Everything he needs is here, including a state-of-the-art gym, where we’ve set up to shoot the cover of SLAM 252. Behind one basket, stretching the entire length of the wall, is a blown-up image of Lillard’s series-clinching three-pointer against the Rockets in 2014; behind the other, the unforgettable shot that knocked out the Thunder in 2019. Other photos marking significant moments in Lillard’s life and career surround the court—of family and friends, of award ceremonies and celebrations, of dunks and game-winners. “All part of the story,” he says.

SLAM 252 featuring Damian Lillard is available now.

A year ago, Lillard wasn’t sure where the next chapter of that story would unfold. After requesting a trade in July, his summer plans had to be altered. He couldn’t play competitively—couldn’t train as rigorously as he likes to—knowing that an injury would compromise negotiations. He waited three months until the deal with Milwaukee was done, leaving him with just a few days to pack his bags and adjust to his new situation before training camp began. It was all so hectic.

This summer has been a refreshing change. Less business, more family. Less uncertainty, more peace. Less waiting, more action. Lillard has been able to focus on his training, embracing a holistic approach that includes a strict anti-inflammatory diet. He even spent four days in Las Vegas working out with retired Navy SEAL David Goggins.

As the 2024-25 season looms, Lillard is prepared in a way that wasn’t possible last September, both physically and mentally. Here, he reflects on the past year, his transition to Milwaukee, building chemistry with Giannis Antetokounmpo and much more.

SLAM: What was it like to work out with David Goggins and how did that come about?

Damian Lillard: We had had many conversations over the last two-and-a-half years about getting together and training. And he would always tell me, like, ‘Man, I could take you to the next level as far as your conditioning and your mind.’ And I wanted to do it. It was just a matter of finding the time and opportunity that fit both of our schedules. And that time came this summer.

It was definitely a challenge physically. A lot of those exercises and conditioning drills that he pushes you through are a challenge. It pushes you past your limits. But I think it was more of a mental thing than anything. You realize how hard it is to do those things, and then he’s constantly demanding more. I walked away from it just understanding myself a little bit better, as far as like what you have to give. There were a lot of moments [where] I was ready to quit. And he didn’t say, ‘Just give me a little bit more.’ He was demanding a lot more when I had nothing left. He kept saying, ‘Don’t just survive, you gotta conquer it.’ And the fact that I was able to do that, I think it did change something for me mentally as far as when I feel like I’m breaking down and wearing down.

SLAM: Reflecting on last season, what are the challenges that come with adapting to a new team that people on the outside tend to overlook?

DL: I think the number one thing people don’t understand is the change that it is for the person—the change that comes with picking up and going into a new environment. Sometimes you leave one job for another job and you might have to relocate, but a lot of people go job to job locally. They don’t have to pack up their lives and go to a completely different place. And that’s not something that everybody experiences the same as us.

The number two thing is having to learn to work with somebody new. And not just having to—being expected to work together and figure it out right away. And I think that’s something people don’t understand. They just look at, This player’s great, that player’s great, you got this, you got that, and they just think it’s supposed to work. But you gotta figure out how it works for everybody. Me playing with Giannis is one thing, but we have to figure out how we work best and how that works for everybody, because there are a lot of guys that have to be able to do what they do best and be in a position to succeed for the team to succeed. So I think a lot of people look at two [people], and they don’t look at the big picture of the entire team.

SLAM: Now that you’ve been able to get settled a bit in Milwaukee, is there a level of comfort and peace that you think will translate to the court?

DL: I definitely think there is. Like I said, being able to come back and do everything to prepare myself to the best of my ability is the first thing. I know that when this summer ends and I get ready to go back to Milwaukee, I’m gonna go back prepared, not just because of what I did for my body, my PT, my strength and conditioning and my diet—all of those things are great for me physically but being able to come here and I didn’t say, All right, this summer I’m gonna take off and go on all these vacations and do all these things. I spent a lot of time with the people that I really care about and that I want to be around, and that’s my kids, my mom, my nephews, my sister, my brother, my cousins. We didn’t do a whole lot, we just spent a lot of time around each other. And I think that that did me very well this summer. So going back knowing that I’m physically prepared and I’m mentally prepared and it’s a more familiar situation. We gained some stability with [head coach] Doc [Rivers]. Knowing who I’m gonna go play for, having a much better understanding of the team, knowing guys now—I mean, it’s just different. And all of those things give me a different level of peace going into it than I ever could’ve had last year.

SLAM: You talked last year about the challenge of figuring out who you are on the Bucks. With a year under your belt, have you figured it out?

DL: I think I definitely have a much better idea coming off of last season and only getting to know the staff better. Even over the summer, spending time around them, talking to them, and also being able to step away and look back, I have a much better idea what is necessary for me. I know that I don’t need to play the same type of game that I played for the first 11 years of my career, but I think my mentality has to be what my mentality has always been. Instead of trying to come and overly fit in, I think I was brought in to be who I am. I spent too much time trying to ease my way into, What does it look like?, instead of just asserting myself and being who I am. Looking back now and also being there for some time, I think my understanding of that is much better.

SLAM: How has your relationship and chemistry with Giannis evolved and where is it at now?

DL: I think it developed great over the course of the season. He’s not a super talkative person and I’m not a super talkative person myself. Over time, I’ve become [more outspoken] the more that I start to build relationships with people, especially on the team. And I think as the season went on, me and him definitely started to talk more and more, and I started to come to his house to do conditioning or work out together. We’re on the phone. I’m sending him clips and stuff like that. And this summer, we’ve been in constant communication. We both know that we need each other. I think he’s excited coming into the season just like I am, because we became a lot closer as the season went on and we started to learn [about] each other a lot better. So having a full offseason of being connected to each other and being able to go into this next season, I think we’re both going to be ready. And we’re both excited to do what we gotta do.

SLAM: Can you talk specifically about building pick-and-roll chemistry with Giannis? How has that developed?

DL: To start the year, we just weren’t in a lot of pick-and-rolls together for a long time. We were playing in transition, or I was in ISO, or he was in ISO. It just wasn’t a lot of pick-and-rolls. The best way to get chemistry in pick-and-rolls is to be in a lot of pick-and-rolls together. And I think it got to the point with Doc where he was having us in practice, just, Set it. Throw it to Giannis. Giannis, give it back to Dame. All right, Dame, throw it back. All right, Giannis, uphill DHO. It was almost like the team was laughing at us, just repping it out over and over.

Then in games, we ended up being in a lot of those actions together a lot more the second half of the year. I started to see what he was thinking, and I think he started to see what I was thinking, and then we would talk about it. Once you start to build chemistry, then I can start directing a little bit more because we are more connected, instead of me just trying to tell him what I want him to do [when] we haven’t even really worked together on it. [I was] wanting to give him the respect of, like, he might have something that he wants me to do a little bit different, but it’s hard to figure that out when you’re not in a lot of pick-and-rolls together. And as the season went on, I started to see how I can make the game easier for him, and I think he started to see what I needed from him to be free out of the pick-and-roll. And from here, I think it’ll continue to just get better.

SLAM: Do you feel like people are overlooking the Bucks heading into this season?

DL: Yeah, I think people are definitely [doing that], and that’s how the league is. It’s like, on to the next thing. There are younger teams on the rise, you have teams that made big free agency moves, teams that made trades, all types of things took place. So obviously that’s going to be what’s sexy. When I got traded to Milwaukee, it was like, Oh, the Bucks gonna win! Everybody just jumped on it, you know? So when something major happens or something big happens for a team, especially if it’s already a good team, like of course [that’s the reaction]. Rightfully so, all of those types of teams are going to be mentioned at the top.

SLAM: On the Club 520 Podcast, you talked about how consistency tends to get boring for people, to the point where it starts to go overlooked. Can you elaborate on that a bit and how you’ve seen that play out during your career?

DL: I think early in my career, I always felt like I was underappreciated. I had an underdog mentality. Sometimes even when I was getting credit, I felt like I wasn’t getting enough credit or they were ignoring what I was doing. And then I think I reached a point in my career where I started to get acknowledged how I felt I should be acknowledged. And then fast forward to being named to the 75th Anniversary Team, [that was] like, the ultimate nod to what my body of work has been and how consistent I’ve been since I stepped foot in the NBA.

But on the podcast, I was really just saying, like, I’m not loud and I’m not saying too much and doing all these things, but I’m always productive. Even in a season like last season where I feel like I could have been better in a lot of areas, I still had a productive season, and we were still a successful team throughout the season—a two-seed for pretty much the entire season. I think people just kind of look past it because of what they think we should be or whatever their personal opinions are. But the fact of the matter is, I’ve always been productive. This is gonna be my 13^th season, and I continue to just show up and be productive. And my team is always a good team. Over time, people are just like, Yeah, you don’t have a ring. What’s next? But I think they get bored with the fact that I just do it over and over and over and over and over. It’s like, Do something else. When it’s really, like, I’m showing up, putting my best foot forward.

SLAM: We see how much fun you’re having with your kids today. Can you describe the motivation that you get from them?

DL: I get a lot of motivation from being a dad and from my kids because how I was raised—like, the principles and the values that my parents raised me with—having my own kids, now I got even more pride about those things. There are some mornings where I gotta work out at 6:30 and I’ll get my kids up and bring them in here. They might have a tablet or whatever it is so they’re entertained and not getting in the way, but they’ll sit over there while I work out because I want them to be able to see, like, this didn’t just come out of nowhere. You gotta work hard for stuff. You gotta do stuff that you don’t want to do. A lot goes into the life that you guys have. And I want them, from a young age, to understand what it means to work hard for things and sacrifice. I say that to say, they have to see me be the ultimate example of what I preach to them.

And the motivation comes in where, if I’m being criticized, or if I’m struggling, or if something makes me uncomfortable, I think about my kids when I’m having to respond to those types of situations. I know that, especially with the internet and cameras being everywhere, there’s gonna come a day where my kids will be old enough to understand like, This was happening to my dad or, This was what people were saying about my dad, and there will also be evidence of how I responded to those things. Whatever the situation is, I’ll be the example for my kids and my nephews and nieces, where they’ll be like, He’s not just telling us this, there will be proof of, like, This is who I am. I think that’ll give them a sense of pride, because they’ll see it with their own eyes. And I feel that way because that’s how I feel about my dad. He said all this stuff to me and I see him walk that out. So that’s the kind of motivation I have. It’s not about—if I win a championship, that’d be great. That’s a cherry on top. But how you represent yourself and what you stand on as a human, I think that’s most important. So I get a lot of motivation from the opportunities to show that even when it’s a tough or a bad situation.

Portraits by Gabe Pineda, Victory Creative Group.

The post Home Team: Damian Lillard Talks Offseason, Building Chemistry with the Bucks and How His Family Motivates Him appeared first on SLAM.

An actress then in her seventies, Allison peered out at the group and saw one figure towering above the rest. 

His name was Rueben Chinyelu.

He was 14 years old and stood around 6-8.

Allison couldn’t believe her eyes. What was this boy doing here? Why was he selling clothes? She maneuvered through the crowd to find him. 

“Do you play basketball?” she asked Chinyelu.

He smiled and laughed, as he did every other time someone asked him that question. 

“I’m serious,” Allison said. “You could go to school playing basketball. You could further your education.”

This caught Chinyelu’s attention. The idea of playing basketball had never been framed to him in this way—as a possible ticket to a better education. And for some reason, it struck a different chord coming from Allison. Chinyelu had never played basketball before in his life. But suddenly, he felt compelled to pursue it. “I just think everything happens on God’s timing,” he says.

That was the summer of 2018. Six years later, Chinyelu is a 6-11 rising sophomore at the University of Florida. He transferred from Washington State University, where he played in all 35 games last season and finished fourth in the Pac-12 in blocks.

Growing up in the eastern region of Nigeria, Chinyelu was six years old when he lost his father. His mother raised him and his three older sisters, emphasizing discipline and education above all else. Chinyelu didn’t play any sports as a kid—not even soccer, which is by far the most popular sport in Nigeria. Instead, he focused entirely on his schoolwork and dreamed of one day becoming a doctor.

Everything changed that afternoon in 2018 when Allison, whom Chinyelu now refers to as his grandma, walked into his brother-in-law’s shop. Less than a week later, Chinyelu went to the National Stadium to register to join Raptors Basketball Academy. Despite his inexperience and rail-thin frame, he made an immediate impression on his new coach, Charles Ibeziakor. 

“I saw something that was different from the other boys that come to learn basketball,” Ibeziakor says. “I saw that this guy is going to be a potential player, a prospect, because of his hard work. He did not relent.”

Chinyelu’s discipline carried over from academics to basketball. If I’m doing this, I’m all in, he told himself. The team practiced Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to noon during the summer, but Chinyelu would come to the court at 6 a.m. for extra work. He trained individually with Ibeziakor every Sunday and watched tutorials on YouTube to tackle the fundamentals. Soon, his dream was to make it to the NBA.

Within a year, Chinyelu was picked to represent Nigeria in the 2019 FIBA U16 African Championship. He averaged 12.3 points and 17.6 rebounds (best in the tournament) to help his team place third. “He was one of the best,” says Ibeziakor. “From there, I knew that this guy was going to go places.”

Even before his debut for the junior national team, Chinyelu received interest from high schools throughout the United States, but his request for a visa was denied by the embassy. Eight times. And Chinyelu never really found out why. He was hurt, but undeterred. He just had to find a new path. “If I cry or get mad about it, I’m just doubling the problem,” he says. “I just never doubted myself.”

Coach Ibeziakor is also a scout for NBA Academy Africa, an elite basketball training center in Saly, Senegal. The Academy was established in 2017 to provide top high school-age prospects from across the continent with the tools necessary to pursue a future in the sport. Chinyelu arrived in 2021, having gotten much stronger after working out at home during the pandemic. He now had access to state-of-the-art facilities and was surrounded by the best young players in Africa, all of whom shared his ambition to reach the next level. In the school’s multi-purpose room, where the students eat, watch TV and socialize, pictures of African players who have made it to the NBA adorn the walls—a constant reminder of the goal they are all chasing.

With expert guidance from staff members such as technical director Roland Houston and head coach Alfred Aboya, Chinyelu improved dramatically at the Academy. “They have plays. Back home, we don’t have plays,” Chinyelu describes. “Just go play basketball, catch the rebound, pass the ball, make baskets. It was different getting breakdowns, extra workouts, when to work out, how to maintain your sleep. In the Academy, they didn’t just teach us about basketball—they taught us how to be a basketball player and also how to be a man. Because it all works together.”

Chinyelu founded the “6:00 a.m. Club” with Coach Aboya, a morning workout ritual that his teammates, who typically reported to the gym closer to 7:00 a.m., eventually joined. “He’s a tireless worker,” says Aboya. “He will bug you to work him out.”

The Academy competes in exhibitions and showcases across the globe, and Chinyelu also participated in the 2022-23 Basketball Africa League (BAL) season, averaging 5.4 points and 7.9 rebounds for Stade Malien. Since he started so late, his game—particularly on offense—is still being polished, but Chinyelu always brings energy and intensity. He becomes “a different person” on the court, according to former Academy teammate Seifeldin Hendawy. “Rueben’s game is so emotional,” Hendawy, an incoming freshman at Loyola Chicago, continues. “Super aggressive. When he comes between the lines, he just forgets everything. He doesn’t care. He’ll be dunking on people, destroying rims.”

Hendawy remembers one game of full-court two-on-two when Chinyelu “just went crazy” battling against fellow Nigerian and current Louisville big man Emmanuel Okorafor. The trash talk was flowing and the match-up was becoming increasingly physical. At one point, Chinyelu threw down a vicious dunk and let out a scream so powerful that it startled Hendawy and other spectators. “The gym was shaking,” Hendawy recalls with a chuckle. Houston eventually had to interject to settle things down a bit. “I’m him, Coach!” Chinyelu hollered at Houston, pounding his chest. “I’m him!”

That image stands in stark contrast to Chinyelu off the floor. He is soft-spoken, polite and eloquent, his comments peppered with the same sort of inspirational phrases that are taped up in classrooms at the Academy.

“Rome wasn’t built in a day.”

“The easy road is not always the way.”

“The only thing I can control is the present.”

“I know that something that is meant to happen is definitely going to happen.”

He has a calming presence that one could easily foresee translating into an excellent bedside manner. While his main objective remains to make it to the NBA, Chinyelu is also studying to become a dentist and plans to take summer classes to finish school should he leave early for the draft. 

Chinyelu joins a talented Florida squad (slotted at No. 20 in ESPN’s current rankings) and should assume a much bigger role this season after averaging just 13.8 minutes per game for Washington State. The Gators have several solid frontcourt options, but Chinyelu is projected to start at center. He arrived on campus at the beginning of June following a brief trip back to Africa, during which he visited family in Nigeria and caught the BAL Finals in Rwanda.

Watching him today, his first coach, Ibeziakor, is not surprised by the player Chinyelu has become. “Because I know the kind of person that Rueben is,” he says. “I know that Rueben will work extra to get there—to play in the NBA. And I believe that he will play [there] one day.”

Photos via Getty Images.

The post From Nigeria to Gainesville: The Improbable Journey of New Florida Big Man Rueben Chinyelu appeared first on SLAM.

Check out the top 30-21 players here and 20-11 here.

10. Klay Thompson

“Buckets and Chill.” The cover line from SLAM 215—featured below an iconic photo of Klay Thompson rocking sunglasses and lounging in a beach chair—pretty much sums it up. Laid-back off the court, Thompson has always been an assassin on it. He’s won four championships, made five All-Star teams and scored over 15,500 points with the Golden State Warriors. When Klay (also known as “Game 6 Klay”) had the hot hand, it was a wrap for whoever was on the other side. In 2015, he set the NBA record for points in a quarter with 37.

9. Devin Booker

If we’re talking pure bucket-getters, Devin Booker’s name has to be mentioned. The dynamic guard from Grand Rapids, MI, has developed a complete offensive game. He can attack the basket and finish around the rim; his mid-range arsenal is elite; and he’s a serious threat from behind the arc. Just go watch the highlights from his 70-point masterpiece in 2017 or his 59-point gem in 2019 or his 62-point outburst this past season. At 27 years old, Book is a 4x All-Star with even more room to improve. Rest assured, there are a lot more buckets to come.

8. Derrick Rose

D-Rose graced the cover of SLAM while he was a freshman at Memphis in 2007-08. The cover line read: “Fresh to Death. Derrick Rose is the NBA’s next big star.” Truthfully, that prediction could have been made even earlier, when the explosive guard was lighting up the court at Simeon Career Academy (IL) and made his appearance at the Top 100 Camp. In 2011, at the age of 22, Rose became the youngest MVP in NBA history. His career has been filled with adversity due to numerous injuries, but the 3x All-Star has persevered through it all to leave a major imprint on the game. 

7. Anthony Davis

From Perspectives Charter (IL) to the University of Kentucky to the NBA, Anthony Davis has more than lived up to the hype. It all started when the kid from Chicago hit a major growth spurt in high school, maintaining his guard skills while adjusting to a new big-man frame. Davis went on to win the Naismith Award, Wooden Award and an NCAA championship in his sole season at Kentucky before getting drafted with the first overall pick by New Orleans. He’s been hampered by injuries throughout his 12 years in the League, but Davis has still accomplished basically everything there is to accomplish at the highest level, including getting a ring in 2020. 

6. Kyrie Irving

The man with arguably the greatest handles of all time attended the Top 100 Camp back when he was a high school sensation in New Jersey. Irving spent one year at Duke before entering the 2011 NBA Draft, where he was picked first by the Cleveland Cavaliers. He’s been an All-Star eight times and sunk one of the biggest shots in NBA history in 2016, helping the Cavs complete their epic 3-1 comeback to win the title. With that shot and countless ankle breakers, mind-boggling layups and cold-blooded game-winners, Irving’s highlight reel is a must-watch. Really, it’s the work of a basketball genius.

5. Dwight Howard

Not too long ago, when the role of center was viewed very differently, Dwight Howard was perhaps the most powerful and unstoppable force in basketball. A young superstar at Southwest Atlanta Christian Academy (GA), Howard won Gatorade National Player of the Year and then was selected with the first overall pick in the 2004 NBA Draft by the Orlando Magic. He bounced around quite a bit after leaving Orlando in 2012, which led many to forget what he did during those early years in the League, including making five consecutive All-NBA First Team appearances and winning three consecutive Defensive Player of the Year awards. Consider this your reminder.

4. James Harden

From Artesia High School in Lakewood, CA, where he won two state championships and was a McDonald’s All-American in 2007, to now, James Harden has carved out an incredible career that frequently gets overlooked. This is a guy who averaged 31.7 points, 8.5 assists and 6.6 rebounds (!) over a five-season span from 2015-20—a stretch that included an MVP award in 2018. He was named to the NBA’s 75^th Anniversary Team in 2021, and deservedly so. 

3. Kevin Durant

Coming out of the DMV, Kevin Durant was one of the most hyped prospects in the nation. And since then, well, he hasn’t disappointed one bit. The future Hall of Famer has said that he probably would have gone straight to the NBA from high school if the one-and-done rule didn’t exist. Instead, he starred at Texas for one season and then got scooped with the second overall pick by the Seattle SuperSonics in 2007. Durant is undoubtedly one of the greatest offensive talents in NBA history, winning the League’s scoring title four times. When he has it going—which, over the past 17 years, has been a very common occurrence—there’s literally nothing anyone can do to stop him.

2. Stephen Curry

A slept-on prospect from Charlotte Christian School named Stephen Curry attended the Top 100 Camp before going to Davidson, where he became a 2x consensus All-American and led the Wildcats to the 2008 Elite Eight. The skinny kid with a baby face from North Carolina was still somewhat slept on, falling to seventh in the 2009 NBA Draft. But even those who foresaw greatness in Curry could not have predicted this: 10x All-Star and All-NBA, 2x MVP, 4x Champion and the all-time leader in three-pointers made. Oh yeah, and he completely changed the way the game is played.

1. Kobe Bryant

It was clear when he was dominating at Lower Merion High School in Pennsylvania that Kobe Bean Bryant was special. He was one of the first future stars to attend the Top 100 Camp, jumping straight to the NBA in 1996. It wasn’t long before he was dominating at that level, too. The résumé is undeniable—18x All-Star, 15x All-NBA, 12x All-Defense, 5x NBA Champion, 2x Finals MVP, 2008 MVP, the list goes on—but Bryant was most defined by his relentless work ethic, remarkable determination and absurd competitiveness. The Mamba Mentality, as his approach to the game and other endeavors came to be called, continues to inspire people everywhere.

The post NBPA Top 100 Camp Top 30 Players: 10-1 appeared first on SLAM.

20. Jason Richardson

Don’t let those epic dunk contests—and they were definitely epic—in the early 2000s distract you from the bigger picture: Jason Richardson was an all-around hooper who had an incredibly productive 13-year NBA career. The Michigan native was the fifth overall pick in the 2001 Draft and made an immediate impact for the Warriors, posting 14.4 ppg as a rookie. For the next nine seasons, his scoring average never dipped below 15 and rose as high as 23.2 in 2005-06. Perhaps the most telling stat about J-Rich? Of the 857 games he appeared in, he started 842 of them.

19. Richard Jefferson

Kids, listen up: Before Richard Jefferson was on TV talking about the game, the man could flat out ball. The versatile forward out of Arizona played for eight teams over a 17-year NBA career. He was a key piece of a notable New Jersey Nets squad that reached the Finals twice, falling short to the Lakers in 2002 and the Spurs in 2003. RJ would finally get his ring as a veteran in 2016, coming off the bench for the Cavaliers when they overcame a 3-1 deficit to topple the Warriors.

18. Lamar Odom

A 6-10 point forward from Queens, NY, Lamar Odom’s game was extremely unique and made him extremely difficult to contain. He could handle the ball, initiate fastbreaks and orchestrate the offense. He had outstanding court vision and knew how to make plays for his teammates. As he once told SLAM, “Since New York City basketball is mainly a guard’s game, I learned how to be a guard.” He could control the post, isolate on the wing and work off the ball. That versatile skill set led L.O. to become a 2x NBA Champion and the 2011 Sixth Man of the Year. From 1999-2011, he averaged 14.6 points, 8.9 rebounds and 4 assists. 

17. Rajon Rondo

Shortly after 4x All-Star and 2x Champion Rajon Rondo, who ranks 15^th on the NBA’s all-time assist list, made his retirement official back in April, LeBron James said this about his former teammate: “One of the best players I ever played with. Obviously, his IQ was out of this world. I was very lucky to get to team up with him…’Do always talked about if he ever teamed up with me, he knew we could win a championship. And we did that.” When you earn praise like that from one of the greatest to ever do it, nothing else needs to be said. Rondo returned to camp as a participant in the Top 100 coaching program, paying it forward to the next generation of basketball greats. 

16. Joe Johnson

It didn’t matter what uniform he was wearing or what arena he was hooping in or who was guarding him, you could always count on Iso Joe to take over in crunch time. The man had ice in his veins. During his 18 years in the League, Johnson hit an absurd amount of clutch shots and game-winners. His best years were spent with the Hawks, but the talented guard also got buckets for the Suns and Nets. He scored over 20,000 points for his career, made seven All-Star teams and delivered countless unforgettable moments.

15. LaMarcus Aldridge 

He was one of the top high school prospects in the nation, the Big 12 Defensive Player of the Year while at Texas, the second overall pick in 2006 and a 7x NBA All-Star. And still, LaMarcus Aldridge’s career tends to be underrated. From 2008-20, the big man averaged 20.2 points and 8.6 rebounds. During that stretch, when LMA caught it on the low post, it was game over. He was a maestro in the mid-range, and his touch around the basket was always money. Just ask Trail Blazers’ and Spurs’ fans about Aldridge—they’ll have a lot of fond memories of watching this dude ball.

14. Jermaine O’Neal

A superstar at Eau Claire High School in Columbia, SC, O’Neal jumped straight to the NBA in 1996, drafted with the 17^th overall pick by the Portland Trail Blazers. It would take several years and a trade to the Indiana Pacers for J.O. to unlock his full potential in the League, but when he finally did, the big man was a serious problem. He won the Most Improved Player award in 2001-02 and appeared in six straight All-Star Games from 2002-07. Overall, he spent 18 seasons in the NBA with seven different franchises, but that run with the Pacers was definitely the most memorable. And in a full circle moment, his son, Jermaine O’Neal Jr., is attending this year’s camp. 

13. Trae Young

A lot of crazy crossovers and nutmegs and lobs and deep threes come to mind when you think of Trae Young, and rightfully so. But the image that stands out the most? The Atlanta Hawks guard at Madison Square Garden, holding a finger to his lips after silencing the crowd with a game-winning floater during a first-round playoff matchup against the Knicks in 2021. Shhhh. That moment perfectly captured Young: a fiery, fearless, trash-talking competitor with the ridiculous talent to back it up. There’s a reason they call him Ice Trae.

12. Jaylen Brown

Here’s how Kemba Walker described Jaylen Brown to SLAM back in 2020, when the two were teammates: “He’s a guy who’s worked extremely hard at his game. He can do it all. He can score, he can pass, he can rebound, he can shoot. He’s fearless. He’s a competitor.” Brown was Georgia’s Mr. Basketball in 2015 and played one season at the University of California, Berkeley, before being drafted third overall by the Boston Celtics in 2016. The athletic forward has blossomed into a star for the Cs, helping them contend in the Eastern Conference year after year after year. Since attending Top 100, Brown has stayed involved with the NBPA, becoming one of the youngest players elected to the NBPA Executive Committee in 2019.

11. DeMar DeRozan

DeMar DeRozan’s journey has brought him from the West Coast (Compton and Los Angeles) to the North (Toronto) to the South (San Antonio) to the Midwest (Chicago). Along the way, he’s been a McDonald’s All-American, a Pac-10 Tournament MVP, a lottery pick in 2009 and a 6x NBA All-Star. He spent the first nine years of his NBA career in The 6, where he became the Raptors’ all-time leading scorer and reached the playoffs five times. He’s had more standout moments since, including averaging a career-high 27.9 points with the Bulls in 2021-22. Salute to a real one.

Action photo via Getty Images.

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Campers receive mentorship from current and former NBA players and follow an advanced training regimen designed to prepare them for the next level. In addition, every camper participates in group discussions and classes centering on topics such as stress management, recruiting pressures and more. 

Since ’94, hundreds of NBA players have come through the Top 100 Camp. This year’s event is set to take place at the ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex at the Walt Disney World Resort near Orlando, FL, from June 8-13.

But first, to celebrate 30 incredible years, we’re looking back at the top 30 NBPA members who have hit the court at the Top 100 Camp.

30. Zach LaVine 

Of all the high-flyers on this list, Zach LaVine might have the craziest hops. At 6-5, 200 pounds, he somehow makes zipping past defenders, soaring through the air and punching a nasty jam over a seven-footer look effortless. His jaw-dropping highlights and incredible performances in dunk contests—like his legendary duel with Aaron Gordon in 2016—alone make him a suitable candidate for this list, but LaVine is also a two-time All-Star and an elite all-around scorer who has averaged over 20 points per game for his career. 

29. Zion Williamson 

It’s rare for a high school player to land on the cover of SLAM. But then again, it’s rare for a high school player to be like Zion Williamson was in 2017. The kid from Spartanburg, SC, demanded our attention, regularly going viral on social media for his unfathomable dunks and blocks. The eventual cover line: “He’s 16. He’s 6-7. He’s explosive like Russ. He dunks like LeBron. Are you ready for Zion Williamson?” No lies told. In fact, at the Top 100 Camp in 2016, he was named MVP. Unfortunately, the Zion experience has been limited in the NBA due to injuries, but when the New Orleans Pelicans star has been healthy, he’s been an unstoppable force who still lights up social media.

28. Bam Adebayo

In an interview with SLAM in 2019, Jimmy Butler described his teammate Bam Adebayo—now a 3x All-Star—perfectly: “He works super hard and he’s everywhere on the floor. You need him to pass it, he can pass it. He rebounds, he handles the ball, he sets great screens. You can’t take him off the floor. He’s a key part to what we want to do and what we will continue to do. [Head coach Erik Spoelstra] knows—in order to win, you gotta have Bam out there on the floor.” That all still applies today.

27. De’Aaron Fox

Don’t blink—you might miss De’Aaron Fox do something spectacular. The lightning quick guard was a McDonald’s All-American in high school, ranked as one of the top recruits in the nation. He went to the University of Kentucky for one year, starring alongside Bam Adebayo and Malik Monk, before entering the 2017 NBA Draft, where he was picked fifth overall by the Sacramento Kings. Slowly but surely, Fox has developed into an All-Star and made the Kings exciting and relevant for the first time in a long time. 

26. Karl-Anthony Towns

We have seen very few big men in the history of the NBA with the versatility and skill set of Karl-Anthony Towns. That’s to say: We have seen very few big men in the history of the NBA who are just as comfortable behind the arc and in the mid-range as they are in the paint. KAT, now 28, stands seven feet tall, has averaged 10.8 rebounds per game over his nine seasons in the League and is a career 40 percent three-point shooter. And he just helped lead the best Timberwolves team in two decades all the way to the Western Conference Finals.

25. DeAndre Jordan

During those peak Lob City years, DeAndre Jordan owned the paint for the Los Angeles Clippers. He controlled the glass, averaging 13.1 rebounds per game from 2013-18. He protected the rim, averaging 1.8 blocks over that same span. And occasionally, he threw down a dunk so vicious, so powerful, so unbelievable, that teammates and fans were left wondering what the hell just happened (please go rewatch his poster on Brandon Knight). Jordan now brings veteran leadership to the Denver Nuggets, where he helped the franchise capture its first championship in 2023.

24. Donovan Mitchell

Twelve teams passed on Spida in the 2017 NBA Draft. Twelve. Mitchell, who hails from Elmsford, NY, and went to college at Louisville, made most of those teams regret that decision almost immediately. He averaged 20.5 points as a rookie and was an All-Star by his third season. He’s now made five straight All-Star Games, including in 2023 when he was named a starter. Very few players in the League possess Mitchell’s combination of athleticism and skill. To put it plainly: the explosive guard—currently on the NBPA Executive Committee—is impossible to stop. And at 27 years old, he’s just entering his prime.

23. Al Horford

For the past 16 years, Big Al has been a big presence in the NBA. The reliable center is still playing a pivotal role for a historically good Boston Celtics team that just tore its way through the Eastern Conference. Horford was a star at Grand Ledge High School in Michigan, won back-to-back national championships at the University of Florida (2006, 2007) and has been named an All-Star five times during his lengthy NBA career (four times with the Hawks, once with the Cs). And he ain’t done yet. 

22. Kyle Lowry

When he entered the League in 2006, Kyle Lowry didn’t take off right away. In fact, it wasn’t until his fifth season in the NBA that the 6-0 point guard, who had been traded by the Grizzlies to the Rockets in ’09, became a permanent starter. Lowry hasn’t looked back since, guiding teams in Houston, Toronto, Miami and Philly with his hard-nosed, aggressive, energetic style of play—a style that has made him a fan favorite and earned him six All-Star selections. In the North, where he won a championship in 2019, Lowry will always be known as Mr. Raptor.

21. Baron Davis 

Baron Davis was an artist with the basketball. Ridiculous dribble packages, flashy assists, monster posters—the 1997 Gatorade National Player of the Year and two-time NBA All-Star always put on a show. After starring at UCLA, Davis was the third overall pick in the 1999 Draft and helped lead a formidable Hornets team for the first stretch of his pro career. He later joined the iconic “We Believe” Warriors squad that advanced to the second round of the 2007 playoffs as a No. 8 seed. Injuries robbed us of more years watching him play, no question, but when the electrifying guard was at his best, that was some of the most entertaining ball to watch.

The post NBPA Top 100 Camp Top 30 Players: 30-21 appeared first on SLAM.

NBA Academy Africa, an elite basketball training center in Saly, Senegal, had been founded in 2017, roughly a year before one of its coaches, Joe Touomou, began recruiting Chomche. At first, the answer was no. Chomche’s parents had been reluctant to let him play basketball in the first place, so this was out of the question. “My parents didn’t want me to do any activities except school because my family values education a lot,” Chomche tells SLAM. In order to join the local team, he had struck a deal with them: Chomche could play, but if his grades suffered at all, he would have to quit.

So far, Chomche had not slipped up. But this was a much bigger ask. Basketball was new to the Chomche family. None of Ulrich’s 16 siblings played, instead gravitating to soccer, by far the most popular sport in Cameroon. Ulrich grew up helping out on the family farm—not dreaming of a future in the NBA. 

Initially rejected, Touomou returned to Cameroon to meet with Chomche’s parents again. He outlined just how much the Academy could benefit Ulrich, both on and off the court. Not only would he work with topnotch coaches to improve as a basketball player—he would also receive a first-rate education and have the chance to travel the world with his new classmates. This time, Touomou was able to convince them.

Not long after, the kid from Bafang arrived at the impressive campus in Saly. Everything had changed in a blink. Chomche was shy, quiet and surrounded by strangers, many of whom he struggled to communicate with. Courses were taught in English—a language that the French-speaking Chomche didn’t know. He was set up with a tutor, while also adjusting to a strict new basketball regimen. At his size with his agility, Chomche certainly had the tools to become a dominant big man. But he was still learning the basics of the game. 

“When Ulrich came, he did not know basketball,” says Franck Traore, Head of Basketball Operations for NBA Africa. “He could move [well], we evaluated him properly, and the coaching staff at the Academy obviously worked with him every day. We believed in him.”

Chomche’s team back in Bafang had practiced just a few times per week; at the Academy, he was practicing multiple times per day. He trained with experienced basketball minds like Touomou, who played four seasons at Georgetown University (1995-99), served as an international scout for the Indiana Pacers and is a longtime camp director at Basketball Without Borders Africa (where he coached NBA stars Joel Embiid and Pascal Siakam). 

“What really [made Chomche] take off was the mentorship piece,” Traore explains. “He needed that. As soon as we had that in place, his mindset shifted. He believed in himself—that he could do it. And his game took off.”

From the beginning, Chomche displayed an incredible work ethic. His current schedule at the Academy sees him report to the gym around 5:30 am every day for an individual workout, followed by a team practice and an hour of weightlifting—all before morning classes start at 10:00 am. For a while, Chomche was also taking night classes (after a second team practice from 5:30-7:30 pm) so that he could graduate early (which he did).

“What I like about the Academy is that they don’t only teach you how to play basketball, they teach you how to be a man, too,” Chomche says.

Every time he took the floor—whether it was in practice, a global exhibition game, the Basketball Africa League, or a premier scouting event—Chomche looked less lost and more confident. Less clumsy and more polished. Over the past five years, he has matured from a complete novice into one of the most promising international prospects. 

Last week, Chomche, who now stands 6-11 with a 7-4 wingspan, officially entered his name in the 2024 NBA Draft. He is expected to become the first NBA Academy Africa graduate to be picked. Given the rise of basketball across the continent, there will be many more to come. Chomche’s close friend Khaman Maluach, a 7-2 center from South Sudan headed to Duke in the fall, is projected to be a top-three pick in 2025. The two proudly represented the Academy in the recent Nike Hoop Summit, an annual high school showcase held in Portland, OR.

“It’s a good thing that I have my brother with me because every time we practice in the Academy, we say we are preparing for a war,” Chomche says of Maluach. “Every time we practice, we are competing. And I’m very grateful to have him with me because he helps push me every time.”

Together they have been a dynamic duo for the Academy, often carrying the team. In December, they led their squad to two impressive victories at the G League Winter Showcase, starring in front of hundreds of NBA executives and scouts. Chomche flashed what makes him such a special prospect: mainly, his defensive versatility. He possesses both the athleticism to protect the rim and the mobility to switch onto guards on the perimeter. At the 2022 Basketball Without Borders camp in Cairo, Egypt, Chomche won the Defensive MVP award.

“His biggest strength is defense,” Traore says. “First of all, his size and length—you cannot teach that. He was born with it. It’s a gift. Great rebounder. Great shot blocker. The timing is exceptional. And his lateral movement, being able to defend, that’s already a gift for him. I think that’s half the battle for him. He’s adding a nice three-pointer. He can shoot from the corner and make them consistently. During the games, when we need it, he’s able to make those shots.”

Chomche is still developing his offensive game and will need time to adapt to the NBA. He’s just 18 years old—the youngest player eligible for the 2024 Draft. Training at the Academy over the next few months, Chomche is focused on improving his ball-handling, shooting and finishing around the basket. He has shown signs of being able to spread the floor—during Basketball Africa League qualifiers in November, he shot 38 percent from behind the arc (8/21), while also averaging 13 points, 9 rebounds and 2.7 blocks.

Marshall Cho, who coached Chomche at the Nike Hoop Summit, says the Cameroonian center has “some of the most elite feet for a guy that size.” Cho points to Chomche’s help defense and screen-setting as evidence. “Those are two things that he can do that don’t require shooting,” Cho stresses. “So all the criticism of his touch around the rim or whatever it may be—that he’s raw—he has a base that the League needs right now. Beyond that, if you’ve seen him shoot the three, he can actually really shoot it. He has that in him.”

Above all else, Chomche is “a winner,” says Traore. He does the little things and always finds a way to make an impact, even if it doesn’t show up in the box score. “I would be surprised if Ulrich went his entire career in the NBA without a championship,” Traore continues. “Having some of the best coaches in the world work with him every day, Ulrich will be a starter in the NBA for over a decade. That’s who he is.”

Regardless of what the future holds, Chomche is already one of the Academy’s best success stories. How far he’s come since joining the program is validation that the initiative is working—that leaving Bafang was definitely worth it.

“He comes from a very humble background,” adds Traore. “He’s representing his family very, very well.”

Photos via Getty Images.

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Jimmy Butler is everywhere these days.

There he is at the US Open, serving as an honorary ball boy for an exhibition match between Carlos Alcaraz and Frances Tiafoe. There he is in the new music video for Fall Out Boy’s “So Much (For) Stardust,” sporting his now-legendary “Emo Jimmy” look. There he is in ads for Hulu, Alo, State Farm and Hotels.com. There he is sampling products for BIGFACE, his budding coffee brand, and at the first-ever Reserve Cup, a padel competition that he helped bring to Miami. There he is at the Kaseya Center, soaring for lobs and knocking down threes.

And here he is at ZZ’s Club Miami, singing and dancing along to Lloyd’s “You,” breathing energy into the club’s swanky sports bar. He is, after all, five cups of coffee in, and it’s just 2:30 p.m. (he drinks 10-12 cups a day, by the way). A wide-ranging playlist booms through a handheld speaker—everything from “Let Me Love You” by Mario to “Jamming” by Bob Marley & the Wailers to “Loop Hole” by Tee Grizzley featuring 21 Savage. In between posing for photos, the Heat star snacks on sushi and sips an old fashioned.

Welcome to Jimmy Butler’s SLAM cover shoot, and welcome, more broadly, to his ever-growing universe, where you’re invited—err, encouraged—to be your authentic self at all times. To follow whatever passions you may have.

SLAM 249 featuring Jimmy Butler is available now. Shop here.

Butler is a man of many interests: coffee, wine, country music, tennis, padel, soccer (which he calls football), dominoes, spades, UNO, traveling—the list goes on. He is always up to something, always surrounded by family and friends. His house in Miami doesn’t even have TVs. Instead of binge-watching shows, Butler does things like chase tennis balls around Louis Armstrong Stadium in Queens, NY, because, well, it’s fun and he felt like doing it. He is currently working on his own country album; right now, it features 62 songs (!) and Butler, who has played a DJ Khaled-like role, is debating whether to hop on one.

“He loves to get into a whole bunch of stuff that you wouldn’t think he would enjoy doing,” says Butler’s teammate Caleb Martin. “He’s just super active, man, whether he’s doing something on an off day or meeting up with certain types of artists or playing dominoes or going to tennis matches. He’s definitely a dude full of surprises.”

Surprises like…starring in that aforementioned Fall Out Boy video in an all-purple cowboy outfit. 

“Anything to shake up anything on the internet and continually be myself, be happy and love my life and what I’m doing, I’m down,” Butler says. The video was shot over All-Star break and it dropped less than two weeks later. And yes, it shook up the internet.

Butler strikes a difficult balance: he doesn’t take life too seriously, but he is also extremely competitive. He cracks jokes, but often leaves people wondering…was that really a joke? 

“Don’t be fooled because you see me on TV or a commercial or a billboard, I do a lot of the same stuff y’all do,” he says, before adding with a grin, “I’m probably just better at it than all y’all…but I can’t help that.”

The truth (and irony) is, Butler engages in many extracurricular activities, such as tennis and songwriting, “to humble” himself. He wants to experience firsthand the challenges of other professions. Of course, he is also certain that if he keeps working at something, he will excel at it. He has a burning desire to be the best at everything he does. 

To win at everything he does. 

Take spades, for example. The Heat like to play on the team plane during long road trips. “When I say he does not lose, he does not lose,” forward Jamal Cain says. “Me and Haywood Highsmith beat him once and he was kind of shitty after that. I kind of saw it in his face. He’s very competitive. He does not like to lose.”

Or take dominoes, which might be the game Jimmy is best at (including the one he’s famous for). “He’s a top-five, top-10 dominoes player in the world,” claims Chris Brickley, Butler’s trainer. “I know this because he and [Colombian singer] J Balvin have flown in the top dominoes players in the world, like, world champions. And he’s beat them.”

“That’s some Jimmy shit,” Martin remarks with a laugh. He and his twin brother, Cody, are a rare duo that have actually beat Jimmy in dominoes. “And we ain’t played since,” Martin says. “On and off the court, he doesn’t like to lose. He’s ducking me, for sure. Ever since we played him, he tells me and my brother, ‘Y’all are The Funky Brothers.’ Me and Cody play funky, so it messes him up.”

Butler brings that same competitive mindset to his brand, BIGFACE, which he is very dedicated to building. Along with the BIGFACE team, he has visited Colombia and Ecuador on a quest to find the best coffee. He is even trying to master latte art and how to make the perfect cappuccino. 

“People can see this on the court as well—his dedication to something and to knowing everything there is to know about it translates from basketball to coffee,” says Britt Berg, Chief Operating Officer at BIGFACE. She and Butler text about coffee almost every day. 

BIGFACE is set to open its first brick-and-mortar shop in Miami later this year, a milestone that Jimmy is eagerly awaiting. “When I’m not practicing, when I’m not with my kids, when I’m not in a game, I can tell you where I’m gonna be, and that’s in this coffee shop, meeting all the fans of myself and of coffee,” he says. “Because I do love coffee, I do want to bring the best coffee to Miami. I don’t think there’s a spot like that here yet, and I want the first BIGFACE café to be that, so that’s where I’m gonna be. And we need that. Miami needs that…along with a championship!”

Ah, yes. We should probably talk a bit about basketball. It’s mid-March when we shoot this cover—or, as Butler calls it, “that time.”

Allow him to elaborate: “It’s the time where people really gotta think about going up against the Miami Heat and myself. I know what I’m capable of. I know what my squad is capable of. And don’t nobody want to see us in a seven-game series anyways. We know that.”

We do.

Miami finished eighth in the Eastern Conference with a 46-36 record. But, then again, the Heat entered last year’s playoffs as the No. 8 seed before going on an epic run to the Finals. In 2019-20, the League’s bubble season, Miami reached the Finals as the No. 5 seed.

“Nobody can tell you anything right now,” Jimmy says. “There are three things that you gotta have in order to win a championship: you’ve gotta be playing your best basketball at the right time, you gotta be healthy, and you gotta be lucky. That’s just the way that it is. So can’t nobody tell right now who’s going to have all three of those things.”

Butler quietly had another stellar year, posting 20.8 points, 5.3 rebounds and 5.0 assists per game and shooting a career-high 41.4 percent from behind the arc. Don’t expect him to be launching more threes in the postseason, though. “I just don’t like shooting threes because I want to run into you,” he says. “I want to hit somebody. You can’t hit nobody if you shoot threes. I want to see who’s going to quit first. I’m gonna keep running in there, I’m gonna hit you, and I’m gonna hit you again, and I’m gonna hit you again, and we’re gonna see who’s gonna quit.”

That sounds like something the fabled and fearless “Playoff Jimmy” would say, doesn’t it? Only thing is, Butler continues to deny that Playoff Jimmy exists. 

“That’s not a thing for the hundredth time,” he insists. “Playoff Jimmy is not a thing. Emo Jimmy, thing. Football Jimmy, thing. Tennis Jimmy, thing. Daddy Jimmy, thing. Zaddy Jimmy, thing. But Playoff Jimmy, not so much.”

OK, fair enough. But worth noting: over a four-season stretch, Butler has led Miami to the Eastern Conference Finals three times and to the Finals twice, averaging 24.7 points, 6.8 rebounds, 5.7 assists and 1.9 steals through 64 playoff games. During the 2020 Finals, he registered two triple-doubles, including just the third 40-point triple-double in Finals history. In Game 6 of the 2022 ECF, he hung 47 points, 9 rebounds, 8 assists and 4 steals on the Celtics to force a Game 7 (one of four 40-plus-point performances he had that postseason). He set a franchise playoff record with 56 points in Game 4 of last season’s first-round series against the top-seeded Bucks, then followed it up with 42 points in Game 5 as his team pulled off one of the biggest upsets ever. 

Butler will admit that things “ramp up a notch” this time of year. Amid the last few weeks of the regular season and into the playoffs, he and Brickley start working out the night before every single game. They study the defense Miami is about to face and try to replicate the exact situations Butler will find himself in. What spots on the floor will be open? What shots will be available? What switches might occur? Butler’s basketball IQ is “probably the highest IQ out of any player I’ve worked with,” says Brickley.

Martin, who has been with the Heat since 2021, notices a “mental shift” in Jimmy as the playoffs loom. “I think him having the experience of going through this phase so many times, he knows how to time stuff up with his body, and then [there’s] the mental part of it, too, him just being so steady mentally,” Martin explains. “He’s very strategic. He knows when it’s time to ramp up. He knows what games probably hurt more than others or whatever the case is. Everything he does, he thinks about.”

The added reps in the gym help, as does Butler’s very calculated approach. But if there’s one reason to believe Playoff Jimmy is real, and that other teams should fear his impending arrival, it’s this: Jimmy Butler is fully confident in who he is and what he’s capable of. There’s a comfort in that, a peace. Any feelings of self-doubt and pressure are gone. He doesn’t care one bit what others think about him—what others predict he and his team will or won’t do.

That type of confidence has a way of rubbing off on the people around him: friends, colleagues, teammates. 

“When you have a leader like that, it gives you a sense of confidence in your abilities and what you’re doing,” says Berg.

“The first thing I noticed with Jimmy, he’s very comfortable being in his skin. He doesn’t care what anyone thinks about him,” Cain adds. “Seeing how he carried himself and how confident and comfortable he was in his skin only made me more comfortable being who I am.”

Cain remembers one game day when he and other members of the Heat huddled up to pray before taking the court, as was their ritual, and requested that Jimmy turn down the music he was blasting. “Y’all need to be praying to me!” Butler responded. “He said it in a joking manner, but just the fact that that was the first thing on his mind, I was like, Wow, this is Jimmy in a nutshell,” Cain recalls with a chuckle.

It’s no coincidence that Butler describes the Heat as being “overly confident in a good way.” In large part, that identity stems from him. Despite the ups and downs of the regular season, Butler has no doubt that his team has what it takes to make another deep playoff run. 

Why? 

“We just have a different way of going about things,” he says. “Our coaching staff cares and they’re constantly studying how we can make everybody on our roster stick to their strong suits and stay away from the weak points of their games. Ownership cares—they’re at every practice, they’re on the plane. We’re talking to one another. We really fuck with one another, which is a good thing. And, um…” 

He pauses for a moment and flashes a sly smile. 

“I’m on the team. So, I’m taking my chances every time.” 

Portraits by Alex Subers

The post The Undeniable Realness of Jimmy Butler: Heat Star Talks Leadership, Staying True and the Playoffs appeared first on SLAM.

Of course, G League players are always being watched by decision-makers at the NBA level—but never by so many, at the same time, and so blatantly. Most of the bigwigs there to evaluate sit just two or three feet off the court, laptops and notebooks open, ready to decide fates.

Daunting is perhaps the most appropriate word, considering all that’s at stake. The Winter Showcase offers G Leaguers their best chance to impress NBA higher-ups, just a few weeks before teams can begin offering 10-day contracts (January 5), which can be worth significantly more than the standard G League contract of $40,500. 

The talent level at this year’s Showcase—hosted, for the first time, in Orlando, Florida—was perhaps the highest it’s ever been. Here’s a look at some of the top performers:

2023 All-Showcase Team (selected by the G League)

Brandon Goodwin

Guard

Westchester Knicks

24.7 points, 5 rebounds, 9.2 assists, 1.7 steals

Winning matters to scouts, so the teams that advance further in the tournament attract more attention. Goodwin, a 28-year-old guard who has bounced back and forth between the G League (71 games) and the NBA (133 games) since going undrafted in 2018, led the Knicks to the Showcase championship and claimed MVP. After scoring 33 and 28 points in Westchester’s first two games, he struggled to find his shot in the Finals, but still contributed 13 points, 13 assists, 8 rebounds and 2 steals. Asked during the trophy presentation what he showed NBA personnel over the past four days, Goodwin’s teammate, Charlie Brown Jr, answered for him: “That he a dog!” 

Trevelin Queen

Guard

Osceola Magic

25.5 points, 10 rebounds, 5 assists, 3.5 steals, 64.5 FG%, 52.6 3P%

Nothing new here. Trevelin Queen, who’s on a two-way with the Orlando Magic, has been lighting up the G League for a while now. As a member of the Rio Grande Valley Vipers in 2021-22, he won both the regular season and Finals MVP awards. With help from teammates Mac McClung and Brandon Williams (who just earned a two-way contract from the Dallas Mavericks), Queen guided the hometown Magic to a 2-0 record. 

Jarace Walker

Guard

Fort Wayne Mad Ants

21.7 points, 5.7 rebounds, 1 steal

Assigned by the Pacers for the Showcase, rookie Jarace Walker helped the Mad Ants reach the championship game, where they ultimately fell short to the Knicks. The 20-year-old out of the University of Houston flashed the versatile skill set that made him the 8^th pick in the 2023 NBA Draft, scoring from all over the floor. In Fort Wayne’s first game—a win over the Capital City Go-Go—Walker nailed six threes and finished with 31 points. 

Darius Bazley

Forward

Delaware Blue Coats

31.5 points, 14.5 rebounds, 2 steals, 5.5 blocks, 57.9 FG%, 41.2 3P%

Just look at those numbers. Bazley, the 23^rd pick in the 2019 NBA Draft, dominated on both ends at the Showcase. In a tight win over the Texas Legends, the dynamic forward posted 43 points (on 63% shooting!), 18 rebounds, 3 steals and 6 blocks. He’s been in the public eye for so long—it was the fall of 2018 when he made the groundbreaking decision to forgo college and intern for New Balance while training for the NBA—that it’s easy to forget Bazley is just 23 years old. And the Blue Coats star is clearly getting better.

Jontay Porter

Forward

Raptors 905

22.5 points, 12 rebounds, 4.5 assists, 1 steal, 2 blocks, 66.7 FG%, 70 3P%

Jontay, who’s on a two-way with the Toronto Raptors, is more of a big man than his older brother (Nuggets forward Michael Porter Jr) but can also stretch the floor—in two wins at the Showcase, he shot 7/10 from behind the arc. Through 16 games with the 905, the 24-year-old is averaging a double-double. 

Other Standouts

Terence Davis

Guard

Rip City Remix

31.5 points, 5 rebounds, 3 steals, 61 FG%, 51.9 3P%

The former Sacramento Kings guard joined the Rip City Remix—the new affiliate of the Portland Trail Blazers—right before the Showcase, where he hit 14 threes in two games. 

Ethan Thompson

Guard

Mexico City Capitanes

30 points, 5.5 rebounds, 4 assists, 3 steals

Thompson has been in the G League since 2021 and improved every season. His three-point percentage has jumped from 30.5% (2021-22) to 36.4% (2022-23) to 39.2% on seven attempts per game this year.

Blake Wesley 

Guard

Austin Spurs

27 points, 3 rebounds, 2 steals, 59.5 FG%, 83.3 3P%

On assignment from the San Antonio Spurs, Wesley—the 25^th pick in the 2022 NBA Draft—took care of business at the Showcase, leading Austin to two victories.  

Terquavion Smith

Guard

Delaware Blue Coats

31.5 points, 4.5 rebounds, 2 steals 

In the same game that Bazley put up 43, Smith, a 6-4 guard on a two-way with the Philadelphia 76ers, dropped 40 points of his own on 12/23 shooting.

Miller Kopp

Forward

Oklahoma City Blue

24 points, 5.5 rebounds, 53.8 FG%, 60 3P%

The Blue went 2-0 at the Showcase, thanks in large part to the red-hot shooting of Kopp, who buried 12 of his 20 attempts from deep.

Trey Jemison

Center

Birmingham Squadron

13 points, 17 rebounds, 2.5 blocks

Playing in his first Showcase, Jemison, a 6-10, 260-pound center from the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB), made his presence known, controlling the paint for the 2-0 Squadron.

Jordan “Jelly” Walker

Guard

Texas Legends

27.5 points, 10 assists, 2 steals, 50 FG%, 50 3P%

Walker, Jemison’s former teammate at UAB, has been an impressive floor general for the Legends all season long. In his first Showcase outing, the 5-11 guard notched 23 points, 15 assists, and 3 steals.

Photos via Getty Images.

The post A Look at the Top Performers from the 2023 G League Winter Showcase appeared first on SLAM.

The closest public court to Maluach was a 45-minute walk away and shared by multiple areas. “It was always packed,” he says. “If you had to go work on your skill set or work by yourself, you had to come maybe at 2:00 pm, when nobody’s there because it’s hot.” 

Such limited access led Maluach to pursue other hobbies as a kid—primarily soccer. “The lack of facilities is the main thing,” he tells SLAM. It wasn’t until the end of 2019 when Maluach, then 13 years old, was persuaded to attend a basketball camp organized by former NBA All-Star Luol Deng, who also hails from South Sudan. Merely a spectator that day, Maluach was encouraged to see people his height (6-8) thriving on the floor. Basketball seemed like a game that he, too, could dominate. He had always been taller than his peers, eventually sprouting to a towering 7-2.

Not long after, a chance encounter in Kawempe launched Maluach’s own basketball journey. He was walking home one afternoon when Akech Wuoi Garang, a local high school coach at Bethel Covenant College, spotted him. Mesmerized by Maluach’s stature, Akech slammed the brakes on his bike and immediately went into recruiting mode. It mattered little that this rail-thin teenager had basically no basketball experience—Akech urged him to come play at Bethel Covenant, where his tuition would be taken care of. 

“I trusted Akech because he was a South Sudanese coach,” Maluach explains. “He gave me a scholarship to go study at school. By then, school tuition was hard, so I took the scholarship and it motivated me. That’s how I got into the game.”

Maluach arrived at Bethel Covenant in January 2020, determined to make the most out of the opportunity. “As soon as I knew I could get a scholarship to a high school in Uganda, I knew that basketball could change my life,” he says. But a few months later, COVID-19 shut down life in the country, disrupting Maluach’s training. Stuck at home, he found creative ways to keep working. A big tire served as his hoop. He dribbled the ball Akech gave him everywhere. He watched clips of the NBA, studying stars such as Giannis Antetokounmpo, Kevin Durant, Anthony Davis and Joel Embiid. By the time he returned to school, Maluach was a completely different player.

The NBA Academy program, a year-round basketball development initiative, provides top high school prospects from outside the U.S. with elite coaching. Through a vast network of scouts and relationships with federations around the world, the academy is able to identify promising young athletes, all of whom receive full scholarships and become full-time students. NBA Academy Africa was founded in 2017 in Saly, Senegal, at the same time that academies opened in India and Australia. Since then, it has uncovered emerging talents like Thierry Darlan and Babacar Sané, both of whom play for G League Ignite, and Portland Trail Blazers center Ibou Badji. 

“All over the world there’s so much talent,” says Chris Ebersole, head of international basketball development at the NBA. Other prominent NBA Academy graduates include Josh Giddey (Australia), Dyson Daniels (Australia), Bennedict Mathurin (Latin America) and Olivier-Maxence Prosper (Latin America). Ebersole continues: “If we can be proactive in making sure that that talent has the resources, the coaching, the infrastructure, and the competition, that helps make sure that there’s not a gap for people to slip through, which is a real thing in a lot of places around the world. For us to have a small part in trying to do that and build a pipeline—build a pathway—so that no matter where you’re born you have a shot, it’s really meaningful for us.”

On Wednesday, April 16, 2021, NBA Academy Africa offered Maluach a scholarship. For the next three nights, as he prepared for his trip to Senegal (and his first-ever plane ride), Maluach barely slept, overwhelmed with excitement. When he arrived, the jovial and driven South Sudanese kid—who’s always wearing a smile—made an immediate impression. 

“He’s one of the most impressive young people you’ll ever meet,” Ebersole says. “It’s amazing how he carries himself with humility, with respect. That’s the thing that we love the most about him.”

Adds Franck Traore, head of basketball operations for NBA Africa: “Khaman is one of the most genuine and wonderful kids that we’ve ever seen. We’ve never had any single issue or complaint from a coach—from anyone—since he joined the academy. Always trying to do the right thing, always on time, always wants to do extra, have to kick him out of the gym.”

Days at the academy are long and busy—six hours of school plus four hours of training—but Maluach doesn’t mind the work. He has embraced a holistic approach to his development, which includes an emphasis on nutrition as well as strength and conditioning. “I never spend a day without working on my skill set,” Maluach says, “so that I can catch up with the guys who started way before me.”

Alfred Aboya, head coach of NBA Academy Africa, was born and raised in Cameroon and played at UCLA (2005-09) before a six-year professional career that included stints in France, Japan, Venezuela, Turkey, and the G League. Aboya knows firsthand the obstacles African players face without the support of the academy. 

“I think the Achilles heel of African basketball has always been infrastructure,” he says. “We don’t have a lot of it. With NBA Academy being in Africa and having a gym open 24/7, you can go there and work and work. I think hard work works. If you’re in the gym all the time working on your craft, it will just be a matter of time until you start flourishing.”

For Maluach, improvement came at an unbelievably fast pace. He has developed a skill set that’s unique for seven-footers, especially those who just picked up the sport in 2020. On defense, he protects the rim with his 7-6 wingspan and has the versatility to switch onto smaller guards. He runs the floor exceptionally well, finishing fastbreaks with thunderous dunks. According to Traore, player development at the academy has started to focus increasingly on shooting. The evidence is clear with Maluach, who displays a smooth stroke and launches three-pointers without hesitation.

Those around the academy have been struck by how easily Maluach seems to pick up new skills. To call him “a sponge,” Traore says, undersells it. What Maluach has is “a gift,” an extremely rare ability to see something, replicate it and excel at it very quickly. “You take this kid and you put him next to Embiid—just put him there for a week. Every single thing that Embiid is doing, he will perfect it in a shorter period of time,” says Traore. “He watches and he listens to the coaches. Very smart kid.”

I never spend a day without working on my skill set.

— Khaman Maluach

Ulrich Chomche, a 6-11 forward from Cameroon also considered an NBA prospect, was at the academy before Maluach. The two have grown close since Maluach’s arrival. “He came when he was a baby; now he looks like a man,” Chomche says. “He has improved a lot. Before, when he just got to the academy, he was a mismatch for me. But now… he’s not anymore [laughs].”

The experience Maluach has received over the past few years is remarkable. He has traveled far and wide with the academy, competing against top talent from around the globe, and played a handful of games in the newly established Basketball Africa League (BAL). He was named MVP of the NBA’s Basketball Without Borders camp in early August. Later that month, he joined the South Sudan senior national team and became the third-youngest player in FIBA World Cup history. During BAL qualifiers in November, he averaged 21 points, 15.5 rebounds and 4.5 blocks, shooting 40 percent from behind the arc. 

Maluach’s height alone made him an intriguing prospect, but his budding talent has turned him into a potential top-five pick in the 2025 NBA Draft.

“In Africa, we have a lot of seven-footers. Being a seven-footer is not special—definitely when you go to South Sudan,” says Traore, a former center himself who was born in Koudougou, Burkina-Faso, Africa, and went on to play at Manhattan College. “I was in South Sudan three weeks ago, where the security guard who is telling you don’t go this way is like 7-0; where the police officer who stamped my passport is 6-8. It’s incredible. When you [look] left and right, it’s like, What are you doing here? You’re supposed to be rebounding somewhere [laughs]. It’s the craziest thing. But [Maluach], he has that—obviously genetically—but he has other stuff. In South Sudan, being tall is not enough. What he has is the character piece and the work ethic piece and the talent. I’m sure you’ve seen a lot of tall guys that are not talented. He is that and he’s willing to really harness that [ability] and continue to work.”

Adds Ebersole: “There’s definitely high-end talent that’s come through the [NBA Academy] program but he’s right up there with any of them when you talk about Ben Mathurin, Dyson Daniels, Josh Giddey and O-Max. He’s in the mix with all those guys.”

Fans are not allowed at the annual G League Winter Showcase, so the event is always oddly quiet. Scouts, coaches, executives, and reporters seated at small tables around the court can hear all the action. On this Thursday morning at the Orange County Convention Center in Orlando, no voice stands out more than that of Khaman Maluach. NBA Academy Africa is playing an exhibition game against NBA Academy Latin America. Two days ago, on this same floor, Maluach had 22 points, 13 rebounds and 3 blocks—including four dunks and three three-pointers—against NBA Global Academy. The scouts are back to watch the blossoming big man, and he is once again making his presence known. His size is striking, yes, but also his energy and communication. 

“He’s our leader on the team,” Chomche tells SLAM. “He’s the one who teaches me how to talk on the court. The day before, I was very quiet when I was playing defense. He told me, ‘You know if you start talking more on defense, you will impact more on the defensive side.’”

Maluach hit three more threes and held down the paint in a win over Latin America, leaving little doubt that he’ll be ready to make the leap to the NBA in 2025 (previously slated to graduate high school that year, Maluach reclassified just prior to the Showcase, per ESPN’s Jonathan Givony). Until then, he could stay with the academy and become the first player drafted directly from Africa, commit to one of the many blue bloods recruiting him (Duke, Kentucky, Kansas, UCLA, Baylor), or turn pro (both the G League Ignite and NBL Next Stars program have expressed interest, according to Givony).

“I think it’s the right decision because why not now?” Maluach says of his choice to reclassify. “That’s what I was asking myself. Why not now? I feel like it’s the right decision and I feel like it’s God’s plan.”

Alex Squadron is a writer from New York. His byline has appeared in SLAM, the New York Post, The Athletic, Sports Illustrated, Defector and SB Nation. His first book, Life in the G: Minor League Basketball and the Relentless Pursuit of the NBA, was released in October 2023. 

Photos via Getty Images.

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In this excerpt, former SLAM editor Alex Squadron takes the reader inside the lead-up to the annual G League Winter Showcase, when all teams converge in one city to play in front of NBA scouts and executives.

‘Life in the G’ is available now. Get your copy here.

Film went longer than usual on the morning of December 16—way longer than usual. The Showcase was a few days away, and there was a lot to cover.

First, the new protocols. An impromptu mandatory meeting for all G League head coaches and athletic trainers had been convened the night before. In a Zoom conference call, league officials had mapped out a revised set of rules for Showcase due to the alarming spread of a new highly contagious coronavirus variant called Omicron. The first confirmed case of Omicron had been detected in the United States about two weeks prior. Research suggested that Omicron was more transmissible than previous variants and could be contracted by fully vaccinated and boosted individuals.

Amid this troubling next phase of the pandemic, the Showcase was going to be run like abubble. No fans would be permitted to attend. No guests would be allowed in hotel rooms. Masks were to be worn at all times, except when playing. It was strongly recommended that group meals, which could not exceed six people, be eaten outdoors.

