thomas-torraine-walker" target="_blank" rel="noopener">article I wrote for Basketball News</a> called, "Nike Employs ADL tactics as it officially drops Kyrie Irving." I tagged you in it, and I saw in the comments section that a lot of other people were tagging you in as well. You responded in the comment section:
<blockquote>
If you just want an endorsement deal&hellip;..then sign with whoever will pay you the most, but as soon as you say something they don&rsquo;t agree with, it&rsquo;s goodbye. But if you really wanna make a change and create a movement &hellip;.ownership is the only way.
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Can you expound on that?
Carter: "Basically, that&rsquo;s saying: Once you take that check, you&rsquo;re just an employee. There&rsquo;s no power in taking that check. These are the times where you take a chance. I&rsquo;ll explain that in my own story.
"I was in the military. I had already done 11 years. Most people who serve in the military, once you pass 10 years, you don&rsquo;t get out of the military because you only need two more transfers, then you get your retirement. But in my 11th year in the military, I was doing the custom shoes. I&rsquo;m going to the post office with 10 boxes of shoes that I customized for people, making... say $4,000 off of those custom shoes that I did. I&rsquo;m in the line and I&rsquo;m looking at the mail clerk. I&rsquo;m looking dead at him and he looks miserable, and I asked myself... there&rsquo;s no way that when he was a kid, he told his mom, 'I&rsquo;m going to grow up and I&rsquo;m going to sell stamps for a living.'
"No, that&rsquo;s just what life brings you, curveballs. You do what you gotta do to make ends meet, and much respect to everyone who is in a position where they have to do that. I didn&rsquo;t want to be someone who said to my kids, 'You can chase your dreams, you can be whatever you want, but I didn&rsquo;t do it. I didn&rsquo;t chase those dreams, I stayed at a job that I really don&rsquo;t want to do, but it pays the bills, I&rsquo;m comfortable, so I&rsquo;m going to stay here.' I didn&rsquo;t choose that. I started SIA Collective. I have the freedom I have always wanted, and I have never struggled. In fact, I am making more money than I have ever made in my life.
"Now, relating this to Kyrie &mdash; you&rsquo;re already set for life. What&rsquo;s another $11 million a year &mdash; which is what Nike paid him last year &mdash; going to really do for you when you can easily make that, and much more, as an owner of your own shoe and not be muzzled? Ownership vs. being just a worker. Without ownership, if he goes to Adidas, New Balance, PUMA or whoever, it will just be the same as his Nike experience. If you say or do something they don&rsquo;t like, they&rsquo;ll drop you.
"We should encourage looking outside for answers, that&rsquo;s all Kyrie was doing. The seeking of knowledge should never be punishment, but In order to really be free, ownership is the only way, and Kyrie can have that with SIA Collective."

Etan Thomas interviews SIA Collective founder Devlin Carter about his behind-the-scenes pitch to Kyrie Irving and his team to collab.

SIA Collective's Devlin Carter details meeting with Kyrie Irving’s team

&ldquo;On 12/15/2022, Louis Orr was called home to be with the Lord as his battle with cancer has come to an end. He was a dearly loved and devoted husband, father, grandfather, brother and friend. He will forever be missed!&rdquo;
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A STATEMENT FROM THE FAMILY OF LOUIS ORR On 12/15/2022, Louis Orr was called home to be with the Lord as his battle with cancer has come to an end. He was a dearly loved and devoted husband, father, grandfather, brother and friend. He will forever be missed! <a href="https://t.co/VPn8AO1kSn">pic.twitter.com/VPn8AO1kSn</a>
&mdash; Georgetown Hoops (@GeorgetownHoops) <a href="https://twitter.com/GeorgetownHoops/status/1603799542767357958?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 16, 2022</a></blockquote>
This news hit me and my wife Nichole like a ton of bricks.
Coach Orr actually introduced me to Nichole during our freshman year at Syracuse back in 1996. She had already caught my eye a few days prior, and I remember it clear as day. Coach said to me, &ldquo;Etan, I have someone I want to introduce you to. She&rsquo;s a nice young lady from Cali and she plays on the women&rsquo;s team. I just think you two would vibe really well."
And we have been vibing ever since. In fact, decades later, we are married with three kids and just celebrated our 18th year anniversary.&nbsp;
For me, Coach Orr was much more than a coach. I could quote him for days, but some of the best advice he gave me was when he told me this:
&ldquo;Basketball is not supposed to be easy. There is a reason only special people make it. They don&rsquo;t quit when things get tough. They don&rsquo;t point the finger at everyone else. They make adjustments and learn from every game &mdash; whether they score 20 or hardly play.&rdquo;
These were his words to me during my freshman year. He told me this while I was going through my &ldquo;freshman blues&rdquo; stage at Syracuse. Now, if you don&rsquo;t know what the freshman blues are, I&rsquo;ll explain.
It was my first time away from home. I was homesick, and missed my family and friends. Basketball wasn&rsquo;t going the way I expected it would go. It was cold, it started snowing and it just wouldn&rsquo;t stop. I had what felt like a never-ending cold, and I discovered that the coach who recruited me was not the same nice, smiling, joking person who sat in my living room on my recruiting trip.
I went from being a blue-chip All-American, back-to-back state champion at Booker T. Washington High in Tulsa, Oklahoma &mdash; and the No.1 player in my class in the state &mdash; to being at the bottom of the totem poll at Syracuse. I mean the very bottom. Couldn&rsquo;t get any lower.&nbsp;
I was playing behind senior center Otis Hill, who the previous year had gone to the NCAA championship in '96 with that special group of John Wallace, Lazarus Simms, Todd Burgan and Co. I had a lot to learn. Looking back on it now, playing against Otis in practice every day my freshman year really showed me how hard I needed to work to be successful in the Big East. Back then, every night there was another dominant monster we would be playing against &mdash; Jahidi White at Georgetown, Jason Lawson at Villanova, Adonal Foyle at Colgate, Danya Abrams at Boston College. There were literally no nights off.&nbsp;
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But for me, in the position I was in as a freshman center, It felt like I could do no right on the court in Coach Jim Boeheim&rsquo;s eyes. Even in practice, it felt like I could do no right. Everything was my fault.
"Etaaaaaaaan, what are you doing?" Coach Boeheim would say. "Rebound the ball, run the floor, get back, get up, get over! You&rsquo;re not in the right spot, what are you doing!"
I remember thinking that maybe he recruited the wrong person. Maybe he thought I was somebody else because it doesn&rsquo;t seem like he liked me at all. And to be honest, I didn&rsquo;t like him very much either. (Again, just being honest.)
But Coach Orr wouldn&rsquo;t allow me to pout, catch an attitude, stop working hard, feel sorry for myself, give up, quit, lose my temper or flip out on Coach Boeheim (which honestly almost happened). He consistently wrapped his arm around me, encouraged me, imparted wisdom and made me keep working.
I remember the first time he came to me after a game; I played probably all of two-and-a-half minutes, but somehow I still got fussed at as if I was the reason we lost. I remember thinking, &ldquo;I did all of that wrong in two-and-a-half minutes?&rdquo; And Coach Orr must&rsquo;ve seen me at the point of snapping. He came to me and whispered quietly in my ear, &ldquo;Meet me at the gym at 10 p.m.&rdquo; I remember being like, &ldquo;Excuse me, did you say at 10 p.m. coach?&rdquo; But he saw I needed it
So we had an angry workout. Hard, violent dunk drills. Aggressive power moves. He had one of the managers (or someone he just brought to the workout) bang me with the pad, and I would have to power through the contact and make my move to the basket over and over again. We were there for maybe two hours. So once I reached the point of exhaustion, he came over and sat down next to me on the floor. He asked, &ldquo;You feel better now?" And honestly, I did.&nbsp;
After that, Coach Orr's message to me was to keep working, do extra, stay locked in, find out what coach wants and do that, and stressed that it was the only solution. Keep working until it is apparent that it&rsquo;s a lost cause, but in order to get to that point, you have to make sure you are doing everything possible on your end. He told me that I wasn&rsquo;t the first player on earth to be unhappy with their situation on the court, but it was how I handled it and what I chose to do in order to overcome this hurdle that would set me apart.
He said anybody can quit. People quit all the time. He told me that he&rsquo;d been in situations where a coach didn&rsquo;t have the confidence in him yet and he had to prove himself. He told me there were situations where he felt like it was literally him against the coach. But he had to make it so the coach couldn&rsquo;t take him out of the game even if he wanted to, and that&rsquo;s exactly what I had to do.
Coach Orr also told me that things would get better and that I&rsquo;d get past it, but to not forget that feeling when I did have success, but to remain humble and hungry. Don&rsquo;t ever get complacent but keep this same drive, passion, anger, tenacity, chip-on-your-shoulder mentality &mdash; even when Coach Boeheim starts singing your praises and the papers start raving about you.
He also said that there would come a time where I am going to be encouraging someone else who is in the same situation that I was in and don&rsquo;t know how to handle it. And sure enough, that&rsquo;s exactly <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/ncaa-college-basketball-syracuse-orange-jesse-edwards-excited-for-upcoming-season-nba-draft-prospect-jim-boeheim" target="_blank" rel="noopener">what I did with Jesse Edwards throughout his early years at Syracuse</a>.&nbsp;
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But this became Coach Orr and I's routine. We would just have extra workouts regularly. Sometimes, he would let me just vent and fuss; sometimes, he would vent and fuss. Other times, we wouldn&rsquo;t say a word. Just drill after drill after drill.
There were some occasions where we would come to the gym, sit on the floor and just talk, and the topics varied. Sometimes we talked about basketball, and other times, we talked about everything but basketball. We talked about life. He would relate the ups and downs on the court to the ups and downs of life. He would tell stories of when he played and different things that he experienced in college and the pros.&nbsp;
We started going to church together on Sundays, and Coach Boeheim actually moved practice to a little later in the day on Sundays so we could keep our church routine.&nbsp;
I can easily say that if it weren&rsquo;t for Coach Orr, I wouldn&rsquo;t have made it through Syracuse. He had become much more than just a coach.
The thing is, he didn&rsquo;t have to do any of that.
He didn&rsquo;t have to take me to church. He didn&rsquo;t have to encourage me the way he did off the court. He didn&rsquo;t have to teach me life lessons. That was all way beyond the call of duty of being an assistant coach. He didn&rsquo;t even work with my position; he worked with the forwards. But we had a connection that would last a lifetime.
That&rsquo;s what makes a coach more than a coach. Anyone can draw up plays or drills or point out when you aren&rsquo;t doing what you&rsquo;re supposed to be doing. But a coach who takes an interest to learn a player's needs, situation, mind state, temperament and understands when they need encouragement because they&rsquo;re down, when they need to be fussed at because they&rsquo;re messing up, holds them accountable, doesn&rsquo;t crush their spirit but uplifts their spirit &mdash; it&rsquo;s just special.
Coach Orr wore many hats for me that extended far beyond a coach. Mentor, father figure, disciplinarian, confidant, motivator, teacher, spiritual advisor, relationship expert, psychologist, therapist, teacher and friend.
Rest In Peace, Coach Orr. 🙏🏾🙏🏾🙏🏾

Etan Thomas pays tribute to his former mentor, friend and coach, the late, great Louis Orr.

