Good morning. Let’s basketball.
Let’s argue about the Aughts
Good morning. I sense I have angered you with my bad opinions. Let’s explore in Thursday’s NBA newsletter.
MEET THE ALL-AUGHTS TEAM: I pubbed the final full decade team of our little summer project, the All-2000s team. Note that this encompasses everything up to the 2008-09 season ... we’ll be doing a half-team covering the ‘10s soon. One instance regret is that I dropped Dwyane Wade down the list last minute in an effort to better recognize Vince Carter. Wade belongs higher, as many have argued in my mentions and in the comments. I was a bit down on him over the 2007-08 disaster, but he was so damn good in those other years (and has the title and the Finals MVP to prove it) that he belongs higher up. Mea culpa. I also regret not finding a place for Ben Wallace, who truly was a dominant defender for a stretch in there.
EUROBASKET UPDATE: Lithuania and Serbia moved on to the semis (poor Italy) and will face off on Friday with the Olympics on the line. The big grudge match between Spain and France is Thursday at 3 p.m. ET in Lille. Winner goes to the Olympics. Loser has to sweat it out in a last-chance wild card tournament next July before the Olympics.
MORE LIKE OVER ARMOUR: Stephen Curry will now be wearing Under Armour through 2024.
NORRIS BETS ON HIMSELF: Norris Cole took the Pelicans’ $3 million qualifying offer to a) ensure he has a team this season and b) become an unrestricted free agent in 2016. There are worse things than to be injury-prone Jrue Holiday’s backup in a contract year.
SOCK GAME OUTTA CONTROL: The NBA is now making socks a more creative piece of the uniform.
THE STATE OF THE PG: Michael Pina ranks all 30 starting NBA point guards. Justice for Rajon Rondo!
CLASSIC MAN: Very good Q&A with Coach K from SLAM’s Ben Osborne.
SPONSORSHIP GOALS: A drunk James Harden vows to bring Adidas back.
THE END OF KOBE: I enjoyed Eric Freeman’s piece on the end of Kobe’s road.
Happy Thursday. See you next time.
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