“If you are seen at the craps table gambling, or at a bar or nightclub, the repercussions may be getting suspended through Showcase,” [head coach Ryan] Pannone said.

“No may about it,” [associate general manager Billy] Campbell chimed in. “They are looking to make examples out of everyone. There’s a huge outbreak going on not only in the NBA but also in the G League. If you don’t know, Windy City is not going to play at Showcase. They’ve had so many positives that they are out of Showcase. So all of the guys who have worked since training camp to get in front of NBA scouts will not be there.”

Oof. Just hearing those words made stomachs turn. Showcase undoubtedly presented the best opportunity for G Leaguers to impress NBA scouts. Squadron players couldn’t fathom the idea of it being taken away at the last second by something so largely out of their control. The team had undergone testing earlier that morning and fortunately received zero positives. Around the G League, however, the number of cases was climbing. The NBA was in even worse shape. Injury reports were starting to look like CVS receipts, with more and more players being sidelined by COVID each day. Coaches, executives, referees, and broadcast crews were also coming down with the virus.

The spread of Omicron was so rampant that Commissioner Adam Silver found himself scrambling for solutions to avoid a complete NBA shutdown. Should the league postpone games? Expand rosters? Impose stricter guidelines? Test daily? All of these questions were presently being floated. And the situation was trending in the wrong direction—fast.

In the meantime, as Silver puzzled his options, there was a silver lining to this period of chaos: an unprecedented number of opportunities were opening up for G Leaguers. NBA teams were in desperate need of reinforcements—rosters would be full one day, then down five players the next—and naturally turning to their minor league affiliates for relief. That was exciting for G Leaguers, of course, but also tremendously nerve-racking. Clearly, no one—not even a group of healthy, vaccinated, and boosted professional athletes—was safe from catching Omicron. Forward Stanley Johnson had been called up from the South Bay Lakers to the Chicago Bulls, only to test positive and be placed in the health and safety protocols immediately.

Around the Squadron was a noticeable shift in tone: less jovial, more intense; less distracted, more focused; less jokey, more apprehensive. COVID precautions previously unenforced were now being taken seriously. Players were hanging out less, wearing masks more. Johnson, a former lottery pick, had spent significant time in the NBA already; but for those who hadn’t, the idea of what happened to him happening to them was unthinkable.

At one point, Harper let out a soft sneeze during practice, and Cheatham instinctively leapt in the opposite direction. “Oh, hell nah!” he exclaimed. “Where my mask at?” He was half kidding, but the other half reflected a real concern growing among members of the team, particularly Cheatham and Young. They would not—could not—screw up a chance at the NBA because they caught Omicron.

According to the NBA’s COVID protocols, players had to be sidelined at least ten days or record two negative tests in a twenty-four-hour window before returning. Decimated organizations—such as the Bulls, who, with ten players and several staff members infected, saw two of their games postponed—had begun handing out ten-day contracts. Capitanes forward Alfonzo McKinnie was another to receive a deal from Chicago, shortly after his back-to-back dominant performances against the Squadron at Legacy Arena.

During a typical NBA season, teams aren’t permitted to issue ten-day contracts until January 5. The deals that players like McKinnie were signing required a “hardship exception,” granted to teams that had a player in the health and safety protocols or at least four players out with long-term injuries.

Though ten-day contracts generated little media buzz—especially in years unaffected by COVID—and didn’t guarantee even a second of playing time, G Leaguers cherished them. Signing one was a realization of the NBA dream. “To spend any time in the NBA is a blessing,” Cheatham had once said—even just ten days.

The compensation made those ten days even sweeter. The value of a ten-day contract varied based on previous NBA experience, but most players were paid more than double what they received for an entire G League season, sometimes triple or quadruple. Stanley Johnson, for example, was guaranteed over $120,000 when he signed his ten-day deal with the Bulls.

Suffice it to say, the stakes at the annual Showcase were always exceptionally high. About a dozen representatives from every NBA team would be in attendance, and production on the court wasn’t the only factor they took into consideration. Somebody was always watching, lurking around the slot machines and roulette tables, taking mental notes.

“NBA teams are not looking for a reason to sign you. They’re looking for a reason to not sign you,” Pannone told the Squadron. “There’s a plethora of players.” More than three hundred were playing in the G League alone. It was difficult for NBA scouts to narrow down their lists, so they were constantly searching for an excuse to cross a name off, like college admissions officers combing through an endless stack of near-identical applications.

Instead of extracurricular activities, scouts nitpicked at factors like nutrition. At Showcase, it was unwise to be seen eating or carrying anything unhealthy. No Twix bars, which Harper liked to eat before games (a curious superstition since his college days at Auburn). No Monster energy drinks, which Young liked to use for a boost before practices. No Subway, Nathan’s Famous, Pan Asian Express, Bonanno’s New York Pizzeria, or Johnny Rockets, all of which were right outside the convention center where the games would be played.

“Somebody tell me what Travis Stockbridge looks like,” Pannone said.

Crickets.

“Somebody tell me who Travis Stockbridge is.”

“I assume he’s affiliated with the league?” Cheatham mumbled.

Stockbridge was the general manager of the Rio Grande Valley Vipers and a basketball operations coordinator for the Houston Rockets.

“It’s the perfect example of ‘You don’t know who the fuck these guys are,’” Pannone said. “You don’t know what they look like. You would have no idea he’s out there. You don’t know who the fuck he is. And you don’t know who any of these guys are from the NBA. Every time you think you’re not being watched, you’re being watched. Somebody is there. Somebody is going to see and watch everything you do. They are going to judge everything you do.”

“These are little things, but we talked at the beginning of the year about million-dollar decisions,” Campbell added. “At Showcase, all of those things are heightened. Every decision you’ve made from training camp until now has been a million-dollar decision. At Showcase, everything is magnified. Every single thing you do is magnified. They may be like, ‘Oh man, I remember Joe Young from the Pacers. Why does he have a Chick-fil-A bag?’ All those little things that you don’t think matter, they matter to someone else.”

And because of Omicron, there were far more “little things” to consider. Forgetting to wear your mask could cost you millions. Inviting someone to your hotel room could cost you millions. Playing a hand of blackjack could cost you millions. Having dinner with a large group of friends could cost you millions. Wandering aimlessly on the Strip could cost you millions.

“Any kind of infraction that they see is not going to be a slap on the wrist,” Campbell continued. He hated lecturing the team but knew, in this case, it was necessary. He desperately wanted to see Squadron players get called up in the ensuing weeks. To give them a chance, however, they had to hear this message. And they had to hear it clearly. “It’s literally going to be, you are out of the bubble. Period. There will be no, ‘Can you call Marc? Can you call the league?’ If they see you doing this stuff, there is no may about it, they will absolutely kick you out.”

The locker room was silent as players digested this new information. Showcase was going to look and feel a lot different than what they had anticipated at the beginning of the season. Some had questions. The protocols were vague, and guys were nervous about mistakenly breaking a rule.

“What about Uber Eats?” Cheatham wondered.

“They do not specify, but that should be no problem,” Campbell replied.

Harper wanted to know if he could go to a private gym—alone—to get shots up. His request was reasonable, especially considering that after practice in Birmingham today—a Thursday—guys wouldn’t have official court time until 5:00 p.m. PT on Saturday, when they would have merely an hour to go over their game plan for Sunday.

“We have asked about having a site for y’all to shoot,” Campbell said. “This morning—like, literally ten minutes ago—they said that they would strongly, strongly, strongly recommend that you do not have a team practice off-site.”

“If you go individually to shoot . . .” Pannone shrugged, implying that it shouldn’t be an issue. “I know some of you guys have got connections to get into a gym. It’s like going out to eat. From my understanding, as long as you’re not at a bar or a nightclub, going out gambling, going to a concert where there are a bunch of people, that’s on you guys. But from today at 2:00 until 5:00 on Saturday, that’s a lot of time without getting in the gym and shooting—just so you guys know that.”

It was a big adjustment. Given the significance of Showcase, it was a frustrating one too. All the players liked to get up extra shots outside of practice. In Vegas, that wouldn’t really be possible. For stars like Harper, who was already on the radar of multiple NBA teams, having to change routines now seemed unfair.

Everyone was having to adjust, though. By the morning of December 16, the whole world was adjusting to Omicron, and the G League was no exception. Showcase would create an environment about as anxiety-inducing as imaginable, but if players adhered to the rules, stayed out of trouble, and took care of business on the court, it also presented the best chance they would ever have to reach the NBA.

“You gotta know what’s at stake,” Cheatham said after practice. “My mindset going into Showcase is just consistency. I want to stay with all the things that I’ve been doing. As a team, stay with all the things that we’ve been doing. Don’t get out of character. Don’t try to do too much. Just play the game I’ve been working hard at damn near my whole life.”

Such was the cruel irony of the G League. A damn near lifetime’s worth of work could come down to three days—three very unusual days—at the Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino in Las Vegas.

Excerpted from Life in the G: Minor League Basketball and the Relentless Pursuit of the NBA by Alex Squadron by permission of the University of Nebraska Press. ©2023 by Alex Squadron.

Shop here to order your copy.

The post ‘Life in the G’: Alex Squadron’s New Book Gives an Inside Look at the G League and the Relentless Pursuit of NBA Dreams appeared first on SLAM.

Our photographer is snapping away, and Williamson needs to get on the same page as his fellow KICKS cover stars—Luka Doncic and Jayson Tatum. Smiles or straight faces?

On this day in early July, it’s hard not to smile. We’re on a boat in the heart of Paris, docked along the Seine. The Eiffel Tower—about a mile up the river—creates a backdrop so stunning it looks almost fake. After a morning of rain, the clouds have parted and the sun shines down, beaming through the ceiling windows. Biggie’s “Sky’s the Limit”—Zion’s choice—blasts through a speaker. Williamson, Doncic and Tatum are standing on white seamless paper, delicately holding the latest offerings in their signature lines with Jordan Brand—the Zion 3, Luka 2 and Tatum 1—like they’re newborn babies. A large-scale media event has been organized for the afternoon, where the three sneakers will officially be introduced to the world.

So, yeah, there’s a lot to smile about. But the verdict? Straight faces. Mean mugs.

KICKS 26 featuring Zion, JT and Luka is available now. Shop here.

On the surface, Williamson, Doncic and Tatum have a lot in common. They are all young superstars (Tatum is the oldest at 25, Doncic is 24 and Williamson just turned 23 in July)—leaders of the next generation to take over the NBA. They are all versatile, positionless players—embodiments of the direction the game is heading. And, of course, they are all part of Jordan Brand’s exclusive roster of signature athletes.

Yet, it’s the uniqueness of each player that makes the design process both challenging and stimulating for the Jordan team. “It makes it more interesting, to be real,” says David Cin, Jordan Brand Senior Design Director of Performance Footwear. “It’s definitely challenging—you have to study what their needs are.”

The Brand constructs its basketball products based on two core principles: motion and emotion. First, silhouettes are crafted to benefit the motion of players on the floor. Designers study game film (not unlike how coaches do) to discern the precise movements and styles of their athletes. They grab clips and break them down into individual frames, laying out the images on a giant mural board. The question then becomes, How do we build a shoe perfectly tailored to these types of movements? Mechanical engineers work with material experts and other specialists to come up with the right solutions.

Of course, design decisions are also informed by meetings with the athletes themselves. That’s where the emotion component of each pair—which deals more with the narrative that surrounds it—is mostly unpacked. Beyond creating products that enhance performance, the Brand aims to evoke emotion through storytelling. The Zion 3, Luka 2 and Tatum 1 are all reflections of their namesakes’ journeys to this point.

“At the end of the day, it’s about really digging deeper into who our athletes are as people and allowing our consumer to see that other side,” says Kelsey Amy, Jordan Brand Expert Color Designer of Performance Footwear.

“We knew that had to be a part of the equation, too,” adds Cin. “Thinking about, Hey, what’s that feeling you get [from shoes]? How can we tap into that? How can we inspire kids?”

Williamson is seated on the lower deck of the boat, where the multi-hued carpet nearly matches the “Sanctuary” colorway of his Zion 3. We’ve asked the Pelicans star to describe his emotions on this dreamlike afternoon. He takes a deep breath, and that youthful smile returns to his face. “Two words,” he says. “Lord Jesus! Lord Jesus! Lord Jesus!”

It’s a cliché, but Williamson really looks like a kid on Christmas morning—only he’s seen this present before, many, many times. As he tells KICKS, he’s even more excited about the Zion 3 than he was about the first two releases in his signature line.

“When you look at my signature shoes, each shoe was built to represent what I was doing extremely well during that time,” he explains. “During my first year and a half in the League, I was more of a post player. I could handle [the ball], but I was mostly, like, a stretch 4, so when I would do certain moves, it would be [about] power or my second jump. So my first shoe was designed on that. If you look at my second shoe, I started handling the ball more, so it was about containment of power while still being able to have finesse. The third one, I think—I’m sorry, I know—that the third one represents who I am and what my game is like.”

In an early meeting about the Zion 3 almost two years ago, Williamson opened up to the Jordan team about a piece of his story that had yet to be fully explored through his line. His path to the NBA, Zion explained, is often misconstrued as having been easy, largely due to his athletic gifts and ridiculous highlight tapes.

“He talked about how people think that it’s just been sweet,” says Jarrett Mann, Jordan Brand Global Product Director of Performance Footwear. “They think that he was an overnight sensation—that he basically came on the scene as a 16-year-old YouTube phenom, and it was dunks and blocks and he was the highest sought-after recruit since LeBron [James]. But he talked a lot about coming to that moment.”

It was far from easy, Williamson stressed. 

I’m gonna shock the world. Y’all just gotta wait.

– Zion Williamson tells SLAMKicks

As a kid growing up in Florence, SC—not exactly known as a hotbed for basketball—he had to get it out the mud. “A lot of people where I’m from, when you talk about making it out, it’s not just basketball we’re using,” says Zion. “We’re just trying to make it out in any way.”

By the age of 9, Williamson was waking up at 5 a.m. every day to train with his stepfather (in the South, it’s wise to beat the blistering sun). Coming from a state with so few NBA players, he struggled with self-doubt. “I would always just kind of have in my mind, I’m not gonna make it, I don’t think I’m gonna do it,” he says. “That way, if something went wrong—like I heard in all the stories growing up—then I wouldn’t feel as bad about it. I always had self-doubt, but the older I got and the more I trusted my game and trusted who I was—who I am—the doubt has been erased.”

The Zion 3 was structured to communicate this lesser-told part of Williamson’s past, and the “out the mud” mentality it cultivated in him. Joël Greenspan, Jordan Brand Senior Designer of Performance Footwear, worked with a computational designer to simulate the visual effect of Zion’s foot last launching through mud (they went as far as to study different viscosities and the mud specific to South Carolina). It wasn’t just about creating a color-splatter design on the upper; the Jordan team also sought to make the mud a useful component of the shoe.

“The mud is a metaphor. It’s the hardship, the difficult times that Zion had to go through,” says Greenspan. “It’s therefore the thing that made him strong. We knew immediately that we had this idea of mud to armor. We wanted the mud to be the thing that makes the shoe strong.”

The solution? Haptic ink—a special kind of screen print previously used on Nike’s Metcon silhouettes, which are, according to Expert Material Designer of Performance Footwear Jacqueline Lefferts, “the only shoes where people can climb up a rope without holes being burnt through them.” The haptic ink provides extra reinforcement and containment in stress areas. “I guess the process was really, How do we tell this narrative in a beautiful way but still make it performance enhancing?” Lefferts says. In addition to the ink, the shoe features a Formula 23 drop-in midsole for enhanced court feel and a Zoom Air bag for crash protection. Williamson’s “Zion” logo is displayed prominently on the heel.

Of course, the man behind that logo hopes that his new sneaker gives others the confidence to overcome their own uphill battles—to make it out the mud, just as he did. “No matter where you’re from, no matter what situation you’re in, no matter how bad things are looking, no matter how good things are looking—when you put the [Zion 3] on, you should feel that you can literally do anything,” he says. “Whatever your aspirations are, with the Zion 3 on, you got a chance. That’s what I want people to feel.”

That’s what Williamson will feel when he laces up the Zion 3 this upcoming season. “One of my favorite things [about the shoe]—you can zoom in on that,” he tells us, flipping up the tongue to reveal three words printed on the inside: Shock the World. “I still stand on that. I’m gonna shock the world. Y’all just gotta wait.”

“I would say of our portfolio of athletes, in terms of just chapters of life, [Luka] has the most unique journey to him arriving at where he is,” Amy says.

That journey spans thousands of miles, beginning in the beautiful city of Ljubljana, Slovenia, where Doncic—Jordan Brand’s first European born-and-raised signature athlete—grew up. His father, Sasa, played professional ball for several years, and Luka fell in love with the game right away. “I was basically with basketball my whole life,” he says. “My father was playing and I was always with a ball in my hands, always at his games. So I was just connected to basketball.”

He had a natural feel for the sport and played whenever and wherever he could, flocking to an outdoor court every day after school. By the time he was 8, Doncic was already running with a group of 12- to 14-year-olds. “It all just came naturally,” he says. “I always played with older guys and then I could learn a lot from them.”

At 13, Doncic was offered a five-year contract by Real Madrid. Accepting the deal meant leaving his family and friends behind and moving to a country where he didn’t even speak the native language. “It was tough. At first it was a for sure no,” he admits. “I didn’t want to go.” But Doncic eventually decided to make the leap, determined to continue chasing his NBA dream. He picked up Spanish in just three months and blossomed on the court, earning numerous Liga ACB honors and winning EuroLeague MVP for a championship squad in 2018.

Doncic developed a unique skill set while competing overseas. The court is smaller and there’s no defensive three seconds in the international game, shrinking the space that players have to operate. Doncic had to focus on how to create space, despite not being the most athletic player in the league. The result? A combination of footwork, vision and balance that is one of one—and makes the task of designing his signature line extremely challenging.

“With the Luka franchise in general, we have an athlete who really gives us some very unique problems to solve,” says Chad Troyer, Jordan Brand Global Senior Product Line Manager of Performance Footwear.

Problems like, How do we account for Doncic’s elite step-back? Answer: the IsoPlate, an innovation built exclusively for Luka that wraps up the medial and lateral forefoot and secures the foot when shifting from front to back.

Informed by meetings with the Mavericks training staff and additional insights from Doncic, the Luka 2 combines the IsoPlate and full-length Formula 23 with a new medial Cushlon 3.0 wedge foam to keep Luka’s foot in control and propel him out of his moves, facilitating even more separation between him and his defenders. “It’s always going to be about space creation for Luka,” says Greenspan.

Colorways of the Luka 2 celebrate the many chapters of Doncic’s life. The “Lake Bled” is a nod to the scenic body of water in Luka’s hometown in Slovenia—“I think it’s one of the most beautiful places not only in Slovenia, but in the world,” Doncic says—and the teal-based “Matador” is inspired by his pro career in Madrid.

“Luka has taken the world by storm, with kids all over the globe from every different kind of culture,” Troyer stresses. Those kids, from as far away as Slovenia and Madrid, can look at Doncic’s story as proof that your dreams are never too far-fetched. That it’s possible to make it all the way to the NBA if you chase that ambition just as Doncic did.

“It’s up to us as a Brand to be able to dig deeper on those stories and educate our consumer on who Luka is as a person,” adds Amy, “and how he got from point A to point B.”

Truth is, there was no magic formula—just hard work, a lot of sacrifice and a real passion for the game. “Ljubzen” (“Love” in Slovenian) is printed on the top eyelet of the Luka 2, and the words “NON DESISTAS” and “NON EXIERIS” are featured on the heel of each shoe respectively, which translates from Latin to “Never give up, never surrender.”

“It was tough leaving Slovenia and moving to Madrid when I was 13. But looking back, I think that experience pushed me to where I am today,” Doncic reflected upon the 2’s release. “I hope my journey, from a kid in Slovenia dreaming of playing in the NBA, can inspire people everywhere to go after their dreams and stay true to themselves no matter what.”

It was June 2020, and Jayson Tatum was chatting over Zoom with his team at Jordan. That’s when they suddenly dropped the news on him: the Brand was giving him a signature. And Tatum…barely reacted. He froze—not on Zoom, in real life. He was in complete shock. It wasn’t until the design process kicked off that it really began to sink in. This is actually happening. This is my dream.

During those early brainstorms, Tatum expressed his preference that his signature be lightweight and feel connected to his foot in a way that was second nature. “As a basketball player, you don’t want to think about the shoe when you’re playing,” he explains. “You just want to lace your shoes up and go play the game. That level of comfort and trust in a way from your sneaker allows you to be yourself.”

The eventual product—the Tatum 1—is the lightest sneaker in Jordan Brand’s performance line. “That’s what we tried to target first and foremost,” says Derek Foster, Global Product Line Manager of Performance Footwear. “And then, within that, we were just really trying to nail down some of the attributes that relate to Jayson. We looked at his biomechanics and the way he plays—he’s a very forefoot-dominant athlete.”

Designers were able to remove weight while still maintaining a strong TPU frame that supports Tatum’s side-to-side movements—as does the outsole, which implements a plate technology. An uncaged Zoom Air bag is included in the forefoot, allowing Tatum to play efficiently on his toes just the way he likes.

Aside from the sneaker’s functionality, Tatum emphasized the importance of the Tatum 1 being for kids, not just for him. He prioritized creating a kids-specific design that utilizes an innovative tailgate system for easy entry. His son’s nickname, Deuce, is also featured on the inside of the tongue of three of the first four colorways. “[Deuce] challenges me to be a better person, because I always know that he is watching everything that I do,” Jayson says. “He’s inspired me to be a better man, to be a better role model, to be a better basketball player.”

“What [Tatum] brought to the table, what felt important to him, was to be about the future—to inspire kids,” says Bryant Klug, Jordan Brand Expert Designer of Performance Footwear. “He isn’t treating it like a scrapbook of all his own details—we have some of that stuff on the shoe, but he always talked about it, like, who it was for. And it was always for other people.”

There are two things that I’ve kind of always lived by. [One], you can never dream too big…

Another thing that goes hand in hand with that is, the bigger you dream, the harder you have to work.

– Jayson Tatum

Those details—like the coordinates of St. Louis and the words “I Just Didn’t Quit” (inspired by a Nipsey Hussle quote) on the TPU piece of the outsole, as well as “Living Proof” on the outer part of the rubber—reflect his own journey, for sure, but with the intent of influencing the next Jayson Tatum. They tell the story of a kid from the Midwest—raised in a city that, like Williamson’s hometown, isn’t known for basketball—working tirelessly to reach the NBA. His head coach at Chaminade HS, Frank Bennett, insists Tatum took just two days off during his four years there—the two days following their state championship victory his senior season.

“There are two things that I’ve kind of always lived by,” Tatum says. “[One], you can never dream too big. I grew up in St. Louis. My mom lived check to check—she was 19 when she had me. We’re not supposed to be here. I had dozens of people when I was younger tell me that I should choose a different dream or another profession—you know, something more realistic. But another thing that goes hand in hand with that is, the bigger you dream, the harder you have to work. And I was never going to let anybody outwork me.”

As a young boy, Tatum looked up to Kobe Bryant. He had on “What The” Kobe 9s in the state title game as a senior and rocked the “Prelude” colorways of the Kobe 5 and 6 when he played on the EYBL circuit. He was inspired by the Mamba’s blueprint. Now Tatum is the one setting his own blueprint, and he has a brand-new canvas with which to convey it.

“I know firsthand the influence that you can have on somebody without ever knowing them or meeting them,” Tatum says, reflecting on the impact that Bryant—all the way out in Los Angeles—had on him in St. Louis.

“So I understand the responsibility that I have, with the platform that I have, to inspire the next generation, whether they want to be a basketball player or the best doctor in the world—whatever it is, just to inspire somebody.”

Portraits by Alex Woodhouse.

The post Luka Doncic, Jayson Tatum & Zion Williamson All in Paris?! SLAMKICKS Exclusive appeared first on SLAM.

The United States will enter the 2023 FIBA Basketball World Cup in August as the second- ranked country in the world.

Yes, the second-ranked country.

For the first time in more than a decade, US men’s basketball slipped to No. 2 in the FIBA world rankings back in November. The top spot currently belongs to Spain, winners of the 2022 FIBA EuroBasket—the championship of Europe for men’s national teams—and the 2019 FIBA World Cup (a tournament in which the Americans finished seventh). The US does not send its A-team to events such as the FIBA AmeriCup, where it came in third last year after being knocked out by Argentina, but the results of those tournaments still impact the rankings. And while the squad put together for the Tokyo Olympics emerged victorious two summers ago, it lost to France during the preliminary round and only won by 5, 87-82, in a rematch in the Final. 

You don’t have to look hard for proof that the game is growing around the world. The three finalists for the 2023 NBA MVP hailed from countries outside the United States—winner Joel Embiid (Cameroon) and runners-up Nikola Jokic (Serbia) and Giannis Antetokounmpo (Greece)—as well as six of the top eight vote-getters. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (Canada) finished fifth, followed by Domantas Sabonis (Lithuania) in seventh and Luka Doncic (Slovenia) in eighth. This marked the fifth straight season that a foreign-born player was crowned MVP, dating back to Antetokounmpo’s first triumph in 2019.

Most of those stars have confirmed that they intend to play in the upcoming World Cup, which will take place in the Philippines, Japan and Indonesia. This year’s event will be the second to feature 32 teams and the first to be hosted by multiple nations. It’s also the gateway to the 2024 Olympics in Paris, as seven countries will qualify based on their performances: two from the Americas, two from Europe, one from Africa, one from Asia and one from Oceania.

For the US, the tournament will be far from a cakewalk, regardless of who lands on the team’s final roster. 

“There are quality players around the world—I think we’re starting to see that,” says Carlan Gay, deputy editor at The Sporting News and an announcer for international competitions. “Four of the five that finished at the top of the MVP voting aren’t American born—that just tells you that the world isn’t catching up, it has caught up.” 

“I think that we have this idea that, well, if it’s not American, it’s not as good,” says Jeff Taylor, an international basketball commentator since 1997. “I understood immediately watching the [1997] EuroBasket—watching a game between Poland and Germany—I was struck by how good they were.” 

Taylor has covered most of FIBA’s flagship events since then, observing firsthand how the level of talent has risen in other countries. “It’s grown exponentially,” he tells SLAM. “I think it was already good at the time, but I think there are different factors at work here [that have made it even better].”

For one, an increasing number of Europeans jumped to the NBA in the late 1990s and early 2000s. The success of guys like Dirk Nowitzki, Pau Gasol and Tony Parker helped erase stigmas about foreign players—mainly, that they were too soft and not athletic enough to succeed in the States—and inspired others to follow in their footsteps.

Emerging talents overseas join top professional organizations as teenagers, where they are exposed to elite coaching and stiff competition that accelerates their development. Doncic signed a five-year contract with Real Madrid at the age of 13, and No. 1 NBA draft prospect Victor Wembanyama has been a pro since he was 15. Of course, those high-level prospects also join their respective national team programs early on, which facilitates even more growth.

“There’s more opportunity for development within your national team program [overseas],” says University of Alabama assistant coach Ryan Pannone, who has previously coached in the NBA, G League, China Germany, Slovakia and Israel. “And the pressure those guys are playing under and the pride for their national teams is really high. [For example], Luka was playing within the national team obviously from a very young age in Slovenia, and he was in the academy within Real Madrid in Spain. So he’s getting professional coaching seven days a week from coaches whose full-time jobs are to make sure he develops; and then in the summer, he’s in the national team system of Slovenia, where he’s playing in high-pressure-filled games.”

Basketball journeyman Scotty Hopson, who has played in 10 countries and suited up for the 2018 USA World Cup Qualifying Team, notes that the “athleticism level” has increased among international players. “Whenever I go to these countries and play against other teams and players, I feel like they always have a knowledge of basketball that’s pretty high level,” says Hopson. “And now you add the component that guys are starting to get more athletic, starting to understand how to take care of their bodies, how to train more.”

It’s important to mention that the FIBA game is different—harder, in a lot of ways. Quarters are 10 minutes long as opposed to 12. The court is smaller (91 feet-10 inches by 49 feet-2.5 inches, compared to the NBA’s 94 feet by 50 feet), and the three-point line is about a foot closer. There’s no defensive three seconds, and goaltending rules are modified: players are allowed to swat the ball off the cylinder as soon as it touches the rim.

All of these changes result in a distinct style of play: more strategic and methodical, less spaced. Teams value possessions more because there are fewer of them. On defense, it’s easier to pack the paint and provide help. Closeouts are faster—there’s not as much ground to cover—so coaches emphasize shooting and making quick reads. “The game internationally can be very physical, very tactical. And if you’re going to play it, you have to be very intelligent,” explains Taylor.

“The game in Europe is way harder than the game in the NBA,” Antetokounmpo said last September. “The talent obviously in the NBA is way higher, but the space [is better]—you have a lot of lanes to drive the ball, a lot of lanes to create. Over there it’s more intense.” 

During the 2022 FIBA EuroBasket last summer, Antetokounmpo had to work extremely hard for his points, as opponents clogged the middle and sent double or triple teams his way. “And in the past, this has helped me a lot, like when I came back from [the World Cup] in 2019,” he added. “That was the year we went to the bubble. The first couple of games, I felt like the court was huge.”

“Is it harder? Yes, because I think you really need to have quick thinking,” Jokic said about the international game after EuroBasket. “In the NBA, if you go by the guy, you can see the help is coming. In Europe, help is always there. So you need to think and play ahead.” That challenge helped Jokic evolve into the playmaker that he is today and made transitioning to the NBA much easier. Similarly, Doncic told SLAM in 2022: “I think from [Europe] comes my reading the game, all the passing skills.”

Thus, current and future NBA players can benefit tremendously from participating in FIBA events, especially given the intensity of those environments. Many of those players also assume bigger roles for their national teams, which allows them to showcase other parts of their games. Utah Jazz forward Lauri Markkanen, for example, shined as the number one option for Finland at the 2022 EuroBasket, averaging 27.9 points on 54 percent shooting from the field and 41 percent from three.

When he returned to the States for the 2022-23 NBA season, Jazz head coach Will Hardy encouraged Markkanen to play exactly as he had for Finland—confident, assertive, in more of a central role. And Markkanen had the best year of his NBA career, making his first All-Star team and winning the Most Improved Player award.

Says Coach Pannone, who was an assistant for the New Orleans Pelicans in 2022-23, “Obviously, Lauri Markkanen and the way that panned out doesn’t happen for every [NBA] team, but [FIBA events] certainly give you the chance to see one of your players in more of a star role—how they’re used, how they handle it, how successful they are. And you get that opportunity without it costing you games by trying to experiment with that throughout the NBA season.”

Markkanen will be with Finland again this summer for the World Cup. Other international players expected to compete include Antetokounmpo, Doncic, Jokic, Gilgeous-Alexander, Sabonis, Wembanyama, Rudy Gobert (France), Karl-Anthony Towns (Dominican Republic), Kristaps Porzingis (Latvia), Franz Wagner (Germany), Josh Giddey (Australia), Nikola Vucevic (Montenegro), Jordan Clarkson (Philippines) and more. The US will likely enter the tournament as a significant favorite, but the depth of talent this year will once again make the road to the Naismith Trophy very difficult.

“Whether you’re from the United States or not, there’s going to be amazing competition here because the level of basketball in this World Cup, I think, will be unprecedented,” NBA deputy commissioner Mark Tatum said during an episode of One Sports’ The Game.

Defending champions Spain should have another formidable roster, led by veteran point guard Ricky Rubio, MVP of the 2019 FIBA World Cup, and Willy Hernangomez, MVP of the 2022 FIBA EuroBasket. Australia, ranked third, should have Giddey and several other NBA players, including Patty Mills, Joe Ingles, Matisse Thybulle, Josh Green and Jock Landale. The likely presence of Antetokounmpo, Doncic and Jokic ensures that Greece, Slovenia and Serbia will all be tough opponents. Canada could be stacked with household names: Gilgeous-Alexander, Jamal Murray, RJ Barrett, Andrew Wiggins, Kelly Olynyk, Dwight Powell, Lu Dort, Dillon Brooks and more. And then, of course, there’s France, a country that nearly toppled the United States in the Tokyo Olympics and should have a similar squad, plus the 7-4 phenom Wembanyama. 

The list of worthy competitors for the ’23 World Cup title goes on and on—each one composed of prideful players determined to reach the podium for their countries. 

“You can go down the list of guys who really take pride in putting on that [national team] jersey,” says Gay. “I don’t think it’s something that we truly understand in North America—how much passion there is for basketball outside of these borders and how much passion there is for performing on the world stage for your country—because of the NBA factor. I think kids around the world grow up not dreaming to be in the NBA but dreaming to play and win a World Cup and win an Olympic gold medal.”

“Representing your national team, it’s heavy,” said Antetokounmpo in September. “You represent your whole country.”

Asked about facing Antetokounmpo during the 2019 FIBA World Cup, then-United States head coach Gregg Popovich said this of international superstars: “When they play for their countries, we like to say that they become superheroes. They get together and, through their relationships and their views about their game, they just form a team that—they fall in love with each other. They enjoy playing with each other. And that goes across the board for everybody that’s in the tournament. A lot of them have grown up together, a lot of them have spent a lot of time playing together, and you can see that.”

“The biggest advantage I felt like [other countries] had was that those teams play together for years and years and years,” Hopson reiterates. He speaks from experience, having lost to a cohesive and well-coached Argentina squad during qualifiers for the 2019 FIBA World Cup. “You’re going into a situation where you’re playing against guys who have probably been playing together since they were kids. They have an advantage with that because the chemistry is already built.” 

Combine that chemistry with the rising talent and the hunger of players to win for their countries and the US will certainly have its hands full trying to reclaim the World Cup title and the No. 1 FIBA ranking.

“The gap has closed, but also, the fear factor is gone,” Gay says. “No one’s afraid to play Team USA. In fact, they’re circling that date on the calendar to try to make history.”

SLAM 244 is also available in this exclusive Gold Metal Edition.

Photos via Getty Images.

The post International Superstars are Now Dominating the Game More Than Ever Before appeared first on SLAM.

The 6-7 forward was the obvious choice for this month’s “G League Player to Watch”—not just because of his absurd individual production, but because he led the Rio Grande Valley Vipers on an impressive run to sneak into the playoffs.

First, a brief history lesson. Rio Grande Valley (RGV) has been the most successful franchise in the history of the NBA’s official minor league, reaching six finals and claiming four championships since 2010. Last season, an RGV squad led by MVP Trevelin Queen cruised to the title, going undefeated in the playoffs. The Vipers also won it all in 2019 with a roster that included Gary Payton II and Isaiah Hartenstein.

This year…it wasn’t looking good. Heading into March—the last month of the regular season—RGV had a 10-12 record. The team had dropped four of its previous five, including an embarrassing 26-point loss to the South Bay Lakers at home. If the Vipers wanted to keep their streak of six straight playoff appearances (excluding the season canceled due to COVID) alive, then they had to turn things around right away.

OK, back to Days. An undrafted rookie out of LSU, he signed a Two-Way contract with the Houston Rockets back in October. The 23-year-old is an extremely versatile forward, capable of filling multiple positions with his size, strength and mobility. He has spent most of this season with the Vipers and proven to be a reliable 3-and-D player. At the beginning of March, he stepped up big time…

27 points, 7 rebounds vs. Oklahoma City

33 points, 8 rebounds, 3 assists, 3 steals vs. Birmingham

26 points, 10 rebounds vs. Greensboro

28 points, 11 rebounds vs. Iowa

32 points, 14 rebounds, 3 assists, 3 steals vs. Iowa

22 points, 12 rebounds, 2 steals vs. Memphis

The Vipers won all six of those games to climb back into the playoff picture, and after splitting their next four, they locked up the No. 6 seed in the Western Conference. Days posted 25.7 points, 9.9 rebounds and 1.3 steals per game across that stretch, shooting 50 percent from the field and 40 percent from three. He barely turned the ball over—just seven times in 10 games—despite averaging 38.6 minutes (the fifth highest mark in the league). Less than 72 hours after the Vipers clinched their playoff spot, he was named G League Player of the Month for March.

The Vipers upset the 2-seed Lakers in the Conference quarterfinals with guard Jalen Lecque sealing the deal with this tough game-winning lay-up. And Days? He delivered, of course: 21 points (on 7/13 shooting), 8 rebounds and 2 blocks. 

You can catch Days and the Vipers in the G League Finals as they face off against the Delaware Blue Coats. Tune in now through April 9 on ESPNU and ESPNews.

HONORABLE MENTIONS

Luka Garza, Forward, Iowa Wolves: 30.5 points, 10 rebounds, 3.3 assists, 1.3 blocks, 68 FG%, 46 3P% (4 GP)

Carlik Jones, Guard, Windy City Bulls: 26.3 points, 4.3 rebounds, 6 assists, 2.3 steals, 46 FG%, 35 3P%

Jahmi’us Ramsey, Guard, Oklahoma City Blue: 26 points, 4.4 rebounds, 58 FG%, 38 3P%

Lester Quinones, Guard, Santa Cruz Warriors: 24.2 points, 6.9 rebounds, 4.2 assists, 46 FG%

Jack White, Forward, Grand Rapids Gold: 23.3 points, 10.8 rebounds, 55 FG%, 38 3P%

Trevelin Queen, Guard, Fort Wayne Mad Ants: 23.2 points, 7.4 rebounds, 5.2 assists, 2.1 steals, 50 FG%

Mfiondu Kabengele, Forward, Maine Celtics: 21.7 points, 11.9 rebounds, 61 FG%, 41 3P%

Zavier Simpson, Guard, Lakeland Magic: 17.2 points, 4.3 rebounds, 8.4 assists, 1.7 steals, 50 FG%, 43 3P%

REGULAR SEASON CHAMPS

Eastern Conference: Long Island Nets (23-9)

Western Conference: Stockton Kings (25-7)

Scoring Champ: Carlik Jones (26.1)

Assists Champ: Jacob Gilyard (9.7)

Rebounds Champ: Jayce Johnson (13.5)

Blocks Champ: Jay Huff (3.1)

Steals Champ: Jaden Springer (2.3)

3PT Champ: Mychal Mulder (129)

MARCH CALL-UPS

Luka Samanic, Forward, Maine Celtics to Utah Jazz

Xavier Sneed, Forward, Greensboro Swarm to Charlotte Hornets

Jay Scrubb, Guard, Lakeland Magic to Orlando Magic

Lester Quinones, Guard, Santa Cruz Warriors to Golden State Warriors (twice this month)

Trevor Keels, Guard, Westchester Knicks to New York Knicks

Lindell Wiggington, Guard, Wisconsin Herd to Milwaukee Bucks

Jamaree Bouyea, Guard, Sioux Falls Skyforce to Washington Wizards

Jared Butler, Guard, Grand Rapids Gold to Oklahoma City Thunder

Sam Merrill, Guard, Cleveland Charge to Cleveland Cavaliers

Jay Huff, Center, South Bay Lakers to Washington Wizards

Xavier Moon, Guard, Ontario Clippers to Los Angeles Clippers

More below:

Willie Cauley-Stein, Center, Rio Grande Valley Vipers to Houston Rockets

Kobi Simmons, Guard, Greensboro Swarm to Charlotte Hornets

Gabe York, Guard, Fort Wayne Mad Ants to Indiana Pacers

Skylar Mays, Guard, Mexico City Capitanes to Portland Trail Blazers

Shaquille Harrison, Guard, South Bay Lakers to Portland Trail Blazers

Jeenathan Williams, Guard, Salt Lake City Stars to Portland Trail Blazers

Justin Minaya, Forward, Mexico City Capitanes to Portland Trail Blazers

Photos via Getty Images.

The post G League Player to Watch (March): Darius Days appeared first on SLAM.

“If you hear ‘D,’ for those of us in America, well, where’s the B League? Where’s the C League? You think about the grading scale,” says play-by-play broadcaster Kevin Danna, who has been calling Santa Cruz Warriors games since 2012. 

Back when Danna started working in Santa Cruz, the D-League wasn’t regarded as a natural part of the NBA development process. Not yet. Guys who were sent down to the minors often felt extremely discouraged by the news. “When most people talked about the D-League at the time when I came into being a professional, it was more so looked down upon,” says College Park Skyhawks guard Langston Galloway, whose first stint in the D-League came in 2014-15 with the Westchester Knicks.

Concerning assignment players, Galloway adds: “If you got sent down to the D-League [in 2014-15], it was like, either you weren’t retaining the information fast enough or you weren’t being successful when you got your opportunity. So… We need you to pick it up. We need you to be better.”

In other words, the D-League could feel like a punishment. A demotion, rather than an opportunity. Three steps back (B, C, D) instead of just one.

That has changed dramatically as the league has grown, however. Now the G League is considered an important part of the journey for a majority of young players. “It’s a lot more normalized than it was,” explains Danna. “It’s an expected part of the process.” One that is viewed with far more acceptance than it used to be. 

“There’s a definite process in place for most—if not all—teams that includes the G League,” adds Billy Campbell, general manager of the Birmingham Squadron.

So how did we get here? How did that evolution occur?

The most notable development has been the steady increase in the number of teams. Campbell worked as a basketball operations coordinator for the D-League from 2012-16, and when he first started, there were only 16 teams. Some, like the Bakersfield Jam and Fort Wayne Mad Ants, were shared among four different NBA parent clubs. The lack of one-to-one affiliations with the NBA created a sense of disconnect that clouded perceptions of the league. When a player was assigned from the Toronto Raptors to the Jam, for example, he suddenly found himself thousands of miles away, representing a completely new and unfamiliar organization. How could he not feel separate, ostracized, relegated?

“You had those teams that seemed like they were so far away from their affiliates, you didn’t feel like you were a part of the NBA,” says journeyman guard Scotty Hopson, whose first taste of the D-League came in 2014 with the Canton Charge. 

Without a true minor league system in place, there was far less movement back and forth from the NBA. Assignments were less frequent, as were call-ups. Rookies—or struggling older players—didn’t necessarily anticipate spending time in the D-League, so when they were sent down, it was a significant blow.

But the addition of more teams began to transform how the D-League was utilized, and therefore how it was looked upon. The total rose to 18 by 2014-15, then 22 by 2016-17, then 27 by 2018-19. Today, there are 30 teams, 28 of which are single affiliates of NBA franchises.

“It was a really great thing when it was the D-League and it was its own sort of niche league, where we all understood that we had to band together to keep the league afloat,” says Campbell. “The executives and coaches and everybody understood that. There was great basketball being played and there were great players, but now it’s become really the minor league for the NBA in a way that it couldn’t have been until they expanded to have this many teams.”

Player development plans have become more thorough. G League staffs have expanded to help carry out those plans. Communication from the top has increased, making G Leaguers still feel a part of the NBA ecosystem, not banished to some far-off and detached organization.  

“Now [when] you’re sent down, it’s like, We know you don’t get time to play on the main team right now, but we need you to just go out there, get these minutes and play in meaningful minutes at that, too,” Galloway tells SLAM. “I think that’s where it’s kind of changed—where the perception has continued to get better for not just the young guys, but as talent continues to come through this league.”

In 2012-13, there were 186 total assignments (58 players) from the NBA to the D-League. As of this writing, there have been 540 assignments (92 players) to the G League this season. For most emerging talents, especially those with limited or no college experience, the G League is now perceived as an inevitable—and valuable—destination. A place to keep maturing and progressing. 

An opportunity, rather than a demotion.

Perception has also improved as former assignment players have found tremendous success in the NBA. Khris Middleton (Fort Wayne Mad Ants, 2012-13), Rudy Gobert (Bakersfield Jam, 2013-14) and Pascal Siakam (Raptors 905, 2016-17) all made appearances in the D-League before becoming NBA All-Stars, as did CJ McCollum, Clint Capela and Terry Rozier.

Of the 92 players assigned to the G League this year, 21 are former top 20 draft picks, including James Wiseman, Jonathan Isaac, Moses Moody, Johnny Davis, Kira Lewis Jr, Mark Williams, Ousmane Dieng and James Bouknight.  

“Now that the G League has been in place for 20-something years, as opposed to 10 years when I got into the league, there’s an understanding that most first round picks are going to play at least a few games in the G League,” Danna says. 

And it’s easy to see why. 

“I’m a big believer that you get better at basketball by playing basketball,” Campbell says. “Guys who aren’t playing in NBA games aren’t really working on their craft during the season as much as they’d like to, and this gives them that opportunity to play with some freedom and sort of discover that joy, that passion, that swag, that confidence in their own abilities and their games to sort of get back to the guys that they were.”

The talent level has always been high in the G League (yes, even when it was the D-League), and the intense competition brings the best out of players. Just ask Hopson: 

“It’s a dog eat dog league down there, man. It’s cutthroat, it’s real, it’s raw. But there’s beauty in that journey—in that struggle—to get to what you [want to] achieve. There’s a lot of growth that takes place. There are a lot of learning opportunities. And there’s an opportunity as well just to grow yourself as a professional. If guys come down here and take advantage of that, it’ll do wonders for their careers, even if they take it outside of the G League. The G League is a really great place to be, especially right now. It’s the best it’s ever been, and it’s going to continue to grow.” 

Photos via Getty Images.

The post How the Perception of the G League Has Changed Amongst the Players as Being Part of the Process appeared first on SLAM.

Daily subjects vary—some lessons center on basketball, others are focused more broadly on the transition from high school to college. Professors vary as well—the recently retired Coach K spoke to the 2022 freshmen, as well as current coaches, general manager Rachel Baker and others. The overall mission of the class is clear: welcome new members to The Brotherhood. Teach them what The Brotherhood is all about.

“It’s great because you learn about the history of Duke,” says freshman center Christian Reeves. 

One day, associate head coach Chris Carrawell, who played for the Blue Devils from 1996-2000, showed an hour-long video tracing Duke’s storied past. The five national titles and 15 ACC tournament championships under coach Mike Krzyzewski. The 1,129 wins since 1980 (the most ever by a coach at one school). Carrawell broke it all down, highlighting how the program has managed to find so much success.

Everyone knows about The Brotherhood. For many of Duke’s new players (both its top-ranked recruiting class and impressive group of grad transfers), it was a significant factor in their decisions to come to the university.

Still, it is tough to fully understand The Brotherhood until you are a part of it—until you are experiencing it from the inside, as opposed to just hearing about it. There are traditions in place that give newcomers an immediate feel for what they have joined: a close-knit, strong, lifelong family. 

“What The Brotherhood means to me is, simply, unity and togetherness,” former Blue Devil Gary Trent Jr told SLAM in 2018. “Being part of something that’s bigger than yourself, fighting for someone other than yourself, just always looking out for the next man and your brother.”

“The Brotherhood is basically the bond that is Duke [Men’s] Basketball,” added Grayson Allen, who spent four years at Duke from 2014-18. “It’s former players from 20 years ago to guys now and to future commits. It’s the whole thing. You share a common experience of playing here, playing at Duke, playing for Coach.”

Of course, at the heart of The Brotherhood is “Coach,” who has defined the program for over four decades. “It started really because there are not a lot of cases where you get a coach who has coached so many players for so many years,” Carrawell explains. Krzyzewski is the glue that holds The Brotherhood together—the powerful connecting force at its core. He cultivates relationships between past and present Duke players. He makes sure that those bonds never fade. The Michael W. Krzyzewski Center (known on campus as the “K-Center”)—a two-story athletic and academic facility adjacent to Cameron Indoor Stadium—even has a “Legacy Locker Room,” constructed specifically to accommodate former players who come back.

Throughout his tenure, Krzyzewski established annual traditions such as K Academy, a five-day fantasy camp held at Duke in June. Campers, who must be at least 35 years old, compete in a basketball tournament and get to learn the inside scoop about the Blue Devils program. Alumni always return for the event, making it one big family reunion.

Ryan Young, a 6-10 center who recently transferred from Northwestern, was a coach at the 2022 K Academy. 

“That’s where I really saw The Brotherhood,” says Young. “You have young guys like Quinn Cook, Amile Jefferson and Grayson Allen back here coaching teams, but you also have older players that I don’t even recognize that played here in the ’80s and ’90s and 2000s that have all been coming back every year for this event. It’s really cool. I’m sitting there coaching with Mark Alarie, Justin Robinson and a few other former players. And then you have, like, Shane Battier and all those guys walking around the gym like it’s nothing.”

There are typically around 30-40 former Duke players in attendance at K Academy—all bonded by their experiences at the university. Some are in the NBA (more than 20 Blue Devils are currently on NBA rosters), some are coaches, some are front office executives, some have moved on from basketball entirely.

During Krzyzewski’s illustrious career, Duke had 68 NBA Draft selections, including 42 first-round picks. Beyond just K Academy, those players constantly come back to Durham and serve as mentors for the present-day Blue Devils, many of whom aspire to follow in their footsteps.

Heading into the 2022-23 season, the team was visited by Jayson Tatum, RJ Barrett, Cam Reddish, Paolo Banchero, Mark Williams and others. Those alums didn’t just drop by to say hello—they hung around, played pick-up, worked out at the K Center, engaged with the staff, shared advice with the players. Freshman Mark Mitchell got to pick the brain of Barrett, another versatile and dynamic lefty wing who was once in his position.

“I’m trying to be where he’s at, so him just taking time out of his day to talk to me and give me tips for five minutes really meant a lot to me,” says Mitchell. “Some guys can be arrogant or act like they’re too cool, but he really sat there, talked to me, took me on the court and gave me little tips that I can [use] to be better.”

“I think the coolest part about The Brotherhood is the fact that people—us as players—own it and don’t take it for granted,” assistant coach Amile Jefferson says. Jefferson played for Duke from 2012-17, appearing in a program-record 150 games and winning a national championship in 2015.

“It doesn’t matter if you come here for nine months and you’re a one and done or you stay for four-plus years,” Jefferson continues. “When you wear this jersey and you lay your blood, sweat and tears on the line for this school, for this team, you become a part of something bigger than yourself. And guys carry that with them and it means something. So it’s cool to see guys, especially our pro guys, come back and work out with our young guys—come back and mentor them, stay in touch with them. It happens organically. It’s not like our coaches are making the alum do that, making the pro guys do that. It’s giving back, it’s paying it forward, and I think that’s what The Brotherhood is about. It’s not just a word. It’s a word that works. And it’s followed up by action.”

It isn’t a coincidence that the current coaching staff consists of three former Duke players: Scheyer, Carrawell and Jefferson (all of whom played for Coach K). That has been the program’s approach for a while now, ensuring that the traditions get passed on, the culture doesn’t fragment and The Brotherhood continues to thrive, even in Krzyzewski’s retirement. Under Scheyer, the standards will remain the same and the family will only grow.

“I think you look at the stability of our program for a long time and we plan on keeping that stability as we move forward,” Scheyer says. “[The Brotherhood] is really the feeling of what it means to play for Duke…Whether it’s one year that somebody is here or whether it’s four years, it’s not a pit stop. Duke University, Duke Basketball—it’s not a pit stop. You have to be all in.”

The Brotherhood extends far beyond the court. It’s a network of support that transcends basketball. A former Duke manager who now works in private wealth management recently came back to talk to the team about his career path. 

“On the job side, if you ever need anything business-wise, you have so many people that have come through The Brotherhood,” says junior guard Jeremy Roach, captain of the 2022-23 squad. “You can ask them questions and get information from them.” Roach was drawn to Duke during his recruitment process because of the “family mentality” fostered by Coach K.

“We all try to help one another,” Carrawell stresses, whether it’s related to the game or not. “I can go to Grant Hill. Daniel Ewing can come to me. I’m pretty sure there’s a younger guy that can go to Daniel Ewing, just because we have that Duke connection.”

“Once you leave here, there’s a special connection that you feel with the guys who have played here, the guys that are about to enter our program, and the guys who are currently here,” adds Scheyer. “That’s a bond I don’t think you can explain unless you’re in it.” 

Photos via Getty Images.

The post How Duke Men’s Basketball Program Became an Eternal Brotherhood Over the Years  appeared first on SLAM.

It was hard not to go with Mac McClung. 

In the span of a few days, the Delaware Blue Coats guard earned a call-up from the Philadelphia 76ers, signed a sneaker deal with Puma, and, oh yeah, brought back the NBA Slam Dunk Contest with an unforgettable performance in Salt Lake City (also, I have to call out this 360 layup from Monday night). But…

Carlik Jones has been that good. Really, pretty much unstoppable. The Windy City Bulls star has been one of the best players in the G League all season, and just wrapped up perhaps the busiest month of his career so far. It started with a dominant performance against the Herd in Wisconsin: Jones dropped 40 points on 16/25 shooting from the field and 8/9 from three on February 3. Two days later, he took the court in Greensboro and hung 31 points, 10 assists, and 3 steals on the Swarm. Not a bad road trip.

After going undrafted out of Louisville, Jones first joined the G League in October of 2021, when he was acquired by the Texas Legends. He immediately established himself as an elite scorer and playmaker—on opening day against the Lakeland Magic, he casually put up 37 points, 5 rebounds, and 4 assists in a win. 

Jones always plays at his own pace, patient and under control. He lulls defenses to sleep and then attacks the paint with force (I was there at the Comerica Center when he did this… and oh my God). At just 6-0, he relies on his athleticism, exceptional handles, and nifty footwork to create offense, both for himself and for others. Pull up any highlight video of Jones and you’ll see the full package: he shoots confidently from behind the arc, stops on a dime for smooth midrange jumpers, finishes through and around rim protectors at the basket, and finds teammates for easy opportunities.

Last year, Jones led the Legends to the second round of the playoffs and was named to the NBA G League All-Rookie Team and the All-NBA G League Third Team. He began this season on a standard G League contract but was called up to the Chicago Bulls in December, inking a two-way deal. Since then, he has mostly remained in the G, but did manage to score the second field goal of his NBA career in Paris when the Bulls met the Detroit Pistons in January’s NBA Paris Game.

Appearing in eight G League contests throughout February, Jones averaged 27.5 points (on 46% shooting), 8.1 assists, 5.8 rebounds, and 2 steals. Windy City, a team fighting for a playoff spot, went 6-2 in those games. Jones also logged 22 minutes for Chicago—the most he’s received in an NBA game to date—during a nationally-televised matchup with the Bucks on Feb. 16 (he finished with 1 point, 3 rebounds, and 2 assists). 

From there, Jones was off to Salt Lake City for All-Star Weekend. He was one of 24 players invited to participate in the first-ever G League Next Up Game, which also featured previous “Players to Watch” Luka Garza, Kenneth Lofton Jr., and Isaiah Mobley.

Of course, McClung was the G Leaguer who stole the show out in Utah. The spotlight has (rightfully so) found him in February, and he has used it to help promote the level of talent in the G. Asked to deliver a message to NBA executives, McClung said, “I’d really encourage them to watch the G League. There’s a lot of people in the G League who deserve the same light.”

People like Carlik Jones. 

HONORABLE MENTIONS (FEBRUARY STATS)

Xavier Moon, Guard, Ontario Clippers: 26.4 points, 5.2 assists, 4.6 rebounds, 1.6 steals, 52 FG%, 47 3P%

Johnny Juzang, Guard, Salt Lake City Stars: 26.5 points, 5.3 rebounds, 4.3 assists, 49 FG%, 41 3P%

Alize Johnson, Forward, Wisconsin Herd: 17.0 points, 14.1 rebounds, 6.6 assists, 66 FG%

DaQuan Jeffries, Guard, Westchester Knicks: 23.9 points, 8.3 rebounds, 2.9 steals, 1.1 blocks, 49 FG%

Lester Quinones, Guard, Santa Cruz Warriors: 23.5 points, 7.6 rebounds, 4.3 assists, 47 FG%, 38 3P%

Kenneth Faried, Forward, Mexico City Capitanes: 13.9 points, 14.5 rebounds, 1.3 steals, 2.3 blocks, 49 FG%

Chris Chiozza, Guard, Long Island Nets: 14.7 points, 8.4 assists, 4 rebounds, 1.6 steals, 52 FG%, 52 3P%

FEBRUARY CALL-UPS

Willie Cauley-Stein, Forward, Rio Grande Valley Vipers to Houston Rockets

P.J. Dozier, Guard, Iowa Wolves to Sacramento Kings

Kris Dunn, Guard, Capital City Go-Go to Utah Jazz

Frank Jackson, Guard, Salt Lake City Stars to Utah Jazz

Keaton Wallace, Guard, Ontario Clippers to Los Angeles Clippers

Nate Darling, Guard, Ontario Clippers to Los Angeles Clippers

Mac McClung, Guard, Delaware Blue Coats to Philadelphia 76ers

Olivier Sarr, Forward, Oklahoma City Blue to Oklahoma City Thunder

Joe Wieskamp, Forward, Wisconsin Herd to Toronto Raptors

Quenton Jackson, Guard, Capital City Go-Go to Washington Wizards

Stanley Umude, Guard, Motor City Cruise to Detroit Pistons

Jamaree Bouyea, Guard, Sioux Falls Skyforce to Miami Heat

Photos via Getty Images.

The post NBA G League Player to Watch (February Edition): Carlik Jones appeared first on SLAM.

It’s the fourth quarter of a game between the Capital City Go-Go and the Santa Cruz Warriors at the 2022 AT&T Winter Showcase, an annual scouting event held in Las Vegas. Capital City leads, but Santa Cruz is on an 11-0 run. The game clock reads…well, there is no game clock. Just a shot clock, which ticks below 12 seconds. Go-Go guard Kris Dunn fakes a pass, drives hard to the basket and springs toward the rim. 

“Dunn, penetrating, for the win…” exclaims the announcer. 

The former No. 5 pick in the 2016 NBA Draft kisses a tough layup off the glass. 108-105. Game, Capital City.

That probably sounds…strange. To uninformed fans watching on television, it probably looked strange, too. During this year’s Winter Showcase, the G League conducted one of its biggest experiments yet: incorporating Final Target Scores, which may be known by many in the basketball world as the “Elam Ending,” a concept conceived by Ball State University professor Nick Elam and made popular by the summer competition, The Basketball Tournament.

Under the new G League guidelines, the clock was turned off after three quarters, and all games were played until one team reached a “target score” of 25 points added to the leading team’s total. Capital City was ahead of Santa Cruz 82-77 as the fourth quarter began, which meant that the first team to 107 would win the contest. Dunn’s layup sealed the deal.

“It makes it competitive,” Dunn told SLAM afterward, when asked about the target score format. “You don’t see any time on there, so it’s a little different, a little off. But I think over the last few days—with the target score—there have been a lot of close games. I think that brings the energy in the building when it’s close, so I like it.”

The G League is also using a target score for its overtime periods this season—instead of being timed, extra sessions are a race to seven points. 

“I like that the league experiments with this kind of stuff,” says play-by-play broadcaster Kevin Danna, who has been calling G League games for more than a decade. “This is what it’s here for. Nothing is going to be perfect the first time around.” 

Since its founding in 2001, the G League has served as a laboratory for the NBA—a testing ground for various ideas that could enhance the game. Danna has seen the league introduce several new rules through the years—some radical, some minor. Recently added NBA regulations such as the transition take foul, coach’s challenge and 14-second shot clock reset were all first evaluated at the G League level.

“Throughout the calendar year, not just the season, we’re always throwing stuff on the wall to see what sticks,” says Malik Rose, Head of Basketball Operations for the G League. “We’re always thinking about ways that we can improve the game. You hear Commissioner [Adam] Silver talking about innovation, innovation, innovation—that goes into it. So we’re in constant communication with [the NBA] throughout the year. Some rules are instituted to solve a problem at the NBA level, and some rules are tested to see if we can improve the game in some way.”

Of course, many of the G League experiments don’t make it to the NBA, lasting only a few seasons. The international goaltending rule—where the ball is live as soon as it hits the rim, even if it’s above the cylinder—was in place from 2010-15 but never gained enough traction to get “called up.”

Other unique rules have become staples of the current G League game, even if it’s difficult to imagine them ever reaching the NBA. In 2019, the G League instituted the one free-throw rule, which stipulates that only one free throw be taken in all situations during the first 46 minutes of a game. So if Dunn is fouled shooting a three-pointer in the second quarter, he takes one free throw worth 3 points. In the final two minutes, standard NBA free-throw rules apply.

Of all the inventive reforms explored in the G League (for the 2004-05 season, the league even tested a rule where three-pointers counted as only 2 points until the last three minutes of each quarter), “target score” ranks among the most ambitious. Ahead of the Winter Showcase, teams had to adjust their strategies. Players had to shift their mindsets. Fourth quarters at the event felt more intense and competitive.

“It becomes a possession game, especially when it’s a close game in that fourth quarter,” says Tyler Cook, a forward on the Salt Lake City Stars. “Literally, every single possession matters, even more so than I feel like it does in the regular game format.

“We do situational games a lot in practice—it just feels like that,” Cook continues. “Because every single possession, you’re so used to looking up at the clock and checking for how much time you have left, but it’s really just about the score and trying to figure out how to get just one stop at a time and get a great shot every single time down. It adds a different feel to it, and it just makes you focus on every single possession more.”

It also forced coaches to reconsider substitution methods—if a player usually checks in at the eight-minute mark, when should he be called upon during a target-score fourth quarter?—and develop new game plans. What plays do you draw up when you’re three points away from the target score? What about six points? And how do you defend on the opposing side of those situations?

“The best part about it is that we’re all sort of learning on the fly here, so everyone is trying out different strategies,” Billy Campbell, General Manager of Basketball Operations for the Birmingham Squadron, said at the Showcase. “It’s almost like a lot of game theory. If we do this, then what happens on the other end?”

The creative format received mixed reviews from players and staff. It did have the effect of eliminating the intentional fouling that happens late in NBA games, when teams are trying to claw their way back without time running off the clock. Showcase games were generally faster—instead of 12 minutes, the average fourth quarter took just 10:22 to play—and often more dramatic than typical G League contests.

“My personal impression is that it’s done what it’s supposed to do—create exciting finishes,” says Rose. Every contest ended with a game-winner, from step-back three-pointers to breakaway dunks. It was 97-97 in the Showcase championship, with a target score of 99, when Ontario Clippers guard Xavier Moon nailed a midrange jumper to secure the $100,000 prize for his team. Some squads were able to mount improbable comebacks: the Rio Grande Valley Vipers erased a 16-point deficit in the fourth quarter, storming back to grab a 125-119 victory over the Iowa Wolves.

“I like [the target score] because no team is ever mathematically out of the game,” Danna says. “You could be down 20 with 40 seconds to go in the fourth quarter, you’re not going to win—0.0% chance. But teams can go on 21-0 runs in this league. A 20-point lead really isn’t much in this league. So it gives the other team hope.”

Whether or not the NBA will integrate a target-score format in settings beyond the NBA All-Star Game (where it’s been utilized since 2020) remains unclear, but the extensive testing being done in the G League suggests that the concept is under serious consideration for a larger role. It is one of numerous topics that continue to be discussed at league offices, including adding a second Coach’s Challenge, as executives mull the future of the sport.

“We’re looking at a lot of stuff,” Rose tells SLAM. 

No ideas are too trivial—or too extreme—when it comes to improving the game. So Rose and his team will just keep throwing stuff at the wall. And let’s see what sticks. 

Photos via Getty Images.

The post How the NBA G League is at the Forefront of Basketball Innovation, from Player Development to Testing New Rules appeared first on SLAM.

Frank Jackson was 12 years old when he first arrived in the small city of Lehi, UT. After growing up in the Washington DC area and spending two years in Hood River, OR, the Jackson family made the move to the Beehive State, where Frank’s mom, Juleen, is from. 

“As a kid, I always felt like an outsider,” Jackson tells SLAM. “I was always moving. I was never the coach’s son. I was always the kid from out of town.”

Still, it didn’t take long for Jackson to be introduced to Lehi’s basketball community. A gym nearby (just north of Thanksgiving Point) called “Open Court” was one of the go-to spots for top players in Utah. The building would later be renamed “Flash Factory” after Brandt Anderson, owner of the NBA D-League’s Utah Flash, purchased it in 2008 and made it the team’s practice facility.

Jackson, who has been playing for the Salt Lake City Stars (Utah’s new G League affiliate) this season and just signed a 10-day contract with the Jazz, has fond memories of watching the Flash back then. “I would go to those games,” he recalls. “I thought they were the coolest things ever.”

It was in Lehi where Jackson’s game really took off. “Kids like to compete out here,” Jackson says, “and they’ll do anything to win. You see kids busting their tails every day trying to be the best that they can be.” That passion resonated with the fiercely competitive Jackson, who always had a chip on his shoulder. “Everywhere I moved, you [had to] prove yourself,” he adds. “And that, to me, was awesome.”

Following a stellar freshman year at Lehi High School, Jackson transferred to Lone Peak High School in Highland to join a highly regarded hoops program. There, head coach Quincy Lewis helped push Jackson to another level, and soon the 6-3 guard was one of the top recruits in the nation. He committed to Duke in September of 2015 and proceeded to have a historic senior season, winning Utah Mr. Basketball and being named a McDonald’s All-American. He finished his high school career with 2,079 total points, which ranked sixth in state history. A few months later, Jackson was off to Durham. And about a year after that, he was headed to the NBA, drafted 31st overall by the Charlotte Hornets and quickly traded to the New Orleans Pelicans.

Since 2017, Jackson has bounced around the NBA, signing deals with the Pelicans, Thunder, Pistons and Suns. Of course, he was already accustomed to a life on the move—adjusting to new cities, meshing with new teammates, proving himself in new environments—because of his childhood. Utah has always been home, though, and when the opportunity to return presented itself, Jackson jumped at it.

After he was waived by the Suns in October, the first person Jackson talked to was Jazz CEO Danny Ainge. “The first thought that pops into your head is playing in places that you’ve grown up in,” Jackson says, “and [where] you have people that love you and have supported you—just to be able to be a part of that and a part of the community that I was raised in.” He and Ainge agreed it was an ideal fit.

