Good morning, will LeBron get sleeved jerseys killed?
That and much, much, much more in Tuesday’s NBA newsletter.
Good morning. Let’s basketball.
R.I.P. SLEEVES?: LeBron has made his feelings on sleeved jerseys well known. Now Adam Silver will apparently meet with LeBron and consider scrapping the new look. Is this a ruse by Silver, who will explain to players the revenue potential of getting more grown men to wear official jerseys? Or is Silver really enough of a diplomat to ditch the idea in his first year as commissioner?
ABOUT LAST NIGHT: The Nets lost in OT, the Sixers lost No. 25 straight, LeBron and Bosh ended the Blazers, the Bulls suffocated the Pacers and lots more. Get all the recaps here. Below, some GIF fun.
JAMES HARDEN KILLED A GUY: Pour one out for our homie Josh McRoberts.
LE FREIGHT TRAIN: King James makes the exquisite look so easy.
ANOTHER HAUNTED NBA HOTEL: The Spurs recently stayed at the allegedly haunted Claremont Resort in Berkeley. A ghost baby was in Jeff Ayres’ room, reports Dan McCarney. Tim Duncan: “I heard a baby in his room. [...] It wasn’t creepy, because I assumed it was really somebody in the room, and they gave him the wrong room. But when they told me the story the next day about calling up there and no one in the room, it’s at that point you get chills.”
SO MUCH POWER: The official SBNation.com NBA Power Rankings. Ghost Baby on top.
WHO NEEDS WHO?: Jim Boeheim made up some stuff about first-round picks failing in the NBA, so I wrote about the college coach-star relationship, NBA mock drafts and honesty in the whole exchange.
DRAFT NEWS!: T.J. Warren (DX No. 18) is in. LaQuinton Ross (DX No. 48) claims he has not made a decision despite a report that he’s in. Dario Saric (DX No. 9) is likely out.
THE JERMAINE O’NEAL HITCH: A collection of players jumping the lane when J.O. does his weird free throw hitch routine. We are sick people for watching this.
DEEP BOWL OF TANKING KNOWLEDGE: Dave Deckard of Blazer’s Edge has thought a lot about tanking and the NBA ecosystem. Well worth a read.
CUBAN’S THESIS: Mark Cuban expands on his assertion that the NFL will implode in 10 years. (Via Beck.) The arguments are worth thinking about, if you think anything about the future of the major pro sports power structure.
MUCH WEIRD AILMENTS: Pau Gasol was hospitalized for a night with vertigo. What a Lakers season, y’all.
AGENT INFO: Here’s a page to bookmark if you want to know which agent is repping which draft prospect this spring.
MUTUAL FRIEND: Interesting story on Irving Azoff, the man who brought James Dolan and Phil Jackson together.
TRIANGLE SCHMIANGLE: The real problem with the Knicks is the defense.
EAST PLAYOFF PICTURE UPDATE: The Heat trail the Pacers for No. 1 by two games. Toronto and Chicago are tied for No. 3; Brooklyn is two back. The Hawks have a 2.5-game lead over the Knicks for No. 8.
WEST PLAYOFF PICTURE UPDATE: San Antonio leads OKC by two games for No. 1. The Clippers lead the Rockets by 1.5 games for No. 3, and Houston has opened up a safe 3.5-game lead on Portland. Memphis is in No. 7 by a half-game, and Phoenix and Dallas are tied for No. 8. Guh! Race to the finish!
YIKESVILLE: At one point on Monday, the New York Post reported that former NBA player Quinton Ross had been found dead in a shallow grave in Jersey. It had been a different Quinton Ross. The Post retracted its report after a spell of time. It made for a really weird day for the NBA Quinton Ross.
WELPVILLE: Nick Young’s house was robbed during a Lakers game the other night. Among the items stolen: Swaggy’s Red Octobers!
FUN PROJECT ALERT: Two awesome NBA things in the SB Nation pipeline for this week. Today, a paean to the retro NBA. Soon, Jon Bois’ season debut of NBA Y2K, the basketball Breaking Madden. Stay tuned.
Happy Tuesday. See you next time.