When a coach is more than a coach: Etan Thomas remembers Louis Orr

When Mike Brown was coaching in San Antonio under Gregg Popovich, he recalls a young, free-spirited Manu Ginobili, whose play would range from &ldquo;wow&rdquo; to &ldquo;doing some stuff that helped Pop get white hair quicker.&rdquo;&nbsp;
Now in the head seat with the Sacramento Kings, Brown sees a little bit of that in Malik Monk in the best of ways.
&ldquo;I'm not comparing him to Manu, so don't write this down at all,&rdquo; Brown said with a laugh. &ldquo;That's kind of Malik. He's gonna do more good than bad out there, so you gotta let 'em hoop. You've gotta let him feel his mojo and all that other stuff, and that's what I try to do.&rdquo;
Averaging career-bests of 14.5 points and 4.0 assists per game on a personal-high 60.1% True Shooting and <a href="https://cleaningtheglass.com/stats/player/4279#tab-offensive_overview" target="_blank" rel="noopener">26.9% assist percentage</a>, Monk is playing with a palpable confidence and energy that has opened up parts of his skill set we haven&rsquo;t necessarily seen on a nightly basis since he came into the league.&nbsp;
He&rsquo;s found a rhythm as a playmaker, has continued to be a microwave scorer and, above all else, has not been pigeonholed.
&ldquo;Mike lets me be me, man. He just lets me go out there and play my game. He don't try to limit me to things,&rdquo; Monk told Basketball News. &ldquo;He'll show me when I miss somebody on the kick-out and things like that, but he doesn't limit me. I've been like this my whole life. I played point guard before I went to Kentucky, so I've been handling the ball for a little bit. So it's just him giving me the opportunity.&rdquo;
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Everybody knows he can put the ball in the bucket. It&rsquo;s how Monk is doing it, and of course, what he&rsquo;s doing to involve his teammates. While he has been more involved in pick-and-roll actions, it&rsquo;s the handoff possessions that jump off the page. With Domantas Sabonis at his disposal, Brown has doubled the average amount of those per game (1.42) from Malik&rsquo;s time in Los Angeles (0.71), per InStat.
Getting him moving on curls toward the ball and similar plays has resulted in the sixth-year guard putting it on the floor and naturally getting to the rim, or dishing it off to the next man for a better look.
&ldquo;First side, the defense is great. Second side, they relax a little bit. Third side, they're relaxing more. So we just try to move it, move the defense as much as possible,&rdquo; Monk explained. &ldquo;But they can't help off me as much 'cause I can shoot. They can't help off of Domas that much because he's a big threat rolling. So whatever they do is gonna be wrong, and I've just been making the right reads this year.&rdquo;
Candidly, Brown made it clear that he will not hesitate to pull Monk aside during those not-so-good moments too, as the 24-year-old is simultaneously turning it over twice a night through 24 games.&nbsp;
&ldquo;When you have a guy that's as talented as he is, he's gonna take some risk,&rdquo; Brown said. &ldquo;He knows if he makes a mistake, I'mma yell at him, I'mma get on him, I'mma coach 'em. I said, 'Come on, you've been around me long enough where sometimes you've gotta let crap go through one ear and out the other. I know I'm the one on you, but that's how you've gotta survive in this business. That's how you thrive in this business. I gotta coach you and I will, but sometimes if you feel like you can make a play, go make a play.'&nbsp;And so, he knows that he's got that support from me, and vice-versa.
"So I think when a player feels that and really believes it, it just gives him more ability to be himself, which is go make plays for himself and others out on the floor.&rdquo;
Kings forward Harrison Barnes agrees with Brown&rsquo;s assessment.
&ldquo;I mean Malik, his energy is vital for us,&rdquo; Barnes said. &ldquo;There's some players who come in this league and... you can't necessarily put them in a role, you can't put them in a box. You kinda just roll the ball out there and pray it goes well.&nbsp;
&ldquo;And he's one of those guys that, for us, we just wanna give him just ultimate freedom, play through his mistakes. He brings so much energy for us, just a different look to our second unit. And I think that has become contagious.&rdquo;
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Monk is at his most dangerous on fast breaks. He likes to push the pace &ldquo;because we know a lot of teams don't like to get back in transition,&rdquo; and averages 1.24 points per possession in those scenarios.&nbsp;
The vast majority of his rapid play comes when he&rsquo;s playing alongside his friend, De'Aaron Fox. Before teaming up on the Kings, Monk and Fox were also backcourt partners on the Kentucky Wildcats in 2016-17. Monk has <a href="https://www.nba.com/stats/player/1628370/passes-dash?dir=D&amp;sort=PASS&amp;PerMode=Totals" target="_blank" rel="noopener">passed to him more than any teammate by far</a> (147 times).
And together, they play at the highest pace on the team (108.21) &mdash; a mark that <a href="https://www.nba.com/stats/lineups/advanced?CF=MIN*GE*200&amp;GroupQuantity=2&amp;dir=D&amp;slug=advanced&amp;sort=PACE" target="_blank" rel="noopener">ranks 10th in the NBA</a> among duos with at least 200 minutes combined. As far as Monk is concerned, he and Fox have picked up where they left off in Lexington.
&ldquo;He was a big part [of me coming to Sacramento] 'cause we're so comfortable with each other and we know how to play off each other,&rdquo; Monk said. &ldquo;Yeah man, it's been working out for me.&rdquo;
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Good morning. I&rsquo;m still thinking about this pass from Malik Monk to De&rsquo;Aaron Fox. <a href="https://t.co/UNFLFRwkba">pic.twitter.com/UNFLFRwkba</a>
&mdash; Frankie Cartoscelli (@FCartoscelli3) <a href="https://twitter.com/FCartoscelli3/status/1599805025962053633?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 5, 2022</a></blockquote>

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On the opposite side of the coin, Monk has turned up the defensive pressure while sharing the floor with Sacramento&rsquo;s tenacious stopper, Davion Mitchell. In fact, he and the man they call &ldquo;Off Night&rdquo; own the Kings&rsquo; <a href="https://go.nba.com/uytkg" target="_blank" rel="noopener">best defensive rating on the team</a> (99.5) &mdash; the only duo allowing fewer than 100 points per 100 possessions.
&ldquo;Ah, that's hot,&rdquo; Monk reacted when Basketball News told him. &ldquo;I try to give Davion a lot of confidence, man, because he's the head of the snake, 'cause he's the point guard. He usually guards the best player. So however he guards is how the rest of us is gonna feed off of that. And I try to tell him that every game, every time we're on the court.&nbsp;So he just makes me go up a level. That's why I just try to force that [message] to him and I think that's why it's working for us.&rdquo;
A key cog in the bench bunch alongside him, Chimezie Metu has enjoyed the attitude Monk has brought into the locker room and on the floor.
&ldquo;He's great to be around. High energy. He's going out there being vocal, kinda keeping everybody's spirits up and it's just been great having him around,&rdquo; Metu told Basketball News. &ldquo;Personality-wise, he's kind of the guy that's been gluing everybody together. I feel like he has a great relationship with everybody on the team. Yeah man, he's fun to be around and fun to play with.
&ldquo;It's been fun playing with Malik and Davion and TD (Terence Davis) and also Trey [Lyles] at times. I feel like during practice and stuff, we're usually like the second unit that kinda does everything together, so we're always laughing, joking. But I think at the end of the day, we understand the task at hand because I feel like our job is to either keep the lead going or give us the energy to bring us back into a game. So either way, we have to have high energy at all times. I feel like we've been doing a great job of that.&rdquo;
Brown has his own way of describing Monk&rsquo;s effect on his ball club.
&ldquo;You know, he's a free spirit. Malik is what I call a connector,&rdquo; Brown said. &ldquo;He just brings people together and he uplifts people all the time. He talks to everybody and he jokes with everybody, he touches everybody and everybody on the team has respect for him &mdash; not just for him as a person, but also they know that when he speaks, he knows what he's talking about because he's right a lot of the times.&nbsp;
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&ldquo;Malik is what I call a connector &mdash; he just brings people together. He uplifts people all the time &hellip; and everybody on the team has respect for him.&rdquo; Coach Brown on what <a href="https://twitter.com/AhmadMonk?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@AhmadMonk</a> brings to the squad on and off the court 👑 <a href="https://t.co/bwEuauVWBc">pic.twitter.com/bwEuauVWBc</a>
&mdash; Sacramento Kings (@SacramentoKings) <a href="https://twitter.com/SacramentoKings/status/1601365754313596929?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 9, 2022</a></blockquote>