As a member of the Salt Lake City Stars, the 24-year-old has dominated the G League, averaging a team-high 21.1 points on 47 percent shooting from the field and 43 percent from three. For the kid who always felt like an outsider, there is comfort in being so close to Lehi, to the Flash Factory, to Lone Peak, to the beautiful mountains. 

“I can breathe that mountain air and just chill,” Jackson says. “It’s been a blessing to be back in a place that I call home.” 

Photos via Getty Images.

The post Frank Jackson on His NBA Journey, Proving Himself and Getting to Play for the City He Calls Home appeared first on SLAM.

It was 2019 when Isaiah Mobley said those words to SLAM. He was about to begin his college career at the University of Southern California, while his younger brother Evan—the No. 1 prospect in the class below him—would have one final year at Rancho Christian High School. The nation’s best sibling duo was breaking up, but, as Isaiah hinted, the brothers would be reunited soon.

Evan eventually followed Isaiah’s footsteps to USC, where the two shined side by side for a season. Then Evan was off to the NBA—selected with the No. 3 overall pick by the Cleveland Cavaliers in 2021—while Isaiah chose to remain in L.A. The Mobley brothers were split up again… 

And then they were reunited. Again.

With the 49^th pick in the 2022 NBA Draft, the Cavaliers took Isaiah. This time, the Mobley reunion has looked a bit different. The brothers haven’t spent much time on the floor together. Instead, Isaiah, who is signed to a two-way contract, has been dominating for the Cleveland Charge—the Cavs’ G League affiliate—this season.

At 6-8, 238 pounds, Isaiah is an athletic and versatile big man, just like Evan. Growing up, the two developed their skill sets in competitive games of one-on-one.

“Evan would always want to play me one-on-one after practice because he would play against his teammates and do really well,” Isaiah said in 2019. “I just remember that I was beating him but would have to try harder because he was getting better. His competitive drive…he would try to play until 100 until he could win. I think that rubbed off on me because when I was younger, I played hard always and played to win, but not as intense as I do now.” 

He later added: “We used to [fight a lot] because [Evan] had temper tantrum problems, but now he got it under control so we don’t have no problems. It was good though—he was a sore loser, which is good. It plays into [who he is] now because he plays hard and he hates to lose. I used to beat him in 90 percent of stuff and he used to hate it. One-on-one, I’d beat him, and he’d try to fight me. But, also, I think that’s why he is so good now.”

Fast forward four years and Evan is helping lead a Cavs squad that sits at fourth in the NBA’s Eastern Conference standings, while Isaiah is helping lead a Charge squad that sits at first in the G League’s Eastern Conference standings. 

In January, Isaiah averaged 23.6 points (on 52 percent shooting), 9.3 rebounds, 4.1 assists and 1.4 blocks per contest. He led the Charge in scoring four times, in rebounding three times (including a 19-board game against Fort Wayne) and in assists three times. His three-point percentage dropped, but for the full year (showcase + regular season), he is knocking down 35 percent of his attempts from behind the arc. Led by Mobley and guard Sharife Cooper, Cleveland has won nine of its last 10 games.

Below are Isaiah’s highlights from a recent victory over the Wisconsin Herd, in which the 23-year-old forward notched 30 points, 10 rebounds and 4 assists. Peep his creativity on offense—Mobley attacks off the bounce, finishes jump hooks in the paint and steps out for threes. (You can see shades of all that in this video of him and Evan playing one-on-one from 2019.)

As of January 27, Mobley ranked seventh in fan votes for the G League’s Next Up Game, a new event to take place at All-Star Weekend in Salt Lake City. (Our previous two “G League Players to Watch,” Luka Garza and Kenneth Lofton Jr, placed one and two in fans votes, respectively). 

With Isaiah starring for the Charge and Evan doing his thing for the Cavs, Cleveland must be super thankful that the Mobley brothers always find a way back to each other.

HONORABLE MENTIONS (JANUARY STATS)

Sharife Cooper, Guard, Cleveland Charge: 27.4 points, 6.1 assists, 4.4 rebounds, 50 FG%

Mason Jones, Guard, Mexico City Capitanes: 24.8 points, 5.4 assists, 4.4 rebounds, 1.5 steals, 49 FG%, 40 3P%

Scotty Pippen Jr., Guard, South Bay Lakers: 24.3 points, 8.3 assists, 3.7 rebounds, 1.3 steals, 50 FG%, 40 3P%

Charles Bassey, Center, Austin Spurs: 23.4 points, 9.3 rebounds, 1.2 blocks, 71 FG%

Lindell Wigginton, Guard, Wisconsin Herd: 24.7 points, 6.4 assists, 4.9 rebounds, 48 FG%, 46 3P%

Gabe York, Guard, Fort Wayne Mad Ants: 24.0 points, 4.8 assists, 4.6 rebounds, 1.7 steals, 48 FG%, 39 3P%

Zavier Simpson, Guard, Lakeland Magic: 15.9 points, 9.6 assists, 4.5 rebounds, 1.5 steals, 57 FG%, 63 3P%

Jay Huff, Center, South Bay Lakers: 15.1 points, 7.5 rebounds, 4.6 blocks, 61 FG%, 44 3P% 

JANUARY CALL-UP TRACKER

Chris Silva, Forward, College Park Skyhawks to Dallas Mavericks

Deonte Burton, Forward, Stockton Kings to Sacramento Kings

Donovan Williams, Forward, Long Island Nets to Atlanta Hawks

Dru Smith, Guard, Sioux Falls Skyforce to Brooklyn Nets

Saben Lee, Guard, Raptors 905 to Phoenix Suns

PJ Dozier, Guard, Iowa Wolves to Sacramento Kings

Joe Wieskamp, Forward, Wisconsin Herd to Toronto Raptors

Sterling Brown, Guard, Raptors 905 to Los Angeles Lakers

Photos via Getty Images

The post NBA G League Player to Watch (January Edition): Isaiah Mobley appeared first on SLAM.

Based on his performance over the three-day event, Lofton Jr. earned a late invitation to the NBA Draft Combine. On May 23, just after the Combine ended, he announced his decision to remain in the 2022 Draft. “See y’all June 23,” he wrote on Twitter. “100% staying in the draft!” Though he wasn’t selected, the 20-year-old eventually signed a two-way contract with the Memphis Grizzlies and continued to shine at NBA Summer League in July, posting 14.9 points and 6.4 rebounds per game.

At 6-6, 275 pounds, Lofton Jr. is built more like an NFL tight end than an NBA forward. His strong frame, “bully ball” style and smooth lefty jumper immediately reminded Grizzlies fans of Zach Randolph. The hype surrounding him grew even more during a matchup with No. 2 pick Chet Holmgren, in which Lofton Jr. overpowered the 7-1 Gonzaga star down low, notching 19 points and 6 boards.

A point guard in high school before sprouting from 6-2 to 6-6 and moving to the frontcourt at Louisiana Tech, Lofton Jr.’s game reflects just that—he is as comfortable handling the ball up top as he is operating on the post, where he makes up for a lack of height with sheer muscle and excellent footwork. Asked about the development of his unique skill set at Grizzlies media day, Lofton Jr. said, “I just knew post moves. I just added everything I had and put it in one bag and used it.”

That bag includes a soft touch in the paint, a crafty spin move and an impressive passing ability. And now, with the Memphis Hustle, the Grizzlies’ G League affiliate, Lofton Jr. is adding to his arsenal. After taking just 20 total threes in college, the rookie is currently averaging just under 4 attempts per contest. He shot 50 percent from the field and 36 percent from behind the arc in December, averaging 21.2 points, 8.9 rebounds and 3.2 assists to lead his team to a 7-2 record.

Memphis went 2-0 at the recent AT&T Winter Showcase in Las Vegas, the event that every G Leaguer has circled on the calendar. Playing in front of scouts and executives from all 30 NBA teams, Lofton Jr. was dominant. He showed his expanded range, knocking down 5 three-pointers, and overwhelmed weaker defenders inside. He was unstoppable driving to his left, using his body to keep shot blockers away and finishing through contact at the rim. In the two most important games of the season so far, he averaged 27 points, 11.5 rebounds and 5 assists. He was named to the All-Winter Showcase Team along with Brandon Boston Jr., Tre Mann, Isaiah Mobley and Terry Taylor.

Of course, Lofton Jr. still has a lot to improve—reducing his turnovers, upping his efficiency from deep, playing defense without fouling. But since the Elite Camp seven months ago, when he wasn’t even set on turning pro, the big man has already taken significant steps toward becoming a real contributor at the NBA level.

HONORABLE MENTIONS (DECEMBER STATS)

Mason Jones, Forward, Mexico City Capitanes: 24.9 points, 5.9 rebounds, 6.9 assists, 1.3 steals, 63 FG%, 49 3P%

Isaiah Mobley, Forward, Cleveland Charge: 25.8 points, 9.0 rebounds, 5.5 assists, 1.5 blocks, 65 FG%, 57 3P%

Mamadi Diakite, Forward, Cleveland Charge: 24 points, 9.5 rebounds, 1.7 blocks, 53 FG%

Orlando Robinson, Forward, Sioux Falls Skyforce: 25.5 points, 15.8 rebounds, 3.5 assists, 1.5 blocks, 62 FG%

Vernon Carey Jr., Forward, Capital City Go-Go: 25.2 points, 9.1 rebounds, 1.4 blocks, 59 FG%

Carlik Jones, Guard, Windy City Bulls: 23 points, 5.0 rebounds, 6.3 assists, 52 FG%, 37 3P%

Brandon Boston Jr., Guard, Ontario Clippers: 23.6 points, 6.0 rebounds, 49 FG% (Winter Showcase MVP)

Brandon Williams, Guard, College Park Skyhawks: 23.4 points, 4 rebounds, 4.3 assists, 1.6 steals, 52 FG%, 49 3P%

Tyler Dorsey, Guard, Texas Legends: 27.3 points, 4.0 rebounds, 3.2 assists, 51 FG%, 47 3P%

DECEMBER CALL-UP TRACKER

Louis King, Forward, Rio Grande Valley Vipers to Philadelphia 76ers

AJ Lawson, Forward, College Park Skyhawks to Dallas Mavericks

Jared Rhoden, Guard, College Park Skyhawks to Detroit Pistons

Carlik Jones, Guard, Windy City Bulls to Chicago Bulls

Stanley Johnson, Guard, Sioux Falls Skyforce to San Antonio Spurs

Orlando Robinson, Forward, Sioux Falls Skyforce to Miami Heat

Photos via Getty Images.

The post NBA G League Player To Watch (December Edition): Kenneth Lofton Jr.  appeared first on SLAM.

“It’s been crazy, but that’s how the game goes,” McClung said in an episode of “The Break,” a series produced by the G League. “If I got to play for all 30 [teams] to make it, I’m going to play for all 30.”

Life on the fringes of the NBA is often a roller coaster. And even for a former high school superstar and social media sensation like McClung, the spotlight doesn’t shine very bright in the G. Nonetheless, the 6-2 guard out of Texas Tech has quietly been making big strides. 

After going undrafted in 2021, McClung eventually landed with the South Bay Lakers, the affiliate of the Los Angeles Lakers. He averaged 19.6 points, 5.8 assists, 3.3 rebounds, and 1.2 steals through the first 13 games of the season before being called up by the Chicago Bulls in mid-December. Hundreds of players entered COVID-19 protocols that month, which led to an unprecedented number of opportunities for G Leaguers. McClung signed a 10-day contract with the Bulls and made his NBA debut almost exactly a year ago (2 points in 3 minutes against the Hawks). Chicago gave him a second 10-day, but McClung did not receive any more playing time, and returned to the South Bay Lakers in January. 

First known for his jaw-dropping dunks, the 23-year-old has shown his versatility as a pro. Back with South Bay, he averaged 21.6 points, 7.5 assists, 6.8 rebounds, and 1.5 steals, winning the 2021-22 Kia NBA G League Rookie of the Year award (previous winners include Paul Reed, Quinn Cook, Tim Frazier, and Robert Covington). In April, Los Angeles rewarded McClung with a two-way contract and brought him up for the final game of the regular season. He capped a solid performance (and a Lakers victory) that evening with one of those signature jaw-dropping dunks…

Despite a successful, albeit hectic, rookie year, and an impressive showing at the 2022 Summer League, McClung did not make an opening day roster. He turned down million-dollar offers from clubs overseas, instead opting to rejoin the G League and keep chasing his NBA dream. As a member of the Delaware Blue Coats, the affiliate of the Philadelphia 76ers, McClung has thrived in various roles this season. He dropped a career-high 44 points in November and notched his second career triple-double (21 points, 10 rebounds, 10 assists) shortly after. On some nights, he’s provided a much-needed scoring spark off the bench; on others, he’s been the Blue Coats’ primary playmaker, running the offense and facilitating for his teammates.

SLAM caught up with McClung during the recent G League Winter Showcase in Las Vegas. Delaware won both of their games at the annual scouting event, with McClung averaging 12.5 points (on 59 percent shooting), 7 assists, 4.5 rebounds, and 1.5 steals.

SLAM: What was your mindset heading into the Showcase? 

Mac McClung: Just to make the most of whatever my role is for the team. We won, 2-0, that’s always great. Wish we were in the winner’s bracket. But yeah, just make the most of it. Show that I can fit in in any situation.

SLAM: How are you a different player this season compared to last season?

MM: I think I just became better at adapting to situations. I feel like if you’ve seen this year, I’ve played multiple different roles for this team. And I feel like I’ve been a positive influence in each and hopefully people notice that and notice that I can adapt to any situation. 

SLAM: Is there anything specific that you worked on this summer?

MM: Really just film work on patience. When your minutes get cut or something, people often want to force things. I kind of learned to [hold] that back and also just play the game the right way no matter what the situation is, which sounds easy but it’s harder than it sounds.

SLAM: Can you sum up what this past year has been like for you, with all the movement up and down and to different teams/cities? 

MM: It’s been a rollercoaster, if you let it be. That’s one thing I was talking to my parents about. If you let success determine your happiness, it’ll just be a rollercoaster, instead of just buying into each day and the process. That’s one thing I’ve done. And I’m doing what I love every day. Me getting better every single day is my goal—not [moving] up and down [from the NBA]. So when I have that time, hopefully I can capture it. 

SLAM: Any specific moments that encapsulate just how chaotic last season was for you?

MM: If you look at the whole situation, I’ve changed multiple teams. Other teams picked me up. Here, in [Las Vegas] Summer League, I ended up with the Warriors, when I started with the Lakers. It’s just being able to adapt, man. That’s just the League. You’ve got to control what you can. I can’t control what team I’m playing on or if someone wants to give me an opportunity. I just always stay ready.

SLAM: Can you describe your thought process when you were deciding whether to rejoin the G League or sign with a team overseas?

MM: I’ll shout out my best friend, Zac Ervin. I was offered quite a bit of money to go overseas—like, probably I could change my life with that money. I always tell myself I’m going to stick it through until I make it [to the NBA], because I believe in myself. And you get offered that stuff and you’re like, Oh, man. That changes. But my boy Zac was like, “Man, that’s not who you are.” Because we worked out every day from seventh grade to senior year. Every single day. He was like, “Man, you weren’t in the gym for that.” So I’m like, Damn, that’s not who I am. Let me get it while I’m here. 

SLAM: How was your brief experience in the NBA last year beneficial? What did you take away from it?

MM: It’s good just seeing it and learning. I think that’s the biggest thing—experience. When it comes to growing, people talk about, you can work on certain things, but experience is so valuable, man. Being there before is valuable. I got to touch the NBA a little bit and I got those nerves out, those jitters, and I got to see what it’s about. And I’m ready whenever my next opportunity comes. 

SLAM: What can you provide an NBA team right now? 

MM: Multiple things—that’s what I’m trying to show. I’m diverse. If you need me to come and be a point guard off the bench and get others involved, I can do that. If you need me to score, I can score. I’m going to be active—I’m going to be rebounding, diving on the floor, just [providing] energy in any way you want me to.

SLAM: What’s the biggest misconception about your game? 

MM: When I was in college, I wasn’t much of a point guard. But I think if you watch these games, I really get my teammates involved.

SLAM: What’s the biggest misconception about life in the G League?

MM: People just don’t understand how lonely it is, I don’t think. It’s not easy. Andre Ingram told me, “Every five days, something changes.” In the G League, something is changing every five days.

SLAM: What are your overall goals for this season?

MM: Just to keep growing each day, man. I want to play in the NBA. I believe I’m an NBA player. But that will come when I keep working on each day, trying to grow each day. 

Photos via Getty Images.

The post Mac McClung Talks G League Journey, NBA Experience and More appeared first on SLAM.

Of all the standout players in the G during November, Iowa Wolves star Luka Garza shined the brightest. A quick reminder what the 6-11 center did at the University of Iowa: 2020-21 consensus National Player of the Year, two-time First Team All-American, the only player in Big Ten history with at least 2,250 points and 900 rebounds. Garza graduated as Iowa’s all-time leading scorer and had his No. 55 jersey retired by the program. His list of accolades is seemingly never-ending—just scroll through his bio page here.

And yet…Garza was not a top NBA prospect. There were a lot of questions about how his old-school game would translate to the pros, and whether he was mobile and athletic enough to still be productive at the next level. Despite a remarkable college career, the Hawkeye legend fell all the way to the 52^nd pick in the 2021 Draft, where he was scooped up by the Detroit Pistons.

As a rookie, Garza played in 21 games for the G League’s Motor City Cruise, averaging 21.6 points and 9.1 rebounds. He was named to the G League All-Rookie Team and the All-NBA G League Third Team. He also appeared in 32 games for the Pistons, contributing 5.8 points and 3.1 rebounds per contest (17.2 points and 9.3 rebounds per 36 minutes).

Detroit moved on from Garza this past summer, and the 23-year-old eventually signed a two-way contract with the Minnesota Timberwolves. He was able to learn from All-Stars Karl-Anthony Towns and Rudy Gobert throughout training camp and preseason. Since then, Garza has spent much of his time with Minnesota’s G League affiliate, the Iowa Wolves.

“That was one of the draws of coming here—being able to develop my game, but do it in a place that’s basically my second home,” Garza told reporters in mid-October. “I’m from DC, but now it feels like I’m from Iowa. I love it out there, so I’m super excited.”

Back in his “second home,” the big man averaged 27.3 points (second in the G League), 8.9 rebounds, and 3.9 assists (first among centers) in November. His efficiency was ridiculous—he shot 67.6 percent from the field and 55.2 percent from behind the arc (on 4.1 attempts per game). Just look at the array of ways he scores in the highlight clip below: finishes out of the pick-and-roll, fade-away baseline jumpers, put-backs, three-pointers, floaters in the lane, crafty post moves—he does it all.

With Garza in the lineup, the Iowa Wolves went 6-1 in November; without him, they were 0-2. After Towns suffered a right calf strain a week ago, Garza was temporarily called up from Iowa to Minnesota. In December, our “G League Player to Watch” might just get an opportunity to prove himself on the big stage.

HONORABLE MENTIONS (NOVEMBER STATS)

Jaden Hardy, Guard, Texas Legends: 29 points, 4.3 rebounds, 3.6 assists, 55 FG%, 48 3P%

Jay Huff, Forward, South Bay Lakers: 17.9 points, 8.9 rebounds, 3.1 assists, 4.4 blocks, 68 FG%

Sharife Cooper, Guard, Cleveland Charge: 26.1 points, 3.7 rebounds, 6.7 assists, 1.5 steals, 51 FG%, 45 3P%

Kenneth Lofton Jr, Forward, Memphis Hustle: 27.2 points, 10.3 rebounds, 1.7 steals, 57 FG%

Mark Williams, Center, Greensboro Swarm: 23.1 points, 12.6 rebounds, 2.1 blocks, 63 FG%

Chris Chiozza, Guard, Long Island Nets: 15.1 points, 11.9 assists, 6.9 rebounds, 2.1 steals

Jamaree Bouyea, Guard, Sioux Falls Skyforce: 18.4 points, 7.9 rebounds, 6.5 assists, 2.5 steals, 53 FG%

Luka Samanic, Forward, Maine Celtics: 21.7 points, 11.4 rebounds, 2.4 assists, 1.1 blocks, 53.7 FG%. 

NOVEMBER CALL-UP TRACKER

DaQuan Jeffries, Guard, Westchester Knicks to New York Knicks

Alize Johnson, Forward, Austin Spurs to San Antonio Spurs

Dru Smith, Guard, Sioux Falls Skyforce to Miami Heat

Saben Lee, Guard, Raptors 905 to Philadelphia 76ers Toronto Raptors

Devon Dotson, Guard, Capital City Go-Go to Washington Wizards

Ibou Badji, Center, Wisconsin Herd to Portland Trail Blazers

AJ Lawson, Forward, College Park Skyhawks to Minnesota Timberwolves

Orlando Robinson, Forward, Sioux Falls Skyforce to Miami Heat

Jordan Hall, Forward, Austin Spurs to San Antonio Spurs

The post NBA G League Player to Watch: Luka Garza (November Edition) appeared first on SLAM.

“It definitely was the proving ground,” he adds. “That’s the place where you had to go play. Coming out of this city, if you didn’t come through there, then you weren’t real.”

In the wake of the devastating 1967 Detroit Riots, Sam Washington—the athletic director at St. Cecilia’s—was determined to create a safe haven for kids. Washington opened up the doors to St. Cecilia’s gym and before long it was attracting some of the most talented basketball players in the area. At a time of tension and unrest, the modest facility—located near I-96 in west Detroit—had a unifying effect on the community, and became a symbol of the city’s resilience.

Hall of Famer Dave Bing was the first NBA star to play at The Saint, using the gym to work out amid a contract dispute with the Pistons. As the years passed, everyone from George Gervin to Magic Johnson to Isiah Thomas to Jalen Rose and Chris Webber graced St. Cecilia’s court, drawing huge crowds that packed into the cramped space.

“You would go in on a Saturday morning at 9 o’clock and you wouldn’t leave until 10 o’clock at night,” Cureton recalls. The former big man started his NBA career with the Philadelphia 76ers, but would return to Detroit every summer for The Saint’s pro-am league. 

“Once I got to the pros—we won a championship in Philly—I couldn’t wait to get back to St. Cecilia’s in the summertime,” Cureton continues. “We would see each other in the League during the season and we’d all be saying, ‘Okay, who’s going to win The Saint this year? You won an NBA championship, but you gotta go back and win The Saint.’”

The list of greats to make appearances at The Saint goes on and on: Dave DeBusschere, Rudy Tomjanovich, Spencer Haywood, Jimmy Walker, B.J Armstrong, Joe Dumars, Derrick Coleman, Steve Smith, Shane Battier. One summer, Bernard King even flew in with a team from New York just to play at the mecca of Detroit hoops.

In early November, the Pistons unveiled their 2022-23 City Edition uniforms, which pay tribute to St. Cecilia’s. Designed in collaboration with Creative Director of Innovation Big Sean, who went to basketball camp at The Saint as a kid, the new threads are green, just like the walls of the iconic gym. The shorts feature a replica of the stained-glass window that adorns the front entrance of the building, and the jerseys include the same quote—“Where stars are made, not born”—that is inscribed on the hardwood floor. 

“It was like the Drew League in Detroit before the Drew League,” Big Sean says about the summer league at St. Cecilia’s. “[The gym] is just a part of the community and I think it’s kind of been slept on these past few years so I’m glad it’s being highlighted. I’m glad we were able to pay homage with these uniforms. This was my first time designing anything like that. It was a big deal for me.”

Not too long ago, the Detroit rapper was just a fan sitting in the nosebleeds at The Palace of Auburn Hills during the 2004 NBA Finals. He remembers waiting outside one of the arena’s gates with his brother and seeing Richard Hamilton—clad in a fur coat and chains—hop in his Range Rover after the game.

Designing the uniforms was “a full-circle thing,” Big Sean tells SLAM. “It’s major for me. I’m grateful. I feel like I’m doing it not just for me—I feel like I represent a lot of people from the city of Detroit. I represent my family. It feels good to just be able to put a little bit of our signature on it.” 

Big Sean’s actual signature appears on the jersey, as well as a trio of gold stars that represent the organization’s three titles.

“It was easy just because we had a vision. We didn’t want to go too extra. I kind of wanted to keep it clean, keep it classic,” Sean says about the design process. “And that colorway is so classic. First of all, that’s my high school colorway—that green and white. That’s MSU. That’s Wayne State, Eastern Michigan, so many schools around the city. My brother went to Eastern Michigan. A lot of my family, friends went to MSU. I went to Cass [Technical High School]. It just kind of had a lot of meaning, the green and white. And then we added the blue. I loved how the numbers were shadowed on some of the other uniforms, so we added that and made it blue, just to represent the blue-collar history of Detroit.”

In addition to rocking the uniforms throughout the season, the Pistons are spearheading efforts to renovate St. Cecilia’s. SLAM’s parent company, JDS Sports, recently pledged a $250,000 grant to help kickstart construction, joining the Detroit Pistons Foundation and the Knight Foundation. 

“I love the storytelling around this jersey, but it’s not just the look-back storytelling,” says Alicia Jeffreys, Chief Marketing Officer for the Pistons. “I think it’s the future of The Saint that we really want to put out into the world. We want for the next several generations of kids in this neighborhood to be able to have a safe place to play ball. Restoring The Saint is just as important to us as restoring the Pistons on the court. We have to do both of those things in tandem.”

Photos courtesy of the Pistons.

The post The Story Behind the Detroit Pistons’ New City Edition Uniforms appeared first on SLAM.

Amid that celebration, an overjoyed and overwhelmed Stephen Curry begged an interesting question. “What are they gonna say now?” he exclaimed. “What are they gonna say now?”

Really, what are they gonna say now?

Curry repeated the question many times over the next few hours. The answer, one would hope, is nothing. There is nothing that Stephen Curry doubters and haters and skeptics can say now. His legacy is solidified. Period.

SLAM 239 featuring Stephen Curry is out now.

If we’re being honest, it was solidified long before he led the 2021-22 Warriors back to the mountaintop, just two seasons after they finished with the worst record in the NBA. Long before his legendary Game 4 Finals performance, when he put up 43 points and 10 rebounds on the road. Long before he averaged 31.2 points, 6 rebounds, 5 assists and 2 steals for the entire series, facing a historically good Celtics’ defense. Long before he claimed ring number four and his first Bill Russell Finals MVP trophy.

But this was the icing on the cake, the cherry on the sundae, the exclamation point. As Curry himself said, given everything that the organization has endured over the past couple years—the losing, the injuries, the roster changes, the constant criticism—this championship “hits different.”

Here’s the résumé now, just so we’re all on the same page: 8x All-Star, 8x All-NBA, 2x MVP, 2x scoring champ, 4x champion, a Finals MVP and all-time leader in three-pointers made. Because of his unique game and nearly unprecedented impact, trying to sum up Curry’s legacy is extremely difficult. Coaches and teammates did their best following Golden State’s title-clinching Game 6 victory.

Draymond Green: “When you look at a guy like Stephen Curry—to have the season that he’s had, to have the career that he’s had, it’s absolutely amazing. And to stamp that with a Finals MVP, I know he said it doesn’t matter, and it doesn’t matter in the sense of, like, Oh, his legacy is not quite this unless he gets that. That’s garbage. He’s still Steph Curry. He’s still an all-time great. But to add that to your résumé as a competitor, you want that. And for him, it’s well deserved. It’s been a long time in the making. He left no doubt. And he carried us.”

Get your copy of SLAM 239!

Klay Thompson: “I’m so happy for him to get that Finals MVP. Some freakin’ bozos were saying he needed it. I think he’s pretty much established what he can do. But to see him earn that, I mean, he’s one of the greatest ever.”

Andre Iguodala: “I think he solidified himself today—not even today, just in his career—as the best point guard of all time.”

Kevon Looney: “He’s changed the game. I think everybody knows that. We call him the greatest shooter for a reason. Since I’ve been here, he’s done something amazing every year. I got to see him win a unanimous MVP. I got to see him break the three-point record. I got to see him win three championships and win back-to-back MVPs. He has a long list, a great résumé. He’s considered one of the best ever for a reason.”

Steve Kerr: “I’m obviously thrilled for everyone in that room, and a lot of people had a big hand in this, but I think the thing with Steph is, without him, none of this happens. And that’s not taking anything away from Joe and Peter’s ownership, because they’re amazing owners. They’ve built an incredible organization. Bob Myers, hell of a GM. And our players, we’ve had so many great players. But Steph is ultimately why this run has happened. Much like Timmy [Duncan] in San Antonio. I’m happy for everybody, but I’m thrilled for Steph. To me, this is his crowning achievement in what’s already been an incredible career.” 

Those quotes tell much of the story. So does the résumé. So does the way that the game has changed. So does the fact that the Warriors, under Curry’s reign, have become a true NBA dynasty, hanging four banners and going to six Finals in eight years.

Stephen Curry is one of the greatest basketball players of all time. 

Really, there is nothing more to say. 

239 is also available in these exclusive gold and black metal editions. Shop here.

Photos via Getty Images.

The post Stephen Curry’s Legacy as One of the Greatest of All-Time Has Been Solidified appeared first on SLAM.

Today, the Martin brothers continue to express that love for hoops through their own clothing brands. Christian founded Collect and Select, which combines vintage sportswear designs with a modern streetwear twist, utilizing old-school NBA logos to evoke a sense of nostalgia. Alexander founded Who Cares, which strives to empower individuals by spreading the message to live freely and authentically, unbothered by outside noise. Players have been seen rocking both brands through the tunnels of NBA arenas.

After building their companies separately, Christian and Alexander came together to create the widely-known “WHAT THE” swingman shorts.  The design—inspired by Nike’s What The Dunks—meshed together the retro logos of 13 different NBA teams. When the shorts first dropped at a pop-up in the Bay Area, hundreds of people lined up to get a pair. “WHAT THE PT II” and a pastel colorway released soon after and sold out instantly.

Collect and Select and Who Cares recently joined forces again, this time collaborating with SLAM on the ’92 Gold Shorts. The new product celebrates the 30^th anniversary of The Dream Team, the iconic, unrivaled USA squad that took home the Gold at the ’92 Olympics in Barcelona.  

“The whole vibe was centered around the Gold medal,” Christian says. “On that Gold medal, you’ll obviously see these intricate details that we tried to kind of mimic and convey in our own style. If you were to take their Gold medal that they won, along with their [USA] uniforms, and kind of deconstruct that and put it back together, that’s the main vibe that we were going for.”

“Just to connect to our childhood and make that full circle moment work on a pair of ’92 Dream Team shorts, it’s crazy,” Alexander adds. “I just can’t wait for the release.”  

SLAM x Collect And Select x Who Cares: ’92 Gold Shorts are available now.

The post SLAM Collabs with Collect And Select x Who Cares on ’92 Gold Shorts to Celebrate The Dream Team appeared first on SLAM.

It wasn’t the most safe or secure approach, however. That binder was heavy. It was cumbersome. Sometimes cards fell out of it. Sometimes you lost it entirely. Sometimes it couldn’t hold your full collection.

While card collecting might feel like an ancient pastime to some, the trading cards industry is continuing to grow at a rapid rate. “eBay’s trading cards business has been growing significantly for over seven years with this surge starting even before people were rediscovering old collections and passions while staying at home,” said Bob Means, Director of Trading Cards at eBay.

“We have increasingly seen younger generations turn their trading card collections into alternate investment opportunities. For the everyday collector, we know their passion for trading cards has been a longstanding hobby and they are the reason The Hobby is still around today.”

In fact, earlier this year, a Tom Brady 2000 Contenders Rookie Championship card sold on eBay earlier this year for a record-breaking $2.3 million, and a 1948 Bowman Basketball HOF PSA 9 Mint trading card, which broke an eBay sales record for vintage cards pre-1968, sold for $800K. Point being: it’s more important than ever before to ensure the safety, security and authenticity of your collection.

That’s where the new eBay vault—a 31-thousand square foot 24/7 secure, temperature-controlled facility and digital marketplace for collectors—comes into play. Say hello to the future of collecting.  

Here’s how the eBay vault works: Simply purchase a single, graded trading card $750+ directly on eBay and opt for it to be sent to the vault. Only cards graded by the following graders will be accepted: Professional Sports Authenticator (PSA); Sportscard Guaranty Corporation (SGC); Certified Collectibles Group’s affiliates, CGC Trading Cards, Certified Sports Guaranty (CSG); and Beckett Grading Services (BGS). Authentication, insurance, affordable shipping, and a tax-free location makes the eBay vault a no-brainer for collectors and enthusiasts – providing unprecedented control and peace of mind. 

Back in the binder days, there was also no way to know for sure if the card you were trading or buying was fake. But worry no more! The eBay vault is coupled with the company’s Authenticity Guarantee service for trading cards, ensuring accuracy so enthusiasts can buy and sell with total confidence. Any vault-eligible item will be closely examined by a team of experts to confirm that it’s legit and matches the listing before it is shipped out to the eBay vault. eBay has partnered with PSA to perform this mandatory check.

There will always be nostalgia for the OG card-collecting days, when storing and exchanging items digitally wasn’t even a thought. But whether you’re just getting into the game, you’re a life-long collector, or you just so happened to stumble upon that old binder while cleaning out the attic, the eBay vault is for you. It provides control and peace of mind for collectors and enthusiasts alike – knowing their valuables are secure and that they can manage their portfolios digitally. It is the intersection of physical and digital, and the future for collectors.  

For further information about the eBay vault, visit www.ebay.com/vault.  

The post The New eBay Vault Gives Card Collectors Unprecedented Trading Access  appeared first on SLAM.

“I can remember when he was a little boy—this is how obsessed he was,” recalls Brandy Cole, the mother of Celtics All-Star Jayson Tatum. “I asked him, ‘What do you want to be when you grow up?’ His first answer in life was, ‘Kobe.’”

Brandy tried to explain to her son: You can’t be Kobe. You can be an NBA player, like Kobe. But you can’t be Kobe.

Jayson refused to accept that. And when mom dared to suggest that he could one day be better than Kobe, her son damn near lost his mind.

“I was like, ‘Can’t nobody be better than Kobe!’” Tatum remembers. “It didn’t even make sense to me.”

Not too long ago, Jayson Tatum hated the Boston Celtics. As a kid growing up in St. Louis, MO—a city without a hometown NBA team—he fell in love with Kobe and the Lakers. That love, dating back to when Jayson was 4 years old, ran deep. It was an obsession.

He retreated to his bedroom and cried when Boston beat L.A. in the 2008 Finals. He was ecstatic when Kobe got his revenge in 2010, winning his fifth and final championship.

“From the beginning, [Kobe] was always my favorite player,” Tatum explains. “I wanted to be just like him. He was my biggest basketball inspiration.”

By the age of 6, Jayson was getting into heated arguments with Brandy about who was better, Kobe or Michael Jordan. She watched MJ and the Bulls rule the League in the ’90s. Jayson’s allegiance, of course, was always to the Mamba.

In every way possible, Jayson tried to emulate his idol. He was shooting turnaround, fadeaway jumpers by third grade. Brandy would peer out the window and see Jayson working on Kobe’s moves in the backyard of their home in University City.

He rocked all the Kobe kicks and apparel he could get his hands on.

“My favorite Kobe shoes were the Kobe 3s,” Tatum says. “I had on the ‘What The’ Kobe 9s in the state championship game my senior year. Played in Kobe ‘Preludes,’ 5s and 6s, when I was on the EYBL circuit.”

“I can remember the first time I found out that Flight Club existed, he was entering his senior year and he wanted these shoes—’What The’ Kobes,” Brandy says. “They were already expensive to me. I looked high and low, and then I found Flight Club. Of course, the only place [that had them]. And I was like, You mean I got to pay more for these? [laughs] But he was like, ‘That’s all I want. It can be my Christmas gift and my birthday gift. That’s all I want.’”

In 2007, Jayson met Kobe for the first time at Quicken Loans Arena, when the Cavaliers hosted the Lakers. He still has the picture they took in the hallway after the game. That same year, he went to All-Star Weekend in Las Vegas with Brandy. They didn’t have tickets to the events but made it to the NBA’s Jam Session—a giant activation geared toward kids. Tatum picked out a red Western Conference All-Star Kobe jacket. Brandy dug it up after Bryant’s passing and surprised Jayson with it.

Tatum’s fandom started as most fandoms do. He gravitated to the exciting showman playing on one of the League’s brightest stages. The Lakers regularly appeared on national TV. Bryant regularly appeared on SportCenter’s Top 10. Once Tatum discovered YouTube, he’d spend hours and hours going through highlights. 

“One of my all-time favorite plays when I was younger was when they threw the full-court pass to him and he did the 180 when he went behind his back,” he says. “That shit was just, like, unbelievable to me when I first saw that.”

As he became older and found his own success in basketball, Jayson began to look up to Kobe for reasons far beyond a lob to Shaq or a poster over Dwight. He kept watching the highlights, only this time, he studied them differently.

“I remember my dad telling me, ‘Don’t just watch his buckets. Watch how hard he works to get open for the ball, his demeanor, how efficient he is with his body movements and his jab steps, his footwork. Don’t just watch the shot go in,’” Tatum says. “I really started to pay attention to the little things.”

“The little things” extended far beyond clips on YouTube. Jayson read stories of Kobe’s work ethic, drive and intensity. He listened to the Mamba speak about it himself—how he put all his eggs in one basket, how he chased his goal of making the NBA relentlessly, how he never had a backup plan. It became Tatum’s own mantra.

“He said the exact same words to me,” Brandy explains. “We would talk about work ethic and all of that. I would say, ‘OK, what’s your Plan B just in case [you don’t make the NBA]?’ He looked at me one day and he was like, ‘That’s the difference between me…’ and he named all these other people. ‘They actually have a fallback plan, a Plan B.’ These were his exact words: ‘Mom, no. It’s this or die.’ And I responded, ‘Um, no. Maybe there’s something else, like coaching.’ I was trying to get him to at least come up with something. There’s a small number of people that actually make the NBA, and as a lawyer, I’m always like, Do your due diligence, make sure you have all your bases covered. But he was emphatic. ‘It’s this or nothing.’”

As early as elementary school, Tatum embraced the Mamba Mentality. He’d tell teachers that his dream was to be an NBA player, and when they encouraged him to choose something more realistic, he remained steadfast.

“I can remember vividly, he was in the fourth grade playing AAU Nationals in New Orleans,” Brandy says. “We would go on trips and there was a rule that you couldn’t swim or couldn’t have fries and ice cream and stuff like that, because you couldn’t swim all day in the sun and then go play and compete. We lost, and a bunch of other kids on the team were like, Yay, now we can go swim. We get back to the hotel and they all can’t wait to get into their swimsuits and go to the pool. I go in our room and Jayson’s sitting on the floor with his back against the wall in tears. You’re not going swimming? He said, ‘No, I don’t understand. We lost. There’s nothing to be happy about.’ He was just so upset. There was always something different about him.”

That continued into high school, when Jayson was up at 5 am every morning and off to the gym before Brandy even got out of bed. He paid attention to the details and never took shortcuts. He mastered Bryant’s jab step by training for an entire week without a basketball, just replicating the motion over and over again. During his four years at Chaminade, head coach Frank Bennett insists he took just two days off—the two days following their state championship victory his senior season.

All of that stemmed from Bryant and a desire to follow in his footsteps. It seemed to come full circle when, amid Boston’s 2018 playoff run, Kobe dedicated a segment of his ESPN show Detail to breaking down Tatum’s game. Then a rookie, Tatum had been helping to lead an injury-riddled Celtics team through the Eastern Conference. After years of analyzing Bryant’s every move, the roles had suddenly reversed. Jayson watched the episode on repeat.

“I started to talk to him during the playoffs. He told me when I get to L.A. to contact him. If I wanted to get in the gym, just let him know,” Tatum says. “And then when we did, I remember I was sweating on the way to the gym. My heart was beating fast. I remember I walked in and I was like, Yo, this shit…Kobe is here and I’m about to…like, it was…”

He struggles to find the words to describe the moment exactly. Here he was, having just turned 20, about to play basketball with his hero.

“I remember I would do a drill and he would show me how to do something or tell me what to do next, and I was just sitting there and in my mind I’m like, Yo, I’m working out with fucking Kobe Bryant.”

“It’s right up there with him getting drafted,” says Brandy, of that first workout between her son and Bryant. “It’s watching your kid’s dreams come true.”

“He’s iconic,” says Jayson. “He accomplished so much. I think it was just the way he went about it. The way he did things and his demeanor. He was different. That’s the best way to put it. He was just different. He was unlike anybody else. He did it his own way. And you could see when he passed away, so many people my age and even older guys in the NBA, they attribute him [with] being the reason they work so hard and started playing basketball.”

The news of Kobe’s death left Tatum heartbroken. He continued to honor his idol on the court, being named to his first All-Star team in late January. The seeds of that accomplishment were planted nearly two decades ago, when a young, awestruck Jayson first saw the Black Mamba dominate. Kobe was the reason he picked up a basketball. Kobe was the one who inspired him to strive for feats like this.

“No matter if it was during the regular season, postseason, All-Star—everything he’s always done, he’s always followed and wanted to emulate Kobe,” Brandy emphasizes. “Whether it was on the court, life accomplishments, USA [Basketball], All-Star.

“I think it’s a little bittersweet [making his first All-Star Game],” she continues. “I’m sure Kobe would’ve been there. I’m sure Jayson probably would’ve gotten a text or a phone call congratulating him. I think he would have been glad to see that Kobe was proud of him. It’s bittersweet, for sure, but I know that he knows Kobe is proud of him and that this is one of many. And if he keeps that Mamba Mentality, he’ll be a perennial All-Star, MVP candidate, all of that.”

That’s Plan A. And for Jayson Tatum, there aren’t any backup plans.

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Photo via Getty Images.

The post The Blueprint: How Kobe Bryant’s Influence Drives Jayson Tatum appeared first on SLAM.

Recounting that moment today, Saladeen gets chills. It has stuck with him for 25 years. And now, with the SLAM x King Saladeen “Bear Season Basketball Card” collaboration, it’s come full circle. 

The SLAM x King Saladeen Bear Season Basketball Card pays homage to one of the game’s greats, Allen Iverson. This exclusive ØNE ‘N DØNE drop is available now. Shop here.

As a hooper growing up in Philly, Saladeen naturally looked up to Iverson. He went on to play college basketball himself before turning his attention to another lifelong passion: art. Even in that world, AI served as inspiration—to be unique and fearless, to strive for the best, to refuse to be boxed in.

King Saladeen was also inspired by his late friend John JP Thompson, who was the first person to encourage him to pursue a career as an artist. Thompson tragically passed away in 2013 after a battle with brain cancer, but Saladeen continues to honor him through his work. His signature creative, which has been included in numerous collaborations and exhibited all around the world, is the well-known “JP the Money Bear.”

Since launching his art group in 2011, Saladeen has partnered with brands such as Jordan, Topps, eBay and the NFL, designing fine art, toys and collectibles, clothing and more. Having worked on baseball cards and football apparel, Saladeen was waiting for the right opportunity to spotlight basketball—his favorite sport—in a piece. Then SLAM called.

The “Bear Season Basketball Card” celebrates that iconic moment when rookie AI crossed Mike, incorporating JP the Money Bear and paying homage to the city of Philadelphia. The court beneath AI’s feet is split in two to reflect how the Sixers legend “broke the mold on what a basketball player is supposed to look like—what success is supposed to look like,” as Saladeen explains.

“I haven’t really had too many projects other than just me doing my paintings and my work [where] I can really express myself fully and it’s 100 percent something that I love,” he continues. “Basketball, and AI, and Philadelphia, and SLAM, and JP the Money Bear—that’s a championship right there. That’s crazy. That’s like my life in a card.” 

SLAM x King Saladeen Bear Season Basketball Card is available now.

The post King Saladeen Collabs with SLAM on Exclusive ‘Bear Season’ Basketball Card that Pays Homage to Allen Iverson appeared first on SLAM.

Let’s back up. Philly took Springer, a 6-4 combo guard out of Tennessee, with the 28^th overall pick in the 2021 Draft last summer. His father, Gary Springer Sr, a former McDonald’s All-American, was coincidentally also drafted by the Sixers back in 1984. 

“I knew what he was since he was nine years old,” Springer Sr recently told SLAM about Jaden. “I’ve been around the game. I’ve been around the baddest guys who have ever played. From Jordan on down, I’ve been around them. I could see it, but I knew what it took to bring all that out, too. Because there are a lot of kids like that, but a lot of them don’t go all the way through to it. But he followed the plan, the blueprint, and he made himself who he is. He did it. Jaden did it. He made himself who he is by the hard work and effort.”

SLAM has been covering Springer since he was a blossoming star at powerhouse IMG Academy in Florida. As a HS senior in 2019-20, he was a top-20 recruit and McDonald’s All-American (just like his father). In his one season with the Volunteers, the versatile wing averaged 12.5 points and 3.5 rebounds, shooting 47 percent from the field and 44 percent from three. He showed an ability to score at all three levels and established himself as an elite on-ball defender, using his strength, physicality and quick hands to be disruptive (he recorded two or more steals in nine games). 

Of course, Springer joined a talented and deep NBA squad with championship aspirations. It became clear early on that he was not going to crack Doc Rivers’ rotation. Which is fine. Springer won’t turn 20 until September. His opportunity will come. This season, thus, was all about development. It was about gradually adjusting to the pro level. It was about building confidence and knowledge. It was about reps. A lot of reps. Reps in training camp. Reps in preseason. Reps in practice. Reps in the G League. 

“For anybody coming into the League, there’s definitely going to be a learning curve,” Springer told reporters during his introductory press conference back in July. “There’s going to be a lot of learning [this season] and just trying to soak up all the information I can” 

Springer spent most of his rookie campaign in Delaware, where any Philly fans paying attention would’ve seen flashes of his potential. The G League schedule is divided into two parts: a 14-game tournament called the Showcase Cup, which culminates with a marquee event in Las Vegas, and a standard regular season. The Blue Coats thrived in both, winning the Cup championship at the Mandalay Bay and continuing to roll from there. 

Along with Myles Powell, Paul Reed, Braxton Key, Charles Bassey and other young players, Springer was a huge piece of that success. He had several big performances throughout the year: 25 points, 5 rebounds and 5 assists against the Maine Celtics (W); 22 points, 6 assists and 5 steals against the Grand Rapids Gold (W); 24 points and 7 rebounds in another matchup with the Gold (W); 26 points and 6 rebounds against the Swarm (W); 26 points, 5 assists, 3 blocks and 2 steals against the Raptors 905 (W). A month ago, he went off for 30 points (on 11/19 shooting), 9 rebounds, 6 assists and 7 steals (!) to lead his squad to a 130-118 win over the Cleveland Charge.

The G League playoffs—a March Madness-style single-elimination bracket until the Finals, which is best-of-three—kicked off on April 5. Delaware hosted the Long Island Nets in the Conference Quarterfinals, and Springer was unstoppable again. He finished with 26 points (on 8/11 shooting), 5 rebounds and 2 blocks in a 133-116 victory. Two days later, facing the Motor City Cruise in the second round, Springer put up 30 points, 5 rebounds and 4 steals.  

He was a late scratch from the Conference Finals due to injury, but the Blue Coats took care of business to earn a matchup with the Rio Grande Valley Vipers in the Finals. Unfortunately, they were without Springer for most of that series, too, and the Vipers completed the sweep on Thursday night to claim the championship.

Springer’s rookie season likely ends there, and while he didn’t get a chance in the NBA, he made the most of his situation. He is following the plan and sticking to the blueprint, as he has since childhood. That approach got him here. And it will continue to take him further.  

The post SLAM x Panini Rookie Spotlight: Jaden Springer appeared first on SLAM.

That was Sharife Cooper, way back in the summer of 2019, at the photo shoot for his first ever SLAM cover (SLAM 225, with Josh Christopher and Jalen Green). Those sacrifices he referenced? Well, at the time, it wasn’t unusual for him and his dad, Omar, to pull up to the Life Time gym in Atlanta at 1:00 am for a workout, following a day packed with weightlifting, pick-up games and more.

It’s been nearly three years since that shoot, and all of those sacrifices have definitely paid off. Cooper was a McDonald’s All-American and consensus five-star prospect at McEachern High School (Georgia), becoming the highest-ranked recruit ever to commit to Auburn. He appeared in just 12 games for the Tigers due to eligibility issues, but averaged 20.2 points, 8.1 assists. 4.3 rebounds and 1.0 steals. When he declared for the 2021 Draft, he became just the second one-and-done in program history.

At merely 6-1, Cooper lacks the size that many of the other point guards in his class possess. Cade Cunningham is 6-6. Jalen Suggs is 6-5. Josh Giddey is 6-8. Tre Mann is 6-3. But in terms of pure skill, Cooper can match up with anyone. As former NBA player Brevin Knight, who grew up with Omar and remains close to the Cooper family, told SLAM in 2019: “Shit, I wish I had what [Sharife] had [during my career]. I look at the way that he plays the game with his [mind]—that’s probably the most similar to what I was able to do. But in terms of skill, I wish I had a tenth of the skill that he’s able to play with right now.”

“I have no problem guarding anybody on the basketball court, but when it comes to Sharife Cooper, just make sure you don’t mess up,” Christopher—now on the Houston Rockets—added. “I’ve guarded Sharife a couple of times and he’s got me. It’s crazy what he does with the basketball.”

Really crazy. Sharife has elite handles and an array of creative moves that he uses to navigate to the paint. Once there, he calmly surveys his options, either finding his own shot or finding a shot for someone else. He changes speeds and directions effortlessly, somehow remaining in complete control the whole time. Like any true floor general, he comes off screens, reads the defense and figures out the best way to attack, whether it’s by scoring or facilitating.

The Hawks took Cooper with the 48^th pick in the draft and immediately signed him to a two-way contract. With their depth, especially in the backcourt, it became clear that the 20-year-old wasn’t going to get much of an opportunity this season. He spent most of the past several months with Atlanta’s G League affiliate: the College Park Skyhawks. Cooper was one of the team’s leaders throughout the year and showed very promising signs of growth. His play was a major reason the Skyhawks earned a spot in the G League playoffs, ending the regular season on a remarkable 11-game winning streak. 

Amid that stretch, Cooper appeared in 10 contests and averaged 18 points and 7.3 assists, shooting 46 percent from the field. He had 24 and 7 against the Wisconsin Herd; 18 and 10 against the Maine Celtics; 42 (on a staggering 14/19 from the field and 7/9 from three), 5 assists, 4 steals and the game-winner against the Lakeland Magic; 20 and 8 against the Grand Rapids Gold. Though the Skyhawks went on to lose to Capitol City in the first round of the playoffs (which are single elimination until the Finals), Cooper had another spectacular night, notching 19 points and 13 assists (with 0 turnovers).

His development has been happening behind-the-scenes—in smaller venues, with smaller crowds and far less media attention. But rest assured, Hawks fans, Cooper is making the sacrifices and taking the steps that he needs to right now. And it will pay off in the end. 

The post SLAM x Panini Rookie Spotlight: Sharife Cooper appeared first on SLAM.

Joshua Primo?

The 18-year-old kid from Alabama?

The one who averaged just 8.1 points per game?

No one—not even the “experts”—saw it coming. Primo was projected as a late first rounder. Spurs fans were confused. Many were angry. Many more were critical. You can just read the responses to the tweet below…

Spurs general manager Brian Wright told the media that his team was looking for the prospect with the “best potential long-term ceiling.” Primo was the youngest player in the draft. Plus, San Antonio sought to add another versatile wing to their developing core. Key word: developing.

This was a pick about the future. The distant future. Primo would need time to grow—the front office understood that. But that was just fine. The Spurs, as Wright alluded to, were in no rush.

“Josh’s development timeline will be Josh’s development timeline. I think what we’re focused on is ultimately the type of person he is, the work that he’ll put in to continue to improve his craft and how he’ll impact our team long-term, so there’s no pressure from us,” he said, via AL.com. “The pressure that he puts on himself is the pressure that he would consistently put on himself to be good. He wouldn’t be in this position if he didn’t push himself to work hard and improve. Again, he was a high school senior playing starter-level minutes in the SEC, so we do think there’s big upside there and he’s going to continue to improve once we get him into the program.”

Well, he’s been in the program for nine months now, and the 6-4 guard has certainly continued to improve. He has spent significant time with the Austin Spurs, the Spurs’ G League affiliate, and been impressive as one of their primary playmakers. This season, Primo has averaged 16.7 points (on 38.7 percent shooting from the field and 42.1 percent from three), 5.9 assists and 1.6 steals. At the G League Winter Showcase in Las Vegas, he helped lead the Toros to a victory over the highly-touted Ignite team, which features several future lottery picks (as Jonathan Tjarks pointed out in this story for The Ringer, Primo is actually younger than Jaden Hardy and MarJon Beauchamp, who are both projected as first-rounders in the 2022 Draft). Primo finished with 23 points, 6 rebounds and 4 assists in the win.

The rookie looks comfortable handling the ball and operating out of pick-and-rolls. He has good size for a guard, which allows him to finish at the rim on one end and guard multiple positions on the other. He spreads the floor as a perimeter threat and hits pull-up jumpers off-the-dribble. 

Throughout March, he stepped into a bigger role in Coach Popovich’s rotation. He averaged 6.6 points on 39 percent shooting amid a recent four-game winning streak (a crucial one that put the Spurs in the play-in tournament). Coaches have praised Primo’s composure, fearlessness and professionalism, especially for someone his age.

“Joshua has an uncanny maturity about him—kind of a steady demeanor,” Popovich told reporters in January, after Primo put up 15 points, 5 rebounds and 4 assists against the Raptors. “He’s not awed by the NBA or anything like that. He makes good decisions. He definitely knows how to play. He understands the game. It’s just a matter of getting stronger and more aware that these are men and they’re coming after your head, so to speak. Just to get used to that physicality and all those sort of things.

“He’s not afraid to shoot it. He makes good decisions. He’s a good passer,” Pop added. “He’s got some innate ways about him that let you know that he understands what’s going on. He’s already pretty good at pick-and-roll, for instance. Sometimes it takes a player a couple of years to figure that out. So I think it’s a maturity thing and I want to make sure he feels comfortable and he’s not overwhelmed. He’s a respectful, quiet kid so it’s going to take some time to pull some stuff out of him, but he’s been wonderful.”

It may take some time, but that’s not a problem. The Spurs will stay patient. Primo is only 19 years old, and just keeps getting better. 

The post SLAM x Panini Rookie Spotlight: Josh Primo appeared first on SLAM.

Kispert played four years in Spokane for Gonzaga, steadily improving each season. He went from playing around 20 minutes off the bench as a freshman to being the go-to perimeter scorer on a team that nearly went undefeated as a senior, losing in the national title game to Baylor. He was the 2020-21 WCC Player of the Year and a consensus All-American. He appeared in 137 games, logged 3755 minutes, scored 1586 points, hit 270 three-pointers and went 63-2 in conference play as a member of the Bulldogs (who could have used him last night, when they shot 38 percent from the field in a Sweet 16 loss to Arkansas). Point being: the 6-6 forward entered the ‘21 Draft with more experience and maturity than most prospects. He certainly wasn’t a question mark. 

The Wizards selected him with the 15^th overall pick and Kispert came in already looking and moving like he belonged. Here’s what Bradley Beal recently told The Athletic about him: “He was never like a rookie and like a deer in the headlights, like me coming into the League. He’s very mature. He has the experience. He played in college a few years, so he came in with the understanding of how to play the game.”

Yes, Kispert had that experience. Yes, he had that understanding of the game. Yes, he was “NBA ready.” But the 23-year-old didn’t get his opportunity right away. He played sparingly during the first few months of the season, averaging merely 12.5 minutes through October and November. He struggled to find his rhythm in the limited action. His shot wasn’t falling with the same consistency that it did at Gonzaga, where he hit 41 percent of his 4.8 three-point attempts per game.

According to teammates and coaches in Washington, the rookie just stayed the course. He was a professional, continuing to work and ensuring he was ready for his opportunity. It came right around Christmas, when Beal and Kentavious Caldwell-Pope tested positive for COVID-19. Kispert was inserted into the starting lineup on Dec. 23 for a matchup with the Knicks at Madison Square Garden and needed just seven shots to drop 20 points, helping the Wizards get a 124-117 win. He maintained a significant spot in the rotation from there, even as players returned from the League’s health and safety protocols.

Following the trade deadline, a lot more minutes opened up, particularly for Washington’s wings. Spencer Dinwiddie was sent to Dallas. Aaron Holiday was sent to Phoenix. Beal was sidelined due to a wrist injury. Kispert has started every game since Feb. 10 and quietly played very well, averaging 11.2 points and 3.2 rebounds while shooting 46 percent from the field and 38 percent from deep. He spaces the floor, drifts around the perimeter, launches open shots and slashes to the paint for easy layups. He never forces the action or looks to create offense that isn’t there. Of his 423 total field goal attempts so far this season, 389 have been from behind the arc (259) or within ten feet of the basket (130).  

Beal praised Kispert’s overall feel for the game and recent development: “He just understands [the] timing of when to cut, when not to cut,” the three-time All-Star said, via The Athletic. “When guys penetrate, [he knows] how to seep into the open gap for shots. He’s always open, and I think his ability and his confidence to take those shots and knock them down as a rookie has been great. He’s just going to continue to get better. And I love the fact that he could put the ball on the floor. He’s athletic—sneaky athletic. He’ll dunk [on] you. He makes plays on the defensive end, too. So the sky’s the limit for him. I’m happy that he gets an opportunity, too, to be able to grow in the role.”

Grow in the role—that’s exactly what the former Bulldog has done. He posted 20 points and 6 assists against the Kings; 16 points and 2 steals in a win over Brooklyn; 21 points against the Lakers at Staples Center. He has scored in double figures in four of the last five games, beginning to knock down threes more consistently.

In other words, he is having the kind of impact that everyone knew he could potentially have at this level.

The post SLAM x Panini Rookie Spotlight: Corey Kispert appeared first on SLAM.

Back then, in 2019, Mayfair head coach Tony Davis said this about Christopher: “He’s definitely very charismatic, and as a basketball player he’s always had a level of confidence that is rare. I think that’s one thing that helps separate him—he has an undying belief of his abilities and you don’t see that in teenagers.”

He has an undying belief in his abilities. Spend any time around Christopher and that becomes obvious. The extremely talented guard also just oozes confidence. It made Davis a believer. It made SLAM a believer. It made anyone paying attention to high school hoops a believer. 

At 6-3, with impressive athleticism, versatility and playmaking skills, Christopher became a five-star recruit and top-12 prospect in his class. As he told SLAM in 2019, when he was on the cover of the magazine alongside fellow HS superstars Jalen Green and Sharife Cooper, he also possesses the hunger to be great. “I think people don’t realize how much I love basketball,” he said. “I think that they think I’m using basketball as a way to do other things and not because I like the game. They don’t see—I put in a lot of work. I put in a whole lot of work.

“I watch basketball. I know basketball. Basketball is my life.”

Christopher spent one season at Arizona State (he was the highest-rated commit in school history), averaging 14.3 points, 4.7 rebounds and 1.5 steals per game. The Rockets took him with the 24^th overall pick in the 2021 Draft, where they also got Green, Alperen Sengun and Usman Garuba. Christopher played sparingly through the first few months of the season, spending some time in the G League with the Rio Grande Valley Vipers, averaging 22 points, 6.3 rebounds, 6.0 assists and 2.0 steals in three appearances.

In mid-December, Rockets head coach Stephen Silas started to give him more minutes, and Christopher started to show flashes of his potential: 18 points on 7/7 from the field and 4/4 from three in a win over the Nets; 17 points and 4 assists against the Cavaliers; 14 points and 3 steals against the Lakers. His perimeter shooting has been up and down, but the Cali native has always been able to find ways to score. He attacks the rim fearlessly, pulls up for little midrange jumpers in the paint and pushes it in transition. His shiftiness and handles make him a tough cover one-on-one. He likes to put on a show (see here). And of course, he isn’t shy. 

He has an undying belief in his abilities.

The city of Houston is learning more and more about those abilities. Silas is looking toward the future and unleashing his rookies. Christopher is averaging 9.9 points on 46 percent shooting from the field so far in March. He notched double figures in four straight outings, including a 21-point performance (in just 22 minutes) in an overtime victory over the Lakers last Wednesday. He also filled the stat sheet when the Rockets visited the Heat on March 7: 16 points, 3 rebounds, 3 assists, 2 blocks and a steal. 

We recently spent an “off-day” with Christopher. What we learned is that he basically has to be forced to take them. “Honestly, I’m so happy to be a rookie and play basketball—when I’m just in the crib bored, I want to get in the gym,” he told us. “So our coaching staff threatened to take all of my shoes out of my locker last night because I said I was coming back to the gym. Days off are cool but I like being in the gym. So days off—I’m happy to have them, but I could do without them, too.”

As he told USA Today in February, “I am all about results. You can’t get results if you are not putting the work in. When your work pays off, it makes me want to do more, honestly. I am addicted to getting better. I just have to keep working.” 

The post SLAM x Panini Rookie Spotlight: Josh Christopher appeared first on SLAM.

On the positive side, when he wasn’t stuck on the bench, Jackson was clearly having an impact. A big impact, especially for a 20-year-old still adjusting to the NBA. The versatile forward was considered a project heading into the 2021 Draft, where he was selected with the No. 22 overall pick and immediately traded to the Pacers. At 6-10, with an absurd 7-5 wingspan and elite athleticism, his potential was glaring. But Jackson hadn’t put up huge numbers in his one season at Kentucky—averaging 8.4 points, 6.6 rebounds and 2.6 blocks—and was expected to need time to develop, particularly on offense.

Still, the Pacers liked his ability to protect the rim on one end (Jackson led the entire SEC in blocks per game) and attack it relentlessly on the other (he was an obvious lob threat that could pair well with Indiana’s many playmakers). He logged just 50 total minutes through October, November and December before his role started to grow. Two-time All-Star Domantas Sabonis entered the NBA’s health and safety protocols at the end of January, leading Jackson to receive his first start on Jan. 31, in a home game against the Clippers. The rook was ready for the moment (despite finding out that afternoon, when he showed up to the arena), putting up a career-high 26 points (including four dunks and a three), 10 rebounds, 2 blocks and, most importantly, 0 fouls. His performance helped the Pacers secure a 122-116 win, snapping a four-game losing streak. 

“When a guy like him starts getting consistent minutes, when he hasn’t been playing much all year, he’s excited, he’s hyped up and the game is fast,” head coach Rick Carlisle reflected afterwards. “NBA players do things to make you react. Just the reminders for him over the last several days [were]: stay on your feet, be the second guy off the ground—because with as quickly as you jump, you’ll still be able to get up and contest or block the shot—and play without fouls because we need you on the floor. And, man oh man, he did such a great job in every area tonight. When we talked in the Draft—picked him at 22—about the need for athleticism and a rim threat, this is what we were talking about. Caris [LeVert] threw him some lobs. Justin Holiday threw him one. Two, three other guys got into the fray. And this is a dimension that this team has not had, so it was really great to see.”

Asked about his heightened role, Jackson told reporters: “It’s helped me a lot. Just getting the experience—that real game experience—has helped me a lot. I think today I took a step forward in my progress, as far as staying down [on defense] and not really [making mistakes]. I made a couple mistakes, but I’m a rookie, so I’m going to make those mistakes, but I’m trying to build off those mistakes as well. I think today was a big step forward in my progress—staying down on defense and just improving my game overall.”

With Sabonis now in Sacramento (along with Justin Holiday and Jeremy Lamb, the big man was dealt to the Kings in exchange for Tyrese Haliburton, Buddy Hield and Tristan Thompson at the deadline), and Indiana looking toward the future, Jackson’s role has only expanded. He is now a fixture in the starting lineup, building chemistry alongside the new backcourt duo of Haliburton and Malcolm Brogdon. Since the All-Star break, Jackson is averaging 11.4 points, 6.3 rebounds and 2.9 blocks per game, shooting 67 percent from the field. At this point, the evidence is clear: as long as he can stay on the floor. Jackson is—and will continue to be—a real difference-maker.

The post SLAM x Panini Rookie Spotlight: Isaiah Jackson appeared first on SLAM.

Like, real jelly. 

Farm-to-table grape jelly, to be exact. 

It’s still hard for Alabama junior Jahvon Quinerly, aka JQ, to fathom. Jelly Fam was born not too long ago, when JQ and his friends were beginning to take the high school basketball scene by storm. Isaiah Washington and Ja’Quaye James, two other guards from the NYC area, actually came up with the idea. With his smooth game and ridiculous handles, Quinerly was a perfect fit to join. 

“It’s really just being creative around the rim, spinning the ball on every part of the backboard,” he describes. “It was just to be creative—not only with playing basketball, but with everything that you do. That’s what we wanted to do. And we wanted to influence the younger generation.”

SLAM’s latest ØNE ’N DØNE drop with Jahvon Quinerly features 100 limited-edition jars of Grape Jellly.

The movement quickly blew up on social media, with hoopers everywhere trying to emulate the styles of Jelly Fam. JQ amassed well over 400,000 followers on Instagram (@jelllyjq). He became a five-star recruit, too, eventually committing to Villanova. After one year, he transferred to Alabama, where he is currently averaging 14.2 points, 4.5 assists and 3.2 rebounds per game.

In 2021, the NCAA instituted a new policy allowing student-athletes to be compensated for their name, image and likeness (NIL). “I feel like NIL is long overdue,” says JQ. “But being [a part] of the first generation that can profit off their name is something special. At this point, I’m just trying to take full advantage of it.” The new rule paved the way for Quinerly to finally pursue opportunities like the SLAM x BYJQ Grape Jellly (yes, three Ls) Jam collaboration.

