Good morning. Happy Friday. Let’s basketball.
When life gives you lemons, trade for Michael Beasley
Good morning. We have that and more in Friday’s NBA newsletter.
HOLD EVERYTHING: Michael Beasley to the Bucks for Tyler Ennis. Life gave Milwaukee lemons, Milwaukee made ... uhh, a different variety of lemons.
DNP-REST: Tom Haberstroh on the rise and benefit of healthy scratches ... especially on the back end of road back-to-backs. Speaking of which, it sounds like the Warriors will aggressively rest up this season.
BEAT THE DRUMMOND: Jesus Gomez on why Andre Drummond isn’t yet a franchise player. (It’s not about the free throws.)
THE BOSH STALEMATE: Chris Bosh had made it clear that he’s not going away quietly. The Heat really have no reason to cave if they feel playing Bosh is unsafe. Where do we go from here? There are three options, none of them good.
EYES ON THE PRIZE: Referees will keep close tabs on groin hits this season after Draymond Green’s spate of playoff violence.
YOU CAN FIND ME IN THE DUB: It has been noted that while I linked to a post about a WNBA protest, I have not shared any actual news about the WNBA playoffs. If you enjoy women’s basketball or would like to, I must encourage you to check out Swish Appeal. We have a wonderful, diverse team of writers covering the whole of women’s basketball there. I know I don’t do it justice in GMIB, and I do regret that. But SB Nation has you so covered with Swish Appeal.
SPEAKING OF THE FAIRER SEX ... The league announced Violet Palmer has retired as an NBA referee. Her and Dee Kantner became the first women to officiate in the NBA back in 2007. Kantner got fired in 2002 due to the quality of her work. Palmer left the league due to knee pain. Palmer has been much-maligned by many fans over the years, though you always wonder if it’s because she’s easily identifiable vs. being inconsistent. The only remaining female ref, Lauren Holtkamp, gets an awful lot of gruff, too. (Looking at you, CP3.)
JUMPMAN: Michael Jordan released a statement on Thursday calling for peace in Charlotte. Protests continued Thursday night.
THIS IS TRUE: Matt Moore does a deep dive on James Harden and surmises that he is both underrated and overrated at the same time.
WELPCONSIN: Five silver linings to Khris Middleton’s injury.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY, PHIL! Nike and ESPN put together a college basketball tournament for Nov. 2017 in Portland called the Phil Knight Invitational. Pretty much every top-flight Nike program is going to be there.
Be excellent to each other. See you next time.
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