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  • Hollinger: 13 bold NBA season predictions, including All-Star Wembanyama and a Celtics title

    Hollinger: 13 bold NBA season predictions, including All-Star Wembanyama and a Celtics title

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    What time is it? That’s right …  it’s time to make some outlandish statements that people will look back on next spring and cackle hysterically.

    OK, that’s not actually the goal, but it is certainly an occupational hazard. Prognostication makes fools of us all; there are just too many things we can’t possibly have seen coming. Thank goodness for that, actually, as sports would be pretty boring otherwise.

    That won’t stop me from trying, though. With the regular season starting next week, now is the time to gaze into my extremely hazy crystal ball and make some calls for what will happen in the coming months. In particular, the goal is to make some calls that might go against the tide and are actually, y’know … bold. For instance, “Nikola Jokić will make the All-Star team” is a defensible prediction that likely will come true but doesn’t really clear the bar for this particular exercise.

    A bolder prediction, on the other hand, would be something unusual or unexpected. Like, say, predicting that something that hasn’t happened in two decades might happen this season. That would be a rookie — a true rookie — making the All-Star team. The last rookie to make it was Blake Griffin in 2011, but he was in his second season under contract with the LA Clippers after missing his entire first campaign. A fresh-from-the-draft rookie hasn’t made the squad since Yao Ming was voted in as a starter in 2003.

    We can qualify that even further because Yao only averaged 13 points a game that season and was voted in despite production that clearly paled next to the other potential options. (To be clear, Yao deserved his next six selections. Just not that year.)

    GO DEEPER

    The 24 biggest questions for the NBA season: Nuggets repeat? Wembanyama not ROY?

    To go back a bit further, to the last time a just-drafted rookie both made the All-Star team and had numbers that truly warranted his inclusion, one would need a full quarter-century. And, what a coincidence … that player happened to be Tim Duncan, in 1998, in his first season as a San Antonio Spur.

    Well, 25 years later, I’m going to go out on a limb and say a top overall pick of the Spurs will once again make the All-Star team … and will make it on merit.

    Don’t let one bad summer league game get you twisted: Victor Wembanyama is as unique a basketball player to ever enter the league, a rim-denying giant at one end with a guard’s mentality and skill set at the other. You thought Kristaps Porziņģis was a unicorn because he could shoot 3s at his size? Well, picture the same package except with genuine ball skills and the ability to play out of the pick-and-roll.

    I watched Wembanyama twice in Vegas last year and announced several of his French games for the NBA app; in every single one, he did something absolutely mind-blowingly unique, “I don’t think I’ve ever seen anybody do that before” type stuff. He was far and away the best player in a good overseas league at the age of 18.

    Here’s the crazy part: His preseason has been way better than that. Wembanyama seems to have made significant improvement both in his capability as a ballhandler and in his end-to-end speed (it helps when you can Eurostep to the rim from the 3-point line without needing to dribble), producing cascades of easy baskets for himself and those around him.

    While his French tape showed flashes of this, he’s been able to do it with greater consistency in the more open floor of the NBA and shown marked improvement in his reading of the court and playmaking. Through two preseason games entering Wednesday night (I know, but humor me), the top pick in the draft has averaged more than a point per minute on 71.4 percent true shooting, blocked four shots and dissuaded countless others from being attempted and compiled a 33.9 PER.

    I had thought Wembanyama might need a year to get his NBA sea legs before we really saw his impact. To hell with that. He’s already quite clearly his team’s best player and is likely good enough to lead the Spurs to a win total that may make them slightly uncomfortable. It’s becoming more and more apparent that he’s going to end up with an All-Star-caliber stat line that could, at the very least, put him on the short list for selection.


    Victor Wembanyama could very well flex his way right into the All-Star Game this season. (Sarah Phipps / Associated Press)

    Here’s the other part: The Western Conference is laden with star talent, but as a frontcourt player, Wembanyama should have an advantage. Other than Jokić, all of his main rivals for those spots have the words “if healthy” permanently attached as suffixes to the end of their names. Between LeBron James, Anthony Davis, Kawhi Leonard, Zion Williamson and Kevin Durant, surely at least one and possibly several will miss the festivities in Indy this February.

    Other players will be in the mix too, of course — Memphis’ Jaren Jackson Jr. and Utah’s Lauri Markkanen made it last year, for instance, and Minnesota’s Karl-Anthony Towns is still here — but between the shock and awe value of Wembanyama’s play and the likelihood of injury replacements on the West roster, he has a great chance of making the team even if he isn’t voted in as a starter.

    Wemby on the All-Star team is my first bold prediction, but it’s not the only one. Here are some more for the coming season:

    No coaches will be fired before the All-Star break

    Any prediction involving job security in the NBA coaching profession is a daring high-wire dance above a fiery lava pit, but this might be the season to pull it off. The league’s coaching roster looks as stable as it has in some time; while you can imagine seats getting hot in a few places with a slow start, there’s also the undeniable fact that recent turnover has been so high that there are relatively few long-tenured coaches remaining to get the ax.

    Do you know how many coaches have been on the job since before the pandemic year? Four! That’s it! Those are the league’s four “made men,” championship-winning coaches Gregg Popovich, Erik Spoelstra, Steve Kerr and Michael Malone, who have a combined 59 seasons with their current teams. They’re not going anywhere.

    Meanwhile, 13 teams have a coach in either his first or second season, which would make them unlikely to be dismissed so quickly. Five others are in Year 3, when the pressure normally increases, except four of those clubs are rebuilding and have limited expectations this season. Add it up and, for 21 of the league’s 30 teams, an early-season coaching change seems hugely unlikely.

    Again, this profession isn’t exactly renowned for its stability — last season’s first coaching change (the Nets’ Steve Nash) happened on Nov. 1! — so this prediction may end up looking hilarious come February. For the moment, however, we seemingly enter the season with almost unprecedented stability in the league’s coaching ranks.

    Minnesota will win a playoff series for the first time in 20 years

    That’s right, I have a second thing that hasn’t happened in 20 years that I’m predicting will happen in 2023-24. Good things to happen to the Timberwolves? Have I lost my mind? 

    Thus far, the preseason focus has been on other West locales — the world champion Denver Nuggets, the reloaded Phoenix Suns and the recent champions in Golden State and L.A. — while the Wolves haven’t garnered nearly as much attention. However, they quietly played well over the second half of last season, going 26-19 after the turn of the new year, and I’m projecting them to land one of the top four seeds in the West.

    If that happened, it would be the first time since their conference finals run with Kevin Garnett in 2004. In the only other three playoff appearances for the Wolves since then, they’ve been first-round roadkill as the West’s seventh or eighth seed.

    While it’s a little early to pencil in who might be their first-round playoff opponent, the Wolves would have home-court advantage in the first round based on their projected finish, and, particularly if they get the No. 3 seed or higher, would be in a historically strong position to advance.

    Additionally, there doesn’t seem to be any particularly compelling reason to bet against Minnesota once it reaches the postseason; the Wolves have the requisite inside-outside weapons in Anthony Edwards and Towns, their potential top-seven playoff rotation looks strong and, besides Towns, the team has strong individual defenders. Will this be the season we see Minnesota play in May? 

    Jayson Tatum will beat Nikola Jokić for MVP…

    Because he’ll be the only player eligible for the award! I kid, slightly, but the league’s new 65-game requirement for most of the major awards may knock some fringe MVP candidates out of the running. (Milwaukee’s Giannis Antetokounmpo finished third last season with 63 games played; Memphis’ Ja Morant finished seventh while playing 57 in 2021-22; and Philadelphia’s Joel Embiid finished second while playing just 51 of the 72 games in the shortened 2020-21 season.)

    More seriously, and in keeping with the theme of bold predictions and not regurgitating chalk, I expect the award to come down to Jokić and Tatum in April. There’s an obvious risk in my saying Tatum will win since Jokić enters the season as an overwhelming favorite, which is the blowback from a league-wide sentiment of mea culpa for not giving him the trophy a year ago.

    However, Tatum’s durability may give him a leg up in MVP voting despite the fact that he’s not perceived as the best player in the league. He nearly led the league in minutes a year ago and is young enough at 25 to again take on a big playing time load. Additionally, Boston could easily end up with the best record in the league and may do so by several games. As the team’s best player, Tatum almost automatically becomes a leading candidate.

    Finally, it’s entirely possible Jokić treats the regular season with a bit less urgency — much as he did in the final month last season — while he tunes up for the games in May and June that truly matter. (On the flip side, Denver’s bench may be so bad that he doesn’t have the luxury.) A Nuggets finish in the middle of a crowded West pack would also dampen his quest for MVP No. 3, and that’s definitely in the cards too.


    Nikola Jokić and Jayson Tatum will have to play at least 65 games this season to remain in MVP consideration. (David Zalubowski / Associated Press)

    The West will regain dominance over the East

    The East had a better record than the West for the second straight season in 2022-23, ending up with 22 more wins. That’s been a rarity over the past three decades; the West has been vastly superior nearly every season since Michael Jordan retired, culminating in the 2013-14 season in which identical 48-win seasons got Toronto the No. 3 seed in the East and earned Phoenix a ticket to the lottery in the West. 

    The NBA’s three best records also belonged to the East last year, and that part may hold up … partly because the depth of the West is so strong that it will be difficult for any individual team to push its win total much into the 50s. Nonetheless, the unusually tame regular seasons from expected West powers last season are unlikely to be an enduring feature; the Lakers, Warriors, Wolves, Clippers and Suns all figure to add several wins compared to 2022-23, while at the bottom of the conference, the 60-loss Rockets and Spurs could both be vastly improved. Only Portland will take a step back in the West.

    In the East, the opposite trend holds. While Boston and Milwaukee look as strong as ever and Cleveland is on the rise, Washington, Brooklyn, Philadelphia and Chicago will have a difficult time matching last year’s win total. The flows of All-Star talent are another indicator: Damian Lillard went East, but since the last trade deadline, Bradley Beal, Kevin Durant, Kyrie Irving, Fred VanVleet and Marcus Smart have all gone West, and James Harden might be next.

    The Clippers will re-evaluate everything 

    OK, this prediction needs a bit more time to breathe and might not really come to fruition until next summer. Still, watch the Clippers, especially if they start slowly. Yes, LA is still all-in on winning and will cut another massive luxury-tax check to the league (their estimated penalty right now is a cool $100 million), and the Clippers could easily add to that figure if they end up trading for Harden.

    Nonetheless, this season is a clear pivot point for the team, thanks in part to a new CBA that makes life much harder for teams that spend past the second luxury-tax apron, where the Clippers currently reside. After this year, teams in that position can’t aggregate salaries in trades or take back more money than they sent out. They also can’t use cash in trades, use their midlevel exception, sign bought out players or wear sneakers. Staying over the second apron next year would also result in their 2032 first-round pick being frozen and, if the payroll didn’t come down in future years, ultimately pushed to the back end of the draft.

    All this is happening right at the point when Steve Ballmer is surely questioning his ROI on the huge luxury-tax checks; over the past two seasons, his team is 86-78 and has won a single playoff game. 

    Two other timeline items stand out: First, the Clippers’ new Intuit Dome arena is set to open next year, and second, Paul George and Kawhi Leonard can become free agents this summer. You’ll note that you’re not hearing much about contract extensions for either player right now.

    The Clippers still owe future draft picks to the Oklahoma City Thunder through 2026, so it’s not a blow-it-up scenario as much as a scaling back. They have scenarios in which they could bring back Leonard and George while still skirting the second apron … or perhaps, dare we say it, even staying below the first apron and using their entire midlevel exception to balance out the roster.

    Still, this looks to be a tricky dance. Ballmer is willing and able to pay virtually anything for a winner, but the league has never punished expensive rosters like this. Waiving Eric Gordon this June seemed like the first salvo in an organizational rethink about the merits of blasting money out the firehose under the new CBA. 

    Tyrese Maxey will win Most Improved Player 

    Consider this partly a bet on Tyrese Maxey’s talent and partly a bet against Harden playing a significant role in Philly this season. If Harden is going to either be traded or behave so badly that the Sixers wish they had traded him, then Maxey should be the obvious beneficiary in terms of touches and shots.

    Maxey averaged 20.3 points per game last season, but the number ballooned to 24.8 in the 13 games he played and Harden didn’t; that latter average would have placed him 15th in the league.

    His other arrows are pointing up too. Maxey won’t turn 23 until November and is still figuring out how to weaponize his proficient 3-point shot (41.4 percent career) with more off-the-dribble attempts and how to parlay his blazing first step into more free-throw attempts. He’s an 85.8 percent career foul shooter but only attempted 3.8 free throws per game last year. That number should only rise as he gets more on-ball reps and figures out the dark arts of foul grifting.

    Note that Maxey should also be highly motivated to produce this season, as the Sixers have held off on signing him to a contract extension to preserve 2024 cap space. With a good year, he’ll be able to sign for the Maxey-mum (sorry) next summer.

    Two other players will make their first All-Star team: Jalen Brunson and Jamal Murray 

    Denver’s Jamal Murray might be the most obvious first-time All-Star pick in a while, coming off a fabulous postseason that signified his full recovery from a torn ACL in 2021. He posted a 21.6 PER in 20 playoff games, or about a quarter of an NBA season (or half of one if you’re a Clipper); those numbers alone would get him in range of selection, and keep in mind they were posted against playoff defenses. Presumably, life will get easier for him when we add some Blazers and Wizards back into the mix.

    As for Brunson, he missed the team a year ago while fellow Knick Julius Randle made it, but the playoffs may have been the tipping point in a swap of leading men in New York. Yes, Randle’s injuries were a factor, but Brunson averaged 27.8 points in the playoffs while taking by far the most shots on the team (over 20 a game). Moreover, those playoff stats were a continuation from the second half of the season: After a slow start, Brunson averaged 27.8 points per game after Jan. 1. Entering his age-27 season, Brunson, it would seem, is primed for a career year.

    The Knicks are likely to get one rep in the game if they’re again among the top seven teams in the East when the voting happens, and if so, it seems more likely the choice would be Brunson this time around. 

    While we’re here, apologies to the Grizzlies’ Desmond Bane and the Nets’ Mikal Bridges, two other players I think will post strong resumes that get them serious All-Star consideration. It’s hard for me to pull the trigger on predicting them to make it unless there is a rash of injuries to elite backcourt players in each conference, especially with Brunson and Murray claiming spots.

    The Bulls will blow it up

    Consider this a prediction in two parts: First, that the Bulls won’t be good enough to justify keeping the DeMar DeRozan–Nikola Vučević–Zach LaVine band together any longer, and second, that they’ll break out the dynamite at the trade deadline. The key here is timing: DeRozan is a free agent after the season, so the Bulls need to either cash in their stock on the high-scoring 34-year-old forward or sign him to an extension. 

