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Fan Controlled Football is the latest Gimmick in America and it Makes the Big Bash look like a Hallowed Tradition

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Fan Controlled Football is the latest Gimmick in America and it Makes the Big Bash look like a Hallowed Tradition

DYOR Dave

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Fan Controlled Football is the latest revelation in American sports, giving viewers the opportunity to influence the game and rich celebrities another outlet to waste their money on.

First launched in 2021, the league now features 8 teams including the 8oki football club (owned by Steve Aoki and 888 crypto), the Glacier Boyz (owned by Migos rapper Quavo), The Zappers, and the Bored Ape Football Club just to name a few.

With 7 players on each team, a 50 yard field, and no kicking or special teams, the format promises a more entertaining product for the fans, and one they can get involved in.

The games are live-streamed on twitch, where viewers are able to vote on which plays to run in offense, as well as voting on decisions that have been sent to a replay referral.

The gimmicks don’t end there, with a wealth of extra incentives to keep eyes fixed on the action, like a game of Rock Paper Scissors instead of the coin toss, as well as three power-ups which include an extra down, removing an opposition player, and moving the ball back to the oppositions 10-yard line.

 

Instead of conversions, fans will each select one Wide Receiver and one player to defend. The Quarterback has three seconds to throw the ball and a point is awarded if successful from 5 yards, and two points for 10 yards.

If these rules weren’t already weird enough, the team’s rosters reset every week, with a draft deciding who plays where, apart from the two franchised players each team is allowed.

The 2022 season is set to kick off on April 16, and after a few months of regular-season rounds, the winners of the two divisions, the OGs, and the Ballerz, will face off in the final.

 

Fancy yourself as a bit of a writer? Got some unqualified opinion and unwavering bias you’d like to share with the world? Send it through to dyor@hellosport.com.au to be featured on the site

 

Check out the Latest Hello Sport Podcast episode #351 – Leading Men

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Why Did the MLB Secretly Use Two Different Types of Baseballs During the 2021 Season?

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Why Did the MLB Secretly Use Two Different Types of Baseballs During the 2021 Season?

DYOR Dave

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As a Cricket loving nation, Australians understand the influence that a ball can have on a game. Baseball fans in the US are now coming to realise this age-old law after revelations of widespread deceit from the MLB that could seriously undermine what little trust fans and clubs had left in the governing body.

At the start of the 2021 season, the MLB announced that they would be switching to a new ball that is two grams lighter, with the yarn centre being wound less tight than the previous version. While two grams may not seem like much, the new ball reportedly came off the bat softer and traveled shorter distances. What the MLB didn’t say was that they would still be using the old balls as well as the new ones during 2021.

The decision to switch to a lighter ball was made following a noticeable rise over the last few years of home runs hit, but clearly unconvinced by their decision, the MLB decided to A/B test both balls in the same season. A/B testing is commonly used on digital platforms, where changes will be made for some users and not others, in order to determine if the changes should be implemented overall.

While the secret change went just about unnoticed during the season, the unparalleled statistical analysis of baseball nerds and dribblers exposed the secret to the world. Meredith Wills is an award-winning astrophysicist at the Society for American Baseball Research, and clearly the biggest baseball dribbler in the world. She conducted a study of hundreds of baseballs used during the 2021 season, dissecting them and measuring them to reveal the alarming discovery.

She discovered that not only did the league use two different balls in 2021, but they even started trickling a few lighter balls into matches in late 2020. The MLB have come out and denied purposely testing out two different balls during the season, and they’re relying on one of the newest but easiest excuses to make, Covid.

The new balls have looser yarn, causing it to be softer and less dense

The new balls have looser yarn, causing it to be softer and less dense

 

Baseball manufacturer Rawlings, who are owned by the MLB, have cited production delays due to COVID-19 as their reason for continuing to use older balls, saying in a statement, “Because Rawlings was forced to reduce capacity at its manufacturing facility due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the supply of re-centered baseballs was not sufficient to cover the entirety of the 2021 season. To address this issue, Rawlings incorporated excess inventory into its shipments to Clubs.”

While this sounds plausible, the data collected by Wills tells a completely different story. As each ball has a serial number which allows her to determine when the ball was made, she discovered that while production of the new balls started in October 2019, the factory in Costa Rica would frequently switch back and forth between making new and old balls. After three months of producing the newer, lighter balls, they switched back to the old balls in January 2020, three months before lockdowns were implemented in the Central American nation.

In October 2020, new balls were once again being produced, but then in January 2021, they once again switched back to the old balls. Since then, Wills has found that balls produced since the start of the year have all been the older and heavier model, which indicates that the MLB weren’t being honest with the world.

While the fallout from this scandal is still unfolding, it’s fair to say that the ramifications of this could be wide-reaching in the American sporting landscape. With trust in governing organisations at an all time low, and a flurry of foreign money that’s seen the proposals of rogue ‘super leagues’ around the world, it’s anyones guess as to how the clubs and fans will react to this situation.

 

Fancy yourself as a bit of a writer? Got some unqualified opinion and unwavering bias you’d like to share with the world? Send it through to dyor@hellosport.com.au to be featured on the site

 

Check out the Latest Hello Sport Podcast episode #317 – Bandwagoners

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Absolute Dribble: NBA Week 5 is the Official Lebron Hate Week

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Absolute Dribble: NBA Week 5 is the Official Lebron Hate Week

by Joseph Murphy

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I think it’s the inherent jealousy of humanity that makes it so enjoyable to see the best of us falter? Maybe it’s something about seeing your own inadequacy in their brilliance that means you don’t mind when they’re taken down a peg or t1o.

Do you think when settlers discovered Canadian Redwoods they decided just to cut down a couple of the little ones since that was probably all they needed? Fuck no, they went and cut down the big bastards first and decided to make massive boats out of them – I think. So, when it comes to the NBA, there’s never been anyone bigger than LeBron, and after returning from injury LeBron has had himself a week.

The pile-on started immediately when Celtics bench warmer Enes Kanter, who has been very openly anti-China this season, posted a pair of shoes that contained an image of LeBron being crowned by Xi Jinping, in response to LeBron’s non-committal comments about China made during the 2019 off-season. Kanter then proceeded to wear those shoes in James’ return game, which the Celtics won handily. LeBron and Kanter have had their share of clashes but it’s mostly been one-way traffic: Kanter pulling classic moves like standing next to LeBron and yelling at him without making direct eye contact. I’m all for this most recent move, purely for the fact that it’s taken since 2019 for Kanter to come up with this.

Come his next game and LeBron is out there (unintentionally?) throwing bows and starting another shoving match. The most important thing I’ve learned from the whole non-event that was the push and shove was that Isaiah Stewart’s nickname is “Beef Stew”, and I’ll be sure to keep track of Mr Stew when he’s back from his upcoming suspension.

This all leads to the tantalising opportunity to pile onto LeBron, and certain media members who have made their careers criticising his every move are about to have a field day conducting frame-by-frame analysis of where LeBron’s elbow was and when. Just wait for some recently retired player who’s trying to break into the media come out and say “he’s a dirty player” to try to catch some attention. For my part, I’ll gladly join on this dogpile – Jordan’s better fuck you.

If LeBron has ever done you any hurt, this week is the time to get one back. Whether it’s about China, or Space Jam 2, or you just want to annoy some LeBron fans and say he’s old and he sucks now, I encourage you to join the growing chorus of dribblers in LeBron hate week.