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&ldquo;He's a talented, talented basketball player, and sometimes, especially when they're young like he is &mdash; he's young, but he has an old soul and he understands what's right, what's wrong and the right way to do things and all that.&rdquo;
Altogether, the 24-year-old has found a niche and a comfortability with this Kings team. A lot of that has to do with a consistent role with consistent minutes, which he has found the last couple of seasons between L.A. and Sacramento as opposed to the sporadic nature in the past when he was with the Charlotte Horntes.
&ldquo;It's the biggest relief, man,&rdquo; Monk admitted. &ldquo;I know when I'mma go in, I know when I'mma come out, I know when I'mma go back in again. So it's just a relief, and it just gives me way more confidence to go out there and play my game.&rdquo;
From a young age, Monk has always been passionate about his apparel. He told Basketball News that when he was a kindergartner living with his mom, his older brother Marcus &mdash; a former NFL wide receiver who played for the Chicago Bears &mdash; always rocked BAPE clothing line. Malik latched on to style because of that and has kept up to date with the latest fashion ever since.
On Friday, Monk came into Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse wearing a fuzzy skeleton sweater with black paints, matching shoes and some bling to top it off. Pregame, his teammates tried to figure out what brand he was going with.
&ldquo;Look man, he spends a lot of money on his clothes. They better look good. That's all I'mma say,&rdquo; Metu said with a chuckle.
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<a href="https://t.co/Ol8wlMxDpz">pic.twitter.com/Ol8wlMxDpz</a>
&mdash; Sacramento Kings (@SacramentoKings) <a href="https://twitter.com/SacramentoKings/status/1601371494747369473?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 10, 2022</a></blockquote>

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&ldquo;If my fit not as up to how I want it, man, I feel like I'll go out there and be a little down. But I haven't done that this year. All my fits been pretty decent so far. Yeah man, it's always 'look good, feel good, play good,'&rdquo; Monk said.
Clearly, Malik Monk has been a positive influence in Sacramento. It&rsquo;s a big reason why they&rsquo;re in the thick of it in the Western Conference &mdash; and that doesn&rsquo;t seem to be changing anytime soon.
&ldquo;I just try to bring everybody life, man,&rdquo; Monk said. &ldquo;Losing streaks, it's gonna happen. It's a game of runs, especially in basketball. So I just try to make everybody feel the same every day. 'Cause we know we're gonna be together for the rest of the year, so I just try to make sure we're like this instead of like that.&rdquo;

Spencer Davies dives into Malik Monk's positive effect on the Sacramento Kings — on and off the floor — in an exclusive interview.

The Connector: Malik Monk's infectious energy breathes life into Kings

A reporter who typically despises hot takes actually has one begging to be written: Jarrett Allen is the straw that stirs the Cleveland Cavaliers' drink, and he is their most important player.
Somewhat buried beneath Tuesday's nationally-televised marquee showdown between Donovan Mitchell and a returning LeBron James was Allen&rsquo;s comeback to the Cavs. He&rsquo;d been missing for the last five games with a bothered back. In his first game since Nov. 25, the talented center made his first 10 shots, recording a 24-point, 11-rebound, 3-steal stat line in over 38 minutes of action.
Although Evan Mobley gets valuable reps as a ball-handling, jump-shooting, screen-slipping 5-man during his absences &mdash; and what a whale of a job he&rsquo;s done showing off his toolkit &mdash; Allen has a certain presence about him that makes him just as important on the offensive end of the floor as the defensive end.
Prior to Cleveland&rsquo;s road trip that started in Milwaukee, Basketball News <a href="https://twitter.com/SpinDavies/status/1595651027667124225?s=20&amp;t=O06c1WaqkEdZPiNWTGSLGw" target="_blank" rel="noopener">asked Cavs head coach J.B. Bickerstaff about Allen&rsquo;s smarts and knowing opponents&rsquo; tendencies</a> on both sides of the floor. Revisiting that concept before Jarrett&rsquo;s eventual return to the court, Bickerstaff added to his previous response to illustrate what he does to open things up for his teammates.
&ldquo;He plays with the vertical spacing that changes the game for everybody. Teams have to make decisions on who's going to stop him at the rim,&rdquo; Bickerstaff said before the Cavs' 116-102 win over the Los Angeles Lakers. &ldquo;Typically the only guy who's out there that can do that is the big, so now, that clears a lane for your guards who are penetrating, who are attacking. And if you want to bring in a third guy and try to stop him early, that creates room for shooters on the perimeter. So teams have to make adjustments and they have to make decisions when Jarrett is on the floor, because that's going to create opportunities for the other guys that are around him.&rdquo;
Vertical spacing. You don&rsquo;t hear that term too often. So many people look for big men to spread the floor in the modern NBA, expanding their shooting range and forcing defenders to have to pay attention on the outside to free-up space to attack. That isn&rsquo;t Allen&rsquo;s version. His is quite the opposite, in fact, as he draws defenders in, leaving Cleveland&rsquo;s perimeter players with good looks or blow-bys for better ones.
&ldquo;It&rsquo;s a thing just in terms in lobs if my man steps up, then he can throw the lob to me and finish it,&rdquo; Allen said after the victory over L.A. &ldquo;A lot of guys can jump in the league but being down there, ready for the lob, I don&rsquo;t even know how to explain it honestly, I&rsquo;m trying to make something up (laughs). Just a thing in the league with lobs and being able to be there whenever your man helps off you."
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Keeping this going, I finally got around to asking Jarrett Allen himself about this concept. Of course in typical JA fashion, it ended with a laugh: "I'm trying to make something up." <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Cavs?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Cavs</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/basketbllnews?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@basketbllnews</a> <a href="https://t.co/vbfglkayGm">https://t.co/vbfglkayGm</a> <a href="https://t.co/EW45xj6uSo">pic.twitter.com/EW45xj6uSo</a>
&mdash; Spencer Davies (@SpinDavies) <a href="https://twitter.com/SpinDavies/status/1600354444851322880?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 7, 2022</a></blockquote>

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&ldquo;Just try to find the open area," Allen followed up regarding his offensive approach. "D.G. (Darius Garland) has the amazing floater and Donovan has his pull-up game. My man is going to help and try to contest it. I&rsquo;m just trying to get into the open window where they can find me and dish it to me at the last second.&rdquo;
What Allen is known for is his screen-setting abilities, spearheading a pick-and-roll dynamite duo with both Mitchell and Garland. So when opposing teams send doubles at whichever ball-handler is operating the offense, it leaves just Allen and the basket. Again, an opportunity to cram it or spray it to the corners.
&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t really know where to start. I think the biggest thing is he can do it all,&rdquo; Mitchell said after a win over the Portland Trail Blazers on Nov. 23. &ldquo;He can set hard screens. He can slip out of screens. You can hit him on a half-roll and a lob. You can pass to him and he&rsquo;s able to make a post move and finish. There&rsquo;s just so much to his game that adds onto mine&hellip; There&rsquo;s so much we can do &ndash; him and I together.&rdquo;
&ldquo;I mean, he's huge. He's a big guy. I mean, when he makes contact, he's making real contact,&rdquo; Garland stated at a preseason shootaround on Oct. 12. &ldquo;So I have a lot of room coming downhill and can get to any of my spots. And then he's just right on the rim. A lot of bigs don&rsquo;t want to have their man score, so a lot of bigs like going back to JA on the roll, so that leaves a lot of wide-open layups. When they do help, it leaves the easy lob, it&rsquo;s two points for sure.&rdquo;
Considering both of the Cavs guards are in the NBA&rsquo;s top-15 in getting doubled, it&rsquo;s always helpful to have that kind of option in the middle of the floor to make something happen. And sometimes, you&rsquo;ll see Allen and Mobley execute a high-low to bend the floor.
&ldquo;It goes both ways. Sometimes he's passing it to me, and sometimes I'm passing it to him. We just look out for each other,&rdquo; Mobley said after the Portland win. &ldquo;I feel like we're building that chemistry as well and getting better at it in on a game-to-game basis.&rdquo;
&ldquo;It&rsquo;s super cool to see, been saying it for years now,&rdquo; Garland said following a Nov. 18 victory against the Charlotte Hornets. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s super cool that they have that connection on the floor. The lobs from the 5-man to the 4-man is kind of crazy and it&rsquo;s super cool to see. A lot of teams don&rsquo;t really do that. We feel comfortable when they have the ball in their hands. When our backcourt is getting trapped, we know we can hit them and they can make the right play.&rdquo;
Mitchell has the &ldquo;ultimate confidence&rdquo; in those scenarios.
&ldquo;Teams might resort to blitzing us in certain situations and when you have an outlet, not only just have the outlet, but be able to make plays for himself, for others in pass and certain things. It's kind of like pick your poison, you know?&rdquo; Mitchell added recently. &ldquo;You have us two, then you have those two on top of that who are able to get in there and make plays for everybody."
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There just seems to be a more natural feel to Cleveland&rsquo;s half-court offense when Allen is there &mdash; just going by the eye test. Referring to advanced stats, the Cavs&rsquo; effective field goal percentage and free-throw rate <a href="https://cleaningtheglass.com/stats/player/4337/onoff#tab-team_efficiency" target="_blank" rel="noopener">drops by 3.8% and 2.1% respectively</a>. That ranks in the 89th and 69th percentiles among his peers, per Cleaning the Glass.
Lineup data via PBP Stats helps show his effect on those around him. In the 176 minutes that Garland, Mitchell and Mobley have shared without Allen on the floor, their <a href="https://www.pbpstats.com/wowy-combos/nba?TeamId=1610612739&amp;Season=2022-23&amp;SeasonType=Regular%2BSeason&amp;PlayerIds=1628386,1628378,1629636,1630596" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Offensive Rating as a trio dips by nearly 6 points per 100 possessions</a>. (Ironically, their Net Rating is better &mdash; Mobley is an incredibly versatile defender, and Lamar Stevens has done an admirable job as the team&rsquo;s starting 3).&nbsp;
According to <a href="https://nbacourtoptix.nba.com/en/metrics/ball-screens" target="_blank" rel="noopener">NBA.com&rsquo;s Optix figures</a>, the Cavs are scoring a whopping 1.47 points per possession when Allen sets a screen for Mitchell (9.7 times per game) and 1.13 PPP when he does it for Garland (11.0).&nbsp;
&ldquo;I mean, it, by the numbers, is elite pairings. It's not just as easy as it may look. It's more scientific than we give it credit for,&rdquo; Bickerstaff said Tuesday. &ldquo;Understanding angles, understanding timing, understanding defenses and rotations &mdash; it's calculated. I think from both standpoints, Jarrett has the calculations down, the guards have the calculations down. It's just more so about them playing more together and the more they play together, the more lethal it's gonna be.&rdquo;
&ldquo;With Donovan, I like to flip the screens more,&rdquo; Allen said a couple of weeks ago at a morning practice. &ldquo;He likes getting downhill. I&rsquo;m not going to give away all the secrets, but he likes getting downhill and going a certain way. So instead of setting it how I would for Darius, I might flip the screen for Donovan.&rdquo;
Allen is cerebral, physical and, most impressively, a presence that elevates his Cavs teammates to the incredible performances we&rsquo;ve seen on a nightly basis.
&ldquo;I mean, he's in the right place the majority of the time. It's a simple concept, but he always goes where the defense isn&rsquo;t,&rdquo; Bickerstaff said after the Cavs' win over Portland. &ldquo;And a lot of guys have a hard time figuring that out. But it's one of the things that he does, like for a big guy who's not a three-point threat, how do you create space for your teammates, in small spaces? And I think Jarrett does a great job of just finding those gaps and where to position himself where he creates enough space where big guys have to make tough decisions. Do you stop the ball, or do you give up a dunk? A lot of times you look out there and big guys are just in the way and it ruins the spacing for everybody else. But he does a great job of creating room for those guys to operate.&rdquo;
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At this point, we all know about his abilities as an anchor on defense, and his coach and teammates continue to demand recognition as a DPOY candidate. It's not just about the blocked and altered shots, but more significantly, the freedom it gives his teammates to put more pressure on the ball and roam around.
&ldquo;When he's in there, he usually protects rim and I just help him. So I have a lot of more freelance ability to really move around and help where I see fit, and I feel like I play that role really well,&rdquo; Mobley said last month after the Charlotte game.
Mitchell and Garland have highlighted this time and time again throughout the season.
&ldquo;You know, when you've got guards who are dynamic like Trae [Young], Dejounte [Murray] getting downhill, all you've gotta do as a guard is kinda just stay in space and kinda funnel them down there to both Ev and JA. But you noticed it when JA was out, things weren't too great, and it's tough just to be down there when it's Ev and say, a Lamar. Lamar is not... we know we're not 7 feet,&rdquo; Mitchell said on Nov. 21 after beating the Atlanta Hawks. &ldquo;So being able to have two of those guys down there [is] the foundations of our defense. But definitely with JA back blocking shots, deterring shots and even forcing guys to travel because they don't wanna go up there for a shot &mdash; I think that's something that, you don't notice it on the stat sheet, but you see it when you're watching the game, and they bring it every night.&rdquo;
&ldquo;Everybody says that he's the Defensive-Player-of-the-Year-caliber player and our team thinks the same of him. Just having like an agility 7-footer like that, it helps a lot,&rdquo; Garland said after defeating the Blazers. &ldquo;I mean, JA is super smart. He sees everything early, he just knows everything, like really early. So, he sees it and just reacts really quickly so it's good to see.&rdquo;
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-theme="dark">
It amazes me how Jarrett Allen knows what teams are going to do before they do it on both ends of the floor. I wanted Darius Garland and Donovan Mitchell to provide their perspective. <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Cavs?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Cavs</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/basketbllnews?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@basketbllnews</a> <a href="https://t.co/87FN2jSN2e">pic.twitter.com/87FN2jSN2e</a>
&mdash; Spencer Davies (@SpinDavies) <a href="https://twitter.com/SpinDavies/status/1595626743691644928?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 24, 2022</a></blockquote>