    Moving off him would be the necessary first step in a process that would likely see the Bulls deal LaVine and Vučević as well, although LaVine has four years left on his deal and thus might be shopped more profitably at the draft in June.

    Historically, the Bulls haven’t been fans of tanking, and their first choice will (and should!) be to see how many games this nucleus can win. However, this particular decision might already have been made for them, as the endgame has seemed apparent ever since the seriousness of Lonzo Ball’s knee injury became clear. Chicago can either forge ahead with an expensive, not very good team with limited flexibility, or the Bulls can start over and hope they get lucky in the loaded 2025 and 2026 drafts.

    Taylor Jenkins will win NBA Coach of the Year 

    This has nothing to do with who I think the best coach is (Spoelstra, duh) but rather my reading of the trend lines of the history of this award, which skews heavily toward the biggest surprise in the top third of the standings.

    Based on my projections for the coming season and the comparative amount of buzz about the teams I have slated for winning records, the three most likely candidates would seemingly be Jenkins in Memphis, Darko Rajaković in Toronto and J.B. Bickerstaff in Cleveland. (Grizzlies alumni represent!) Boston’s Joe Mazzulla would be a strong candidate too, especially if the Celtics end up with the league’s best record by several games, as I suspect they might.

    Nonetheless, Jenkins has the best ingredients in his favor for winning: Nobody is expecting all that much from his team, the Grizzlies are actually pretty good, and there’s a built-in narrative (“Didn’t have Ja Morant for the first 25 games and still …”) ready and waiting. Additionally, the margins in the West are tight enough that the Grizzlies don’t really need to overachieve much to get people’s attention, as I’m projecting a 50-ish win total might be enough to top the conference.


    Kevin Durant and the Suns will look to advance in a stacked Western Conference. (Craig Mitchelldye / Associated Press)

    Phoenix won’t have the West’s best record but will make the NBA Finals

    I would take the field over any individual team in the West, and there’s a risk in making any prediction at all given that several contenders will likely make in-season moves to reshape their rosters. Seven teams have at least a somewhat realistic shot of advancing out of this pool, and that number could expand if a team in the middle class decides to get frisky with an all-in trade.

    Nonetheless, right now, I like the playoff version of the Suns better than anyone else in a warty contender field. By the spring, Phoenix will hopefully have figured out some of the balance in its three-headed Bradley Beal-Devin Booker-Kevin Durant monster, and it’s quite possible the Suns will have used another trade chip or two to get more size and depth.

    Ultimately, it will come down to Phoenix and Denver, most likely, regardless of which round they end up meeting — much like last year when their conference semifinal series was effectively for a place in the NBA Finals. This time around, I like the Suns’ answers off the bench much more than the ones they came up with a year ago, and I like the Nuggets’ quite a bit less. At the margins, I think that tilts the advantage slightly Phoenix’s way … even with Denver undoubtedly having the best player. 

    Boston will outlast Milwaukee in the East 

    The thing about Milwaukee getting Lillard is that it also allowed the Celtics to turn Malcolm Brogdon into Jrue Holiday. Holiday, of course, is about the best antidote to Lillard that mankind has come up with so far, dating to the 2018 series with the New Orleans Pelicans when Holiday harassed Lillard into 35 percent shooting in a four-game sweep.

    That said, the Bucks present some real problems for Boston. The Lillard-Antetokounmpo two-man game threatens to be the best in the entire league, and the Bucks certainly can surround it with enough shooting. Dealing with Antetokounmpo might require heavy doses of an aging Al Horford, especially with Robert Williams gone to Portland, and Milwaukee’s dynamic duo also is one that could expose Porziņģis defensively. 

    There’s also some risk in choosing Boston here based on how the past few postseasons have gone, where the offense too easily degenerates into isolation-heavy slogs with Tatum and Jaylen Brown playing your-turn my-turn. (The Celtics also seem to lose all their mojo at the mere sight of Miami Heat jerseys, but that might not be a factor this season.)

    However, that’s where Porziņģis can really help. His ability to punish switches by posting up shorter players is an option that Boston simply didn’t have last year, and it could be a real factor against the postseason switching defenses that have tended to gum up Boston the last few years.

    I’m excited just thinking about this series … but I think the Celtics will prevail slightly in the end, much as they did in the second round two years ago. 

    Boston will beat Phoenix in the NBA Finals

    Boston vs. Phoenix would be an incredible Finals because it would involve the Suns’ eternal quest for a first crown against the Celtics’ hope of raising an 18th banner, which would once again give them a leg up on the Lakers on the all-time list. Of course, it would be a first of sorts for Boston as well, as the Celtics haven’t won since 2008 and the current Tatum-Brown-Horford core has yet to get over the final hump.

    It seems risky to pick Boston to win four straight playoff series despite the Celtics’ imposing defense and impressive top-seven rotation for the postseason. Historically, the postseason has been about having That Dude, and only a few teams have managed to get to the mountaintop with more of an ensemble cast. Tatum is one of the best players in the league, but he hasn’t yet shown himself to be a playoff cheat code on the Jokić/Curry/Kawhi level.

    On the other hand … Boston just has so many ways to hurt you that Tatum doesn’t have to play at an exalted level for the Celtics to win the title. Two years ago, they were up 2-1 on Golden State in the Finals, for instance, before succumbing in six games. Curry was the best player in that series and Tatum only shot 35 percent, yet the Celtics were still in it.

    Again, the Porziņģis acquisition potentially looms large, especially if he can hold up on defense, because it allows the Celtics to punish some of the switching schemes that so badly stagnated them in previous postseasons. At the other end, Boston is also one of the few teams with enough elite perimeter defenders to not sweat matching up against Beal, Booker and Durant at the same time. In the end, the Celtics’ defense is good enough that I worry less about the offense.

    So, book your hotels for Boston in June, print this out and file it away and prepare to laugh uproariously when 50 things we couldn’t possibly have imagined reshape the season in totally unexpected ways. That’s the beauty of sports, but I’ll keep trying to get this hazy crystal ball to give me a few tips.

    (Illustration: Eamonn Dalton / The Athletic; photos: Maddie Meyer, Paras Griffin, David Dow / Getty Images)

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  • Why kinder, gentler Philadelphia sports fans are done with snowballs and Santa Claus

    Why kinder, gentler Philadelphia sports fans are done with snowballs and Santa Claus

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    The Athletic has live coverage of Phillies vs. Diamondbacks in Game 3 of the NLCS. 

    By Andy McCullough, Chad Jennings and Stephen J. Nesbitt

    PHILADELPHIA — In the parking lots outside Citizens Bank Park, in the hours before the Phillies hosted the first game of the National League Championship Series, the people of the Delaware Valley communed. They tossed footballs as helicopters buzzed overhead. They chomped hoagies from Primo’s and Wawa. They sipped Bud Light and Miller Light, Coors Light and Coors Banquet, Yuengling and also Yuengling. The vibe felt more subdued than unhinged, a dynamic that would change as the first pitch drew closer.

    “As soon as you enter the building, it’s like a switch goes off,” said Chris Edge, a 42-year-old from Marlton, N.J. “You hear it. You feel it. Everybody knows the assignment, at that point. Bring your energy. Bring your positivity.”

    The switch flipped around 7:39 p.m. on Monday, as public-address announcer Dan Baker welcomed the Arizona Diamondbacks to a hail of boos. The noise only heightened as the speaker system blared Zombie Nation’s “Kernkraft 400.” It stayed lit as Kyle Schwarber and then Bryce Harper homered in the first inning of a 5-3 victory. And it never really stopped. Energy has long been a hallmark of the fan experience in Philadelphia.

    Positivity is more of a newfangled concept.

    This next paragraph will infuriate almost every Philadelphian who reads it. For decades, the city’s fans were defined by bad behavior, isolated incidents that became a collective blight on the populace. Philly fans, the shorthand went, were not just vicious and vulgar — they were dangerous. They pelted Santa Claus with snowballs. They chucked batteries at St. Louis Cardinals outfielder J.D. Drew. They cheered the injury of Dallas Cowboys wideout Michael Irvin. They booed Mike Schmidt and Allen Iverson and Donovan McNabb. They comported themselves with such rowdiness that Veterans Stadium, the former home of the Phillies and Eagles, featured a holding cell with a judge available to sentence unruly patrons.

    But this paragraph will relieve almost every Philadelphian who has not yet chucked their phone into a wall. That reputation is changing, according to interviews with radio hosts, rock stars and regular folks, who described the emergence of a fanbase enlivened by the possibility of success rather than embittered by the inevitability of failure. These are kinder, gentler Philly fans – as far as that goes. “Don’t get it twisted out here,” said Eric Fink, a 34-year-old from Northeast Philadelphia. “We’re still the same crazy people. We’re just doing this a little bit differently.”

    “My first comment on this piece is: it’s about damn time,” said Jack Fritz, a producer for local sports radio juggernaut 94.1 WIP. “It’s about damn time this whole thing got turned around.”

    The result has been ravenous crowds at Citizens Bank Park and a rapturous embrace of a Phillies team that reached the World Series last season and is knocking on the door of another appearance this month. The Phillies have created a home-field advantage significant enough that opponents must plan for it. Before the NLCS, the Diamondbacks pumped artificial jeering during a workout at Chase Field. “The crowd noise at Chase was a little more treble than bass,” shrugged Zac Gallen, a south Jersey native and Arizona’s Game 1 starter. There was no way to replicate the symbiosis between this club and these people. “They love the crowd,” explained Diamondbacks first baseman Christian Walker, who grew up in the Montgomery County suburb of Norristown. “And the crowd loves them.”

    Or, as outfielder Nick Castellanos put it in an on-field interview after the Phillies defeated the Braves: “I f— with Philly.”

    The mutual admiration figures to be on display for as long as the Phillies keep winning this October. Larry Bowa signed with the Phillies in 1965. He won a World Series here in 1980. He managed the team for several years in the 2000s. His baseball life took him across the country and back. He insisted he had never seen a scene like this one.

    “I’ve been with the Yankees when they played Boston,” Bowa said. “I’ve been with the Cubs when they played St. Louis. I’ve been with San Francisco when they played the Dodgers. Nothing compares to this. It’s off the charts.”


    A Phillies fan receiving his red rally towel before Game 2. (Sarah Stier / Getty Images)

    Thousands of red rally towels whipped in the air after Trea Turner’s third-inning double splashed into the outfield grass. Turner zipped into second with the speed and style that enticed owner John Middleton to extend the shortstop an 11-year, $300 million contract this past winter. Before the season, the Phillies positioned Turner as the crucial addition for another postseason push. As the year unfolded, Turner came to symbolize something larger about the club’s connection to its fans.

    The first four months of Turner’s tenure did not go well. After a hitless night in Miami on Aug. 3, Turner was carting around a .673 OPS, a millstone almost as heavy as his contract. He interrupted a postgame session in the batting cage to speak with reporters. “Obviously,” Turner told them, “I’m the reason why we lost that game.” Turner stayed in the cage past midnight. By then, the video of his comments had circulated through social media.

    The ensuing reaction offered a rejoinder to those still fixated on the incidents of the past, the ones that cemented the national reputation of the Philadelphia fan. A recitation of those moments elicits groans from the locals.

    Throwing snowballs at Santa in 1968?

    “That was the albatross around our neck that we could never get rid of,” said Glen Macnow, a longtime host on WIP. “We became the drunk, surly uncle that nobody wanted to be around. We could not escape it.”

    Throwing batteries at Drew, who had spurned the Phillies in the 1997 draft, at a game in 1999?

    “There were 40,000 people at the J.D. Drew game,” Macnow said. “Two batteries came down. That’s one battery per 20,000 fans.”

    Cheering only a few months later when Irvin, a star for the hated Cowboys, suffered a career-ending spinal injury?

    “Nobody knew initially how badly he was hurt,” Macnow said.

    The endless repetition of these moments inspires defensiveness. When Braves fans hurled bottles onto the field during the National League Division Series, Phillies fans were quick to notice. “The first text I got,” said Devon Davis, a 36-year-old from Medford, N.J., “was like, ‘This is hilarious. I can’t wait for them to blame this on the Phillies crowd.’” (The Athletic invited similar haranguing after a recent story referenced the old tropes: snowballs and Santa, Drew and the batteries. “You might not be too far off with the battery one, because when I read your article, I really wish I had a battery to throw at all three of you guys,” said Kyle Pagan, a writer for the website Crossing Broad.)

    “We would hear the stories about how everybody used to be,” Davis said. “To us, it was like a joke. Because we weren’t there for that.”

    But they were there in April of last year, when third baseman Alec Bohm committed a pair of throwing errors in a game against the Mets. When Bohm completed a routine play later in the evening, the crowd responded with sarcastic cheering. The television cameras captured the displeasure of Bohm, a former first-round pick who had struggled in the majors. “I f—ing hate this place,” Bohm grumbled.

    What happened next helps explain the synergy between the players and their partisans. Bohm acknowledged his frustration. “I said it,” he explained after the game. “Do I mean it? No.” The candor went a long way. A day later, Bohm received a different sort of ovation. The fans rose up to applaud his first at-bat.

    “He just owned it,” Fink said. “The next day, the Phillies fans just came out and gave him a standing ovation, like, ‘Hell yeah.’ Just own it. Hey, there are some days that being here pisses us off, too.”


    Fans taking photos with Citizens Bank Park’s version of the Liberty Bell before NLCS Game 1. (AP Photo / Matt Rourke)

    So as Turner stumbled through his mid-season malaise, a reprise came to mind. After that game in Miami, a former sports writer named Mitch Rupert suggested the fans should support Turner as they did Bohm. “Pick the guy up,” Rupert wrote on X, “who knows how it might help.” Fritz, a 29-year-old from West Chester who produces WIP’s afternoon show, joined the chorus the next morning. Cheeks still ruddy after a four-mile run, he pulled out his phone and recorded a video exhorting fans to stand up for Turner.

    “It can’t hurt,” Fritz says. “And what if it does work? And what if he goes out — it’s a good moment for the ballpark, a good moment for the city, you see the crowd rise up — and it turns into a little bit of a moment?”

    The idea caught on. And so, when Turner came to the plate in the second inning that evening, the crowd rose to greet him. Castellanos waved a towel from the bench. The support touched Turner. It also may have ignited him. He hit .337 with 16 homers and 14 doubles in the 48 games after the ovation. He batted .500 in his first six postseason games as a Phillie, a stark contrast to his inglorious October history. “I don’t think I’d have it any other way than how it’s turned out,” Turner said after Game 4 against Atlanta.