 

Just try stopping Giannis

The Bucks are sitting in the 9th spot in the East, just above .500 with a 9-8 record. Some might call this a poor start for the reigning champions, but both Middleton and Holiday have missed games. Khris with an H is still looking a touch rusty in his return from COVID, yet to crack 20 points in the 3 games since his return. 

In that same stretch, Giannis has decided “fuck this, I’m not losing” and in his last 3 games is averaging 26 points and 16 rebounds, including a 32 point, 20 rebound effort in just 30 minutes against Orlando. That’s the NBA equivalent of scoring 5 tries in a half.

Defences used to try and force Giannis into taking his turnaround jumper outside the paint, which was one of his few weaknesses, often clanking badly off the rim. With his back to the basket, he could see fewer passes and if a defender could force Giannis to pick up his dribble they were much less likely to end up inspecting his nuts when he turned the corner and dunked all over them. Too bad for the rest of the league, but he’s hitting turnarounds now. 

In a small sample size, Giannis is good for 43% on his left-sided short-range jumpers and 46% at the elbow. Since Giannis made his leap to superstardom, he’s been a nightmare to give any space to since it just becomes a runway to the rim. If a defender needs to worry about guarding against a shot at the elbow then the man with the world’s strongest body is just going to straight-up bully them. Not to mention that he’s basically solved the “Giannis Wall” now too (where 3 guys would form a line across the paint and simultaneously defend him) becoming an advanced enough passer to hit wing scorers or spotting when the wall isn’t quite formed and busting through the gap for a huge dunk. 

I’m in the camp that Giannis doesn’t need a 3 point shot and if he could, just cancel the league. Maybe only Draymond and Kawhi could defend Giannis right now but if he could extend his game beyond the 3 point line the league would look like the 60s all over again when Wilt Chamberlain was rocking up hungover and scoring 100.

Someone is going to have to try some new gimmick against Giannis, because nothing else is working right now. We won’t see that until the playoffs since no one will want to give him a chance to work it out ahead of time.

 

I could not be higher on the Warriors

If you wouldn’t mind, it’s time to gush about the greatest team in basketball, if not world sport, right now.

It’s not just because Steph is the front runner for the MVP, or because Andre Igoudala has transformed from walking corpse to prime Iggy, or because Jordan Poole is the new young hot boy taking a leap.

Of course, Steph is the most obvious factor in the Warriors early success. In their recent win against Cleveland the Dubs pulled off a 35-8 fourth quarter to close out the game – Steph was directly responsible for 33 of those points. It turns out offense is pretty easy when the entire defence only pays attention to one guy. Big shock, Steph is the best shooter of all time, that’s nothing new.

What I can’t get over is the defence, which is sitting comfortably at #1 in the league. This is where Draymond proves why a guy who looks like he’s wearing a backpack when he shoots can get paid $24 million because he’s able to keep Durant scoreless over a quarter.

As pick-and-roll offense has taken over the league it’s become the habit of teams to switch everything. This invariably leads to teams hunting out mismatches on switchy defences, and highlight reels of centres being embarrassed by point guards.

That’s not to say that a switching defence doesn’t work, it’s just that it’s not as easy as saying “switch everything” and hope your guys can cover. In the Warriors case, when they switch, they keep switching. Whenever the Warriors are stuck with a defensive mismatch, Draymond, Igoudala or Kevin Looney are scrambling off-ball to replace the assignment, shutting down the advantage. Draymond and Igoudala are especially impressive, covering gaps in each other’s coverage without even speaking to each other, going on mental connection alone.

More than anything, Draymond is playing with the renewed confidence of a guy who knows his team is good again. He’s the absolute leader of the team, the voice you can hear constantly from the on-court microphones, even when he’s on the bench. He’s using that presence to keep the rest of the team engaged. Even when up 20 against Brooklyn last week, Draymond was screaming at his teammates like it was a game 7 after they gave up an easy layup. The majority of the team being relatively unscarred by the playoffs, and not being Kevin Durant and willing to talk back to the team crazy, are conforming to his ways and maintaining an elite defence.

I know some people don’t like Draymond’s antics, he gets away with genuine referee intimidation – even last game after not receiving a foul call he yelled directly into the referee’s face a good 5 times “CALL IT EVAN”. Obviously, I’m biased but I love how he cares so much about winning every possession that he is willing to make himself look like the worst guy in the league.

On top of all this – hey good on you Andrew Wiggins. The guy who everyone thought would be the face of the league within 5 years of being drafted has been playing genuinely good basketball. He’s not expected to do anything outside the system, which is perfect for him; he just needs to get to his spots and make his rotations on time. When he does that, he gets the ball in easy locations to score. When he does it really well, he gets to score a lot. It’s nice to see him pick himself back up after a rough couple of years in Minnesota.

As we head towards week 6 we’re sure to see just as much drama. We might even see a real punch thrown soon enough. If I could put money on it, I don’t know who I’d bet on to actually throw the first punch, but I’d like a market on the victim being Mason Plumlee.

 

Fancy yourself as a bit of a writer? Got some unqualified opinion and unwavering bias you’d like to share with the world? Send it through to dyor@hellosport.com.au to be featured on the site

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Do Americans Even Know What a Punch-on Looks Like?

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Do Americans Even Know What a Punch-on Looks Like?

DYOR Dave

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If you’ve visited any sporting website today, then you were probably greeted with headlines like “crazy brawl,” “Wanted to kill him,” or “hell breaks loose.” In a rarely-seen moment for the NBA, something resembling a fight occurred after Lebron James hit Isaiah Stewart, sparking a confrontation between the two where Stewart had to be held back.

While these events were exciting, thanks mostly to Stewart’s aggression and the blood spurting out of his face, there wasn’t actually a fight. There were a few pushes and shoves, people were held back and words exchanged, yet no punches were thrown, not even a measly slap. Yet news sites around the world are reporting on it like its Muhammad Ali fighting Chuck Norris.

For all their guns and macho attitude, it appears that Americans don’t even know what a proper fight looks like. It makes sense, considering their boxing matches are full of YouTube stars and NFL umpires now call a flag if you breathe too hard on a quarterback. It’s always exciting to see a bit of blood spilled in any sporting arena, but is this really what qualifies as a fight?

 

 

I’m not going to make a claim that the NRL features savage brawls every weekend, because even I will admit that the sport has been sanitized over the years, but a scrap like that would barely make headlines even on a slow news day. But between the NRL, AFL and even sometimes the A-League, the amount of punches thrown, suspensions served and players sent off, its clear that the mongrel attitude is still a part of the Australian sporting landscape.

Perhaps in the US, where sport has become merely a product beholden to sponsors, owners and personality cults, the amount of acceptable violence is far lower than in Australia where we still revel in the savagery of humanity. So while Australians can watch this “fight” with mild entertainment, we can take comfort in the knowledge that in our nation, the classic art of the punch-on is still cherished

If you want a reminder of what some real fights look like, enjoy these classic pieces of unique Rugba Leeg art.

 

 

Fancy yourself as a bit of a writer? Got some unqualified opinion and unwavering bias you’d like to share with the world? Send it through to dyor@hellosport.com.au to be featured on the site

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Absolute Dribble: NBA Week 4

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ABSOLUTE DRIBBLE: NBA Week 4

by Joseph Murphy

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To start with a philosophical point, the NBA might be the logical end of unfettered consumerism, and capitalism generally. During a time out in Sunday’s Clippers game, a member of the crowd was given $10,000 for arriving at the game 15 minutes early. The Clippers are doing this for every home game in November, giving away more money than I get paid in a year, just for punctuality. Meanwhile, all I’ve come home with from Broncos games in the last two years is heartbreak.