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Allen keeps defenders from getting second chances too, which is a part of defense that might not be appreciated as much. But the defensive metrics in general match what his teammates say about him.
According to Cleaning the Glass, Cleveland allows 7.8 points more per 100 possessions when he&rsquo;s not on the floor. And when he is on the court, the Cavs&rsquo; Defensive Rating as a team is just 104.4. That puts him in <a href="https://cleaningtheglass.com/stats/player/4337/onoff#tab-team_efficiency" target="_blank" rel="noopener">the 98th percentile in the NBA</a>, and it shows what leading by example truly means.
&ldquo;That's what Jarrett does. We go through our expectations of guys, like, that's his way of leading is a willing to do all the things that most people aren't willing to do. And that forces everybody else around him to do the same,&rdquo; Bickerstaff said following an Oct. 23 win over the Washington Wizards. &ldquo;But it's, I mean, what he's capable of and the impact that he can have on that end of the floor, at that size, the versatility. I mean, like he's a Defensive Player of the Year candidate every single year. And I think it's time that we acknowledge that.&rdquo;
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Go back to last season when Allen broke his finger. Cleveland&rsquo;s defense suffered, which made its offense suffer, which made the team suffer. The Cavs were 35-21 in the games that Allen played in. They went 7-11 after that point, and were 9-17 overall without Jarrett. Even in the previous season when he was traded from the Brooklyn Nets, this kind of impact was obvious to the naked eye.
With the roster turnover since then, it could be interpeted as foolish to compare that to the present day. Not in this writer&rsquo;s eyes, as the Cavs are 2-4 in games without Allen this season, and the trend continues. (Mobley has gotten better and the team has started to learn how to operate on defense with Allen the middle, to be fair. However, it just doesn't seem the same.)
On a nightly basis, we&rsquo;ve marveled over a number of sensational performances. With Mitchell, Garland and Mobley, you&rsquo;re going to see that more often than not.
While that may be the case, Allen is the ingredient that blends the Cavs together and makes that group's individual talent thrive alongside one another in a team setting. He cannot be viewed as an unsung hero any longer.
Jarrett Allen is literally an All-Star in his role &mdash; one that appears to be the most crucial for Cleveland to succeed.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-theme="dark">
Two things: 1) I love watching Marcus Smart compete. Dude is built and knows how to use his muscle. 2) At some point, Jarrett Allen needs recognition from everybody as more than an unsung hero for <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Cavs?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Cavs</a>. He shows up every night and consistently is one of the best at his job.
&mdash; Spencer Davies (@SpinDavies) <a href="https://twitter.com/SpinDavies/status/1587995991852154881?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 3, 2022</a></blockquote>

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Spencer Davies dives into Jarrett Allen's meaning to the Cavs, and why he is crucial to their success.