    Fritz was working the pregame show that afternoon when a man approached and introduced himself. Elliott Avent had coached Turner at North Carolina State. He wanted to thank Fritz, who, as Avent later put it, “rallied an incomparable sports city” around his former player.

    “I was like, ‘Dude, you’re the head coach at NC State!’” Fritz said. “This whole thing has been frickin’ wild.”

    go-deeper

    GO DEEPER

    The Phillies have owned October. They have that look again, but this feels different

    Adam Granduciel harbored little affection for football when he moved from Massachusetts to Philadelphia in 2003. He found an apartment on Third Street and South Street in Society Hill, next door to a bar called O’Neals Pub. It did not take long for Granduciel to notice how the mood for each week depended on how the Eagles fared. He sensed the city was “moving in time with how their sports teams were doing,” he said.

    “It’s football season: It’s getting cold, it’s getting rainy, it’s getting slushy,” Granduciel said. “And if the Eagles won on Sunday, then everyone was in the best mood, despite what we’re dealing with Monday morning.”

    In time, while Granduciel was founding the Grammy-winning band The War on Drugs, he joined the city-wide frenzy. He carried his cordless phone to O’Neals so folks could reach him as he watched on Sundays. He traded high-fives on the El train on victorious Mondays. “It’s classic, but it just kind of brings you together with your neighbors and everything,” Granduciel said.


    Dave Hartley, left, Adam Granduciel, center, and Charlie Hall, right, of The War on Drugs perform during 2015’s Radio 104.5 Summer Block Party in Philadelphia. (Owen Sweeney / Invision / AP)

    Citizens Bank Park resides in the shadow of Lincoln Financial Field, the home of the Eagles. The football team still holds supremacy over the city’s sporting psyche. When the Eagles won their first Super Bowl in 2018 something shifted within the fanbase, several locals insisted. “Ever since then, I think that edge has kind of been taken off of it,” Fritz said. If the Birds could win it all, the thinking went, anything was possible. “I think people in this town,” Macnow said, “began to think: ‘It’s not inevitable that our teams are going to crush our hearts. It doesn’t have to be that way, so we don’t have to go to the stadium every night expecting the worst.’ That’s a huge change.”

    The city’s devotion to the gridiron became apparent in Monday’s second inning. A pair of burly brothers appeared on the massive video screen above left field. It was Eagles center Jason Kelce and his brother, Travis, the Kansas City Chiefs tight end and likely future subject of a devastating torch song. The crowd went wild as Jason nursed his beer and Travis beamed. “I don’t think you can (overstate) how special this Eagles team is for the city,” said Charlie Hall, the drummer for The War on Drugs who released a Christmas album last year with Kelce and several Eagles linemen.


    The Kelce brothers during Game 1. (Elsa / Getty Images)

    Granduciel left Philadelphia for Los Angeles in 2016. One of his first purchases upon landing in California was an Eagles license plate frame for his car. When the Eagles played the Rams at SoFi Stadium earlier this month, Graduciel joined the legions of travelers in cargo shorts and Brian Dawkins jerseys. “It felt like a home game,” he said. On his way out of the stadium after the victory, Granduciel kept recording videos of Eagles fans hugging and chanting.

    “It’s like a special little club,” Granduciel said. “You know?”

    As the Phillies filtered onto the field on Monday afternoon, Eddie Romani stood before a pair of Serato turntables and a laptop tucked behind the home plate netting. Romani, also known as DJ N9ne, was in charge of the pregame ambience. The Phillies only introduced DJs to their ballpark experience a year ago. The average attendance jumped from 28,459 in 2022 to 38,157 this season.

    “It’s been easy, because the stadium’s been full almost every game,” Romani said. “It’s not much work for me to get everyone entertained, when everybody here’s already ready for it, anyways.”

    Romani started spinning before batting practice. He segued from Gorillaz into Bad Bunny as Turner, Bohm and the rest of the infielders scooped grounders. Romani keeps track of how the players react as he works. “You get tuned in on what they all like – without having a conversation with them,” he said. Romani packed up his gear as the game drew closer. But his evening was not over. He rode the elevator to his booth in section 210, down the right-field line, where he was tasked with keeping the crowd enlivened. The fans did not really require much encouragement.

    “They’re here to party, man,” said Mark DiNardo, the team’s director of broadcasting and video services. “They’re here to have a good time.”

    Added Fink, “We want a chance to party. And there’s one way we can do that — and that’s by winning.”


    Phillies fans congregated before Game 1 of the NLCS. (Sarah Stier / Getty Images)

    Early in Monday’s game, the sparks came from the bats of the Phillies. Schwarber demolished Gallen’s first pitch. Harper went yard two batters later. After Castellanos homered in the second, the ballpark elongated the syllables of Gallen’s name in a schoolyard taunt.

    “Gal-len . . .”

    “Gal-len . . .”

    “Gal-len . . .”

    The braying continued, intermittently, until Gallen departed after the fifth. The crowd only paused to holler the chorus of second baseman Bryson Stott’s walkup song, “A-O-K” by Tai Verdes, a nightly ritual. “You’ve got this stadium full of jabronis all singing, ‘It’s gonna be a-okay,’” Hall said. “It’s a beautiful thing.”

    The atmosphere tensed, ever so slightly, after closer Craig Kimbrel walked a batter in the ninth. The tension released as Bohm and Stott turned a game-ending double play. The two-fer left the fans near Romani’s booth leaping and screaming, pumping fists and pounding backs. Many grabbed their phones to record themselves singing along to the team’s anthem, Calum Scott’s cover of “Dancing On My Own.” They belted the lyrics as they weaved out of the ballpark.

    They had brought the energy. Only seven victories separated the Phillies from a championship. Of that, they could be positive.

    (Top photo of Phillies fans and the Phanatic during Game 1: Photo by Elsa / Getty Images)

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  • NBA’s sudden change of heart on load management is odd, but better late than never

    NBA’s sudden change of heart on load management is odd, but better late than never

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    The NBA’s 180 on load management is giving me whiplash.

    Five seconds ago, every available piece of science the NBA told us it had in its possession from its teams said – screamed – the same thing: players not only needed more time off but that the league would be derelict in its partnership with its players if it didn’t align with teams, whose data said: rest.

    The league cut way back on back-to-back games. Many teams eliminated morning shootarounds, as they were viewed as disruptive to players’ sleep patterns. Every team had a “Director of Very Important Sports Science and Cutting Edge MahnaMahna” and scores of eager data collectors. Wearables tracked every waking moment of every player, what they ate, and when. Cameras high above each arena tracked every movement of every player on the court.

    So, Joel Embiid rested. Kawhi Leonard rested. LeBron James rested. Everyone rested. Including in your city, after you plunked down $300 to take the family to see the Dubs’ one appearance in your city that season. Sorry, Felicity and Mikal: Steph’s in street clothes tonight. Wave to him; he’ll wave back.

    And now … psych.

    “Before, it was a given conclusion that the data showed that you had to rest players a certain amount, and that justified them sitting out,” NBA executive vice president of basketball operations Joe Dumars told national media in a conference call Wednesday.

    “We’ve gotten more data, and it just doesn’t show that resting, sitting guys out correlates with lack of injuries, or fatigue, or anything like that. What it does show is maybe guys aren’t as efficient on the second night of a back-to-back.”

    Dumars’ words echo those of Commissioner Adam Silver, as he introduced the league’s new “Player Participation Program” that was approved by the league’s Board of Governors last month.

    “Honestly, that’s what I’d been told as well, that it was the science,” Silver said. “I think it may be why the league didn’t become involved maybe as deeply as we should have earlier on. Part of the discussion today was about the science, and frankly, the science is inconclusive.

    “I think in the case here, that part of the commitment here from the league office is we are putting together a group of team doctors and scientists and others and trying to better understand it. One thing I want to make clear: The message to our teams and players is not that rest is never appropriate. And realize, there’s a bit of an art to this, not just a science.”

    GO DEEPER

    Load management has frustrated NBA, fans and TV partners. But will new rules help?

    Now, the NBA has a lot of smart, smart people in its sports medicine department. The department, led by Dr. John DiFiori, helped create the Orlando Bubble in 2020 out of thin air – and, more or less, pulled it off. It then created a comprehensive return-to-play program for the following season that was lauded by other medical people for its thoroughness and honesty about how to deal with COVID cases when and if they occurred. The league had extensive and continuing dialogue with the Players’ Association, before, during and after the two sides hammered out the newest Collective Bargaining Agreement about these kinds of issues. It’s a partnership.

    And during all of this, the NBA’s position was consistent: the science, the science, the science tells us so.

    Just eight months ago(!) this is what Silver said during All-Star Weekend in February, in Salt Lake City: “I hesitate to weigh in on an issue as to whether players are playing enough because there is real medical data and scientific data about what’s appropriate. Sometimes, to me, the premise of a question as to whether players are playing enough suggests that they should be playing more – that, in essence, there should be some notion of just get out there and play. Having been in the league for a long time, having spent time with a lot of some of our great legends, I don’t necessarily think that’s the case.

    “The world that we used to have where it was just, ‘Get out there and play through injuries,’ for example, I don’t think that’s appropriate. Clearly, I mean, at the end of the day, these are human beings – many of you talk to and know well – who are often playing through enormous pain, who play through all kinds of aches and pains on a regular basis. The suggestion, I think, that these men, in the case in the NBA, somehow should just be out there more for its own sake, I don’t buy into.”

    And now … forget all of that?

    To be fair, Silver has said, multiple times over the last few years, that he was concerned about the effect of load management on the league’s fans, who were increasingly paying to attend games in which no one they hoped to see play had on a uniform. And it became especially hard for the NBA to push teams to push their players to play after COVID reached our shores, though the league’s $100,000 fines instituted in 2020 for teams that group rested players was limited to nationally televised games.

    The league also clearly leaned into, let’s say, encouraging its players that more participation was warranted by tying a minimum games played requirement for many of its individual awards going forward.

    But at every turn, the league dropped back to its default position: We’re following the data.

    So, are we to believe the science turned on a dime? Since February?

    Did NBA players skip the line in the evolutionary process this spring, and suddenly grow a third lung, that now gives them greater breathing capacity? Have they been enhanced, like Grace in Terminator: Dark Fate, now better able to withstand the grind of an 82-game season, after not being able to go on past game 65 or so without congealing?

    And, coincidentally, I’m sure: the data changed that quickly just as the league is reaching a key moment in its discussions with its current and potentially new media partners on a new rights deal, to replace the expiring one in 2025? Or, did the networks and/or tech companies vying to air or stream NBA games in the near future say, with justification: “For our eleventy billion dollars we’re spending to buy these rights, you damn sure are gonna make sure that Giannis and Steph and the Joker suit up on the regular”?

    I’m not saying it’s the only consideration for TV/tech companies — who don’t know that they’re scheduling the Lakers back-to-back when they make their schedule requests; they don’t see the full 82 until you or I do. But it’s hard to believe they don’t push hard on that particular action item with the league’s media committee.

    go-deeper

    GO DEEPER

    Let’s talk load management: Is it a problem? How do we know it works?

    For the last decade-plus in the NBA, it’s been all about the numbers, all about the data, all about the science, even as the league (he noted, quietly) implemented both a Play-In tournament after the 82-game regular season, and before the two-month-long playoffs, and will now have an in-season tournament during the 82-game season, which will add an 83rd game to the two teams that make the in-season tournament final.

    Rest, but play a little more, too, so that the regular season actually means something – and so we have another package to parlay into another sweet revenue stream.

    The numbers ruled. And so, midrange jumpers were now stupid; rebounds no longer mattered. Big men who got in the way of all the driving and kicking were anathema; we only want rim runners now. And teams’ medical staffs all erred on the side of caution, to try to head off stress injuries and similar maladies before they got worse, by sitting players as much as possible. The days when players, proudly, would play all 82 games because that was what was expected of them were dismissed as Codger Thinking, ridiculous clinging on to the old days by old people who didn’t understand that they were shortening their careers by playing in meaningless games. (It wasn’t as if players back in the day didn’t deal with mental health issues as well.)

    The NBA seems to want everyone to forget.

    What’s more likely: All the teams’ data for the last half-dozen years has suddenly been discovered to be irreparably, incontrovertibly wrong? Or, the league went along with that data, ignoring those who said “Wait; Michael Jordan and Magic Johnson and Larry Bird and Isiah Thomas and John Stockton and Karl Malone and Patrick Ewing all suited up as much as possible, year after year, and didn’t fall apart,” because it didn’t want to push back against alleged “modern thinking”? That it couldn’t take a position of “Well, we trust our players,” because someone would present a paper at the MIT Sloan Sports Analytics Conference calling such thinking outdated? That it had to justify what every team, from its hedge fund CEO ownership on down, was now saying was “best practices?”

    Dumars, one of those codgers, said Wednesday: “Obviously everybody’s not going to play 82 games, but everyone should want to play 82 games. And that’s the culture that we are trying to reestablish right now.”

    Whatever the process the NBA used to go back to the future, I’m glad it did. It’s all right to keep some old-school thinking along with the new jack intel.

    Fans can’t be guaranteed they’ll see the league’s top stars when they buy tickets; legit injuries happen. But if the league leaves it up to teams to make close calls on player health, the teams will protect their investments, every time. And I know enough about most players to know that, given the choice, they’ll opt to play. Whether out of ego or incentives or genuine care about the fans who pay top dollar to see them, they want to suit up.

    That’s how you make the regular season more meaningful.

    (Photo of Adam Silver: AAron Ontiveroz / The Denver Post via Getty Images)

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    The New York Times

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  • Key storylines as training camps open: Lillard, Harden trades; load management; and more

    Key storylines as training camps open: Lillard, Harden trades; load management; and more

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    By David Aldridge, Sam Amick and John Hollinger

    Amick: The most painful of waiting games is almost over, gentlemen.

    Maybe not for James Harden and Damian Lillard (yes, they still want to be traded), or for the Bucks fans who will spend the next nine months (and likely longer) worrying about Giannis Antetokounmpo’s state of mind in Milwaukee. But for those of us who are soooo ready to see NBA basketball again after this long and mostly quiet offseason, you can see the bouncing ball at the end of the tunnel.

    GO DEEPER

    From Harden to Dame to Giannis: Storylines to watch heading into a new season

    It’s been a little more than 100 days since the Nuggets’ Nikola Jokić finished off the Heat in Game 5 of the Finals, then took that celebratory pool plunge with worthy co-star, Jamal Murray, as Denver celebrated the franchise’s first Finals win. And while training camp is still a little ways away — late September for teams that are playing preseason games overseas, and Oct. 3 for everyone else — the proverbial wheels of this 2023-24 season are unofficially in motion.