“This is something I’ve been looking forward to for a long time,” he adds about the specific partnership with SLAM. “I remember I would get a SLAM magazine every [month] mailed to my door. I paid for the subscription myself. That’s why this collaboration means so much to me—it goes way back to when I was a youngin coming up, just starting to hoop.”

The nine-ounce jars of grape jelly—Quinerly’s favorite flavor—were sourced from a family-owned farm in Ohio and are packaged in a custom collector’s box. 

“The actual jelly is better than most jellies I’ve ever tried, I’m going to be honest with you,” JQ says, smiling. “I’m going to throw this on a bagel or something in the mornings, for sure.”

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SLAM X By JQ: Grape Jellly is available now.

Portraits by Haley Salvador, photos Jay Diebel.

The post Alabama’s Jahvon Quinerly Partners With SLAM to Launch ‘Grape Jellly’ Jars appeared first on SLAM.

Superstar Ja Morant tweeted that a few weeks ago. “ZW8” refers to rookie Ziaire Williams, who wears No. 8 for the Grizzlies. The tweet alludes to the fact that Williams was not selected to participate in the Rising Stars Game at All-Star Weekend in Cleveland—a clear snub, in Morant’s opinion. ZW8 has been a starter for Memphis—one of the best teams in the League at 43-21—since the beginning of January. 

As part of the three-team trade involving Steven Adams, the Grizzlies also acquired the rights to the No. 10 pick in the 2021 Draft, where they landed Williams. The 20-year-old didn’t have an exceptional freshman year at Stanford, but with his size (6-9) and athleticism, it was easy to see his potential. He developed a reputation as a solid shooter in high school, when he was a teammate of Bronny James at Sierra Canyon and the No. 8 overall prospect in his class (the highest-ranked recruit ever to commit to Stanford). That didn’t carry over to college—Williams shot just 37 percent from the field and 29 percent from three for the Cardinals. Still, he displayed an impressive ability to score at all three levels. And he occasionally did stuff like this:  

ICYMI, check out the flight of @StanfordMBB‘s Ziaire Williams on this throwdown dunk, the Play of the Week! #Pac12Hoops | @PacPremierBank pic.twitter.com/33wiQVMszB

— Pac-12 Network (@Pac12Network) January 13, 2021

Williams was in the Grizzlies’ rotation from day one. His shooting has been erratic, as it was at Stanford, but it’s clear that the rookie is getting more and more comfortable with the flow of the NBA. His confidence is rising. He is finding rhythms. He is figuring out how to impact winning.

Head coach Taylor Jenkins likes Ziaire’s versatility on both ends. Offensively, he spreads the floor for Morant and runs with him in transition (the two have quickly built strong chemistry). Defensively, he can guard multiple positions, using his 6-10 wingspan to be disruptive (he has already matched up with Stephen Curry, Khris Middleton, Brandon Ingram, Luka Doncic and more elite scorers). Coaches and teammates have praised his work ethic and willingness to learn.

The result? Williams has steadily improved and his role has steadily increased. He has been in the starting lineup for 23 games, 16 of which the Grizzlies have won. In the month of February, he averaged 9.7 points and 2.3 rebounds per game, shooting 58 percent from the field and 46 percent from three. He put up a career-high 21 points (on 9/11 shooting), 4 rebounds and 3 assists in a 120-108 victory over the Knicks on Feb. 2.   

“He just has continued to work, continued to believe in himself, started playing with confidence,” Morant said about Williams. “He knows the work he puts in. He knows the shots he can make. He knows what he’s capable of. And now everybody’s getting to see it and I’m proud of it. I’m a proud big brother!”

Three weeks later, on the road against Minnesota, Williams went off for 21 points again (on 7/11 shooting)—this time in a 119-114 loss. 

“I think the number one thing is we want him to play to his strengths,” Jenkins told reporters afterwards. “The way he can run the floor, he’s got a great connection with the guards, especially Ja—all those transition lobs and easy looks in transition. He started off shooting it well [from the] corner. Not so great from the wings. So we told him, just keep putting in the work, man. Keep putting in the work. He’s getting a lot more comfortable with the NBA line all around. Then his ability to shoot off the bounce is at a really high level—we knew that coming out of college. Getting in there, midrange pull-ups, but then getting to the free throw line, knocking down big free throws on small volume, but those are big shots for him. So he’s expanding his game, not just being a guy who just stands in the corner. I’ll also say defensively expanding his game. Tonight’s a great learning lesson where he can be better, we can be better. But he always responds and brings a better effort the next time.” 

Jenkins opted to go with John Konchar over Williams in the fourth quarter of that game for defensive purposes. Williams had, according to his coach, just made “too many mistakes” in coverages.

The rook understood. He likes to be coached that way—to be held accountable, so that he can continue to grow.

“I’ll never forget my first press conference with the Grizzlies, I promised [Jenkins] that I was going to give him everything that I had, and I told him that I want him to coach me as hard as possible,” Williams said. “Constructive criticism—that’s the only way I can get better, that’s the only way the team can get better.

“I definitely [welcome it] from all of the coaches, not even just Coach Taylor,” he added, “to push me to my limits and beyond.”

The post SLAM x Panini Rookie Spotlight: Ziaire Williams appeared first on SLAM.

Bones Hyland tweeted that at 10:38 am on July 29, 2021—the day of the NBA Draft. It sums up who he is—and what he brings to the table—pretty perfectly. Later that evening, the Denver Nuggets selected Hyland with the 26^th overall pick. The 6-3 guard, originally from Wilmington, Delaware (just the third player from the state ever to be drafted in the first round), had dominated the previous season at Virginia Commonwealth University, averaging 19.5 points and leading the Atlantic 10 Conference in three-pointers made (69). He was considered one of the most talented perimeter shooters in the 2021 Class, capable of pulling up from anywhere and knocking down tough, contested looks. With his elite quickness and crafty handles, Bones also showed an ability to get to the rim. If it wasn’t obvious from the tweet above, he plays with a lot of energy, passion and confidence—on both ends of the floor. He added 4.7 rebounds and 1.9 steals per game last year for the Rams.

Still, it was Hyland’s potential to deliver “instant offense” at the NBA level—to be a flamethrower, electrifying sixth-man type—that stood out to most scouts. Here are some of the players he was compared to heading into the ’21 Draft: Immanuel Quickley, Jordan Clarkson, Devonte Graham, Jamal Crawford and Ben Gordon.

Those comparisons should give you a good sense for Hyland’s game, and they have proved apt during his rookie campaign so far. The 21-year-old has been a much-needed scoring spark for the Nuggets, especially with primary weapons Michael Porter Jr and Jamal Murray sidelined. In just 18 minutes per game, Bones is averaging 8.7 points and shooting 36 percent from three. He hasn’t been shy or hesitant at all, ranking 12^th in the entire NBA at one point in three-point attempts per 100 possessions (min. 25 games played) with 13.3. Among rooks, he is fourth in total three-pointers made (80), trailing just Cade Cunningham (89), Chris Duarte (87) and Jalen Green (83). Worth noting: Hyland has played 500 fewer minutes than all three of those lottery picks.

In other words, Hyland is doing exactly what the Nuggets want him to do: providing a lift on offense and being aggressive from the moment he steps on the floor. He also brings an intensity, flair and competitiveness that can be contagious. Stuff like this tends to inspire the whole team: 

Bones has been improving steadily throughout his first year, developing more chemistry with former MVP Nikola Jokic and earning more trust from the coaching staff. Before the All-Star break, he had five-game stretch in which he averaged 12.4 points, including a 22-point outing in a 132-115 win over the Knicks.

As expected, there have been several nights when Bones has caught fire and quickly lit up opposing defenses. He dropped 24 points in 26 minutes—shooting 8/11 from the field and 4/5 from three—against the Hawks in December. A month later, facing the Lakers at Staples Center, he went off for a career-high 27 points and 10 assists, knocking down 6/10 from deep. Watch how fearlessly he attacks in the highlight video below, whether he’s unleashing a stepback, coming off a ball screen or launching from way behind the arc. 

Hyland replaced the injured Davion Mitchell in last Friday’s Rising Stars Challenge and showed why he belonged. He was, unsurprisingly, a source of instant offense, notching 10 points and hitting a pair of threes. Hall of Famer Gary Payton—his team’s coach—was apparently telling him, “They can’t guard you, go get a bucket every time.”

“Man, this is just the beginning for me,” Bones said afterwards. “Just to see everything and knowing what I can be in this league—[with] what I provide, what I can bring, I know I’m going to be an All-Star in this league. So seeing this stuff firsthand, it’s big for me. I’m soaking all of this in.”

The post SLAM x Panini Rookie Spotlight: Bones Hyland appeared first on SLAM.

Our latest ØNE ’N DØNE collab celebrates the NBA’s first Black players. SHOP NOW.

Lanny Smith, the founder of Actively Black, had hoop dreams of his own growing up. He overcame numerous obstacles, including a devastating foot injury, to realize his goal of putting on an NBA jersey. But just 33 days into his deal with the Sacramento Kings, Smith got hurt again, tearing cartilage in his knee. It marked the end of one inspiring journey, but the beginning of another. 

In 2012, with the backing of friends Stephen Curry and Anthony Tolliver, Smith launched an apparel brand called Active Faith. The company took off rapidly, supported by numerous athletes and eventually reaching customers in 74 different countries.

Actively Black, Smith’s latest endeavor, was a project he had contemplated launching many times, but it was in 2020, following the murder of George Floyd, when he decided to pursue it fully. “I started to see these corporations and brands come out with all of these announcements and declarations on what they were going to do for the Black community,” Smith says. “And to me, it felt very performative. It felt like it was part of a marketing strategy. It was at that moment that I decided I wasn’t going to put the idea for Actively Black on the shelf anymore.”

In just over a year, the brand has exploded. Actively Black makes premium athleisure apparel with a mission to re-invest in the Black community, focusing on programs that address mental health, physical fitness and more.

“One of the things for Actively Black that I wanted to do was help share certain stories that often get overlooked or haven’t gotten their just due,” Smith adds. That’s what the Actively Black x SLAM “Pioneers” is all about, highlighting the stories of Lloyd, Cooper and Clifton. It displays the three men on the cover of SLAM, designed to look and feel as if it were made in 1950, when the trio broke the NBA’s color barrier.

“We’re all familiar with the Jackie Robinson story,” Smith says, “but a lot of people don’t know that these three guys were basically the Jackie Robinsons of the NBA.”

This special edition of “The Pioneers” hoodie was created in collaboration with the families of Earl Lloyd, Chuck Cooper and Nat Clifton.

The post SLAM Collabs with Actively Black on a Hoodie that Celebrates the NBA’s First Black Players appeared first on SLAM.

Times were beginning to get tough for Mitchell & Ness Sporting Goods in Philadelphia, PA. For a while, the small store had been the go-to spot in the city. Founded in 1904 by Frank P. Mitchell and Charlie M. Ness, they first specialized in handcrafted tennis racquets, golf clubs and other equipment, which would be sold to local high schools. As the business grew in the 1930s, they started making uniforms for some of the professional teams based in Philly, like the NFL’s Eagles and MLB’s Athletics and Phillies. In the 1950s, Sisto Capolino, who started at the store in 1917, bought the company. 

Their reputation continued to expand, and success persisted for a long, long time, but it wouldn’t last forever. Not without change, anyway. Bigger sporting goods companies with more locations were sprouting up across the area in the early 1980s. “Things were getting pretty rough as the world was changing,” says Lynn Bloom, the Director of Authentics and Archives at Mitchell & Ness. “Independent stores were starting to disappear.”

In 1985, a man strolled into Mitchell & Ness holding pieces of two game-worn uniforms, a 1960 Pittsburgh Pirates vest and a 1949 St. Louis Browns jersey. They were both made of wool flannel. The customer’s request was simple: could Peter Capolino, Sisto’s son and now-owner of the store, repair the items? Capolino, who was very knowledgeable about baseball, pledged to give it a shot. Fortunately, there was a nearby manufacturer—Maple Manufacturing—that had piles of long-discarded wool flannel just sitting in its warehouse. The material matched what the man brought into the shop and Capolino was able to make the appropriate fixes. From there, he thought, Why not do this more and incorporate it into the business? He had nothing to lose. That decision would prove to be groundbreaking, as no one was doing anything similar at the time. The world of vintage sports apparel didn’t really exist until Capolino resolved to build it.

“It came about out of desperation. The business was really struggling,” explains Bloom. “The store was in a building where above it was a place called Readmor Books that sold old books and magazines—like, they had Sports Illustratedsfrom way back and old baseball programs. So, Peter would always joke that he would hide out there from his bill collectors, looking at old Sports Illustrated [magazines] and stuff. That related in that he had access to all these pictures of old baseball jerseys.”

“People coming into the sporting goods store were really responding to [the vintage jerseys], so he thought, I’m just going to make a couple more of these,” Bloom continues. “He had access to the images, he had Maple Manufacturing, he had ways to get them made and they were becoming pretty popular. He was making them one at a time. People would request [specific jerseys] or he would decide, I’m going to try a Mickey Mantle, or whoever he wanted to make. There was no licensing, there was no deal, there was nothing official happening except this little store in Philadelphia was making old baseball jerseys.”

The new endeavor created such a buzz that Sports Illustrated featured Mitchell & Ness in a 1987 article titled “Baseball Flannels are Hot.” Shortly after, the MLB reached out to Capolino and the two sides were able to come to a proper licensing agreement, giving Mitchell & Ness the exclusive rights to produce player jerseys. That led to the famous “Cooperstown Collection” and eventually sparked deals with the NBA, NFL and NHL.

Bloom joined Mitchell & Ness in 2001, as the company was in the midst of its craziest boom yet. Three years earlier, in 1998, Big Boi, half of the legendary Atlanta-based rap duo Outkast, wore a retro Nolan Ryan Houston Astros jersey in Goodie Mob’s “Black Ice” music video. That moment put Mitchell & Ness on the map outside of the hardcore baseball fans and sports memorabilia collectors. It was also the beginning of a throwback wave that seemed to take over pop culture. 

All of a sudden, everyone started buying vintage jerseys. The style, popularized by athletes and music artists, was to wear them extremely oversized—nothing smaller than an XXL. 

“It was really [during] that time, in the early 2000s, where every award show, every video that was shot, was like a Mitchell & Ness ad,” Bloom recalls. “It was crazy. We couldn’t keep up with it.” 

Jay-Z rocked some now-legendary throwbacks in his videos. Same with Fabolous, Jermaine Dupri, hip-hop duo Clipse, Cam’ron, Beanie Sigel, the list goes on and on. When he hosted the 2002 American Music Awards, Diddy rotated through several different jerseys over the course of the evening. About a month later, the NBA All-Star Game came to the city of Philadelphia, and celebrities kept dropping by Mitchell & Ness for the latest jerseys.

LeBron James actually met his close friend and longtime agent Rich Paul because of the growing fascination with throwbacks spearheaded by Mitchell & Ness in the early 2000s. At the airport in Akron, OH, Paul was wearing a Warren Moon jersey that caught the attention of James, then in high school. As it turned out, Paul was selling jerseys just like that one out of the trunk of his car and was on his way to Atlanta to purchase more. He gave James the name of his connection and their relationship grew and evolved from there.

The era of massive throwbacks would eventually slow down, especially as Jay-Z moved on to the button-up look, but by then, Mitchell & Ness was fully on everybody’s radar. The company has branched out tremendously ever since, developing new products like headwear, hoodies, t-shirts and more. Of course, jerseys have remained popular, too, and continue to be at the heart of the company’s business.

In over two decades, Bloom has witnessed Mitchell & Ness explode on an international scale. When she was hired, they were so small that employees didn’t have specific roles; now as Director of Authentics and Archives, she’s in charge of deciding which authentic jerseys the brand is going to make and ensuring that all of them are historically accurate. 

Her team plans out a schedule centered around major events, such as Hall of Fame inductions, notable anniversaries, big milestones, new M&N signees and more. Once they’ve narrowed down a list of throwbacks to produce, the extensive research process begins, which involves browsing the internet and image sites like Getty and AP, cross referencing any findings with old books, magazines, programs and media guides from the company’s extensive library, checking with collectors and experts in the space, and reaching out to leagues and respective Halls of Fame for physical samples, if possible. All notes are then passed to the Authentic Product Development Team, a group that creates the actual artwork that gets sent to the factory. Multiple samples are manufactured until Bloom and her colleagues believe they have a product that meets Mitchell & Ness’ high standards. Overall, the process takes anywhere from nine months to a year.

For the NBA, among the all-time bestsellers are  the Vince Carter 1998-99 purple Toronto Raptors jersey, with the pinstripes and iconic dinosaur, and everything Michael Jordan and Allen Iverson. The innovative uniforms from the 1990s—think giant logos, wacky designs and bold colors—always resonate with fans. Just as it was in 1985, when Capolino repaired those first baseball jerseys, Mitchell & Ness is all about celebrating the past, evoking a sense of nostalgia and expressing one’s deep love for sports.

“It has been one of the most joyous moments of my career to guide Mitchell & Ness from a cultural phenomenon to an international powerhouse,” says CEO Kevin Wulff. “In the past five years since our acquisition, we have focused on remaining true to our authentic roots while becoming innovators in the product and storytelling space and the brand is hotter than its ever been.”

“As a huge fan myself, I think a lot of what resonates with me is being able to recreate those moments in time that we all, as basketball fans, remember and that mean so much to us,” Bloom says. “That’s the best part of the job.” 

The post The History of Mitchell & Ness: How a Small Philly-Based Sporting Goods Store Became a Leader in Sports Apparel appeared first on SLAM.

Kuminga grew up in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, where he fell in love with basketball at an early age. “When I started playing, we used to walk far away to find [a court]. There aren’t gyms all over like you see here,” he told SLAM in 2019. “[Here], you walk down two blocks and you find a gym, a park. You gotta walk like 45 minutes to get to wherever you gotta go to play [back home]. And then after that, you gotta make sure you get back home on time because [there’s] so much stuff out there. You might even find some people that are just going to see you on the road and stab you, try to kill you. It’s kind of dangerous. It [helped] me because I’m doing that walk every day. Even my team back home, I was the young kid on the team—they started taking me to every trip because they liked that I was motivated to do that walk to come play.”

In order to reach his full potential, Kuminga realized that he would have to travel a far greater distance. He got a one-way ticket to the United States, even though that meant having to be thousands of miles away from his family. Once there, he quickly began to take over the high school hoops scene, rising to become the No. 1 ranked prospect in his class. At 6-8, with elite athleticism, he was a dominant force on both ends of the floor. 

Along with Jalen Green, another five-star recruit, Kuminga decided to sign with the G League Ignite—a new program that offered a unique pathway to the NBA. Competing against much older, more experienced pros, he averaged 15.8 points and 7.2 rebounds per game. 

The Warriors drafted him with the seventh overall pick this past summer. At 19 years old, he was considered a project—someone with promising talent and incredible upside, but not ready to contribute right away. Thus, he was widely viewed as a possible trade chip, giving Golden State the flexibility to negotiate for an established star who better fit their timeline.

But as the season progressed, it became clear that Kuminga absolutely was ready to contribute right away. Over the past several weeks, his role in Steve Kerr’s rotation has steadily grown. In February, the versatile forward has averaged 15.3 points and 4.4 rebounds in 26.4 minutes per game, shooting an absurd 60 percent from the field.

With defenses so fixated on Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson, Kuminga waits for the right moments and cuts hard to the basket. When teammates find him, he finishes strong at the rim (see below). He is launching threes with more and more confidence, going 2/2 in Wednesday’s game against the Nuggets. His size, speed and athleticism make him tough to contain in transition, too. Of course, that combination also gives him an edge on the other end. He defends multiple positions effectively, uses his 6-11 wingspan to deflect passes and soars for impressive blocks.

RIM ROCKER

Jonathan Kuminga SOARS in for the emphatic flush!@warriors and Lakers on ABC NOW! pic.twitter.com/7jMlkcccjY

— NBA (@NBA) February 13, 2022

Kuminga throws down the reverse jam

Watch Now on NBA League Pass: https://t.co/oz9UCQxdQa pic.twitter.com/RKzHfyMMsS

— NBA (@NBA) February 17, 2022

BLOCK BY KUMINGA!#DubNation #NBA75 pic.twitter.com/TX5bhjNHs2

— Camisa 23 (@camisa_23) February 13, 2022

On Saturday, in a primetime matchup against the Lakers, Kuminga started and was tasked with guarding LeBron James. The rook got into some foul trouble, but did a solid job overall, forcing James into a few turnovers and generally making things difficult. Kuminga also had 18 points and 9 rebounds of his own, helping Golden State secure the 117-115 win. 

Kuminga’s got bounce pic.twitter.com/WykmXE5XIl

— Warriors on NBCS (@NBCSWarriors) February 13, 2022

“He definitely rose to the moment,” Kerr told reporters afterwards. “The plan was—let’s get him experience now. Let’s put him on LeBron now because he’s gonna have to guard LeBron and plenty of other guys in the playoffs who are really tough jobs, tough covers. We’re just trying to get him all the experience he can get right now and he’s handling it beyond anything I could have expected even a couple of weeks ago. So his rise this last month has just been brilliant.” 

“Isn’t that crazy he’s not gonna be in the Rising Stars Game?” Klay Thompson added. “He just guarded LeBron James for however many minutes, gave us 18 on 11 shots—almost a double-double. How many 19-year-olds, 20-year-olds are doing that?”

It did seem crazy that Kuminga wouldn’t be a part of All-Star Weekend in Cleveland. Too crazy. Soon after that press conference, it was reported that he would be replacing the injured Chris Duarte in tonight’s Rising Stars Game—a well-deserved honor for a true rising star. 

The post SLAM x Panini Rookie Spotlight: Jonathan Kuminga appeared first on SLAM.

Well, now Mann is in the NBA, and he’s still playing like there’s something to prove. After two years at the University of Florida, the dynamic guard was drafted with the 18^th overall pick by the Thunder this past summer. He initially split time between the NBA and the G League, where he averaged 15.0 points, 4.4 rebounds, 3.9 assists and 1.7 steals for the Oklahoma City Blue. By December, he was getting more consistent minutes for the Thunder and starting to show what he could do—a 19-point outing against the Lakers; 11 points in 18 minutes in a win over the Clippers; 48 percent shooting from three (14/29) during an eight-game stretch. 

When we profiled him in 2019, Mann—then a high school senior—said that he was studying and adopting moves from All-Stars such as Stephen Curry (his nickname growing up was “Baby Curry”), Bradley Beal, Devin Booker and D’Angelo Russell. You can see shades of those guys in his game, with the variety of ways Mann is able to score the basketball, and how effortlessly he makes it look at times. He hits threes off the catch and off the dribble, unleashing a deadly stepback to create separation. On the drive, he pulls up for soft floaters in the lane, and occasionally attacks the rim with force. He plays at his pace—smooth and methodical, rarely out of control—and with impressive confidence for a rookie.

Mann joined the starting lineup two weeks ago and has since scored in double figures four times. Last Wednesday, he led OKC to an overtime win over the Dallas Mavericks, dropping a career-high 29 points on 8/14 shooting from the field, 6/8 from three and 7/8 from the free throw line. Note his poise and assertiveness in the highlight video below:

“He was outstanding, obviously,” Thunder head coach Mark Daigneault said afterwards. “I thought he was way more decisive. I thought he was way more aggressive. You know, he’s always aggressive after he has the ball, but I thought he was more aggressive before it came to him tonight. He just had a mentality where he was going to rip open shots and be decisive in his actions, which is obviously something we’ve talked about a lot, and he had a great shot-making night [and] got to the line. He was good.”

I asked Nick Crain, who covers the Thunder for Forbes and Sports Illustrated, to share some insights on the 21-year-old from watching him all season.

“The offense was never in question for the young guard coming out of college, it was defense,” said Crain. “This was emphasized by Thunder coach Mark Daigneault early in the season, who said Mann’s performance on the defensive end of the floor would dictate his minutes and ultimate ceiling at the NBA level.”

Daigneault on Mann: “He’s coming along. Gaining confidence. We’ve shuffled him back and forth with the Blue, which is by design. He’s gonna be able to score in the NBA walking in the door. It’s becoming a two-way player.”

— Nick Crain (@CrainNBA) November 30, 2021

Mark Daigneault says Tre Mann’s size limits them in some of the matchups he can be in defensively.

He says there’s no question the offense is there. It’s about the defense for him.

“The duration of his career will come down to that end of the floor.”

— Nick Crain (@CrainNBA) October 27, 2021

“Mann actually has good size for a combo guard, standing at 6-foot-5,” Crain continued. “In fact, he’s still getting used to being this tall, as a late growth spurt is what catapulted him to the NBA. Between his freshman and sophomore seasons at Florida, Mann grew two inches and gained 15 pounds. This added size took his game to a new level, hence why he was taken just outside of the lottery.

“While Mann is becoming a legitimate scoring threat in Oklahoma City, it’s largely due to a large role of late. He’s played 32 minutes per game over the past week, which likely won’t be the case long term. When the Thunder are a contender once again down the road, Mann will likely be a high level sixth man. With that in mind, it wouldn’t be surprising to see him become a Sixth Man of the Year one day. A walking bucket, Mann will drop defenders on the perimeter with his un-guardable stepback or take them to the rim and put them on a poster.” 

TRE MANN THAT’S NASTY pic.twitter.com/G9vuMxmKGW

— OKC THUNDER (@okcthunder) December 11, 2021

TOMAHAWK TRE pic.twitter.com/S2khEf7ytF

— OKC THUNDER (@okcthunder) December 16, 2021

The post SLAM x Panini Rookie Spotlight: Tre Mann appeared first on SLAM.

It hasn’t been all bad, though. Tyrese Haliburton, the Kings second-year guard out of Iowa State, has taken a major step forward in the absence of De’Aaron Fox, averaging 20.2 points and 8.2 assists on the team’s recent road trip. And so has rookie Davion Mitchell. 

The ninth overall pick from Baylor joined the starting lineup last Wednesday. Since then, he has averaged 19.4 points (on 49 percent shooting from the field and 39 percent from three) and 5.6 assists per game. When Sacramento drafted Mitchell this summer, the decision was met with some backlash, given his small size (6-0) and the number of young guards—Haliburton, Fox, Buddy Hield—already on the Kings roster.

“Certainly, when you just look at the team we had and who we had drafted the year before and Tyrese and who we already had on the team with De’Aaron, and you say, ‘Why would you draft another point guard?’” general manager Monte McNair told The Athletic in November. “[But] this is where we talk about being a best player available in the draft. And it’s a hard thing to do sometimes, but we truthfully sit here and try to [draft] best player available. And when Davion is sitting at the top of our board, we do not hesitate to draft him.”

It was hard to argue with Mitchell being there. Here’s what the 23-year-old managed to accomplish during his two seasons at Baylor: 2021 NCAA Champion, 2021 Big 12 Defensive Player of the Year, 2021 NABC Defensive Player of the Year, 2021 Lefty Driesell Award winner and two-time All-Big 12.

As those accolades suggest, Mitchell was renowned primarily for his defense coming into the NBA, having averaged just under two steals per game the previous year. He was undoubtedly one of the best on-ball defenders in all of college basketball, using his energy, quickness and athleticism to pester opposing guards. That lockdown ability has carried over to the League, where Mitchell now faces elite scorers on a nightly basis. Below is a rundown of how some of those guys have fared in head-to-head clashes with the Kings rookie, per NBA.com: 

Russell Westbrook in 11:31 matchup minutes: 1/11 from the field

Damian Lillard in 9:16 matchup minutes: 1/14 from the field

Trae Young in 4:47 matchup minutes: 1/8 from the field

Jalen Brunson in 11:55 matchup minutes: 2/8 from the field

Jordan Clarkson in 10:21 matchup minutes: 3/10 from the field

Tyrese Maxey in 11:41 matchup minutes: 3/11 from the field

Numbers like that are the reason Mitchell earned the nickname “Off Night” while at Baylor. All-Stars Donovan Mitchell and Darius Garland shot well against him, but combined for seven turnovers in 19 total matchup minutes.

Mitchell’s offense has been steadily improving, too. He was an incredibly efficient scorer in college, shooting 51 percent from the field and 45 percent from deep in 2020-21, but has struggled to find his rhythm at times this season. His confidence hasn’t wavered, though. He dropped 20 points and hit four three-pointers against the Hawks last week. Three days later, he had 15 points and knocked down 3/7 from behind the arc against the Sixers. Then, in his first game at Madison Square Garden, he put up 18 points, 6 assists and 2 blocks. 

On Wednesday, Mitchell helped Sacramento get a 112-101 win over Brooklyn, posting 18 points, 5 rebounds and 3 assists, and defending Kyrie Irving extremely well, holding him to 2/6 shooting in seven matchup minutes. He also spent time on James Harden, who had one of his worst performances as a Net (4 points, 6 turnovers).

Just look at the activity in the clips below. This is why they call him “Off Night.”

Davion Mitchell since being moved into the starting lineup (four games):

17.7 PTS
2.7 REB
5.0 AST
44% FG
35% 3PT

Limited sample size, but it’s hard to not be impressed by what the rookie has done in a starting role.

Also, the defense… pic.twitter.com/rrLwPsy3Lx

— Franklin Cartoscelli (@FCartoscelli3) February 3, 2022

Davion puttin’ the pressure on Kyrie pic.twitter.com/amj7BHsJDH

— Kings on NBCS (@NBCSKings) February 3, 2022

Davion steal -> Damian pic.twitter.com/vESWMANuED

— Kings on NBCS (@NBCSKings) February 3, 2022

He followed that up with perhaps the best game of his young career at Golden State: 26 points (on 11/17 from the field and 3/5 from three) and 8 assists.

Davion Mitchell drives and finishes to set a new career-high (23 PTS)

Watch Now on NBA League Pass: https://t.co/oz9UCQxdQa pic.twitter.com/54J3aqWVe6

— NBA (@NBA) February 4, 2022

For the season, Mitchell is now averaging 10.1 points, 3.4 assists and 2.3 rebounds. He will represent the Kings in the Rising Stars Game at All-Star Weekend in Cleveland, along with Haliburton.

With losses mounting and trade rumors swirling as the deadline nears, things have been bleak in Sacramento lately. But Mitchell’s success, development and potential have provided a glimmer of much-needed hope. 

The post SLAM x Panini Rookie Spotlight: Davion Mitchell appeared first on SLAM.

Jayson Tatum confidently strolled into Capital One Arena in Washington DC wearing a green t-shirt with the words “Believe In Yourself” printed across his chest. Below the text was an image of Dennis Rodman’s iconic “smiley face” hairstyle—only his hair, in this design, was made out of bright yellow flowers. On the back, the shirt read, “If you don’t like it, kiss my ass,” with a pair of lips in place of the word “kiss,” and the letters “always” covering the “ss” in “ass.”

That shirt, “Garden of Legends,” was produced by Always BIY (Believe In Yourself)—a new brand founded by husband and wife Michael and Melek Glasker—in collaboration with SLAM, with the goal of giving the Bulls legend his flowers. The brand, only a little over a year old, has seen its designs worn by many athletes and celebrities, including Chris Paul, Reggie Miller, Sue Bird, Fabolous and Megan Rapinoe. 

The SLAM x Always BIY “Garden of Legends” tee pays homage to modern Black History. BIY highlights the utilization of hair as a form of self-expression and infectious influence in the game of basketball.

Through all of their apparel, the Portland based duo seek to bring others the type of confidence that Rodman always exuded. 

“We’re dropping this in February because we want to modernize Black History Month,” Michael says, adding that the goal is to tell new stories. “We want to highlight how Black people have utilized their hair to express themselves. With Dennis Rodman, he was one of the first people to be uniquely himself. He was coloring his hair, putting designs in his hair, spray-dyeing his hair. He was painting his fingernails; he had a lot of piercings; he was wearing stuff that might have been crazy to people back then.” 

But now, you can easily spot Rodman’s influence, and how he has inspired others to be bold and believe in themselves. “We prefer to push the boundaries personally and I love seeing other people do that,” Melek says. “You can see where that influence came from. [Rodman’s] do-whatever-you-want attitude has been infectious in so many ways.”

The SLAM x Always BIY “Garden of Legends” tee is available now.

When Tatum entered Capital One Arena that night in the “Garden of Legends” tee, he hadn’t made a three-pointer in over a week, missing 20 straight. He went on to sink a career-high nine of them and scored 51 points in a 116-87 win.  

Always believe in yourself. 

The post SLAM Collabs with Always BIY For ‘Garden of Legends’ Tee to Celebrate Black History Month and Unwavering Confidence appeared first on SLAM.

Like most rookies, he struggled through the first month of the season, shooting poorly from the field (he made just 13 of his first 64 three-point attempts) and turning the ball over a lot. Expectations were naturally high for the 20-year-old from Minnesota. In high school, he had pieced together a 111-15 record, won three state titles and emerged as a top-5 recruit. Then he helped lead Gonzaga to the national championship game as a freshman, averaging 14.4 points, 5.3 rebounds and 4.5 assists. Orlando took him fifth overall in the 2021 Draft, confident that he and Franz Wagner, the No. 8 pick, could come in and contribute right away. 

Suggs got off to a rocky start, however. He appeared to be settling in toward the end of November, averaging 13.6 points, 3.6 assists and 2.3 steals, and shooting 44 percent from behind the arc, over a three-game stretch. In the fourth quarter of that last game, though, he suffered a fractured right thumb when he was inadvertently slapped on the hand by big man Joel Embiid.

And the rhythm was broken. 

But Suggs stayed locked in. He did everything he could to improve during his time away. He worked out, watched film, studied the game from the sidelines and communicated with his teammates and coaches.

“You’ll see him sometimes get up and throw suggestions and things that he sees. I think that’s fantastic,” Magic head coach Jamahl Mosley told NBA.com while Suggs was out. “He’s grown physically, changes in his body. He’s used this time off very well.”

In the two weeks leading up to his return, Suggs kept pleading with the staff to let him play. Finally he was cleared for a road game at Charlotte on January 14, having missed a month and a half of action.  “I know the work that I’ve put in and the amount I’ve grown during this month and a half and I think it’s one of the best things that could’ve happened to me,” Suggs told reporters after Orlando’s morning shootaround. “It allowed me to take a step back, work on things that I really needed to develop, see things from a different angle—instead of on the court, get to watch it with the coaches and be in the huddles during the game and things like that. So I’m really excited to show people what I’ve been working on and get back to being me.” That night, he put up 12 points (on 5/8 shooting), 7 assists and 6 rebounds in just 22 minutes, helping the Magic secure a 116-109 win.

Suggs has continued to thrive since then, particularly in the past week. With his unique athleticism, the 6-5 point guard can impact the game in so many different ways. He attacks the paint relentlessly, finishes strong at the rim and gets to the free-throw line. His decision-making as a playmaker has steadily improved. On defense, he locks up one-on-one, jumps passing lanes and skies for blocks out of nowhere. Last Friday, he dropped a career-high 22 points against the Lakers, adding 9 assists, 4 rebounds, 2 steals and 2 blocks. Two nights later, in an impressive win over the Bulls, Suggs had 15 points, 7 assists, 5 rebounds, 2 steals and a block. Across those two games, he shot 18 free throws at an 89 percent clip.

Overall, Suggs has averaged 14.7 points (on 48 percent shooting from the field), 5.1 assists, and 5.3 rebounds since coming back. You’ve probably seen at least one of his many highlights circulating on social media.

The passes: 

Jalen Suggs QB1 pic.twitter.com/zwoQPotQsu

— Draft Dummies (@DraftDummies) January 22, 2022

(Worth noting: Suggs was a four-star quarterback prospect in high school who became the first athlete in state history to be named Mr. Football and Mr. Basketball in the same year.)

The defense: 

Jalen Suggs flashing his perimeter defense potential!

puts the CLAMPS on Stanley Johnson, forces turnover pic.twitter.com/TmZdQUd8m2

— RK (@beyondtheRK) January 22, 2022

Jalen Suggs welcomes Dwight Howard back to Orlando with the REJECTION to open Magic-Lakers pic.twitter.com/1xdWPAxyT8

— RK (@beyondtheRK) January 22, 2022

And, of course, the poster…

JALEN SUGGS PUT DEROZAN ON A POSTER pic.twitter.com/C4OvRU2wGi

— SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) January 24, 2022

“I’ve been a fan of his since he went to school in Minnesota,” DeMar DeRozan said about Suggs after that game, via USA Today. “I always watched him, even when he went to Gonzaga. He is a hell of a talent. I’m a fan of his. I have been a fan of his without him even knowing. [I just told him] to keep going. ‘You’re a hell of a talent. You can be very successful in this league.’ I’m rooting for him.” 

Us too, DeMar. 

The post SLAM x Panini Rookie Spotlight: Jalen Suggs appeared first on SLAM.

“He’s got a certain kind of makeup that I think is really special,” Donovan said. “He’s ultra-competitive and he has unbelievable confidence and belief in himself. But it’s not cross-the-line arrogant. That’s really a hard combination.”

Dosunmu had just scored 14 points without missing a shot in merely his sixth NBA outing. It was clear to Donovan then that the 6-5 guard, who fell to the Bulls in the second round of the 2021 Draft, was already worthy of a spot in the rotation. After three years at Illinois, in which Dosunmu led the team in scoring every season and was a finalist for the Wooden Award and the Naismith Trophy as a junior, the Chicago native came in ready to contribute right away. Throughout the month of November, he averaged 6.8 points on 52 percent shooting from the field and 42 percent from three.

In December, as more and more players began testing positive for COVID, Dosunmu stepped into a bigger role. He made his first career start on December 6^th, recording 11 points, 8 assists and 6 rebounds in a 109-97 win over the Nuggets. Coach Donovan reiterated the same message about the rook afterwards: “For me, so much—and I said this way back when—it’s his makeup. It’s who he is as a competitor. There may be guys that shoot it better than him. There may be guys that are faster than him. There may be guys more athletic than him. But he’s got a big heart and he competes and he impacts winning.”

Over the past week, with several key guys sidelined due to injury or COVID, the Bulls have struggled to find consistency. Dosunmu has been a massive bright spot, however, continuing to make significant strides with an increased opportunity. On Saturday, he got the starting nod again and notched a career-high in points (21) and assists (10). He shot 9/10 from the field as well, becoming the first rookie in NBA history to have at least 20 points and 10 assists while shooting 90 percent. Though the Bulls narrowly lost to the Celtics, 114-112, Dosumnu did a little bit of everything, including defend Jayson Tatum for much of the night. According to NBA tracking data, in two matchups against Boston, Dosunmu has held the former All-Star to just 4/13 shooting.

Making history as a rook @AyoDos_11

21 points | 10 ast | 9-10 FG | 3-3 from three pic.twitter.com/FwovG8mrBA

— Chicago Bulls (@chicagobulls) January 16, 2022

Two days later, on his 22^nd birthday, Dosunmu put up another ridiculous stat-line in a nationally-televised game against the Grizzlies: 15 points (on 7/12 shooting), 10 rebounds, 6 assists, 4 steals and 2 blocks. He also accepted the challenge of guarding superstar Ja Morant, blocking his shot once and forcing him into multiple turnovers. 

The Bulls were in desperate need of a win on Wednesday, and Dosunmu delivered yet again. He tallied 18 points (on 7/8 from the field and 3/4 from three), 8 assists and 3 rebounds, helping Chicago grab a 117-104 victory over Cleveland. That string of three games, beginning in Boston, is about as good as it gets from a rookie.

The rook from Chicago is fearless.@calamos | #BullsNation pic.twitter.com/2SJZAWEKE3

— Chicago Bulls (@chicagobulls) January 20, 2022

Dosunmu doesn’t play out of control on offense, but he isn’t tentative, either. He attacks off the bounce, navigates to the paint and kicks it out to open shooters. When his teammates do the same (mainly DeMar DeRozan and Zach LaVine), he spots up behind the arc and lets it fly without hesitation. His three-point percentage (45.7) ranks first among rookies who have attempted more than 12 this season (Dosunmu is 32/70). He looks comfortable as a playmaker out of pick-and-rolls, using a little floater in the lane or pulling up for midrange jumpers. 

On the other end, he hasn’t backed down from guarding the opposing team’s best perimeter player. He defends with high energy and does whatever he possibly can to disrupt his matchup’s rhythm. So far this year, he has done an impressive job on elite scorers such as Bradley Beal, Trae Young, Luka Doncic, Caris LeVert, Cade Cunningham and the aforementioned Tatum and Morant. With Bulls point guard Lonzo Ball expected to miss 4-6 weeks after a procedure on his left knee, Dosunmu should continue to get big minutes and take on tough defensive assignments.

Of course, the major reasons Dosunmu has thrived in his increased role have been obvious to the Bulls organization from day one: he is ultra-competitive, extremely confident in his abilities and utterly fearless. Now those things are becoming obvious to everyone. 

The post SLAM x Panini Rookie Spotlight: Ayo Dosunmu appeared first on SLAM.

That’s Cam Thomas recapping his game-winner against the San Antonio Spurs on Sunday. “Kevin” obviously refers to 11-time All-Star, four-time scoring champ and two-time Finals MVP Kevin Durant. When Thomas said, “I’ll do it,” he shrugged his shoulders and almost rolled his eyes, as if to suggest “it” was something as mundane as ordering a coffee at Starbucks. 

What “it” really was: Tied at 119-119, with less than 10 seconds remaining, Durant handled the ball up top, drove left, drew a double team and immediately kicked it to Thomas on the weakside. The rookie blew by center Jakob Poeltl, got to the paint and elevated for his signature floater. Game. Time to get on the plane.

Thomas is, and always has been, a scorer. An absolutely dominant, uber confident scorer. 

“When I was about 7, in my first AAU tournament against players from across the country, [it made] me want to pursue a career in basketball,” he told SLAM this past summer. “It was a tournament at Boo Williams [Sportsplex]. I’m from Virginia and back then that was the big thing—go to Boo Williams and play in tournaments there. I had 25 points playing up with the 9-year-olds when I was 7. That’s when it really made me be like, Well, I might as well just take basketball serious. I had, like, 25 points at every game that weekend.”

Fast forward a decade and Thomas had become one of the top high school prospects in the nation. He was named Nike EYBL Offensive Player of the Year in 2019, averaging 29.5 points through 13 games on the circuit. As a senior at Oak Hill Academy, he averaged 31.5 points, 6.0 rebounds and 3.4 assists. He finished his two years with the program as their all-time leading scorer.

In his sole season at LSU, Thomas was just as unstoppable. He led the SEC and all Division I freshmen in scoring (23 ppg), registered the most 20-point games of any LSU player since Shaquille O’Neal in 1992 and was named to the All-Conference First Team. 

Somehow, after all that, he fell to the Nets at No. 27 in the 2021 Draft. 

Thomas isn’t the biggest (6-3), fastest or most athletic; but at every level, he has managed to make scoring look easy. He led the entire Las Vegas Summer League in ppg (27.0), hitting multiple game-winners throughout the tournament. Only pure scorers knock down absurd one-legged threes like this:

“Obviously Cam was a much better scorer than I was coming out of college,” James Harden told the New York Post in October. “It’s just rare you get those guys who can just get a bucket in any form or fashion. But he’s young, he learns, he listens and he works his butt off. As a young guy, that’s all you can ask for.”

The key phrase there: in any form or fashion. Thomas just knows how to put the ball in the basket. He gets downhill, attacks the rim and uses a soft touch on little floaters and bank shots. He navigates around screens for pull-up midrange jumpers. He spreads the floor and can hit off-the-dribble and catch-and-shoot threes.

The most impressive thing about his game, though, is his unwavering confidence. Thomas is completely fearless, even playing alongside superstars like Durant, Harden and Kyrie Irving. The big moments don’t seem to rattle him at all. Obviously his role on the Nets is far different than at Oak Hill and LSU (and in the G League, where he dropped 46 a few months ago), but the 20-year-old has maintained his aggressiveness. In the month of January, he has averaged 12.8 points on 48 percent shooting off the bench.

To give you a sense for just how confident Thomas is—apparently he likes to talk trash to KD. “I say that I think I’m a better scorer at my age than he was,” Thomas told reporters. “He doesn’t believe that. And then he never wants to play me one-on-one. We played one-on-one in shootaround one time—post-ups—and I beat him. Don’t tell him that. I beat him.”

Durant, of course, remembered that game differently. “Cam’s lying. He’s lying, for sure. I definitely beat him,” he said. “We were at shootaround and I beat him—15-5, matter of fact. It’s an ongoing game so the score doesn’t start over. At the end of the season, we’re going to tally up the points. But he’s down a lot.”

Trash talk aside, Durant obviously sees the potential in Thomas. When that double team came against San Antonio, he didn’t hesitate to kick it to the rookie. And Thomas, very calmly, did what he has always done.

The post SLAM x Panini Rookie Spotlight: Cam Thomas appeared first on SLAM.

Before you watch the highlight, just remember that Sengun is 6-10, 243 pounds and 19 years old. Okay, roll it…

His game is a captivating mix of old school and new school. Yes, he likes to post up and that type of basketball has largely become extinct in the pace-and-space era; but he also has the vision and savvy playmaking ability that today’s teams desire out of their big men (think Nikola Jokic, Domantas Sabonis or Draymond Green). He combines physicality and grace; bully ball and finesse; strength and a soft touch; production and flair.

Before coming to the NBA, Sengun was the 2020-21 MVP of the Turkish Basketball Super League, averaging 19.2 points, 9.4 rebounds, 1.7 blocks and 1.3 steals. Houston traded a pair of future first-rounders for the 16^th overall pick in the 2021 Draft so they could take him. “He’s unique. He doesn’t really play like anybody,” Rockets general manager Rafael Stone told the media afterwards. “But having said that—that he doesn’t really have a game that looks like anyone else’s—he’s a good basketball player. He’s a skilled basketball player. He’s not just somebody who does one thing. He does a lot of really interesting things. And so, we think he potentially has a chance to be special.”

Sengun’s development was projected to take time, especially given the drastic differences between the game in Turkey and the NBA. But, of course, the Rockets are in no rush. The full rebuild is on, and Sengun is expected to be one of the centerpieces of it. 

Here’s the thing, though: Sengun is really good already. It’s not just the occasional viral clip—the numbers tell the same story. As of this writing, Sengun is averaging 9.0 points, 4.8 rebounds and 2.6 assists in merely 18.4 minutes per game. Per 36, that’s 17.6 points, 9.3 rebounds and 5.1 assists—not to mention 1.8 steals and 1.7 blocks. He put up 15/6/6 and three blocks in a game against the Grizzlies in mid-December. A few days later, he dropped 19/11/5 against the Cavaliers.

At times throughout the season, Houston’s offense has looked significantly better with Sengun on the floor. He scores efficiently, shares the ball and creates for others. Some of his assists, like the one above and the one below, seem impossible until he makes them.

Head coach Stephen Silas has also given him more opportunities to work on the post, seeing how Sengun has thrived there. His footwork is extremely advanced for his age (check the spin) and he finishes nicely with both hands. As he told Kelly Iko of The Athletic, the rookie is planning to train with Rockets legend Hakeem Olajuwon in the near future, picking up more moves for his arsenal. 

“Obviously we’ve been posting up a lot more than I had anticipated,” Silas said, via The Athletic. “And the more I see [Sengun] do, the more I give him. He likes the ball on the left block, and I’ve been giving it to him on the right block, and he’s been successful. We’ve been running after-timeout plays for him to catch it in the post, whether it’s a cross-screen or rip or whatever. I’m going back to my old playbook with Elden Campbell and Jamal Mashburn and those guys, posting those guys up. I had not anticipated playing as much post-up basketball as we are, and he’s earned it.”

Going forward, Sengun needs to improve as a perimeter shooter (so far, he’s shooting just 31 percent from three) and on the defensive end, where he fouls too much (averaging 6.0 per 36 minutes) and the Rockets have struggled overall with him in the game. A lot of that will come with experience, reps and getting increasingly accustomed to the speed of the NBA. Though the highlights regularly circulating on social media can be deceiving, he’s still just a 19-year-old rook.

Speaking of those highlights, a couple more for you…

The post SLAM x Panini Rookie Spotlight: Alperen Sengun appeared first on SLAM.

How that development takes place—and how fast—varies greatly based on the player, team and situation. Some rookies assume significant roles right away and are able to improve through their experience on the court. Others find themselves in and out of the rotation and must look to grow in different, less glamorous ways.

This week’s rookie spotlight focuses on a guy in the latter category: Trey Murphy III. New Orleans drafted the 6-8 forward out of Virginia with the 17^th overall pick this past summer. After transferring from Rice, Murphy III spent one season at UVA and impressed scouts with his versatility, athleticism and outside shooting ability, hitting 43 percent of his 4.8 three-point attempts per game. 

“He’s a guy who picked up steam with our scouts as the year went along,” Pelicans GM Trajan Langdon told reporters following the draft. “Transferred from Rice after his first couple years in school to Virginia and didn’t know a whole lot about him honestly going into the season—obviously with the [covid] shutdown last year and then him transferring. But as we started to analyze and assess different prospects, he was a guy who our group grew increasingly high on.

“Really gives effort defensively and can really shoot the ball,” Langdon emphasized. “High character kid with a high IQ, coming from a really, really good program and wants to be coached hard—all those things coming together fit what we’re trying to do here very well.”

Murphy III was on fire during the preseason, averaging 17.5 points on 53 percent shooting from deep. His play earned him a spot in head coach Willie Green’s initial rotation. Through October, as the Pelicans struggled immensely as a team, Murphy III continued to knock down threes at a high clip and showed flashes of his potential. Things began to shift in November, though. Losses kept coming; shots stopped falling with the same efficiency; Murphy’s minutes gradually decreased. By the end of the month, he was seeing very limited action on most nights. Development, thus, would have to happen elsewhere.

Of course, practices and workouts in the NBA can help rookies tremendously; but there is no substitute for real games. The competition, the physicality, the pace, the intensity—that’s where growth truly occurs, and how guys are able to stay in the best shape possible. So when a rook falls out of the rotation, NBA front offices often turn to the G League—a place defined as a “development laboratory”—for assistance.

Murphy III was assigned to the Birmingham Squadron—the G League affiliate of the Pelicans—for the first time last Tuesday. He joined the team for shootaround in the morning, getting only a few hours to acclimate himself before his debut. To make abrupt transitions like that smoother, the Squadron run many of the same sets as the Pelicans, and Murphy III looked extremely comfortable stepping right into the starting lineup. He played a huge role in a tight 109-107 win, posting 18 points, 8 rebounds and 3 blocks. He scored one of the biggest buckets of the game, too—with 40 seconds left, and Birmingham clinging to a 105-104 lead, the 21-year-old drove hard to his left and finished a tough layup over 6-10 center Tyler Davis. 

“It’s just playing basketball. It’s almost like an open gym type of setting—you don’t [normally] play with the guys there,” Murphy III told me afterwards, when asked about transitioning to the G League. “It’s also like the NBA as well—you can get traded one day and those are not the guys you’ve played with, but you’re thrown into the rotation and you’ve just got to hoop. I’m grateful for it because I got to get a little bit of conditioning in, too. I haven’t been able to play that many minutes [38] for a while. It was good to do that, for sure.

“I just want to play basketball,” he added. “At the end of the day, that’s what I want to do.” 

He was briefly recalled to New Orleans and then reassigned to Birmingham six days later for a matchup against the Memphis Hustle. In a blowout 119-97 victory, Murphy III did a little bit of everything, dropping 18 points, grabbing 11 rebounds, dishing out 6 assists (tying his career-high from college) and recording 3 steals. He attacked the paint strong and nailed 3/7 from behind the arc.

Those types of performances tend to go overlooked. That type of development rarely gets any recognition. Very few fans tune in to the G League. Even fewer fully appreciate the value of a player’s experience there. 

It wasn’t as watched, or discussed, or covered on social media, but Murphy III shined in his recent time with the Squadron, and got better in the process. And that’s what rookie seasons are all about. 

The post SLAM x Panini Rookie Spotlight: Trey Murphy III appeared first on SLAM.

Be yourself, even if that means being misunderstood.

Perhaps no two NBA players have embodied those eight words more than Dennis Rodman and Allen Iverson. 

Throughout their respective careers, Rodman and AI were always unapologetically themselves—both on and off the court. They didn’t care what others thought. They weren’t worried about the outside noise. They ignored the criticism and slander. Rodman was going to be Rodman. Iverson was going to be Iverson. No matter what.

The fashion world would not be the same today without those pioneers. Just ask Jessie Diez, TJ Wallace and Sean Daniel—the trio behind the rapidly growing brand Fifty₂Hundred (F₂H), which seeks to capture the human experience and never-ending balance between good and evil through their apparel. It goes beyond just setting trends; Rodman and Iverson inspired a whole generation to be confident and embrace originality. 

So when F₂H and SLAM decided to collaborate, it was only right for their new collection to pay homage to those two cultural icons, who were often misunderstood but always authentic. 

“Rodman was like the modern rockstar. He didn’t care what people thought of him,” Diez, the founder of Fifty₂Hundred, says. “The way he expressed himself—whether it was on the court or off the court—he honestly didn’t care. He could be in a dress one game and in regular men’s clothes another game. It was just an expression for him: This is me. I’m human. Accept me for who I am. And then Allen Iverson came into play and he had the same energy, just in a newer era.”

The “Misunderstood Collection” consists of two graphic tees—one celebrating Rodman and one celebrating Iverson. Both shirts display a skull engulfed in flames on the front and contain specific design elements to reflect each player. The skull on the Rodman tee, for example, features the former Bull’s distinctive hair pattern in purple, orange and green, while the skull on the Iverson tee has braids and a red headband.

Short messages—“Be yourself, even if that means being misunderstood” and “Express yourself”—are etched on the skeleton to resemble cracks, reinforcing the main themes of the collaboration.

The Misunderstood Collection is AVAILABLE NOW.

“There are always going to be opinions and people want to throw their two cents and make it feel like they should be able to have some say in your life,” says Wallace, a longtime friend of Diez and former pro basketball player overseas, about those themes. “But really, we’re just all our own separate planets, you know? We’re all just here to put our best foot forward and express ourselves and tell people how we want to be treated, how we wanted to be accepted, how we want to be loved.”

The collection is made up of only 150 tees.

“I think [the collection] fits well with what everyone is wearing in the [NBA] tunnel,” adds Daniel, who got connected with Diez and Wallace—and therefore F₂H—through his work with LeagueFits. “It’s not something you see all the time. The design is different.”

And if Rodman and Iverson taught us anything, it’s that different is good, even if others fail to understand. As long as it’s an expression of you, nothing else matters.

“Just be yourself, even if that means being misunderstood,” Wallace reiterates. “Because at the end of the day, the only person you truly have to answer to is yourself.”  

Photos taken by  Samuel Altamirano and Byron Riggs

The post Fifty2Hundred & SLAM Collab on T-Shirt Collection to Celebrate Rodman, Iverson and All Those Misunderstood appeared first on SLAM.

“Who was I to say that?” Young ponders today. “I should’ve gone down there, done my job and gotten better. But life is about moving on. I’m here now. I learn from my mistakes and try to be better for it.”

“Here,” of course, is the G League. More specifically, it is a gym at Birmingham Southern College, a Division III school where the Birmingham Squadron—a newly established G League franchise affiliated with the Pelicans—practice. So Joe Young is in the exact place that he did not want to be six years ago. Only now, he is thrilled to be there. 

He is highly engaged every day at practice, ensuring the focus level remains high, and giving fiery speeches when it doesn’t. He frequently speaks up in film sessions and tries to mentor the younger players. He has organized and paid for multiple team dinners, including one at Ruth’s Chris at the onset of training camp, and another at Benihana on a road trip to Frisco, TX. 

Young vows that he is a new person, with a new perspective and a completely new approach to his career. And he is embracing this latest stop on his journey—one he is confident leads back to where it all began, six years ago. 

The Indiana Pacers selected Young, a sharpshooting guard and the son of former NBA player Michael Young, with the 43rd pick in the 2015 Draft. As a senior at Oregon, he had been named Pac-12 Player of the Year and led his team to a 26-10 record. His scoring ability was undeniable—after transferring from Houston, Young had registered the highest point total over two seasons (1,388) in Oregon history. He immediately signed a multi-year deal with Indiana—three years guaranteed, including a team option on a fourth.

He played sparingly in his rookie season. That’s when the Pacers first sent him down to the G League, and Young requested never to go back. Over the ensuing two years, his role would stay relatively the same. He provided the occasional spark off the bench, but never really got enough consistent minutes to assert himself. Still, he was surprised when the team declined his fourth year option. Summer League rosters were already set by the time he found out. NBA opportunities were limited. Young looked around and saw nowhere to go—nowhere in America, anyway; so he hopped on a plane bound for the other side of the world.

When he arrived in Nanjing—the capital of China’s eastern Jiangsu province—in 2018, Young did not intend to stay long. This was never a part of the plan, of course; it would merely be a minor detour. But life gradually became comfortable. Young adjusted to the culture. He developed a routine. He earned a good salary. And with ample playing time (over 41 minutes per game) and the ultimate green light, he absolutely dominated on the court. Young averaged 36.1 points, 5.2 assists and 5.1 rebounds in his debut season for the Nanjing Tongxi Monkey Kings; and after no NBA deal presented itself, he re-signed with the organization for the 2019-20 campaign.

Year two brought more of the same. Young continued to torch defenses on a nightly basis. He dropped 74 points in one game—the third highest scoring output in Chinese Basketball Association (CBA) history—and averaged 56.8 points over a stretch of five. He was named an All-Star and eventually won the scoring title. Yet, once the season ended, the ongoing pandemic made an NBA comeback even more difficult. Ultimately, he decided that the best move was to stay in the CBA and accept a lucrative offer from the Beijing Royal Fighters (one-year, $3.1 million), where he would be coached by basketball legend Stephon Marbury. 

Throughout his time in China, Young did a lot of reflecting. The distance and separation allowed him to analyze things through a more honest lens. He would just sit and contemplate what he should have done differently, often jotting notes down on a piece of paper. For all the work he put in during his three years with the Pacers (like famously sleeping on the floor of the practice facility), I could have gone harder, he thought. But mainly, in his eyes, it was the “little things” that needed to be fixed, like his attitude toward the G League and his disposition on the bench after being subbed out of games.

“It was my maturity,” he tells SLAM. “I knew that I was good enough to play on the court, but did I have the mindset and the mentality to cheer my teammates on, like they would do for me if I was out there? I didn’t have it. I would be over there mad. Like, what am I mad for? I was young. If I could get that back, I would change the narrative to how I act now. I would just act like how I am [as] a father to my kids. I gotta be a father. I can’t be childish. I gotta make sure I show them how to live life, how to respect life, how to respect yourself, and how to become successful at a high level.”

Young’s sole year with the Royal Fighters provided further validation that the NBA was well within reach. Coach Marbury challenged him to do whatever it took to get back, stressing—in many emotional, tear-filled conversations—that Young belonged there—not here. The message was received clearly. Following the season, Young pledged to pursue all the necessary steps, no matter the circumstances, to realize his NBA dream again.

Thus, at the age of 29, he left another three-million-dollar contract on the table and entered the G League draft instead. “If you know you belong somewhere, and you know what it takes to get there, you gotta do the things that you don’t want to do to get there,” Young says. “I knew that I would have to take a big pay cut. I felt like, no biggie. I can sacrifice that to get to where I want.”

Birmingham was ecstatic to see him still available deep into the first round. Given his track record, Young had been at the very, very top of their draft board. The front office was able to negotiate a last-second trade, moving up to the 21st pick to select him. Since then, it has been a non-stop whirlwind of training camp, practice, 5:45 am workouts (“The Breakfast Club,” as Young calls it), road trips and games. He has put up solid numbers (15.2 points, 4.5 rebounds, 3.7 assists and 1.3 steals); but he also understands that it is those “little things,” the things he sometimes neglected before, that will land him back on an NBA roster: being a good teammate, leading on and off the court, maintaining a positive attitude and rigorous work ethic.

“I would say that Joe Young’s engagement, humbleness and excitedness to be here has been amazing,” Squadron head coach Ryan Pannone says. “Obviously, he’s got the most NBA experience on our team, but he’s been a great leader for us with that experience because, [like] a lot of players, there are some things he can look back on in his career—and I think all of us can look back on our career—and say, I wish I would have done this differently at 22, 23 years old. And he’s been imparting that knowledge on our players, and that’s been huge for us.”

“He’s been real important [for me and our team],” says 23-year-old guard John Petty Jr. “He looks at me like I’m his rookie. He said it’s like Paul George [was for him] when he came in the League—he was Paul George’s rookie [in Indiana]. It’s just good being around him, just seeing stuff like, every morning, he gets up at 5:45 to get a workout in. Seeing that type of stuff makes you want to do it.”

Young is trying hard to set an example—never mind that it’s in the G League, in a small, dimly lit gym at Birmingham Southern College. 

“Let’s get better! Let’s get better!” he hollers between drills. “Dial in! Dial in!” Being in that gym might feel like a long way from his days as a Pacer, but Young is right there, right on the doorstep of where he wants to be—where he knows he should be.

“We will get back,” Young tells me, flashing a big smile. “We’re going to be back in the NBA.”

Photo credit Birmingham Squadron.

The post Joe Young is on a Mission to Get Back in the NBA appeared first on SLAM.

“You don’t really realize what you’re doing in that moment,” Wagner later said. “I just tried to jump as high as possible and finish the play.” The clip is posted to his Instagram account—the only thing he’s posted since entering the NBA a few months ago. And the caption, in German, reads: “Immer weiter, immer weiter.” Translation: “On and on and on.”

Wagner had 28 points that night, in what was just the eighth outing of his professional career. 

“That locker room is so happy for him, because they know how hard he works,” Magic head coach Jamahl Mosley said following the game. “He has such a high basketball IQ—making the right reads, finding the open teammates, knowing when to turn the corner, knowing when to get downhill and when to pass the ball. His basketball IQ and knowledge of the game—the things he sees—it makes him special.”

There wasn’t much buzz around Wagner heading into the season, partly because the Magic also drafted Jalen Suggs—the well-known, highly-touted prospect who helped lead Gonzaga to the national championship game—with the No. 5 pick. Wagner, a 6-10 forward out of Michigan, was taken three spots later. Much of the excitement in Orlando, thus, centered on Suggs. But Wagner quickly asserted himself. He started from day one, impressing the coaching staff with his versatility and high basketball IQ, as Mosley referenced. “He’s a very smart player,” teammate Robin Lopez reaffirmed in an interview with NBA.com. “He’s extremely versatile. I like the mentality he’s got to top that all off. He’s relentless out there. He doesn’t get easily discouraged.”

If you watched the video above, you don’t need me to tell you that Wagner has elite athleticism and great size for a wing. He helps out on the boards (averaging 4.4 rpg so far) and defends multiple positions effectively. As of this writing, he’s matched up with guards such as Trae Young and James Harden, bigs such as Julius Randle and Aaron Gordon and unicorns such as Kevin Durant.

On the other side, Wagner uses his physical tools and a solid handle to navigate to the paint. He’s under control attacking the rim—sometimes elevating for huge dunks (see another below); sometimes stopping short for little floaters or soft layups off the glass; sometimes euro-stepping around defenders. There were concerns about his ability to spread the floor after he shot just 34 percent from deep last year, but Wagner has upped his efficiency in the NBA (38 percent) and currently ranks third among rookies in three-pointers made. Overall, he’s scoring 13.8 points per game, the second highest mark on the Magic.

With Suggs sidelined by injury, Wagner has been handling the ball more and initiating actions. His playmaking in pick-and-roll situations has really stood out for a 20-year-old still adjusting to the League. Over his last eight, Wagner is averaging 4.6 assists while continuing to limit his turnovers. As both Mosley and Lopez alluded to, the former Wolverine just has an outstanding feel for the game.

Do yourself a favor and watch the highlight mix below. Wagner scores in pretty much every way possible and shows incredible poise orchestrating the offense—making the right decisions out of pick-and-rolls, from the mid-post and in transition. He finished with 27 points, 6 rebounds and 5 assists, joining Cole Anthony, Victor Oladipo, Jameer Nelson, Penny Hardaway and Shaquille O’Neal as the only Magic rookies ever with a 25/5/5 line.

Afterwards, a reporter asked Wagner whether the game was beginning to slow down for him at this point in the season.

“At times,” he responded. “I think there are still a couple moments in the game where I wish I would take it a little slower for myself and give [myself] more time to read what’s out there, but there’s definitely a couple situations where I’m making reads that I definitely didn’t see earlier in the season.”

Only 26 games in and Wagner is already seeing reads he wasn’t before. As he continues to progress, expect more playmaking, more all-around performances, and, of course, a lot more IG-worthy posters.

The post SLAM x Panini Rookie Spotlight: Franz Wagner appeared first on SLAM.

Go to Dyckman or West 4^th or Gersh on a Saturday afternoon and watch some pickup basketball. The energy, passion and drive that you see isn’t common in parks across the globe—it’s a New York thing. Queens native and celebrity jeweler Greg Yuna knows all about it. In fact, having grown up surrounded by it, he has brought the same type of mentality to his own successful venture.

“Basketball inspired all of us, especially being from New York. If you were in New York, you ended up playing in a city park,” Yuna tells SLAM. “Basketball is a competitive sport; everyone played basketball growing up. It’s just super competitive—you take that and then you apply it to your real life. Once you hop off the court, it’s the same shit. This jewelry world is basically my basketball court. So, it’s like, how many times can we dunk this week?”

Yuna established his luxury jewelry brand in the heart of Manhattan’s Diamond District back in 2017. Given his creativity, unique aesthetic and relentless drive, the company has flourished ever since. He feeds off the energy of his hometown—the same energy that permeates the blacktop courts and helped inspire the birth of SLAM over twenty-five years ago. “Anyone who knows me knows that I don’t stop. And New York City is one of those places that just doesn’t stop,” Yuna says. “It’s just go, go, go, go.”

