Good morning. Let’s basketball.
This NBA roleplayer was a better youth swimmer than Michael Phelps
Good morning. We have that and more in Tuesday’s NBA newsletter.
LET THE GAMES BEGIN: Group play in the men’s Olympic basketball tournament wrapped up on Monday, meaning our knockout bracket is set. Here it is.
United States vs. Argentina
Spain vs. France
Lithuania vs. Australia
Croatia vs. Serbia
These quarterfinals games are on Wednesday; the semifinals will follow on Friday and the medal games are Sunday. Argentina is the last team other than the United States to win Olympic gold in basketball. They should have raucous support given the proximity of Argentina. And they have Manu Ginobili. This is going to be fun.
GARBAGE VOLLEYBALL: Team USA played beach volleyball on their day off. It is not as entertaining as Olympic beach volleyball. Except ... is DeMarcus Cousins holding a coconut while playing?
PLAY OF THE TOURNAMENT: Kyrie Irving’s alley-oop lob while falling on his face is good on multiple levels.
PODCAST WORLD TOUR: The Limited Upside podcast’s summer series has arrived at the Pelicans. Can they stay healthy this year?
REDISCOVERING THE HOT HAND: Via REDEF, Jesse Singal of the excellent Science Of Us blog writes up how researchers disproved the long-held academic belief that there is no hot hand in basketball.
ACCOUNTING FOR DWIGHT: Excellent piece by Rob Mahoney on how the styles of the pass-happy Hawks and Dwight Howard might clash, and how Atlanta might make it work.
ACCEPTANCE: Strong words from Diana Taurasi and fellow WNBAers on what’s preventing more NBA players from coming out. She says the NBA’s culture is still too immature to make gay players feel comfortable. Hence, no one has come out since Jason Collins.
BARON DAVIS NBA COMEBACK UPDATE: Baron Davis is still trying to make an NBA comeback happen. This Baron Davis NBA Comeback Update is brought to you by the Los Angeles Times. (Click through to see one amazing Baron Davis NBA Comeback photo.)
HMM: Could the Nuggets trade for Michael Malone’s large adult son DeMarcus Cousins? What would it take?
WELL THAT’S A RELIEF: Nick Young is slowly making peace with D’Angelo Russell after Snapageddon back in the spring. Speaking of the Lakers, I enjoyed Darius Soriano’s meditation on how L.A.‘s talent upgrades should lead to some minutes battles.
Happy Tuesday. See you next time.
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