That’s not to say nothing happened on the court this week, that Clippers thing has just been stuck in my mind. This week has had its fair share of on-court action, including a tasteful shoving match between Rudy Gobert and Myles Turner, which saw Joe Ingles fly in and absolutely deck referee Ed Molloy in an attempt to break up the fight. The league certainly didn’t care about what Ingles did, as he was fined without missing any games.

That’s probably because Ed Molloy is one of the worst referees going around at the moment. My favourite Ed Molloy moment comes after a crucial no-call way back when Kevin Love was on the Timberwolves, giving the commentator an aneurysm as he screams “D’OH ED MOLLOY”.

I’m not going to suggest that Ingles had any intention of hitting Molloy, but you can’t convince me he didn’t scream “D’OH ED MOLLOY” on his way down the court.

Cole Anthony should be your favourite player

Historically, the Magic have been the kind of team you only watch if you couldn’t physically move from the couch and the game was already on the TV. Orlando have just come out of a rebuild where they drafted raw, athletic big men that couldn’t shoot for 6 years in a row and wondered why it kept going wrong. Now, Orlando is attempting another rebuild off the back of talented young point guards Cole Anthony and Jalen Suggs.

No one believes in Cole Anthony more than Cole Anthony, just watch one of his interviews. My personal favourite was last year, after hitting a game-winning 3 against Memphis, he began the interview “I do this. I was bred for this”, or when, without being asked a question he just started repeating “facts” and “shout out to the Magic”. That kind of confidence comes from his ridiculous skill-set, from him knowing he can step on the court, score 20 and give out 5 assists no problem.

Most of Cole’s game is focused on his excellent outside shooting, but he’s also ridiculously athletic. I don’t know how it’s possible for a 6 foot 2 guy but he jumps so high that it makes him look short, like he shouldn’t be able to physically occupy the space that he’s in. He’s all 3’s and dunks, explosions and fireworks. I want the Magic to do well now just so I can see Cole be interviewed as many times as possible.

 

Paul George has me feeling nostalgic

If there’s anything that’s true about the relationship between NBA players and fans it’s that love is fleeting. In a league with so much talent, it’s so easy to flip on a player when they do something you don’t like. It’s so simple to call a guy washed and move on to the shiny new toy when there’s a whole batch of shiny new toys every year.

Flashback to 2013 and Paul George and his Indiana team have just taken prime LeBron and the Heat to 7 games in the Eastern Conference Finals and have become everyone’s second favourite team. PG was tipped as The Next Guy, the LeBron Stopper, the future finals MVP. While he had some good seasons, ultimately those predictions all became true for his now-teammate Kawhi.

Since joining the Clippers, PG has had the full spectrum of experiences and hit basketball rock bottom when his corner 3 crashed into the side of the backboard during a crucial game 7 against Denver in the bubble. In that moment, the entire basketball world flipped on its former darling. Resentment had been building against PG the years prior, especially once he’d given himself the nickname “Playoff P” before immediately being knocked out in the first round of the playoffs.

Suddenly, PG is leading an overachieving Clippers side that shouldn’t expect to see Kawhi for the rest of the season and has me feeling nostalgic for the simpler times of 2013. He’s already had two 40 point games and even had 8 steals one night against Portland. He’s just fun to watch again: it’s like breaking out your old Nintendo 64 and firing up Ocarina of Time, it just feels right.

The Suns are starting to rev up

After a bombshell report was released about Suns owner Robert Sarver (who is allegedly a racist, sexist, terrible person), it was suspected that Phoenix would be enveloped by off-field drama, players being unable to escape a post-game conference without being asked whether they had been called a racial slur by their teams owner.

That article was full of bombshells against Sarver, who came back with some wild retorts via his lawyers. One that really stood out to me was him saying he had never used the n-word, because he’d once repeated the n-word after someone else had said it and been pulled up for it. I’m not going to pretend to be the world’s greatest lawyer but I think it’s a bad idea for your client to admit to doing the things they’re denying in their denials. 

Anyway, that situation isn’t so fun to talk about, especially when the Suns are on a 9 game win streak.

Phoenix mustn’t have realised games started back in October, which is fair since the schedule has been out of whack for two years now. Having not made the playoffs since 2010 before making the finals last season, the Suns didn’t realise the off-season gets a lot shorter when you keep playing until June. So who can blame them for starting slow when they’re used to a solid 5-month offseason?

Now that they’ve realised they need to win games to make the playoffs again, the Suns have made a job of doing just that. Even if it’s a small sample size, they’re playing fast, whipping the ball around in the half-court and sprinting out on the break. At age what, 42? Chris Paul has got this offence humming again and he’s never going to die, he’ll be in the league forever.

Phoenix look deadly and motivated by last year’s finals loss. The West is just as open this year as it was last, and the Suns have every reason to expect to be playing deep into the playoffs. In their next 2 games they play against Dallas, a genuine yardstick to measure how good both teams are, and there’s every chance their win streak goes out to 11.

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The future is now, young Cavs

(Authors note, I wrote this before it was announced that Mobley would be out 2-4 weeks with a shoulder injury, but I worked really hard on that Photoshop)

Going into this season, I wasn’t expecting to watch many Cleveland games. The Cavs looked frisky behind their lead guards Colin Sexton and Darius Garland (collectively, SexLand) but looked more like a building team hoping that number 3 pick Evan Mobley could develop in the next 2 or 3 years. I was completely wrong.

Mobley had some obvious defensive upside coming out of college; a skinny 7 footer that moves like a guard and can defend every position. That’s shown to be true in the start of his NBA career where he’s routinely shutting down possessions. More often than not, a guard will pass to the other side of the court just to avoid Mobley if they find themselves 1-on-1 with him and his 7 foot 4 wingspan, because fuck trying to get past that. Combine all that with his absolutely beautiful jump shot and his ridiculous playmaking and you’re in trouble.

The Cavs love a big game and have a habit of stepping up against better opponents. This may be teams underestimating them, but it’s encouraging to see them taking wins from Denver, Charlotte, and Boston, when they came back from a 19 point difference.

Cleveland are sitting 5th in the Eastern Conference, where they could stay for a while until the Bucks get healthy and Atlanta figures out the reason the same team as last year looks like they’ve never met before. They’re finally getting a taste of winning basketball after becoming an arid wasteland of basketball rejects post-LeBron, and they’re going to fight and claw for a playoff spot. Keep an eye out for this team, they’re going to have some more big wins.

 

Fancy yourself as a bit of a writer? Got some unqualified opinion and unwavering bias you’d like to share with the world? Send it through to dyor@hellosport.com.au to be featured on the site

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Absolute Dribble: NBA Week 3

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ABSOLUTE DRIBBLE: NBA Week 3

by Joseph Murphy

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Week 3 and I’ve figured out a title for this series. I had initially wanted to go with “Keeping up with the Terrorists” but I didn’t want to attract a readership interested in the movements of the Taliban, as well as the fact my employer knows I write these and wouldn’t feel great about me tacitly referring to crimes against humanity. Absolute Dribble also gives me an out, in the unlikely event I’m ever wrong – it was nothing more than Absolute Dribble.

Last week I was pretty critical of the Boston Celtics and gassed up the Miami Heat, who played each other last Friday. Boston took a huge win, holding the Heat to only 78 points with bone-crushing defence. You might say I had no idea what I’m talking about, but that’s not the whole story. 