    With all that said, I haven’t talked hoops with either one of you in months and want to know how you see the early stories that will shape this coming campaign. Dame Time standing still? The (bitter) Beard? The NBA’s new crusade against healthy star players sitting? We have an ugly off-court topic too, with the incredibly disturbing allegations levied against Houston guard Kevin Porter Jr. after his recent arrest in New York and that the Rockets have been looking to trade him in the aftermath.

    Consider this the tipoff. Pick a topic and start us off, DA…

    Aldridge: Oh, it’s Dame Time, still. Has to be. Whatever you think of his skill set at this point of his career, he’s still a top 15-20 player in this league. Whoever gets him gets a significant boost to their talent, which extends through everyone on their roster. He tilts the floor. So, if you are, say, a team that plays in the Eastern Conference, and has another floor-tilter whose name sounds like “Timmy Cutler,” getting Lillard vaults you to the top of the heap in said conference. So, until that situation is resolved — and, it has to be resolved by the trade deadline; whether or not it gets done by the time camp starts or not, the Blazers can’t let this hang over them for an entire season – determining what team has the best chance to come out of the East will remain up in the air.

    (Having said that: are you out of your minds, Heat Nation? No, Tyler Herro and three first-round picks is not a good deal for Portland for, arguably, the best player in that franchise’s history. Not. I love how fans — and, not a few general managers — argue with a straight face that my team’s third- or fourth-best player with some filler should, somehow, be enough for you to give up your team’s best player. Like, I’ll trade you my ’09 Camaro with shot brakes and three bald spares to you for your ’22 Benz with 253 miles on it. What? Sounds fair!)

    Hollinger: I think the Harden situation will quickly move to the forefront as we get into training camp and the early part of the season, because that’s the one with the highest potential for provocative, escalatory behavior.

    I think it’s very unlikely that Lillard will no-show training camp or openly mail in games … sure, he might keep the throttle at 75 percent and sit out games when he’s dinged up and otherwise might have played, but I don’t think he’s wired to just go into full eff-you mode against the Blazers. He still has four years left on his deal, remember. Him playing in games up until the trade deadline would be a non-shocking outcome for me.

    Harden, on the other hand, has had much sharper words for his organization already, is on the last year of his contract and has shown already the capacity to take things further back when he was trying to get out of Houston. The opening weeks of the season in Philly could be absolutely fascinating, in a Ben Simmons-y kind of way.

    go-deeper

    GO DEEPER

    James Harden-76ers trade saga timeline

    (While we’re here: I disagree with DA a bit on Miami’s side of the Dame puzzle. Fair ain’t got nothing to do with it; Three firsts and Herro is more than anybody else is going to offer for Lillard. My evidence: It doesn’t appear that anybody else has come even remotely close to doing so, random Toronto vapor whispers aside. (Aside to my aside: Sorry, OKC isn’t walking through that door.) Miami is smart not to bid against itself; Portland is smart to wait to see if a better offer materializes before the trade deadline. So, we wait.)

    Amick: Agreed on both fronts there, guys. With Dame, I think the Harden-esque escalation wouldn’t happen unless he were dealt to a team like, say, Toronto, where he clearly doesn’t want to be. And for everyone who cites the Raptors’ Kawhi Leonard trade as an example of a team winning the risky bet on a player who wanted to be elsewhere, let’s not forget that Kawhi was only one season away from free agency at the time.

    Lillard, by very significant contrast, has four very expensive seasons left on his contract (including a player option worth $63.2 million in 2026-27). It’s one thing to roll the dice for a season and hope it works out, and quite another to take on a deal worth $216 million and brace for the potentially disastrous fireworks that might unfold from there.

    OK, I’m shifting to the load management discussion. As you’re well aware, the league’s new policy on star players resting was approved by the Board of Governors last week. The Commish, Adam Silver, declared afterward that “we’re an 82-game league” and detailed how, health permitting, multiple star players aren’t allowed to sit in the same game and are expected to be available for national television and in-season tournament games.

    You can read all the details here, but the unspoken point is this: With the NBA’s nine-year, $24-billion TV deal with ESPN and TNT set to expire after the 2024-25 season, and with companies such as Apple and Amazon looming as serious suitors for the next deal, it’s a great time for all of the league’s blockbuster ballers to put their best game forward. But beyond the economic component, how did that change hit you in terms of the competitive aspect of the decision, DA?

    go-deeper

    GO DEEPER

    Load management has frustrated NBA, fans and TV partners. But will new rules help?

    Aldridge: It’s instructive to see how quickly the league/Silver have amended their previous “we go where the science tells us to go” narrative. I’ve felt for some time, while shaking my fists at clouds, that the NBA has gotten out of balance. That the maniacal desire by the new owners and ownership groups in the game to find a competitive edge through data has taken the game off its axis.

    Before you tell this old man to shut up and finish my gruel, hear me out. Load management, like leaning in on 3s, is a logical process for teams that seek even a minor advantage over opponents. If “x” represents the exact right number of minutes or games in a season to play, say, Joel Embiid, based on his physiology and body mass and potential injury stress points in and on his body, “x + anything more” is suboptimal for the 76ers. It makes Embiid more susceptible to injury, and injuries to superstars are what wreck NBA franchises. You can’t recover from them. Period. Thus, load management is a fact-based, self-protecting decision. I understand that.

    But sports do not operate at their best in this kind of environment. People watch sports, and become fans of teams or individuals, because sports aren’t logical. We didn’t watch Muhammad Ali because he was a pretty good fighter; we watched him because no other human we could name in 1964 could stand up to Sonny Liston, much less make him quit on his stool. And, a decade later, do the exact same thing to another force of nature, George Foreman. Or, put another way: how many movies about Jimmy Ellis did they make, again?

    We don’t still hold Jim Brown in high regard because he was a pretty good running back; we do so because he ran over and past everyone who played defense in the NFL for nine seasons. You are enthralled by Shohei Ohtani because he’s an elite pitcher and hitter, and nobody else does that — or, at least, they haven’t done it for the last eight or nine decades! We love watching athletes who go beyond norms, and shatter expected limits. And load management, while well-intentioned, puts everyone, no matter their level of excellence, in a box.

    Kawhi is a two-time NBA Finals MVP? He still can’t play tonight because the numbers tell us not to play him. It’s not just that this cheats paying customers who wanted to see him in Charlotte or Indiana or New York (though that matters, greatly). It limits Leonard’s choices. (And, yes, I believe most players, given the choice, will opt to play almost every time.)

    So, I hope that this new position will be the start of a correction by the NBA, understanding that while looking for every edge is a reasonable position, it sometimes goes against what made people fall in love with the game in the first place.

    (Coming next: Why the midrange jumper rules!)

    Hollinger: Here’s the deal: The entire load management debate is a collision of the fact that what is in the interests of an individual team is not necessarily in the interests of the league as a whole. 

    News flash: The most important games of the year are played in May and June. Thus, for the eight or so teams that harbor realistic hopes of playing meaningful games at the end of the season, the biggest part of the battle is ensuring their best players are in peak condition for those games.

    With a too-long schedule of 82 games packed into 177 days, and 16 teams qualifying for the postseason no matter what, the math should almost instantly tell you that once a team reaches a certain level of quality, the regular season just isn’t that important.

    Take, say the Boston Celtics, who can basically name any win total they want to end up with between 53 and 63 this season, as long as they stay healthy.

    So, tell me: Why would they push the pedal to the metal on Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown just to get 63 rather than 53? What’s the payoff?

    To be clear, the players are almost always in the “Hell yes! Let’s get 63!” camp. Front offices, however, are hugely cognizant of the big-picture issue here, and, in virtually every case, are the ones driving the load management decision. (Kawhi appears to be a rare exception: his situation is a whole other deal.) I know from my own experience: Marc Gasol and Mike Conley weren’t taking a day off unless we dragged them off the floor.

    Sometimes, the protocols of an injury rehab pretty much demand some load management days happen (as with Leonard, I should note). Other times, it’s just a case of common sense winning the day. If your endgame is to have peak Steph Curry in June, you might logically decide that the second game of a Portland-to-Denver back-to-back in January is a good place to hedge your bets and maximize your likelihood of the desired June outcome. It’s also more logical to take those powders in road games that your team was less likely to win anyway, and is likely more strain on your players’ body because of the travel.

    Somehow the “it’s teams not players” part still doesn’t seem to be as big a part of the wider narrative as it should be; I shudder in particular at recent comments by Silver that seemed to focus more on the players, like they were just choosing to chill on back-to-backs. Nah, that ain’t it. This is teams acting in their own best interest … but not in the league’s.

    Thus, the recent steps by the league is its attempt to swing the pendulum back toward the greater good of the league as a whole. In particular, I think the league is doing everything it can to protect the most important games on its schedule — national TV dates — and the timing is obvious, given that it’s in the middle of negotiating a huge new TV contract. Also, the league can still get smarter about scheduling national TV games so they aren’t in back-to-backs.

    Ultimately, however, the original tension point is still there: You can’t force teams to pretend regular-season games are important if they’re not actually important.

    Amick: All right, so apparently we saved the worst topic for last here.

    For the readers who somehow missed the news,  Porter Jr. was arrested and charged with assault and strangulation of his girlfriend on Sept. 11. The details of the situation are disturbing, and it’s worth noting that this is merely the latest incident in what has been a years-long string of trouble for the 23-year-old. But how do you both see the business aspect of this mess?

    The Rockets, as our Shams Charania reported, have been looking to get off of the four-year, $82.5 million deal that Porter Jr. signed in October. For their purposes, it was wise to have the final three seasons of the deal be non-guaranteed, with only the $15.9 million in the first year guaranteed. But the idea of doing a deal while the legal process starts to unfold, all with the hopes of landing an additional asset or two along the way, is pretty unsavory.

    Aldridge: Look, this isn’t debatable. There’s doing the right thing for the wrong reasons, or the wrong thing for the right reasons. What the Rockets are doing has no “right” attached to it. As Tevye said about something else entirely different in “Fiddler on the Roof,” in this case, there is no “on the other hand…”

    Houston trying to salvage something from Porter, Jr.’s contract — or anyone helping them do it, no matter the benefit to them — is odious. I accept, of course, that everyone is innocent until proven guilty, and that Porter should have his day in court to answer the charges against him if he so chooses. But that’s wholly different from Houston trying to get someone to take his contract off its hands. It’s abhorrent business. And the Rockets need to get out of that business as soon as humanly possible, release Porter Jr.  immediately, and move on. This young man needs help dealing with life. But he shouldn’t be on an NBA team while he finds that help.

    Hollinger: The part of this that feels so unseemly is the idea that, “Hey, now that he’s gonna be suspended and/or have his contract voided, let’s see if there’s some value here!”

    Just to dip our foot into the nitty gritty for a second: Nobody will save money by trading for Porter’s contract and then seeing him suspended, because the money goes to NBA charities. A few teams could save a lot of money on the luxury tax, however. The financial logic is that a team that has Porter’s $15.86 million on its books, if and when he is suspended for most or all the season, could have that money discounted by half that amount ($7.93 million) on their tax calculation, times whatever their tax multiplier is. Thus, trading an equivalent dead-money contract for Porter could be worth tens of millions to the right team.

    I don’t really see that team, though. The current tax teams aren’t sitting on piles of dead money. Even what you might call slightly-dead money for these teams (greetings, Clippers forwards!) is there as an expiring contract for future trades, not to slough off for savings just so they can take a giant L in a press conference.

    Which is a roundabout way of saying that, given how unlikely this endeavor seemed from the start, Houston was probably better off just quietly taking its medicine and moving on. Surely, this wasn’t a thing you’d want out in the media. (If you’re waiting for the Rockets to waive him, by the way, there may be some very good procedural reasons why that hasn’t happened yet. But I can’t imagine him wearing their uniform again.)

    (Photo of Jimmy Butler and Damian Lillard: Soobum Im / USA Today)

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  • Allen Iverson’s medical marijuana products to be sold at RISE dispensaries in Pennsylvania this fall – Medical Marijuana Program Connection

    Allen Iverson’s medical marijuana products to be sold at RISE dispensaries in Pennsylvania this fall – Medical Marijuana Program Connection

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    Allen Iverson’s impact on the game of basketball is well-documented, and the former NBA MVP is still lauded as one of the most influential players 13 years after his last game. The Answer, as he is affectionately known, also has a cultural influence that extends into his business ventures. 

    This fall, Iverson’s two cannabis strains with Viola Brands, the marijuana company founded by former NBA player Al Harrington, will be sold in Pennsylvania. Beginning Sept. 2, the strains can be purchased by customers with legal medical cannabis cards.

    Iverson’s two marijuana strains are Iverson ’96 and Iverson ’01, which commemorate the year the Sixers drafted him first overall and the year he won MVP while taking the team to the NBA Finals, respectively. The first strain debuted in 2021 and the second in 2022. 

    The Sept. 2 Pennsylvania launch coincides with Harrington and Iverson coming to Kensington’s newly opened RISE location (3903 Aramingo Ave.) for a meet-and-greet with prizes and merchandise, the Philadelphia Business Journal reported. 

    USDA Certified Organic Tinctures and salves

    Iverson and Harrington became business partners in 2021. 

    “After seeing how devoted (Al) is to this business, and him educating me on how beneficial the plant is, it just felt right. I’m excited to be a part of it. Together, we’re going to change the game,” Iverson said at the time. 

    Harrington started Viola in 2011 while still playing in the NBA. The company is named after his grandmother, whom he convinced to try smoking marijuana for…

    Original Author Link click here to read complete story..

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  • NBA fines James Harden $100,000 for ‘public trade demands’ | CNN

    NBA fines James Harden $100,000 for ‘public trade demands’ | CNN

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    CNN
     — 

    The NBA announced Tuesday that it has fined Philadelphia 76ers guard James Harden $100,000 for what the league is calling “public trade demands.”

    The fine was for Harden’s “public comments on August 14 and 17 indicating that he would not perform the services called for under his player contract unless traded to another team,” the league said in a news release.

    “The league’s investigation, which included interviewing Harden, confirmed that these comments referenced Harden’s belief that the 76ers would not accommodate his request to be traded,” the release said.

    CNN affiliate KHOU asked Harden last week if he thinks his relationship with the team is beyond repair. “I think so,” Harden told the station.

    “I’ve been patient all summer,” the 2018 NBA Most Valuable Player added. “For me, it’s just focus on what I can control and getting ready for this season.”

    Prior to his comments to KHOU, Harden had called 76ers President Daryl Morey a “liar” during an event in China and said he “will never be a part of an organization that (Morey) is a part of.”