SLAM was founded in 1994, in NYC, as a publication covering the intersection of basketball and hip-hop culture. It was a celebration of the game played not just in massive arenas, but in parks and playgrounds like Dyckman, West 4^th and Gersh. Through the years, the magazine has cemented itself as “The Basketball Bible,” while continuing to tackle the worlds of music, sneakers, fashion, art and more. 

In his thriving business, Yuna blends a lot of those worlds, too. He has partnered with lifestyle brands such as Nike, Boss and Kith, and created jewelry for clients such as Floyd Mayweather, Drake, Nigel Sylvester, Russell Westbrook, Rudy Gay, PJ Tucker and Al Harrington. His attention to detail and care with each product—from rings to bracelets to necklaces—has earned him a reputation as “The Cleanest.”

“It speaks for itself, really,” Yuna says about the nickname. “I pay really, really close attention [to my pieces]. I prioritize in making sure that everything is super clean and just perfect. My eye starts twitching when something’s off. I just like to keep it very crisp.” 

In collaborating with SLAM, Yuna maintained that same approach to craft the one-of-one “Basketball Bible” chain, a pendant made from 14K gold. Three diamonds were encrusted in the stars of SLAM’s logo, which is featured in the middle of the piece, and engraved details include SLAM’s origin year in roman numerals and two major taglines: “Respect The Game” and “The Basketball Bible.” Yuna’s team sandblasted the gold to give it a more authentic feel.

“The Basketball Bible” pendant and chain is available now.

“Every time I picked up a bible it was always a textured feel. It was never like shiny; it was always, like, rough,” Yuna explains. “I thought to apply that to the piece that we’re making. It’s not always about making a jewelry piece shiny. It’s about bringing the art out of it. We sandblasted the piece to give it that textured feel and brought it to life.”

The pendant, which drops on December 10, is priced at $9,400. Whoever ends up with it, wherever in the world they might be, should know this: it’s a product of New York City—of the energy, passion and drive that floods the basketball courts and the Diamond District. 

“Automatically, you should feel special getting a one-of-one piece,” Yuna says. “My team and I, we put something together where it’s actually art. I feel like it should be cherished.”

Greg Yuna’s one-of-one art piece features detailed engravings of SLAM’s founding year in Roman numerals, our slogan running down the piece’s spine and the iconic SLAM logo finished off with diamonds. SHOP NOW.

The post Celebrity Jeweler Greg Yuna Collabs with SLAM to Create ‘The Basketball Bible’ One-Of-One 14K Gold Chain appeared first on SLAM.

And this is why:

And this is why:

And this is why: 

There are more, too. A lot more. The Pelicans have a saying to explain clips like those: “Not on Herb.” As in, “You can try that, [insert name of elite offensive player here], but it’s not going to work. Not on Herb.”

You’ve probably seen that as a hashtag (#NotOnHerb) on Twitter recently. Word is finally starting to spread about what the 23-year-old rookie has been doing down in New Orleans. First, a little background: Jones, a 6-8 point-forward out of Alabama, was the 35^th overall pick in the 2021 Draft. He had a breakout year as a senior with the Crimson Tide, averaging 11.2 points, 6.6 rebounds, 3.3 assists, 1.7 steals and 1.1 blocks, and winning Player of the Year and Defensive Player of the Year in the SEC. His size, length and quickness allowed him to guard every position on the floor; and under head coach Nate Oats, he often orchestrated Alabama’s offense, pushing the ball in transition, making unselfish plays for others and improving drastically as a shooter. Given his versatility, Jones projected as someone who could come in and potentially contribute right away. But very few envisioned him having this type of impact—the type where #NotOnHerb has become a thing—this early on.

Jones is logging 26.2 minutes per game and has earned a spot in the Pelicans starting lineup, mainly because of his prowess on defense. He embraces his role as “Straitjacket” and welcomes the opportunity to guard the opposing team’s best player. 

“To be great on defense, you have to really want it,” Jones told Will Guillory of The Athletic. “You have to play with a different kind of aggression, a different kind of desire. I take pride in always being the guy who’s ready to lay it all out there for my teammates. That’s what I care about the most.” Not scoring (he’s only averaging 5.7 shot attempts per game). Not highlights. Not getting his. Just laying it all out there for his teammates, especially on the defensive end. That’s what Herb cares about. That’s his mindset. 

“He’s my favorite player on the team by far,” Devonte’ Graham said about Jones last week. “He’s one of those guys that just does everything he’s asked. He doesn’t complain. If he’s [not] shooting the ball, he doesn’t care. He just makes winning plays. Guards the best [opponent] every night.”

Of course, it’s not easy to take on that responsibility every night, and Jones has struggled at times (Luka Doncic dominated their head-to-head battle on Wednesday). But he welcomes the challenge and approaches it without fear or hesitation. He held former No. 1 pick Anthony Edwards to 14.3 percent shooting from the field (2/14) in three games against Minnesota, and All-Star Donovan Mitchell to 21 percent (3/14) in their two meetings with Utah, according to data from the NBA. He has spent significant time defending both guards (62 percent of the time, per the NBA, including matchups with Trae Young, Zach LaVine, Ja Morant and Bradley Beal) and bigs (38 percent). His awareness and instincts—partially influenced by his experience as a free safety in childhood, as Guillory notes in his piece—have led to a lot of steals (14 over his last five outings). When he’s on the floor, Jones just disrupts the flow of the other team’s offense. It’s that simple. 

The numbers clearly back that up. Opponents have scored an estimate of 118.8 points per 100 possessions with Herb on the bench, but that mark drops to 108.8 with him on the court. He has the best plus-minus of anyone in New Orleans’ regular rotation and leads all rookies in steals per game (1.5) and deflections per game (3.0). A lot of what he does—bringing constant energy, picking up 90 feet from the basket, knowing when and where to be in help, taking on those tough defensive assignments so that guys like Brandon Ingram can focus on offense—doesn’t show up in the stat sheet, either. That, coupled with the Pelicans’ overall struggles, has led Jones to fly a bit under the radar through the first quarter of the season.

But the hype is building. The word is spreading. #NotOnHerb is catching on. People are finding out about the rookie in NOLA, and why they call him “Straitjacket.”

The post SLAM x Panini Rookie Spotlight: Herbert Jones appeared first on SLAM.

The struggles shouldn’t be ignored completely, but they also shouldn’t be taken too seriously. NBA fans can’t seem to help themselves when it comes to the latter, though. I suppose overreacting and spewing hot takes is kind of fun? It certainly grabs people’s attention. And besides, if you’re not overreacting a little bit, what are you doing on NBA Twitter in mid-November, except breaking down clips of vomiting courtside fans and wild altercations?  

All of that brings us to the focus of today’s Rookie Spotlight: No. 1 overall pick Cade Cunningham. He was, according to many on social media, already clearly a bust after his first few games in the NBA. Cunningham missed the beginning of the season with an ankle injury and really struggled to find his rhythm upon returning. In his first three outings, the new face of the Pistons shot just 18 percent from the field and went 1-21 from behind the arc. Twitter went crazy. Critics were ready to sound every alarm and fire up the trade machine. Posts like this and headlines like, “Should the Detroit Pistons be worried about Cade Cunningham?” started to flood the internet. 

No, they shouldn’t be worried. Of course they shouldn’t be worried. As Jalen Rose points out here, many future NBA legends struggled to find the range early on in their careers. And they were all met with similar extreme overreactions (Tracy McGrady’s coach even told him that he would be out of the NBA in three years or less).

Cunningham is a 6-8, 220-pound point guard who can score at all three levels, facilitate for others, rebound like a big man and guard multiple positions on defense. And guess what? After a string of bad games, he played a number of really good ones, too. He dropped 20 points and went 4-8 from deep in a win over the Rockets. He exploded for 25/8/8 and hit five three-pointers against the Kings, becoming the youngest player (20 years, 51 days) in NBA history to put up that stat line. Facing the No. 1 defense in the League (Golden State), he posted 19 points (6/12 from the field), 6 assists and 6 rebounds. Two days later, on a poor shooting night against the Lakers, Cunningham recorded his first triple-double as a pro (13 points, 12 rebounds, 10 assists).

“I didn’t pay too much attention to what was being said after I had a slow start,” Cunningham wrote recently, as part of a diary series for The Undefeated. “I wasn’t going to let it beat me up or change my way of thinking. But I definitely knew what was being said, and I tried to move accordingly. I feel like somebody would be a liar if they said they didn’t know what was being spoken of them. But at the same time, I’m not basing how I think off these other people’s opinions from the outside. I’m the kind of person that every day is going to get better, and I think that’s why I had a quick turnaround.

“A lot of people were trying to say I was a bust. I thought that was pretty funny in my eyes,” he added. “That’s something I took note of. Like: ‘All right. Well, we’ll have to see about it.’”

When you watch Cunningham play, a few things stand out immediately: 1) Even in the NBA, he looks massive as a primary ball handler. He uses that size to survey the floor, shoot over defenders and finish at the rim effectively. 2) He can dictate the flow of a game and doesn’t move like a normal rookie—that is, he never appears tentative, frantic or out of control, though he can be careless with the ball at times. His pace is very methodical. 3) As the numbers suggest, he does a little bit of everything to help his team.

His efficiency so far would be a much greater concern—perhaps even worthy of those overreactions—if it wasn’t clear, based on his past, that Cunningham can be a reliable and consistent shooter. It might take a bit to get there in the NBA, but he’s certainly capable. At Oklahoma State, he averaged 20.1 points and shot 40% from three on 5.7 attempts per game. And he doesn’t lack confidence in that jumper at all—as of this writing, more than half of his total FGAs have been threes.

But again, even with his struggles, Cade has found ways to be impactful. Just imagine when he really settles in. 

“He’s just a pup right now learning the League. I’m not making excuses for him, but if you miss a month of training camp and try to perform, it’s difficult,” Pistons head coach Duane Casey said amid Cunningham’s early struggles, via Rod Beard of The Detroit News. “This is nowhere near where he can be—and will be—as a player.”

So be patient. Don’t overreact. Keep posting scuffles (especially if they involve an incredible display of athleticism and strength by Cunningham to hold his teammate, Isaiah Stewart, back) and absurd fan videos. Save the hot takes. And watch Cade gradually figure it out. It’s already starting to happen. 

The post SLAM x Panini Rookie Spotlight: Cade Cunningham appeared first on SLAM.

That might not seem so exceptional, but consider the following factors: 1) The Thunder were projected to win just 23 total games in 2021-22 by most oddsmakers; 2) They are the youngest team in the League, with an average age of 24.1 when the season tipped off; 3) They had to play the Lakers on the road amid that stretch—a match-up in which they were 14-point underdogs.

So yeah, if you’re an NBA fan, or someone who tracks the crazy NBA Twitter world, the Thunder’s mini win streak probably caught your attention. Of course, much of their success has been due to the ridiculous play of dynamic guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, who’s currently averaging 21.1 points, 5.1 rebounds and 4.6 assists, and the evolution of undrafted forward Lu Dort. But 19-year-old Josh Giddey—the No. 6 overall pick and second youngest player in the entire NBA—has had a major impact as well. And he’s doing it in an extremely unique way. 

When highly-touted rookies join rebuilding teams—you know, the type of teams projected to win 23 games—they tend to launch a lot of shots right away, regardless of their efficiency. That’s just not Giddey’s game, though. Born and raised in Melbourne, Australia, he learned the sport at an early age from his parents—Warrick and Kim—who both played professionally for the Melbourne Tigers. With additional coaching from Australian basketball legends like Andrew Gaze and Chris Anstey throughout his junior years, Giddey developed an incredible feel for the game and a rare pass-first mentality.

“When my dad played, he was a team guy, a glue guy,” Giddey told NBA.com back in July. “He wasn’t a big points guy or highlight maker. He played with a bunch of superstars and was a really good passer. I think that’s where I get it from. He was really good at teaching the game, too, and he instilled team ball in me. He coached me my entire junior career. He allowed me to play and grow and learn and I give a lot of credit to him.”

Giddey eventually hit a growth spurt and was able to further hone his skills at the NBA Global Academy in Canberra before winning Rookie of the Year in his sole season with the National Basketball League’s Adelaide 36ers. He emerged as a 6-9 prospect who could do a little bit of everything, but it was his passing that really caught the eye of NBA scouts. Here was a teenager, starring in the NBL, who could facilitate out of pick-and-rolls and dissect defenses like a ten-year vet. It wasn’t normal.

OKC wouldn’t let him fall past the No. 6 spot in the 2021 Draft (the Warriors were reportedly prepared to select him at No. 7). With his size and basketball IQ, the front office knew Giddey could contribute from day one.

His perimeter shooting and overall scoring ability need to improve, no question, but he rarely forces the action as others in his position (receiving 29 minutes per game) might. Instead, he orchestrates the offense with poise, works his way into the paint and sets up teammates perfectly. I mean, just look at these beautiful assists (with both hands!): 

As of this writing, Giddey is averaging 9.4 points, 6.9 rebounds, 5.9 assists and 1.1 steals. I asked Nick Crain, who does a fantastic job covering the Thunder for Forbes and Sports Illustrated, to share some of his thoughts on the rookie: 

“Giddey has been as good as advertised in the early part of his NBA career,” he told me. “A jumbo guard standing at 6-9, he’s got some of the highest upside of any rookie this season. While it was expected that he would be an instant contributor on offense at this level, his basketball IQ and passing have been better than the Thunder could have ever asked for. He’s the best passer in this rookie class, and it’s not particularly close. With his unique size as a guard, Giddey is also a tremendous rebounder. The Australian is one of only three rookies to average at least six rebounds per game to this point in the season.”

“The big question about Giddey coming into his rookie season was the ability to score, which is still the one factor that will determine his NBA ceiling,” Crain added. “It could be the difference between him ending up being closer to someone like Ricky Rubio rather than Luka Doncic.”

Either way, the ceiling is undoubtedly high. And with Giddey in the mix, there will come a time—hopefully in the not-so-distant future for Thunder fans—when four-game win streaks aren’t unexpected or noteworthy at all.

The post SLAM x Panini Rookie Spotlight: Josh Giddey appeared first on SLAM.

For starters, he is 24 years old. That makes him the oldest player in the 2021 class. In fact, when the Pacers drafted him with the 13th overall pick back in July, he became the oldest player selected in the first round since 2002. But with age comes experience, composure, confidence and toughness—all of which Indiana’s staff identified in Duarte right away.

“We wanted the best player available at 13,” head coach Rick Carlisle told reporters shortly after the draft. “[Duarte’s] maturity—when you watch him play, he plays like a pro. He plays at his pace. He has a great feel for change of pace. He never plays in a hurry. A lot of the young kids in college, when you see them play, there’s kind of a franticness at times to the college game. This kid plays the game at a different tempo.”

“All the coaches we’ve talked to both at Oregon and that have played against him and coached against him rave about his toughness, his ability to shoot the ball,” added general manager Chad Buchanan. “Our league today is about shooting and guys being able to create their own shot, create their own space. He’s got a beautiful NBA stroke and I think it’s going to translate from day one.”

It has. With TJ Warren still sidelined by a foot injury, Duarte was inserted into the starting lineup immediately, and has been able to provide a crucial scoring spark. His skill set is extremely advanced and, as Buchanan alluded to, a perfect fit for the modern NBA. Duarte shoots it at a high clip from behind the arc and attacks the rims effectively, using his 6-6 frame and soft touch to finish inside. He can create for himself with a smooth handle or spot up to space the floor when one of Indiana’s other playmakers, like Malcolm Brogdon, Caris LeVert or Domantas Sabonis, is orchestrating the offense. Just look at the array of ways Duarte was able to score in his first NBA game, when he set a Pacers rookie debut record with 27 points on 9/15 shooting. (Also note the poise and change of pace that both Carlisle and Buchanan referenced. Duarte never seems rushed or out of control, even with the clock winding down. He plays at his speed.)

As of this writing, Duarte is averaging 14.8 points (third among rookies) on 43% shooting from the field and 40% from three. He’s attempting and hitting about the same number of catch-and-shoot threes as pull-up threes off the dribble. He recently joined Reggie Miller as the only players in Pacers franchise history to score 10 or more points in their first nine career games. On defense, Duarte competes with a lot of energy and uses his quick hands to be disruptive (he averaged almost two steals per game at Oregon last season). He also takes advantage of his size and length to help Sabonis and Myles Turner clean up the glass. Of the Pacers who have appeared in more than half the games this season, Duarte currently has the best plus-minus on the team.

Of course, Duarte’s age is what deterred a lot of NBA scouts and executives this past summer. Organizations tend to target younger—albeit less polished—prospects in the draft, betting on their future growth and development. Front offices are often more fixated on “what if” than “what is”—a fact that, as Duarte admitted in an interview with NBA.com, once got to his head a little bit. “I got mad one time,” he said, referencing a pre-draft camp. “I was like, ‘OK guys, everybody keeps talking about this age thing. The age, the age. You’re old, Chris.’ I got mad and said, ‘Hey man, I don’t want to hear nothing about my age anymore. If you want to win games, get me. If you want to win in four years, go ahead and draft a 19-year-old kid. Then you can develop him and make him a superstar in three, four or five years. But you don’t know if he’s going to be a superstar—you don’t know, who knows?’”

It’s true—who really knows? Some gambles are safer than others, but with rookies, you rarely know beyond any doubt. Duarte might be closer to his ceiling than most rooks; but when the draft took place a few months ago, he was also much closer to a “sure thing.” Indiana felt very, very confident that they knew exactly what they were getting in the guard from Oregon. And they’ve gotten it so far.

After his historic NBA debut, Duarte was asked whether his early success had impressed even him, given how rare it is for rookies to thrive from day one. “I always play around, telling some of my teammates that I’m not a rookie,” he responded with a laugh.

Well, certainly not your typical one.

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OK, so no “lasts”—but there should be plenty of talk of “firsts” in Durham this year, especially since freshman phenom Paolo Banchero arrived on campus. The Seattle native already made history by signing a name, image and likeness (NIL) deal to become the first college athlete featured in the video game NBA 2K. He is also the first player to join the Blue Devils from the state of Washington since Quin Snyder in 1985. While countless talented prospects have come through Duke’s program, Banchero is perhaps the first with his specific skill set at his size—he is a legitimate 6-10 but can do just about everything on the floor. Oh, and Banchero might very well be the first overall pick in the NBA draft come June…

But let’s not get ahead of ourselves. Right now, on a muggy evening in late September, Banchero is at Cameron Indoor Stadium for his first ever SLAM cover shoot. Lil Durk blasts from a nearby speaker, breathing life into the gym. After all, it’s past 7 pm and things have been moving nonstop for Paolo since the morning. During media day, when he was swarmed by writers and cameras, the news broke that he had agreed to another exclusive NIL deal with the trading card company Panini—the first of its kind, too. He had his first official Duke practice in the afternoon and then an hour or so to get ready for our shoot. Once we wrap—around 9 pm—he’s off to study for an upcoming exam.

There are, of course, high expectations for Banchero, who was a consensus five-star recruit and the No. 3 player in the Class of 2021, according to ESPN’s rankings; and with those expectations naturally comes pressure, particularly in what will be Coach K’s last—err, 47th (including his five seasons at Army)—season. But you wouldn’t know it at all from being around the freshman. Banchero is laidback and soft-spoken, but still manages to exude the type of cool confidence that says, Why worry? None of the outside noise appears to be getting to his head. He is just taking it day by day and, like his coach, staying in the moment.

Traces of his journey to this point are tattooed across his burly right bicep—the downtown Seattle skyline in intimate detail, with Mt. Rainier edged in the background; the name of the street where he grew up and his family continues to reside; the location of the Rotary Boys and Girls Club, where Paolo first picked up a basketball. “I carry [Seattle] with me everywhere I go. Seattle is always going to be in me and a part of me,” Banchero says. “Part of my mission is to try to put Seattle on the map and get us as much recognition as I can.”

Being a proud Seattleite is part of being a Banchero. Paolo’s parents, Mario and Rhonda, met when they were both athletes at the University of Washington—Mario, a walk-on tight end on the football team, and Rhonda, a star center on the basketball team. Mario is of Italian descent, which led Paolo to receive Italian citizenship in February 2020. Rhonda graduated from UW as the program’s all-time leading scorer and eventually became the first player from the state of Washington to be drafted to the WNBA. She spent a year in the W, seven years competing overseas and 11 years as a high school coach in Seattle.

Unsurprisingly, Paolo was a multi-sport athlete as a kid. He was a track star in numerous events and initially dreamed of going to the NFL. His stellar quarterback career culminated with an invitation to the FBU All-American Game in eighth grade, which annually features the best prospects from across the country. Playing in the historic Alamodome, Banchero threw for more than 200 yards and three touchdowns in the first half alone. “I don’t think there’s any doubt that he was a high DI, high major quarterback prospect,” says Mario. “And if you ask Sam Adams [Paolo’s coach and a former NFL player], he’ll tell you that he was a league guy.”

A massive growth spurt in middle school, however, gradually steered Paolo closer to basketball. And the hometown heroes he once admired from afar—Jamal Crawford, Isaiah Thomas, Nate Robinson, Zach LaVine, Spencer Hawes and many others—started to embrace him in their Seattle hoops brotherhood. He has since trained alongside several of them, battled against them in the city’s Pro-Am (The Crawsover) and been in constant communication with them over text. They provide valuable advice and inspire him to keep pushing, just as Rhonda and Mario have always done. By her own admission, Rhonda is the stern and brutally honest one, nitpicking his every mistake and keeping it real with him when others won’t. Mario instilled lessons of discipline and hard work, accompanying Paolo to the gym at 5 am each morning to train before school.

The result of all that? Well, even as an 19-year-old kid, Banchero is already paving the way for generations to come—both on and off the court. As a player, he is the prototype for the modern and future NBA: a strong, dynamic, versatile forward who can score at all three levels, make plays for others and guard every position defensively. During his junior year at O’Dea High School (Paolo did not play in his senior season due to the pandemic), he averaged 22.6 points, 11.0 rebounds, 3.7 assists and 1.6 blocks. He is still getting accustomed to his 6-10 frame and working on the type of quick post moves that once made his mom unstoppable, but he can just as easily shoot from deep and rise over smaller defenders for midrange jumpers as he can finish with force at the rim. He genuinely loves to set up teammates—passing, he says, is his favorite part of his game—and has a lot of good ones to facilitate for at Duke, from returners Wendell Moore Jr, Jeremy Roach and Mark Williams to fellow freshmen Trevor Keels, AJ Griffin and Jaylen Blakes and Marquette transfer Theo John.

“I don’t think there’s anything on that court that I can’t do,” Banchero tells SLAM. “I’m going to always play hard. I’m going to always get my teammates involved. But, like I said, I can score, pass, defend. Just going to be able to do whatever the team needs me to do.”

“He’s special. He’s unique,” says Amile Jefferson, a former forward at Duke who now serves as the program’s Director of Player Development. “He fits the modern day prototype of if you could make your dream player. He’s 6-10, 255-260 [pounds], can handle the ball, can shoot it. When you watch him, you don’t understand how massive he is. When I used to watch tape or footage of him, I used to be like, Wow, he looks like a guard. But he really looks like a center coming at you with speed, handles, unbelievable athleticism. It’s almost like when people create a 2K player—you make him the biggest, the strongest, the fastest, and then you also give him a jumpshot. You’re like, Alright, this is not real. I’m playing a game. But then you see this kid, and he’s almost like a real life version of that.”

“We’ve had a lot of really good bigs, but he’s up there with the best of them, just as far as his versatility. I think that’s what separates him,” Duke assistant coach Nolan Smith says. “The fact that he can put it on the floor, he can shoot the three, he can play inside, he can score at all three levels. That’s what makes him very, very different from a lot of guys I’ve seen with my eyes in this basketball game.”

Outside the game, Banchero is blazing a very, very different path as well. Due to recent changes in NCAA policies that now enable college athletes to profit off their NIL, he suddenly finds himself becoming as much a trendsetter in business as he is in sports. The family sat together shortly after the NCAA’s announcement and mapped out a strategy that made the most sense for Paolo. Every opportunity wasn’t worth pursuing, they established. It was, and still is, about finding the ones that fit best—that stay true to who Paolo is and what he really wants. In August, he signed with an agency (CAA Basketball) to help represent him in all NIL negotiations. 

“Our perspective was always that any opportunity that we’re going to take advantage of should be foundational, should be things that lead to other opportunities,” Mario explains. “Before NIL was finalized, we had discussed pursuing opportunities to be involved in NIL type of deals for no money, just to introduce Paolo to it and sort of build his brand and put him out there in an authentic way. With NIL, obviously there are more opportunities to do that and also be compensated.

“For him, specifically, it was, Don’t worry about chasing the dollars here. At Duke, you’re already affiliated with a premium brand. If the opportunities don’t meet or exceed that brand, then you don’t want to do them. You want to be focused on things that are authentic and things that can further you and be foundational, that you can build on as you continue to grow and progress through your collegiate—and hopefully ultimately—professional career.”

“Just not saturating,” adds Rhonda. “Wanting him to be one-of-one or the first. We thought that was important. Not that you don’t want to be associated with other players who may also sign deals with the same companies, but we wanted Paolo to be the first. With that said, you can’t be the first at a million things. You can be the first at a few.”

Nothing can, and nothing will, get in the way of basketball, though. Paolo understands that none of these deals would be possible without his commitment to the game. Business opportunities won’t distract from his primary goals: winning Player of the Year, being the No. 1 pick in the NBA draft, sending Coach K out with a national championship. “He’s not one of those dudes who’s just focused on that he could make millions of dollars,” says freshman guard Trevor Keels, Paolo’s suitemate in the dorms. “He’s going to focus on the time right now. And he knows we gotta win a national championship.” Following a disappointing 2020-21 campaign, the new-look Blue Devils ranked ninth to open the season, and beat No. 10 Kentucky 79-71 in the Champions Classic on Tuesday night. Banchero finished with 22 points and 7 rebounds in the victory.

He might be soft-spoken, but you can also tell that beneath his calm exterior, Banchero is eager. When we dim the lights in Cameron Indoor Stadium blue, just as they will be for the school’s annual “Countdown to Craziness” event soon after our photo shoot, you can see his eyes widen. A smile slowly takes over his face. He can’t wait much longer.

We ask him to deliver a message to the Duke faithful and basketball fans across the country anticipating his debut.

“As far as Duke fans, you’re going to see me playing extremely hard, playing with energy,” he says. “Seeing us [all] play extremely hard and play with energy. We got a lot of talent all over the floor, all over the squad. I think it’s going to be a great year, a fun year. So just be on the lookout for that. Don’t miss it.

“And then basketball fans in general,” he continues. “Some might not know me, but they will soon.”

SLAM 235 featuring Paolo Banchero is available now in gold and black metal editions.

Portraits by Mario Soriano/Victory

The post Paolo Banchero Is Paving the Way For Generations to Come appeared first on SLAM.

There’s a new type of highlight starting to regularly circulate on social media. It’s Evan Mobley, rookie center for the Cleveland Cavaliers, contesting and altering shots. 

I know—sounds boring. The clips got lost on my Twitter timeline (which is really just an endless stream of basketball highlights) at first. But they just kept popping up. And the captions just kept getting more and more audacious. Words and phrases like “a force,” “incredibly dominant,” “generational,” and “all-defense” became increasingly harder to ignore. I clicked play on the video you see below and… wow. 

Of course, that montage includes more than just contests—monster blocks, deflections, steals and a Collin Sexton poster snuck in there. But I was also thoroughly entertained by the segments that showed Mobley, a true seven-footer, shuffling his feet to stay in front of a guard up top and then extending his never-ending arm to simply create a bad shot attempt. At one point, he is matched up against the uber-confident Reggie Jackson, who naturally tries to shake him with a couple fancy crossovers. Jackson appears to gain some separation—just a sliver of a cushion to get his shot off—but Mobley uses his 7-4 wingspan and absurd athleticism to immediately close the gap. Even for Jackson, the degree of difficulty on the eventual jumper is extremely high. I mean, how do you even see the rim when Mobley leaps like that? (Please post more clips like this.)

Cleveland took Mobley with the third overall pick back in July largely because of his potential on defense. He averaged 2.9 blocks per game and was named Pac-12 Defensive Player of the Year in his sole season at USC. His versatility on that end—being able to switch onto perimeter players seamlessly and protect the rim like a traditional big—is reminiscent of all-defensive guys like Anthony Davis and Bam Adebayo. Here’s another clip from the Twitterverse, of Mobley containing the shifty Trae Young: 

For all the hype surrounding Mobley heading into the draft, he has exceeded expectations so far this season. He is doing “dominant,” “generational” things on defense—leading the entire NBA in contested shots per game (15.1) and averaging 1.3 blocks and 1.1 steals. Cavaliers head coach J.B. Bickerstaff has been exploring different ways to take advantage of Mobley’s gifts, employing him at the top of a 3-2 zone that proved very effective in a 101-95 win over the Hawks, who shot just 32% in the second half. 

“Seeing Evan’s ability to move through that made me think of when [Kevin Garnett] was playing at the top of that zone [in Minnesota],” Bickerstaff said afterwards, via the Akron Beacon Journal. “So over the summer we went and studied it a bunch and put it in, and tonight it was really good for us.

“That position [Mobley] plays in that zone is not an easy position,” he added. “You’ve got to quarterback it from the front and also see and be aware of what’s behind you.”

Teammate Kevin Love also praised Mobley’s performance in the zone. “He’s got a huge future in front of him,” Love said. “It doesn’t surprise me that he’s able to do that. In my mind, he’s going to make a number of all-defensive teams in his career. So he’s just getting started. Once he really goes through the league a couple of times, like any rookie, once he figures it out, realizes how good he is, you’re going to see him make those teams.” 

Mobley has been a real factor on the other end, too. He scores within the flow of the offense—constantly moving, crashing the offensive glass for vicious putbacks (see below), setting screens and rolling to the rim for easy lobs. He’s already averaging 13.3 points (on 49% shooting from the field), and that number should only increase as he gets more comfortable and confident in his jumpshot. 

In the NBA’s annual GM survey, released at the beginning of October, not a single person predicted Mobley to win Rookie of the Year. He did, however, receive the most votes (33%) in response to the question: “Which rookie will be the best player in five years?” So GMs expected big things—just not right away. But Mobley is already contributing significantly, helping Cleveland get off to a 5-4 start and sending Twitter into a frenzy on a nightly basis. 

LeBron James probably summed it up best after his Lakers played the Cavaliers last Friday, and Mobley finished with 23 points, 6 rebounds, 3 assists and 2 steals: “He’s going to be a damn good basketball player in this League.” The King has spoken.

The post SLAM x Panini Rookie Spotlight: Evan Mobley appeared first on SLAM.

If you search “Scottie Barnes player comparisons” on Google, you get a wide range of responses. Draymond Green. Jabari Parker. Bam Adebayo. Patrick Williams. Pascal Siakam. Giannis Antetokounmpo. Lamar Odom. OG Anunoby. 

The website NBA Draft Room offers perhaps the broadest spectrum of possibilities: 

“stronger Nicolas Batum”

“dare I say a poor man’s Magic Johnson?”

“taller Draymond Green” 

When we profiled Barnes back in 2019, Jim Carr—his then-coach at University School—brought up two other interesting names: “We were watching clips the other day when they were announcing the All-Americans and they were showing Penny Hardaway,” he told SLAM. “Penny loved to pass the ball. The flare. People say [they see] a lot of Ben Simmons in him, but I always go back to Penny Hardaway.” Barnes himself—who was just a sophomore at the time—likened his game to the Greek Freak: “I would say Giannis, because I’m very long, get to the basket, I’m athletic, and I could rebound the ball and do multiple things.”

For what it’s worth, Draymond Green is probably the name that pops up the most. But all the comparisons—even the ones that seem far-fetched or not quite bold enough—allude to three key characteristics that have come to define Barnes as a player: his size, athleticism and versatility. 

At 6-9, 227 pounds, with a crazy 7-3 wingspan, Barnes has the build of an imposing forward and the agility of a traditional guard. In fact, he ran the point during his sole season at Florida State. While “officially” listed as a forward by the NBA, Barnes’ own Instagram bio reads: “6-9 PG.” He is the prototypical position-less player in an increasingly position-less NBA. He can defend pretty much anyone who steps on the floor (like a combo forward) and orchestrate the offense up top (like a true guard), having led FSU in assists per game last season (4.1). Just check out the two clips below from the Raptors’ win against the Celtics. Dare I say… a poor man’s Magic Johnson?

Barnes finished that game—just his second as a pro—with 25 points, 13 rebounds and 2 assists. 

His outside shooting has always been the biggest question mark. He connected on just 28% of his 1.7 three-point attempts per game in college. But when Barnes gets downhill and attacks the paint aggressively, he is very, very difficult to stop. In other words, while his jumper continues to develop, Barnes can find ways to score just by relying on his physical gifts. Through five games, he’s averaged 17.0 points on 54% shooting from the field. Of his 67 total FGAs, 55 have been within 15 feet of the basket; and he has converted 71% of his attempts at the rim (17/24).

Raptors head coach Nick Nurse wants Barnes to be even more assertive, as he told reporters following a recent loss to the Mavericks, in which the rookie put up 17 points (10 in the fourth quarter alone) and 8 rebounds. 

“What I think he needs to do is more of the things he did at the end [of the game]. Like, when he has the space in a one-on-one matchup, he’s gotta put them in the rim until they stop him,” Nurse said. “He’s gotta put them in the rim until they stop him. Over and over and over and over and over again. And if they do back off and he has to pull up for a 10 or 12-footer, that’s fine, too. But there’s where we’re going to see his passing show up, once he starts drawing other defenders. And again, that’s just him being—he needs to be more aggressive. All those layups you saw in a row, we need to double that number of attempts or triple it even until they stop it. And then we’ll be in the paint and we’ll be firing it out to our open shooters.”

Forget the scoring for a second, though. Toronto drafted Barnes with the No. 4 overall pick because he doesn’t have to score to be impactful (there were plenty of pure scorers available). It’s certainly a welcome bonus when he does—especially since the Raptors have the 23^rd ranked offense in the NBA as of this writing—but the former Seminole does so much else to impact winning. He competes with great energy and intensity (see below—another reason the Draymond comparison is fitting). He crashes the boards effectively (averaging 8.2 rpg so far) and embraces any challenge on defense (he’s already guarded Bradley Beal, Jayson Tatum and Luka Doncic). He handles the ball well and pushes the pace in transition. And, as Nurse touched on, the more he gets in the paint, the more opportunities he’ll be able to create for others.

When a 20-year-old can do all that, finding the right comparison isn’t easy. Even Hall of Famers are in awe of Barnes’ talent at this early stage in his career.  

“Scottie Barnes is a heck of a rookie. He’s a great player,” Mavericks head coach Jason Kidd said recently. “He is really, really good. He causes a problem on both ends of the floor and he knows how to play the game. He’s gonna be a star in this league, if he’s not already a star.” 

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The SLAM x Panini Rookie Spotlight is a weekly series covering the 2021 Draft Class. Every Friday, we’ll shine the spotlight on a different rookie who is making an impact, showing their potential or flying under the radar. Follow along throughout the 2021-22 season.

—

I first saw Jalen Green play basketball during the inaugural SLAM Summer Classic—an exhibition game featuring the best high school prospects from around the country—on August 18, 2018. Well, to be even more exact, I first saw him in our dunk contest a few days earlier, when he and Cassius Stanley put on a show better than most pros do during All-Star Weekend (see below). I knew it then—we all did, really—that the skinny kid from California was bound to be a lottery pick one day. It was only a matter of time.

A year later, Green was back in NYC for Vol. 2 of the Summer Classic. By then, he was a full-blown, undeniable 17-year-old superstar. He had global recognition—especially in the Philippines, as SLAM’s Franklyn Calle writes about here—and more followers on Instagram than the majority of NBA players. He was a five-star recruit in the Class of 2020 with seemingly unlimited potential. We had seen enough. Along with two other promising young guards—Sharife Cooper and Josh Christopher—Green was chosen to be on the cover of the ensuing issue of SLAM. I was there that day in 2019, when the photo here was snapped, and Cooper (now on the Atlanta Hawks) told me this about Green: “Jalen’s somebody that really has a pro body, but a pro skill [level], too. I ain’t really seen too many people like him. Super athletic, bouncy, can shoot. He really got the whole package.” 

About a year and a half after that, Green was at the ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex in Bay Lake, Florida, shooting for his first solo SLAM cover (check that out here). By then, he was blazing a new, groundbreaking path to the NBA. He had decided to join the G League Ignite—a first-of-its-kind select team—and firmly established himself as one of the top prospects in the 2021 Draft.

Okay, before we continue, I probably should’ve led with this—since the regular season started three days ago, and most rookies have played just sparing minutes of meaningful NBA basketball, this week’s spotlight is focused far more on the overall journey than any recent happenings or developments (we didn’t have much to work with for our power rankings). And while it’s only been three years since that unforgettable dunk contest at the Lifetime Fitness on the West Side of Manhattan, it seems like we’ve been covering Jalen Green for a decade now. Even calling him a “rookie” feels weird. Nonetheless, after being drafted with the No. 2 pick in July, Green just made his NBA debut for the Houston Rockets on Wednesday, finally fulfilling his lifelong dream. And we couldn’t be more excited for him. 

Also, we’re expecting big things this season. All that experience—from high school showcases to All-Star Games like the SLAM Summer Classic to his stint in the G League—looks to have prepared Green very, very well for the transition to the NBA.

Earlier this year, we asked him what he had learned from participating in the G League, where he battled against grown men instead of teenagers. 

“You gotta have a pace in the game or it’s gonna be so hard for you,” he told us. “In high school, I used to get away with just coming down court, being faster than everybody, being stronger, and now you’re on the court with people who are just as strong as you, or even stronger, or faster than you. So you gotta be smarter about what you’re about to do.

“Just slow down,” he added. “The game is fast, like, on TV, it may not look fast, but when you’re on that court, it’s super-fast and it just happens like that. So it’s just about slowing down. Not even just stopping and going, it’s more like slowing, stopping, seeing what you have, you got 24 seconds, use that 24 seconds.”

Watch Green today and the game does appear to have slowed down for him. His movements come across almost effortless. His skill set, as Cooper alluded to back in 2019, is extensive and extremely polished. At 6-4, Green has the athleticism to blow by guards up top and rise over big men at the rim. He is shifty enough and crafty enough to create space against anyone. He can, and will, pull up from basically anywhere.

Scoring has always come easy for Green—he averaged 17.9 points in the G League and 20.3 points in the Summer League, both with high efficiency—and the opportunities will definitely be there right away in Houston. He and Kevin Porter Jr. comprise the backcourt and will be orchestrating the offense much of the time. With the load he’ll be carrying, and the attention he’ll be attracting from opposing defenses nightly, the scoring won’t come as easily as it has in the past. But if our constant coverage has taught us anything, it’s that Green will figure it out eventually.

During our 2021 photo shoot in Bay Lake, we invited Green to peer into the future—to ponder and ultimately predict what lay ahead for him. How were the next chapters of his story going to unfold? 

“The Jalen Green story? Well, hopefully I would have accomplished a lot of accolades in the League,” he said. “Being known as a GOAT or something. Top-three for sure.”

I imagine we’ll revisit that quote sometime down the road. Now, it serves as an important reminder that while we’ve been following Green for what feels like forever, the journey is truly just beginning. 

The post SLAM x Panini Rookie Spotlight: Jalen Green appeared first on SLAM.

We’ve been covering this draft class for a minute now and can say with much confidence that it’s a special one. Here, in this recurring column, we’ll continue to track how the class progresses in the NBA. Every Friday, the spotlight will be shined on a different rookie who is making an impact, showing their potential or flying under the radar. Articles will also feature updated rookie power rankings (see below). To introduce the series, today’s write-up is an extended version of those power rankings, with background on each of the 10 players included. The list is based on how guys performed in Summer League and the preseason, as well as our general expectations for the year ahead. Thank you for reading and stay tuned for more! 

The post Jalen Green Leads the First SLAM x Panini Rookie Power Rankings appeared first on SLAM.

He was at home, in East Lansing, Michigan, and summer was winding down. Before long, Anthony would be starting his freshman year at Okemos High School. For the time being, though, he lounged in the family’s den watching his beloved Detroit Tigers, when his parents suddenly called from the living room.

They were forthright with the news and held nothing back. Anthony had been diagnosed with Pervasive Developmental Disorder, a form of autism, at the age of four, they explained. Doctors and experts in the field—though far less was understood about autism at the time—predicted that Anthony would barely graduate from high school, never go to college and likely end up in a group home with other kids on the spectrum. 

“I remember going back to the den and turning the TV on mute for a minute,” Ianni says. “And then, all I kept thinking about in that minute was, Alright, you know what you have. You know why some people have bullied you, teased you and disrespected you for your whole life. You know what doctors and professionals have said about you. 

“So let’s go shut some people up.”

Sports were always a big part of the Ianni family. Both of Anthony’s parents—Greg and Jamie—were collegiate athletes, and Greg went on to pursue a career in various NCAA athletic departments. He eventually settled into a position at Michigan State University—his alma mater—and would bring Anthony along to basketball and football games, where signs of his autism became apparent. 

The flashing lights. The rowdy fans. The abrupt noises. It was sensory overload. Anthony was particularly sensitive to the sound of the scoreboard’s buzzer, which often triggered what he described as “freak out moments.”

Still, he fell in love with these environments. As he got older, he learned to control them, covering his ears when the buzzer was about to go off and adjusting to the general commotion. He also fell in love with the sports themselves, specifically basketball. At seven years old, he began to play the game competitively; and by eight, he was telling legendary Spartans coach Tom Izzo that he would one day wear a green and white uniform. As a kid from the Midwest growing up in the ‘90s, Anthony looked up to Michael Jordan and the Chicago Bulls. Their reign over the NBA caused his own passion for basketball to increase. 

Ianni already had the size and gradually developed the skill, but his autism presented challenges on the court, mainly with communication. “If you were to tell the 12 or 13-year-old me to go stand on the block or go post on the block, that’s where I would go,” he says. “I would stand on that block and when my parents would ask me, Why were you just standing there? Move to the other block or move side to side. My answer was always, No, mom, coach told me to stand on the block. That’s what he told me to do. So just the language stuff. I took things, and still take things, very seriously and literally.” One silver lining, he explains with a chuckle, is that trash talk never affected him—“I wouldn’t be able to tell if they were being serious or joking.”

By the time he reached high school, basketball had become Anthony’s main outlet—his escape from the hardships of everyday life and his sanctuary to find peace. “I’ve learned to find many different coping mechanisms, if you will, being on the autism spectrum,” he says. “So when I was in high school, if I was really stressed out or had high anxiety or was about to have some type of wig out moment, I would just grab my mom’s car keys and go to the high school gym for like two hours and shoot. Because basketball, whether it was just shooting free throws or working on my post game or dribbling, that was my way of getting away from the world. All I had was a ball and a hoop. That was my getaway from the world and it was really putting me into a better place. All that stress and anxiety would just be gone once I stepped in the gym. That was my place of calm. That was my place to be happy.”

All the while, Ianni clung to his dream of one day playing for Coach Izzo at Michigan State, despite what professionals had predicted for his future and the bullying he had endured throughout his childhood. He relished the opportunity to prove people wrong. He embraced being the underdog. “I always woke up every day wondering who was going to doubt me. And if somebody ever did, I took it to heart,” he tells SLAM. “I always said, Alright, you know, if you don’t think I can do this, then go ahead and sit down in your comfortable chair right there and watch the show.”

Inspired by the doubters, Anthony—a 6-9 big man—blossomed into a star at Okemos, averaging 10.8 points, 8.0 rebounds and 3.0 blocks per game as a senior and helping to lead his team to a league championship. Upon graduating, he accepted a full scholarship to Grand Valley State University, a Division II school in Allendale, Michigan. After two seasons with the Lakers, Anthony transferred to Michigan State to finally fulfill his dream—the one virtually nobody thought possible. He walked on to Coach Izzo’s squad, becoming the first Division I college basketball player with autism.

Anthony’s experience at MSU somehow lived up to his lofty expectations. The entire staff adapted to his autism—taking the time to walk him through plays when Ianni couldn’t process it as quickly and ensuring that he understood certain terminologies—but pushed him just as hard as everybody else within the program. Izzo had promised that from day one. 

“When I transferred to play for him at Michigan State, he and I had a one-on-one meeting before I arrived on campus,” Ianni recalls, “and he said to me, Look, you’re going to be pushed harder than you’ve ever been pushed in your entire basketball career. And just because you have autism doesn’t mean I’m going to treat you any differently. I’m going to treat you and coach you how I’ve treated and coached every other player that’s come before you and that’ll come after you. And I said, Coach, that’s all I want.”

Ianni joined a roster that included future NBA All-Star Draymond Green and would go on to be a two-time Big Ten champion and a member of the MSU team that reached the Final Four in 2010. He was also the recipient of the 2011 Tim Bograkos Walk-On Award and the 2012 Unsung Player Award. 

In 2012, Anthony proved the doubters wrong again when he graduated from Michigan State with a degree in sociology. He has stayed close to the game ever since, serving as an assistant coach for the girls varsity team at Livonia Churchill High School and touring the country as a motivational speaker to share his story. He recently wrote a memoir (Centered: Autism, Basketball, and One Athlete’s Dreams) that traces his incredible journey in intimate detail, from his autism diagnosis to the bullying he suffered through as a kid to his incredible rise in basketball.

“To me, it’s an underdog story,” Anthony says of the book. “When I first signed with my agent, Joe Perry, a couple of years ago, the first thing he thought about when he read the book proposal was the movie Rudy. And it’s funny because Ray Weathers, one of our basketball alums, he referred to me one time as the ‘Rudy of Michigan State Basketball.’ So when Joe told me that, I was like, You know what, that’s what I want this story to be. I want this story to be this current generation’s underdog story that they go to, that they can read about and relate to. 

“I know a lot of people might not be able to relate to my story, but you know what, the one thing that I want my story to do is give people a lot of hope and inspiration,” he continues. “I want this story and this book to be that number one inspirational guide that people can look at. But I also want people to know that this is not just an autism book, it’s not just a sports book,  it’s not just a Michigan State thing. This is an autism story, it’s an underdog story, it’s a basketball story; and it’s about an athlete not just achieving his dream, but at the same time, overcoming so many obstacles and challenges in the process to get to that dream.” 

To purchase Anthony Ianni’s new memoir, click here.

Photos via Michigan State Athletics.

The post Anthony Ianni, the First DI College Basketball Player with Autism, Describes His Journey appeared first on SLAM.

No more deafening screams. No more thunderous ovations. No more “F you” chants.

Just silence. 

The type of silence that’s palpable. The type that’s uncomfortable. The type only preceded by deafening screams, and thunderous ovations, and “F you” chants.

Swaggering back down the court, Trae Young peers up at the crowd and scrunches his face into a scowl. Thousands of shocked fans return his gaze, suddenly tight-lipped. Young slowly lifts a finger to his own mouth. Shhhh. 

Yeah, it’s quiet now. Real quiet. 

About three hours earlier, Young sat in the visitor’s locker room at Madison Square Garden, eagerly awaiting his playoff debut. He was finally here, finally on the big stage, despite every bit of criticism and doubt directed his way. He began the mundane routine of lacing his sneakers; only this time, things were slightly different. He wasn’t wearing the hi-top, futuristic adidas N3XT L3V3Ls, as he had been previously. This time, he was lacing his sneakers for real. A bright orange, size 13 pair of Trae Young 1s, his first signature sneaker with the Three Stripes—a low-cut model that features a combination of BOOST and LIGHTSTRIKE cushioning.

“To be honest with you, I wasn’t supposed to wear them until next year,” Young tells KICKS. “Probably game 1 of next year. But I really wanted to play in my first playoff series in my shoe.”

Get your copy of KICKS 24 featuring Trae Young NOW!

So adidas got to work. They expedited the product’s original timeline, one that can take up to two full years from conception to release. The new plan had been set in stone a couple of weeks prior to the series, but Young had kept it mostly hushed. Only a handful of reps from the brand and people in his inner circle knew what was coming.

“He had mentioned it, but I didn’t know for sure he was going to wear them,” says NBA trainer and close friend Irv Roland, who’s from the same area in Oklahoma as Trae and has become like family through the years. “We FaceTime every couple of days and I had seen him. We had talked about it but I wasn’t sure he was going to do it.”

Now, as Young tightened the knots on the “Peachtree” colorway (a nod to the Atlanta street of the same name), teammates started to take notice. “Obviously when you put them on for the first time, everybody knows it’s your first time,” recalls Trae. “Your teammates are talking you up and hyping you up. It was a cool moment because I had really cool teammates who were doing that to me and wanted me to play well in my debut in them.”

Signature sneaker debuts are rarely calm—they are methodical, well-thought-out and tactically organized around a marquee game. There’s an elaborate marketing strategy in place with detailed photos and promotional videos to drum up excitement. The debut of the Trae Young 1 didn’t have any of that—considering the sneaker wasn’t scheduled to hit shelves for months—but it was perhaps the loudest sneaker unveiling in NBA history. 

“Adidas did a great job of helping me, making it possible for me to wear my shoe in the playoffs. When they gave me the opportunity to do that, I knew I needed to take advantage of the moment,” Young explains. “Playing in the Garden, playing the Knicks in the first round, I knew it was a great opportunity for people to see not only our team and me, but they get to see my shoes, too.”

In the predictably hostile MSG environment, Young dominated from the jump. He controlled the flow of the game and, despite the deafening screams and thunderous ovations and “F you” chants, was completely composed. He torched the Knicks’ defense out of the pick-and-roll, hitting floater after floater and throwing perfect lobs to Clint Capela and John Collins. And then, with less than 10 seconds left and the score tied at 105 apiece, he danced his way to the paint and nailed yet another floater. 

The game-winner.

The silencer.

He finished with 32 points, 10 assists and 7 rebounds in the 107-105 victory, becoming just the fourth player ever to record at least 30 and 10 in their postseason debut. “It’s still kind of surreal to me,” Young says, thinking back on that night. “When you’re in those games, you’re in those moments, you’re so locked in that you don’t really appreciate them until later on. So after the playoffs and everything, it’s been kind of crazy just knowing that our team did what we did and I was able to go in there and hit a game-winner in my first playoff game ever. It’s definitely an experience I won’t forget.”

A few days prior, Young had actually teased the sneaker debut on his Instagram. He posted a short video of the sample box, revealing the message printed in his handwriting across the top: “Always remember when they doubted you…” 

The line has become a mantra for Trae, a code that he’s lived by ever since high school, when the doubters began to emerge. He has the words “Always Remember” tatted on his right forearm and constantly shares the message on social media. He remembers when critics said he was too small, not athletic enough, couldn’t thrive at the highest level. He remembers when they said he was an empty-stats guy, all flash and no substance, not a winner. He remembers all of it.

From day one, that negativity has been fuel for his rise. 

“A lot of people say they don’t look at social media and stuff like that. But I’m not going to lie to you: I’m a 19-year-old kid, I look at Twitter, I look at Instagram, I look at the mock drafts,” Young told SLAM in January of 2018, when he was still at the University of Oklahoma. “I noticed in the summertime that I wasn’t on anything.”

“Keep that same energy is something that I live by today,” he said almost two years later, gracing his second SLAM cover. “People that had that energy of just always talking bad or just not believing in me, it’s just something that has motivated me. Every high-level player has something that motivates them. And criticism is one thing that motivates me.”

It’s not the only thing—Young draws inspiration from a number of sources. But he also hears the outside noise. Often, it’s impossible not to. 

“You ain’t got no choice but to hear it when a whole arena is chanting ‘F you,’” he says with a smile. “That’s just fun. Me, I’m a competitive person in whatever I’m doing. Anytime somebody’s talking trash, whether it’s my little brother, my dad, or a random person playing pick-up ball with me, I’m going to be the same way. That’s just my mindset. I’ve had this approach with everything I’ve done up until now. And I ain’t gonna change anytime soon, for sure.”

To represent him properly, Young’s signature sneaker had to incorporate that message. Always remember. It’s a mindset that has helped him achieve remarkable success at a rapid pace. He was the first player in NCAA Division I history to lead the nation in scoring and assists. He was named an All-Star starter in merely his second season in the NBA. He averaged 28.8 points and 9.5 assists in his first playoff run, leading the Hawks on an unexpected journey to the Eastern Conference Finals. And, after signing a long-term extension with adidas, he’s set to drop his own sneaker and apparel line at the age of just 22. He joins James Harden, Damian Lillard, Donovan Mitchell and Derrick Rose as the fifth active adidas basketball signature athlete. 

Trae’s younger brother, Tim, played a significant role during the design process, sharing his creative, outside-the-box ideas. So far, we’ve seen Trae wear colorways that pay homage to his new hometown (a green pair inspired by the imagery for the 1996 Summer Olympics in 
Atlanta; a black edition to match the team’s MLK jerseys, including hues that mimic the stained-glass design on their court) and reflect his own persona (a light blue version with red accents and a polar bear printed on the heel, alluding to his “Ice Trae” nickname). There are plenty more flavors with innovative themes on the way next season, too.

Young doesn’t need further validation, but the arrival of his signature sneaker is yet another sign that he’s proved his doubters wrong. The shoe is a symbol of what’s possible when you don’t let the doubters deter you—when you use them as extra motivation instead.

KICKS 24 featuring Trae Young is available NOW!

Though less orchestrated than usual, the Trae Young 1’s debut seemed flawlessly scripted in hindsight. The 6-1 guard has relished silencing his critics forever—and in his first playoff game, wearing his signature sneaker for the first time, he literally got to silence an arena full of them.

“I was at the game and excited to see him because coming from a small place, a kid like this that has received so much doubt and so many people saying what he wasn’t gonna be, and for him to now be a max-deal player with his own shoe, playing in his first playoff series in his third year, it was pretty incredible,” describes Roland. “It was almost like a movie scene. For him to come to New York, one of the toughest places in the League to play, with those fans—I mean, on the first play of the game, he gets the ball and they’re yelling ‘F you, Trae Young!’ His whole family was there. It was his very first playoff game. And for him to get the game-winner in Madison Square Garden. You can’t really draw up a better script. I’ve seen him hit big shots and stuff like that before, but that was literally like something out of a movie.”

The lasting image of Young standing in the middle of the Garden floor, a finger to his lips, the orange of his “Peachtree” 1s glistening under the bright lights is a perfect embodiment of who he is. Self-assured. Confident. Defiant. Fearless.

“He’s always been a guy who was putting in hours where other people were just doing the minimum,” Roland continues. “He was doing extra to separate himself. And I think that’s where the confidence comes from, from the hours and the reps that he’s put in. And so with all the doubt, with all the noise that comes from the outside, he’s able to just stay cool because he’s so confident in his skill set.”

“He’s small, but he’s a tough kid and he’s not afraid. He’s not afraid of taking that shot,” Hawks head coach Nate McMillan told reporters afterward. “He’s a guy who believes in himself.”

The hope is that everyone who laces up the Trae Young 1 will believe in themselves the same way; that they are inspired to be like Trae, undaunted by obstacles and doubt, bolstered by that inner-confidence.

“I’m always going to stay true to myself no matter what,” Young says. “I think this shoe is going to bring out a lot of the creative ideas in my mind and hopefully influence [people] and give a lot of people inspiration when they put them on.”

“When I put these shoes on, I want to have fun with whatever I’m doing,” he adds. “So if I’m on the court and I got them on, I’m gonna put on a show.” 

KICKS 24 feat. Trae Young is available now in gold and black metal editions.

Shop here.

Portraits by Atiba Jefferson. Follow Atiba in Instagram, @atibaphoto.

Action photos via Getty Images.

The post Trae Young on the Debut of the adidas Trae Young 1 appeared first on SLAM.

Stephon Marbury was always one of Ray Allen’s biggest fans.

Their relationship goes back to the late 1980s, when they were both establishing themselves as rising stars on the court. Allen was a few years older, but they still overlapped at camps and showcases, striking up a bond. The respect was mutual. The love for the game was shared. They knew their paths would be crossing for a long time.

“Ray and I were really good friends from when I was in 8th or 9th grade,” Steph says. “Ray was at the Nike All-American camp and they didn’t pick him to be one of the top 20 players and I was crying because they didn’t pick him. I was that mad. I swear to God. I was so mad they didn’t pick him that I was crying to him, like, Man, it’s messed up. They should’ve picked you, man. You’re one of the best players. How are you not going to be on the team? It’s all politics. It’s crazy.” 

Marbury recognized the talent in Allen immediately, and vice versa. As teenagers chasing that dream of the NBA, they might’ve envisioned one day facing off in the League. But they couldn’t possibly have predicted becoming pros at the same time, in the same historic draft class, and being traded for each other before ever suiting up at the highest level.

While Allen was putting the finishing touches on a stellar UConn career in 1995-96, winning Big East Player of the Year, Marbury was taking over the ACC as a freshman at Georgia Tech. By the end of that season, it was clear that both guys were more than ready for the NBA.

GRAB YOUR COPY OF SLAM PRESENTS ’96 DRAFT FOR EVEN MORE GOODIES FROM THE ISSUE.

The Milwaukee Bucks selected Marbury with the No. 4 pick in the ’96 Draft. The Minnesota Timberwolves took Allen just after, at the No. 5 spot. Ray was shocked when it happened, having passed up an invitation to visit with Minnesota because they already had a solidified two-guard in JR Rider. When Marbury went fourth, he was sure he was headed to Boston at No. 6—a prospect he was thrilled about. Celtics president Red Auerbach had called Allen beforehand and let him know that if he was still on the board when their time came, they’d grab him. 

“So Minnesota’s on the clock and the cameras come over to my table. I was so confused, I couldn’t believe what was happening,” Allen says. “I was angry. I was like, Why would you pick me when you have JR Rider already on your roster?

“[After I was picked,] I go in the back and I’m having a conversation with people from Minnesota, their local news stations,” he continues. “I’m over here filibustering on what it’s going to be like with JR Rider. I didn’t know how it was going to work. It just didn’t make sense to me. And within five minutes into those conversations, somebody from the NBA removes me and says that I’ve been traded to Milwaukee.”

Sure enough, Commissioner David Stern soon retook the stage to announce that Stephon and Ray were being swapped, with Minnesota also sending Milwaukee a 1998 first-rounder. It was among the biggest draft-day moves in League history and its core members had very different reactions to it.

“Everybody in Milwaukee at the time is booing the trade,” Allen recalls. “The media is asking me all these questions and letting me know that they’re booing the trade. I was so depressed on a day that I felt was supposed to be the happiest time of my life. I felt so frustrated, confused, disappointed. I laugh about it now, but it was such a rollercoaster of emotions at the time and I thought I should’ve been happier than I actually was.”

“I didn’t care,” Marbury says, reflecting back. “I was in the NBA. It didn’t matter. I basically was talking about playing with Glenn Robinson and Vin Baker, and then I was talking about playing with Kevin Garnett. That’s what happened.”

The deal meant that Steph was reuniting with KG, a longtime friend who was the same age but had jumped directly from high school to the pros as the No. 1 pick in 1995. Led by that dynamic duo, the T-Wolves made the playoffs right away. Marbury was named to the All-Rookie First Team, averaging 15.8 points and 7.8 assists.

For two and a half seasons, Garnett and Marbury were one of the most electrifying 1-2 punches in the Association. Then Stephon, who wasn’t fond of living in Minnesota and expressed his desire to be elsewhere, was traded to the New Jersey Nets. (Coincidentally, that three-team trade included Allen’s Bucks, who received Sam Cassell, Paul Grant and Chris Gatling.) He became a two-time All-Star and went on to play in China, where he claimed three CBA titles and an MVP award.

Out in Milwaukee, Allen had an immediate impact as well. He was with the franchise for nearly seven seasons, making three All-Star Games and three playoff appearances. In 2000-01, he guided the team to a 50-win campaign and a battle with Allen Iverson’s 76ers in the Eastern Conference Finals. The Bucks sent him to Seattle in February of 2003, ushering in a new chapter that eventually led him to multiple championships—one of which was ironically won alongside Garnett in Boston.

The truth is, regardless of where they ended up, Marbury and Allen were bound to thrive. Their intertwined paths were headed in the exact same direction. In retrospect, it’s hard for either guy to have any regrets or ponder different journeys than the successful ones they’ve followed. Long before basketball became a business, they foresaw that success in each other.

There’s one score that they’ve never settled, however. 

“To this day, I tell Stephon that he owes me 200 grand,” Allen says with a smile, “because that was the difference in salary from the fourth to the fifth pick.”

—

SLAM PRESENTS ’96 DRAFT IS AVAILABLE NOW.

The post The Draft Night Trade That Altered Ray Allen & Stephon Marbury’s Careers appeared first on SLAM.

Everything came together in 1996. 

It was two years after SLAM had been founded, and the staff had built an identity as the “in-your-face” basketball magazine, seamlessly blending the worlds of hoops and hip-hop. Some fans caught on right away, understanding the mission and the voice. Others were a little more wary, unsure of how those two cultures overlapped or why it was necessary to bridge them. 

Then 1996 happened. Hip-hop exploded with the release of several groundbreaking albums (see page 16), and one of the greatest NBA draft classes ever emerged on the scene, carrying with them the style, attitude, charisma and confidence that resonated with SLAM and its audience. That year pushed the brand forward in a massive way. 

“You look at the music that was around, you look at the culture of basketball and us being right at the groundswell of trying to tell those stories that had been untold and how those stories about the culture of basketball are connected to the culture of hip-hop. And us being the voice of both of those at the time—yeah, ’96 was a special, special, special year,” says then SLAM Senior Editor Scoop Jackson.

To bring it all together was SLAM 15, and an iconic cover photo featuring future All-Stars, MVPs, champions and Hall of Famers. This is the behind-the-scenes story of how that cover came to be.

THE IDEA

By 1996, SLAM was well known throughout the basketball universe. But the incoming NBA rookie class, which SLAM had been covering for years, had a deeper connection to the brand. From those relationships, the staff understood two things very clearly: 1) This group had the potential to be extremely special, and 2) SLAM had the unique opportunity to be a part of their ascension.

Tony Gervino (then SLAM Editor-in-Chief): It was to a point where none of the [’96 class] didn’t know what SLAM was. Among the players, it resonated with them. Some of them we had done stuff with already. Stephon Marbury, we knew him since he was 15. Same with Kobe.

Jackson: We knew that class was deep, but we had no idea that class was going to be that class. But because of Stephon and Allen [Iverson], that class had a direct connection to the culture of hip-hop [with] how they represented themselves and how they were received. So we were putting that cover together with the impetus being that Stephon and Allen are the two players that directly identify with what SLAM is about.

Dennis Page (Publisher of SLAM): Everybody knew the draft class was dope. These were our guys. It was really Iverson and Marbury. Marbury and Iverson. The cover was a no-brainer. It was more about logistics than the idea. Could we actually pull it off?

Russ Bengtson (then SLAM Senior Editor): You knew going in it was a big draft. I wanna say the top six were the really big, like, We need to be in this range of picks to get the immediate impact guys. Iverson, Steph, Ray Allen, Marcus Camby, Shareef Abdur-Rahim and Antoine Walker. But it was just so deep because of Kobe and Jermaine O’Neal and Steve Nash and Kerry Kittles. It was one of the first drafts where it involved guys who were a part of SLAM since SLAM started. Stephon Marbury going into the draft was just such a huge moment for us as a publication because we featured him from the first issue. 

Stephon Marbury: First of all, for me, doing anything with SLAM was always dope because I knew that SLAM was the magazine and it would be the magazine. I jumped on it early.

Nat Butler (NBA photographer who shot the cover image): Looking back at it now is one thing, but even at the time, everybody was such a stud. John Wallace at Syracuse was a stud. Camby at UMass was a stud. Marbury was a stud. Go down the line. Ray Allen, I was familiar with him from his UConn days. It was just one after the next.

Gervino: We knew it was a strong draft. My fear was that people would think, Oh, they put so many people on the cover because they’re hedging their bets. They don’t know who’s going to be good so they’re just putting a bunch of guys on there. And obviously that was [wrong]. It was just an undeniably strong class. We were at a point where people knew who we were and we had an opportunity and I thought, These are like first-generation guys who grew up on SLAM.

THE SHOOT

The photo shoot took place in Orlando during a rookie orientation event shortly after the NBA Draft.

Page: The truth of the matter was, Fleer trading cards was one of our biggest advertisers at the time. And the lightbulb went off. I called my guy at Fleer and said, How do you shoot all your cards? How do you get everybody together at once? And he said that they have these [rookie] transition events, or whatever they were called. I was like, Oh cool, let’s call Joe Amati and Carmin Romanelli with NBA Photos and see if we can piggyback on Fleer’s shoot. 

Gervino: The NBA photo guys let us know that the trading card companies were shooting in Orlando, and if we went down there, we might be able to set up against a wall and have, like, two minutes as they went to lunch. Because the players would go from company to company and then after they finished the last company, they were going to walk to lunch.

GRAB YOUR COPY OF SLAM PRESENTS ’96 DRAFT FOR EVEN MORE GOODIES FROM THE ISSUE.

Jackson: When we registered at the hotel, we couldn’t register in our own names. The NBA could not know we were there. [Senior Director of NBA Photos] Carmin Romanelli was like, Get me the [list of] players. He was the only one at the NBA who knew. The NBA had no idea where this shit was going down, what was going down. This was a straight-up covert operation. We had to literally register in the hotel under alias names because the NBA could not know we were there.

Butler: It was tricky because it was outside and we knew it was gonna be fast. We set up a couple lights. But again, it’s tricky when you don’t want someone else casting a shadow on the guy behind them or next to them. You can’t go too crazy. It can’t be in the bright sun either, because then the guys start squinting and we wanted that tough SLAM look.

Jackson: I was spraying the players with water bottles to make it look like they were sweaty. Seriously. And some of these cats I’m meeting for the first time.