Boston held a players-only meeting the night before their game against the Magic. My sources have revealed to me that Jaylen Brown read last week’s article to the team during that meeting, inspiring them to play well again. I’m told Jimmy Butler also sent a copy to the team group chat, making Miami complacent. If you want further proof of the influence of Absolute Dribble, look no further than Shai Gilgeous-Alexander hitting clutch logo 3’s against the Lakers. Speaking of the Lakers. 

 

The Lakers have handed the keys to their offence to a drunk driver 

LeBron will be spending as long as 2 months on the sideline due to an abdominal strain. Anthony Davis, whose joints are held together with bubble gum and paper clips, is due to start his usual run of 12 missed games due to some random injury soon enough. That leaves one remaining member of the Lakers alleged big 3 in charge: Russell Westbrook. 

I’ve avoided bagging Westbrook until now because for 3 consecutive years he’s started the year playing like an on-fire garbage can until suddenly working it out and averaging a triple double all over again. That’s been good enough to make it to the playoffs with the Rockets and Wizards, when he played alongside James Harden and Bradley Beal respectively, two guys who can comfortably be a primary playmaker. Without LeBron, Russell doesn’t have the benefit of another star who can carry the playmaking load until he starts to click. Take the ball in his hands and Russell refuses to cut or screen, effectively becoming a statue in the low corner of the paint. 

For all his physical talents and accomplishments throughout his career, Westbrook might be the single worst decision-maker in the NBA. Sure, he’s a 14-year veteran, a 9-time all NBA player and a one-time MVP but if you put him in a scenario where he needs to make a correct basketball play to win the game, he will do the exact opposite. 

Take your pick of any Westbrook’s late-game decision in Friday’s loss to the Thunder, where Russell pulled some of his classic moves, like driving into the lane as fast as he can and throwing the ball away, or completely forgetting who his man is on defence. This is a man who once left Tony Parker an open game-winning shot because he got confused that the Spurs jersey looked kinda like the referee’s and started guarding against a pass to the referee on the sideline. 

The Lakers will probably keep a winning record without LeBron and Russ will record a bunch of triple-doubles. Sure, you might (but you should never) have a few beers, drive on some empty roads and sneak back home unblemished. Once you get away with it a few times you think you’ve got it mastered, next thing you know you’ve run directly into a telephone pole at 100k an hour. The same fate awaits the Lakers should they be forced to rely on Russ.

Charlotte Hornets v Los Angeles Lakers

 

Big Body Boys getting themselves into trouble

I wanted to write about Philly’s recent run, putting together a tidy 5 game streak before going down to the Knicks in a game that Embiid was already going to sit out due to rest. The highlight of this run came in Chicago, when, after shutting the door on the Bulls with a game-clinching 3, Embiid turned to the jeering United Center crowd, throwing up a very intentional Jordan-shrug before waving goodbye to the front row.

Instead, Embiid’s immediate future is in doubt and he could be out for up to 10 days while covid runs through the team thanks to Olympic hero Matisse Thybulle. That’s not Embiid’s fault, but it sucks that he’ll miss games.

Having read that news, I decided to focus on the Nuggets, who’ve had a decent start to the season punctuated with some weird losses and a huge win against Dallas. Jokic is still in MVP form, leading the team in every statistical category and putting up the same if not better numbers than last year. At the time I made this decision, the Nuggets were beginning a 4 game home stand starting against the Heat, where they enjoy the enviable advantage of playing at altitude. Things looked great for the Nuggets and they had a big-league halfway through the 4th quarter. That’s when chaos erupted.

As Jokic crossed halfcourt, his arms above his head ready to throw a pass up court, he’s suddenly hit by known absolute-dog, Markieff Morris, who leads with his knee and his elbow, which he jams into Jokic’s rib cage. Jokic, a 7 foot Serbian who doesn’t like being hit in ways that could end his season, doesn’t take kindly to this contact and drops a shoulder into Morris as he walks away, completely folding him. It was an effort that fellow laundry-minded athlete Kane Evans would be proud of.

There’s a saying in law “he who comes into equity must come with clean hands”. It basically means don’t sue someone for fucking you over if you’ve fucked them over, but there’s a second part which often gets left behind, which is “let he who comes with unclean hands go out the back and throw”. I’ve got no problem with Jokic’s hit. Morris has a history of reckless fouls like this, stuff like throwing his feet under guys landing or pushing guys in the air enough times that he needs to be ready to get hit back. No one who touches my beautiful Serbian angel like that should expect to walk away uninjured.

Sadly, Jokic will miss a handful of games and a fine worth less than he earns in a quarter. This means that for the next week or so we’re going to miss out on watching two of the biggest guys in the league year apart defences with their overwhelming mix of skill and physicality.

 

Yes, Utah are great – so what?

Good on you Utah, everything looks great right now after another strong start to the regular season. Rudy Gobert hasn’t missed a rebound this year, no one can score on him and he’s even scoring at an improved clip. Meanwhile, Donovan Mitchell is one of the best offensive players in the league and Mike Conley is banging down off-the-dribble 3’s like it’s nothing, but what does all this achieve?

Look, I love this Utah team but I’ve been burnt too many times by them. As the founding member of the “Donovan Mitchell is better than Jayson Tatum Society” I have been super high on the Jazz’s recent chances of winning the finals on the back of their well-balanced roster, slick offence and at times impenetrable defence, which works perfectly, that is, until they get to the second round of the playoffs and fall apart.

Gobert was exposed on the pick and roll during last years playoffs and Utah had no answer defensively when Gobert was forced to switch onto a guard or move outside the paint. So far this season, Utah are just not switching and, credit to them, that’s worked so far. To be clear, they don’t need to improve, they just need to do it when it counts. Until that happens, I can’t have faith in this team as the contender they appear to be, because they’ll just burn me again.

Of course, you’ll note that I’ve avoided gushing over the Warriors, who have the best record in the league and the best defence in the league. I’m proud of myself for not spending 1500 words on why the Warriors throwback jerseys, which are reminiscent of the old 60’s jerseys, have allowed the soul of Wilt Chamberlain to inhabit Stephen Curry. I probably called it too early about the Dubs in week 1 as they’ve gotten better and more polished since then. Rest assured I’ll be ready to update you on Steph’s progress towards breaking all kinds of records this year – he’s only 89 away from the all-time 3 point record, give it a week.

 

Fancy yourself as a bit of a writer? Got some unqualified opinion and unwavering bias you’d like to share with the world? Send it through to dyor@hellosport.com.au to be featured on the site

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A Miracle from God: Jewish Yeshiva University are Currently on the Longest Winning Streak in Male College Basketball

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A Miracle from God: Jewish Yeshiva University are Currently on the Longest Winning Streak in Male College Basketball

DYOR Dave

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Before we get into the meat of this story, I’d like you, the reader, to try and think of any famous Jewish athletes or sportspeople, and as you undoubtedly come up short, you’ll realise how impressive this achievement is.

New York’s Yeshiva University is far more likely to produce accountants, doctors, and rabbis than Basketball players, however, the third division college team is now making headlines around the world for their unexpected success. Over the weekend, the ‘Maccabees’ cruised to their 38th consecutive victory with a 105-52 win against Penn State Schuylkill.

