Good morning, the Spurs should be ashamed of themselves
That and much more in Wednesday’s NBA newsletter.
Good morning. Let’s basketball.
BLED-SO HOPEFUL: The Suns and Eric Bledsoe have made progress on a deal, says The Great And Powerful Woj. It seems like Phoenix has moved up $500,000 per year, which ... yeah. That’s not much. On one hand, it doesn’t really matter which side caves. On the other hand, it’ll be interesting to see who caves. At $50 million, it’s Bledsoe caving.
Here’s Dave King’s take at Bright Side Of The Sun. Another good piece from there notes that basically the entire team is approaching its prime.
THE NEXT SUNS’ ISSUE: How do you extend the Morris Twins?
FERRY’S REHABILITATION: Danny Ferry sought out Magic Johnson to apologize and talk. Magic said Ferry deserves another chance. I’d like to hear Luol Deng’s thoughts on that question, actually.
Meanwhile, the league is reportedly not investigating the source of the Deng comments, which seems short-sighted to me.
INTERESTING: A new site allows fans to rank draft prospects and presents the combined big board. Karl Towns is currently No. 1. It also has a countdown clock to the 2015 draft, which feels like a countdown clock of impending doom, to be honest.
OH: How did LeBron lose so much weight this summer? No carbs or dairy for 67 straight days. (Powerade is giving Bron-Bron the side eye.) He says he didn’t eat sugar either, but he ate fruit, so we’ll edit him to say he didn’t eat processed sugar. He basically went paleo for two months while probably working out a ton. Good for him.
HOT NEW MAVS JERSEYS: Created by a fan, no less. The Mavericks do a lot of neat stuff.
MORE JERSEY NEWS: Red alternates for the Pelicans! Red for the blood of Pierre’s victims, one assumes.
THE DREAM IS DEAD: MIchael Beasley signs with the Grizzlies, not the Spurs. I have never been so disappointed in Gregg Popovich. Shame on you, San Antonio.
SPEAKING OF MEMPHIS ... you’re crazy for this one: a promotion in which something called “Z-Bow Ties” will be given away. WANT.
KEMBA TALK: Zach Lowe talks about Kemba Walker’s place in the NBA. And as Zach Lowe is wont to do, the angle becomes about the larger NBA.
BEHIND THE SCENES INTRIGUE: The man behind SportVU has left STATS for Catapult Sports.
THE CONTROVERSY THAT KEEPS ON GIVING: Monte Poole on what he calls the obvious logical explanation for why Mark Jackson got canned.
THE ANNALS OF SCHOLARSHIP: I don’t have much to say about Noah Cohan’s deep dive exploration of FreeDarkoexcept to say I’m reading every word. There were a few Twitter skirmishes over something FD kingpin Nathaniel Friedman wrote, but that conversation is basically irrelevant to the key point Cohan’s exploration dredges. One that says, “Man, we used to have barrels of fun on the Basketball Internet.”
Sometimes, we still do.
Happy Wednesday. See you next time.