Not just an unsung hero: Jarrett Allen, an All-Star in his Cavs role

Over the past few seasons, the talk around the DMV in regards to the Maryland Terrapins has been an abundance of criticism, frustration and disappointment. It seemed as though Maryland basketball as a whole had lost its luster. Even the Xfinity Center wasn't the same &mdash; it was no longer an electric atmosphere.&nbsp;
Many will attempt to attribute the decrease in fan attendance and overall participation to COVID, but those in the know will tell you that that&rsquo;s not 100% accurate. The fact of the matter is: while the Xfinity Center was once one of the BIG 10's most difficult arenas for opposing teams to play in, it had lost its sizzle.&nbsp;
However, Friday night was a return to the good ol' days, as a sold-out Xfinity Center was buzzing with an atmosphere usually seen during March Madness. No. 22 Maryland beat No. 16 Illinois 71-66, bringing their record to 8-0. This was the first big home game of the Kevin Willard era and possibly the biggest home game since the pandemic. The student section was rocking, the band was playing, and there was a sea of fans dressed in gold for the annual &ldquo;gold rush&rdquo; game. This atmosphere was exactly what many Maryland fans had been longing for.
I caught up with Lonny Baxter and Byron Mouton &mdash; two members of the 2001-02 Maryland championship team &mdash; to get their thoughts on their alma mater&rsquo;s red-hot start, which has the entire DMV buzzing.&nbsp;
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Etan Thomas: Your team is looking good. They've started off 8-0 and got a really nice win last night against a good Illinois team. How does it feel, seeing how Maryland is playing right now?&nbsp;
Lonny Baxter: "Oh man, I&rsquo;m super proud. We&rsquo;ve had some up-and-down years over the past few years. And to see this team &mdash; which is technically a 'rebuild team' &mdash; doing as well as they are, I think we are surprising a lot of people who weren&rsquo;t expecting much from us this season. But we are opening a lot of people&rsquo;s eyes. Coach Willard has come in and done a tremendous job right from the jump. We&rsquo;re really looking good right now."
Thomas: You mentioned Coach Willard, and there was initially some skepticism when he was hired &mdash; talk of him not technically being from within the Maryland program, etc. But immediately upon arrival, he made it clear that he was going to have an emphasis on local DMV players, which has been a criticism of Maryland for quite some time now, as you know. He had three high recruits right from the DMV: Jamie Kaiser, DeShawn Harris-Smith and Jahnathan Lamothe. And the point guard from the transfer portal, Jahmir Young, is from the DMV as well. How much has he shifted the narrative locally with this start?&nbsp;
Baxter: "Not only that, he also hired two great assistants from the DMV who are both good friends of mine: David Cox and Tony Skinn. They know the area, they have relationships locally whether it&rsquo;s high schools or AAU programs, and they are doing a great job of changing that very narrative you were talking about. David Cox had me come up to the school and showed me around, introduced me to all the guys, told them the history of this program (which I am blessed to be a part of) and really made an effort to connect everything to the community, and that&rsquo;s what we need."
Thomas: I hear a lot of announcers refer to the culture that Coach Willard has created here from the beginning. You mentioned that there were a couple of down years, but even aside from the 8-0 start, it seems like there is a certain electricity that had been missing for a while.
Baxter: "Coach Willard did a great job at Seton Hall. Then, he comes here and brings that same energy. He reminds me of a Gary Williams Jr. so to speak &mdash; a lot of grit and a lot of fight in him. And you see that energy transfer to the court."
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Thomas: I love that they brought you back to talk to the team. You were on a special team, the championship team of 2001-02. How was your conversation with the guys?&nbsp;
Baxter: "He brought me and a lot of former [Maryland] guys into the locker room and just introduced us to the guys. He wanted them to know who we were and what we were a part of. And like I said, this is a rebuild year for them technically, but they are laser focused. They know the expectations of them, they know the history and legacy of the program that they are now a part of, and they are getting the job done. Hats off to them. They just beat a good Illinois team last night. We are really playing well. Love what I&rsquo;m seeing."
Thomas: You mentioned the Illinois game and I referenced the electricity &mdash; you saw it in the crowd and the announcers kept bringing it up. They said that a year ago, the stands were empty. But last night, it was a sold-out crowd. You saw the energy in the student section. Talk about how special that is, because y&rsquo;all had that when you guys were playing but, like you said, it&rsquo;s been up-and-down for the past few years. That electricity, that crowd support, was definitely present last night.&nbsp;
Baxter: "I wasn&rsquo;t able to go last night, but a lot of people were texting me during the game like, 'Are you here?!' It hasn&rsquo;t been this way in a long time. It&rsquo;s amazing! [People were] sending me videos and screen shots, and I regret not being there. I had already made my plans and cleared my schedule to be at the UCLA game, but I am mad that I missed it last night. But that&rsquo;s what we need. There&rsquo;s been so many up-and-down years, so many disappointments. We&rsquo;ve had some good teams, don&rsquo;t get me wrong, but the support and the energy really dipped for a few years. But [now], everyone is all on social media excited. Like, Maryland basketball is back! It&rsquo;s great for Maryland, great for the DMV. The guys are playing really well and I&rsquo;m looking forward to the rest of the season."&nbsp;
Thomas: Now, let&rsquo;s reminisce for a quick minute about the good ol' days, because y&rsquo;all had such a special team. Yourself, Steve Blake, Juan Dixon, Byron Mouton, Chris Wilcox... y&rsquo;all had a crew. Talk about how special that championship team was.
Baxter: "Our team was definitely special because we weren&rsquo;t a lot of McDonald's All-Americans. We were just a bunch of guys who were hungry, gritty and we loved to play together. Great chemistry. We&rsquo;re even friends to this day, we have a group chat that we all talk on just about every week. We&rsquo;re texting each other, congratulating each other on accomplishments, birthdays, talking about the games, etc. It just shows how close of a unit we were. Even when I spent some time with the Wizards when you were there, me, Juan and Steve Blake, it was like we were inseparable. But like I said, we were just hungry and determined and focused, and we played together as a team. Everyone bought into their roles and played to the best of their ability. That might sound cliche, but that&rsquo;s really what happened! (laughing)"
Thomas: (Laughing) Yeah, it does, but I know what you mean. What advice would you give the team now? It sounds like when they brought you in, it was more to just introduce you to them. But if you could give them all some advice &mdash; coming from a member of the 2001-02 championship team, which is the ultimate goal &mdash; what advice would you give this young, rebuilding team?&nbsp;
Baxter: "Just stay humble and stay hungry. Keep doing what you&rsquo;re doing, and never be satisfied. The hard work, the long hours in the gym, it&rsquo;s all paying off. They&rsquo;re jelling on the court and playing some complete games &mdash; both offensively and defensively. But keep that underdog mentality, keep that chip on your shoulder and stay hungry."
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Thomas: The team is really looking good. What are your thoughts on how everything is going so far?&nbsp;
Byron Mouton: "You know, the first time I met Coach Willard, I had a good feeling about him and this upcoming season. He was direct and to the point, and he doesn&rsquo;t hide his feelings. And I know a lot of the players. Jahmir, I&rsquo;ve known since he was in the fifth grade. He has a high basketball IQ, understands the game and is a team player, and has always been that way. And he plays winning basketball, so I was definitely excited for Maryland to get him."
Thomas: Can you explain a little more about why you had that good feeling about Coach Willard?&nbsp;
Mouton: "Well, from the start, he set the tone. [He] brought a lot of us alumni back and had a meeting with us, and told all of us that he valued us, respected us, appreciated us and wanted us involved with the team moving forward, and that was big. He made the point clear that his goal was to bring us back to a consistent top-10 program, which is what it should be."
Thomas: So, he valued the legacy of Maryland.&nbsp;
Mouton: "Exactly. And he made the point clear also that in order to be amongst the best, we had to compete against the best. He said he didn&rsquo;t believe in hiding from anyone and that was music to my ears. When I played for Gary Williams, we always played the best teams in the non-conference, early schedule. We would go to Maui, preseason NIT... wherever the top competition was, that&rsquo;s where we went. Mark Turgeon didn&rsquo;t want to do that; he wanted to play in these little cupcake tournaments where we&rsquo;re heavy favorites and expected to win, but that&rsquo;s not how you get better. That&rsquo;s not how you prepare for regular-season Big 10 games."
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Thomas: I see. And talk about Coach Willard's passion and energy. He showed a lot of energy on the sidelines last season with Seton Hall, and it seems like he brought that same energy here to Maryland.
Mouton: "I don&rsquo;t want to compare him to Gary Williams, but there are a lot of similarities. Passionate, honest, doesn&rsquo;t hold back his emotions or his feelings. I love coaches like that. I can&rsquo;t play for a guy who just wants to sit on the bench and call out plays, but shows no passion. I wanna know that you&rsquo;re in this battle with me."
Thomas: I hear you. Like, he shares your passion.&nbsp;
Mouton: "Yes. And he holds everyone accountable, the practices are intense, and he has that fire. And he teaches. So, he has all the keys to being successful at this level, and that&rsquo;s exactly the kind of coach I would want to play for."
Thomas: It seems like he&rsquo;s earned the players' trust very early. Sometimes, as you know, it&rsquo;s difficult for a new coach to do that.
Mouton: "Yes, it definitely can be. But at the same time, as you know, in order for any head coach to be really successful, it&rsquo;s crucial to hire great assistants, and he did that with Coach Cox and Coach Tony Skinns. I&rsquo;ve played with them and against them; I know them know them. And they have great ties to the DMV community, so I gotta include them as far as being vital for the overall success of the team."&nbsp;
Thomas: Let&rsquo;s talk about Jahmir Young. He really shined last night and you&rsquo;ve known him for a long time &mdash; you said since he was in the fifth grade?&nbsp;
Mouton: "Yeah, definitely. And like Coach said last night, he came here to do exactly what he did last night. A lot of teams are building their rosters through the transfer portal &mdash; that&rsquo;s just where college basketball is right now. It&rsquo;s not like in the old days when we played; coaches have to win now so they try to get players who are ready immediately. And Jahmir knows the game of basketball. Team player, leader, and was ready day one. He leads by example and also holds himself accountable. That&rsquo;s how a leader should be. And he&rsquo;s always under control, that&rsquo;s one of the things that&rsquo;s most impressive about him. He doesn&rsquo;t let anything that the opponent is doing speed him up or make him panic. He plays at his pace and runs the team. He&rsquo;s special."
Thomas: I asked Lonny Baxter this and I&rsquo;mma ask you the same thing: Y&rsquo;all had a special championship team. What was it that made y&rsquo;all work so well?&nbsp;
Mouton: "Well, in my opinion, it was about how competitive we were every single day. Everyone held everyone else accountable. Nobody allowed anyone else to coast in practice, or not give it their all, or not play at the highest level every single day. People held me accountable, I held them accountable &mdash; about everything. Not running the sprints hard enough in practice, not being where you&rsquo;re supposed to be on the defensive rotation, not giving the effort, whatever it was. And our practices were intense, and that carried over into the game."
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Thomas: What advice would you give to this current team?&nbsp;
Mouton: "Well, as you know, as the entire DMV is buzzing about them now, they have to stay together when that tide changes. They&rsquo;re not going to be buzzing like this all year (laughing) &mdash; that&rsquo;s just not the way it works. I&rsquo;ll give you an example. The year before we won the national championship, we were playing Duke. We were up 10 points with 1:04 left, and we lost. Craziest game I have ever been a part of in my entire college career. All the fans were booing us, the papers were killing us. People on campus were looking at us sideways when we walked by (laughing). Everyone was down on us. And after that, we lost three-straight games. I&rsquo;ll never forget when we lost to Florida State and their little point guard jumped on the scorer&rsquo;s table and was talking noise to our fans, waving bye-bye to them, and our fans started letting us have it. We could&rsquo;ve crumbled as an entire team after that, but we didn&rsquo;t. We pulled together and developed an us-against-the-world mentality. I say that because, there will come a time during this season when all the cheering stops, and maybe even some boos start. And now they have social media, so everyone can tell you that you suck (laughing). I would tell them when that happens, to pull together. Take on the us-against-the-world mentality. Don&rsquo;t splinter and start pointing fingers and playing the blame game because that happens, but stick together, pull together in tough times, and keep that passion and excitement and love for the game they have now, and they will do just fine."

Etan Thomas chats with former Maryland Terrapin greats Lonny Baxter and Byron Mouton about their alma mater’s red-hot start.