As someone who has always blamed a combination of my height and religion for a lack of sporting abilities (especially when it comes to basketball), this news brings with it mixed emotions. While I’m happy for the unexpected success of my brethren and the breaking of stereotypes, I can’t help but feel slightly jealous that the athletes in this team have been blessed with the rare gift of athletic superiority, something once thought extinct within Jewish genes.

Much of the Maccabees’ success over the last two seasons can be attributed to star player Ryan Turrell, who turned down offers from Div-1 schools to attend Yeshiva. Standing at 6 ft 7 inches with long blonde hair, it’s fair to say that the only stereotypically Jewish part of him is tucked in his undies during each game. While commentators have stated that he could easily make it in the European League, he’ll be pushing hard to grab the attention of NBA scouts and hopefully, become the second-ever Div-3 player to make the league, after the Heat’s Duncan Robinson.

 

Turrell’s success has somewhat overshadowed the tremendous team effort that has led to this winning streak, with the players evoking the spirit of the original Maccabees, a group of rebel Jewish warriors who existed from around 170 BC to 70 AD. The Maccabees fought against the Hellenisation of their land, as the ancient Greeks attempted to convert scores of Jews to Hellenism, which included having to reverse their circumcision.

Understandably the Maccabees were having none of this and rebelled against all things Greek, which included public sporting events such as wrestling and athletics. Ultimately the Maccabees overcame their oppressors, with the battle culminating in the ‘miracle of Hannukah’ which saw them find a tiny jug of unspoiled oil amongst the wreckage of their former temple. The oil ended up lighting the sacred candles for eight days, a streak that is nearly as unexpected as Yeshiva’s 38 match run.

The current streak only sits behind Women’s Hope College’s 45 game streak, and the ‘state of Israel’s’ 54-year streak of Palestinian occupation, but the Maccabees are hoping to continue their run all the way to the title this year. They line up against Eastern Connecticut State on Wednesday night and will look to make it 39 in a row, but they’ll play knowing they have already achieved far more than anyone expected of them.

So, could you think of any famous Jewish athletes? If you couldn’t, now you can. Remember the name. Ryan Turrell.

 

Fancy yourself as a bit of a writer? Got some unqualified opinion and unwavering bias you’d like to share with the world? Send it through to dyor@hellosport.com.au to be featured on the site

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The Heat are Inevitable: NBA Dribbler’s Week Two Update

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The Heat are Inevitable: NBA Dribbler’s Week Two Update

by Joseph Murphy

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Has this ever happened to you? You start writing NBA articles for a sports podcast and, in those articles, you make some pretty strong statements about a particular team. You pump up your articles in various group chats and a bunch of your mates start reading them, many of whom are fans of that particular team. Suddenly those strong statements are starting to look like they might be slightly incorrect and you’re getting daily updates on the reasons that you might be wrong in every group chat. Has this ever happened to you?

I’ve taken legal advice on whether I can be sued for defamation from Chicago and, until I am in receipt of that advice, will refrain from discussion of a certain bovine-based team. 

That being said, plenty else happened in the NBA this week that I can speak freely about. Balancing an NBA obsession and full-time work can be pretty tough, and I didn’t watch as many games as I’d like this week but somehow managed to watch the Oklahoma City Thunder three times. Because of this decision, I can’t tell you much about why the Jazz are good, or much about LeBron, but that’s the beauty of the NBA, there’s always a yarn ready. 

 

The new rules are the greatest

Having taken inspiration from the great St Peter V’landys, the NBA spent the summer tweaking its foul rules to drastically reduce the number of fouls called when an offensive player initiates contact. James Harden became so good at drawing fouls that it became a skill in and of itself: if a defender reached anywhere near the ball, he’d quickly wrap his arm around their wrist and pull upwards, throwing his head back like he’d been shot. 

The main culprits of these tactics have seen reduced scoring across the board and not just because they are taking less free throws. Last year, it was a reliable tactic to try and jump in front of defenders, stop suddenly and toss the ball at the hoop for free throws. Not only would a player get an easy attempt at two points and gain some confidence seeing the ball go through the hoop, but it was also an easy way to slow the game down. The new rules now result in a no-call and guys getting pounded into the floor.  

Because of these changes, the referees have swallowed the whistle across the court and let defences get away with far more physical play. Over the weekend, Kuzma two-hand shoved Tatum in the back directly in front of a referee and wasn’t called for a foul, which was a foul, but would have been an ejection last year. 

There will be a regression back to cheaper foul calls and the smartest players in the league will figure out a new way to exploit the rules, but for now, games are faster, more physical and have less bullshit. I for one am glad that games aren’t going for longer than 3 hours anymore. 

Oklahoma City Thunder v Orlando Magic

 

Is it really worth OKC being this bad?

I know the Thunder are meant to suck, they’re a young team with plenty of cap space and have so many future first-round draft picks that they’ve started scouting foetuses. It’s no secret that the Thunder are tanking for the best odds at a number 1 pick, but is it really worth it?

The Thunder are led by Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, their 23-year-old point guard who has proven to be one of the fastest developing players in the league. He’s not quite in the truly elite group of under 25 guys with Luka and Trae, but he’s just below them. Shai was traded to the Thunder in the Paul George trade after being picked at 11 by the Clippers in 2018. He’s an outlier in the sense that not all guys picked 11 could lead your franchise in the way that Shai can, but he’s proof that there’s value in the draft outside of the number 1 pick. He’s also worth a boatload of picks in any trade.

Alongside Shai is Lugentz Dort, one of the league’s best individual defenders who has also become a handy scorer. Then they’re complemented by this year’s 6th pick, Josh Giddey, of whatever the Adelaide team is in the NBL fame. I checked out the Thunder this week to watch Giddey, and I couldn’t stop watching them. Giddey came into the league with a reputation as a passer, and he has definitely lived up to that. He knows where everyone is on the court his teammates know that if they find open space he can always hit them with a sneaky pass at off-angles or through tight spaces. He’s a good enough shooter to keep his defender honest and has a decent pull-up floater in the lane. 

It’s clear the Thunder front office knows how to develop young talent and they’ve always drafted well. If they do get a number 1 pick there’s a very good chance they nail it and get another franchise player. But the road to a number 1 pick is paved with many, many losses. 

Obviously, I want to see Giddey and Shai play meaningful basketball, many of Giddey’s great passes are going to guys with cement hands. The Thunder have the money and the draft capital to completely revamp their roster and capitalise on the development of their leading players. This season, they might lose 70 games. Are the guys who are actually good now willing to stick around for many more of those seasons? 

 

The Heat are absolutely terrifying

This team was never going to suck, but I had thought that being a veteran team, they would use the regular season as an extended training session and not play their cards until the playoffs. What I forgot is that we could hit net zero tomorrow if only we could harness the competitive energy of Pat Riley and Jimmy Butler. 

The Heat have come out swinging this season and are currently on pace to have the best defence of all time. Jimmy Butler is on another level right now. He seems to move as fast as the ball at times, running alongside passes to snatch them out of the air. Oh and he’s also playing with Bam Adebayo and PJ Tucker, another two freak defenders. 

On the other end of the court, Tyler Herro seems to have gotten over his second-year slump and moved on from the curse placed on him by Jack Harlow. It’s the Mo Bamba rule – any song named after an NBA player will inevitably perform better than the player itself. Herro has been an absolute flamethrower from deep this year and has looked incredible coming in as Miami’s 6th man to torch second units. 

Spending too much time in the bubble seemed to ruin most teams and Miami had some bad luck with injuries and covid last year. High-level defence is sustainable when your team is full of psychopaths, and Miami is overflowing with them. The offence may dip off but Miami are going to be an absolute pain in the arse for the rest of the league. 