    Harden reportedly made it clear to the 76ers that he wants to be traded this offseason following another disappointing playoff exit last season.

    According to multiple media reports, including from ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski, the 76ers have spent the majority of the offseason looking to facilitate the 33-year-old’s wishes.

    Harden has previously pushed to be moved on from the Houston Rockets and the Brooklyn Nets.

    In 2021, he was traded to the Nets after saying the Rockets were “just not good enough” following an underwhelming playoff exit.

    Just over a year later, he was traded to the 76ers from the Nets after rumors of his desire to leave Brooklyn surfaced.

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  • Philadelphia 76ers center Joel Embiid named NBA’s 2022-23 MVP | CNN

    Philadelphia 76ers center Joel Embiid named NBA’s 2022-23 MVP | CNN

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    CNN
     — 

    Joel Embiid of the Philadelphia 76ers has been named the NBA’s Most Valuable Player for the 2022-23 season.

    Embiid beat out the Milwaukee Bucks’ Giannis Antetokounmpo and the Denver Nuggets’ Nikola Jokić in a battle between three of the NBA’s premier big men for the inaugural Michael Jordan trophy.

    Embiid averaged a league-high 33.1 points per game during the regular season to go along with 10.2 rebounds per game.

    This is the first career MVP award for Embiid, the first ever awarded to a player from Cameroon and just the second time for a player from Africa. This is also the fifth consecutive season that an international player has won the award.

    Embiid has missed the 76ers’ last two games with a knee injury and hasn’t played a game since April 20. 76ers’ coach Doc Rivers said Tuesday that Embiid is considered “doubtful” for Philadelphia’s Game 2 against the Boston Celtics in the Eastern Conference semifinals on Wednesday.

    The Dallas Mavericks’ Luka Dončić and the Boston Celtics’ Jayson Tatum have previously topped the NBA’s Kia Race to the MVP Ladder, but the pair’s performances have tailed off towards the back end of the season – leaving the three players to battle it out this season.

    Embiid has missed out on the MVP trophy and a spot in the All-NBA First Team for the past two seasons, thanks to Jokić’s supremacy and NBA voting stipulations.

    This comes after the center topped the charts last year, becoming the first player at the position since four-time NBA champion Shaquille O’Neal to win the scoring title and the first center to average over moire than 30 points per game in 40 years – Embiid averaged 30.6 points.

    Golden State Warriors guard Steph Curry previously said that this jump is the reason why Embiid should be crowned MVP.

    Asked by Bleacher Report about his pick for the award, the two-time MVP said: “I would say Joel [Embiid].”

    “Joel took a leap that I think a lot of people didn’t expect because he was dominant already,” Curry continued. “That leap turned heads and put [the Sixers] in a great position. If I had to pick, it would be him.”

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  • Injured Embiid ‘doubtful’ for Game 1, says 76ers coach

    Injured Embiid ‘doubtful’ for Game 1, says 76ers coach

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    CAMDEN. N.J. (AP) — Philadelphia 76ers coach Doc Rivers says NBA MVP finalist Joel Embiid is doubtful for Game 1 of the playoff series against the Boston Celtics with a sprained right knee.

    Embiid was examined by doctors this week and has yet to practice ahead of Monday’s Eastern Conference semifinals opener at Boston.

    The Sixers have had the longest break of any NBA team after they swept the Brooklyn Nets last Saturday. Embiid was hurt in Game 3 and missed the next game.

    “If I was a betting man, I would probably say doubtful for at least Game 1, but we’ll see,” Rivers said Saturday at the 76ers’ facility in New Jersey. “He has to get better. He did nothing (today). Just wasn’t able to and obviously we were hopeful for today.”

    The 29-year-old Embiid, from Cameroon, averaged 33.1 points this season to win his second straight scoring title. He also averaged 10.2 rebounds and tied a career high with 4.2 assists per game. He played in 66 games, the second-highest total of his career.

    Embiid missed two games in the second round last year and another in the first round in 2021 with various injuries, on top of the two he missed to begin the 2018 playoffs with an orbital fracture and another in 2019, also with a knee problem.

    Embiid averaged 36.8 points and 11.8 rebounds in four games this season against the Celtics.

    ___

    AP NBA: https://apnews.com/hub/NBA and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports

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  • Antetokounmpo has career-high 55 points, Bucks beat Wizards

    Antetokounmpo has career-high 55 points, Bucks beat Wizards

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    MILWAUKEE — Giannis Antetokounmpo says he wants to produce with so much consistency that it causes boredom.

    That’s the only respect in which the two-time MVP has fallen shortly lately.

    Antetokounmpo scored a career-high 55 points with a series of thrilling dunks and drives as the Milwaukee Bucks beat Washington 123-113 on Tuesday night, snapping the Wizards’ five-game winning streak. The spectacular forward also had 10 rebounds and seven assists to continue arguably the best stretch of his career.

    “I want to get in a position … that my game is boring,” Antetokounmpo said. “I just do what I do and people don’t talk about it because it becomes boring — I do it every single night. That’s what I want to do. I want other people to feel like my game is boring. But I don’t get bored. The greats — the best players — never get bored. They go out there and they always give their best any given night.”

    Antetokounmpo has at least 40 points, 10 rebounds and five assists in each of the last three games he’s played. He sat out a 118-95 loss to the Wizards on Sunday because of a sore left knee.

    The only other players in NBA history to have three straight performances of 40 points, 10 rebounds and five assists are Elgin Baylor in 1961 and 1963, Wilt Chamberlain in 1963 and Russell Westbrook in 2016. The only other Bucks players to score at least 40 points in three straight appearances are Flynn Robinson in February 1969 and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar in February 1972.

    “He’s been kind of playing with this kind of determination, this kind of just willing us in games,” coach Mike Budenholzer said. “Tonight we were able to win it. He’s just been phenomenal.”

    Bucks center Brook Lopez is in his fifth season of playing alongside Antetokoumpo. The 7-footer couldn’t recall a regular-season stretch in which Antetokounmpo has played better than this.

    “He’s just constantly improving,” said Lopez, who had 21 points and 12 rebounds. “When you think where else can he go and how else can he improve, he just improves again. We’re going to have to expand the English language in some way to come up with words (to describe him). I don’t know if I’ve said that before, but I’m sure he’s going to improve again. Who knows what he’s going to do next. He’s just so otherworldly.”

    Antetokounmpo’s previous career high was a 52-point effort against the Philadelphia 76ers on March 17, 2019. He just missed the single-game franchise scoring record owned by Michael Redd, who scored 57 points against the Utah Jazz in November 2006.

    Bradley Beal returned for Washington after missing three games with a sore left hamstring, but he played just 13 minutes. Beal scored eight points before the hamstring issue prevented him from playing at all in the second half.

    “Same area,” Wizards coach Wes Unseld Jr. said. “We just have to get it evaluated.

    Kristaps Porzingis scored 22 points for the Wizards, and Kyle Kuzma added 20.

    Milwaukee’s Bobby Portis had 17 points and 13 rebounds.

    Jrue Holiday returned to action for the Bucks after missing three games with a non-COVID illness and scored six points in 19 minutes. Khris Middleton missed an eighth straight game with a sore right knee and also won’t play Wednesday at Toronto.

    TIP-INS

    Wizards: Taj Gibson missed a third consecutive game with a sore left groin. … Gaford had a double-double with 11 points and 12 rebounds. … Rui Hachimura, Deni Avdija and Corey Kispert had 12 points each.

    Bucks: George Hill missed a third straight game due to a non-COVID illness. … Portis has four consecutive double-doubles. … Grayson Allen shot 1 of 9 overall and 1 of 7 from 3-point range to continue his slump. Allen is 9 of 37 on 3-point attempts over his last four games. … Antetokounmpo was 15 of 16 on free throws.

    UP NEXT

    Wizards: At Oklahoma City on Friday night.

    Bucks: At Toronto on Wednesday night.

    ———

    AP NBA: https://apnews.com/hub/NBA and https://twitter.com/AP—Sports

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  • McCollum makes 11 3s, scores 42, Pelicans beat 76ers 127-116

    McCollum makes 11 3s, scores 42, Pelicans beat 76ers 127-116

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    NEW ORLEANS — CJ McCollum scored 42 points, making a franchise-record and career-high 11 3-pointers, and Zion Williamson added 36 to power the New Orleans Pelicans to a 127-116 victory over the Philadelphia 76ers on Friday night.

    McCollum nailed 3-pointers on three consecutive possessions in a 42-second span of the second quarter, giving the Pelicans a 56-40 lead. McCollum finished the half 7 of 11 from long range and 11 of 16 for the game.

    McCollum surpassed Peja Stojakovic’s franchise record of 10 3s in a game, set against the Lakers in 2007.

    “It’s just a credit to working hard and believing in yourself and really, really taking the game seriously,” McCollum said. “Peja is obviously a legend who shot the ball extremely well. These types of nights come with preparation.”

    The Pelicans were 10 of 17 from distance in taking a 67-60 halftime lead and finished the game 15 of 31 behind the arc.

    Williamson, who scored 43 on Wednesday, had 12 in the fourth quarter as New Orleans pushed a 99-91 lead to 119-107 with 5:03 left.

    “I love to see it,” Pelicans coach Willie Green said. “What makes Z special is that physically he can take all the bumps and all the hits and he keeps coming at you. I wouldn’t want to guard him.”

    McCollum’s 11th 3-pointer with 2:26 left gave New Orleans a 124-110 lead and broke Stojakovic’s franchise mark.

    “When he plays with that type of force and that pace — his slow-to-fast was just really good, and he just got it going,” Green said. “The basket got bigger as the game progressed. That’s how he has to play. He may not have 40 every game, but he’ll have a major impact.

    Joel Embiid finished with 37 points on 14-for-22 shooting. He scored 15 of Philadelphia’s first 24 points and had 20 first-half points on 8-of-9 shooting.

    James Harden added 20 points.

    76ers coach Doc Rivers said his team surrendering 30 points off 19 turnovers was key to the loss, but he acknowledged McCollum’s marksmanship.

    “McCollum was great tonight,” Rivers said. “He got a lot of those in transition. (But) I really thought that with the turnovers, we never could get a rhythm. It would be great if it was just one stretch, but it just never stopped.”

    The Pelicans forced 13 turnovers in the first half and turned those into 25 points.

    TIP-INS

    76ers: G Tyrese Maxey, the 76ers’ second-leading scorer (22.9), returned after missing 18 games with a left foot fracture, scoring nine points in 19 minutes. “I always think ball-handling is the toughest part of coming back,” Rivers said. “You just can’t practice the speed that you play with. We just want him to be aggressive and just not overthink the game.” … Philadelphia has lost two straight after winning eight consecutive games. … The Sixers entered the game second in the NBA in scoring defense (108.0).

    Pelicans: F Brandon Ingram (averaging 20.8 points and 5.1 rebounds in 15 games) missed his 16th consecutive game with a left toe injury. He said Thursday his recovery has been up and down. “Whenever I feel 100%, I’ll give it a go,” Ingram said. “But it’s hard to say right now.” … F Larry Nance sat out with neck spasms. … The Pelicans have gone 12-4 in the last month, sandwiching a four-game losing streak with separate winning streaks of seven and five games. … New Orleans has lost just twice at home in the last 48 days.

    UP NEXT

    76ers: Close a four-game road trip on Saturday at Oklahoma City.

    Pelicans: At Memphis on Saturday.

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  • Video Shows Giannis Antetokounmpo Arguing With Arena Worker, Tossing Ladder

    Video Shows Giannis Antetokounmpo Arguing With Arena Worker, Tossing Ladder

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    PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Milwaukee star Giannis Antetokounmpo argued with an arena worker and flung a ladder away from a basket, sending it toppling over as he tried to shoot practice free throws after the Bucks’ 110-102 loss to Philadelphia on Friday night.

    After going 4 for 15 from the line, Antetokounmpo returned to the Wells Fargo Center floor several minutes after the game ended to shoot free throws with a small number of fans still in the building.

    Antetokounmpo proceeded to miss his first five foul shots in the postgame practice. During a break in the two-time NBA MVP’s shooting, arena workers moved onto the court for their usual postgame activities.

    One of the workers set up a 12-foot ladder next to the basket where Antetokounmpo was shooting. Antetokounmpo walked up to the ladder and moved it out of the way.

    The employee moved it back in place, much to the ire of Antetokounmpo. He approached the staffer, had a quick, heated verbal exchange, then moved the ladder away again, sending it crashing to the floor.

    Word spread quickly through the Wells Fargo Center and 76ers backup center Montrezl Harrell, who was still on the other end of the court talking to a group of individuals, including some 76ers staffers, started to walk toward Antetokounmpo, shouting at him for mistreating the arena employee.

    Harrell never made it past half court, as team employees were able to get him to turn around and head to the Philadelphia locker room.

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  • The must-see moments from NBA Opening Night

    The must-see moments from NBA Opening Night

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    The NBA is back!

    The 2022-23 season tips off with a doubleheader. First up, the Philadelphia 76ers take on the Boston Celtics in an early clash of Eastern Conference contenders. The Celtics are the defending conference champs, while the Sixers are looking to end a Finals drought that has lasted more than two decades.

    Out West, the defending champion Golden State Warriors will receive their rings after winning their fourth title in the past eight seasons. Looking to spoil the celebration will be the Los Angeles Lakers and LeBron James, who begins the season needing 1,326 points to pass Kareem Abdul-Jabbar as the NBA’s career scoring leader.

    We’ll have complete coverage from Boston and San Francisco with highlights, takeaways and the moments that matter all night long.

    What to know about all 30 teams | Experts’ picks

    Philadelphia 76ers at Boston Celtics

    Horford stepping up on defense

    Through three quarters, Al Horford is plus-12 in 18 minutes played even though he’s only 1-for-4 from the field for 3 points. I don’t think it’s a passive effect. Horford has made his impact on this game with defense. While Marcus Smart was the NBA’s Defensive Player of the Year last season, it was Horford (third in NBA) and Robert Williams III (11th) who had the highest Defensive Real Plus Minus (DRPM) scores on the team.

    The Celtics’ defense is built inside-out, and with Williams sidelined, Horford is necessary at defensive anchor. When Horford was called for his second foul on a Harden 3-pointer in the first quarter, it touched off a 9-0 run for the previously cold 76ers. Early in the second quarter, with Horford back in the game, the Celtics went on an 8-0 run to re-take the lead.

    — Andre Snellings

    Celtics running wild on break

    Through three quarters, the Celtics hold a commanding 22-2 edge in fast break points. Boston has made an effort to get out and run at every opportunity, and has taken full advantage of James Harden’s spotty effort in transition defense to strike early and often in this game.

