Good morning. Let’s basketball.
Someone in Philly forgot to Trust The Process
Good morning. GOOD MORNING. That and more in Tuesday’s NBA newsletter.
FIRST THING’S FIRST: I want to thank everyone who has generously donated to our fundraiser for foster kids already. In one day we raised a shade under $3,000! That’s incredible! Praise be to our Monday donors: Greg Armstrong, Philip Lee, Gregg Sparks, Kiril Johnson, Michael Phelan, John Karalis, Alberto Luque, Jake Weiner, Donna Schwartze, Gabe Spierer, Alex Kramers, Thomas Squires, Bo Schwartz Madsen, Tom Mantzouranis, Joseph Applegate, Bobby Marks, Spencer Hall (hi, boss), Ricky O’Donnell, Andrew Ungvari, Seth Rosenthal, Kevin O’Connor, Greg Wissinger, Andrew McNeill, Chris Haskins and the 20 anonymous donors. A bunch of my friends and coworkers are on that list, and a bunch of strangers are, too. It’s just incredibly reaffirming to see the outpouring of support for charity work this time of year.
So let’s keep it going. Spread the word, kick in a few bucks and let’s hit $10,000 by Christmas. Cheers, and thank you everyone.
SCORES SCORES SCORES ...
DET 84, CHA 104
SAS 119, PHI 68
WAS 114, MIA 103
DAL 104, NYK 97
LAL 93, TOR 102
PHX 103, CHI 101
POR 88, MIL 90
LAC 110, MIN 106
BOS 111, NOP 93
HOLY MIRZA: The Suns trailed the Bulls by 16 in the fourth quarter, but Mirza Teletovic grabbed a critical offensive rebound and tossed up a stumbling prayer for the win. He also fouled the hell out of Derrick Rose on the rebound but WHO CARES. Mirza! Suns!
MEYERS LEONERP: Meyers Leonard tried to be a hero for Portland, but John Henson blocked the tying jumper to give the Bucks a needed win.
TURNING BACK THE ARMS OF TIME: Kevin Garnett tomahawk on Blake Griffin in the year of our Basketball Lords 2015.
BOBAN’S LIKE A KID OUT THERE: The Spurs throttled the Sixers, which, of course. But the way Boban Marjanovic toyed with Jahlil Okafor here is just ... that’s just mean, Boban.
SPEAKING OF THE SIXERS: The team announced Monday it has hired Jerry Colangelo as a special adviser. In a press conference, franchisee Josh Harris both commended Sam Hinkie’s Process and reflected a lack of personal patience. This situation appears not to be black and white: Colangelo, who’s been out of the NBA a decade but who has been around the game as USA Basketball’s chairman, will certainly work closely with Hinkie to make decisions, but he claims Sam will have the final say. We’ll see. For what it’s worth, Jeff Zillgitt reports that Adam Silver himself facilitated this hiring. Silver has also been relatively critical of tear-it-down rebuilding, albeit without directly criticizing Philly much. (He’s a diplomat.) Meanwhile, Woj reports the team is looking to give Brett Brown a contract extension.
WTF: The Lakers benched D’Angelo Russell and Julius Randle. Neither seem terribly pleased. Byron Scott said he needed to mix up the lineup because what was out there wasn’t working. So he benched ... two of the three ... young players ... who need to be developed. I really don’t get the Randle thing: he plays his tail off and is pretty clearly the team’s second-best player already (behind Jordan Clarkson). But you can’t bench Kobe. Maybe play him fewer than the 32 minutes he got in Toronto on Monday? After the game, Russell put a brighter if somewhat snarky spin on the situation: playing without Kobe means he can actually do stuff.
SPEAKING OF KOBE: Asked what player’s compliment would mean the most to him, Kobe replied that he doesn’t care about any of them. Sometimes I really love Kobe.
SWOOSH FOR LIFE: LeBron has signed a lifetime contract with Nike. Which I think means they are going to try to make LeBron into Jordan: a brand unto itself.
FASCINATING: Why the Atlanta Hawks are embracing the hip hop world (and particularly local famous rappers) after the race controversy that snared Bruce Levenson and Danny Ferry. Steve Koonin is a fascinating character, not the least because apparently he now wears sunglasses indoors. Via REDEF.
LIFE ON KOBE ISLAND: In which Shane Battier considers himself the Captain Ahab to Kobe’s Moby Dick.
NIC YEAHTUM: Yaron Weitzman writes that Nicolas Batum is playing like an All-Star and fueling Charlotte’s rise.
HE’S RIGHT: Dirk Nowitzki (who had quite a battle with Kristaps Porzingis on Monday) says comparisons between the two are unfair ... to Porzingis. (Do people forget how overwhelmed Dirk looked as a rookie?)
TONIGHT TONIGHT: Warriors at Pacers (7 p.m. ET, NBA TV) is the game to watch. CAN INDIANA DO IT? YES THEY CAN. BUT THEY PROBABLY WON’T. Thunder-Grizzlies should also be a riot (8 p.m. ET, League Pass).
Happy Tuesday. See you next time.
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