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Boston are starting to fall apart

It’s early, and Boston are 2-5 after two close double-overtime losses and an overtime win against Charlotte. If one or two shots go differently they could be 4-3 and there would be no cause for concern. I was pretty high on Boston coming into this season and thought they would be a decent chance at finally making it to the Eastern Conference Finals, but those chances are diminishing. Boston can barely beat anyone in a regular 48-minute game. 

This could just be a rough start, Jaylen Brown had covid just before the season, it’s always tough for a new coach, etc. Except Marcus Smart just openly called out Tatum and Brown, saying “They don’t want to pass the ball. That’s something that they’re going to learn. They’re still learning”. 

These kinds of comments come, usually from superstar players, with the subtext of ‘trade him or trade me’. If Smart is saying this to the media, what is he saying in the locker room? Marcus Smart is supposed to be one of the veteran leaders of this team. This is his 8th year as a Celtic and he’s their longest tenured player. So it says a lot when he openly criticises Brown and Tatum only 7 games in. I think it might be less of a case that two players who have been in the league for more than 4 years know how to pass and more of a case that everyone hates each other.

I wouldn’t say to ring the alarm just yet, but I think it would be a wise decision to become aware of where the alarm is located and how quickly you can get there. Like you’re in an airplane, count the lights between you and the exit row, just in case. 

As we head into another week, we’re starting to see the separation of powers as the top teams set themselves apart. Hopefully I won’t get caught up watching the bottom of the league again next week, but then again, I might spend all of next week watching Cole Anthony running the pick and roll.

 

Fancy yourself as a bit of a writer? Got some unqualified opinion and unwavering bias you’d like to share with the world? Send it through to dyor@hellosport.com.au to be featured on the site

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Everything You Need to Know From the First Week of the NBA

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Everything You Need to Know From the First Week of the NBA

by Joseph Murphy

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It’s been a week since the opening of the NBA season, and I am in total bliss. In just a week we’ve had a fight break out on between Anthony Davis and Dwight Howard on the Lakers bench, the beginnings of another Donald Sterling-esque scandal following whispers that Suns owner Robert Sarver is potentially as bad a person as he is a decision-maker, and the continued Simmons saga, as he attempts to make power plays against noted power player Daryl Morey. If rugby league drama is written by the writers of Home and Away, NBA drama is written by the writers of Succession, and it’s only been a week.

My favourite moment this week came in the Knick’s home opener against the Celtics, a double-overtime game in front of 20,000 screaming New Yorkers in Madison Square Garden. With 26 seconds left in the game Derrick Rose, the youngest MVP in league history, of horrific knee injury fame, takes advantage of a double ball screen from Randle and Fornier, drives the lane and banks a one-foot runner to ice the game. For a guy whose best years were denied to him because of injury, who would have been the point guard of a generation, who has bounced around the league the last few years to close out a game like that, it brings a tear to your eye.

I’ve watched enough basketball in the last week to be behind on nearly every other aspect of my life and instead of catching up on that, I’m choosing to impart to you what I’ve learned from not considering grocery shopping a priority.

Ja Morant is about to take over the league

Ja Morant broke my heart last year, but he’s so fun to watch that I can’t find it within myself to even dislike him. In the play-in game last year, he played the game of his life to beat the Warriors and advance to the playoffs, and has continued that form to start this season, averaging 35 points and 8 assists in his first 3 games.

Ja is a ridiculous athlete; he’s lean and wily enough to spin and slip between gaps in defenders on the pick and roll, or he can take a burst of speed and jump a foot above the rim for another absurd dunk. Ja’s playing like he’s just learnt a cheat code for unlimited points. He’s becoming the master of the play where he drives through three defenders at the hoop, comes out the other side and hits the circus shot behind his head. One of those plays that makes you realise that no matter how hard you trained you could never be an NBA player.

Ja is obviously the leader of his Memphis Grizzlies team, which is full of young talent and looks to be a real playoff threat. Hopefully, Jaren Jackson Jr can continue showing he’s a valuable number 2 behind him. I don’t think it’s unrealistic to think that he averages 30 points a game this season and takes the 6th seed.

 

I don’t care that the Bulls are 4 – 0

Yes, the Bulls have the best record in the league, partly because no Western Conference team has played 4 games yet. For all I care the Bulls could go 82 – 0, which they won’t, because they suck. The Bulls 4 wins have come against the Pistons, who they’ve played twice, the Pelicans, who are disgusting, and the Raptors, who can’t decide if they want to tank yet. In their opening game against Detroit, this apparently explosive offensive team only managed to score 14 points in the first quarter. Excuse me if I’m not falling over myself to hand them a championship.

The Bulls start playing actual NBA basketball this week, facing the Knicks, Jazz, Celtics and Sixers. They’ve enjoyed running train on teams not trying in the preseason and beating the bottom end of the league. This is a team that can’t defend a shadow who is now going to try and stop Julius Randle, Donovan Mitchell, Jayson Tatum and Joel Embiid. Reality will catch up with Chicago quickly.

 

The Warriors are 1 Klay Away

On the other side of the league, the Warriors and Jazz are both undefeated. As good as they are, the Jazz have only played 2 games so it’s a bit of an empty title for them. The Warriors, though, have just completed the California sweep, beating the Lakers, Clippers and Kings. Full disclosure, I kind of just made up the whole California sweep thing and I am unwilling to accept any criticism that I just made up an empty title to suit my own bias.

If you found yourself at a pub lunch on Friday you would have seen Steph Curry score 25 points in the first quarter against the Clippers, making all 10 of his attempted shots. The Warriors went on to let the Clippers back into the game, but Steph stepped up in the 4th, hitting two massive 3’s to close out the game. The second of those was a lesson in how dangerous he can be off the ball. Steph was double-teamed when taking the ball up the court and tossed it ahead to Damion Lee. In the space of three seconds, he zags behind Draymond, gets the ball back and it’s over – 3 points.

The Warriors play a unique offence based on movement and passing. In the last two years, with a roster mostly composed of guys who aren’t in the league anymore, it looked like the Warriors were drawing up plays on an old iPhone 7. It turns out that style works a whole lot better with guys who can actually pass, and a guy like Nemanja Bjelica has been a  welcome addition. Bjelica plays a sly-dog game of kicking out weird passes from odd angles which no one could ever expect him to make as well as possessing the ability to always find himself an open shot when he’s off the ball.  

The Warriors face the challenge of reintroducing Wiseman and Kuminga into the lineup, neither of which are great passers, but they don’t need to rely on either player to achieve success in the regular season and can have the luxury of bringing them in slowly. The real addition will be Klay, who could join the team as early as Christmas. The combination of ball movement which isn’t solely facilitated by Steph, letting him run around and cause havoc off-ball combined with the constant threat of Klay behind the arc is mouthwatering.

 

I really like Indiana and Sacramento, but I’m afraid they will betray me

I’ve found myself really drawn to this Indiana team, who, like always, should be a mid-tier Eastern Conference team who can threaten to make the second round at best. I’m interested in what Rick Carlisle will do with their offence and I love watching Sabonis on offence. He’s a renaissance man in the way he can score with his back to the basket, but he’s also a good enough shooter to play in a modern offence.

What I really love is his ability to run out on a fastbreak, go straight under the basket, throw his defender off him and finish with either hand. I’m just a sucker for how often he puts his defender on the ground and I can’t help but watch a few minutes of every Pacers game whenever I open League Pass.