Lonny Baxter, Byron Mouton have high praise for Maryland Terps

The Los Angeles Clippers have gotten their 2022-23 season off to a great start with a 103-97 win over their local rival, the Lakers, and everybody played a part.
In his first game since June 2021, Kawhi Leonard produced 14 points and 7 rebounds off the bench in 21 minutes. In another return over 18 months in the making, John Wall added 15 points, 4 rebounds and 3 assists in 24 minutes.
Paul George registered a 15-point, 10-rebound double-double to go along with 4 dimes, Marcus Morris dropped 14 points and Ivica Zubac had his own double-double with 14 points and 17 boards.
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Entering this year, there was a multitude of questions hovering over the entire Clippers organization:
<ul>
<li>How will Kawhi Leonard look after missing the entire last season? Did he put on too much muscle? How will load management be handled with him this season?</li>
<li>How will the acquisition of John Wall work after he missed almost two years of action? Will the Clippers be getting the old John Wall or just an older John Wall?</li>
<li>How will Paul George fare after also coming off of an injury that derailed what was a very productive season in 2021-22?</li>
</ul>
I caught up with two former Clippers greats, Darius Miles and Maurice Taylor, to explore these questions and much more.
Darius Miles
<img style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" src="https://cdn.basketballnews.com/images/story/body/screenshot-2022-10-21-at-16-14-10-540845-jpg-0-jpg-webp-image-2120-1413-pixels-scaled-59_.png" alt="" width="751" height="376" />
Etan Thomas: The Clippers really looked good in their first few games. A lot of people are saying they could win it all. How good do they look to you?
Darius Miles: "I don&rsquo;t wanna jump out there too quickly; it&rsquo;s still early, but I think they look really good. Seeing the pieces, the depth, having Kawhi back, PG. I&rsquo;m so excited for John Wall. He&rsquo;s always been one of my favorites. I saw him get a little frustrated there at the end against the Lakers. This is a different kind of role; he wanted the ball in his hands at the end like he was back in D.C. So he is adjusting to the new role, and I think it&rsquo;s gonna be just fine."
Etan: One of the things with John Wall people were wondering was if he can he get back to the Washington Wizards-level version of himself on the court after sitting out two seasons, but he looks good to me so far.&nbsp;
Miles: "He definitely looks good, I really want John to embrace this new role because if he does, the sky's the limit. And he&rsquo;s been saying all the right things. I heard one interview and he kept saying, 'I&rsquo;m so excited that I don&rsquo;t have to do it myself.' So he has to really embrace the fact that, sometimes down the stretch, you&rsquo;re not going to have the ball in your hands. You may have to go to the corner and spot up and let Kawhi and PG run this two-man game like they were doing against the Lakers. And sometimes, they may need (John) to speed dribble it up and initiate the offense, but other times it may be something different. And he just has to fully embrace the different times, whatever they are, because really, he can &mdash; and I believe will &mdash; be vital for this team."
Etan: You know, I&rsquo;m really rooting for PG to have a great year. He has taken a lot of criticism really since the Bubble season.
Miles: "I think last season while Kawhi was out, he really just put his head down and went to work. He wasn&rsquo;t saying much, wasn&rsquo;t getting into too much, and, before the injury, he was having a great season. I think this year is gonna be the same thing. He came out and said, 'Yeah this is Kawhi&rsquo;s team, so I&rsquo;m not gonna let the media play that game with us of whose team it is.' He squashed all that. 'This is Kawhi&rsquo;s team, and that&rsquo;s going to go a long way for us.' Because it cuts down on the chatter, you know?"
Etan: Definitely, like how Magic Johnson did with Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.
Miles: "Exactly, just so there&rsquo;s no discussion. I&rsquo;m very, very excited for the Clippers. I wanna see the Clippers win a chip in L.A. Now, of course we don&rsquo;t have the ridiculous number of championships like the Lakers have, but this year, I think this team could really pull it off. And we&rsquo;re not talking about the best team in L.A. &mdash; we already got that. We&rsquo;re talking about winning it all."
Etan: Let&rsquo;s stay on PG for a minute. Why do you think he receives so much criticism? He was really getting criticized heavily I thought.
Miles: "That&rsquo;s just this day and age. As soon as someone sees a vulnerable spot, they jump on it. That&rsquo;s just how it is unfortunately."
Etan: It&rsquo;s interesting though because PG talked about struggling with his mental health while in the Bubble, and it was like, people got mad at him. Other players like Kevin Love and DeMar DeRozan talked about their mental health, and they were praised for their courage, given awards and sitting on panels. I mean, PG just announced not long ago that he was <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/clippers-paul-george-giving-away-3-million-in-free-therapy" target="_blank" rel="noopener">giving away $3 million in free therapy</a>.
I just co-wrote <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Finding-My-Voice-Grieving-Pushing/dp/1642598313/ref=nodl_?dplnkId=64d1657e-59d6-4718-87b6-89b40eb80095" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Emerald Garner&rsquo;s book</a> (Eric Garner&rsquo;s daughter), "Finding My Voice," and she talked about how costly therapy is and how much her entire family should&rsquo;ve had it for their mental health, and he is giving away $3 million of free mental health therapy for people!
Miles: "Yeah, how could anyone be mad at that? I don&rsquo;t know. I never really understood it myself. I&rsquo;m happy when any athlete has the courage to talk about their mental health because them saying that gives other people the comfort that they don&rsquo;t have to be ashamed. So yeah, I agree with you. It should&rsquo;ve been praised not mocked."
Etan: You mentioned Russell Westbrook earlier, and that&rsquo;s my guy. I played with him in OKC for a year, but they got him in the matrix right now, nonstop criticism. It&rsquo;s like he is taking the heat for a poorly-constructed team.
Miles: "Man, I love Westbrook. And I&rsquo;m glad [Charles] Barkley said something about it. But people don&rsquo;t understand how the slander, the politics of the game, the wrong situation or construction of a team, like you said, how that can take away someone&rsquo;s love for the game, and it looks like that with Westbrook. His body language, that 'lion' that makes Westbrook, Westbrook you know? Now, he&rsquo;s second-guessing himself; not sure if he should pass or shoot, just everything is off. I hate to see my man go through this."
Etan: So last question, there have been built-up expectations before for the Clippers. The year in the Bubble and the season before the Bubble, everyone was waiting for them to match up with the Lakers. It seemed like those years could&rsquo;ve been the Clippers' years as well. And I know a lot of teams always say this, but this season, it does really feel like this could be the Clippers year to win it all.
Miles: "I hear you. I just don&rsquo;t want to get too ahead of myself &mdash; especially with guys coming off of injuries &mdash; but then, we came out the gate looking really good this year. And we have a really deep bench, like 10-11 deep. I&rsquo;m super excited for this season, but I don&rsquo;t wanna jump out there too soon. I appreciate the support from Barkley, but not yet. But do I feel like we could be a contender? Absolutely.
"Also, we gotta see what happens with Kawhi&rsquo;s injury and his load management, and if that is a plus or a minus. I love the team, love the coach, Ty Lue; they have the team built to win the championship. They have the ability to beat any team &mdash; Golden State, Portland, Phoenix, Denver, anyone in the West or the East. Of course a lot has to go right, but yes, I&rsquo;m excited. (It's) gonna be a great year for us."
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Maurice Taylor&nbsp;
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Etan Thomas: How good can the Clippers be this season?&nbsp;
Maurice Taylor: "I think they could be really good, top-tier even. If you look at how the team is constructed, they really have everything you need in today&rsquo;s game. They&rsquo;re a really good defensive team, they can run, they can shoot threes, they&rsquo;re athletic. They can play iso ball, but don&rsquo;t have to rely on iso ball in order to be productive. And they have an incredibly deep bench. And they&rsquo;re big. They had a lineup out there with [Nic] Batum, Kawhi Leonard and Paul George; those are 6-6 to 6-8 wing players. And for Kawhi and Paul George to be the elite defenders they are, what other team has guys that size who can all defend and score at that level at the same time?
Etan: And how much do you think John Wall can help this team? Here in D.C., we&rsquo;re all rooting for him to do well. I <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/marcin-gortat-a-lot-of-people-owe-john-wall-an-apology" target="_blank" rel="noopener">interviewed his former teammate Marcin Gortat</a>, who also echoed those sentiments, especially taking into consideration everything he went through that he detailed over the summer. But how great of an addition was Wall to this team?&nbsp;
Taylor: "I don&rsquo;t understand why there weren&rsquo;t more teams in line to get John Wall, especially contenders. The only knock against him was that he hasn&rsquo;t played in two seasons for whatever reason &mdash; still not sure what was going on in Houston &mdash; but he looks good so far. He looked quick. He didn&rsquo;t look like he lost a step at all, which was what so many people were worried about. But I was definitely impressed. If he can be that for us, I don&rsquo;t see anyone in the East who would be able to stop us if we make it to the Finals.
Etan: Yeah I saw Charles Barkley picked the Clippers to win it all and doubled down after the game against the Lakers. So he is sticking with his pick. He may have even said, "GUARANTEED!" (Laughing)
Taylor: "Well, I&rsquo;m not going that far (laughing). But remember, I was with the Clippers during the down years. The bad old days (laughing). So for us, the guys I talk to from my era, it&rsquo;s amazing to be discussing the Clippers in terms of championship favorites. But yes, they could definitely win it all this season."
Etan: I agree, and does T-Lue get enough credit for his coaching? Especially the way he was able to keep the team together last season when Kawhi was out. I know he was my former teammate, so I may be a little biased, but I do think he doesn&rsquo;t get the recognition he should for the job he has done coaching.&nbsp;
Taylor: "I think he is definitely underrated. In today&rsquo;s NBA, the notion is almost that you don&rsquo;t really need a coach because of the level of talent. We heard that when he took over in Cleveland and was coaching LeBron [James]. You heard that in Brooklyn with Steve Nash..."
Etan: Well, that may not be the best example because of how disgruntled it seems Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving are with Steve Nash, but continue.
Taylor: "Yeah that&rsquo;s true. But, point being, I think good coaches sometimes fall through the cracks because players are so good now. But in reality, coaching is the X-factor for each team. That&rsquo;s why Miami was so good, that&rsquo;s why Boston with Ime Udoka overachieved the way they did last season. But to answer your question, no, Ty Lue definitely doesn&rsquo;t get the credit he deserved, and for the very reason you mentioned. He held everything together while his star player was out for the entire season. And he really pieced together a team. Like, they have a great unit. If you look at the Lakers, they just have a bunch of guys who got signed together. That&rsquo;s a pickup game, what the Lakers have."
Etan: And no proven shooters. They have some developing shooters, but they need proven shooters who can contribute immediately, right?&nbsp;
Taylor: "Absolutely, I don&rsquo;t know what they&rsquo;re thinking over there, but that&rsquo;s not my problem. We&rsquo;re constructed as a complete team, and you have to give credit to Steve Ballmer &mdash; when you have a team governor who goes all out for his team? I mean, the Clippers haven&rsquo;t had that in history, at least not while I was there. We&rsquo;re in arguably the best market in the league, so to have an organization that&rsquo;s willing to invest in their players and open their checkbooks the way Steve Ballmer is, it&rsquo;s going to be attractive to free agents to come to the Clippers. And they&rsquo;re making moves to win the whole thing. They&rsquo;re not penny-pinching or trying to spend the bare minimum. They are investing the way a team is supposed to."
Etan: If only someone could&rsquo;ve recorded Donald Sterling earlier while you were there (laughing).
Taylor: "Man, don&rsquo;t get me started (laughing). It&rsquo;s a night and day difference, but that&rsquo;s why they are in the position they are in. People always say players make the team, and that&rsquo;s true, but the ownership, the way the organization is run makes all the difference. So a lot of this credit, like I said, has to go to Steve Ballmer."
Etan: I hear you, so last question: Kawhi Leonard. I don&rsquo;t know how they&rsquo;re going to do with the load management for the entire season. Against the Lakers he came off the bench well into the second quarter. I&rsquo;m sure that&rsquo;s not going to be the strategy for the entire season, but how good did Kawhi Leonard look to you?&nbsp;
Taylor: "He looked really good. He moved well. With wing guys, when they come back from injury, you wanna see how their lateral movement is, if they have that pop back, and he had all of that. He definitely looked strong. And he&rsquo;s only going to get better as the season progresses. But the thing I am a little concerned with is the very load management (subject) you mentioned.
"A team can load management themselves right out of the playoffs if they&rsquo;re not careful. Is it going to get to a point where he&rsquo;s back and he&rsquo;s at full strength and he is their main guy this season? Or is it going to be an ongoing situation where, 'Okay, we have a back-to-back, we&rsquo;re going to rest him this second game?' If you do that enough times, that could change the dynamic of your playoff run or position. Because Golden State doesn&rsquo;t have any load management players, and that&rsquo;s who you have to be eyeing on the way to the Finals. So I am a little concerned, to be honest. But, other than that, things look very good for the Clippers this season."
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Etan Thomas speaks with former Clippers greats Darius Miles and Maurice Taylor about LA's opening night win and the upcoming year.