    Especially while Robert Williams III is out, Boston is going to have to use its speed and quickness to make up for its lack of size. The Celtics have done so tonight, and that’s why they enter the fourth quarter with a 10-point lead.

    — Tim Bontemps

    Jayson Tatum catching fire… again

    Bill Russell remembered

    During a break in action early in the third quarter, the Celtics showed the late Bill Russell’s wife, Jeannine Russell, on the jumbotron here inside TD Garden.

    The fans then broke into a spontaneous standing ovation, one that brought Russell to tears as she acknowledged the crowd.

    The Celtics gave Russell a stirring tribute before the game, which included an eloquent speech by star Jaylen Brown.

    — Tim Bontemps

    Arms, legs and fouls heat up start of second half

    It took only 19 seconds for the second half to get interesting.

    Boston’s Marcus Smart gets tangled up with Philly’s Joel Embiid, who hooked his arm and drew a foul. Smart tried to grab Embiid’s leg, and Embiid fell to the ground. Jaylen Brown then came over and got in Embiid’s face.

    Eventually, after a long review led by crew chief and veteran official James Capers, the only penalties assessed on the play were to Smart — both a personal and technical foul.

    Still, safe to say that there is no love lost between these two teams, and a potential seven-game playoff series down the road between them would be must-see TV.

    — Tim Bontemps

    Joel Embiid causing first-half problems for Boston

    Well, that was awfully fun.

    The Celtics and 76ers are tied at 63 at halftime, following a rollicking opening 24 minutes that saw both teams make big runs, stars on both teams show out and interesting subplots from a minutiae standpoint on both sides.

    James Harden had 22 points, three rebounds and four assists, but his biggest highlight came in the form of a horrendous sequence that saw him both shake reigning NBA Defensive Player of the Year Marcus Smart (only to give a good long shimmy) and airball the subsequent 3-pointer. Harden then allowed Jayson Tatum to coast by him for a layup on the following possession, and Embiid then committed his third foul at the other end.

    Embiid went 3-for-7 from the field, but his immense presence inside caused problems for Boston. Speaking of Celtics bigs, Noah Vonleh played the fourth most minutes on the team, behind only Tatum, Jaylen Brown and Smart. And, not surprisingly, it was Tatum and Brown leading the way for Boston, as the dynamic forward tandem for the Celtics combined for 34 points on 12-for-23 shooting.

    — Tim Bontemps

    Shimmy shimmy ya, shimmy yam, shimmy… oh no…

    Brogdon a Sixth Man the Celtics need

    In the second quarter, Malcolm Brogdon has given Celtics fans a glimpse of what he can provide this team — and what the Celtics lacked in last year’s playoffs.

    Brogdon has scored six quick points and picked up a nifty assist to Noah Vonleh inside, flashing the kind of scoring punch and creation off the bench that Boston never had during its run to the 2022 NBA Finals. For all of the understandable focus on Stephen Curry‘s heroics in that series, Boston lost because its offense couldn’t get it done against Golden State’s defense. Having another proven player like Brogdon off the bench is not only something that could benefit the Celtics during what they hope is a deep playoff run next spring, but it’s a role that could make Brogdon a favorite to win this year’s NBA Sixth Man of the Year award.

    — Tim Bontemps

    Strong first quarter for Harden a good sign

    Philadelphia’s James Harden has 16 points at the end of the first quarter. He has already drawn three 3-point shooting fouls, including a completed four-point play, and also became the first player in the NBA to shoot the free throw for the new take-foul rule at the 6:13 mark of the first quarter.

    Harden was counted out by many after an uncharacteristically poor set of performances following his trade to the 76ers last season. I always anticipated he was injured more than washed up as he has been dealing with the remnants of his soft tissue injuries. His performance so far Tuesday falls in line with my preseason expectations that Harden is poised for a big season.

    — Andre Snellings

    76ers’ backup center not a surprise

    One of the interesting subplots of the 76ers‘ preseason was who would get the backup center minutes behind superstar Joel Embiid, with both veteran Montrezl Harrell and emerging youngster Paul Reed both getting shots at it.

    Tuesday night, it was Harrell who got the call midway through the first quarter, as he slid into a familiar partnership from the opening years of his career, running pick-and-rolls with James Harden.

    This was what was anticipated when Harrell was signed, with he and Harden expected to run pick-and-rolls against backup units. But Reed got enough playing time during the preseason over Harrell to at least make it a question of which one would play, and 76ers coach Doc Rivers said on multiple occasions both players would get their chances.

    The way this game played out also answered another question: how Rivers will deploy his rotation. At least in the short-term, it looks like Harden is going to get his chances to eat offensively, while emerging star guard Tyrese Maxey will partner with Embiid.

    — Tim Bontemps

    Vonleh’s minutes speaks to Celtics’ situation

    With Robert Williams III sidelined for the next few months, it’s going to take some creative work from the Celtics to navigate life without one of the best defensive big men in the NBA.

    And, in the first five minutes of the 2022-23 NBA season, we have seen the Celtics begin to do just that. First came the decision to start Derrick White, opting to go with a small lineup with Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum at the two forward spots as opposed to opting to play a bigger option alongside Al Horford.

    Part of the reason why interim coach Joe Mazzulla, in his first game on the sidelines for the Celtics, has gone with that lineup throughout the preseason, came along when the first player off the bench for the Celtics in Tuesday night’s game against the 76ers was journeyman big man Noah Vonleh.

    Vonleh, the ninth pick in the 2014 draft, is playing for his eighth team in eight NBA seasons, after spending all of last season playing for the Shanghai Sharks of the Chinese Basketball Association. While he had a strong training camp, the fact Vonleh is playing early minutes for the Celtics is both a sign of how little frontcourt depth Boston has, as well as at least a partial indictment of the chances that former All-Star big man Blake Griffin is going to make any kind of meaningful impact on Boston’s roster moving forward.

    —Tim Bontemps

    Embiid with the massive block

    Tatum opens up red hot

    Jayson Tatum was ready for the 2022-23 season to begin. He scored 7 of the Celtics’ first 9 points, including this 3-pointer from the corner. Tatum’s career high for a season-opener is 30 points, on Dec. 23, 2021 against the Bucks.

    Celtics honor Bill Russell

    More on the Celtics’ Russell-inspired City jerseys

    Blake is in the building

    But it’s not even Wednesday…

    More of Tuesday’s best looks

    Los Angeles Lakers at Golden State Warriors

    The Warriors enter the season looking to become the NBA’s first back-to-back champion since … the Warriors. Golden State pulled off the feat in 2017 and 2018, back when Kevin Durant was starring in the Bay Area. Now it’s Andrew Wiggins who is teaming with Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson and Draymond Green, and Wiggins just signed a contract extension that will keep him with the Warriors through the 2026-27. What that extension — and another four-year deal for Jordan Poole — means for Green remains to be seen. Green made headlines this preseason when he punched Poole during practice, and is still waiting on a contract extension of his own.

    While the Warriors were the last team standing last season, the Lakers failed to even make the postseason for the second time in four years with LeBron James on the roster. James enters this season not only trying to return to the playoffs, but looking to break the NBA’s all-time points record. He’ll once again partner with Anthony Davis and Russell Westbrook, the latter of whom spent the entire offseason in trade rumors and came off the bench in his final preseason appearance — something he hasn’t done in a regular-season game since his rookie season.

    James Wiseman nervous before NBA return

    Warriors big man James Wiseman — who hasn’t played a regular-season game since April 10, 2021 — told ESPN before Tuesday’s game that he was excited for ring night, but also had butterflies. When asked if it was for ring night or because it was the first season-opener he would be playing in since his rookie year in 2020, Wiseman said it was a little bit of both.

    To calm his nerves, he said he was planning on turning some music on and hopping in the steam room.

    — Kendra Andrews

    Russell Westbrook to start for Lakers

    Not 1, not 2, not 3…

    We think of the Warriors winning four rings in the Steph Curry era, but the franchise has leaned into their total titles in new signage around the Chase Center. Golden State now has seven — one more than all those chips the Chicago Bulls collected with Michael Jordan.

    — Dave McMenamin

    Draymond arrives in style

    LeBron evokes draft day look with Year 20 arrival

    JTA will get his ring, but Walker won’t be watching

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  • Lowe’s annual League Pass Rankings! Teams 30-11 in watchability and fun (sorry, Jazz fans)

    Lowe’s annual League Pass Rankings! Teams 30-11 in watchability and fun (sorry, Jazz fans)

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    It’s time for our silliest preseason tradition: The 11th (how???) annual League Pass Rankings, a watchability scale to help you avoid wasting time on things like, “Wait, has this team actually ordered its players to tie their shoes together as part of its Lose-A-Rama for Victor Wembanyama campaign?”

    These are not power rankings! They are derived from a formula Bill Simmons found scrawled on parchment paper inside a glass bottle that washed up on the shores of Malibu.

    Teams are scored 1-10 in five categories:

    ZEITGEIST: When you talk about this team at parties, do people slink away?

    HIGHLIGHT POTENTIAL: Do you linger on games in case a superstar does something amazing?

    STYLE: Where are they on the continuum from “Golden State Warriors beautiful game” to “Julius Randle just took four jab steps and launched an 18-footer”?

    LEAGUE PASS MINUTIA: All the little things that mean too much to damaged die-hards: announcers, court designs, uniforms.

    UNINTENTIONAL COMEDY: Google the Washington Wizards of the early 2010s.

    30. UTAH JAZZ (17.5)

    The Jazz aren’t really a basketball team after detonating the Donovan Mitchell–Rudy Gobert-Quin Snyder-Making-Amazing-Faces era. They are an airport waiting area for players, only those players have to play together a bit because the NBA mandates the Jazz field a team instead of working together “Ocean’s Eleven”-style to rig the lottery.

    They are the NBA Spider-Man Pointing meme of shoot-first combo guards: Jordan Clarkson, Collin Sexton, Talen Horton-Tucker, Nickeil Alexander-Walker. Lauri Markkanen and Malik Beasley aren’t exactly prime John Stockton, either. Poor Mike Conley can bring the ball up, pass it once and head into the stands for a drink. (I am excited to watch Sexton again. He averaged 24 points on 47.5% shooting two seasons ago, and purists dismissed it because the Cleveland Cavaliers stunk and Sexton’s a blah passer. Putting up those numbers is not easy. Sexton plays with classic little guy bravado, flinging himself inside for rebounds and going at larger superstars as if they should be scared of him.)

    We are only one year removed from the Utah broadcast team shrieking at Rudy Gay’s debut as if the Jazz were getting prime Karl Malone. I can’t wait to hear how the Jazz are not really tanking, how dare anyone suggest it, the honorable caretakers of this community treasure would never allow that toxin to infect your beloved Jazz Men.

    The new uniforms are a crime against NBA art:

    The black and yellow ones are high school gym class-level. Why is a team with such a rich color palette going all-in on black? The white ones are passable only because the Jazz note — a perfect piece of sports art — is front and center, but they’ve even sullied that by removing the blue, yellow and green in the note head in favor of (yup) black.

    The new court at least has the smoky white-gray shadow of that note along the sidelines.

    Jarred Vanderbilt is cool.

    29. INDIANA PACERS (19)

    The Pacers are one trade from challenging the San Antonio Spurs as frontrunners for the league’s worst record. They fall behind the Spurs here only because of the “zeitgeist” category; winning five titles buys San Antonio gravitas, especially when their last tank job kick-started that dominance.

    Tyrese Haliburton is more entertaining than the entire Spurs team. He operates two steps ahead of defenses, and takes joy in passing. He gets off the ball early instead of hunting assists. When Haliburton is on the floor, the ball flies. He celebrates assists more loudly than baskets. You will sometimes catch Haliburton shouting with glee as his big man is about to cram one of his feathery lobs. (Haliburton and Isaiah Jackson are a fun alley-oop connection.) He might lead the league in assists.

    Indiana’s young (and raw) bigs seemed to catch Haliburton’s spirit; the Pacers had the ball shifting side-to-side. Terry Taylor is the most ferocious offensive rebounder you don’t know. He will Kool-Aid Man through four guys to snag a second chance.

    T.J. McConnell must be furious Jose Alvarado seized his throne as the king of the back-court sneak steal. I expect McConnell to respond by wearing a Hamburglar mask and hiding in the stands.

    Chris Duarte bobs and weaves behind screens with liquid veteran guile. Bennedict Mathurin is a blast of athleticism for a team that ranked 27th in dunks. There’s plenty of room on Aaron Nesmith Island!

    28. SAN ANTONIO SPURS (21.5)

    The Spurs were for so long the League Pass nerd team: Manu Ginobili driving Gregg Popovich mad with thread-the-needle passes; Boris Diaw’s roly-poly, spinning, shoulder-checking drives; Kawhi Leonard snatching the ball from people. They birthed the Spursgasm, and raised the sport to perhaps its stylistic zenith in 2013-14.

    Welp.

    Can I interest you in the Low-Risk Point Guard Sibling Olympics between Tre and Tyus Jones? What about Point Josh Primo? Keldon Johnson and Devin Vassell should develop into really good support starters, but it’s hard to hone your secondary playmaking on a team this light on first-option types to bend defenses — even if Popovich will have everyone sharing and moving. (Vassell is the biggest draw — a potential 3-and-D monster who has flashed ball-handling chops.)

    At least Jakob Poeltl free throws have drama; he has hit below 50% over three seasons, and that will be a big deal if Poeltl — a fine player — ends up on a playoff team again.

    Jeremy Sochan is fun, and leads three 2022 first-round picks who should see minutes.

    Is this the best non-fiesta jersey in Spurs history — maybe the best, period?

    I love that spur jutting out of the “X” in that new “SATX” wordmark. That gorgeous pattern down the sides is rendered in the style of Mexican serapes. The Texas state logo is a nod to the team’s origins as the Dallas Chaparrals in the American Basketball Association.

    This 50th anniversary court, though …

    The gold doesn’t go, and the center-court logo looks as if someone draped a carpet over the big spur.

    27. OKLAHOMA CITY THUNDER (21.5)

    They’d be at least three spots higher with Chet Holmgren healthy. Without him, the roster is a morass after the strange-but-cool Shai Gilgeous-Alexander/Josh Giddey/Luguentz Dort trio. I mean this in a good way: It is really hard to find a perimeter trio with almost zero overlapping skill among them.

    Giddey is the tall genius passer who dares long-range, no-look lasers with zero margin for error. Dort is the brick wall who lofts ceiling-scraping 3s and bulldozes inside. Gilgeous-Alexander is the ungraspable phantom, everywhere and nowhere at once as he slithers into the lane — different limbs seemingly operating at different speeds, and moving in different directions.