On top of Sabonis, the Pacers drafted Chris Duarte, who immediately looks like he’s been in the league for 3 years. I don’t know why, but I’m optimistic that this team might have a solid run in them once everything starts to click. Of course, they could also completely crater, which would mean I’m going to waste another year watching random 6 minute stretches of Sabonis offence, hoping for a sign this team might do something.

Another team I’m starting to like, which I’m afraid to even say out loud, is the Sacramento Kings. I’ve been catfished by this team the past few years on the false promise that they can build something behind the rising talent of De’Aaron Fox. Like Indiana they too have a promising rookie in Davion Mitchell, who started his NBA career by putting the clamps on Damian Lillard and Donovan Mitchell. He’s got all the hallmarks of an elite defender and a real pain in the arse to play against.

The Kings have been such a dumpster fire throughout the last decade that even making the play-in game as a 10 seed would be considered a success. This season, they already pissed off the biggest player agent in the NBA, who tweeted their front office was a case study in mismanagement, and De’Aaron Fox’s dad, Aaron Fox, has probably gone and liked another tweet saying De’Aaron should be traded.  

Maybe I just like being hurt, but I just want to believe the Kings can do something this year and finally make use of the genuine talent they have on their roster.

Week 2 brings another week of high drama, probably another Simmons development and hopefully some more Lakers infighting. As usual, I’ll be commandeering the TV to make sure no one else enjoys themselves while I watch the third quarter of the Blazers against the Jazz.

 

Fancy yourself as a bit of a writer? Got some unqualified opinion and unwavering bias you’d like to share with the world? Send it through to dyor@hellosport.com.au to be featured on the site

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10 More Hot Takes to Pretend You Know the NBA: Part Two

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10 More Hot Takes to Pretend You Know the NBA: Part Two

by Joseph Murphy

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This is the second instalment of an introduction to the NBA world and its yarns, which is intended to help you pretend to your mates that you’ve got a clue what’s going on in the NBA. Catch yourself up on part one here. Part 1 is a guide to the 5 most supported teams in the league, enough for you to tread water in any general NBA conversation. Problem us, the NBA is competitive now as it has been in the last few decades and its stars are relatively well spread out across the league. 

There’s another problem, that being the obsessive nature of the NBA fan. Once the conversation has steered to the NBA, it’s parked there until everyone has purged themselves of their feelings about whether Rudy Gobert is overrated (he is, but at the same time, he isn’t). You’ve contributed your chosen take, thinking you were done and could put some real thought into the pub menu, maybe today you’d splash that extra few dollars for a rib eye (you won’t and you’re getting a parmy, stop lying to yourself); suddenly, you’re part of an hour-long degustation of NBA dribble. 

I’ve chosen the 5 most likely teams to come up in any follow up conversations. I’ve done market research on these, they’re the 5 teams that came up when I found myself stuck in a recent conversation with a relative of mine. Apart from being related, the only thing we have in common is the NBA, so we dribbled. 

Just remember, picking takes is like backing roughies, you have to accept the chance you’re wrong. But just like you might throw $10 at a roughie and win $500, when you’re right on a take, you’ve suddenly cracked the code. Just remember to never waiver, never apologise and never acknowledge when you were wrong. 

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Dallas Mavericks

Dallas is an intriguing team that for some reason I just don’t like this year. I know Luka Doncic is by far the best young player in the league, and he’s knocking on the door of the top 5 guys, but that’s it.

Top 5 is a good non-committal measure of who you think the most talented players are. You might even think Luka is part of that group. But think of the 5 best players and you’ll realise he’s still outside of it, for now. In order of bias, my top 5 are Curry, Giannis, Durant, Harden and Lebron. Luka is still in the Embiid, Davis, Dame, Kyrie group, which is perfectly fine for a guy who’ll only be 23 this season. 

Luka will enter his fourth season as the shortest odds for MVP for the second year in a row. He’s one of the most talented individual scorers in the league, a near-flawless playmaker and he’s gone from being a traffic cone on defense to having a slight presence on that end. There is no part of me that doubts Luka’s talent and he continues to improve every year; but, outside of him there’s very little that is positive about the Mavs. 

That might not matter, Luka has proven all he needs to win is the ball in his hands. He almost won an Olympic bronze medal without any recognisable professional players and hasn’t let the fact he’s never had a good team stop him in the NBA. 

Hot take: Luka drags the Mavs kicking and screaming through to the Western Conference Finals

This season, Dallas are going to pay Kristaps Porzingis $31 million and will likely need to keep paying him that much until 2024. That name might be familiar to the casual fan, you’ve probably seen his name on old Knicks jerseys, from the time where he was a 7 foot 3 super freak with seemingly unlimited potential who loved coming screaming in from the side of the court for huge putback dunks. Sadly, those days are gone and Porzingis is a ground-bound defensive liability who can’t accept that he’s not the focal point of the offence. Porzingis spent the playoffs being run ragged on defence, the Clippers constantly targeting him in pick and roll action.

Salary cap-wise, the Mavs can’t do anything without moving Porzingis on. This is the last year of Luka’s rookie deal and his salary will jump from $10 million to $35 million next year. Balancing the books gets pretty tough when you’re paying two blokes more than $30 million each and one of them doesn’t do anything. 

On top of that, the Mavs hired Jason Kidd as their new coach. Kidd is coming off two years as an assistant coach with the Lakers, which were suspiciously quiet., especially for Kidd.  I had expected that Kidd would have knifed Lakers head coach Frank Vogel within 6 months of the Lakers 2019-20 season, but Vogel was never under any pressure and very little was said about Kidd during his time at the Lakers. 

Kidd was formerly head coach at the Nets and the Bucks and has employed some interesting tactics during his time on the sideline. Whether it’s having a player intentionally knock into him so he can spill his drink onto the court for a free timeout, canceling Christmas for his players, or forcing players who don’t know how to swim into the pool, Kidd hasn’t developed much of a reputation for his X’s and O’s. 

Hot take: the Mavs are about to waste another year of Luka, Kidd will be fired by March.

Denver Nuggets v New Orleans Pelicans

 

Denver Nuggets 

Thinking about the Nuggets makes me sad. Coming into last year they were perfectly placed for a run to the title on the back of Murray and Jokic’s dominance in the bubble. In the regular season they didn’t show any signs of slowing, Jokic solidified himself as MVP and Michael Porter Jr showed massive improvement, shooting his dick off after the All-Star break. 

Tragedy struck in April when Murray went down in the 4th quarter with a torn ACL in his first game back from a 4 game absence. Last year was rough in terms of injuries and this was a real heartbreaker. There’s a chance that Murray will be able to come back before the playoffs this season and I’ve got no doubt Denver will be a playoff team again this year, but if Murray was healthy Denver would be my smokey pick to win the championship.

Hot take: nothing awaits Denver, just pain and sadness   

Denver will still be a great team this year and they’ve had an entire off-season to restructure their offence without Murray. They also have the most uniquely talented player in Jokic, a 6 foot 11 monster who sees 3 plays ahead on offence, who can hit any shot and at least once a game will do something you’ve never seen before. People can cast doubt on Jokic’s MVP, earned in a season where a lot of the major contenders had injuries, but that’s false, he was incredible last year. Jokic alone gets you to 40 wins. 

Every year Denver somehow unearths a gem on their bench, going back to guys like Will Barton, Torrey Craig and PJ Dozier, they’ve always had unexpected extra production from an overachiever. It’s not much more than blind optimism to think that Bol Bol will play more than 5 minutes a game this year but could you imagine him becoming an impact player off the bench? 

