Good morning. Let’s basketball.
Who will be the Warriors’ Chris Bosh?
Good morning. We have that and more in Thursday’s NBA newsletter.
WHAT’S AN OKAFOR? It appears that the Celtics are still hot on Jahlil Okafor, and that there may be enough impetus to get a deal done there.
TIM DUNCAN IS AN ISLAND: Key piece from Seerat Sohi on why we shouldn’t pit Tim Duncan’s team-first, selfless demeanor against that of other stars.
THE WARRIORS’ CHRIS BOSH: Ethan Strauss asks which Warrior will become the Chris Bosh or Manu Ginobili of the team. The funny part is that Draymond Green is in many ways already the Chris Bosh of the team: he takes way fewer shots than Steph Curry or Klay Thompson, and that’s not going to change. (He does handle the ball more than Bosh has in Miami, but that comes in setting up the others.) I’d bet Green scores right around 10 points per game. Klay’s scoring will drop in the presence of Kevin Durant, too, and Curry isn’t averaging 30 again with this roster. So, it’ll be a variety of Boshes, in a way.
IT WON’T BE THIS GUY: Meanwhile, Harrison Barnes will be the man in Dallas. Here’s Marcus Thompson on the Warriors’ erasure of Barnes, who deserves better memory from Dub Nation.
LINSANITY II: Nice look from the New York Times’ Liz Robbins on what Jeremy Lin’s goals in The Big Apple are this time around.
THE NIGHT IS DARK AND FULL OF BLACKJACK: Friends of GMIB Eddie Maisonet and Bonta Hill discovered few NBA personalities at Summer League knew anything about Game Of Thrones.
FOREVER MAY YOU REIGN: This J.R. Smith side scroller from The Ringer is my favorite video game in years.
WHERE THINGS STAND: Ricky O’Donnell gives us an update on where the top recruits stand heading into the final weekend of the live period.
IN DEFENSE OF CENTERS: DeAndre Jordan says his position will never go extinct.
OOF: Kobe Bryant’s letter to his younger self is basically an admonition not to trust his parents and not to give stuff/money to siblings and friends. I kind of feel like Kobe’s parents are the basketball analog to Kanye’s cousin who stole the laptop (you dirty motherf-----).
THE KITCHEN GETS HOT: I sympathize with DeMarcus Cousins. Anything he says that has any tinge of criticism toward anyone gets blown up because of his reputation. That said, him complaining about people making a big deal out of him saying he doesn’t understand what his franchise is doing has an easy solution. He has two choices: speak his mind and deal with people making a big deal of it, or pack his opinions away. He has a big voice! People care about his opinion!
FUNNY BECAUSE IT’S TRUE: Here’s a risk with having such a tremendous team culture that the coach is one of the biggest free agent draws: that coach can never retire. Gregg Popovich is in Vegas working with Team USA and explains that he didn’t retire alongside Tim Duncan because he has promised a string of high-profile Spurs he’d be around as they sign their contracts.
Happy Thursday. Be excellent to each other.
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Nike hides other brands in Team USA photos
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