Gervino: We had 90 seconds. I know people are always exaggerating when they tell stories but I’m telling you, these guys were walking out of one building and into another building for food and we just were sort of like, Hey, come over here against this wall. We literally had, like, five photos and this photo on the cover was the only one where Jermaine O’Neal was looking at the camera. Kobe had a cast on his arm so we had to put his arm behind his back. It happened 1, 2. So quickly. 

Butler: We shot it on film. I was shooting 4×5, which is the big camera on the tripod. It’s not like we had 15 shots to choose from. We probably took six or eight pictures, and that’s always nerve-wracking when you’re doing groups. Somebody’s not looking, somebody’s laughing, somebody blinks. Statistically, you need to shoot a little bit more. But I would say we probably took under 10 frames. I think it was like six or eight frames and then it was, OK, that’s it.

Kerry Kittles: I remember they just pulled us all in and snapped it and that was it. It wasn’t like you were in there all day. I think we each had individual stuff that we were doing. And so we were all spread out in this big auxiliary gym. We were all running around, doing different shoots, because a lot of us had deals with the trading card companies. So we were doing stuff for that and then there was also NBA stuff as well. We were all spread out. Then they just grabbed us, put us all together and did the shoot and that was it.

Jackson: [Then SLAM Creative Director] Don Morris and Tony, they were like, Steve Nash’s head is too big and if we put him on the front cover, his head is going to cover up the L on SLAM and it’s going to look like SIAM. The reason Steve Nash is on the other end is because of the size of his head [laughs].

Jermaine O’Neal: It was great. I’m watching people like Allen Iverson—I already knew Kobe—Stephon Marbury, Marcus Camby. I’m watching these people on television go to work. Ray Allen—I knew Ray from high school, we played each other. Antoine Walker, I watched on television. So it was a surreal moment. I was very quiet at the time. My demeanor was always quiet at a young age but I didn’t put up with no bullshit. I was an inner-city kid who only knew one way. And we had a great time. The photo shoot was fantastic, everybody was super cool. 

Steve Nash: I remember Kobe had so much swag and confidence. I hate to use the word swag, he had that—what’s a better word—confidence maybe doesn’t do it justice. I don’t know, maybe some of it was projecting because he was young, 17 years old, he either knew that he belonged at 17 or was hellbent on projecting that because he knew he’d get there. But he right away had that confidence. Jermaine was confident but much more quiet—he was kind of more what you would expect of a high school kid.

Gervino: These were the players we wanted to grab. This was the list of guys. We had to separate some of the people who tried to get into the photo that we didn’t really want in the photo.

[Todd Fuller, a 6-11 center out of NC State who was the No. 11 pick in the ’96 Draft, was one of those people. His name would go on to become a code among the SLAM staff.—Ed.]

Gervino: If any of us were at a photo shoot and somebody just said, “Todd Fuller,” that meant somebody was trying to get into the photo and we have to get them out. You’d shoot like the starting five and then the PR people would be like, Oh, here’s the sixth man, coming into the shoot while you were trying to take the photo. It was more common than not.

Jackson: The backstory that I’m pretty sure nobody told you is that this shoot is what started XXL Magazine. In order to get [the SLAM cover] done, we had to literally sketch the whole thing out and present it to Carmin Romanelli, like, Here are the players we need. So we’re at the bar the night before picking the players that we want and sketching out the layout for this cover. And as we’re doing this, Don [Morris] is like, I’m so fucking sick of basketball. If we don’t do something else, I’m done with this shit. Don needed another outlet. We’re sitting there having cocktails like, Alright, well let’s think of some shit that we’re going to do. That’s where we came up with the concept for XXL. The entire concept came from right there. As we’re drawing up the [’96 Draft cover], we’re actually conceptualizing what wound up being XXL.

“IVERSON LEFT”

There was only one thing missing from that legendary cover shoot: The No. 1 overall pick in the draft, Allen Iverson.

Gervino: I went to sleep and at 7:00 a.m. my phone rang in my hotel room. I answered it and it was somebody from NBA Photos and all he said was, “Iverson left.” And I thought, Ughhh. Because I was literally, like, “No one let Iverson leave.” I was worried he wasn’t going to show up [to Orlando]. And then when he showed up, I was worried he was just going [to leave]. Because the night before they had that, like, Let’s bring the veterans in to talk to the rookies about what they have to do in life. I thought that would be something where [Iverson] would probably be like, I’m out of here. And the next morning he was gone.

Page: When we found out he bounced, that was the “Oh fuck” moment. It was still such an interesting concept that how could we not do it? I’m sure I was freaked out by that, but I don’t think there was any turning back on it.

Marbury: Honestly, the thing that I remember the most is Allen’s ass not being there [laughs]. I was so mad. I was trying to get Allen so we could take the picture. Like, literally, trying to find his ass and get him up so that he could come and take the picture with us. He just would not get up. Allen was gone. I was trying to get him up but there was no Allen.

Butler: He was going to be sitting or kneeling next to Ray, right in the front between Kobe and Shareef.

Gervino: I just look at it and all I can see is where he would’ve been on that first cover. It would have been an incredible six guys on that cover.

Marbury: It’s never going to change. When people see that picture, it’s always going to be, like, Yo, there’s something weird about this picture. Where’s Allen at?

Bengtson: Would that cover be better with him on it? Sure. It would’ve been great to have the No. 1 pick on it. But I feel like the way it worked out just kind of adds to the story.

“CLASSIC”

When the issue hit newsstands, it got a lot of immediate, positive feedback. Its impact on SLAM, especially as the ’96 class became more and more iconic, cannot be understated. 

Jackson: When we got the bluelines and the original shot back, we all knew when we saw this shit. It was our first gatefold, too. We knew right then. I’m not going to say that the reaction we got to the magazine was predictive, but we knew when we saw that, like, Oh, shit.

Marbury: When I saw it, I said, “Classic.”

Gervino: We got a lot of comments about this. I think I had to hide a box of these somewhere because everyone wanted it. We used to shoot players from different teams together at the All-Star Games between practices and stuff. This made it a lot easier because they understood that, being on different teams, they wouldn’t look like clowns in a photo. This also helped us to know how little time we would need to do something.

Shareef Abdur-Rahim: The legendary nature of that picture kind of points to what the class has become more and more over the years. I took that picture at 19 years old. And still, to this day, I see people [with it]. That picture is hanging up in the NBA offices—in the New Jersey office and in the New York office. It speaks to how relevant the class was and how legendary the class was.

Marcus Camby: I even have that framed in my house. That picture with all that great talent—that was something that I needed to cherish. It brings back memories.

Butler: People always ask about this. [The iconicness of the cover] has to do with the stature of SLAM as an entity. It has to do with the stature of the historic careers that the guys in the picture have all had. It’s just one of those things where everything kind of came together.

Jackson: For us to do that cover so raw, in an alley, on a brick wall, and then to tie in The Fugees with “Ready or Not.” That presentation basically embodied everything that was going on in both hip-hop and basketball culture at that time.

Gervino: I just remember it sort of telling everyone else, “Ready or not, here we come, too.”

Bengtson: Even when we would do covers with one dude, it’s like, Oh man, I hope this guy doesn’t get hurt or traded before this issue comes out. Doing something like that with 11 guys—you’re just like, Wow, anything can happen at this point. That was a fortunate one where it made sense when we thought about it, it made sense when we did it and it’s only gotten better with time.

O’Neal: I never knew at the time that was gonna be one of the most iconic covers in draft history.

Page: For me, this is certainly one of the most important covers we’ve ever done because that class is so great. The question really becomes, truthfully, is it the greatest draft class ever?

Abdur-Rahim: We were kids. We were just having fun. If you think about it, the thing that’s changed is—in today’s world, you couldn’t get that group together to take a picture. I’m not saying us now at 40-plus years old. I’m saying that group of guys, minus the No. 1 pick, it’d be very difficult to get that group of kids together, [picks] 2-10, to take a picture at any point. Because you’d have so many different people like, Oh, that’s not good for your brand. There’s so many reasons why not to do it. Or, I just want to do a SLAM picture by myself. That stuff didn’t even cross anybody’s mind. It was, like, Yeah, let’s go take the picture.

—

SLAM PRESENTS ’96 DRAFT IS AVAILABLE NOW.

The post Oral History of the Legendary SLAM 15 Cover Shoot appeared first on SLAM.

But this story is about a different side of Malcolm Brogdon, one that’s the product of his family, upbringing, education and exposure to various walks of life. It’s the side of him that reflects his true calling.

“I view basketball as a tool to get in touch with those that are less fortunate than I am and to have an impact on their lives,” he tells SLAM. “God gives you an opportunity to give other [people] opportunities, and that’s what basketball has done for me. It’s been amazing. I love it. But basketball is not my passion. Basketball is something I do, something I love, something I’ve grown up doing. I think it brings joy to other people to watch me and others play it. But at the end of the day, basketball brings you so much more. It allows you to see different parts of the world. It allows you a certain level of financial security. It allows you to meet people that otherwise you would never meet. And it’s really up to you with that platform and those connections to choose to do good and impact others.

“And that’s what I’ve chosen to do.”

—

It’s about 10:00 am on a Tuesday in early February, about a week before the All-Star break, and Malcolm is on his way to the Pacers practice facility for a morning of film study, shootaround and weightlifting. As he cruises on the highway and surveys the peaceful surroundings, he compares the start of his day to that of a woman living in Tanzania, where his foundation— Hoops2O—is providing crucial aid.

Days in East Africa typically start earlier, around 7:00 am, as the women set off on long expeditions to obtain water. The distance to their water sources expands over time, as previous holes dry up and new ones must be dug further away from home. Journeys are several miles long and take numerous hours, especially considering the weight of the buckets that must be carried on the trek back.

“It was an extremely heavy bucket,” Malcolm says, recalling a recent trip to Tanzania. “I was having to put it down over and over because it was hurting my hands. I gained a lot of respect and was really humbled by the entire process, because it’s not easy to have to worry about something that simple every day just for you and your family to survive.

“And keep in mind,” he continues, “the water that they do end up fetching is not clean water.”

With Brogdon at the helm, Hoops2O aims to address this devastating problem. The organization is the basketball branch of Waterboys, a nonprofit started by former NFL player and fellow University of Virginia alum Chris Long. Together, their mission is to provide clean, drinkable water to one million people worldwide.

Since its inception in 2018, Hoops2O has funded the construction of 10 wells (each at $45,000), bringing water to over 52,000 citizens in Tanzania and Kenya. Malcolm has enlisted the support of many of his NBA peers, including Joe Harris, Justin Anderson, Garrett Temple, Anthony Tolliver and more.

Beyond spreading illness (water-related diseases cause nearly 1 in 5 deaths of children under 5), the water crisis restricts educational, agricultural and economic opportunities. Children, especially girls, are often tasked with helping their mothers collect water and therefore forced to miss school. The arduous process also limits hours that could be spent caring for farms and generating income.

One well at a time, Brogdon is determined to save lives and ease these burdens.

“You go there and you fall in love,” he says. “You fall in love with the work you’re doing. You fall in love with the people. You fall in love with the country. You just fall in love with the entire process of giving such a vital resource to people that are in need of it… I’m not going to solve this problem. But while I’m here, I’m going to do as much as I can. If you can change one life, then it’s worth it.”

“I feel like he’s co-creating that part of his life along with basketball, so that he’ll have that work to do in the future,” Malcolm’s mother, Jann Adams, says. “I think that’s an incredible blessing for him.”

“My mom always taught me that God blesses you to bless other people,” Malcolm adds. “Me, specifically, God’s given me a platform, given me resources, allowed me to play basketball and allowed me the opportunity to see the world. And that opportunity has not been given to me just to go out and travel and experience things. It’s been given to me to be exposed to things that I can help change.”

Upon retiring from the NBA, Malcolm’s plan is to continue efforts in Africa and develop new programs, both domestic and international, focused on issues such as education.

“I believe when Malcolm’s basketball career is over, he will pursue nonprofit work. He will work in Africa,” Adams continues. “Twenty years from now, I just feel like the sky’s the limit for him. I can’t even anticipate it. He says he’d never do politics, I think he’d be a great political leader because he’s honest and forthright and decent and we so need that. But I think he’s going to have so many choices. I hope he does great things that continue to impact people and that he stays humble and focused and continues to care about the right things. If he does that, I think he can do anything he wants.”

—

Alex Squadron is an Associate Editor at SLAM. Follow him on Twitter @asquad510.

Photos via Clay Cook.

The post Malcolm Brogdon’s Mission to Bring Clean Water to East Africa appeared first on SLAM.

He was one of 87 people—including Texans wide receiver Kenny Stills and rapper YBN Cordae—who were arrested during a July protest on the front lawn of Attorney General Daniel Cameron’s house. Roland spent 18 hours in prison before being released.

Many of the demonstrations in Louisville, which call for the officers responsible for Taylor’s death to be arrested, have been spearheaded by an organization called Until Freedom. For the entire month of August, they are posted up in Kentucky to continue the powerful fight.

As part of their mission, Until Freedom is working with Roland to put together a weekend of both activism and community events. Beginning on Saturday, August 15th, there will be backpack giveaways, a food drive serving 2,000 families and basketball clinics run by Roland to be attended by youth from Taylor’s church and surrounding neighborhoods.

“At the end of the day, we really just want to uplift this community,” Roland tells SLAM. “There’s been so much going on because there are protests every day. There’s so much unrest in the community. For these kids to have to deal with COVID—not being able to have normalcy with schools and stuff like that—on top of all this racial tension, they can’t even be kids right now. So what we want to do is bring more awareness to what Until Freedom is doing in the Louisville community, trying to help bring justice to Breonna Taylor’s case, and then also bring some positivity to the area because of everything’s that’s been going on.”

Roland is calling on NBA & WNBA players to join the movement as well, amplifying efforts on the ground and helping to put a smile on kids’ faces.

For updates, follow Irv Roland and Until Freedom.

The time for justice is always now.

The post Irv Roland To Organize Community Events in Breonna Taylor’s Hometown appeared first on SLAM.

The first t-shirt UNDRCRWN ever created was featured in an issue of SLAM. It was an Allen Iverson flip with the words “Thug Lif3” printed in the same font as the Sixers logo. UNDRCRWN only made about 40 of them, unsure of how they’d sell. After all, there was little precedent for their unique approach to the industry.

“We entered this without any rules. The genre didn’t exist,” says Media and Marketing Director Kari Cruz, who’s been instrumental in shaping the look and feel of the lifestyle brand for over a decade. “People would look at basketball and kind of judge it as performance wear only. They didn’t understand that you could create products that came out of the culture that didn’t have to be a line or designed to play in. We’ve always said that there are more people in the stands [than on the court]. We as a community just wanted to storytell and highlight moments that have impacted our lives.”

UNDRCRWN was established in 2005 by Dustin Canalin, an artist and creative designer with experience working alongside top brands. At the time, there were few other businesses in the space trying to mesh sports and culture in an authentic, in-your-face way. Canalin set out to do in the fashion world what SLAM was doing in the editorial world. And, with the help of people like Cruz, he’s succeeded.

“We wanted to address it in a way that talked about sneakers, the fashion that people wore, and really kind of rode in on the hiatus of streetwear,” explains Canalin. “We basically just didn’t want to do what other people were doing. There was so much fan wear out there, and we were, like, bigger than fans. I think that’s what was cool about SLAM. Allen Iverson’s tattoos were more the story than him scoring 30 points. We cared about the innate details that only the true heads would know.”

With that vision in mind, UNDRCRWN began crafting apparel that spoke to and referenced way more than the game itself: A tee with the famous Vince Carter dunk from the Olympics printed across the front, except instead of VC, it’s President Barack Obama; another with the members of NWA rocking custom Lakers uniforms; one with Biggie in a colorful East All-Star jersey next to lyrics from “Things Done Changed.” The list of their legendary pieces goes on and on.

UNDRCRWN’s vibe has always been similar to SLAM’s, leading the two to combine forces on several occasions. Now, with @SLAMGoods off and running, comes their biggest collaboration yet: an exclusive new line, celebrating the premier issue of the magazine and basketball’s ever-growing impact worldwide.

“Coming up with the idea for the collaboration, we really wanted to unify both brands,” says Cruz. “We have always seen SLAM as an authority, as our basketball bible. It was these pages that helped shape conversations and helped educate us and give us a point of reference. We wanted to take the actual pages of the magazine and take visuals and combine them in a way where it created these large scale collages that illustrate what motivates and inspires us, and how SLAM has been part of our life for as long as we can remember.”

Check out some images of the drop below:

Going forward, the iconic UNDRCRWN will maintain the same core identity while also evolving to what’s become the norm.

“I think there’s a lot of SLAM in UNDRCRWN and a lot of UNDRCRWN in SLAM,” Canalin says. “There are so many people doing what we both were doing ten years ago that [now] you have to do what other people aren’t doing.”

That was the goal for this latest project with SLAM and for perhaps more down the road.

“I hope that this sparks some memories for some of our older fans and some new fans—people that have always wanted to see a marriage between SLAM and UNDRCRWN,” adds Cruz. “I would love to see it keep going.”

—

CLICK HERE TO SHOP THE SLAM x UNDRCRWN COLLECTION

The post SLAM x UNDRCRWN Collaborate On New Collection appeared first on SLAM.

The main focus of their discussion: How could they take advantage of the growing spotlight placed on Paul’s fashion and sneakers to send a message? And what would that message be?

They eventually settled on a plan to support Black designers and historically Black colleges and universities via school apparel. Though Paul went to Wake Forest, practically everyone else in his family attended an HBCU.

Shortly after, Mays made a visit to Texas Southern, her father’s alma mater. She went to the campus bookstore to purchase a souvenir and noticed a sweatshirt that looked perfect for Paul. 

Fast forward to opening night at the Toyota Center. CP3 walked through the tunnel to the locker room wearing that hoodie. Cameras captured the moment; social media accounts shared it; reporters asked about it; blogs wrote about it.

Awareness started spreading. The plan started working.

“I remember wearing the Texas Southern hoodie and all the responses I got from people, like, I went there, I went there,” recalls Paul. “I think a lot of people need to know that some of their favorite people, whoever it may be, they are products of historically Black colleges and universities.”

Two years later, with Paul preparing for the NBA’s 2019-20 restart in Orlando, the approach remained the same. He came up with an idea to use his Jordan sneakers as a canvas to celebrate different HBCUs in the Thunder’s eight remaining regular season games. (So far, he’s represented North Carolina A&T, Alabama A&M, Howard, Livingstone and Albany State. More to come.) Each pair has the respective institution’s name, logo and color scheme; and Paul has also written words on the midsoles related to the nationwide fight against racism and police brutality.

Mays worked to put together outfits that either matched the kicks directly or highlighted other notable causes. According to her, 99 percent of what Paul brought to the bubble is either made by a Black designer, promotes an HBCU or contains a social justice message.

With the HBCUs, the objective is to tell a complete story and really try to educate fans. Paul also partnered with Support Black Colleges, a clothing line founded by two Howard students, to assist at that goal. The company creates graphics for Paul’s Instagram to be posted after the games, providing additional information about the HBCU featured that day (location, motto, fun facts and more).

“Seeing how the tunnel walks have become this monumental moment—guys are watching the game but they’re also watching to see on social what the guys are wearing—we thought, Wow, we can use this moment as a storytelling opportunity,” Mays tells SLAM. “I feel like now more than ever I’ve found my voice and my purpose as a stylist with Chris, because we’re able to use fashion and sport to really champion things that are important to us.”

We caught up with Paul to break down that impactful mission.

—

SLAM: When did you realize the power of fashion and sneakers to convey certain messages?

Chris Paul: First, I want to say thank you to Courtney. I think a lot of times obviously people see me, as I’m the one out there playing and performing, but Courtney—she’s everything. We’ve talked about this and [saw] it all come together some years ago. We just talked about our platform. It started out with the opportunity to champion African American designers. It’s been so cool in the process not only to shed light on some of these designers who maybe at times wouldn’t be seen or get that platform, but I think it’s been cool for me to learn and get more educated.

SLAM: How has sneaker culture grown since the beginning of your career, giving players a bigger platform for expression?

CP: I’ve been in the League for a while now so I’ve had an opportunity to see a League when it was all about Nike iD. I’ll never forget how excited I was when the Brand finally put my shoe on Nike iD, because you felt like that was an opportunity and a way that you could tell stories. I designed a couple of shoes with my kids and that was storytelling. I think highlighting Black creatives and celebrating historically Black colleges and universities has been another opportunity to tell stories.

SLAM: Can you walk me through the decision to pay homage to a different HBCU in each game? Why was that important to you?

CP: Yeah, we got a crazy team. Obviously, that’s Courtney; it’s my little cousin AJ Richardson who went to North Carolina A&T; my brother who played his freshman year at Hampton University. We’re from the South. We’re from North Carolina. I grew up down the street from Winston Salem State University. We’ve known about the North Carolina Centrals, the Livingstones, the A&Ts, the Hamptons, the Howards—I could go on and on. So that’s naturally part of my culture. I’m one of the only people in my family that didn’t attend an HBCU. But deep down inside, I feel like I did or I wish I would have.

I think it’s really important to me because I’m one of those people who got a lot more interested in history as I got older. When I was a kid and going through it, I wasn’t really paying attention. It was just like, That’s that and that’s that. Now that I’ve gotten older, I’ve done a lot of research into HBCUs and see that they don’t get the same funding that a lot of these other schools get—different PWIs [predominately white institutions] and different colleges. What I’ve understood in doing the research is that a lot of these HBCUs are the schools that are educating our culture, our people. So why not try to make sure they can get the same recognition? Why can’t we try to make sure that they’re funded properly? I think that’s the thing when you look at the athletic departments. That’s the one thing that a lot of these big schools have on the HBCUs—the facilities. LeVelle Moton, who’s the head coach at North Carolina Central, which is a top tier program year in and year out—we’re trying to figure out how we can get them the same facilities that you see at Kentucky. Or Mo Williams, who is now at Alabama State. I think it comes back to the education of it. I think with everything going on now, it’s awareness. A lot of awareness. You got Kyle O’Quinn in the NBA who went to Norfolk State. I was walking this morning to the bus and talking to Darrell Armstrong, who went to Fayetteville State.

SLAM: What advice would you give to a high school player who’s considering going to an HBCU?

CP: I’m fortunate enough to have an AAU program. Year in and year out we have some of the top kids, so I’ve gotten an opportunity to know not only kids in our program but kids in other programs. I think for me, I don’t ever tell any kid what school to go to. But especially now, just tell them to understand their power and their leverage. It’s a different day in that if you can play and you’re talented, they’re going to come to you. So it doesn’t matter what school you’re at. If you’re at Winston Salem State, if you’re at Coppin State, if you’re at Norfolk State, if you’re at North Carolina Central, if you’re at any of these schools or wherever it may be—they are going to find you.

SLAM: You helped lead a master class at North Carolina A&T last year about sports, media and entertainment. What was the inspiration to do that?

CP: I was fortunate enough some years ago to go to a class at Harvard business school with this amazing professor named Anita Elberse. The class is amazing—you get a chance to do these case studies—and I’ll never forget it. And as I looked into things, I was like, Man, we’re doing these unbelievable case studies on all of these different people—there’s a Dwyane Wade case study, there’s a Jay-Z case study, there’s a LeBron case study, there’s one on Beyonce and many other people—this is a dope class. Why aren’t classes like this at HBCUs? So I reached out to [Elberse] and she didn’t hesitate. She was like, “Chris, just let me know what I need to do.” And so we partnered and we said we wanted to introduce it at North Carolina A&T. I’m telling you, this past summer when we had the introductory class, it was one of the best feelings I think I’ve ever had in life. To see an idea like that come together and to see students just engage in something and to see where it came from.

SLAM: You’ve also been inscribing messages on the midsoles of your sneakers, such as “Can’t Give Up Now” and “Breonna Taylor.” What’s the process of deciding what to write there?

CP: I do it in the locker room before the game. It’s funny, because people see “Can’t Give Up Now” and it’s got so many different meanings. Right now, it means we can’t give up as far as our struggle and fight for equality and social justice. Where it came from is—I listen to gospel music before the games. Most people would be like, What? You listen to gospel music to get you going before a game? One of my favorite songs since I was younger is a song by Mary Mary called “Can’t Give Up Now.” That’s why I write it on my shoes because I always listen to that song. If you listen to the song and it doesn’t touch you, something might be wrong with you. [laughs]

I also write Breonna Taylor’s name on my shoes every game because the cops still haven’t been arrested and we want to keep that pressure on [Kentucky Attorney General] Daniel Cameron and everybody behind him.

SLAM: As head of the NBPA, you were instrumental in getting the League to put social justice messages on the backs of jerseys. Can you talk more broadly about how the entire NBA is using the platform of the season to push for change?

CP: It’s been powerful and I think the coolest part is just to see how guys have come together. Guys have really connected. For some of these guys that you’ve been unbelievable competitors against, you never knew that you had so many things in common with them. Tobias Harris—I played against him, sort of knew him and whatnot. But here [in Orlando], I’ve gotten a chance to know him, Kyle O’Quinn and a few of those guys just from conversations about social injustice. I think it’s dope because at the end of the day, this is about unity and using this platform to amplify often-muted voices to effect change.

SLAM: You said previously that the new jerseys give a voice to the voiceless. Do you view messaging on sneakers the same way?

CP: No question. I say that because after every game, not every player goes up and gets the microphone. After a given game, a guy can score 15, but the guy who scores 32 is usually going to be doing the postgame interview. It’s a way to express yourself. It’s a way for you to say something that’s on your mind. And you may not want to say it physically, but you may want to show support to somebody or something like that. It gives you that opportunity.

SLAM: You recently helped launch the Social Change Fund, which will support pressing issues impacting the Black community. How did you, Carmelo Anthony and Dwyane Wade work together to start it?

CP: We’ve all had an opportunity to do so many different things on our own over the years. This was an opportunity for us to come together. And that rarely happens, especially in sports because everything is always verses, you against them, I can do this better than you. But it was all about igniting conversations around issues like police brutality, educational reform, systemic racism—all these different things. And what we want is other guys who are passionate about those same subjects to join. It’s not something that we put together to be divisive. The Social Change Fund is inclusive. Anybody that wants to be a part of it, they’re welcome.

SLAM: Lastly, just want to give you an opportunity to pass on a message to the next generation or spread any message that you’d like regarding social justice and the fight for equality.

CP: I think the biggest thing is—a lot of times guys wonder, Is it OK to say this? Can I do this? Is it the right time? I think you just have to be comfortable with yourself and know who you are, especially as athletes. And don’t ever look at yourself as being just an athlete. Because at the end of the day, I’m a husband, I’m a brother, I’m a child, I’m a father. All of those things come before being an athlete. So historically, athletes as advocates have been so important in raising awareness to create change. You look at people like Muhammad Ali, Tommie Smith, John Carlos and Colin Kaepernick. We can make a difference.

—

Alex Squadron is an Associate Editor at SLAM. Follow him on Twitter @asquad510.

Photos via Getty.

The post Chris Paul On Supporting HBCUs and Fighting for Social Justice appeared first on SLAM.

“I remember my mom always used to tell me, Son, learn how to cook. I’m not going to be there [to do it] for you for the rest of your life,” says Celtics big man Enes Kanter.

Life for an NBA player can obviously be hectic. The travel is strenuous and exhausting. Meals are often had on-the-go, in hotel rooms, on planes or at arenas. Time is tight and convenience is everything. Learning how to cook just isn’t at the top of the priorities list.

But then, in mid-March, everything changed. As the coronavirus spread rapidly around the world and players began testing positive, the NBA shut down.

Time stood still. Four months passed slowly.

Now, with the League restarting in Orlando, fans and media alike have been refreshing their brains on where we left things off in the 2019-20 season and making their predictions for the future.

But before we get to that and attention turns back to whatever happens inside the Disney World bubble, there’s another question worth asking: What have players been up to? For many, this is the longest they’ve gone without competitive basketball since early childhood. How did they fill that void?

Well, Kanter finally got the chance to make his mom proud. His first cracks at cooking admittedly ended with him hunched over a bowl of cereal. But he persisted, determined to master the art while he was stuck at home.

“I started making steaks, chicken wings, cookies, all that stuff—I was really trying to perfect my cuisines,” he tells SLAM. “I improved so much. Now if you put me in a kitchen and give me a recipe, I can cook it easy.”

Cooking was a pursuit that many, in and out of the NBA, turned to while in isolation. Same with reading and binge-watching TV shows. Kanter has been enjoying an inspirational book recommended by Celtics head coach Brad Stevens, Leaders Eat Last. Jaylen Brown, another member of the Cs, studied French in his free time. Teammate Jayson Tatum took up golf, training with respected instructors and providing his followers with updates via Snapchat.

Music was another outlet for players. Reigning MVP Giannis Antetokounmpo and Patty Mills practiced the guitar, while Jamal Murray picked up piano (Kanter tried to as well, only to find that his fingers were too big and he kept hitting the wrong keys). Rappers like Damian Lillard, Lou Williams and Lonzo Ball were in the studio working on projects.

Denver guard Troy Daniels got really into photography. He bought a Canon 6D Mark II camera a couple of years ago, but until March, it had mainly just been collecting dust on a shelf somewhere in his house.

“I picked the camera back up and was literally on YouTube and online every day trying to figure out the settings, shooting in manual and stuff like that,” he says. “It got kind of nerve-wracking because there was so much stuff to learn. It’s not just picking up a camera and pressing a button, and I think a lot of people don’t understand that.”

Daniels eventually upgraded to a Sony A7RIV with all of the top lenses and would take landscape photos or capture content for his girlfriend’s social media page. He grew to love the craft, improving dramatically over the four months.

Making videos was also a popular quarantine activity. Numerous players, from Serge Ibaka to Tacko Fall to Wendell Carter Jr to Matisse Thybulle, experimented with TikTok. Thybulle developed such a talent for it that he’s been vlogging his daily experiences in Orlando. LeBron posted a video of the entire James gang doing a coordinated TikTok dance. Nuggets forward Paul Millsap performed magic tricks on his account and Trae Young dropped some creative clips that went viral.

“I don’t know what it was that made me really want to get on TikTok,” Trae told SLAM in late-May. “My little brother was on it and he was at the house messing around, doing all these different dances. I just asked my little brother how to make one and we made a couple and I did a few on my own at my house. It’s been something to do. It’s definitely a good platform right now that we can all just have some fun on.”

The platform that took center stage amid the hiatus, however, was Twitch. Gaming was already a popular hobby around the NBA and the stay-at-home orders only provided more of an opportunity for guys to dive in. There was a 2K tournament aired on ESPN and SLAM hosted routine Call of Duty competitions.

“In terms of the guys who consistently make content in the gaming world, I’d say the most invested are Meyers Leonard, Josh Hart, JaVale McGee, De’Aaron Fox, Ben Simmons and Donovan Mitchell,” says pro gamer and director of eSports at SLAM, Duane Jackson. “Those guys have been putting in the work and really care about getting better.”

“I originally suffered an ankle injury and then quarantine started, so I’ve probably played Call of Duty 4-6 hours per day depending on rehab, spending time with my wife and working on other off-court endeavors,” Leonard says.

“I’m very competitive on the court, so when I’m not getting that fix from basketball, I get it from COD,” adds Hart.

The hours logged aren’t purely for entertainment—players recognize the value of streaming in terms of enhancing their brands, as well as how much the eSports industry is growing overall.

“I don’t really try to do everything—in terms of who I am as a brand—but the one thing that has always come back to me that I’ve enjoyed and wanted to find out more about is gaming,” said Ben Simmons during an interview for the first ever digital SLAM cover prior to the COVID-19 outbreak.

“You got to think about it going back to last summer—Josh Hart was doing this on a daily basis and getting extreme backlash for it,” Jackson says. “People were saying he doesn’t care and he should stick to basketball; but at the end of the day, he was just expressing himself. Now it’s cool to express yourself and it’s huge for a player’s brand. You get to know the players on a personal level when they stream. It just shows that you can grow a brand in different ways beyond basketball, and it’s a good start to a life after basketball as an entrepreneur. Some people start investing in fast food chains and stores. These guys are investing in gaming.”

In general, athletes used the break to focus on their off-court business interests and how to continue cultivating their brands. Rookie Ja Morant debuted a new “JA 12” personal logo when he arrived in Orlando. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander also introduced his own logo and finalized a multi-year endorsement deal with Converse Hoops.

“I just think where I’m at right now in my career—wanting to get out there a little bit more and express myself a little bit more on and off the court—and the things they do with their brand and the vision they have, it was perfect timing,” Shai says about the partnership.

“I think personal branding is everything,” says Knicks forward Bobby Portis, who spent the break building up his UNDERDOG brand. “It’s like being an entrepreneur. You have to go out there and grind and get it on your own.”

Of course, the quarantine was also just a great opportunity for players to relax and spend quality time with friends and family. March through June is usually a grueling period for them, as teams battle for seeding and then the playoffs begin. That means a lot of road trips and FaceTimes and quick catch-ups. It was important, especially during such a difficult phase, to be around loved ones.

Many had to assume teaching duties for their kids after schools were closed. Others gravitated toward board games or other ways to channel their competitiveness among relatives. Clippers guard Patrick Beverley brought his trademark trash-talking to Monopoly. Portis, who returned to his hometown in Arkansas, became infatuated with dominoes. He used to watch Jimmy Butler and Dwyane Wade play on the Bulls team plane back in 2015 but never thought he’d get into it. Then the pandemic happened.

“Now I find myself having a slight addiction to it,” he tells SLAM. “I actually play it every day around 8 or 9 pm. I’ll bring them out and whoever’s nearest to me will just come play me. I knew how to play [before quarantine] but I actually started learning the ways to lock people out and this and that. Now I’m real serious with it.”

There was a time for leisure, but there was also a time for action. Following the tragic murder of George Floyd, several NBA players became leaders in the Black Lives Matter movement and dedicated themselves to addressing racial issues in America. Lillard attended a powerful demonstration in Portland; Jaylen Brown and Malcolm Brogdon joined a peaceful protest in Atlanta; the Wizards marched alongside the Mystics in Washington; SoCal natives Russell Westbrook and DeMar DeRozan spoke out against police brutality at a rally in Compton. The list goes on and on.

“That four-month period was really important for myself because of my education, not just about the issues going on in my [home] country of Turkey, but issues going on all over the world, including America,” says Kanter, who drove from Chicago to Boston to protest alongside Marcus Smart. “I think the number one thing people need to do is just listen and educate themselves before saying anything about any kinds of issues. For me, it was very important to just sit back and see what some of the leaders are doing, like LeBron James or Jaylen Brown or Malcolm Brogdon.”

“For all of us, George Floyd’s killing was the last straw,” says Thabo Sefolosha, himself a victim of police violence outside a New York City nightclub in 2015. “It struck something deep inside the humanity of all who saw the video. Enough is enough.”

In early July, 22 teams made their way to Florida for the restart of the season. The NBA was officially back, but things would not be returning to normal.

Social activism has continued inside the bubble, as players have printed powerful messages on their jerseys (“Say Her Name,” “Equality,” “Justice,” “Black Lives Matter,” and more) and are using the heightened media attention to educate fans about the problems that plague our country and demand justice. On opening night, all members of the Jazz, Pelicans, Lakers and Clippers took a knee for the national anthem.

And all of those hobbies aren’t vanishing either. Tatum has already hit the links on the Disney campus. Dame D.O.L.L.A. and Lou Will put together mini recording studios in their hotel rooms, and Meyers Leonard and Josh Hart have constructed elaborate gaming set-ups in theirs. Daniels brought his camera down and hopes to be able to shoot games when the Nuggets aren’t playing.

As for Kanter, the cooking will have to wait until the season ends, but he has every intention of staying with it.

“I feel like once you start cooking, you appreciate food more,” he says. “I appreciate it more because I know the hard work behind it. I think once the bubble’s over, I’m going to keep trying to get better.”

—

GRAB YOUR COPY OF SLAM 228

Alex Squadron is an Associate Editor at SLAM. Follow him on Twitter @asquad510.

Photos via Enes Kanter, Troy Daniels and Getty Images.

The post A Look Back at What NBA Players Did During the Shutdown appeared first on SLAM.

Every day looks different for Robby Sikka, the vice president of basketball performance and technology for the Minnesota Timberwolves.

He probably interacts with somewhere between 25 and 50 people, whether it’s via phone or video conference. His tasks range from deciding the food on the team’s menu to understanding and strategizing how they should address the COVID-19 crisis. He’ll arrange medical care, talk to players about their physical and mental health, drop constant updates on the pandemic in the organization’s communications platform (which he helped build), study new sports science data and connect with business CEOs, social justice activists, wellness experts and more.

“Really, it’s anything and everything that the organization needs,” Sikka says. “I’m committed because I just want to win so badly. I want the organization to be successful and I want the people here to be successful. I’ve never been around a front office or a group of coaches that care more about one another. It’s a family.”

What that family specifically asks of Sikka has obviously changed since coronavirus shut down the NBA in mid-March, but his overall role has remained the same—draw from various sources and unite diverse perspectives to come up with the best solutions to problems. In fact, that role is as important now as it’s ever been.

—

Sikka’s father moved to Minnesota from India in 1969. He fell in love with the local sports teams immediately, recognizing his fandom as one way to assimilate to a new culture. The Timberwolves were founded in 1989 and the Sikkas became season ticket holders right away. From the days of Tony Campbell, Sam Mitchell, Pooh Richardson and Tyrone Corbin, Robby was completely hooked. It was the centerpiece of his youth and brought his entire family together.

He watched the league’s biggest stars whenever they came to town and saw JR Rider win the Dunk Contest when Minnesota hosted All-Star Weekend in 1994. He was at their first ever playoff win against Seattle in 1998. He travelled back and forth from Penn, where he went to college, any weekend that both the Wolves and the Vikings were playing. He went to Game 7 of the 2004 Western Conference Finals a day after his graduation, getting home with just enough time to nap before heading to the Target Center. His engagement party was in a suite at the arena and his wedding was in the Marriott hotel just across the street. Much of his life, he proudly admits, has revolved around that building and that team.

Following the path of his relatives (26 physicians), Sikka worked toward a career in the medical field. His plan, after a summer job with an orthopedic center serving pro sports franchises in Minnesota (TRIA), was to become a team doctor. That vision was thwarted when Sikka was diagnosed with keratoconus, a progressive eye disease that prevented him from operating. He transitioned to becoming an anesthesiologist and devoted himself to the new job. But his passion for sports always tugged at him, and he kept pursuing ways to make it a part of his profession.

“I’ve always been of the opinion that if there’s something that you’re studying late at night, you should find a way to make that your job, because then it’s not work,” he says. “I don’t mind working until two in the morning, reading and understanding concepts related to sports and physiology.”

In 2013, Sikka came across the Twitter account of Jeff Stotts, a certified athletic trainer. Stotts was studying sports injuries and recovery times and compiling his data for NBA teams. It was exactly the type of research that kept Robby up until 2:00 am. Sikka reached out and the two soon formed a partnership, creating the Sports Medicine Analytics Research Team (SMART). The business combined medical knowledge and analytics to advise NBA front offices about player health/injury prevention, proper treatments, when athletes should return from the IR and more.

Minnesota’s president of basketball operations Gersson Rosas was one of many who noticed the value in such forward-thinking and vowed to incorporate it further into his organization. He hired Sikka in June of 2019, just a month after taking over, and suddenly the kid who spent his childhood idolizing the Wolves was a key part of the franchise.

Sikka quickly got to work learning about the players and their routines (fitness, eating habits etc.) in order to develop individualized training/nutrition programs that utilized data and catered to specific preferences. He employs technologies like KINEXON to track player movement on the floor, creating even more precise blueprints. His insights instantly helped the Timberwolves decrease their injury rates.

“Some guys want to have the same meal every day, so maybe we got to modify the portions depending on what their activity was. Maybe we got to modify the hydration because the meals are going to be the same,” he explains. “There are all sorts of things that you can change because you’re trying to get an athlete to peak mentally and physically at the right time. It’s not necessarily about working harder, it’s about working smarter. We need to be efficient with what we do in every possible way.” 

As coronavirus spread across the globe, Sikka had a feeling—given his background—that it was going to be a much bigger crisis than most anticipated. But even he couldn’t have predicted the severity of what’s ensued over the last several months.

“I don’t think anybody in the country recognized how challenging this would be and how this virus would pick at some of the weakest parts of our culture and point out the divisions in our society,” he says. “And now we have a chance, because great moments are born out of great opportunities, to heal and to come together. I’ve always tried to bring interesting, intelligent groups of people together to collaborate on projects.”

Due to his unique skill set, Sikka has been at the core of Minnesota’s response to the pandemic, as well as the NBA’s at large. He’s been spearheading a collaborative investigation into the effects of the disease on the league and is one of ten members of the NBA’s sports science committee, which has been a vital resource during this time. The committee zeroed in on three questions in helping the NBA conceive the restart in Orlando: 1) If we return to play, how can we do it safely? 2) Once we’re there, how do we keep everybody in the area safe? 3) How can we come back in a way that benefits society as a whole and provides a model for others? The NBA and NBPA announced on Wednesday that of the 344 players at the Disney World campus, none had tested positive for the coronavirus since results were last released on July 20.

All the while, Sikka has been a major factor in holding his tight-knit Timberwolves circle together—the one that has meant everything to him ever since he was a little boy. He’s constantly on the phone checking in with staff and ensuring that everyone adheres to the necessary protocols and gets what they desire (the Wolves have been delivering meals to their players and dropping off groceries at their houses since March). He understands the devastation caused by coronavirus and worries that others don’t. He knows we must be there for each other, now more than ever.

“For people that have lost someone, the social elements of this disease are things that people have a very tough time comprehending. The isolation, the potential for dying alone, the feelings of being overwhelmed—those are real things,” he says. “We don’t see enough of the faces that were lost right now. We’re forgetting about those faces and ignoring a lot of that around the country. That’s the thing that scares me now and it’s part of the reason I’m willing to talk about it. We have to do our best to protect each other, just like we’ve done within the Timberwolves. We have to protect our family.

“Bringing smart people together to come up with smart solutions is what’s going to get us out of this,” he adds.

And that’s what Robby Sikka does best.

—

GRAB YOUR COPY OF SLAM 228

Alex Squadron is an Associate Editor at SLAM. Follow him on Twitter @asquad510.

Photos via Getty, Sabrina Sikka and DJ Sikka.

The post The Story of Robby Sikka, Doctor and Leader in the NBA appeared first on SLAM.

That’s a quote from Michael Jordan. No, obviously not that Michael Jordan. The other one—the 40-year-old Regional Senior Vice President for iHeartMedia based in Lexington, KY, with the social media bio that reads: “An ordinary man with a legendary name.”

That Jordan actually did cross paths with the NBA Hall of Famer. They overlapped at a resort in Las Vegas and Michael (I’m talking about the iHeartMedia VP, stay with me) kept getting calls to his room confirming reservations that His Airness had made. The Michael Jordan returned to the same hotel about a month later and the front desk made a crucial mistake.

“Somehow his credit card and my credit card got swapped,” the iHeartMedia Michael tells SLAM. (We connected via LinkedIn, where there are exactly 100 pages worth of Michael Jordan profiles.)

“At 5:00 am on a Sunday morning, I have the credit card company calling me, wanting me to authorize these massive charges. The charges they were trying to push through were six figures.”

TMZ reports confirmed it was the Chicago Bulls legend out on another golf retreat, but it was Michael Jordan in Kentucky who was picking up the tab. So yeah, the card was quickly cancelled.

You often hear people say, “There’s only one Michael Jordan.” That’s actually far from true. The most reliable online database suggests there are over 3,000 Michael Jordans in the United States alone.

What’s true, however, is that the one Michael Jordan you’ve likely heard of does shape the experience for all the others.

Take Michael Jordan, the 34-year-old data scientist from the Bronx. When he was in basic training for the military, the drill instructors used to make him sing “I Believe I Can Fly” from Space Jam.

Then there’s Michael Jordan, the 38-year-old contractor whose parents are both from Ecuador—“I’m really not sure how the last name even ended up down there,” he says. He’s accustomed to it now, but admits “it’s a bit unnerving” whenever someone calls his name in public. Just imagine the stares. (The same sentiment applies for whenever a Michael Jordan hands his ID to a bartender or introduces himself on the phone. Yeah… that’s me.)

And consider Michael Jordan, the 30-year-old self-described “cyber security nerd” who’s working to start a software company. This Michael Jordan was previously in sales and…

“I would occasionally send ‘autographed’ basketballs to prospects or customers that I thought might find it amusing,” he explains. “Chicago was part of my territory so you can imagine all of the comments I got about my name. I think it was helpful, though. If you lived in New York, I bet you’d rather buy from a guy named Derek Jeter than Tim Smith, right?”

So yeah, there are advantages to having the name. Michael Jordans occasionally get upgraded without consideration for the fact that there are, you know, more than one. Restaurants prepare for the basketball player and end up with the guy from down the street. By then, it’s too late to fall back on arrangements. Disappointment for the waiters and managers, sure. But gratification for Michael Jordan. (According to the people I interviewed, the famous ESPN commercial that depicts interactions like these was pretty spot on.)

“When we travel, all my friends are like, ‘Hey, put the reservation under your name so that we get first class treatment,’” says Jordan with iHeartMedia. “If I could ever meet MJ, I’d thank him.”

It can be annoying at times, no question. Michael Jordan, the 42-year-old Dean of the Chapel at Houghton College, hears the jokes weekly. (Knowing the confusion I’d elicit in my story by referring to several people with the same name, the Dean offered this: “I’m kind of, like, a campus pastor, so feel free to call me a pastor if that’s helpful.” Yes, Pastor Jordan. That’s incredibly helpful.)

Do you play basketball? people ask him.

Ha!

I thought you’d be taller.

Pastor Jordan is actually 6-3. Only three inches shorter than MJ.

Mike Jordan, an NFL cornerback who’s played for the Rams, Browns, Giants and Titans, was actually named after the NBA superstar. He was born in 1992, not long after the second championship. (We’ll refer to him as Mike J, as many of his teammates do.)

“My oldest brother, he’s the one who named me,” Mike J says. “He’s 42 now. He thought it was clever to name me Michael Jordan.”

The jabs used to get to him. Now, it’s whatever.

I bet you sure wish you had his money, huh?

He hears that a lot.

You got more hair than we thought you’d have.

Very funny.

There’s another Michael Jordan in the NFL, a 22-year-old offensive tackle for the Cincinnati Bengals. Both his father and grandfather are also Michael Jordan. Growing up, he went by his middle name (Donovan) up until he saw Space Jam. Then he insisted on sharing some of the glory of conquering the Monstars.

“I was like, You know what, this guy is pretty cool,” Jordan recalls. “The first day of kindergarten, I said, ‘My name is Michael. Everybody call me Michael Jordan.’ The most important thing when I was a kid was watching the movie Space Jam and seeing him save the Looney Tunes.”

He’s still Donovan to family and goes by a plethora of nicknames on the field (“Jordan,” “MJ,” “Big Mike”), both as a member of the Bengals and during his college career with the Buckeyes.

Once, when he was a freshman at OSU, Michael volunteered to order the food for a Super Bowl party.

“I ordered online and put my name in and the delivery address,” he explains. “Quite a lot of time had passed and the food wasn’t there. I called the place and said, ‘Hey, I placed an order for Michael Jordan.’ And the guy on the phone, I could tell he ran the place, said to me, ‘Quit bullshitting me. I got a bunch of orders. It’s Super Bowl Sunday. Your name’s not Michael Jordan. Your order has been cancelled.'”

They ended up with frozen wings from the local CVS. Not ideal for the Super Bowl.

Big Mike actually sees his name as a source of inspiration: To pursue greatness, to be his own Michael Jordan.

“My goal, to separate myself from the NBA Michael Jordan, is to become immortalized just like how Michael Jordan is with basketball,” he says.

“When people hear the name Michael Jordan, they expect the best,” iHeartMedia MJ reinforces. “I think that’s a motivating factor there.”

Motivating, sure. Daunting? Well, maybe a little. Worth noting, however: Michael Jordans don’t seem to view their name as a burden. They don’t want to run from it. On the contrary, they embrace it.

Many like it simply because it’s a conversation starter. And, of course, it stands out. People remember it.

“I am not a very sociable guy and would probably be easy for people to forget if I didn’t have a famous name,” the aforementioned cybersecurity expert says. He does note that his younger brother, who went through a multi-year period being called Scottie Pippen, has probably had it worse than him.

“Since I’m pretty extroverted, I like having an easy entry into conversation with people,” Pastor Jordan reiterates.

None of the Michael Jordans I spoke to have considered changing their name or adding an element to differentiate themselves. One has the middle name Bradley and points out that it wouldn’t really improve things to go by Michael B. Jordan—shout out to the actor. “I can only imagine that there will be a pop singer in a few years named Michael Bradley Jordan and I’ll be further demoted,” he jokes.

The comments here and there aren’t enough of a bother. It’d be another thing if they could never successfully complete a pizza order.

The name they sign on checks—or the occasional napkin just to mess with someone—can be inspiring; but for most, it doesn’t carry pressure.

“I’m not trying to chase anything he did,” Mike J says. “We’re two totally different people.”

“I’ve never felt any kind of pressure because of the name,” data scientist Jordan says. “When I played IM basketball in college, my team always liked to brag that they had MJ on their team, though.”

“I don’t feel pressure to live up to my name,” cybersecurity Jordan adds. “I mean, it’s Michael Jordan. I doubt I’ll ever reach a point where 97 percent of the world knows my name, my net worth is over $1 billion and I own an NBA team.”

If only he had a dollar for every time somebody made a Michael Jordan joke…

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Follow Alex Squadron on Twitter @Alex_squadron.

Photos via Getty.

The post No, Not That Michael Jordan: Life With the Same Name as the GOAT appeared first on SLAM.

Shortly after Michael Jordan was named the 1992 MVP, a controversial billboard went up in the city of Chicago.

It was solid white with two words printed in bold: “TRADE JORDAN.”

With the Bulls chasing a second straight championship, who would dare propose such a sacrilegious idea? In a pre-social media age, the billboard went viral. More than 150 countries picked up the news. It was on the front page of several big newspapers. A universe that centered around Jordan was thrown into complete chaos. Some speculated that it was Nike’s doing. Some jokingly suggested it was Bill Laimbeer, center for the “Bad Boys” Pistons, who funded its construction.

For a week, it remained a mystery. Passionate MJ fans grew increasingly enraged as the days passed. Finally, a second billboard went up in the original’s place.

“TRADE JORDAN,” it still read, but below there was another line: “We’ve been doing it for years….”

Adjacent to the text was a picture of Jordan’s trading card: Red uniform, ball flexed behind his head, flying through the air toward the rim.

That’s how the world discovered that the billboards were actually part of a marketing campaign from Upper Deck—one that Jordan, a new partner, was entirely in on. For the brand, it was a major success, attracting huge attention and establishing their ties to the Bulls superstar. The company was mainly thankful that no fervent Chicagoan had burned that first ad to the ground.

Founded in 1988, Upper Deck’s mission was to create products and collectibles that “capture the excitement of sports.” By 1991, they were supplying cards for all four major leagues (NFL, NBA, MLB, NHL). Jordan became a spokesman during the early stages of his pro career.

“He is core to everything we do as a company,” Jason Masherah, current president of Upper Deck, says. “We are heavily identified with each other.”

The exclusive, ongoing partnership makes Upper Deck the sole producer of authenticated collectibles related to MJ, from cards to figurines to coins to other memorabilia (autographed jerseys, sneakers, basketballs, art and more, ranging in price from roughly $3,000 to $50,000). Over the past three decades, Upper Deck has created novel pieces such as “The Wings Breaking Through,” an iconic photo of MJ that includes a full-size Spalding ball emerging out of its Plexiglas casing, and “The Show,” the largest autographed MJ item ever.

“With all the innovative products that we’ve created throughout the years, Michael’s been at the forefront,” says Gabe Garcia, the Head of Upper Deck Authentics.

According to Tim Doull, the Head of Talent Acquisitions at Upper Deck, Mike has always approached his off-court business with the same relentlessness that he brought to basketball. Throughout the long relationship, Jordan has been reliable and diligent at countless private signings. In the 1990s, he even knocked one out right before the Bulls held a title celebration in Chicago’s Grant Park.

“His work ethic with his signings is the same that he had on the court,” Doull says.

Masherah adds that MJ, like other high-profile athletes Upper Deck has collaborated with, expresses genuine care for the product.

“We have exclusive deals with the biggest athletes in the world, and what’s really interesting is the common thread when you look at Wayne Gretzky’s autograph, Michael Jordan’s autograph, Tiger Woods’ autograph, these guys take a lot of pride in them,” he explains. “They are beautiful works of art in and of themselves. You look at Michael’s autograph—it’s very distinctive, it’s very nice, it’s something that you would want to own. You can say the same about Tiger, you can say the same about Gretzky. Just like they take a lot of pride in playing their respective sports and playing at a high level, they also take a lot of pride in their autographs, which not everybody does. It’s cool to see this connecting thread with the greatest athletes of all time.”

Despite the fact that Mike retired in 2003, he remains the most popular Upper Deck athlete. “Michael hasn’t played in the League in over 15 years and he is still the No. 1 source for memorabilia and collectibles,” says Garcia.

GRAB YOUR COPY OF SLAM PRESENTS JORDAN HERE

“It’s interesting, because typically with athletes, you see ebbs and flows,” Masherah says. “They have a great moment in their career, you sell a lot more product. When they retire, you sell more product. When they go to the Hall of Fame, you sell more product. I think what’s different about MJ is, he’s just steady. He continues to be our top-selling athlete. There’s just a difference in general with MJ because he’s this global brand. It’s just a different animal.”

That fame naturally encourages forgeries. With the exception of a few autographs here and there, Jordan doesn’t really sign outside of his Upper Deck deal, which means that most of the products you encounter on the internet are fake. Because the value of a signed Michael Jordan piece is so high, professional forgers have worked tirelessly to master their craft. Upper Deck spends considerable time scouring the market for fakes and ensuring they get taken down.

“For me, it’s the tendencies, knowing he signs a certain way,” Doull says. “You see stuff that just jumps out in the forgery. Maybe he doesn’t cross this or just little details like that. But you would only know that if you studied the Upper Deck pieces or if you had it firsthand, which thankfully Upper Deck does.”

“You have these third party authenticators out there and at the end of the day, they’re just opinions,” says Masherah. “They don’t know for sure whether those things were actually signed by Michael or not; and I would say 95 percent of the time, they weren’t.

“The one message that I try to get across to everybody I talk to is that you really need to be careful if you’re buying something that has Michael’s autograph on it. I see people getting ripped off all the time on this stuff and it kills me to see people spending hard earned-money on fake autographs. People really need to do their due diligence on it.”

Internally, the company has developed a five-step authentication process that remains the gold standard for the industry. It includes necessary requirements such as an eyewitness of the autograph session and the attachment of a hologram to the piece. These measures are particularly important when it comes to Jordan—because in the world of collectibles, just as in the worlds of basketball and sneakers, No. 23 still rules. Even those who never got to see him play crave a token of his journey. It defies much explanation, really; but hey, that’s Michael Jordan.

“Michael is unlike anything else from an athlete standpoint and a brand standpoint,” says Masherah. “Michael is an enigma.”

Upper Deck has seen nearly 30 years of MJ hysteria unfold before them. The same fascination that once had fans across the globe fuming over two words printed on a simple billboard hasn’t subsided.

Not one bit.

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GRAB YOUR COPY OF SLAM PRESENTS JORDAN HERE

Click here to shop the Upper Deck x MJ collection.

Alex Squadron is an Associate Editor at SLAM. Follow him on Twitter @asquad510.

Photos via Upper Deck.

The post TRADE JORDAN: Inside MJ’s Longtime Partnership with Upper Deck appeared first on SLAM.

During the summer of 1995, some of the best pickup basketball games ever played were organized under an inflatable dome in the VIP parking lot of Warner Bros. studio. They called it the Jordan Dome. 

While filming Space Jam, it was mandatory that Michael Jordan have the ability to work out in preparation for the upcoming season. He had just returned to the NBA after a brief stint in Minor League Baseball and the Bulls had been knocked out of the 1995 playoffs in the second round by the Magic.

Bob Daly, the head of Warner Bros., approved construction of a state-of-the-art facility nearby to the Space Jam set. From the outside, it looked like some sort of alien laboratory—a giant white bubble propped up in the middle of nowhere. The interior was designed by Tim Grover, Mike’s trainer. There was a regulation-sized basketball court (it was actually the floor from Long Beach State University), weight equipment, a putting green, an entertainment center furnished with big screen TVs, couches and an immense speaker system (the soundtrack of the summer was D’Angelo’s “Brown Sugar,” one of Mike’s favorites, and they blasted it), locker rooms with showers and a card table. The Jordan Dome had everything MJ needed. 

His final requirement? Serious competition.

THE GAMES

As shooting for the movie began, Mike quickly developed a routine.

Nate Bellamy (Technical Advisor for Space Jam; coordinated basketball scenes, casted talent and organized the pickup games): When it came to the Dome, Mike designated me as the guy to work along with Tim Grover. Tim had a key, security had a key and then I had a key. We were the only people who had keys to the actual Dome. When lunchtime came, we’d go up to the Dome and Mike would get his workout in—really, kind of foregoing lunch. He and Tim would hit heavy weights and they had various stations they would go through. After the weights, they’d do some stretching, loosen up, and then Mike would do his shooting drills. Every day would be a different kind of shooting drill. 

Nigel Miguel (Technical Advisor for Space Jam; also coordinated basketball scenes, casted talent and organized the pickup games): In his deal, Mike said I have to have my time to work out. The one thing that I will say is that this guy was religious and relentless about that…  He talked a lot about coming back [to basketball], what he had to do to regain that. That season, they got bumped by Orlando and he felt that he was just a little bit off. He actually felt that they could’ve won that year he came back if he would’ve had a little more time with the team.

After “lunch,” Mike would return to the set of Space Jam. Filming would continue until around 6-7 pm. As things wound down, Jordan would tell Bellamy to head to the Dome, link with Grover and start getting organized. He often had specific instructions about the games as well. 

Miguel: Nate and I would put the teams together a lot of times. Nate was more involved with that than I was because I was actually MJ’s stand-in, so sometimes I would go directly with him to the Jordan Dome while Nate went earlier to set stuff up. MJ would tell us that he wanted the teams set up a certain way because he wanted to work on certain things that day or whatever. He was very strategic. He’d say, I’m trying to work on going to my move this way, I’m trying to work on passing, I want to post-up. Those types of things. And he never stacked his team.

When the Jordan Dome first opened, invitations went out to local pros, other NBA players affiliated with Space Jam, additional clients of Jordan’s agent, David Falk, and the reigning NCAA champion UCLA Bruins.

Tracy Murray (Former NBA Forward): We’re doing our normal runs up at UCLA and then I start getting calls from my agent [Arn Tellem], saying: You might want to go up to Warner Bros. because they have a court that they made for Michael Jordan and he’s looking to work out while he’s filming Space Jam. I’m like, Man, this is the best player in the world, so I can’t do anything but get better by going up there and working out with Mike. 

Kris Johnson (Guard/Forward for UCLA, 1994-98): I remember going into the athletic department one day. Somebody was like, Michael Jordan called, he’s filming a movie on the set of Warner Bros. and he wants you guys to go play pickup. Now mind you, we had just won the national championship, so we were off the chain. We had been to the White House. We were on cloud nine. Now all of a sudden, Mike calls? Are you fucking kidding me? It was this really special call to get. He invited the whole team.

Before word fully spread about the games, the college kids got their chance to run with Mike. Even Bellamy and Miguel played early on. MJ would get to the Dome around 7 pm and pickup would start immediately. It went on for at least two hours each evening.

The structure of the games: 5-on-5 full-court. First to 7 points, straight up, all 1s. Call your own fouls. According to Bellamy, that last guideline was, for the most part, “respected without any major flare ups.”

Reggie Miller (NBA Hall of Famer): What stood out the most to me was how Jordan could film all day and some evenings and still come out and play two to three hours of games. Most of our pickup games began around 7 pm and lasted until 10. His call time on set the next mornings would be around 5-6 am.

Miguel: They’d play for, like, two hours and then the full court would stop, but guys were still in there to work out and do individual stuff. Mike would go lift weights so he’d still be around. And there was a section where you could socialize and play cards, so sometimes after he finished his workout, he’d go over there and play cards. It was set up for him not to have to leave if he didn’t want to. Warner Bros. really catered to him in that regard.

As with anything attached to Michael Jordan, the hype built rapidly. More and more NBA players started making their way to the Dome and the UCLA guys were gradually cast aside. Well, all but one.

Bellamy: Kris Johnson, who played on that 1995 team and was Marques Johnson’s son—Mike had an affinity for him. Mike made it clear that Kris was always going to be on his team. Part of that came from Mike admiring Marques Johnson when he was coming up. Marques was one of Mike’s favorite players.

Murray: Mike’s first pick every day was Kris Johnson from UCLA because Kris came in there and was a workaholic and Mike respected people that played hard. Kris worked his tail off and you saw that kid’s game go from one level to the next.

Johnson: I just remember everybody being salty. I didn’t play that year at UCLA. I just sat on the bench. There were a lot of times where I was the only college guy [at the Dome]. I was a 19-year-old sophomore on the floor with NBA All-Stars. So you got to understand when I was out there, it was like, Who is this? I don’t care that it’s Marques’ kid. But Mike showed me love. And here’s the thing, I balled my ass off to the point where we weren’t losing. They were doubling Mike and I’m just stepping in, spotting up in the corner, knocking down jumper after jumper.

Murray: You were getting almost an NBA All-Star Game every day. The games were to 7 so you didn’t have much time to get going. You had to hit the floor and really go right away or else it was a long wait. You had at least 100 players on the sidelines on days where everybody was in town. You’d look up and you’d have one team with Rod Strickland, Michael Jordan, Glen Rice, Larry Johnson and Alonzo Mourning. And then on the other team you’d have Tim Hardaway, Reggie Miller, Grant Hill, Charles Oakley and Pat Ewing. That one court was packed every day. You were getting everybody’s best shot because if you sat down, you might as well go lift weights because you’re going to be sitting down for a while.

GRAB YOUR COPY OF SLAM PRESENTS JORDAN HERE

Tim Hardaway (5x NBA All-Star): I was there for about a week. We played every day. You had Chris Mullin, Rod Strickland out there. Gary Payton, of course. Reggie, Pat, Charles [Barkley]. Charles needed it because you know, he’s always getting heavy during the course of the summer. He really needed to be in shape and ready to go. He loved it. Charles would be going at people. We had to go double team him because basically when he got it down low, nobody could stop him. If you didn’t want to lose, you had to go down there and double team.

Basketball stars weren’t the only ones flocking to the Jordan Dome. There was even a celebrity row.

Miguel: The who’s-who of Hollywood and the entertainment world that would drop by the Jordan Dome, just to stick their head in or to say that they were there or part of it, was amazing. All of the top brass from Warner Bros. came. You could actually get a deal done at the Jordan Dome if you were a big time celebrity. Halle Berry came by, Kevin Costner, Arnold Schwarzenegger, LL Cool J, Queen Latifah.

The weights that Mike used to work out with, after he finished using them, Clint Eastwood bought them. They ended up being a part of his regiment. He used them because they said he was pretty serious about his workouts prior to that, but the novelty of that being Michael Jordan’s gear kind of added something to it. He definitely used them.

Murray: Everybody that had a Warner Bros. show or a movie going on came in to watch the games. The Wayans brothers were there damn near every day. Queen Latifah came over a lot. The co-stars from the movie were in there. You had comedians, A-list celebrities. People that would show up at the front row of Laker games and stuff like that.

And those who did stop by were treated to a show every night.

Murray: It wasn’t like the All-Star Game today where dudes are letting each other dunk. Nah, if you went in there to dunk, you were going to get knocked on your ass. It was like an NBA playoff game of the 1990s. There was one particular day when Reggie Miller and Michael Jordan—and you know they had a rivalry—those two went at it. It was to the point where all of us on both teams, we just wanted to stand and watch the matchup. They were talking major trash, calling each other out. It got to the point where if you had the ball it was like, Man, you take it, I want to see what your reply is.

Miller: Mike and I used to do battle and get after one another. I always wanted to be on the opposite team as MJ. My whole purpose of going to these games was to try and find a vice I could use if and when we faced each other during the regular season and/or playoffs. Safe to say I never found one because he didn’t have any deficiencies.

Muggsy Bogues (Former NBA Guard): I was hurt and I couldn’t go take part in it. I had just had surgery on my knee. But you heard about all of the games and the trash talking that went on. They had some unforgettable trash-talking pickup games.

Hardaway: If you were there, you were there to play. You weren’t there to just BS around. There was shit talking up in your face, good defense. It was very, very, very competitive. You didn’t want to lose. It was all about bragging rights… You came with your best. You were there to bust people’s ass and show them, this is the way it’s going to be all season long when I play against you. You wanted to put something in people’s minds. Like, every time I play against you, this is the way it’s going to be.

Miguel: You felt it in the air when those guys walked in. You wanted to show what you could do. The fact that it’s on the Warner Bros. lot—you’re in Hollywood. You have people there that usually wouldn’t be there for a pickup game, so everybody wants to show up. And it’s bragging rights to a certain extent. The feel of MJ coming back and people testing him out. It was like lightning in a bottle.

Bellamy: One day, when Cedric Ceballos first came up, he saw Kris Johnson on Mike’s team. Cedric had been told it was NBA players only. He saw Johnson on the floor and he’s like, What is he doing out there? He was questioning why Kris was playing and all of that. So Mike said to him, When you get on this court, I’m gonna dunk on you. Cedric gets on the court. He picks up Mike. Mike is jabbing him, he makes a move and they split. Cedric went one way and Mike went the other way and they both met up at the rim and Mike scissor-dunked on him. BOOM! I swear to God.