It’s a shame they won’t be able to show their full strength this year but don’t be surprised when Denver knocks out someone like the Lakers or Suns come playoff time. If you’re looking to pick a team and don’t want to look like a bandwagoner, pick Denver. 

Hot take: Denver have a puncher’s chance of making it deep into the playoffs

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Charlotte Hornets

 These guys are the absolute hot boys of the NBA. They are young, athletic and play ridiculously fast – not to mention they have the best commentators in the league. One moment they’ll be back on defence then as soon as they get their hands on the ball LaMelo, of Illawarra Hawks fame, will throw a no-look full-court pass with his left hand to Miles Bridges while their commentator, Eric Collins screams “HUM DIDDLY DEE!” If you consume basketball via Instagram, this should all be familiar to you.

 I was one of the many doubters LaMelo proved wrong last year, he put together a great rookie season and showed that even one truly elite skill, in his case passing, is enough to get you by in the NBA. He also showed enough of a shooting touch and a nice inside game to believe he’ll improve in those areas. He’s a traffic cone on defence but who cares about that when the game’s a race for whoever can score 120 first?

 Charlotte remains a young team with good veteran leadership in Gordon Hayward; every indication is that they will improve. Charlotte will be fighting for the playoffs anywhere in the 6-10 range with teams like Indiana, Washington, Chicago, Toronto, Cleveland – not the toughest competition.

 Hot Take: Charlotte will keep improving, make the playoffs and take an upset win in the first round

 Facing reality, Charlotte are one injury away from complete failure. When Hayward doesn’t play, they fall apart. Unfortunately, Hayward has had a string of injuries dating back to a horrific broken ankle in 2017 and has spent most of the last few years on the sideline.

 They also traded for Mason Plumlee this off-season. Plumlee is perhaps the least aware player in the NBA, especially in a big moment. During his time in the bubble with Denver, Plumlee was responsible for two game-winners, where he stood and watched his man score, then turned to his teammates to find someone to blame. You might argue that he won’t be on the court for big moments, but remember that he somehow had the ability to convince Mike Malone that he was needed in the clutch for a far more talented Denver team, twice. I hate that he’s on this team. This might be a disproportionate reaction to a bench player, but trust me, Mason Plumlee ruins basketball games. 

 This leads to the point that Charlotte only play one side of the floor. It’s all well and good scoring 120 but you need to stop the other team from scoring 130. Pre-season doesn’t count for much but Charlotte just lost to Dallas but 68 points, the worst loss in history.

 Hot take: Charlotte are a gimmick fake playoff team who are paper-thin

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Atlanta Hawks

Please join me in welcoming the new villain of the league, Trae Young. Trae spent the playoffs quieting crowds at Madison Square Garden, shimmying before shooting open 3’s, intimidating Ben Simmons from taking a lay-up so much that he’s now refused to ever play for the Sixers again, and showing everyone he’s one of the best young players in the league. I fucking loved every minute of it.

Atlanta ended last season strong, taking 2 games off the Bucks in the Eastern Conference Finals, one of which Trae scored 48 points, the other when Giannis’ knee bent the complete opposite direction. Last year’s success was ahead of schedule, but I refuse to believe that Trae, who again scored 48 in his Conference Finals debut, lacks the ability to do it again.

Not to mention Atlanta worked out how to use Bogdanovic properly in the second half of the season and they’ll get healthy versions of De’Andre Hunter and Cam Reddish back – really great guys to round out their lineup. Add to this the fact that John Collins has made a habit of taking his defender’s souls by catching lobs and dunking all over them.

I’m really high on this Hawks team and I can’t see a reason to doubt them. You can bank on Trae scoring 12 points in the last 2 minutes of a game and waving goodbye to the other team at least 3 times this year.

Come the greatest day of the year, Boxing Day, make sure you start your day watching the Hawks play the Knicks in Madison Square Garden. Knicks fans should have it out for Trae and he’ll embrace it. Prepare for at least one thrown bottle.

Hot take: Atlanta have announced themselves as a top team in the East and are a chance at the Finals

In anticipation of some fight back, I am willingly ignoring the fact that Trae abused the rules so badly last season that they had to change the rules. Inspired by James Harden, Trae led the league in free throw attempts last year by jumping into defenders trying to contest his jump shots, or stopping for no reason when someone was chasing him. You have to remember that Trae is a villain, and that is completely villainous behaviour which should be admired. 

Hot take: fuck you, there’s no negative take. Learn to love Trae.

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Milwaukee Bucks

It could be said that if you were ever going to sneak yourself a championship, it was last year. The Lakers were injured most of the season and quickly fell out of the playoffs, the Clippers looked dangerous until Kawhi tore his ACL, Brooklyn lost both Kyrie and Harden to injury, the Warriors were missing Klay, the Nuggets missing Murray and both Utah and Philly choked their chances away.

It’s easy to forget that this is the same team that was completely capitulated by Brooklyn in the opening 2 game of their series, who were also on the verge of firing their coach until they clawed their way back into the series. History is written by the victors, and the Bucks get to write the story of them rallying behind their dominant superstar as he hit another level in his career, instead of the story of a stilted offence that could be shut down by broken-down Blake Griffin. 

This is a great team, but for them to repeat last years’ success, they’ll need to be in the right place at the right time again and everyone’s luck runs out sometime. 

Hot take: there’s 0 chance the Bucks go back-to-back 

Instead, you could point to Giannis’ series winning 50 points in game 6 of the Finals, or his game 5 alley-oop, or his game 4 block. The man stood up in 3 crucial games and decided no one was going to beat him. That game 5 alley-oop sticks out in my head as one of the most fucked plays I’ve ever seen. After stealing the ball from Booker, Jrue Holiday has every reason to run straight to the corner and hold the ball, draw out the clock and wait for the foul: if he does that they win and he’s the hero. I had to watch the video to remember he stole the ball from Booker, that moment alone should stand out. 

Instead, he looks up and sees an absolute behemoth of a man crossing half-court unimpeded with his hand raised and Jrue tosses it up. There’s every chance the ball’s tipped, or Giannis doesn’t quite catch it, or he doesn’t make the dunk. But he doesn’t. The face of the franchise crushes it home and seals the game. Traditional wisdom says that’s a bad play, but going against traditional wisdom is what gets you Finals glory, and Giannis is dripping in enough Finals glory to get him through the next 3 seasons.

The team hasn’t changed all that much, PJ Tucker is out which is a loss, but at the end of the day, the only real question is whether Giannis is healthy, which he is – that makes them an elite team. Giannis isn’t scared of anyone in the East, and he’s so competitive he wants to go against Brooklyn, beat Harden and Durant and prove that he’s the best player in the world. He’s gotten better every year of his career, there’s no reason to think he won’t again.

Hot take: Giannis will prove he is the best player in the world, winning back-to-back finals and Finals MVP.  

There you have it, we’re about a week away from the NBA and you can talk shit about a third of the league. Hopefully, this has also got you hot and heavy for a big year of NBA. After a bubble season and a shortened covid season, this is the first 82 game NBA season since 2019. The league made it through covid fine, but there’s nothing like watching 20,000 rabid New Yorkers screaming in a packed Madison Square Garden on a Wednesday night. With such a packed season, the NBA is always there for you, there’s always something happening and there’s always plenty of people ready to dribble and yarn about it

 

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