Darius Miles and Maurice Taylor have high praise for the Clippers

Recently, the John Wall Foundation hosted an event at The Salvation Army, where John Wall opened up about how difficult the last few years have been for him. The five-time All-Star described the last few years as &ldquo;the darkest place I&rsquo;ve ever been in.&rdquo;&nbsp;
&ldquo;At one point in time, I thought about committing suicide,&rdquo; Wall admitted. &ldquo;I mean, just tearing my Achilles, my mom being sick, my mom passing, my grandma passing a year later &mdash; all of this in the midst of COVID at the same time&hellip; me going to the chemotherapy and sitting there, seeing my mom take her last breath, wearing the same clothes for three days straight and laying on the couch beside her. My team, the mother of my kids has been great, my two boys, it's my motivation for me. Looking at all that, I'm like, 'If I can get through this, I can get through anything in life.'
"Everybody goes through something, we all went through tough times, nobody's got it easy. But I don't think a lot of people could get through what I went through. To me, to be back on top where I want to be and see that the fans still want me to play, having support from my hometown, their support means a lot in a time where I had to go find a therapist.
"A lot of people think, 'I don't need help, I can get through it,' but you gotta be true to yourself, find out what's best for you, and I did that. I'm just happy to have this opportunity to play basketball again. I think everything I have been through has all been a part of God's plan&hellip; Even though I was in a dark place the last couple of years, I'm super excited... to play the game that I love."
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This admission sent shock waves throughout the entire sports world.&nbsp;
I reached out to former Washington Wizards center Marcin Gortat, who played with Wall for five seasons, to have a discussion about his former teammate.
Etan Thomas: What were your thoughts when you heard John Wall&rsquo;s interview detailing everything he has been through?&nbsp;
Marcin Gortat: &ldquo;First of all, I was shocked. I didn&rsquo;t know that he was going through so many different issues. I was a witness a couple years ago while we were teammates and there was this little 6-year-old girl, Miyah Telemaque-Nelson, who <a href="https://twitter.com/johnwall/status/537085825767735296?s=21&amp;t=isslghfV3tQMWGH-SXWKbg" target="_blank" rel="noopener">he had really connected with</a> who passed away from cancer. He had been raising money for her and doing charity work for her, and I remember the big impact her death had on him. He literally broke down during a postgame interview where he dedicated the game to her.&rdquo;
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Thomas: Yeah, I remember seeing that video. He really took that hard.
Gortat: &ldquo;Even harder than most people know. He was really down for a couple of weeks after that. So when I heard that he lost his mom and then his grandmother, I thought back to how hard he took [it] when little Miyah passed away. After hearing this past interview, I felt bad. Like as a former teammate, I should&rsquo;ve been supporting [him] more. Yeah, I texted with him a couple of times while he was in Houston. I knew he was struggling with the situation as far as the team and them pushing him to the side, so I knew that alone was catastrophic for him because I know how much he loves basketball. But couple that with losing people as close to you as your mother and grandmother [and that] had to have been just devastating.&rdquo;
Thomas: He mentioned that he has a positive outlook now and feels optimistic with his new situation with the Los Angeles Clippers, so that was good to hear.&nbsp;
Gortat: &ldquo;Yeah, I&rsquo;m hoping that basketball will be something that can help him since he seems to be in a much better situation with the Clippers so that will occupy his mind and his emotions somewhat, but I really hope he heals and gets all of the support toward his healing.&rdquo;
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Thomas: I definitely agree. One of the things that bothers me is when I hear different fans or people on social media or in the sports media reporting on rumors that are just inaccurate. They cast a negative light on an athlete based on these rumors. Stephen A. Smith <a href="https://www.si.com/nba/clippers/news/stephen-a-smith-apologizes-to-john-wall" target="_blank" rel="noopener">publicly apologized</a> to John for his role in demonizing him last season in Houston. I was glad to see him do that because the media really went after John Wall and swayed public opinion on him in a very cruel and uninformed way.&nbsp;
Gortat: &ldquo;Yeah and that&rsquo;s very unfortunate that that happens a lot in the media nowadays, but this is how it is in this league. A lot of people owe John Wall an apology. I understand the media has to write something or say something on their shows that&rsquo;s controversial and that gets all of the people&rsquo;s attention because that&rsquo;s what they are paid to do. But people who know John know that they were unfairly demonizing him. Not that he&rsquo;s perfect, nobody is perfect. Did he make mistakes? Yes, but everybody makes mistakes. But he is not the person they were making him out to be, and it&rsquo;s terrible how much that happens.&rdquo;
Thomas: I had a debate with David Aldridge and Marc Spears about the power of the media. Marc came out publicly and said that he regretted doing the interview, but I was trying to explain to them the power that the media has to sway public opinion, and how the media should be held accountable when they talk recklessly. And they just weren&rsquo;t willing to accept that the media has that kind of power. But this is a prime example. It&rsquo;s good that Stephen A. publicly apologized, but hopefully that changes the way he and many others in the media target players and demonize them because it happens too often. Just here with the Wizards, I saw it happen with Kwame Brown and with Chris Webber after he got traded (back when they were the Bullets). It really happens way too much.&nbsp;
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Gortat: &ldquo;I definitely agree. So let me say, as someone who played with John Wall for many years: When he is healthy, he is one of the best point guards in the league &mdash; hands down. The guy is a beast. I don&rsquo;t know what Houston was doing with him. That was completely absurd. Here you have a guy of his caliber and you have him sitting at home? Not even on the bench, but at home? I can&rsquo;t imagine how he felt going through that for [an entire] season? And to have these prominent people in the media vilifying him while he is going through all of this, as he&rsquo;s dealing with injury after injury and losing his loved ones?&rdquo;&nbsp;
Thomas: Yeah, I don&rsquo;t care if anyone says there wasn&rsquo;t any cruel or malicious intent behind their reporting &mdash; that doesn&rsquo;t mean that it wasn&rsquo;t still cruel and malicious.&nbsp;
Gortat: &ldquo;Exactly! Many people think athletes are like robots &mdash; like video game characters who just perform, and that&rsquo;s not true. We are human beings with emotions and we go through tragedies and hardships in life, but are still expected to push all that to the side and perform at the highest level every night. I remember seven or eight years ago when DeMar DeRozan was in Toronto and he was going through depression and he said that he was going to the games, but he wasn&rsquo;t really thinking about the games because he was dealing with so much personally.&nbsp;
&ldquo;The NBA is getting better at helping players now when they are going through tragedies, but we still have a long way to go. I remember my fourth year and definitely my fifth year playing in Washington &mdash; specifically when things with me and John were not the best &mdash; there was a lot that I was dealing with and I didn&rsquo;t have too much help. But honestly, it wasn&rsquo;t a concern. Many people just wanted me to perform and push my personal life to the side, and sometimes that&rsquo;s hard to do.&rdquo;
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Thomas: &ldquo;I can definitely attest to that. I lost my grandmother, who I was really close with, while I was playing with the Wizards. And I remember our trainer, Eric Waters, trying to rush me back and I was like, &ldquo;Can you give me a minute please?&rdquo; When I came back, that&rsquo;s when I had the first issue with Brendan Haywood. Normally, I would&rsquo;ve ignored him throwing tantrums over not getting enough playing time, but that day just wasn&rsquo;t the day, so I flipped on him. The team actually formed a human barricade and escorted him out of the locker room. Then, everyone &mdash; Ernie Grunfeld, Eric Waters, Coach Eddie Jordan &mdash; was like, &ldquo;What&rsquo;s wrong? Why did you get so upset?&rdquo;&nbsp; And I was like, &ldquo;I told y&rsquo;all I needed a minute!&rdquo;
Gortat: &ldquo;Yeah, and my issues with John kind of formed in a similar way, to be honest &mdash; because I was holding so much in and suppressing what I was going through and reacting to different things on the court like not getting the ball as much as I wanted to or us losing games I felt we should&rsquo;ve won. Interesting, I didn&rsquo;t know that&rsquo;s what started y&rsquo;all&rsquo;s issues.&nbsp;
&ldquo;Let me tell you this quick story. I went to Cleveland and I was on this stupid streak of 250 or 280 or something games [in a row] without missing a game, so I was playing like three seasons straight. And all of a sudden in December, my mom had a stroke. I got the message while I was in Cleveland and I was shocked. I broke down crying. They had found my mom after like a day-and-a-half, laying at home unconscious; my friend found her. So when I came back to the locker room that morning, I was there physically but I wasn&rsquo;t really there. But John and Brad [Beal] were the first people who said, &lsquo;Give him some space, let him go deal with what&rsquo;s going on with his family because that&rsquo;s bigger than basketball and he has our support.&rsquo; So, Coach [Randy] Wittman came down and told me, &lsquo;Go to Poland, don&rsquo;t worry about the team for now.&rsquo;
&ldquo;That meant a lot to me. They knew what I was going through. And when you&rsquo;re so close to a teammate, you feel their pain. And in turn, I know how close John was with his mom. He talked about her all the time. When we finally sat down and squashed our issues, we had a real &lsquo;kumbaya moment.&rsquo; We talked about all of our personal struggles, all that we were dealing with and had been dealing with. We cleared the air and connected on a whole &lsquo;nother level as teammates, and it was exactly what we needed. So, hearing last week that my teammate contemplated suicide was devastating. Yeah, we had our issues in the past, but none of that matters now. I am cheering for John and want him to be successful both on and off the court.&rdquo;
Thomas: I&rsquo;m glad we did this interview, to have us &mdash; two former Wizards &mdash; encourage our brotha. You know, once a Wizard, always a Wizard. I really want to see him do well too. I was already rooting for him to really have a new beginning with the Clippers and shine like the old John Wall, but now I&rsquo;m rooting for him times 1,000.&nbsp;
Gortat: &ldquo;I couldn&rsquo;t agree with you more! I wanna see John demolish every other point guard in the league. Just go on a tear. I remember seeing him battle every game &mdash; Kyrie Irving, Derrick Rose, Chris Paul &mdash; and people forget how good he was, how fast he was end to end, how explosive he was. John was special, and I want to see him get back to that. But more importantly, I want him to heal because he has literally gone through hell over these last years.&rdquo;

