Good morning. The Western arms race continues, by which I mean a West team traded for a player with two arms on Monday. The Thunder picked up Dion Waiters for a first-round pick, while the Cavaliers received Iman Shumpert and (prepare your spittoon) J.R. Smith for their troubles. The Knicks get cap relief and substantially less pipe. Some minor players with unguaranteed deals (Lance Thomas, Alex Kirk) also moved around.
Good morning. Dion Waiters will make all our dreams come true.
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We all wait with bated breath to see Waiters and Russell Westbrook share a backcourt, and to see Kyrie Irving realize that Waiters isn’t the only megalomaniac two-guard in the NBA. Shump is the big get for Cleveland, and he might soon be playing huge minutes to help cover up the Cavs’ defensive issues.
Alright then. Let’s basketball.
LAST NIGHT IN 44 SECONDS: The Warriors blasted the Thunder pretty badly. Klay Thompson dunked on Kevin Durant, Steph Curry nutmegged Steven Adams and juked out the defense with an off-hand between-the-legs dribble -- there was a lot of disrespect happening in Oakland. Damian Lillard went ballistic again as Portland won, but Nick Young had the best shot of the game. Thank goodness the trade will capture everyone in Cleveland’s attention because the Cavs lost to the Sixers! The Bulls jammed the Rockets, the Wizards beat the Pelicans and most importantly THE HAWKS beat the Clippers in L.A.
There were several other games, so check out our NBA Scores hub for all the recaps.
SPEAKING OF THE HAWKS ... How high did they land in the NBA Power Rankings? Why don’t you find out?
SPEAKING OF THE HAWKS II: David Aldridge’s Morning Tip leads with a discussion of Atlanta.
ON THE RAPTORS: Toronto’s been losing of late. The team’s defense has struggled against the West.
SPLISH SPLASH: Jonathan Abrams wrote about Curry and Thompson.
IN SACRAMENTO: I wrote about the Kings’ crisis and the easiest solution.
THE BALLAD OF LARRY SANDERS: Rumors are circulating that Larry Sanders told the Bucks he doesn’t want to play basketball any longer. Brew Hoop cuts through the talk.
CONTEXT ON THE DEVELOPMENT DEBATE: Kobe made headlines over the weekend for his comments on the problems with AAU ball. Ricky O’Donnell wrote about the three issues with AAU and the debate about player development in general.
Happy Tuesday. See you next time.
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