Johnson: That dunk was a part of a series of plays, a flurry that Mike gave to Cedric. Imagine Mike’s in the mid-post, right? Cedric is on him with an arm-bar. Mike’s got the ball near his right shoulder, he has his head turned and he’s talking to Cedric as he’s leaning back. He faces up and he continues to talk and that’s when he went to a jab series and was like, Take off my number, you’re disrespecting my number! He’s jabbing, palming the ball and talking shit to Cedric Ceballos, telling him he’s disrespecting his number because Cedric Ceballos wore No. 23.

Bellamy: When Mike steps on that court, he becomes a whole different person. I remember one time he was warming up and shooting around. He was on the court with other NBA players, some of them NBA All-Stars, and he’s shooting around saying, “I’m a pro. I’m a P-R-O.” He’s saying that so they can hear him. And the way that he’s saying it, it’s almost like he’s saying, “I’m a pro, and you’re not.” He’d say, “I’m a pro,” and then he’d spell it out. [laughs]

Joe Pytka (Director of Space Jam): I only played up there three or four times. The only memory I have really is that Michael was a beast. One poor guy who was about 6-9 was trying to post Michael up. Every time he came down, he did the same move and Michael blocked his shot every time. After three or four times, Michael just chewed him out. He said, You’ve been doing the same move for the last 15 minutes and it ain’t working for you. Figure something else out. The guy was humiliated. He just killed the guy.

The most memorable experience I had up there was, Michael was coming down on a break and I was going to take a charge right in the middle of the key. Mike was coming right at me and he never went left or right, he went right through me and dunked over me. I’m gonna tell you something and you’re not going to believe this, I didn’t feel anything. I don’t know if he went over me, I’m 6-5 and weigh about 230. It was magic. It was like a ghost went through me and dunked. I don’t know whether he jumped completely over me. I wasn’t crouching down, I was standing straight up to take the charge. He just dunked it and it was like a ghost. I’ll never forget that.

Bellamy: I’ll never forget when Charles Oakley came. His first day playing at the Dome, he played in the first game against Mike’s team. And Oakley is the only player who came to the Dome and won every game that particular night. If you know anything about Charles Oakley, he only has one speed when he plays. Every game was like a playoff game.

Johnson: One of the highlights for me was Mike going against Grant Hill. We were playing five on five, but it was basically them two. They scored all the buckets. We gave it to them and got out of the way. No one was doubling or any of that. They’re saying, Don’t double! Don’t send no double, stay over there! This is when Grant was sick. Right in his prime, Grant was just incredible. That, for me, was a great matchup.

Miller: Juwan Howard and Dennis Rodman were the two players who really stood out to me, besides Jordan being Jordan. Those two guys always brought it.

THE IMPACT

On the very last day of games at the Dome, a new face entered.

Miguel: When we first started filming the movie, I don’t know if you remember but the [NBA] strike was on. Magic [Johnson] had wanted to come and work out, but because he was a part of ownership at that time, he couldn’t be associated with the workouts until the strike got settled. He came up, like, the last day, right before filming ended. They wouldn’t allow him to come before and it was driving him crazy. It’s Magic, plus you’re in L.A., Hollywood. This is his city. Needless to say, that day when the moratorium was lifted or whatever, Magic was there.

From those pickup runs, Mike was able to get his timing and endurance back, develop his skills, take notes on his opponents and learn valuable information about future teammates.

Hardaway: Everybody just wanted to play and see if Michael was serious [about his comeback]. He was definitely serious. He was definitely serious about coming back and being Michael Jordan again and winning another three-peat. That was his goal and he did it. I think it was more for him to gauge and see if he was still the best or if anybody could really compete against him.

Bellamy: When Mike’s team would lose a game, he would sit out and wait for his turn. He was always watching certain players and picking up on their tendencies. One of the players that he watched really closely, and he was there every night, was Reggie Miller. I remember one time he told me, Reggie doesn’t like to go left. And he kept that in his memory bank. If you watch from 1996 on, any time they played against Indiana, watch how he played Reggie. He always shaded Reggie to his left.

The Dome was really instrumental in convincing Mike that he could play with Dennis Rodman, too. I think if the Dome didn’t happen, I don’t know if that deal would’ve went through the same way it went through. Mike had an opportunity to see how Dennis was every day coming up in the Dome and playing. And what he realized was, and what most people realize when you’re around Dennis, he’s a quiet type of guy. Even though he kind of re-invented himself with all the hair color and all that, but basically, he’s a quiet guy. He comes and he plays hard. He doesn’t cause any controversy. Mike realized he could play with him.

Rodman was traded to the Bulls just prior to the 1995-96 season and the team went on to go 72-10 and win their fourth championship. Jordan was the regular season MVP and Finals MVP that year. But it wasn’t just MJ who benefitted from the experiences over the previous summer.

Murray: You couldn’t help but get better playing in that type of atmosphere—working out with Mike all summer, playing against the best players in the League. I even took my game to the next level and felt comfortable out on the floor during the season against those guys because I got to earn a little bit of respect in the summertime.

Johnson: The thing about those Jordan runs was that it gave me incredible confidence. I went into my sophomore year and ended up averaging damn near 13 points per game after averaging [around] 1 point per game as a freshman. I shot 56% from the field that year.

Miller: Those were some of the best competitive runs I’ve ever been associated with. The Jordan Dome served a great purpose for a lot of us to get better, which we did, and to try and size up with the GOAT.

Of course, no one was truly on Jordan’s level.

Bellamy: I really had a firsthand look at Mike’s dedication and love for the game and what that actually meant. He never took any shortcuts. No matter that he was starring in this movie, the No. 1 priority for him was his basketball. He was not going to let anything get in the way of him sharpening up his skills and getting himself ready for the upcoming season. That’s when I realized what separated him from most of his peers. Let me tell you something, working on a movie, doing 12 hours a day, that’s not easy to get acclimated to, especially when you’re not an actor. For Mike to be able to do that and still be focused on getting his work in during lunch and then come and play two hours of ball each night against the best players in the world, it was different. 

—

GRAB YOUR COPY OF SLAM PRESENTS JORDAN HERE

Alex Squadron is an Associate Editor at SLAM. Follow him on Twitter @asquad510.

Photos by Bruce W. Talamon/Warner Brothers Pictures.

The post An Oral History of Michael Jordan’s Legendary ‘Space Jam’ Pickup Runs appeared first on SLAM.

Eugene “Pooh” Jeter, a guard for the Fujian Sturgeons, has been in the CBA for eight years following a long career in Europe and one stint with the Sacramento Kings. Here, in his third diary for SLAM, he describes the state of things in China, his journey back to L.A., the passing of his grandpa and more.

DIARY 1 (March 27, 2020): Pooh Jeter Describes Returning to a New World

DIARY 2 (April 5, 2020): Pooh Jeter Gets Out of Quarantine

—

By Pooh Jeter, as told to Alex Squadron:

Yooo! Wassup everybody. Hope all is well. Grace, peace and blessings to you and your loved ones. In this diary, I’ll be talking about the reasons I returned home to Los Angeles, the CBA season and my 91-year-old grandpa passing away from COVID-19.

2020 is incredible, huh? And it’s only MAY! Who knows what these next seven months are going to be like. But the rule of the game is to take care of today and let tomorrow take care of its own self. One day at a time.

OK, let’s start here: Once I heard the news that the CBA season was going to be pushed to July, I really had to make a choice. It seems like this whole situation—with me going back to China and now returning back home—has been about choices. Life is really about choices. In March, when they were saying the season was going to start in April, I made the choice to get back over to China and do my quarantine. While I was in quarantine, they said the season was going to start in May. I thought that was pretty good because it would allow us to get into game shape. Then after quarantine, while I was practicing, they pushed it to July. I had to talk with our GM and coach about how my family needs me at home. And they totally understood. I took all the proper steps and followed their directions on everything regarding the situation.

We were going like two-a-days, but once my coach got the news about the season starting in July, he decided to cut down to one practice a day for a week and then ended up calling for a three-week break. So once that break started, I felt it was the perfect time for me to get back home to my family. We don’t even know for sure if the season is going to start again in July. I’d rather, until they figure out a set schedule, just go home to be with my family and help my wife out. And when it comes time for me to go back, then we’ll work on that. If my family was able to come to China with me, that would’ve been a different story. But I really need to be there for my family; that was one of my main concerns even going to China in the first place, knowing about the lockdown in the US. I figured the season was going to start in April and I’d be back sometime in June. Now if the season starts in July, I probably won’t be back until September. So if I did stay, I would’ve been gone from my family from March to September.

Most Americans in China are probably going to be doing the same thing because nobody’s practicing right now. All the teams have really just shut down for a good three weeks until the league makes a decision. But I think some people are going to stay because the situation in the states isn’t too good. So they’re thinking that they might as well just stay out there because it’s safe in China. What I was seeing in my city, in Quanzhou, everything was basically back to normal. I think schools might be starting back up this month. Things were definitely heading in that right direction. I felt really safe in China, especially in my city. Players may stay for that reason or they may just go home until things get figured out. 

When you make a decision, you have to put every scenario on the wall. You have to prepare yourself. So it may be the case that if I do go back to China, I have to do another two-week quarantine where I’m not allowed to leave my room at all again. But hopefully by that time, everything will be a little better. But who knows? That may be one of the options.

In terms of returning to practice, everybody was getting their temperature checked before entering the facility. Whatever building you enter in China, there’s a mandatory temperature check. Restaurants, hotels, etc. But once we were in the facility, practice was live, 5-on-5, all types of scenarios. We were really practicing. That was one of the best things. I’m lifting everyday. We’re practicing everyday. I was only in three places while in China—my hotel, the gym and this restaurant called Piggys. In the restaurant, their tables were already set up for social distancing, but it was pretty much normal. Once you got your temperature checked, got your wipes and cleaned your hands, then you just enjoyed your meal. 

The team got a flight for me from Xiamen, one of the biggest cities in our province, straight back to L.A. Airports in China aren’t packed at all. Nobody’s really traveling right now. I got to the airport, got my temperature checked, went through the process. It wasn’t like when I arrived in Shanghai, it was a little easier now. While in the Xiamen airport, I had to fill out some paperwork stating everything I did while in China. Right before I got on the plane, they checked my temperature again; and when I was on the plane, I got my temperature checked like three times during the flight. The flight attendants came to my seat and checked to make sure I was good. They weren’t messing around. The flight was empty. I don’t think that the plane had more than, like, 20 people. 

When I got to L.A., as soon as I got off the plane, the CDC was right in the tunnel asking questions. You had to go through two people. They’re checking temperatures, asking where you’ve been and stuff like that. You go to another person and they give you a pamphlet and talk you through doing a self-quarantine. I just couldn’t believe LAX was that empty. It’s unbelievable. Nobody was at the airport.

They didn’t give us a set date to restart the season in July. Once we’re able to figure something out, I told the team just let me know. I’ve shown that I’m dedicated and determined to hoop. I went through that whole process already. It was just tough thinking that I’d be waiting until July. And all I could think about was my family. I have two boys that are active and they’re staying home. They can’t move around. I love my team because they really understood. They got it. They accepted it. Once you have a family, they are your whole responsibility. 

Another reason why I came home early was because of my grandpa. In late April, my almost 92-year-old healthy grandpa had some type of stroke and ended up passing away in a hospital in Detroit, MI. We’re still trying to figure out if he had COVID-19 before the stroke or if he ended up getting the virus after the stroke in the hospital. So much is going through my mind right now. My g-pops, who was turning 92 on May 9, was a boss and respectable man. I see who my pops gets it from. My g-pops was still cutting hair, exercising everyday, had a girlfriend and was always using FaceTime to see us. The only thing he didn’t have was Instagram. Grandpa is the OG, “Original Gene.” Meaning he is the foundation of being Eugene Jeter. My dad is JR, I’m the 3rd, and my son is the 4th. When my son came into the world five years ago, I made sure that my g-pops came out to L.A. for us to take our “Jeter Generational Dreams” picture. Shout out to my photographer Zyaire (@porterhousela on IG). My bro pics are fire. I’m so happy I didn’t procrastinate on getting this picture done. My g-pops and son have plenty of pics together, and I’m so thankful that God allowed him to see me grow up and meet my son. Aye, y’all should’ve seen how proud he was when I played against the Pistons in Detroit. He was like, “Look at my name on the back of an NBA jersey. And it’s on the back of a Kings jersey. We sure are Kings, huh Pooh?”

The last time I physically saw my g-pops was last year when he came to L.A. Like I said, he was over 90 years old. So that means he was born in the late 1920s. Geez, that was long time ago. Lol. I have a Tesla Truck. The one that has the wing/falcon doors that open up and basically do everything for you. So when I picked him up from the airport and pushed the buttons for everything to open, he was like, “What in the world is this?” I greeted him outside of the car with a hug, took his luggage from him and put it in the back seat. I get back in the car and the passenger door is still open because he’s still standing outside of the car saying, “Pooh, what is this?” I’m like, “Grandpa, can you please get in the car?” It’s like somebody tagged him in a game of freeze tag, because he didn’t move at all. He was stuck. So he finally gets in the car and is looking around saying, “Man, you got you a spaceship, don’t ya? Wow. Does it put my seatbelt on for me?” We both started crying laughing. But just think about the cars he saw from the time he was born until now. I would’ve probably did the same thing. But I’ma miss you like crazy, g-pops. Now I have another Angel watching over me and my household.

To all my readers, please tell people that you LOVE THEM because you don’t know when it’ll be the last time you ever see or speak to them again. So I love YOU!  Peace be with you. Talk to y’all soon. 

—

Pooh Jeter also runs Laced, the only black-owned shoe store in Los Angeles with a Nike account. The retail location is closed due to coronavirus but the online store remains open. Follow Jeter on Instagram and Twitter.

Alex Squadron is an Associate Editor at SLAM. Follow him on Twitter @asquad510.

Photos via Getty.

The post SLAM DIARY: CBA Guard Pooh Jeter Returns Home From China appeared first on SLAM.

The questions that he craved answers to weren’t really being discussed.

What comprised certain deals? Who was making them and why? How did companies interact with athletes? How did athletes go about creating their own brands? The list goes on.

There was nowhere to easily find that information. To the extent that it was covered at all, it was in publications aimed at those already a part of that world; but to the average consumer or a kid like Rich dreaming of a future in the field, it remained largely a mystery.

Kleiman kept his dream alive up until the day it came true. After a successful career in the music industry, he helped launch Roc Nation Sports and now manages NBA superstar Kevin Durant. Kleiman is also the co-founder of Thirty Five Ventures, which serves as the umbrella for his and KD’s business endeavors. The company, which incorporates an investment portfolio and charity foundation, also has a creative development arm. That’s where The Boardroom fits in.

“About two years ago, Thirty Five Ventures had started to come into shape. We were doing quite a few media projects on different networks. We were starting to work more actively with brands, and we had a pretty robust venture capital fund that we started,” Kleiman says. “I had always wanted to create a platform of some sort and we didn’t really know what it was.”

At 2018 All-Star Weekend in Los Angeles, the idea finally hit him.

From his own experience, Rich knew three things: 1) that fans were interested in a particular aspect of the sports world that wasn’t very accessible; 2) that there was a path to enter this world that most people weren’t able to see; and 3) that athletes themselves were becoming more embedded in this world as time passed.

In his mind, Thirty Five Venture’s new platform would highlight the intersection of sports, business and culture, taking its audience inside the boardroom.

“I called Kevin from a party I was at in LA,” Kleiman explains. “I said, ‘I want to do this platform and I already have the name, it’s The Boardroom. And I already think Jay Will should be the host.’ Kevin was like, ‘I love it, man. We gotta do it. We have to do it.’”

“I got on the phone with Rich and I had already been moving in this direction, so I thought it was very ironic,” Jay Willams tells SLAM. “I was doing a lot of these focus groups about what it means to be involved in sports business and what the new age athlete looks like.”

The concept was pitched to ESPN, resulting in the production of a show for ESPN+ hosted by Williams. Each episode zeroes in on a unique facet of the sports business landscape, from player development to league fashion to free agency to the sneaker game. Through two seasons, guests have included superstars like LeBron James and Tina Charles, rappers like 2 Chainz, analysts like Stephen A. Smith, CEOs like Jack Dorsey and franchise owners like Steve Ballmer.

Yet Rich’s vision wasn’t merely to start a television series. It was to create a holistic media platform, one that delivers consistent content in a variety of ways—and, importantly, in ways that are reachable and not overly difficult to understand.

So every morning at 10:30 a.m., the minds behind The Boardroom connect on a conference call. They break down past decisions and outline for the future. They hit on pressing issues: procuring interviews, establishing a voice, organizing assets, starting a TikTok, overall social media presence, what’s trending and more. Kleiman and Durant speak one-on-one daily about content strategy, with KD presenting essential feedback and direction. 

“We’re all workaholics,” says Williams. “This isn’t something where we just say, Hey, we’re going to throw it together. We’re constantly ideating on what is next for our brand and how do we keep our brand relevant.”

“We have our social media properties that will do everything from showing old, vintage and classic sports commercials to doing polling and infographics,” Kleiman describes. “We do Twitter Q&As with people like Mark Cuban and Adam Schefter and different athletes. We create short form digital exclusives that live on theboardroom.tv, as well as all of our social properties. Those are one-on-one interviews that either I will do, Jay Will will do, or we just added Ros [Gold-Onwude] to the equation. We have a newsletter that’s a snapshot of that week and [gives] our perspective on what went on.”

The Boardroom has continued to produce content throughout the coronavirus pandemic, determined to be a positive distraction and outlet for people. The fact that sports leagues are suspended also means that athletes are exploring other interests and diving deeper into the business world. Thirty Five Venture’s platform caters to those types of conversations, as opposed to conversations regarding stats, matchups or rankings. For example, No. 1 pick in the 2020 WNBA Draft Sabrina Ionescu spoke to Ros about expanding her brand and negotiating endorsement deals; Warriors GM Bob Myers walked through his career path with Kleiman; Danilo Gallinari openly discussed contracts and how he’s been studying the CBA agreement; CJ McCollum spoke to Jay Will about NBA guys managing their money.

According to Williams, athletes today are far more conscious about business opportunities and building personal brands compared to when he was playing. The Boardroom is also a valuable useful resource for them—to learn how their peers and competitors are operating in different markets.

“It’s more of a holistic approach that I see the new age athlete taking with their brand and also what their brand stands for from an earlier age,” Williams says. “If anything, I think what we’re trying to promote with The Boardroom is that this process needs to start at a lot earlier of a stage.”

The increasing convergence of sports, business and culture means that The Boardroom has more and more to tackle. They’ve got big plans for growth, including a podcast network that’s coming soon and will feature Durant.

“I want [The Boardroom] to become a major voice in the world of sports and entertainment,” says Kleiman. “We do it for fans and young people that want to be in the sports business like I did when I was 12, 13, 14 all the way up until I was able to get into it. We really do give true information and have incredible perspective and access to what’s going on. We just don’t deliver it in a way in which it won’t relate to the regular sports fan.”

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Follow The Boardroom on Twitter and Instagram.

Alex Squadron is an Associate Editor at SLAM. Follow him on Twitter @asquad510.

Photos via Thirty Five Ventures.

The post INSIDE ‘THE BOARDROOM’: How 35 Ventures Is Building a New Platform appeared first on SLAM.

It’s a big dream, of course; but that’s what the City of Lights is all about.

Led by David Kahn, the former President of Basketball Operations for the Minnesota Timberwolves, Paris Basketball was founded in 2018. The team currently plays in LNB Pro B, the second division of France.

Their vision: To establish a prominent franchise and brand in one of the most recognized places in the world.

“I joined Paris Basketball because I was convinced by the project,” says Amara Sy, a veteran forward and legend in the French leagues. “As a competitor, I was [intrigued] by the opportunity to write history and be a part of the builders of a Parisian club that would be set to last.”

Their mindset: To strongly embody the culture and spirit of Paris.

“On the court, we fight hard,” Francisco explains. “Paris has a tough mentality. It’s a big city where you will find a lot of [talented people]—in sports, of course, but also in music, in fashion. To make it here, you need to believe strongly in yourself and fight hard, whatever the conditions.”

“Paris is unique. We have our own vibe. We’re not copying anything,” adds Sy. “I was born in it, so I know the depth of this culture made from the playgrounds—trash talk, attitude, pride, talent. I can tell that that mindset infuses the team.

“You can feel the energy around the team, the mentality of everyone working to create something big. We’re young but we have a true identity and fierce ambition and this comes from the Parisian mindset.”

Their blueprint: To thrive on the court, climb divisions and increase their visibility.

“The sooner the better—we need to get in first division,” Francisco says. “Paris needs to be among the best teams. And once we’re there, the sky’s the limit. I’m sure it can be the coolest team outside the NBA.”

“I first want to shout out David Kahn. We needed someone to embody this crazy ambition to have a club in Paris and he’s the one [who had] the courage to do it,” Sy emphasizes. “He knows the way to do it. On our side, as players, we’ll try hard to get the club as soon as possible in the French division 1. Once we’re there, you’ll see that Paris will be unmissable on the European scene.”

Their hype: Local fans have already begun to embrace the organization, its identity and its potential.

“We’re in second division right now, but the stadium is crowded,” Sy tells SLAM. “Parisians are curious about the project. We have very [talented] players. Some of them came from EuroLeague to be a part of this. Others are considered NBA prospects, such as Juhann Begarin.”

“When we’re playing at home, we have French rappers sitting courtside. The best producers are there as well. It’s a whole vibe,” Francisco describes. “Keep in mind that we’re only two years old and playing in second division. It’s very unusual. James Harden and Donovan Mitchell came by last summer. When you go to the playgrounds in Paris, you will see our t-shirt on the kids. I think Paris Basketball has been adopted by the Parisian. I’m sure it will one day be adopted by foreigners as well.”

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Alex Squadron is an Associate Editor at SLAM. Follow him on Twitter @asquad510.

Photos by Yoan Guerini.

The post GLOW UP: Get to Know the Newly Established Paris Basketball Club 🇫🇷 appeared first on SLAM.

In this SLAM series, veteran/retired players share some of the best, funniest and most unforgettable stories from their careers.

READ: Storytime with Monta Ellis

READ: Storytime with Quentin Richardson

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Born and raised in Chicago, IL, Tim Hardaway followed in the footsteps of great guards like Isiah Thomas and Maurice Cheeks and paved the way for guys like Derrick Rose and Dwyane Wade. Hardaway’s game was one of the most entertaining the League has ever seen. With his explosive quickness and flashy handles, Tim broke a lot of ankles during his career.

After four years at the University of Texas at El Paso, where his killer crossover was nicknamed the “UTEP Two-Step,” Hardaway was drafted by the Golden State Warriors with the 14th overall pick in 1989. Along with teammates Mitch Richmond and Chris Mullin, he formed “Run TMC,” the fast-paced, electrifying trio that had The Bay rocking. Hardaway made three consecutive All-Star teams from 1991-93 and two more as a member of the Miami Heat in 1997 and 1998. Over 13 years in the NBA, he averaged 17.7 points, 8.2 assists and 1.6 steals.

We caught up with Hardaway to talk about some of the greatest memories from his incredible basketball journey:

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SLAM: Describe your greatest or proudest moment ever on a basketball court.

TH: Man, I have so many fond memories from grammar school, high school, college and the NBA. But I’m going to pick one and it was on the biggest stage of them all. We were on national TV. Game 7 against the Knicks in the Eastern Conference Semifinals. Alonzo [Mourning] went out with four fouls, so he had to sit down. There was a timeout and nothing was said. Nothing was said. I’ve never seen [coach] Pat Riley—this was my first time seeing Pat Riley in a really, really serious atmosphere. Game 7. This was my first encounter with him in that particular environment. I saw that there was a hush and a blank on his face. I’m looking down. When my teammates saw [Pat’s] face, I’m looking at them like, Oh wow, everybody’s following his lead. Me, I’m thinking in my mind, Shit, I’ve been in this predicament many times in grammar school, high school, college, in playgrounds, pick-up games. I’ve been in this type of environment before. I was like, OK, now I can do what I want to do. This is my comfort zone. So I went out there, did what I needed to do, made shot after shot after shot and we were playing good defense. That was my comfort zone. I was back in my element, where I needed to be. I think that’s one of the biggest games and experiences I had in my lifetime. We went to the Eastern Conference Finals and lost to the Bulls, but we went there. And I played in front of my home city and my friends, family. It was just a lot of fun.

SLAM: Was Pat just speechless in that moment or was his silence intentional? What was your read on it?

TH: It was a TV timeout with, like, six minutes left to go in the third quarter. I really thought he was speechless, didn’t know which way he wanted to go, how he wanted to go, who he’d go to. I think that he always felt that because him and Zo had this kind of bond, now it was like: Who else am I going to go to? He didn’t understand, Zo was hurt most of that year. Isaac Austin always stepped up, PJ Brown always stepped up, Jamal Mashburn. We had people that’d come off the bench like Ed Pinckney, Mark Strickland. People just stepped up off the bench in Zo’s absence, so we never missed a beat. I think that he was searching, searching, searching and once the timeout was ending, there was nothing to be said. I was just like, Come on guys, let’s go. I got it. We’re gonna win this game. Don’t worry about it. I got it.

SLAM: What’s the best prank in the NBA that you ever witnessed?

TH: Best prank in the NBA was on me [laughs]. My first year. It was a preseason game. Golden State Warriors against the Utah Jazz at my alma mater, UTEP. This is my rookie year. I’m hype. I know what I need to do out there on the court, but I’m just ready to play. They said, Alright, Tim, lead us out of the tunnel. I ran out and before I knew it, I was already on the court and they were still in the locker room [laughs]. The Utah Jazz started laughing at me. The PA announcer said, Alright, it’s your Tim Hardaway Warriors. He helped me out a little bit. I stood up with my hands up like, Yeah, I’m back and I appreciate being back. And the crowd gave me a standing ovation. But it was embarrassing at first. I ran out there by myself and was like, Ain’t this a bleep. Until the PA announcer said that, I was really about to put my head down. I didn’t know what to do until he said that and then I was alright. That’s the biggest prank I’ve ever seen but I was in it so…

SLAM: Who was the funniest teammate you ever had?

TH: That’s a no-brainer. Tom Tolbert is the funniest teammate I ever had. He always looked at Seinfeld. He was a Chevy Chase guy. He always had jokes for you, one-liners for you. He always kept the team up. When the team was down, he always had a way to keep the team up and say something to help the team out, to get us loose.

SLAM: What’s an example of something he would say?

TH: [Coach] Don Nelson would say, You know, this is some bullshit, so and so or this and that or whatever. And Tom Tolbert would be like, OK, well since that’s over with, I might as well just go ahead and have a beer or I guess I’ll go to Las Vegas tonight and get drunk and gamble and I’ll see y’all in the morning at shoot-around. He’d just say something off-the-wall.

SLAM: Who’s the most competitive guy you ever played with?

TH: Are intense and competitive the same thing? If so, I’ll say Alonzo Mourning. By far Alonzo Mourning. Intense. Never wanted to lose. If he missed a jump hook in shoot-around or practice, he’d be like, Give me that ball back, give me that ball back. He had to make that jump hook the same way before Coach Pat [Riley] could talk. It was amazing. That’s how competitive he was. He wanted everything to be right. When he was out there, he wanted everything to be 100 percent right. He didn’t want any mistakes. Alright, let’s do it again, let’s do it again. I got to get it. Let’s do it again. Until he gets it right about two or three times and then he’s alright with it. He was very competitive on our team.

SLAM: Of all your ridiculous crossovers, which one is your favorite?

TH: Oh my god. There are a lot of them, man. I crossed a lot of folks over. Some of the things I did, I don’t even remember them. People tell me that I did this or that and I’m like, I don’t even know, I’m just out here hooping. I’ll say this and it’s just a tribute to him. I always wanted to go against my idol Isiah Thomas. I always wanted to play against him in a meaningful game. When I crossed him over in a game, I mean crossed him over, that felt really, really good. He went for it, he bit on it and I crossed over and I was all by myself and laid it up. I think we were in Oakland. I always wanted to play against him and always wanted to do my best in front of him, so probably that one.

SLAM: Describe the moment where you screamed “IN YO FACE!” at Charles Barkley.

TH: You know what happened? It was a preseason game at Cal. We had a rivalry with the Phoenix Suns. We always had great battles with them. It just started in the preseason. We were all healthy. Both teams were talking a lot of smack. I mean a lot of smack. Even before the game, people were getting into it. We were talking to them, they were talking to us. It was just a lot of shit-talking, basically. I just so happened to come down the lane at that particular time and I went up forcefully. Even though it was a preseason game, we wanted to show them that this year, We’re coming for y’all. It’s going to be different this year. We’re coming for y’all. I just went to the hole and laid it up on him, and-one. And I just wanted him to know that, “Hey, IN YO FACE!” And there’s going to be a lot more of that this season, too. That’s where that came from.

SLAM: Is that an expression you used often?

TH: That just came out of nowhere. Normally, I’d just be like, “And-one!” Or something like that. But when I said “in your face,” I just wanted to tell him that we’re coming for y’all this year.

SLAM: What’s your best Run TMC story?

TH: Let me see. The best Run TMC story I have—we were in the playoffs against San Antonio. And Coach Nelson got on Mitch and myself in a film session. He’s just like, Are y’all going to play some fucking defense? Y’all just let Rod Strickland and Willie Anderson or whoever just come in the game and kick our ass. You two got to play some defense. We’re not even gonna talk about offense, we know that your offense is gonna come. But defense, man. Y’all got to take some pride in defense.

So we started that day and we played 3-on-3 full court for about an hour and a half while Nellie and Gregg Popovich and the rest of the coaches were up in the concourse walking around and talking. We were down there playing and he came down and said, Hey, what are y’all doing? Y’all know we play tomorrow, right? He said, Let’s play a game of HORSE. We’re just going to use one ball. We shot the ball and he took it and was like, Alright, y’all leave. Y’all go.

But he got on Mitch and I and then that next game, Mitch, Chris Mullin and myself, we really took it to them. That was one of our best moments. We felt that we could beat anybody, anytime, anywhere. Right then and there, in a pressure situation where we needed the game, I think we graduated ourselves to that next level.

SLAM: Who’s the toughest guard you ever had to defend?

TH: I always say these two guys. They never get the recognition that they’re supposed to get. Never. I’m talking about Kevin Johnson and Rod Strickland. A lot of people don’t talk about those two guys but, man, they gave me some headaches on the court. I mean, some headaches. They played just like me. Rod didn’t have a jumpshot but when he was on, he’d make a couple here and there. And any time he went to the rim, it was a possible three-point play. Any time. That’s how much stuff he had. I loved playing against them. They rose my game up to a different level. I have to say those two. Kevin Johnson and Rod Strickland. They don’t get enough just due for what they were out there doing on the basketball court.

SLAM: Why do you think they’re so underrated?

TH: There were so many of us [guards]. You’re talking about Gary Payton, Jason Kidd, John Stockton was still there, myself, Terrell Brandon, Mark Price, Mookie Blaylock, Terry Porter. You had a lot of guys. Then you had new guys coming in like Steph Marbury, Kenny Anderson and those guys. There were a lot of people. We were always at the top but they were right there below us. A lot of people don’t talk about them but Rod Strickland and Kevin Johnson… oh my god.

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Alex Squadron is an Associate Editor at SLAM. Follow him on Twitter @asquad510.

Photos via Getty.

The post STORYTIME: Tim Hardaway’s Run TMC Memories, Favorite Crossover appeared first on SLAM.

In this SLAM series, veteran/retired players share some of the best, funniest and most unforgettable stories from their careers.

READ: Storytime with Monta Ellis

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Since retiring in 2013, Quentin Richardson has dedicated his next chapter to sharing the epic stories from his career and covering the game he loves.

And the tales are endless. Q-Rich grew up in Chicago, IL, and starred at DePaul University before entering the League as the 18th overall pick in 2000. Over the next 13 years, he brought hype and excitement to LA, filled a crucial role on a historic Phoenix team, won the 2005 Three-Point Shootout and reached the postseason with the Heat, Magic and Knicks. Richardson’s toughness and grit—built on the playgrounds of the Windy City—led to a long, successful basketball journey.

We caught up with the former guard during 2020 All-Star Weekend in Chicago. Quentin returned to the park he played at as a kid to dedicate a new court. On the way there, he entertained us with some of those epic stories and talked about being back home, competing against Kobe Bryant and more:

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SLAM: What’s the best prank in the NBA that you ever saw?

QR: The best prank in the NBA I saw would absolutely have to involve Nate Robinson. My four years with the Knicks, Nate was there the whole time. He had a plethora of stuff, it was endless. The one that always jumps out in my mind—he was late to a team plane. We had, like, a 3:00 plane to go somewhere and my man was late for one reason and one reason only: He had to stop and get Ex-Lax. Why did he have to stop and get Ex-Lax? Because he wanted to put it in Eddy Curry’s cereal on the plane. True story. This really happened. He succeeded. And you want to know the real bad part about it? Eddy Curry ate the cereal with the Ex-Lax in it, got his stomach all messed up, had to use the bathroom all day and I don’t remember if he actually missed a game or almost missed a game because of dehydration, but one of the two occurred. He either missed a game or came close to missing a game because he was dehydrated from going to the bathroom too much.

SLAM: Did Nate tell people at the time?

QR: I knew. A few of us knew, nobody else. But the ones that were tight with Nate, we knew. Eddy found out that day when he had the… you know…

On our team plane, Nate was the guy. He got all the snacks. He was the rookie. You know, rookie duties. Nate would come on the plane with grocery bags, boxes of cereal, chips, food for everybody to eat. You got the team training staff, they’re trying to bring the healthy stuff—they had to change all the food. At this point, Nate’s a rookie, we had him get all the snacks. He knew all the snacks we wanted. He used to do all that. That man made an extra stop to get the Ex-Lax.

SLAM: He was a rookie when he did that?

QR: Yeah, Nate was my rookie. Listen, you all see who Nate Robinson is. That man is the little brother that was forced on us [laughs]. There would be times when Zeke [Isiah Thomas] was coaching us that Nate would just be going crazy. Zeke could yell like somebody’s angry grandpa: ‘NATE!!’ It was like that.

SLAM: What’s your best D-Miles story?

QR: Best D-Miles story? [It’s from] our rookie year. KG is everything to D-Miles. He wears 21 because of him. We used to call him little KG when he was in high school. KG is all that to him. His rookie year, we first go to play Minnesota, in Minnesota. It’s his first game against KG, right? So my boy charged up… We go out and play these dudes, and we’re laying an egg. We’re in the Target Center getting bopped. Halftime, I ain’t never seen this out of my bro. D-Miles had passion, vigor. He’s sitting there, Coach Gentry’s doing his spiel, telling us we ain’t doing nothing. D-Miles gets up: [high pitched voice] ‘Man, come on!’ He ain’t used to talking. He starts crying at halftime because he’s so emotional. He doesn’t do this. He doesn’t address the team. None of that. I start laughing. I said, ‘Bro, I feel you. Don’t be crying out here, though.’  Man was crying, voice went high. I said, ‘Boy, you want to play hard against KG, huh?’

SLAM: Did you guys win?

QR: No. [His speech] didn’t work [laughs]. But that’s a D-Miles story.

SLAM: What’s your greatest or proudest moment on a basketball court?

QR: Probably right now, where we’re going. Going to have a court dedicated in—this is, literally, the epicenter of my childhood, where I grew up, everything. Things that made me who I am, a lot of them came from this park. I get my toughness, my physicality [from here]. This is where I learned—when you get knocked down, you get back up. If someone tries you, you stand up to them. This is where I learned to stand up for myself. I learned to defend myself, defend my cousins, my brothers, my family, whoever. This is where I learned a lot of my life lessons and core values and saw things that would impact me moving forward in my life. This park is the epicenter of my whole childhood, all the way up until I was 13, 14 years old and my grandmother passed and we moved. That was it. Every day after school, we’d walk from school, go through the park, drop our stuff off, go back to the park, if you don’t stop at the park first. That was it. I had one of those houses, my grandmother’s house, where we had four or five families up in there. So there were kids everywhere. Like, 14-15 of us. To the same grade school. To the park. At the crib, running around on the weekends. It was the landing spot. We got out of school and all the kids went there. It was everything. So for me to be able to put something back in this neighborhood that I literally grew up in and to go and be impactful and do things like that. That’s the biggest thing I could do, man. I made it to the NBA and I have a good life for my family and things like that, but for me to be able to go back to my neighborhood and try to impact the next Q-Rich to come out of there or whoever it’s going to be. Just giving them a safer, better environment than we had growing up to play on the court. This court we’re putting in, it’s bigger, so they can do programs and kids camps and things like that to get some production in the park. You’ll see, [there’s] not much [in the park]—it’s a field house and the courts and then there’s a big baseball field. There’s not a whole lot going on there but there’s a lot to get into. That’s where I first saw another dude come up on the court and just spray. We trying to be kids on the playground and then they open up. This park is for real. I seen it all up here. The good, the bad, the ugly. It all happened at this park. Deadass serious. I’ve seen people get beat up, people get shot at, whole park go running. I’ve seen big, fun things, good block parties and birthday parties. Whichever end of the spectrum you want to go to, we’ve seen it over here.

SLAM: Did you grow up dreaming about opportunities like this to give back to the neighborhood?

QR: It’s kind of one of those things, you just be living life. I never really thought about it. A lot of times, well, at least for me, I don’t know about everybody else—throughout my career, I was living life. I’m trying to help my family and my people and make sure everything’s straight. So for me, I hadn’t got to that point to think about this. I would do camps and always did a kids camp with neighborhoods, but I hadn’t thought about doing something like this, putting a court in and trying to be impactful in that way. It came at a good time where I was open to that type of thing. For the whole time, you gotta think, when I got to the League, it was about first securing the bag and making sure me and my immediate family could be straight. But then, after I continued on in the League, it’s like, How can I help my friends? How can I help my inner circle? How can I make everybody be straight? It hadn’t got out to the whole—outside of doing, you know I did turkey drives, Christmas drives, back to school stuff, backpack giveaways—I did those type of things. But for me, this is something that I can walk away and it’s going to always be there. Wherever I’m at, I could be way down in Florida not doing anything and some kid can come up and it’s going to be his court. Cooper Park is going to be, for a lot of those kids in the neighborhood, what it was for me. That’s what they got. That’s what’s there. Some of them are in the same situation. Some of them got a lot of cousins that they’re living with in one house. Some of them don’t. Some of them might be by themselves. But when we went to that park, it was a community. You know how it is in the hood, you got the park, you got courts, that be all you have sometimes. You ain’t got a whole lot of nothing but you got that park, that playground, even if you’re just out there running around, that’s your freedom from whatever could be fucked up at home, could be tough. Some kids ain’t got clothes to change into. They’re out there in that park and they’re just playing. That’s where you learn everything.

SLAM: You got the chance to know and go head-to-head with Kobe during your career. Can you describe what made him special? How was he different from other competitors?

QR: Man, what made Kob’ who he was…

NBA players, professional athletes, we say what sounds good a lot. We talk about things that sound good a lot. The difference with Kobe is that he legitimately went out there and did exactly what he was talking about. No matter how hard or how difficult it was, he was committed and was one of the few people who was really doing exactly what he said. You know, you might hear somebody over-exaggerate: Man, I do this or that. I think he was the only person that whatever he said, I literally believed exactly what he said because I knew he was that type of focused dude to do it. You know how if somebody’s talking to you, like, Man, I worked out four times today. I’ll be like, Alright, you’re blowing smoke. When he said that it was like, OK, why did you do that? I know you’re maniacal about this shit so I know you legit did it. What did you do? There’s going to be an intrigue to whatever he said because you know that he did it. And you saw it. I lived in L.A. for the first four years of my career and I never saw him anywhere outside a basketball gym. Ever. Not one time. Nothing. I told him that and he legit said, At that point, I wasn’t anywhere but there. You weren’t going to catch me but a couple of places. That’s all I was doing. There wasn’t nothing else to do for me... That’s why when you get on the court, playing against him is like you’re in the third person. I’m outside of my body like, what is this dude about to do? He legit would do anything. You’ve seen clips of him shooting left-hand jumpers when his arm was hurt. And hitting it. A real shot in a game. What?

SLAM: You had to guard him, right?

QR: Every time. I’ve seen every version of him, whichever one you want to talk about. I had to check him the whole time. That was my position, my matchup, same height, all of that.

SLAM: What did you do to prepare for that?

QR: Lock up. If shit got too real, I’m gonna foul the fuck out of him. I’m deadass. The game he hit 61 in the Garden, I didn’t play a whole lot. They had Wilson Chandler on him for most of the game. But when I got in, Spike Lee right there talking crazy, doing all that stuff. Kobe’s talking crazy to Spike. He pulled a three from the little hash mark and was turning around and talking to him. Next play down the court, as soon as he got the ball, I just ran up into him. BAM! I just hit him in his throat. Just letting him know, it’s different out here right now. You’re not about to do [all that].

But I’m telling you, you ain’t seen nobody like him. A lot of people talk about it—Oh, I’m going to do [this and that]. No, [Kobe did] three workouts a day starting at 4:00 am and all of this. The Mamba Mentality is a real, real thing and the man was no joke. That was the one dude—you can ask anybody—he was the one dude that every single time, he was not going to miss an opportunity to try and kill you. No days off. None. Not one of these games he’s taking light. I ain’t seen nothing like that. He come in, looking crazy. Staring and not talking to people. You’re like, Oh shit, he about to try and do something tonight. What he on? That boy was a killer, for real. Since everything happened, that’s the one thing that remains constant when you listen to what people are saying. It’s real, bro. You ain’t seen nothing like that.

Just look at what he was doing in his second act. People work their whole lives to get an Oscar, that man came right off the bat and got an Oscar. That’s some lifetime achievement type of stuff. He did that shit right off the bat. That’s crazy. That’s like a world championship. People being doing movies for 20-30 years, got millions of dollars, did crazy movies and won all type of accolades and they still ain’t got that.

He had a whole office building. This is Kobe Bryant, the basketball player. He was on all this other creative shit. Ain’t a basketball in sight. He was a businessman. He was a beast. Think about it, he was writing books. My 15-year-old, he comes and asks me to buy the [Wizenard] book. Kids [usually] ask for toys and games. Kobe was impacting the youth, making them read, just because it was [him]. My kid was dead serious like, ‘Can I get the new Kobe book?’ He read all of his stuff. Anything Kobe does. He impacting kids. That’s the facts. Kobe had kids reading, wanting to read. My son likes to read, I can’t speak for any other kid, but I ain’t never have my kid ask me for a book. Kobe’s like Mike. People want to be like Kobe. I guarantee you my kid wasn’t the only one that was inspired and wanted to read what he wrote. That’s crazy. When I was 12-14, a book this thick with no pictures, all words, talking about I want it? Boy, stop. You better get me the new Playstation. My man wanted to read it. Because Kobe wrote it.

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Alex Squadron is an Associate Editor at SLAM. Follow him on Twitter @asquad510.

Photos via Getty.

The post STORYTIME: Quentin Richardson Shares Nate Robinson Prank and More appeared first on SLAM.

There is hope that the season could pick up in early May. Several Americans have already flown back to China and completed a two-week quarantine, including veteran guard Pooh Jeter.

Jeter is a member of the Fujian Sturgeons. He’s been in the CBA for eight years now following a long career in Europe and one stint with the Sacramento Kings. Here, in his second diary for SLAM, Pooh describes getting out of quarantine, the state of things in Fujian, returning to practice and his outlook for the future.

DIARY 1 (March 27, 2020): Pooh Jeter Describes Returning to a New World

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By Pooh Jeter, as told to Alex Squadron:

To start, let me just say: During my two weeks of quarantine, thank god for my trainers. I was on YouTube watching videos of Ky Evans and FitnessBlender. I was doing cardio workouts like running in place and side to side jumps. I had resistance bands, so I was putting those on the door and going as far back as I could. Just making stuff up, from sit-ups, dips etc. But the FitnessBlender was definitely good for cardio. I was drenched. I was wondering what the people underneath me were thinking. Like, What is he doing up there? Because I’m doing squat jumps, stuff like that. Just being creative and making all kinds of noise. I’ve been doing this for a long time, so I was combining a lot of different stuff. Shout out to Ky Evans, FitnessBlender, my trainers CJ, Jason (Estrada Fitness), Jelany White and our team strength coach George. 

Today is April 2nd. On March 29th, I had my last testing for coronavirus, which was very uncomfortable. I had to get that testing done a couple of days before my release from quarantine. Around this time, I was thinking, Man, I’m really about to get out.

My temperature has always stayed the same. Nothing really changed. I actually checked into my hotel room at 1:00 am on March 18th. So my quarantine was from March 18th to April 1st. I’m telling my wife: I get out April 1st, but is that going to be a joke or what? Mentally, I scheduled my departure for April 2nd just in case. 

I got a phone call on the 31st. The people in the lobby were like, Yo, tomorrow morning is your last day. You came at 1:00 am, so are you leaving at 1:00 am? I said I was going to leave around 10:00. I wasn’t in a rush like that. The morning comes, they are hitting my phone, like, You checking out? I’m like, OK, it’s real! This ain’t no April Fools’ joke! 

They came up to help me with my bags. And mind you, it was a hard-to-say-goodbye moment because in those two weeks, I did a lot of stuff in that room. It was a time to reflect on life. I was on Sportscenter. I’m doing SLAM diaries. I was on Spectrum News, The Undefeated. I was really on a lot of platforms. It wasn’t that bad. I had so many business meetings on Zoom. Reading, catching up on my shows. I was really at peace. It went by fast. I was able to eat pretty well. It was one of those moments like, Man, at least a lot of good things happened from it.

In the hallway on my way out, I’m like, “Yo Ty, I’m out of here!” Ty Lawson, my teammate, was a few doors down. He leaves quarantine tomorrow. When I got downstairs, it really turned into a photoshoot. I’m taking pictures with medical staff. They had me against the wall, posing for individual shots. They already knew that it was my departure day so they had some photos for me to sign. I’m getting my testing at this time as well. They checked my fever. We all had our masks on. They had the visor, helmet and face mask. They’re for sure being safe. That was the moment where it was like, I’m really out.

A couple of people from my team came to pick me up. I hadn’t been outside in two weeks. You know that feeling a dog has in the car, when it keeps sticking its tongue out the window? That was me. LOL. I’m looking closely at everything and it seemed normal. If you know about China, horns are blowing every second. It was regular. Restaurants and stores were open.

To get into the place I live at, they got a security guard out front checking temperatures. You can’t really go in unless you’re living on the property. I just went upstairs to my room. Now I got to tap into “I’m not in quarantine anymore” mode. This morning, I went to breakfast. The buffet spot at my place is only open for breakfast. For lunch and dinner, you have to do room service. Downstairs in the restaurant, they have like stickers that tell you the spots to be at, one meter apart. That’s where people need to be standing while they’re waiting for their food. They’re really making sure that you’re not close to anybody. It was good to see that.

Tonight will be my first night going to a restaurant. I definitely want to see how that is. It’s mandatory that you get checked for a fever everywhere, even when I went down to breakfast. Whenever you enter a new building, you have to get your temperature checked. 

And today will be my first day getting in the gym. I was telling my team: ‘I’m not about to be going Usain Bolt out here. Ease me in.‘ I’m going to have an individual workout before practice with my coach Kareem. My head coach is actually in quarantine right now. He gets out Monday. So the assistant coaches are currently running practice. 

There hasn’t been anything that says the season is cancelled. I know they’re having a meeting on April 20th to discuss the future of everything, but as of right now, we’re starting in May. I was telling the guys that are out here that going from quarantine to playing four games a week starting April 15th wasn’t going to work. No way we were going to be ready for that. I feel like we need this month to get back into that game type of shape. I can do all the cardio jumps in the world but game shape is a whole different story. If we do start the season, it’ll be great. But I’m not going to look at this like a waste of time if we don’t. This happened for a reason. I made the decision to come back out here. My main thing is just not getting stuck. That’s the biggest concern for players that are out here. We want to be able to have the freedom to leave once we find out whatever happens.

Only thing I’m missing is being with my wife and two kids. I know my wife is like a super mom, doing everything with our two boys. That’s one of the things I do miss and I wish I was there. But we understand the whole mission. 

Now that the season is pushed back to May, I don’t know how they’ll play the games. By that time, will it be back to normal? Will teams be playing in their cities but with no fans? I don’t know how that will be going. I haven’t heard too much on that part. I know they’re supposed to be having a meeting about the league around April 20th, so I’ll make sure I keep everybody updated on the outcome. 

But for now, I can’t wait to get back on the court and play this game that I love so much.

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Pooh Jeter also runs Laced, the only black-owned shoe store in Los Angeles with a Nike account. The retail location is closed due to coronavirus but the online store remains open. Follow Jeter on Instagram and Twitter.

Alex Squadron is an Associate Editor at SLAM. Follow him on Twitter @asquad510.

Photos via Getty.

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There is hope that the season could pick up in early May. Several Americans have already flown back to China and undergone a two-week quarantine, such as guard Pooh Jeter, who’s keeping a diary with SLAM.

Sylven Landesberg—a small forward for the Zhejiang Golden Bulls—is averaging 26.1 points and 7.8 rebounds per game. Born and raised in New York City, Landesberg was a McDonald’s All-American in 2008 and starred for the University of Virginia. He’s since pursued a career overseas, spending time in Israel, Spain, Turkey and China.

Less than a week ago, Landesberg had his bags packed and was bound for Hangzhou. As he details in his first SLAM diary below, things changed quickly:

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By Sylven Landesberg, as told to Alex Squadron:

This is my first season in China. It’s crazy how it went on like this and has ended so abruptly. I was hoping for a little more, man, but some things are out of our control. I got to China early September. I got home (to Queens, NY) toward the end of January. It’s crazy, it felt like the virus was actually following me on my way out of China. We went to play our last game before the Chinese New Year break in Liaoning. They have Lance Stephenson and Brandon Bass. Before we were going there, we had no cases in my [home] city of Hangzhou that we knew of. Then I remember when we got to Liaoning, two days into being there, I think there were like three cases in Hangzhou. We play the game. I already had a trip booked to Tokyo for the Chinese New Year because we had a few days off.

I head to Tokyo. And when I get there, I see that Liaoning now has 2-3 confirmed cases. So I’m supposed to be in Tokyo for like 3-4 days. The first day, I hear about Liaoning. The second day, I start hearing more and more about how it’s spreading and spreading. I hit my agent up, it’s like 630 in the morning in Tokyo. I asked him, ‘What’s the word man?’ He’s like, ‘Well the team said because of the virus you can probably stay in Tokyo for an extra 2-3 days and then come back.’ My immediate mindset was, because at the time I thought the season was going to resume: Alright, I’m going to be in Tokyo for about a week. I’m not going to be able to touch a ball or get any type of work in. So I told him: ‘If they’re telling us to be here for an extra week, I’m just going to go home.’ He was like, ‘Yeah man, that’s probably a great idea.’

I got home and then the situation in China just started escalating day by day. I was keeping up with it. It’s crazy. Obviously it’s terrible what’s taking place there and what’s taking place in the world, but as far as the league too, just to try to keep up, nobody knows what to do in this situation. This is something that hasn’t been handled before. This is all new ground for everybody in it. So the league just kept going back and forth, like, We’re going to start [now], and [then], We’re going to delay it for an extra two weeks. Then it kept going another two weeks, another two weeks. Every few days, they’d just keep adding more and more days until I’m in the situation I’m in now—just being home for awhile.

I’m from Queens, NY. When they set a potential restart day of April 15, I got a flight back [to China]. I was supposed to leave March 26, get there, do a two-week quarantine and be ready to play. I kept going back and forth with my agent and trying to make sure the league wasn’t going to get postponed longer. I wouldn’t want to be in a situation where I’m just out there instead of being home, where every other day the league is getting postponed more. I’d rather be home with my loved ones, especially at a time like this. The day of the flight came, the 26th. My flight was at 1 p.m. in the afternoon. It’s so hard getting [to China] right now, so I had to go from New York to Seattle, Seattle to Vancouver, Vancouver to a city in Asia and then from that city, I was going to my city in China. I think that’s just because of what’s going on. When I went there [initially], I flew directly in.

I live in Astoria so it’s like a 10-minute drive to the airport. I cut it close [laughs]. I knew it was going to be empty. I got through security and they were calling my name to board. The flight had wifi. I passed out before we even took off. I wake up—I’m in the air for about two and a half hours now—and I see my phone has a bunch of notifications. I see I got a message from my teammate [Marcus Denmon], the other American who plays with me there. His message was just like, Yo man, it’s crazy, go look at the messages Alex sent you. That’s my agent in China. I open his message and two and a half hours into this flight, he just writes this whole thing like, I’m so sorry, the Chinese government shut down its borders to people coming in. I got a flight for you back from Seattle to New York when you land. I landed in Seattle around 5 p.m., walked around and grabbed some food, saw Lake Tacoma and then flew back to New York at 11 p.m. later that night.

China’s borders are still shut off, so I don’t think legally I can [return yet]. We’re still hoping, staying positive and optimistic that the league will resume. I’m not going to lie, it’s hard to stay in basketball shape without playing basketball. I’ve been doing the best I can with in-house workouts. I try to stay on top of it daily. It’s just not the same. I’m trying my best to stay in the best shape I can so that if the season does resume this year, we can go finish it out.

I don’t think my city got hit too bad. I think they’ve been back to regular life activities for a few weeks now. I know when they first got into quarantine—they got quarantined for a little bit—it sounded pretty similar to New York. They were still able to leave the house for necessities. There were supermarkets open, but most restaurants and businesses were closed.

This is a situation nobody’s ever dealt with. It’s hard to even give input on this because I’ve never been through this. This is my first time going through it to. I’m taking it day by day. Obviously it would be great to have a definite decision instead of being in limbo, but at the same time, I understand the other end of the table.

Right now, there’s no definite for me or for anybody involved in the CBA, I don’t think. They’re still trying to figure out what they’re doing with the league and we’re just patiently waiting. But what’s going on right now is a lot bigger than basketball, man. There are a lot of people being affected by this. I hope everybody’s able to make it out OK.

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Follow Sylven Landesberg on Twitter and Instagram.

Alex Squadron is an Associate Editor at SLAM. Follow him on Twitter @asquad510.

Photos via Getty.

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In this SLAM series, veteran/retired players share some of the best, funniest and most unforgettable stories from their careers.

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Throughout an incredible basketball journey, guard Monta Ellis has broken records, put on legendary performances for historic teams, been a consistently unstoppable scorer, shared the court and gone head-to-head with future Hall of Famers and much, much more.

Ellis starred for the “We Believe” Warriors and reached the playoffs with every NBA franchise he suited up for (Golden State, Milwaukee, Dallas, Indiana). Over his 12 seasons in the League, he averaged 17.8 points, 4.6 assists, 3.5 rebounds and 1.7 steals. Monta dropped 40+ on nine different occasions, including a 48-point game against the Thunder in 2007—the same year he won the Most Improved Player award.

Here, Ellis tells the memorable stories from his career:

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SLAM: Describe your greatest or proudest moment on a basketball court.

Monta Ellis: That’s tough because I have a couple. I know, for one, my biggest thing was breaking the record when I was in high school to become the No. 1 scorer in JPS (Jackson Public Schools) and then I became No. 2 all time [in the state of Mississippi]. But I would have to say, man, my first game-winner in the NBA against the New Jersey Nets. The game was tight. I forgot who shot that ball in the corner, I think it was Vince Carter, and we ended up getting the rebound. Baron got the rebound and we thought Don Nelson was going to call a timeout, but he didn’t. So Baron pushed the ball and I ran the wing and it was, like, a three-on-two. But he was more to the left side and J-Kidd had to [make the stop], so he had to play between me and Baron. He decided to stop Baron and Baron kicked me the ball, and I ended up shooting it and hitting the game-winner. That was the year that I won Most Improved. I would have to say that one right there.

SLAM: Is that a surreal experience? Growing up, I’m sure you acted out scenarios like that in the driveway. When it finally happens, does it live up to that hype? 

ME: Yeah, man. I had done it numerous times even in high school. But it’s different when you do it in front of 18-20,000 people. I was in the Bay Area. When I say those were the best fans I’ve ever been a part of, those were the best fans I’ve ever been a part of. For me to hit that shot in that building in front of those fans, it was crazy. That time went crazy. From then on, they embraced me. That was my moment right there.

SLAM: What’s your best “We Believe” Warriors story?

ME: The one that people really don’t talk about is, that year [2007], [head coach] Don Nelson even came out in the paper and wrote us off. He said we weren’t going to make the playoffs, and we might as well start getting ready for next year and seeing what we could get in the Draft and whatnot. We had a lot of veteran guys on the team, and me being a young guy and hungry, we took that to heart. We all came together as a team then. I think we ended up winning 18 of the last 22 or something like that to end up getting into the playoffs as the 8-seed. With that run that we made, it was crazy.

We didn’t like that [Don said that]. So we all came together as a team and we just went out there and played. Off the court, you weren’t going to see one without seeing the other 12 or 13 guys. We go to dinner. Whatever we did, we were always together. It carried over to the basketball court. When we were on the basketball court, no matter if the times got tough or anything, we were always able to stay together. We had heated moments. We had heated situations. But nobody ever got personal with it. Nobody ever took it to heart. Everybody was like, Alright, we’re just trying to get better. We saw that. We saw everybody getting better. We saw the team getting better. So we just stuck with it.

SLAM: Can you talk about that ensuing first-round series against Dallas, when you guys pulled off the upset?

ME: The thing was with that series, Don Nelson and Mark Cuban had a personal thing going on at the time. Don Nelson coached his ass off that game. He told us exactly what was going to happen. He told us every move that Dirk was going to make. He told us everything that Jason Terry was going to do. Everything. When we knew we had them was when we first came to Game 1 and they switched their lineup to try to match up with us. We knew we had them then. From there on, we just ran the table.

SLAM: Who was the funniest teammate you ever had?

ME: Baron Davis, by far. I’ll tell you this, when it comes to BD, don’t ever bet him to do anything. Don’t ever dare him to do anything. Don’t ever crank up an idea where you even think that it might cross his mind because he’ll do it [laughs].

SLAM: Is there one thing you remember specifically that someone dared him to do?

ME: One day, we had a [nationally televised] game. We were on a run and everybody was talking about us or whatever. He knew the camera was going to be on. They had him put this outfit on—a cowboy outfit—with the cowboy hat, the boots, the belt, everything. They bet him to do it. Like, I bet you won’t do this. They fixed the outfit up. It was crazy. I don’t know when in the world anybody would’ve worn it. BD wore it. 

SLAM: Who told him to wear it?

ME: Al [Harrington], Jack [Stephen Jackson], Matt [Barnes] and J-Rich. 

SLAM: How did people react to it? 

ME: We didn’t do nothing but laugh. We were like, Man, he’s crazy. It was one of those outfits. Like, man, ain’t nobody supposed to come out of the house like that. He did that for a televised game.

SLAM: What’s the best prank in the NBA you ever saw?

ME: When I came in, they just did the norm, like put popcorn in your car. One day, they got Ike Diogu. We got drafted the same time. I think J-Rich asked him to do something and he didn’t do it, so he came out of practice and they had taken his rims off his truck, and they put his car on top of his rims. He came outside and he just had his car on top of his rims [laughs]. Those are the only pranks I ever saw. I ain’t never seen anything beyond that. I’ve seen more of the popcorn than anything.

SLAM: What’s the most unique pregame ritual you ever saw in the League?

ME: Now young guys do a lot of crazy stuff. When I came around, the only person that we said that had a crazy ritual was Ray Allen. He used to run miles and then he’d come out 3-4 hours before [the game]. And then Kobe, too. But other than that, on my team, I ain’t never had a teammate do any crazy ritual.

SLAM: Did you have a specific ritual? 

ME: Nah, I mean, because sometimes I’d go out and warm up, sometimes I wouldn’t. And then we had an extra gym, a practice facility, when I was in Dallas—I never went on the court then. I worked out in the back and then just went out and played.

SLAM: Stephen Curry has talked about an encouraging call he got from you when he was struggling during his second year in the League. What do you remember about that?

ME: I know what you’re talking about. I had just got traded to Milwaukee. The fans were upset. Then they had this Chris Mullin night, where they retired the jersey or whatever, and they booed the owner. I think that kind of got to him because everybody was talking about me more than anything. A lot of people were saying they would’ve taken me over him. Being young, sometimes that’ll get to you. And I understood it. So I just called him and told him, Don’t worry about all of that, man. Just keep working hard. You’re in a great situation, it’s your team. There are going to be critics. You’re going to have people that are going to say what they’re going to want to say. Once you turn it around, I guarantee they are all going to be on your bandwagon. I just told him to keep working hard, man, and play basketball how he knows and stop overthinking it. Just play. As players, you get in that mode sometimes. I get that. 

SLAM: Who would you say is the toughest player you ever faced one-on-one, either in a game or in practice?

ME: I used to have some good one-on-ones in practice with BD and all of those guys. In a game, it was Kobe. Oh my goodness. He hit crazy tough shots. He was always on the attack. He was in kill mode. If he ever laid back, don’t ever get comfortable with it. It’s like, he’s just waiting his turn. If you say something crazy, if he feels any kind of excitement, he turns up. It was unbelievable to guard him.

SLAM: Was that kind of the rule—don’t talk to Kobe on the court because that’ll get him going?

ME: I mean, if you want to. You better be able to back it up.

SLAM: Do you remember any specific times you played against him? 

ME: Oh, man. 2011. Me and him were going back and forth. He had like 30 something. I had like 40 something or close to that. They ended up winning because he hit a clutch shot at the end. And he hit it on me. There were two or three, maybe four possessions where he came down and scored, I came down and scored, he came back down and scored, I came back down and scored. We were going back and forth like that, for like 4-5 minutes straight.

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Alex Squadron is an Associate Editor at SLAM. Follow him on Twitter @asquad510.

Photos via Getty.

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With March Madness canceled due to the coronavirus pandemic, we’ll be reliving some legendary tournament moments on the days when NCAA basketball would’ve been played. Enjoy.

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Overcome with joy, Georgia State coach Ron Hunter collapsed to the ground. Lying flat on the sidelines, his mobility scooter pushed aside, he pounded the hardwood. Assistant coaches rushed to his aid, but Hunter waved them back. He was savoring the moment.

“I can’t feel anything right now,” he told CBS Sports afterwards.

Hunter had suffered a torn Achilles while celebrating his team’s win in the Sun Belt championship game less than a week earlier. Now he was on the floor celebrating again, as the Panthers were about to upset Baylor in the first round of the 2015 NCAA tournament.

OK, let’s back up. Georgia State’s conference title landed them a spot in the Big Dance as a No. 14 seed (their first appearance since 2001). The only ranked opponent they faced in the regular season was Iowa State and they got blown out by 23. No one gave them much of a shot against the No. 3-seeded Baylor, who had three future NBA players in Taurean Prince, Royce O’Neale and Johnathan Motley.

RJ Hunter, a 6-6 junior guard and Ron’s son, was the main weapon for the Panthers, averaging just under 20 points per game. With their second leading scorer, Ryan Harrow, out due to injury, Georgia State was depending on RJ to carry an even bigger burden. He started slow and the Panthers went down 16-6, but they fought their way back and trailed by just three at the break.

The Bears ripped off a run late in the second half and held a 12-point advantage with under three minutes to play. That’s when Georgia State turned up the defense, pressing and trapping full court. RJ scored nine straight, capped by a steal and layup that made it 56-53 at the 1:23 mark. The Panthers hit a free throw to come within two and regained possession with a chance to tie or take the lead in the final 15 seconds.

RJ tossed the ball to his big man (TJ Shipes) a few feet behind the arc and immediately ran around him for a hand-off. Shipes’ screen created just enough space for Hunter to rise up and let it fly.

And you know the rest. What started as a prayer ended with dad falling off his stool. It was a perfect March Madness moment, combining an insane highlight with a heartwarming story and reaction.

“It was a great game, but I’m not going to coach, I’m going to be Dad right now,” Ron said. “This is my son. Proud of him.”

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PREVIOUS MEMORY LANE STORIES:

Illinois’ Elite 8 Comeback vs. Arizona in 2005

Michigan State’s National Title in 2000

Florida Gulf Coast’s Incredible Run in 2013

Butler vs. Duke in the 2010 National Title Game

UCLA vs. Gonzaga in the 2006 Sweet 16

Luke Maye’s Game-Winner in the 2017 Elite Eight

Alex Squadron is an Associate Editor at SLAM. Follow him on Twitter @asquad510.

Photo via Getty.

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When the season does eventually pick up again, the CBA will serve as a blueprint for the rest of the world’s professional sports leagues. The plan is to compete in empty arenas and follow an adjusted schedule. SLAM will be getting periodic updates from players in China, including Eugene “Pooh” Jeter.

Jeter is a guard for the Fujian Sturgeons. He’s been in the CBA for eight years now following a long career in Europe and one stint with the Sacramento Kings. Here, he describes his recent journey from Los Angeles to Fujian, what it looks like on the ground there, the rules of his quarantine and his outlook for the future.

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By Pooh Jeter, as told to Alex Squadron:

Wassup, SLAM family. Grace, peace and blessings to all. My name is Pooh Jeter. Welcome to my “Diary from China.” Live from Fujian. This is my eighth season playing in the CBA. These next couple of months, I will be giving you information about my whole experience dealing with COVID-19. Are you ready to keep your butt in the house? Are you ready to worship God and not worry? Are you ready to start focusing and bettering yourself? I hope so, because right now, we see that our lives are way bigger than sports.