John Wall recently opened up about his struggles. Former Wizards centers Etan Thomas and Marcin Gortat discuss his comments.

Marcin Gortat: 'A lot of people owe John Wall an apology'

Is the NBA ready to add an expansion team? Evan Sidery explores what kind of team you could build in a present-day expansion draft.

NBA Expansion Mock Draft: What would a new expansion team look like?

The 2022 NBA Draft had a consensus top three, which eventually turned into a top five atop the board: Duke&rsquo;s Paolo Banchero, Gonzaga&rsquo;s Chet Holmgren, Auburn&rsquo;s Jabari Smith Jr., Iowa&rsquo;s Keegan Murray and Purdue&rsquo;s Jaden Ivey. Throughout the pre-draft process, one player continued to be slept on and left out of this top tier: Arizona's Bennedict Mathurin.
After being selected No. 6 overall by the Indiana Pacers, the 20-year-old wing is ready to prove that he&rsquo;s one of the best players in this draft.
Mathurin, the PAC-12 Player of the Year, averaged 17.7 points, 5.6 rebounds, 2.5 assists and 1.0 steals per game on an efficient 57.6% True Shooting. A huge sophomore leap for Mathurin showcased how translatable his game is within the modern NBA. Everything Mathurin excels at and everything that NBA executives are coveting these days are one in the same. Not only is Mathurin an explosive athlete, he&rsquo;s seemingly unfazed by defenders within his shooting pocket. With an ability to hit contested looks at a well above-average clip already, the offensive upside for the former Arizona Wildcat is immense.
Mathurin&rsquo;s two-way potential is through the roof, but his wiring is what sold the Pacers on him from the beginning. Once Indiana found out they were selecting No. 6, they zeroed in on Mathurin. The Pacers&rsquo; entire front office, including head coach Rick Carlisle, were present at Mathurin&rsquo;s Pro Day in Santa Barbara last month.
&rdquo;The draft room was really excited,&rdquo; Pacers president of basketball operations Kevin Pritchard said. &ldquo;That&rsquo;s somebody we really targeted.&rdquo;
During Mathurin&rsquo;s workout in Indiana, he struggled during a certain drill where he was supposed to hit 20-of-25 shots in order to ring a bell. He came up short, and it bothered him. Mathurin was determined to ring that bell before leaving the next morning, so he asked if he could do a second workout that evening. This was a first for the Pacers. Carlisle decided to use this extra session as an opportunity to work with Mathurin one-on-one.
"That was my motive to come back to the gym," Mathurin said. "When I really want to achieve something, that means I&rsquo;m gonna do it. I came back the same night with Coach Rick and made sure I rang the bell before I left Indiana.&rdquo;
Mathurin&rsquo;s maniacal work ethic didn't go unnoticed. Carlisle and the Pacers were blown away by Mathurin during his visit, and they knew by the end of the night he was going to be their selection at No. 6 overall.&nbsp;
&ldquo;He had his workout in the morning and then we had lunch with him and he was going to be staying over that evening and traveling out the next day," Carlisle said. "He asked if the gym was open and if he could come back at 8:00 at night to work out and just work on some things. I said, &lsquo;Sure, how about I meet you at the gym?&rsquo; He said, &lsquo;Yeah, that&rsquo;d be great!&rsquo; So, we got together and had about an hour session, working on footwork and stuff like that.
"It told me a lot about him as a guy that really has a great intellectual curiosity for the game, a great love of the game. Guys that have a chance to really succeed and achieve in this league have a real fascination with self-discovery of getting better. And he&rsquo;s one of those guys. I could just tell. I could tell in the morning, but that evening, it was clear to me that this was our kinda guy.&rdquo;
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Based off his on-court fit alone, you might not find a better backcourt marriage formed from this draft than Mathurin joining Tyrese Haliburton in Indiana. With Haliburton&rsquo;s elite floor-general skills and three-point shooting prowess coupled with Mathurin&rsquo;s aggressive three-level-scoring profile, they perfectly complement each other and have the makings of a dynamic backcourt for years to come.
Indiana&rsquo;s selection of Mathurin was their first pick inside the top-10 since 1989 (when they took George McCloud at No. 7 overall). A historic moment for the organization over three decades in the making, they are banking Mathurin realizing his full potential and blossoming within their system. With a point guard like Haliburton setting him up, plus an early bond formed with his new head coach, Mathurin has a chance to have an immediate impact during the 2022-23 campaign.
&ldquo;The staff was really good to me when I went there for my team workout," Mathurin said. "I feel like they really believe in me.&rdquo;
With the selection of Mathurin and the acquisition of Haliburton back in February, the Pacers have ushered in a new era. Indiana has been reluctant to rebuild in the past, but with a sturdy foundation now in place, prioritizing the development of their young core is the wisest move to make long-term.
&ldquo;As we build out this team, I wanna say this: it&rsquo;s gonna take a little bit of time,&rdquo; Pritchard said. &ldquo;The draft is one part of a chance to build a team, a chance to remake a team.&rdquo;
Although the Pacers didn&rsquo;t trade any veteran players on draft night, expect to see the Pacers to continue remaking this roster around Mathurin and Haliburton. Also, last year&rsquo;s rookie class of Chris Duarte and Isaiah Jackson figure to play key roles for years to come as well. Malcolm Brogdon has been one of the hottest names on the trade block, plus Myles Turner&rsquo;s availability continues to be bandied about. Don&rsquo;t rule out Buddy Hield or TJ McConnell as potential trade candidates as well, if Indiana really wants to put themselves into the chase for projected 2023 No. 1 overall pick Victor Wembanyama.
For the betterment of the organization, Indiana embracing a rebuild is long overdue. Seemingly shifting course once Haliburton arrived, the Pacers had a golden opportunity to reset their overall calculations. During the draft, Indiana placed an obvious emphasis on improving their athleticism.
&ldquo;Since really around the trade deadline, we made some moves to get this team more dynamic,&rdquo; Carlisle said. &ldquo;We were last in the league in dunks at that point in time, and then some things happened, we moved some pieces. Isaiah Jackson who&rsquo;s here. Tyrese who&rsquo;s here. And things just went the other way.&rdquo;
The more you watch of Mathurin at Arizona, the more you realize he&rsquo;s just beginning to scratch the surface of his two-way potential. Although Mathurin was very inconsistent on the defensive end, with his athleticism, he has the potential to become above-average in that area. On the offensive end, Mathurin could be a consistent 20-plus point-per-game scorer since he'll have the ultimate green light alongside a pass-happy point guard in Haliburton.
In Indiana&rsquo;s free-flowing offense under Carlisle, Mathurin could easily see a heavy workload early on as he develops. Possessing such a clean shooting stroke and explosive pop off of one or two steps, Mathurin has the framework to become a consistent All-Star. And with his work ethic already turning heads in Indiana, he&rsquo;s ready to help turn the organization around as a culture-changer.
&ldquo;I mean, I bring my heart to the Pacers,&rdquo; Mathurin said. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m really fortunate for them to draft me. My goal is to have an impact already on both ends of the floor and bring Ws to the team.&rdquo;
Everyone discusses the likes of Banchero, Holmgren, Smith, Murray and Ivey. Don&rsquo;t be shocked if Mathurin forces his way into that conversation. After taking massive leaps over the last few years, Mathurin&rsquo;s upside makes him one of the most intriguing prospects to follow entering his rookie season.
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The Pacers selected Arizona wing Bennedict Mathurin at No. 6. Evan Sidery breaks down his fit in Indiana alongside Tyrese Haliburton.

Wanya