Good morning, it’s Nick Young’s player haters ball
The Lakers tripped up the Suns. Whoops! That and a whole heckuva lot more in Monday’s NBA newsletter.
Good morning. Let’s basketball.
PLAYER HATERS BALL: Nick Young on the Lakers hurting Phoenix in the playoff race by beating them on Sunday: “Welcome to the Player Haters Ball...we tryin to hate, hate, hate hate...” God bless ya, Swaggy.
STILL BREATHING: By beating the Warriors (?!), the Knicks move to within one game of the No. 8 seed in the East. The suddenly hot (without Kyrie) Cavs are just 2.5 back after beating the Pacers (?!).
MORE SCORES: All the recaps from Sunday’s action.
WEST DEATHRACE UPDATE: Phoenix and Dallas are tied at 44-30. Memphis is 43-30. The Grizzlies can make it a three-way tie by beating the Nuggets Monday.
THE IMPROBABLE GRIZZLED VET: Paul Flannery’s weekly Sunday Shootaround leads with an essay on Amir Johnson, the heart and soul of the Raptors. Find out how old he is in dog years. Plus, Paul’s draft reform plan, five reasons the Spurs are great and more.
SPEAKING OF AMIR: Yep, he had a game-winner to clinch Toronto’s playoff spot on Friday. Pretty perfect.
YO: DeMarcus Cousins aka Biggie Smooth apparently has an R&B album coming out. The first single, “Emotional,” will feature Chance The Rapper. This news is the greatest thing I have heard since the Shaq-Fu sequel.
OY: Sally Jenkins wrote about why the Northwestern athlete union movement is horrible. It was filled with a lot of horrible, including the most ridiculous Kwame Brown argument ever made.
CRISIS AVERTED: The Sixers avoided solitary ownership of pure ignominy by crushing the Pistons on Saturday. (Man, the Pistons are horrible right now.)
CONSOLATION PRIZE: The Timberwolves appear poised to go down as the best lottery team in modern NBA history. Congratulations?
THE VALUE OF MATH: Baxter Holmes has a nuanced, well-sourced story on the value of new tech, analytics and all of that. But the biggest thing it shows is how sideways some old-school guys still think about the new school. To the point where you start to wonder if the guys who claims numbers dudes don’t watch games are even paying attention.
SURPRISE!: Andrew Wiggins is going pro. He’ll officially announce on Monday.
HOW ‘BOUT THAT?: Multiple NBA GMs express fear that Jabari Parker will return to Duke for a second season. But teams really want that extended age minimum, huh?
NOT A.G.: Aaron Gordon apparently isn’t teasing GMs the same way. Don’t forget to keep up with all the early entry news through our StoryStream. (Protip: you can like the StoryStream to get major updates delivered to your Facebook News Feed.)
MONEYBALL: A fan hits a halfcourt shot for $77,777 in Phoenix. The refs are not impressed.
FEAR NOT: Blake Griffin got injured on Friday, but is listed as day-to-day.
NOT SO LUCKY: Patrick Beverley has a torn meniscus, and Dwight Howard claims his own ankle problem will keep him out another week.
DO WHAT NOW?: My friend Kelly Dwyer’s ideas to improve the NBA: eliminate conferences (a popular choice) and length the season (a ... not popular choice). But KD’s case for the latter is leak-proof.
STUDIES IN OLFACTORY NUISANCE: Who are the smelliest players in the NBA? Sarah Kogod investigates.
BATTIER GONE: Shane Battier expects to retire at the end of the season. Hot Hot Hoops looks back at his career.
TOAD STYLE IS IMMENSELY STRONG: The great Chris Herring on why Carmelo Anthony took up chess at age 27.
DIFFERENT PATHS: Are Dion Waiters and Bradley Beal in the same place right now?
NEW TYSON CHANDLER: Sam Dalembert has had himself a nice 2014.
BRAZILIAN WIN: The Tiago Splitter signing has paid off for San Antonio.
NOT SPORTS, BUT ...: If you like #StickToSports in your coffee, move on to the next item. But as someone with an audience, I feel obliged to point y’all to the latest from the LeBron of political writing, Ta-Nehisi Coates, who gives a sermon on how we talk about black culture and poverty. Basically poetry with a mean right hook.
WELL-DESERVED: The incredible Mike Monroe has rightly and justly been honored by the Pro Basketball Writers Association with its lifetime achievement award. Like the Spurs he covers: he's consistently great. Cheers.
Happy Monday. See you next time.