    Good luck distributing minutes beyond that. If you’re chasing wins, you’d play Kenrich Williams and Mike Muscala. Then there are at least seven young guys who merit time — including three of the first 34 picks in the last draft.

    Aleksej Pokusevski has shown hints that he’s a basketball player, not just a gangly novelty. He has vision, and a knack for blocking shots. (Does he think you get more points if jumpers go in at higher velocities?) Tre Mann is crafty. If a Darius Bazley corner 3 hits the side of the backboard, does it make a noise? (Don’t sleep on the Thunder hiring Chip Engelland — longtime assistant coach and shooting guru for the Spurs.)

    A juicy subplot: midtier playoff teams cannot afford losses to the Wembanyama Brigade. Those can be the difference between No. 6 and the play-in. The Thunder signaled doom for the Los Angeles Lakers last season with two massive early comeback wins.

    The broadcast is less propaganda-y than it once was. Progress!

    26. Washington Wizards (24)

    The cherry blossom uniform is the best thing to happen to this franchise since the Charlotte Bobcats took Michael Kidd-Gilchrist No. 2 in 2012. They should give these uniforms a no-trade clause.

    The team with perhaps the most blah art collection of the last 15 years — this is the first season they’ve used multiple courts! — nailed every detail: the soft-pink; the gradual shift to gray on the shorts; the stenciled flowers dripping down the sides.

    Gandalf is back!

    After years of ignoring their kooky wizarding heritage, the team is tiptoeing into some semi-ironic hipster embrace of it. It took me years before I realized the contrast between the wizard’s white beard and black cloak formed a “W.” (I might have problems.)

    Oh, the team! The Wiz could push for a high-end play-in spot, or skid early and Avada Kedavra themselves into the Wembanyama sweepstakes.

    For a team that has been under-.500 since 2018, they have few (if any) young prospects you are dying to watch. Deni Avdija is a heady ball-mover who enjoys defense — remember when he started forming an “X” with his forearms after stops? — but needs to do more on offense. Rui Hachimura was empty calories last season; he has a lot to prove in the final year of his rookie contract.

    Kyle Kuzma was awesome across the board, and elevates NBA fashion. Bradley Beal is one of the league’s most artful three-level scorers — a sleek blend of old school and new school. You often hear how Beal can’t be the No. 1 guy on a title team, but who cares (other than Wiz fans who can recite his salary cap hit in 2027)? How many such players exist? Beal is a star, and would look incredible as the second-best player — and maybe No. 1 scorer — on a great team stacked with defenders. (In other news, the Wiz had a three-year window in which they could have traded Beal for a gazillion draft picks.)

    Daniel Gafford is a nasty dunker. Kristaps Porzingis is here.

    25. ORLANDO MAGIC (24.5)

    The funniest random NBA streak is Orlando’s 10-season run ranking 20th or worse in points per possession. That is Dimaggio-level consistency in offensive incompetence. I really hope they are 20th on the last day of the season and go all-out for 19th.

    I think we are on rebuild No. 3 post-Dwightmare? This one might take. Paolo Banchero is the offense-first fulcrum the Magic have searched for this entire decade — an all-court hub with the passing and shooting chops to lift his teammates. Franz Wagner is an ideal secondary wing — all heady cuts and snappy passes, with the touch and ball-handling guile to take the reins mid-possession. Wendell Carter Jr. is only 23, and he’s already a decent starting center. They should land another high pick in this draft.

    Cole Anthony plays as if he thinks he’s the best player on the floor, and I love it. He’s a solid backup and spot starter.

    Everything else is a mystery. Unless Wagner becomes an every-possession point-forward — that seems a stretch — the Magic still need a perimeter orchestrator. What, exactly, is Jalen Suggs?

    Jonathan Isaac’s return sometime between now and 2030 would introduce some ultra-modern lineup combinations. Can you go giant, with Wagner and all three of Isaac, Banchero and Carter? What about the center-less front-court of Wagner/Isaac/Banchero? I will never give up on Chuma Okeke!

    The broadcast trio of David Steele, Jeff Turner, and Dante Marchitelli is tremendous. They have fun without degenerating into shrill homerism.

    24. CHARLOTTE HORNETS (24.5)

    This is the floor for a team featuring one of the league’s most inventive passers in LaMelo Ball; Eric Collins’ rapturous play-by-play; Kelly Oubre Jr. talking trash to everyone in earshot; and some of the league’s best and most immediately identifiable art. (Here’s hoping they bring back the mint shade they unveiled two seasons ago; the Hornets can own that.)

    This alternate court is another hit:

    That all-purple silhouette of a scary-looking Hornet leaps off the screen. The stinger theme echoes along the sideline, and on the outside of the “H” and “S” of the accompanying jersey:

    The half-basketball with turquoise lining is the rare instance where dividing the circle by color works.

    The Hornets played fast and ranked No. 2 in dunks last season, but almost half those dunks belonged to Miles Bridges and Montrezl Harrell. Steve Clifford teams typically don’t play fast, or experiment with the funky “nothing else is working, let’s try this?” zone defenses James Borrego cooked up.

    (Clifford is a really good coach. Even so, we have not spent nearly enough time discussing how hilarious and perfectly Hornets it is that Charlotte hired one coach — Kenny Atkinson — only for him to bail once he got a look inside, and then turned to the coach they fired four years ago.)

    Pairing Clifford with a chaos agent like Ball will either result in an untenable tug-of-war or a healthy meeting in the middle. (Clifford has little choice but to play a pile of unproven young guys.) I’m curious how Ball finds his footing in slowed-down, half-court sequences — what moves and passes he leans on, how he incorporates teammates.

    Terry Rozier has canned an inexplicable number of clutch jumpers over the last two seasons. There is something mesmerizing about watching Mason Plumlee decide, “Screw it, I’m going to unleash this reeeeeeaaaally slooooooowwwww spin move from the foul line. It’s my time to live, baby!” Did you know Plumlee switched to shooting free throws lefty last season? That happened!

    23. NEW YORK KNICKS (26.5)

    The Knicks played at the league’s second-slowest pace, and their games featured tons of free throws. Their starting five was unwatchable, unless you enjoy Julius Randle, RJ Barrett and Mitchell Robinson bumping into each other. The rollicking bench shocked them to life, and if the basketball gods are kind, we will see more Barrett alongside Obi Toppin and Immanuel Quickley. (You never know when Toppin might stage his own in-game dunk contest.)

    Toppin is a quick-twitch ball-mover, and Quickley went up two levels as a playmaker last season. Isaiah Hartenstein will have the ball popping, and stitch the bench together. If Robinson isn’t on point, we might see Hartenstein finish games.

    Jalen Brunson should restore order and spacing to the starting five. The Knicks boast Mike Breen and Clyde Frazier, Madison Square Garden’s theater lighting and a pristine royal blue court. (I will drop them one spot if they introduce more black-and-orange art. You are the Knicks of New York freaking City. Do not be Team Halloween!)

    I would like an in-game feed of Leon Rose and slouching, hangdog James Dolan sitting next to each other in silence, only the Knicks would never risk accidentally broadcasting Dolan shouting back at fans urging him to sell the team. (The camera might also catch them frowning at Tom Thibodeau’s refusal to play Cam Reddish.)

    The potential for cranky Randle turning against the fans again adds to the comedy score.

    22. HOUSTON ROCKETS (27)

    On the one hand: Houston ranked first in dunks and second in pace, and features a bunch of telegenic young players. Jalen Green goes from zero to 100 in a nanosecond, and hunts bodies at the rim. He can also slow down for smooth midrange pull-ups — a nice break from Houston’s dunks-and-3s credo.

    How do you even describe Alperen Sengun? He attempts such unusual feats of pivotry that you sometimes wonder if he traveled even though you just watched him shift both feet three times without dribbling. Was that so weird, it was somehow legal? Sengun could carry the ball 20 steps and still be astonished the referees whistled him for traveling.

    He sometimes pass fakes to no one — literally to empty space — just to get defenders leaning into that void. Is it genius or madness?

    Kenyon Martin Jr. gets eye to eye with the rim, and dunks like he wants to tear the basket down. Daishen Nix has a little John Bagley/Sherman Douglas-style bulk to his game.

    On the other hand: Houston fouled the bejesus out of everyone and gagged up one of the highest turnover rates in recent history; its style of play — young guys running and gunning — lends itself to raggedness.

    Tari Eason will clean up the defense. He is here to lock victims up. Jabari Smith Jr. brings some preternatural polish.

    Do Derrick Favors and Maurice “I’m coming for Ish Smith’s record” Harkless ever wonder, “Wait, what city am I in?” It hurts the comedy score that Eric Gordon is too professional to write “Trade me!” on his shoes a la Chris Morris.

    Boban Marjanovic cameos are always welcome. Every move Garrison Mathews makes — kicking his legs out on jumpers, running smack into picks — carries a hint of danger. Every team needs a Jae’Sean Tate.

    21. SACRAMENTO KINGS (27.5)

    This is too low for Sacramento.

    You never know when the #KANGZZ might appear in-game. Example: Remember when NBA Twitter kicked into Conspiracy Theory mode because Vivek Ranadive sat courtside between the general manager he had recently fired (Vlade Divac) and Divac’s replacement (Monte McNair)? Because it was the Kings — with their “Game of Thrones”-style power structure and habit of hiring coaches before GMs — anything was possible.

    In describing that bizarre scene, Jason Jones of The Athletic recalled Ranadive tweeting happy birthday to Jimmer Fredette (whose selection at No. 10 in 2011 after a nonsensical trade down is another #KANGZZ moment) “while negotiating a buyout [with Fredette] at the same time.” Even the tweet in question has a hidden #KANGZ treasure:

    Ranadive is making the “hang loose” gesture in front of another photo of him flashing the “hang loose” gesture.

    Anyway, Team Play-In-Or-Bust should be a fast-paced scoring machine built around the already sophisticated De’Aaron Fox-Domantas Sabonis two-man game. They are a natural match: opposites in build, but tethered in craft and wink-wink IQ. Sabonis might flip the angle of his screen two, three, four times, and Fox shifts in sync with each move. Sabonis can brutalize switches, push in transition and even run the occasional inverted pick-and-roll.

    Malik Monk is a show, Kevin “Red Velvet” Huerter adds shooting and underrated playmaking, and Keegan Murray intrigues. I will miss the Haliburton-Richaun Holmes lob connection, but Holmes’ push shot — the best of its kind — carries on.

    Every Kings opponent will score a lot too. Kent Bazemore and Matthew Dellavedova complete your 2010s NBA Mad Libs.

    20. MIAMI HEAT (28)

    The algorithm is angry Miami discontinued its instantly iconic “Miami Vice”-style jerseys.

    The Heat are a sneakily hard sell for casual fans. They were 28th in pace and 26th in dunks, and they foul a lot. Watching Jimmy Butler, Kyle Lowry, and Bam Adebayo make magic in tight spaces is an acquired taste. You have to really pay attention to notice all the smart cuts, shoulder fakes, give-and-gos, and slick interior passes that make Miami’s half-court offense hum — when it hums.

    Lowry gets them moving with overzealous full-court hit-aheads. I’m excited to see what Tyler Herro does as a permanent starter. He became over-infatuated — with the team’s encouragement to some degree — with becoming a high-volume pick-and-roll ball handler at the expense of some catch-and-shoot 3s. He should recalibrate 15% or so in the direction of Klay Thompson.

    There is something beautiful and almost contradictory about Jimmy Butler’s bruising game. He doesn’t just plow into people. He’s violent and physical, but never reckless. In a blink, he can transition from a burrowing drive into a stop-on-a-dime jumper that drips with surprising softness. He brings the same balletic ferocity to his off-ball cuts. (Butler might be the league’s most underrated cutter.)

    Erik Spoelstra has thorny minutes decisions with Duncan Robinson, the (hopefully?) revitalized Victor Oladipo, Gabe Vincent, Caleb Martin, and Max Strus. Don’t sleep on Big Yurt (Omer Yurtseven)!

    The flip side of self-serious #HeatCulture is that there is almost nothing funny — unintentionally or otherwise — about the Heat.

    19. PORTLAND TRAIL BLAZERS (29)

    There is nothing in basketball like an avalanche of Damian Lillard 3s. In Portland, the buzz builds as fans realize: We might see one of those nights. It reaches a euphoric crescendo when one final 30-footer forces a timeout, and Lillard, scowling, stares and nods at the crowd in his house.

    On the road, you hear fear — really hear it. It starts with low murmuring: Uh oh. As the streak unfolds, the noise morphs into a sort of collective shriek that begins when Lillard pauses mid-dribble as if he might launch.

    For the first time in ages, the Blazers have surrounded their star with some oomph: Josh Hart rampaging end-to-end; Nassir Little testing the limits of his game; Anfernee Simons flicking 3s and hunting tin; Gary Payton II rim-running and committing felonies on defense; the unknown of Shaedon Sharpe.

    Simons might have the league’s prettiest floater; he pogo-sticks into the clouds, above reaching defenders, and flips that baby from all angles.

    Trendon Watford has a nifty floater too. Drew Eubanks dunks and swats with rage.

    Chauncey Billups might have to start from scratch on defense after last year’s blitzing scheme failed.

    The Blazers have the best team name, and maybe the best top-to-bottom art. This floor is close to seizing my No. 1 court design spot from the Lakers:

    A few teams have experimented with differently colored painted areas. That contrast works better on the boundaries — as the Blazers have done here. The pinwheel might be the best logo in U.S. sports; whoever decided to extend the striping from the center-court pinwheel onto each sideline deserves a big raise.

    Lillard planted the pinwheel smack in the center of the new jersey he helped design — and echoed its striping down the sides:

    More teams are trying jerseys showing only their primary logo — no wordmark at all — and the pinwheel is well-suited to that. The Blazers were smart to render the numbers in white instead of black.

    18. CHICAGO BULLS (30)

    This an eight-spot drop from last year, reflecting Lonzo Ball’s importance as Chicago’s fast-break engine and the connective tissue between the disparate styles baked into the roster.

    I was gobsmacked watching from courtside last November as the Bulls ran circles around the Lakers at Staples Center. LeBron James didn’t play, but Chicago’s blowout win was so emphatic, his absence seemed almost immaterial. The younger, bouncier, cockier Bulls looked as if they were playing a different sport. They passed and cut and jacked 3s ahead of the Lakers. Ball and Alex Caruso terrorized L.A. on defense. The Lakers quit. The Bulls danced.

    That team vanished six weeks later, and has never returned. It got slower, more predictable, over-dependent on DeMar DeRozan’s graceful but somewhat repetitive midrange game. Zach LaVine is the best dunker since Vince Carter, but wings don’t dunk often enough to warp viewing habits; Lavine dunked 62 times in 67 games. (Derrick Jones. Jr. might literally jump over someone at any moment.)

