Good morning. Let’s basketball.
Kevin Durant picked a fight with a man who buys spittle by the barrel
Good morning. We have that and more in Tuesday’s NBA newsletter.
YOU KNOW HOW I KNOW BASKETBALL IS BACK? LeBron is dancing on the court. Happy 2015-16 season, y’all.
WELL THEN: Stephen A. Smith has seemingly come unglued over Kevin Durant’s accusation that S.A.S. is a liar. Smith is now threatening to make life miserable for Durant and saying that he sees K.D. when he’s sleeping or something. The sad thing this is that a) Smith is doing this to boost his profile and his ratings on ESPN’s First Take and Smith’s radio show and b) many of us (guilty!) will play right into his hands because this is all somewhat entertaining from a train wreck type of perspective.
MKGUH: Michael Kidd-Gilchrist needs shoulder surgery and will miss six months, or essentially the whole season. Charlotte is cursed.
SB Nation presents: Michael Kidd-Gilchrist’s journey to the NBA
PREVIEWS! Paul Flannery and I assess the Warriors’ chances of not just repeating as champs, but as presenting a suitable encore for their 2014-15 masterwork. Here’s Golden State of Mind on the Warriors’ coming campaign. On Boston, Flanns and I note that there is incremental improvement being made despite a less-exciting-than-expected offseason. CelticsBlog has your up-close look.
I SWEAR: I swear by the Basketball Gods I will not use this space as a cudgel against the legacy of Kobe this season. However, look at this right here.
ON THE OTHER HAND: I really enjoyed how Kevin Ding is framing the conflict between Kobe as we knew him and Kobe as he now is, and what that gap means for the Lakers.
WELL DONE, DRAGAN: Marc Stein on the allure of Dragan Bender.
SEE WHAT I WAS SAYING WAS ... LeBron claims he was not putting pressure on the Cavaliers to concede to Tristan Thompson with his Instagram post. What I want to know is who broached the idea of the Instagram post and how, if that person was not LeBron, it was sold to him. The answer is probably Rich Paul. But I like to believe Thompson thought it up and meekly suggested it to LeBron as they both were waiting on their Corona Lights at the bar.
WAY MORE IMPORTANT: LeBron strongly decries gun violence in America.
SOMETHING TO WATCH: How is Fred Hoiberg different than Tom Thibodeau? Some clues emerge. If Hoiberg can give the Bulls a boost a la Steve Kerr, Chicago is super dangerous.
DEPARTMENT OF CORRECTIONS: Yesterday I indicated that the WNBA Finals is a best-of-three series. This is not true. The Finals are best of five. The Indiana Fever looks to go up 2-0 against the Minnesota Lynx at 8 p.m. ET on ESPN2.
Happy Tuesday. See you next time.
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