    If LaVine cans one or two fading step-back 3s — he’ll do that from the corners too! — definitely stick around. A high-degree-of-difficulty swish-fest may be coming.

    Nikola Vucevic is a footwork artist on the block, but playing alongside LaVine and DeRozan marginalized that part of his game and turned him into a run-of-the-mill pick-and-pop shooter; Vucevic averaged eight post touches per 100 possessions, second-lowest of his career, per Second Spectrum.

    Ayo Dosunmu and Patrick Williams offer the appeal of the unknown, and how they develop — and how fast — is of immense importance to a team that could be trapped in upper-class mediocrity. Williams’ career could spin in an unusual number of directions; the Bulls might even spot him minutes at center.

    Adam Amin and Stacey King keep the broadcast light-hearted, and lose nothing when Jason Benetti fills in. The logo, court, and jerseys (other than anodyne black alternates) are top-notch.

    17. TORONTO RAPTORS (30)

    Some fans are concerned about strategic homogeneity — every team playing spread pick-and-roll, chasing the same shots. That concern is overblown, but there is an easy antidote: Watch the positionless, avante-garde basketball experiment unfolding in Toronto!

    The Raptors’ rotation amounts to Fred VanVleet and several tall people who can do lots of things on offense and guard everyone on defense. They leverage their length in ways you’d expect, and some you might not: switching, playing wacky zones, bombarding the offensive glass, and posting up size mismatches. They do the unthinkable on defense: allow lots of 3s (basically) on purpose, confident their speed and preposterous arms make for frightening closeouts. (Only Matisse Thybulle has blocked more 3s than Chris Boucher over the past three seasons.)

    Playing mismatch ball can be laborious; Toronto possessions after made baskets lasted 18.3 seconds — highest in the league, per Inpredictable. But even the grueling nature of its half-court offense runs counter to trends in a way that makes it appealing.

    Scottie Barnes — 6-9 point-whatever — is the perfect foundational player for this ethos, and might soon grasp the superstar tools to lift Toronto’s offense from the muck. He seemed to play last season in second gear, digesting the speed and dimensions of the NBA before pushing the throttle. By the playoffs, he appeared to have a better understanding of how good he could be.

    Pascal Siakam is a fine all-around No. 1 option, and VanVleet is that greater-than-his-statistics guy you appreciate more the longer you watch him. Every seemingly innocuous move — every cut, dribble, wink, shoulder fake — opens a few inches of space, and those inches eventually add up to an open shot.

    You never know where that first Precious Achiuwa dribble might lead — everything from a dunk to a pass into the fifth row is in play — but his transformation into a stretch center changed Toronto’s offense.

    The announcers, court, and red-and-white jerseys are all great. The pitch on Jack Armstrong’s “Get that gah-bage outta here!” call somehow gets higher every season. Thumbs down to the alternate black-and-gold look.

    16. DETROIT PISTONS (31)

    Cade Cunningham has that rare Luka Doncic-style ability to find life in places where possessions often die — in the extended paint with a live dribble that doesn’t appear to be going anywhere, against a set defense.

    Cunningham is strong enough to keep pushing, tall enough to see everything. Most of all, he’s smart enough to know how every pivot and twist might manipulate the defense. One lunge inside from a help defender, and zip — the ball finds a shooter. Once Cunningham refines his touch around the rim, every possibility will open up.

    Jaden Ivey’s lightning-bolt drives might form the perfect duality alongside Cunningham’s patient game. Corralling the Pistons could someday be like facing consecutive pitches from Greg Maddux and Randy Johnson.

    Bojan Bogdanovic widens the floor. Saddiq Bey should find the right water level in his game. Don’t mess with Isaiah Stewart. Beef Stew should shoot more 3s, and he’s the keystone to Detroit’s switch-everything defense. Jalen Duren is a high-flying, rim-munching backup center who might even share the floor with Stewart in short stints.

    The rest of the bench is a bit of a mystery.

    There’s also this:

    Was anyone yearning for the return of the 1990s teal and flaming horse? Do fans like these now? Is the affection ironic or genuine? Do teal and red mesh? The flaming exhaust pipes and “DP” corner logos are kinda cool.

    The new black jerseys — with fat striping as a Bad Boys call-out — are a bust. Black has been every team’s “whatever” alternate for a decade, and the blocky, outlined black lettering looks generic.

    I do like Detroit’s two main courts, with the edges of a basketball along each sideline echoing the central logo:

    15. LA CLIPPERS (31.5)

    The Clips are about as entertaining as it gets for a slowish team that lives on jumpers and rarely flies above the rim. Paul George glides in a way that makes everything (except dribbling through traffic) look effortless.

    There is majesty — power, strength, rigid up-and-down precision — to Kawhi Leonard’s pull-up game. Leonard showed two seasons ago that he can still dial up peak Spurs-era sharktopus mode on defense, and there is no wing player alive who instills the same level of panic as Sharktopus Kawhi. He is the rare weakside help defender who dictates terms — vibrating on his toes, arms spread fingertip to fingertip — in that netherworld between a corner shooter and the big man rumbling down the lane. Even the best ball handlers freeze at the sight of that menace: Is Kawhi’s guy open? Oh, wait, Kawhi is gonna apparate into that passing lane. What about the lob inside? Could he snatch that too? Overthink, and Leonard has already won.

    If that Leonard is back when it counts, the Clip are in the inner circle of contenders.

    John Wall, Norman Powell and Terance Mann are the jolt of head-down, north-south speed this team needs. (The Clips are so deep, a lot of preseason analysis has skirted past Powell. He is a critical variable, and should finish lots of games.) The Clips will play five-out, centerless lineups, and every game will teach us something about which perimeter trios work best around Leonard and George.

    You know your art is dull when no one notices the difference between your primary court and the “special” alternate:

    These are supposed to be clipper ship sails:

    Scrap it all and start over.

    Jim Jackson is a broadcasting star.

    14. PHOENIX SUNS (32)

    This is shockingly low for a 64-win team with a layered pick-and-roll attack, potential for drama with Deandre Ayton, and the return of the classic purple sunburst jerseys.

    Phoenix even amped up the pace last season, unusual for a Chris Paul team. Devin Booker is a vintage scorer, with his velvety leaning midranger and a sneaky-nasty post game. He and Paul rain old-school fire. Paul’s maximize-every-edge perfectionism can be irritating — the rip-through is coming the second Phoenix enters the bonus — but it’s what makes him who he is.

    (It also results in on-court disagreements, one of which gave us the iconic fake-laughing meme. That thing transcends basketball. Try it out in your life. It’s a great way to end those exchanges of small talk with long-lost high school classmates you don’t really like.)

    It is so satisfying when Paul kicks that fastidiousness and decides to preen — showing off fancy yo-yo dribbles, or nutmegging someone just because he feels like embarrassing them.

    The young guys will stretch themselves; Cameron Johnson piled up 20-plus-point games last season, and Mikal Bridges has dabbled with quick-hitting duck-ins. (Bridges’ defense is a show. He envelopes people — the rare wing defender so long, he can block his own guy’s shot before the ball really escapes the shooter’s hand.)

    But we’ve seen and enjoyed this movie enough for now: Paul and Booker snaking their way to midrangers from the right elbow, the Suns’ steadfast defense forcing those same shots on the other end. They are Team Bizarro Shot Selection.

    Monty Williams has to suss out roles for Landry Shamet and Dario Saric. Josh Okogie is an in-your-jersey defender. Kevin Ray and Eddie Johnson have great chemistry on the call.

    13. ATLANTA HAWKS (32.5)

    The algorithm underestimates how interesting it will be watching Trae Young and Dejounte Murray figure out how to amplify each other. There could be hiccups over the first 20-plus games. Will Murray make enough catch-and-shoot 3s? Will Young play off the ball, like, at all?

    The variety is welcome. Young can do almost whatever he wants against any pick-and-roll scheme. We know about the 3s ands floaters (and foul-baiting flails), but Young still doesn’t get enough credit for his next-level anticipatory passing. He sees everything early, and can make almost any pass — including long lefty slingshots and other across-the-floor reads off-limits to most 6-1 guards.

    Still: Too much of anything gets redundant, and Murray offers a reprieve — plus the ability to float across huge chunks of space on defense.

    Young’s lob passing makes Atlanta a perennial top-10 dunk team. John Collins gets way above the rim and finishes with panache and power. Onyeka Okongwu is a two-handed thunder dunker. Okongwu will be a starter sooner than later; he and De’Andre Hunter are the biggest X factors for the Hawks now.

    Young leaning into WWE-level villainy is great television. Bogdan Bogdanovic punctuates hot streaks with sumptuous snarling trash talk. Aaron Holiday is a little cinder block who attacks the rim with the aggression of someone a foot taller.

    12. CLEVELAND CAVALIERS (32.5)

    We’re in the range where every team feels too low, and this will indeed end up low for the Cavaliers. Between their four stars, Cleveland has something for every fan. Donovan Mitchell supplies the highlights; he is a hunched blur, attacking along sharp diagonals and seeking to inflict pain at the rim. Jarrett Allen fears no dunker at the summit. Darius Garland is all staccato craft and demoralizing ultra-long 3s. Evan Mobley is getting ready to show the breadth of his game. They all complement each other.

    I have never liked the Cavs wine-and-gold scheme, but their creative team has produced a clean new jersey set:

    Both shades are muted in a pleasing way. The Cavs found a spot — on the left side of the shorts — where their gigantic “C” stands out without dominating. Turning the “V” in “Cavs” into a basket is a nice homage to the Mark Price/Brad Daugherty era.

    They’ve cleaned up the court too, refilling the painted areas and erasing the shaded city skyline:

    We need another Ricky Rubio–Kevin Love reunion tour. Remember how unhappy Love seemed as the lone championship holdover on a rebuilding team? That story almost never ends with said veteran sticking around to enjoy the fruits of that rebuild, and it’s remarkable Love is here and happy.

    J.B. Bickerstaff proved last season that he is willing to buck convention: ultra-big lineups, Mobley lording over the top of zone defenses, copious amounts of Dean Wade.

    For reasons I can’t explain, I enjoy how Robin Lopez sits on the floor in the corner instead of on the bench.

    John Michael and Austin Carr are a nice mix — the serious one and the silly cackler. Keep an eye on Michael at the broadcast table, standing and leaning and crouching to keep eyes on the action. He does not want to watch through a monitor.

    11. PHILADELPHIA 76ers (33.5)

    Joel Embiid guarantees a top-12 finish here. Few athletes have ever combined so much grace, power and high-IQ feel. On three straight possessions, Embiid might: rain in a soft midranger; then obliterate someone on the block and dunk them through the floor; and finally pump-and-go from the arc, Eurostep around one sucker, and kiss in a falling layup.

    The James Harden-Embiid two-man game was so potent, Embiid so effective scoring off Harden’s pocket passes, defenses resorted to desperate and dangerous counters: Should we, umm, not even leave Embiid and just let Harden drive almost to the rim — and then swarm from one of Philly’s shooters? We get to see a whole season of that cat-and-mouse-and-beard game. (They lose points for how many free throws they generate. It’s a slog.)

    Tyrese Maxey takes over when Harden rests, but he’s almost more fun playing off Philly’s two stars. He waits along the arc, like a sprinter in the starting block, primed to catch a kickout and fly through the diagonal crease Harden has unlocked.

    Matisse Thybulle teleports on defense. He is way over there, and then suddenly and implausibly, he is blocking your shot. There is a feast-or-famine element to almost every Philly reserve. You can’t look away.

    Philly a top-four art team. Kate Scott and Alaa Abdelnaby are talented enough that they don’t have to resort to homerish propaganda. It hurts the credibility of the overall product.

    I appreciate referees for allowing Montrezl Harrell to do pull-ups on the rim after dunks. I’d watch a broadcast that just zooms in on P.J. Tucker making life miserable for opponents.

    Stay tuned for the top-10 on Thursday!

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  • Why the 76ers are a good bet to win the Eastern Conference

    Why the 76ers are a good bet to win the Eastern Conference

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    The 2022-23 season is quickly approaching and our betting experts have got you covered. Over the next two weeks we are taking a look at how to approach some of the top teams in league and giving out some futures best bets before the season tips off.

    Erin Dolan breaks down best case, worst case and betting analysis for the Philadelphia 76ers.

    All odds from Caesars Sportsbook

    NBA betting preview schedule

    Thursday: The case for the Boston Celtics and Golden State Warriors
    Friday: The case for the Brooklyn Nets and Milwaukee Bucks
    Monday: The case for the Philadelphia 76ers and Los Angeles Lakers
    Tuesday: Who to bet for MVP
    Wednesday: Betting win totals and awards
    Oct. 17: Social media and betting
    Oct. 18: NBA title odds and favorites

    Best Case: The 76ers finished fourth in the East last season, so are we sleeping on them as a serious contender? Philly is one of the deepest teams on paper. Joel Embiid and James Harden outscored opponents by 15.5 points per 100 possessions in the 21 games they were on the court together, which is promising heading into the season. Harden even took a pay cut to allow the team to sign PJ Tucker, De’Anthony Melton, Montrezl Harrell, and Danuel House Jr. Tyrese Maxey had a breakout sophomore season, ranking third in 3-point percentage and averaging 17.5 PPG. Overall, this team is deeper than the previous seasons and the best-case scenario is that the Philly veterans stay healthy, and a deeper roster can get them past the second round of the playoffs.

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    Worst Case: The 76ers look good during the regular season and get knocked out of the postseason early. Philly has exceeded the league average in offensive and defensive efficiency over the past five seasons, yet failed to make the Conference Finals once in that stretch. Last season, the 76ers were outplayed by Miami and knocked out in the second round despite the Heat shooting 29.8% from 3. Harden also went scoreless in the second half of Game 6 while Embiid struggled with injuries throughout the series. Two years ago, Philly had the top seed in the East and lost to the Atlanta Hawks in the second round. On top of that, there is always concern about the wear and tear on Harden and Embiid as both continue to get older in their careers.

    The Bet: 76ers to win Eastern Conference (+700)

    Betting Spin: The time is now for Philly. It’s all or nothing this season with the veterans and depth on this team. If it doesn’t work it might be time to blow it all up. I would consider sprinkling some money on the Sixers to win the East at +700. While there is value on taking them to win it all at 14-1, so many stars have to align so I am going to go with Eastern Conference winner. I also think Harden is a good bet to lead the league in assists at +140. He averaged 10.5 assists per game with Philly last season, just behind Chris Paul (10.8).

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