OK, about the last week. So I flew from LA to Taipei a week ago. First of all, LAX was empty. That was kind of weird. My flight was at 11:45 pm and I pulled up to the airport at like, 10:50 [laughs]. For me to leave [my house] around the time I left and get to the airport at that time was crazy. Everybody got their face mask on and this and that. Everybody got that look on their face when we’re going from LA to Taipei. I knocked out the whole flight. I get to Taepei, I’m looking for a face mask because now I’m going to China. All the face masks were sold out in LA. You couldn’t get no face mask, no hand sanitizer, nothing. I go into a little store [in the Taipei airport], they had the face masks. I got two of those.

Now from Taipei to Shanghai, it was like, OK, this is getting real. When we landed in Shanghai, we had to wait on the plane for like 30 minutes. They were calling different people that were sitting in the back, so everybody’s looking like, What are they doing? Everybody’s alert and on-guard. [After getting off the plane], we had to go through this tunnel to go downstairs to get on the bus. Now we’re all on the bus, everybody got their gloves on, keeping their distance, don’t want to touch anything. We get off the bus on our way to the baggage claim and there’s a huge line. People got their whole suits on, face masks, like Star Wars gear. It’s really serious. We landed at, like, 12:00 pm. My flight to Quanzhou wasn’t until 8:00 pm. So I’m in the airport for, like, eight hours. This whole process—they are walking around, spraying stuff in the air, everybody’s asking questions. When it gets to the time to get interviewed and all that, I sat down, they asked me all type of questions: Where have I been? Have I been in contact with people who have the virus? It was a whole interview process that I had to do, like, three times. Everybody had yellow stickers. I heard you can get green, yellow or red stickers. Green stickers probably means that wherever you came from, nobody has the virus. Everybody from the states got a yellow sticker because that shows you came from an environment where people have the virus. I don’t know what red means, but I have a yellow sticker on my passport.

I get my bag and then go up these stairs, it’s probably like 3:00 pm at this point now. Everybody coming internationally, we’re all upstairs in this room. Everybody’s separated. They’re calling your name, this and that, so they can take you to get your ticket. At 6:00 pm, it’s my turn to get my ticket. I’m in a different terminal. I have to go to Terminal 2. I get in this van. Inside, there was plastic everywhere. Everything was just covered in plastic. When I tell you they ain’t playing, they ain’t playing at all.

I get to the ticket counter, somebody has to escort me inside. Once I got through the security part—[there were] more questions—then I go upstairs. By this time, it’s 7:30 pm, and I’m like, Yo, can I at least eat? I didn’t really have a chance to eat at all. 

I fly into my city. Bro, the same process again. I land there probably around 9-10 something. I went through the same process. Interviews, signed papers. Where have you been? You did that in Shanghai, you didn’t do that here, so where you been at? They do temperature checks all the time because they want to see who has a fever or not. I’m waiting at the airport, answering questions, [getting my] temperature checked. I couldn’t go to where I was living before, I had to go to a random hotel for two weeks. All of my stuff is at my other spot. I get into the van [to the hotel], there’s plastic everywhere again. I get to the hotel, you already know [what happened]. The process—where you been at? [It was done] by doctors at the hotel. Wherever you go, you have to make sure you give them your information. They’re not playing. They’re not playing about this. It seems like they got the world on their shoulders. It started here, so now they got to make sure that they’re doing their part so other countries can know how to survive.

Somebody from my team was able to leave me some McDonald’s. That Big Mac had no chance [laughs]. I [entered the hotel] through the back. I don’t even remember what the lobby looked like because they had stuff blocked off. I went to the elevator, went straight to my room and have been in my room since.

I can’t leave my room. I’m really in quarantine. I can see what’s outside through my window but there’s no view at all. I can’t go, like, in the hallway. I think nobody has really taken the risk to go down the hall or get on the elevator. We’re supposed to do this for two weeks straight. I’m on day nine. I have five more.

You know what’s so crazy about playing in China, I’ve been here for eight years and I don’t do much. Outside of going to the gym or going to get something to eat, I’m in my room all day. I don’t really go sightseeing or go anywhere. I’m in my room or at the gym or going to get something to eat. But now I get food delivered to me, so the only thing I’m missing is the gym. I get breakfast, lunch and dinner—you just got to order before certain times—and I have a lot of snacks.

I don’t watch TV at home, so I’m really catching up on all my shows. I just watched the last season of Snowfall, now about to go into Tiger King. I’ve been talking to family, eating, reading, doing my own workouts that my trainers gave me because they gave me some bands. I’m, like, running in place [too]. I get my temperature checked in the morning and at night. I open up a window for a few hours to get some air in. And that’s it. It’s really just time to reflect, time for reading, time to execute so many other things outside of basketball. Ty Lawson, my teammate, is a couple of doors down from me. I haven’t seen him though.

I found out through my agent [about the season being pushed back to May]. And a couple of my teammates and some players in the CBA. You know, the word keeps on spreading. When I saw it, I was like, Here we go. When it comes to this league in China, nothing really surprises me. I’ve seen a lot of stuff. But also, I’m looking at it like, coming through this quarantine, if we would’ve started April 15, there probably would’ve been so many injuries. Doing two weeks of quarantine into practicing for a week then going into four games a week, you know how crazy that is? I also looked at it as a cool way of getting back into game shape.

I end [my quarantine] next week, so I’ll have time. But we’re going to find something new out everyday. With the virus or with the season or who knows. We just don’t know. You just got to go with the flow of things. I’m already in a situation where I really can’t do anything. Man, things happen for a reason. It’s not just me, there are other players that flew over here as well. Now they reported that starting tomorrow, no foreigners can come into China. So we got to see how long that’s going to be or what the league’s going to do. When I tell you things are out of our control and just control what you can control, that’s really all we can do. That’s the whole waiting game. Who knows? I got to make sure that I’m mentally and physically in shape.

There are so many ways to look at it. One thing for me is, Dang, I’m not there [in LA] to be with my wife and my kids. That’s the only thing because everything else is closed so it’s not like I’m kicking it with homies or I’m in the gym working out. It’s really that valuable time being able to physically hug my family. Other than that, I’d be doing the same thing.

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Pooh Jeter also runs Laced, the only black-owned shoe store in Los Angeles with a Nike account. The retail location is closed due to coronavirus but the online store remains open. Follow Jeter on Instagram and Twitter.

Alex Squadron is an Associate Editor at SLAM. Follow him on Twitter @asquad510.

Photos via Getty.

The post DIARY FROM CHINA: Pooh Jeter Describes Returning to a New World appeared first on SLAM.

Roland played Division II ball at Southwestern Oklahoma State and landed an internship with the Boston Celtics upon graduating. That gig led to a full-time position as a video coordinator for the Hornets, where Roland spent five seasons (2005-10) and built a strong relationship to several players, including point guard Chris Paul.

Through the years, he’s worked closely with NBA superstars such as Paul, James Harden, Russell Westbrook, Kevin Durant and more. He founded his own training business (Blueprint Basketball) in Miami that became a go-to destination for guys during the summer. Following a brief stint with the Suns, Roland joined the Rockets as a player development coach in 2016, due mainly to his success training Harden. Irv spent a few years on that staff and then decided to go independent again, traveling overseas to hold camps and grow his brand internationally.

Roland’s training philosophy is as follows: “We shall return to proven ways—not because they are old, but because they are true.” (Barry M. Goldwater)

“So many trainers, a lot of which I think are great, throw so many things at kids,” Roland tells SLAM. “At the end of the day, the game is still a simple one. If you execute proper form and technique, you will improve.”

With that said, here’s Irv’s full training guide (mental and physical) for quarantined athletes looking to get better during this crazy time. It includes exercises (with and without a basketball), recommended books and players to study film of.

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NORMAL EXERCISES

Irv’s recommendation: combine any six of these exercises for one full workout. Can mix and match whichever you like.

Burpee to plank:

Sit-up with twist:

Push-up with shoulder tap:

Split jumps:

Squat jumps to elbow knee tuck:

Push-up with plank jacks:

Burpee with squat and push-up:

Single leg glute bridge:

V-ups:

Alt. leg raise with toe touch:

Skater hops:

SKILL WORKOUTS

*For hoopers who can and cannot dribble in the house.

Smack the ball:

Tap the ball above the head and down to the face:

Wrap the ball around the waist and the legs:

Form shooting on the floor:

Wrap the ball around each leg:

Sitting, wrap the ball around the thighs:

Sitting, wrap the ball around each leg:

Wraps with lunges:

Wraps while laying down in v-hold:

Wraps while scissoring legs:

Figure 8:

Dribble around each leg:

Pound dribbles:

Side to side:

Front to back:

In and out:

Tight to wide crossovers:

Behind the back:

Scissors:

1-2 between:

1-2 behind:

High dribbles:

Low dribbles:

Tennis ball toss:

BOOK RECOMMENDATIONS

These books hit on both the technical and mental aspects of the game.

Shoot Like the Pros (Adam Filippi, 2011)

2.0 TO PRO: The Student Guide To Raise Up and Dunk Life (Reggie Butler, 2019)

The Captain Class (Sam Walker, 2017)

Every Moment Matters: Savoring the Stuff of Life (John St. Augustine, 2009)

The Score Takes Care of Itself: My Philosophy of Leadership (Bill Walsh, 2010)

The Mamba Mentality (Kobe Bryant, 2018)

Relentless (Tim Grover, 2014)

PLAYERS TO WATCH FILM OF

*Additional notes/guidelines from Roland

POINT GUARDS

Chris Paul, Trae Young, Chelsea Gray.

Watch their ability to find open teammates in the pick-and-roll. Watch how they set up screens and occupy defenders to find the open player on the court. Also, look at how they find chances for themselves to score in pick-and-roll by using screens properly to create advantages.

SHOOTING GUARDS

Donovan Mitchell, Devin Booker, Kayla McBride.

Players need to follow how they use screens and move without the ball to get open. Watch how efficiently they score in ISO situations. These three players can consistently score without having to dribble, which is something all coaches look for.

SMALL FORWARDS

Kawhi Leonard, Pascal Siakam, Breanna Stewart.

Pay attention to how these wings get to their spots and score without many dribbles. All three have good footwork that all young players need to copy as well.

POWER FORWARDS

Anthony Davis, Al Horford, Elena Delle Donne.

Three very good bigs that possess what we would call “guard skills.” They can all handle the ball well and also score from a variety of spots on the floor. The game is more position-less than ever so to get on the floor, you have to be able to do multiple things. Pay attention to hot these players can score from the paint as well as the perimeter. All three have great touch around the basket, can break defenders down off the dribble, make the three and also find open teammates.

CENTERS

Joel Embiid, Nikola Jokic, Liz Cambage.

Three centers that have a multitude of ways to attack you. They can face you up and make jump shots, back you down and finish around the rim. All three possess great footwork. Embiid has a great ability to break defenders down from the perimeter and Jokic is one of the best passers in the game regardless of position. Lis is great at using her body to get the position she wants, which is something all bigger players need to learn. Establishing position and getting to YOUR spots is very important when trying to be an effective scorer from any position.

—

Irv Roland has an app with more drills coming out soon. Follow him on Instagram and Twitter.

Photos by Joseph Sherman.

The post A Complete Training Guide For Quarantined Hoopers appeared first on SLAM.

From executive producer Stephen Curry, Jump Shot tells the incredible life story of two-time All-American Kenny Sailors.

Growing up in the small city of Laramie, Wyoming, Sailors developed the move that has since become the staple of the sport we watch now: the jump shot. But as Hamilton discovered through the process of making this documentary, Sailors was so much more than just a pioneering athlete. He was a US Marine, a groundbreaking women’s basketball coach and an inspiration to all who knew him.

Sailors’ journey, on and off the court, has largely faded from the history books. Most fans don’t know the true origin of the jump shot or anything about the extraordinary man who invented it. That served as motivation for Hamilton and his team during the 7-8 year production of this project.

We caught up with Hamilton to learn more about Sailors, the movie and working with modern NBA stars like Curry, Kevin Durant and Dirk Nowitzki:

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SLAM: How were you introduced to this project?

Jacob Hamilton: Earlier on in my career, 2011, I just got the itch to direct something myself. I was like, I feel like I could probably pull off something small, a short documentary would be a great launchpad to see if I like this directing thing. So I started searching for stories. I came across a two-minute audio interview that was titled, “The Man Who Created The Jump Shot.” I was kind of taken aback by it because I love sports and who doesn’t love to hear about the history of the game or the origin of something as prolific as the jump shot? So I gave it a listen and it was Kenny Sailors talking about the first time he shot a jump shot over his brother and I was just blown away by this story. I had never heard of this. I didn’t know if many people had. So there’s that aspect of it, but beyond that, I began to do a little bit more research on who Kenny Sailors is and I just fell in love with this guy and what he represents, his character, his humility. At first, I was like, I think I’m going to do a short film. But quickly realized after I did a little bit more digging, this guy has lived an extraordinary life and I think there might be something more than just a short film [here].”

SLAM: The idea that history had lost Kenny’s story—how much did that inspire your work on this film?

JH: To be able to reveal something new about a sport that is as loved globally as basketball was a real treat for us. Not only sharing it with just basketball fans, we’re sharing it with guys that make their living playing this game and shooting that jump shot, which is crazy to think about. We got to go over to Kevin Durant’s home in Oakland at the time and share an early version of the film with him, which was a mind-blowing experience. And getting to share the film with Stephen Curry and him coming on as an Executive Producer was just insane. We shot for the stars and were like, Let’s try to find some of the greatest shooters of all time. Some guys that are currently playing the game. Let’s just see if they’d be interested in doing an interview. To have Steph say—Yeah, I’ll do an interview, but how else can I be involved? Is there something more?—was something we weren’t planning on happening.

SLAM: The film also addresses how Kenny has not been inducted into the Hall of Fame. How much was that a driving force behind production? Did you guys have an internal goal/plan of spreading the story to help strengthen his Hall of Fame chances?

JH: That’s a great question. I would say that early on in the process, I think I cared more about that aspect, just as a human being. Maybe as a filmmaker [too], I don’t know. But as Kenny’s story continued to develop for us in the edit and while we were in production, I feel like I kind of took on more of the same mentality that Kenny did, which was: It’d be great, but I don’t think it makes him any more extraordinary if that were to happen. My perspective of it changed. I think the Hall of Fame is incomplete and won’t be complete until Kenny Sailors is in there. I think for Kenny’s friends and his family, that would be a great day for the team of Kenny Sailors supporters whenever that day comes because it’ll be joyous to get to celebrate him in that way.

This film is something that hasn’t existed yet. We’ve seen photographs. There’s been very sparse video that we’ve been able to use as evidence for what Kenny’s influence and impact was. We actually discovered some new stuff that hasn’t been out there before that people haven’t seen, like from the University of Wyoming or from his family. We hired an archival producer. She found some footage that just floored us that we didn’t know existed, and really helped us paint a picture of what Kenny was doing at his time. To get to see some of these current guys marvel, like a Steph or a Dirk or a KD, at what Kenny was doing 60-70 years ago, it really helps that resonate with audiences that might not be that impressed with black and white footage from the 1940s. But to see these guys be like, Oh my gosh, this is crazy! When we shared it with KD, in the middle of it, he was just like, Can we pause this? I’m going to rewind this. I’m actually working on this today. What Kenny was doing [in the video].

SLAM: Can you walk through the process/timeline of creating the film? 

JH: This film premiered at SXSW this past year. It was basically the seven-year mark for production, just over that probably. I’m 35. I started this when I was 26. That window is like a fifth of my life which is crazy to think about how much time [I spent] on this project. We wouldn’t have gotten all the content that we did if we didn’t take that long, so I’m thankful for the way it worked out, just never would’ve intended it to be that way. In 2011, I found Kenny’s story, went up there and ate breakfast with him and talked about the possibility of doing this documentary. Most documentaries, you start with your subject. We sat down with Kenny, did our interviews and then started branching out to the people that he knows best, that know his story, know him personally, maybe played with him, played against him, some folks from the University of Wyoming.

From there, we began to expand our world to like, OK, who are some voices in the basketball world? We sat down with a majority of the folks that wrote stories about Kenny Sailors over the most recent years. That’s when we started shooting for the stars and aiming big to try to get some of these current players. I would say we had a pending, tentative picture lock film that was missing a younger voice in it. We knew that. So that’s the version of the film we were sharing with Steph, KD, Dirk, Nancy Lieberman and Clark Kellogg. We basically had a completed piece but were missing some elements that really elevated it to what it is today. We sat down with a majority of those folks. It was the tail end, late 2016-early 2017, just after Kenny had passed away-—which is a bummer because I know that some of these people would have made the effort to go see him and visit him which would have been a really cool moment in the film to get to see those guys interact with him.

SLAM: What was Kenny’s reaction to your interest in making the film? 

JH: That first day when I flew up to Laramie, Wyoming, and we grabbed breakfast together, he was talking with me about—Really the only thing people ever want to talk to me about is sports and basketball, the jump shot. I feel like there are so many more things that I’m more proud of that I love to talk about. Right then and there, I was like, Kenny, that’s the film I want to make. Obviously, basketball is going to be a huge part of your story that’s going to take us on this journey, but I really want to tell your life story throughout this whole process. He just went, Alright, well, I don’t know why you’d want to do that. I haven’t done anything that interesting. You’re like, OK, come on, man. What you see is what you get, too. Who he is in the film. We had an opportunity to screen an early version of the film with some of his closest friends, part of his community in Laramie, after he had passed away. One of his roommates actually came up [to me] in tears, and obviously I’m in tears just seeing him come up to me this way, and was like, ‘Thank you for giving me another hour and a half with my friend.’ That’s when we knew that there was no doubt that this film stayed true to Kenny’s character and who he was as an individual. We’re proud that this film gets to carry on the legacy of who he is and what he believes in.

SLAM: What do you hope is the overall takeaway from the film? 

JH: One of the things that I discovered very early on doing my research—and honestly it’s the moment where I was like, There’s something bigger here than just basketball. I came across an article and it was a story about Kenny watching the NCAA tournament with one of his friends. And his friend asked him, ‘Hey Kenny, who’s in your Final Four?’ Expecting Kenny to say Gonzaga, Kentucky, Duke, whomever. And Kenny thought about this question and responded, ‘God, husband, father, US Marine. That’s my Final Four.’ When I read that, I was blown away by the perspective that Kenny had. I think it’s something that we as citizens today, everybody, can be reminded of. One could argue that Kenny defined the game of basketball by creating the primary offensive weapon for the game today. But the game never defined who he was. I hope people see that and are inspired by it. Most of us try to do one thing right in our life. Do one thing really well, like a career path or what not. I feel like Kenny lived like three or four different lives and was successful at all of them. I think there are a lot of things that audiences can take away, but Kenny ultimately lived for something bigger than himself. That’s what I’m inspired by and maybe audiences will see the same thing. 

—

For more information on Jump Shot, click here.

Alex Squadron is an Associate Editor at SLAM. Follow him on Twitter @asquad510.

Photos via Jump Shot.

The post Director Jacob Hamilton Talks ‘Jumpshot,’ a New Film About Kenny Sailors appeared first on SLAM.

With leagues suspended amid the coronavirus pandemic, these are just a few of the questions that American basketball players overseas are now asking themselves. Their experiences so far have been defined by confusion, isolation, patience, NBA 2K, countless FaceTimes and a lot of unknowns.

From Italy to Germany to France to Israel, here are the situations that guys are currently navigating:

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SLAM: What’s the current state of the city/country you’re in? Can you provide specific examples of the scene?

James Blackmon Jr (Guard for Aquila Basket Trento of the Italian Lega Basket Serie A, living in Trento, Italy): What happened was, we were still practicing and I had heard about other cities becoming a red zone—like Milan. I’m very close to Milan and Venice and other cities like that—where you can’t leave or come in. That’s when I first started hearing about it because there weren’t too many cases where I’m at and I don’t think there is still. But a couple of days later, the whole country went to that. My advice from the team has been don’t leave the house unless you’re going to get groceries, so I’ve been following command.

My apartment is in a usually very busy place because there are a lot of shopping and food areas around here. I look off my balcony and there’s nobody outside. All the restaurants around are shut down and closed. That’s really what I see. Going to the grocery store, it still looks like there are a decent amount of cars on the road. At the grocery store, there was, like, a long line, single file. They’re letting one person [in at a time]. One person comes out and the other one comes in. They’re keeping it like that… It’s pretty organized and when you go in the grocery store, you have to be a certain distance away from everyone and the same in the line, you have to be a certain distance away from the person in front of you.

Maurice Watson (Point Guard for Forli of the Italian Serie A2 Basket, living in Forli, Italy): I’m in Forli, Italy, which is about two hours from Milan, 45 minutes from Bologna, an hour and a half from Florence, about three to four hours from Venice. I’m right on the cusp of the major cities… We are technically under complete lockdown. The weird part is that a lot of cities are affected, but Forli is not one of those cities. Thankfully, there are very few cases in Forli, which is one of the reasons I’m okay with still being here. You’re allowed to leave the house to go to work but you have to have a note that says you’re going there. The supermarket and the pharmacies are the only things that are open. The mall is closed, but there’s a pharmacy and a supermarket in the mall so you can go there for that. Other than that, it’s really quiet here now. You can’t be out after 6 pm because that’s when everything closes. The whole country is really in a state of panic.

Peyton Siva (Point Guard for Alba Berlin of the EuroLeague, living in Berlin, Germany): The situation here [in Berlin] isn’t so bad. The league has been suspended, but the city is not on lockdown as of now. We are free to do what we want but just stay away from crowded areas. So right now, we aren’t in as bad of a situation as it is in other countries.

David Lighty (Guard for ASVEL of LNB Pro A and EuroLeague, living in Lyon, France): I think we’re in the beginning stages of lockdown. The last I heard we were a level 3, that’s what they told us Saturday, and the highest level is 4. So tomorrow, we’re supposed to have a meeting and get some more information on really what we can do and how some players are getting home and stuff like that [Via a follow-up message, David confirmed to SLAM that players are being allowed to return home. According to David, the team “hopes the season will start back and [they] can come back and finish a championship run, but it’s looking less likely to happen.”]. After yesterday, they closed down all restaurants, cinemas and shops, so only grocery stores are open. I believe by the end of the week, they’re talking about not even going to work for a couple of weeks. Everybody has to stay home, only to the grocery store or to the pharmacy or something like that. Like, a curfew type of thing.

The masses going to the grocery stores, buying up all the toilet paper and things like that—I think we’re getting to that now. I would say Italy was the craziest. They are literally on lockdown, code red. People couldn’t get in and out. I have some teammates and friends who play there and the crazy part for us, we played against Madrid and we found out a guy had tested positive for it. So everyone was like, Alright, what do we do now? Do we have to quarantine ourselves? You really only get tested if you have the symptoms, that’s basically what they’re telling us. We went through the whole protocol with that and no one really showed symptoms so we were told to stay isolated.

Shelvin Mack (Point Guard for Hapoel Jerusalem of the Israeli Premier League, living in Jerusalem, Israel): I’ve been here [in Israel] for about three months. I started the year in Milan. Everything in Jerusalem is slowing down. [Right now], just no big groups of more than 10 people. Nothing too crazy has happened here. Groceries and everything are still on the shelves.

SLAM: What’s the deal for the rest of the basketball season? Do you know what the plan is going forward?

Blackmon Jr: That’s what I’m really waiting on because two weeks [the league has announced a suspension of at least two weeks] is a long time. It’s only been two days and it’s been tough. That would be the longest time, for me, without touching a basketball or going to the gym, for sure. I’ve definitely been getting into some new things. I’ve been reading a lot and writing as well… The first day, I was going back and forth with the GM. I asked him if I could even go to the gym by myself and get one ball. He basically said that I should stay at home.

The date is set for April 3 when everything’s supposed to get back. That’s what it’s set at right now, but just based on how it started and Italy is one of the main places [for the outbreak] right now—I looked at a little chart yesterday and it looked like it was just getting worse. I’m not sure if two weeks will put an end to it.

Watson: We actually haven’t practiced for about a week now. Ever since they put the entire country on lockdown, we haven’t been practicing. But before, it wasn’t really [affecting] us, so we were still practicing even though they were canceling games. Now, they’re canceling practices and workouts. They closed the arena, the weight rooms, every park. So right now, the last seven days have been a little hard for me, because even though we didn’t have games [before], we still had practice. So I could still play, get better, get some work in. These last seven days, I haven’t left the apartment unless it was to go to the market, which is across the street.

I’ve been struggling the last two to three days because I’m fearing now that eventually it will be that I can’t come back home [to the US] until who knows, if the airports shut down or certain airlines shut down. And my team, and the whole A2 division, wants to finish the season. I feel like they’re trying to prolong it. They’re trying to wait to see if the death toll goes down and it’s not going down. So each day, I’m still here. And that’s the hard part.

Siva: Right now, the basketball season has been suspended. Our domestic league games are supposed to resume in two weeks. EuroLeague is postponed until April 11. It’s tough to say when the leagues will start back up, especially since more and more cases are being discovered each day. I hope we are able to finish the season out, but it is looking unlikely.

Lighty: That’s the limbo part. The first couple of days, we would workout and then you get more information on—you probably shouldn’t be training together and things like that. So we stopped that and they gave us the weekend off and said we would gather back up on Monday and see what everybody came up with, talking with the presidents of the league, of the country and of EuroLeague as well. Going from there and seeing what all the info can lead us to, because this is a first time for everyone. Everyone is in limbo…

Right now, the official word was that we would start back up again April 2. But the chatter that I’m getting from everyone is that we’re probably going to cancel the season. That’s what it’s looking like it’s going towards, but it’s not 100% sure yet. By tomorrow, we’ll know more. And then every day, every week, something changes. You get more information on the virus and how to contain it and what’s best. So we basically go from there.

Mack: As of now, the season is on pause. I have a gut feeling it will be pretty hard to get back to playing this season.

SLAM: How much more difficult is it being in a foreign country at a time like this?

Blackmon Jr: It’s super difficult, but talking to my family and stuff [in Indiana and Atlanta], they’re like, ‘You got to take this as a positive.’ Like I said, I’m really getting into a lot of reading, I started a real estate course about a month ago and I’ve been doing a lot more of that, because with practice and stuff I don’t get a chance to dive into things like that. And also just talking to people who I usually don’t have a lot of time to talk to.

Watson: With the Italians, they can drive three hours to Rome where they’re from or to Sienna or Venice. They can drive home. Me, I have an eight-hour trip. I have to fly and go through customs, this and that. In Amsterdam last year [where Maurice played for ZZ Leiden], they spoke mostly English as well. Here, it’s very little English. So I can’t read the news. I can’t read what they’re sending out. I’ve been feeling like I deserve individual communication. Even if you have no news, to reach out to me and tell me you have no news but you’re trying. We had a team meeting last week and it’s been six days and I don’t have any news. I’m not getting called or getting updates. I get sent home workouts from our strength coach. It’s kind of tough because you want to be ready to play and you love basketball, but at a time like this, it seems like the team is really gearing up [for the season to continue]. And I don’t think it will, in my opinion. All I know is, everything is shut down until at least April 3 because it’s a 30-day lockdown.

Siva: It’s not as difficult for me because my family is with me and the city of Berlin is nice. Now, if my family was back in the states, it would make this time very difficult. The way our team management is handling this situation has been better than expected. They have taken into consideration the players.

Lighty: For me, I’ve been playing for awhile now. I’m used to France. I’m used to [being] here, so it’s more relaxed and chill. But rookies, guys where it’s their first year over here or with a new club and they don’t know what to expect, I think it might be a little more hectic for them for sure. And I should say guys with families. My family just left from over here literally on Thursday. We were all nervous like, Are they going to get let into the country? Trump put the ban on Friday. We didn’t know what was going on with that, if they were going to get quarantined when they get back and things like that. Luckily, they made it in okay. For me, it’s just about safety now, make sure I don’t have it, and if I come back home, not giving it to my friends and loved ones.

Mack: It’s not difficult here for me and my family. Hapoel Jerusalm B.C. has done a tremendous job of taking care of its players. I feel very comfortable.

SLAM: Did you consider coming back to the US? Would you prefer for there to be a more definite call about the season so you can decide where to go?

Blackmon Jr: I don’t know how other situations are. I’ve been seeing a lot of different players leaving from this league and things like that. But for me, my agent’s advice, especially with how my team pays right on time and on cue with everything and still doing that, his advice was just wait it out.

Watson: There’s two things with that. One, I would love that clarity. Like, Hey listen, we think we might not play until the middle of April, maybe even May, but that’s what we’re thinking. But then there are other teams in other countries, where the situation isn’t as serious as here in Italy, and they have either canceled their season or their Americans have been allowed to go home for two to three weeks until they figure it out. I haven’t specifically requested to go home, but my biggest thing is, I have a family, a wife, a newborn. And they’re not with me. I’m not with them. I’m fearing that if I request to go home, there could be some financial consequences. There could be some consequences if I do get home and then try to fly back to Italy and I can’t, so then I can’t fulfill my contract. That’s really why I haven’t tried to come home. If the team wants to send me home, then that’s a different thing. If the season’s canceled, then that’s different. I’m trying to be as compliant with my contract as possible but it puts me in a tough spot mentally just because my family’s worried. They’re worried about me. My parents. I’m not spending time with them just because of some fears that I have about the lasting effects it could have if I’m not compliant. And Forli is a safe city, so it’s easier to be OK for the family. But it’s still hard for them.

Also, I’m a two-year pro. Maybe if I was eight or nine years in and I had more money saved, had a better reputation built, maybe [going home] would be something I’d be willing to risk. But I don’t want to risk my reputation for next year, I don’t want to risk any negative effects or mess up my reputation with this team either. So there’s a lot of things that pop into your head when you think about situations like this. I just know it’s tough on every side.

SLAM: Does the pandemic change your outlook on your career at all?

Blackmon Jr: For this year, I just want to be safe, first off. Put the health first. With this going on, it’s got my family worried and a lot of people worried about me so I just want to make sure I stay safe. I really haven’t looked at next year or anything that’s ahead really, just focusing on day-by-day and what happens because I really don’t know what’s going to happen.

Siva: This doesn’t really change the dynamic of my career. I will still play basketball if it’s available and try to provide for my family. My path isn’t to the point where I’ll be retiring or anything. Just have to continue to be smart with my money and take care of my family.

Lighty: It brings reality to you. Like, life comes at you fast, that commercial. If basketball stops, you got to have other things lined up. What “Beast Mode” said, you got to take care of your chicken. That’s something that’s real. It really comes to you. I think that’s one thing a lot of guys are trying to figure out as well—if their clubs are going to uphold to their contracts. If they say they’re cancelling the season, does that mean they get the rest of their checks or not? Things like that. For sure, there are a lot of unknowns.

Mack: It just shows that any moment can be your last and there’s more to life than basketball.

SLAM: What have you been doing in the meantime?

Watson: I’ve been trying to play a little FIFA, a little 2K. I’ve been cooking more. I have mostly spent my time on FaceTime. My baby is six months old so I need him to be able to see my face everyday a lot, so that when I come home he remembers me. I’ve been cleaning. I’ve even started packing, just in case. I wear the same three to four outfits, so whether we play or not, I’m going to be packed up and ready to go. I’ve been getting some requests to start writing a book about my time on from Creighton to being a pro, so I’ve been brainstorming some ideas about how many chapters I want to have, what I want to discuss. I’ve been reading a book called The Champion’s Mindset because I want to see how they write a book, what form they write it with, the order. I’ve just been trying to educate myself a little more, also about contracts. A lot of different things. I don’t know if I’m going to get on TikTok [laughs].

Siva: I’ve been staying in the house with my family binge watching a lot of movies. I’ll start working out again tomorrow because I still need to be ready to play if the season starts back up. In the future, I plan to continue working out and staying ready until they announce our season is officially over and then hopefully go home.

Lighty: I caught up on some sleep [laughs]. Didn’t wake up until about 2 pm. But yeah man, especially at this time of year, [we’re usually] getting ready to finish up the season, getting ready for a playoff push. You start locking in a little more. I’m kind of, like, in awe. What do I do? I don’t really know what to do when I come home. There’s confusion a little bit. I’m going on ten years playing now. I’m not used to this at all. So really, what’s next?

Mack: I’ve been spending a lot of time with the kids and wife. I think we’re planning on going back home to the states.

—

Alex Squadron is an Associate Editor at SLAM. Follow him on Twitter @asquad510.

Photos via Getty.

The post Players Overseas Discuss Experiences During Coronavirus Pandemic appeared first on SLAM.

Such is the recurring soundscape on Tuesday nights in Flushing Meadows, Queens, when the Brooklyn Nets wheelchair basketball squad convenes for practice.

It’s around 9:30 pm and the massive facility, once bustling with activity, has mostly emptied out. From the sidelines, Felix Castillo, aka “The Beast,” keeps one eye on the ongoing scrimmage as he talks to SLAM. Born and raised in the Dominican Republic, Castillo was 22 years old when a car accident caused him to lose his leg. He’s since fallen in love with basketball, thanks in large part to his experience on the Nets.

“It’s been amazing,” he says. “When you meet people in the community and realize that you’re not alone—everyone has a different disability and we all get together with a [common] objective to win games. It’s amazing.” 

Castillo is bulky, tough and a monster on the boards, hence the nickname (“Sometimes I want to jump from the chair,” he jokes.). He would be the center, but there aren’t really positions in wheelchair basketball. Players are instead assigned classification levels (1-4.5) based on their disabilities. The more severe the disability, the lower the classification. At any given time, the five people in the game cannot have a level that exceeds 14.

The Nets, loosely affiliated with the NBA franchise, compete in Division III of the National Wheelchair Basketball Association (NWBA). They originated primarily as a collection of castaways and transfers—players who had been turned down or weren’t getting the opportunities they desired from other teams. It can be a difficult, sometimes cutthroat process to latch on with an organization that fits one’s aspirations. 

“We’re competitive too,” says head coach Frank Simmons. “But the difference is, I believe that if you teach everybody how to play, then they can play. Other franchises will look at you and say, ‘No, you’re not quick enough. No, you’re not tall enough.’ We don’t try to do that here.

“It’s not every day that you’re going to get somebody who comes into your gym and says, ‘I want to play,’ and they have skills like a veteran from another program or someone who moved into your location,” he continues. “So you have to teach.”

Simmons, who suffers from muscular dystrophy, used to play himself before transitioning to coaching nearly four decades ago. This is his seventh year at the helm in Brooklyn. He runs his practices methodically—there’s a clear routine that he expects everyone to follow, starting with laps.

When Simmons first took the reins, his team struggled immensely. They had little chemistry and traveled to tournaments only to get blown out. The main goal every season is to make it to nationals in March, but you have to finish above .500 in order to qualify. Brooklyn repeatedly fell short of that mark.

“When we first started, we had a strong core but we didn’t know how to work with each other,” admits Tyrell Eddy, who’s been on the Nets since 2014 and also serves as their manager, scheduling games, organizing trips, running social media accounts and more.

That core kept returning, drawn to each other and determined to right the ship together. As time passed and they grew closer, their continuity on the court increased dramatically.

“Our chemistry as a whole has gotten better,” says Errol Samuels, aka “Mr. Pull Up,” a six-year Net and their premiere scorer. He can light up defenses with his outside shooting. “We know each other’s strengths and weaknesses. That plays a huge factor in how we play when we’re on the floor together.”

“Over the years, we learned how to develop teamwork, leadership and a passion for the game,” Eddy adds.

And gradually, they began winning. 

“It’s gone from a bunch of guys that got together and lost every game to a team that’s really meshing,” says Joseph Mendez, a veteran and assistant coach.

The team attributes their steady improvement to the close-knit culture they’ve fostered. Enter the Al Oerter gym on any Tuesday between September and March and you’ll see athletes of all different races and backgrounds. There are Nets from Columbia, Chile, Africa and other regions of the world. There are men and women, ranging in age from 12 to over 60. There are a variety of wheelchairs to accommodate specific disabilities—amputees, cerebral palsy, spinal cord injuries. 

Despite these distinctions, the camaraderie immediately jumps out. Teammates playfully ram their chairs into one another during layup lines. They shout words of encouragement and typical basketball vernacular: “Ball! Shot! Outlet!” They discuss the game and life in general amid water breaks. The old heads take pride in tutoring the youth, understanding that their time will come to be the focal points of the franchise. It’s a massive, friendly, competitive family—one that, upon passing through the gym doors, you instantly feel a part of.

Abdoul Sow is in his debut season with Brooklyn. He’s been playing the sport for about a decade, beginning thousands of miles away in West Africa. Ask Sow why he wanted to join the Nets and he responds: “The chemistry and friendship.”

Crystal Jones, a BK native, just picked up wheelchair basketball six months ago.

“[The Nets] are very inclusive and I appreciate that,” she says. “It means a lot to me to have this opportunity because I didn’t know anyone else with an injury. When there aren’t other people [with injuries], other people tend to target you and ask you questions and, in a way, take away your ability. But here, everyone is the same and we can just practice and play hard and compete among each other, because we want to be the best.”

As of this writing, the Nets are 11-6 and have been invited to nationals. They went undefeated (4-0) at a recent outing in Brockton, MA, claimed the trophy in their home tournament, and have gone toe-to-toe against some of the teams that routinely finish at the top of the league.

Their roster is undersized but extremely fast, always looking to dictate the tempo—whether that’s getting out on the break or slowing it down to limit turnovers and mistakes. (You are allowed to push your wheels twice before the ball must make contact with the ground again. Failure to do so results in a travel.)

“And everybody on the team can shoot,” Eddy says, smiling. “Don’t worry about that.”

Brooklyn has qualified for the big dance before, but never made much noise. Confidence is high that their moment is coming, either now or in the near future.

“I think we finally have a group that really plays together and we trust each other,” Castillo says. “The way that we’re playing [right now], to me, is the best ever.”

It’s approaching 10 pm and another hard practice is wrapping up. Members of the squad gather their things and pack their bags. They say goodbye and head down the long hallway toward the exit, the sound of clanking metals still reverberating in the background. 

Until next Tuesday. 

—

Alex Squadron is an Associate Editor at SLAM. Follow him on Twitter @asquad510.

Photos by Brad Spudich.

The post Bigger Than Basketball: The Story of the Brooklyn Nets Wheelchair Team appeared first on SLAM.

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—

Coodie Simmons remembers the call vividly. It was late October 2002, about a week after Kanye West had been in a near-fatal car accident. Simmons, an aspiring filmmaker, had been following West and documenting his quest to become a rapper. He was in New York, still processing the accident, when his phone rang. It was Kanye. 

I got a song. It’s crazy. Chaka Kahn sample. You got to hear it.

“And he starts rapping ‘Through The Wire’ to me over the phone,” Simmons recalls. “I’m thinking like, ‘Ain’t your mouth wired shut? Stop rapping.’ I’m more worried about that than anything. But he was so passionate. He was like, ‘I got to get you out here.’”

Simmons flew to L.A. and was tasked with directing the music video for “Through The Wire.” The concept—to put his behind-the-scenes footage in Polaroid frames, like a scrapbook—was outside the box, and Simmons needed help to execute it. He called Chike Ozah, a friend who made graphics and did motion design for MTV.

Dude, we got not money, but we got a good idea.

Chike was down immediately.

Together, they created an iconic music video that topped MTV’s charts and won a Source Award. That was the start of their journey as co-directors—a journey that has included more collaborations with notable artists, award-winning films and, most recently, a documentary about basketball legend Stephon Marbury, A Kid From Coney Island. 

Born and raised in Chicago, Coodie began his professional career doing stand-up comedy. He hosted a TV show called Channel Zero, which gained a lot of attention in his hometown, before transitioning into cinematography. That’s when he encountered a young Kanye West.

Chike grew up in New Orleans and was passionate about both basketball and art. While a student at the Savannah College of Art and Design in Georgia, he became particularly interested in making music videos. He landed a job at MTV, eventually met Coodie and got to fulfill his dreams on “Through The Wire.”

In 2007, the pair founded their own production company, Creative Control. They set their sights on larger projects, directing Benji (a critically-acclaimed ESPN 30 for 30), Muhammad Ali: The People’s Champ (a renowned BET documentary) and several more celebrated works over the past decade.

As fans, they were familiar with Stephon Marbury’s story when they were chosen for A Kid From Coney Island. Getting to know him personally and having complete freedom to dive further into that story was an unforgettable experience for them.

“People have their perceptions of somebody,” says Ozah. “Then you meet them and you’re like, That wasn’t my experience at all. That’s what I have to say about Steph. Based on how the media portrayed him to be, [it’d be different]. When you meet him you’re like, Well, our relationship was super cool. He gave us full autonomy. He was super vulnerable. He let us run. He never saw the cut until we went to the Tribeca Film Festival. That was his first time seeing the movie.”

Stephon was moved to tears that day.

Ultimately, Coodie and Chike came to have a deeper appreciation for all Marbury achieved and overcame.

“It’s not a basketball documentary,” Coodie says. “It’s a family story. His [older] brothers tried to make it and didn’t make it. It was all just instilled in Stephon. We want the people to understand that sometimes it’s not about the skill, it’s about the drive and the belief and the support, because they [his family] supported Steph and they made sure that he got to where he was. That’s why I say it’s a family story. That’s one of the messages out of it. If you can believe, you can achieve. And you have to work hard to do it.”

“I feel like another overarching message is just this concept of not ever letting what’s perceived as bad things in life defeat you,” Chike adds. “Being able to realize that bad things happen that actually are blessings, you just don’t know. You just haven’t been able to process it that second because emotionally, [those things] feel bad. I think Steph’s story is an example of that.

“It’s just that concept of actually embracing those bad things that happen to you,” he continues. “More than likely, those are the things that set everything off. What actually makes a story is as soon as the protagonist comes in conflict with trying to accomplish his desire. It sets his whole life in motion—the antagonism. There’s no story without antagonism. There’s no good without bad.” 

—

Click here to buy tickets to “A Kid From Coney Island”

Alex Squadron is an Associate Editor at SLAM. Follow him on Twitter @asquad510.

Photos via Corey Nickols.

The post Legendary Directors Coodie and Chike Talk ‘A Kid From Coney Island’ appeared first on SLAM.

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—

Rich Kleiman—Kevin Durant’s manager and the co-founder of Thirty Five Ventures—had a mini sales pitch prepared. He wanted Kevin to be as invested in A Kid From Coney Island, the upcoming documentary about Stephon Marbury’s life, as he was.

Thirty Five Ventures, which serves as the umbrella for all of Kleiman and Durant’s business interests, had been offered the role of executive producer on the film. Rich was completely on-board. He followed Marbury’s entire career and had even established a personal relationship with him.

“Somebody showed us the documentary right after the summer,” Kleiman says. “I grew up in New York City, so I’ve been a fan of Stephon Marbury. I was following him all the way back when he was in high school.

“We watched it and we connected with it right away,” he continues. “I honestly thought it was so incredibly well done. It captured every part of his career and his story.”

Now it was up to Durant. As it turned out, no pitch was necessary.

“I was going in with: This story is incredible, you have to understand what Steph means to me growing up, the movie was so well-made, the directors [Coodie Simmons and Chike Ozah] nailed it,” says Kleiman. “And [Kevin] was like, ‘Listen bro, I love him. I’ve always rooted for him. One hundred percent his story needs to be told.'”

That improbable story, as Kleiman explains, will captivate audiences when the project drops soon.

“I think all of us as consumers and viewers always want to see that heroic story and that redemption story,” he says. “I don’t think people really understood how low it got and to what great heights [Stephon] got to and how incredible and mind-blowing what he was able to do in another part of the world was. I can’t even imagine another story like this in any sport, ever. I think that if you are a hoop fan, a New York City fan, or just love good storytelling and incredible stories, people will really be shocked to see what’s gone on in China after everything that happened in his life. I mean, the guy’s lived more lives than anyone I’ve ever heard.”

In NYC specifically, where Marbury’s journey began, the film has the potential to impact so many young, aspiring hoopers.

“I think this will be one of those films that everybody in New York holds close to their chest a bit,” Kleiman adds. “Like the classics that may not have been big blockbuster films, but it’s a story that everybody from New York can relate to and it’s everybody’s must-watch if you’re a young hooper in the city.”

—

Click here to buy tickets to “A Kid From Coney Island”

Alex Squadron is an Associate Editor at SLAM. Follow him on Twitter @asquad510.

Photos via Getty and Thirty Five Ventures.

The post Executive Producer Rich Kleiman Talks ‘A Kid From Coney Island’ appeared first on SLAM.

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—

How did a kid from Coney Island end up with a statue in China? How did he overcome immense pressure to fulfill his dreams? And how did he persist in the face of adversity to rewrite his narrative thousands of miles away from home?

In their new documentary, “A Kid From Coney Island,” award-winning directors Coodie Simmons and Chike Ozah trace the incredible life of Stephon Marbury. Through in-depth interviews with relatives, friends and competitors (Ray Allen, Chauncey Billups, God Shammgod and many more), the film provides a thorough and honest portrayal of Steph’s journey, shedding light on both its ups and downs.

Coodie and Chike’s production captures so many chapters of this remarkable story, beginning with Marbury’s childhood in the Surfside housing projects. With the support of his community, Stephon sets out to accomplish a goal that has eluded his family for years: Make the NBA. 

He ultimately manages to achieve this goal, but for a number of reasons explored in the documentary, life in the NBA does not come without hardship. “A Kid From Coney Island” follows Marbury’s entire career—his electrifying play for multiple teams, peculiar fall out of the NBA and subsequent rise in China, where he won three championships as a member of the CBA’s Beijing Ducks. 

Overall, the documentary tells a tale of family, perseverance, passion and redemption that everyone, whether destined for basketball greatness or not, can relate to. Though his path was unconventional, Marbury succeeded at becoming an inspiration to all kids growing up in Coney Island.

—

Click here to buy tickets to “A Kid From Coney Island.”

Alex Squadron is an Associate Editor at SLAM. Follow him on Twitter @asquad510.

The post ‘A Kid From Coney Island’ Traces the Incredible Life of Stephon Marbury appeared first on SLAM.

“Nobody was really talking about us, you know?”

Kemba Walker is seated in the Optum Lounge of the Auerbach Center, where the Boston Celtics practice, thinking back on this summer. When he was in China for the 2019 FIBA World Cup, along with Marcus Smart, Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum, the four of them discussed the doubt placed on their team at home.

“Granted, they lost a few guys who made this team go,” Walker continues, “but I still felt like we would be pretty good just because of the talent that I knew we had and how much the young guys wanted it. Guys like Smart, JB and JT, I could tell how much they wanted to become better players and how disappointed they were about last year. Those kinds of things played a part in how I felt like we were going to be this season.” 

Of course, last season informed a lot of the early projections. The Cs were favorites to come out of the East in ’18-19 but did not live up to expectations, finishing as the No. 4 seed and getting bounced in the second round of the playoffs. That fact, combined with key losses in free agency, bred skepticism. But skepticism is OK. In many ways, it’s welcomed. 

There’s less pressure in being the underdog. And once the wounds of a disheartening year began to heal, those remaining could find the positives in it. Sometimes, there have to be lows to be highs. The group had to learn from their mistakes. They used failure and doubt as further motivation, and they set out to prove everyone wrong. 

“We were just talking about what we wanted to do this season, how we wanted to come out and really shut people up,” Smart recalls of those conversations in China. “We just knew everybody was going to doubt us. So for us, it was just coming out and being able to show what we were capable of.”

—

“I’ve got sunshine…”

“…on a cloudy day” 

Jaylen Brown and Marcus Smart have spontaneously broken into a duet of The Temptations’ “My Girl.” They harmonize and trade lines, singing into the shotgun microphone set up for our video shoot. It’s so seamless that it sounds rehearsed.  

“When it’s cold outside…”

“…I’ve got the month of May” 

Spirits are high at the newly constructed Auerbach Center. It’s early January and the team has entered a new decade near the top of the Eastern Conference. As of this writing, they are 31-15 and 18-5 at TD Garden. 

There’s a laidback, relaxed vibe to the shoot. Guys arrive one by one, led by the veteran Gordon Hayward, rocking their green and gold City Edition jerseys. They joke with each other and gang up on one of the equipment managers, who walks on set in a full uniform. 

“That’s how you know you don’t hoop, because nobody wears their socks to their calves like that,” Smart says. 

“You got to stop skipping leg day, Andy,” Brown chimes in. 

“He’s skipping every day.”

The returning players will freely admit, there was, at times, an absence of joy in the locker room last season. It was due in part to a reluctance to open up about personal issues outside of basketball. No one wanted to share, and the chemistry and happiness of the whole team suffered because of it. Bottling their problems didn’t work, so they’ve taken the opposite approach this year.

“We’re happy [now]. Everybody’s actually talking to one another,” Smart says. “Last year, we didn’t really talk to each other as much as we do now for whatever reason. Everybody was dealing with their own things personally, so it was kind of hard to sit down with one another and really listen because you were dealing with your own things and you were trying to figure out things for yourself.”

Marcus was coping with the death of his mother. Gordon was fighting back from his gruesome ankle injury. Jayson wasn’t making the jump he anticipated for himself and dealt with outside scrutiny. Coming off an impressive 2018 postseason run, Jaylen had to take a step back and battled anxiety and self-doubt. 

“It’s kind of hard to listen to somebody else’s problems when you have your own,” Smart continues. “This year, everything we have—internally and externally—it’s out in the open. We’re always around each other, laughing and smiling. Just trying to really enjoy being around each other.”

By his own admission, Marcus is the team comedian. 

“He’s just nonstop, he always got jokes” Tatum describes. “Or often—I ain’t gonna say nonstop. It’s just often.”

“I bring joy to the locker room, that’s what he wanted to say,” Smart responds. 

“That ain’t what I wanted to say.”

“Is it my turn?” Brown asks. He seems eager to share his opinion about Marcus. “No comment. I plead the fifth.”

Smart will fire back, naturally. He pokes fun at Jayson’s beard (“He finally got it to connect!”) and Jaylen’s aloofness (“You be in the sunken place”). He confidently assures everyone that he’ll win a shooting contest. The others lightheartedly accuse him of messing up the backdrop for our photos—it’s suddenly crumpled and folding—and he objects. 

“We’re a fun group,” Walker says. “I don’t think a lot of people understand how much fun we have with each other. We love being around each other, love playing basketball with each other, love helping each other get better.

“One through 15, we all get along. It’s just a really fun environment to be a part of. Nobody wants to come into work and it not be good vibes, but that’s not the case here. We have really high character guys. Everybody has one goal, everybody wants to win, everybody wants to become better players. It just makes things easier.”

The core of that group, featured on the cover above, has meshed easily. It’s a combination of veterans and youth, of reserved personalities and, in Marcus’ words, more “off the wall” ones. They complement and balance each other out.

On the floor, they are versatile and dynamic, capable of playing multiple positions and filling various roles. 

“It makes us really tough to guard,” says Hayward. “I think it’s a team that can make adjustments and morph in a game. That makes us pretty special.”

“I think we’re all interchangeable so it’s kind of hard for teams to game plan because you never know what position somebody might be in,” Brown explains. “They might be bringing the ball up, they might be in the corner, they might be coming off the action. It makes it a little bit harder to defend when everybody’s interchangeable.” 

All five of them have the ability to take over a game—some by scoring, some by playmaking, some by defending. There’s no strategy as to who will be “the guy” on a particular night—they just react to who gets the hot hand. When Jayson has it going, for example, they feed him the ball and slide into different roles. They can shape shift in ways most other rosters can’t. With Jayson or whoever shouldering the load offensively, the rest of the squad has more energy to invest on the opposite end. Boston currently has the No. 3 defense in the NBA. 

“It takes a lot of pressure off me, not having to do too much [offensively,]” says Walker, who carried much of the weight during his tenure in Charlotte. “I definitely think it allows me to tap into different parts of my game.”

Kemba, a three-time All-Star, is averaging 22.3 points and 5.0 assists. Normally soft-spoken, he perks up when asked to talk about his new teammates.

“Marcus, he’s the heart and soul of our team. He’s just the ultimate competitor. Always gets us going, always gets our energy going. We definitely feed off of him tremendously.”

“Gordon has that veteran leadership and to me, he’s the X factor for us. As Gordon goes, it just makes our team that much better. He’s definitely a very special talent and I’m just happy to see him back to his comfort zone. I know it’s been a rough couple of years for him and I’m just happy that he’s back to his old self.”

“JT, the ability that he has for his age [21] is just scary. As he gets older and matures, he’s just going to continue to get better because he works so hard and he wants to be great. That’s something that you can’t take away from him. He wants it. That’s one of the special attributes about him—how much he really does want to be a special player in this League and he definitely will. He’ll be a top-five player in this League one day, for sure.” 

“Jaylen, he’s a guy who’s worked extremely hard at his game. And this season, you can see how much it’s paying off. He can do it all. He can score, he can pass, he can rebound, he can shoot. He’s fearless. He’s a competitor. And he still has so much room for improvement. He’s going to be a special talent, which he already is to me.”

JT and Jaylen are prime examples of the turnaround for this franchise. They’re making the leaps that many predicted, only a bit delayed. Tatum is posting career-highs in points (21.5) and rebounds (6.9). The same goes for Brown (20.1 points, 6.6 rebounds), who’s also shooting 50 percent from the field and 39 percent from three. They’ve been spreading the floor and understanding when, where and how to pick their spots.  And, as Smart adds, “JT finally grew out the rest of his beard, so that was good for us.” 

Both have benefitted from their previous struggles. They learned a lot through the difficult times and have relished the absence of pressure this go-around. 

“I think just hooping has been a key for us, instead of thinking about so much of the stuff that we had to think about last year,” Brown says. “Just play basketball and let the cards fall where they may. This year has been totally different, but I think we all needed last year. I think everybody right here [he gestures to Smart, Tatum and Hayward] has gotten better through the experiences of last year.” 

“We understand how last year went,” Tatum says. “Obviously not trying to have a repeat of that. I think this year focusing more on ourselves and the guys in the locker room and not paying attention to the media and kind of enjoying being the underdog, whereas last year we were expected to win a championship.”

The strong bond between the two young cornerstones has continued to grow as well, even if it’s veiled in sarcasm. 

Jaylen: “I ain’t even like this dude.” 

Jayson: “I’m sick of him.”

Jaylen: “Nah, JT cool.”

Jayson: “I know I’m cool.” 

Jaylen: “He’s aight, you know what I mean? I think we got a few similarities but we got a lot of differences at the same time. But it kind of, like, works. I don’t disrespect him for none of the stuff that he’s into—whatever that may be.”

Jayson: “What am I into? [laughs]” 

Walker is the new piece to this puzzle, but also perhaps the biggest one. He’s fit in perfectly thus far. Like several of his teammates, he identifies as an underdog, someone perpetually slept on. He sees a lot of himself in Marcus, Gordon, Jayson and Jaylen. Suffice it to say, the marriage has worked. 

“I think that’s why we get along so well, because we all have one goal,” Walker says. “We want to win and we want to become great players. We’re all gym rats. We’re all always in the gym. So yeah, that’s what makes us so special.” 

—

All around the Auerbach Center are reminders of the Celtics’ storied past. Large images of former franchise legends (Bill Russell, Bob Cousy, Larry Bird/Kevin McHale, Ray Allen/Paul Pierce/Kevin Garnett) adorn the walls. Banners (a lot of them) hang from the ceiling over the practice court. The leprechaun logo, which has become synonymous with winning, is everywhere—at the bottom of recovery pools, on workout equipment, blown up on the exterior of the facility, etc. 

The long and winding road has led here—to the Optum Lounge on this January afternoon, where Jaylen and Marcus are entertaining the room with karaoke duets. Armed with confidence and free from burdens, the Celtics have established themselves as contenders once again.

“Look at the League now, the talent is more dispersed,” says Brown. “I think this year is kind of unique. It hasn’t been like this in a while. So I think that it’s anybody’s game. We probably don’t realize how close we can be to getting the job done.”

“Certainly the Celtics have a long history and tradition of success. You come here to compete at the highest level, and that means all the way to the Finals,” Hayward says. “So it’s been a goal since I’ve gotten here, definitely a goal of ours this year. I don’t think that as a team we look at that every day. We just look to get better and focus on the task at hand.

“And like Jaylen said, let the cards fall where they may.” 

—

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Alex Squadron is an Associate Editor at SLAM. Follow him on Twitter @asquad510.

Photos by Matthew Coughlin and via Getty.

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“This time, it was like a machine gun,” Portis recalls. “It kept going and going for like four or five minutes straight.”

He ran to the window of his top-floor bedroom. From that vantage point, he could see a car wash under heavy fire about a block away. He watched the intense violence unfold, frozen in disbelief. The images are still seared in his brain more than 15 years later. 

“Growing up where I’m from, obviously it’s tough,” the Knicks forward says. “I’ve witnessed almost everything. It’s a gritty, blue-collar city. You’re a product of your environment there. Being from my city, you’re not expected to make it. There’s a lot of talent from my town that doesn’t make it out.” 

Portis was raised by a single mother, Tina Edwards, amid that environment. She played basketball herself, earning a scholarship to Jackson State University before getting pregnant with Bobby and retiring from the game. 

Edwards worked a number of different jobs—at National Car Rental, American Airlines, a local bread company—to provide for Bobby and his three younger brothers. She’d bounce back and forth between the office and the house to check on her boys, resting little but never complaining. Despite all her efforts, financial challenges arose. The family was evicted in November of 2006 and moved around to multiple homes, with Bobby sometimes forced to sleep on the floor. 

But Edwards just kept going, unrelentingly determined to make things better and help Bobby achieve his dream of reaching the NBA. She saved up enough money to buy a new house, while continuing to keep food on the table. 

“I get my hard-working qualities from her,” explains Bobby. “Just being around, seeing what hard work can really do for somebody and what it can provide for others. That motivated me.”

“Each and every time when things get hard and I feel like I can’t do something, I think about my mom,” he continues. “She never said that she couldn’t do it. She just got it done. I think about those times and I buckle down and I get it done.”

In August of 2019, Portis launched his own foundation. The mission: to create programs and initiatives that aid single mothers throughout Arkansas. He returned to Little Rock this summer for a foundation weekend, hosting a basketball camp, celebrity game and several other local events and parties. Since entering the NBA, he’s made a conscious effort to be present in the community, giving speeches and popping out at his old high school. 

“Everything you read, it’s true,” Portis says of his hometown. “We are who we are, but I rep it through and through. It’s what made me who I am. It’s what made me tough. It’s what made me the underdog. I rep it and I love it.”

Portis has embraced an “underdog” mentality, one that was built in Little Rock and grew based on the obstacles he faced. Walking into NBA arenas, a massive “UNDERDOG” chain often hangs from his neck. There’s a clothing line coming soon, too.

“Obviously everybody’s path is different. Some people always had it, they made it to where they are and they’re successful,” Bobby says. “Some people had to go through things and grind through things to get there. I’m kind of really thankful for my journey.”

“There’s a lot of negative things that people try to say about [Little Rock], but we’re all together,” he adds later. “It’s a tough way to live, a tough way to come up, but I think it makes you cherish the things that you have when you make it.”

—

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Alex Squadron is an Associate Editor at SLAM. Follow him on Twitter @asquad510.

Photos via Getty & Tina Edwards.

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As he became older and pursued careers in various industries—from law, to marketing, to media, and ultimately, to teaching—Hollander always maintained a strong connection to the game.

“It’s the place I return to,” he says. “It’s the place I find my peace, my balance. Some people do mindfulness and meditation, therapy. I find all of that when I put a basketball in my hand and go to a court.”

Hollander is currently an associate professor at NYU’s Preston Robert Tisch Institute for Global Sport. He’s been at the university for the past 12 years, leading courses that cover sports management, consumer behavior, hospitality and more.

This spring, however, there’s a new class available with Hollander’s name attached to it: “How Basketball Can Save the World: An Exploration of Society, Politics, Culture and Commerce Through the Game.” It’s one that he’s been thinking about for a while now, drawing inspiration from a book by Franklin Foer called How Soccer Explains the World: An Unlikely Theory of Globalization. Conversations with award-winning filmmaker Dan Klores, who recently directed a 10-part documentary about basketball, eventually pushed Hollander to turn his vision into a reality.

His pitch to the administration? “I think I made a very strong case that you can look at basketball as a philosophy, as a belief system.”

That’s exactly how Hollander sees it. “How Basketball Can Save the World” positions the sport as an “ism,” just like capitalism or socialism—another means of making sense of the world.

“I’ve created principles, like a philosophy of what basketball means as an ism,” Hollander says. “That’s what we look at and how it’s played out in all these different areas—in race, gender, urban and rural issues, culture, commerce and international relations.

“The idea is to take the game, this very particular game which was invented by a guy who was an immigrant from a broken home [James Naismith]. His task was, Hey, we’ve got a bunch of violent, incorrigible students who’ve run the last two professors out of here. You need to come up with something to organize, pacify, make them better people. And this is what this guy did. You can take that solution and look at all the ways that basketball is very unique among sports, but also, from that, really important ideas have come from basketball. Like low barrier to access, gender inclusion, balance between individual and collective needs. Naismith had 13 original rules. I’ve come up with a new 13, [which are taught in the class].”

The school ran an incredibly successful pilot of the course this summer, with guest lecturers such as Nate “Tiny” Archibald, Teresa Edwards and Klores. Now it’s being offered for the first time during a traditional semester, open to graduate and undergraduate students.

“To put it in current context, I believe the world is broken in many places, and we’ve gotten to this point by following the same types of people: monarchs, economists, lawyers, politicians,” explains Hollander. “I say to students, ‘Why don’t we explore a different way of looking at things, of making the world better, of solving problems?’”

That way, for Hollander, is defined by the game he’s been playing since he was a kid, shooting around on a 12-by-12 blacktop square in his backyard.

—

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Alex Squadron is an Associate Editor at SLAM. Follow him on Twitter @asquad510.

Photos courtesy of NYU.

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Lenny Cooke calls out to the DJ, an 11-year-old kid named Amir standing beside two large speakers. Amir obliges, and Drake’s voice is suddenly booming through the Kroc Center. 

Sitting a few rows behind the DJ set, it suddenly occurs to me that Amir probably knows very little, if anything, about the man he’s just interacted with. He wasn’t alive when Lenny Cooke was the biggest high school basketball player in the nation, as highly regarded as LeBron James, Carmelo Anthony and Amar’e Stoudemire, who were coming up at the same time.

While LeBron is in Los Angeles, preparing to take on the Minnesota Timberwolves at Staples Center, the 37-year-old Cooke is warming up for his own game here in New Jersey. He’s recently joined the ABA’s Camden Monarchs, a semi-pro team that emphasizes giving back to the local community, for one last season before hanging it up. 

Tickets, which come in the form of purple and gold wristbands, are $10. All concessions are $1. There’s a piece of paper taped to the door of the gym that reads, “No dunking or hanging on the rim,” but no one listens. The 24-second shot clock is a small, tabletop device. An MC positioned courtside grabs people from the crowd to have dance-offs in the middle of the floor during timeouts. 

All in all, there are no more than 50 people in the stands. But that doesn’t matter to Cooke. He has a game. He’s trying to lock in. He needs the music turned up.

“I love just being out there,” Cooke tells SLAM. “I enjoy it. It’s the same feeling I had back when I was playing at a high level.” 

Back then, roughly two decades ago, Cooke was the star on every team he played for. He was on track to become one in the NBA, too, but difficulty in the classroom, poor advice and a few wrong decisions led him down a different path.

“Misjudgment, arrogance, attitude—all of those things played a factor in my career,” he says. 

Cooke won MVP of the prestigious adidas ABCD camp in 2000, was the No. 1 ranked prospect in his class and received interest from every major college program in the country. He played AAU with Joakim Noah and matched up against James, Anthony, Stoudemire and many others who went on to be successful in the NBA. 

Having exhausted his eligibility, Cooke was limited to showcases his senior year of high school. He was less visible (“If I had social media when I was playing, you can only imagine the hype”) and scouts raised questions about his character. Cooke still tried to make the jump straight to the League in 2002. He hired an agent, disqualifying him from the collegiate level, and went undrafted. He made a few Summer League squads but never got an opportunity on an NBA roster, instead pursuing a career overseas.

In December of 2004, Cooke was in a near-fatal car accident. He suffered a broken left shin and femur, with doctors initially fearing they’d have to amputate his leg. Relegated to a wheelchair for two-and-a-half years, he was told he’d never play again. 

He returned briefly in 2008, signing a deal in Kuwait, but was out of shape and the accident had stripped much of his passion. He opted to walk away from basketball. 

“I was mentally out of it,” he says. “I was overweight, out of shape. I was like, I’m going to give it up.” 

So why, all this time later, is Cooke back playing again? He’s 10 years older than basically everyone else on the Camden Monarchs roster. He struggles moving up and down the floor, like he’s pulling his damaged legs through quicksand. As his teammates elevate for impressive windmill dunks in warm-ups, Lenny never attacks the rim. He stays beyond the arc, content to launch deep treys with little bend in his knees. When the Monarchs push in transition, he often hangs back to conserve energy and watches over the action like he’s one of the coaches.

His body isn’t equipped to dominate as it once was, though his basketball IQ is apparent. Now a low-post big man (he was more of a versatile small forward in high school), Cooke gets the ball on the block, studies the defense and makes smart reads. He can overpower defenders with his size and strength, but rarely looks to score.

In other words, Cooke isn’t doing this to light up the stat sheet. It’s not for shine or self-validation. Since 2008, he’s increasingly embraced a new mission—to be a mentor in any way possible, using his personal experience to impart wisdom and steer others in the right direction.

“I know my role,” he says, after the game. “It’s more so being a mentor to the guys, telling them what it takes to be professional.

“Those are my little brothers. Each and every one of them. All 13 of them,” he adds, scanning the Monarchs’ makeshift locker room. “They call me. I’ll get calls tonight, like, Man, how do you think I did? Did you think I didn’t do this? Did I do this, this way? That’s what I enjoy about this. They look up to me. They want advice because I’ve been there.” 

“I actually meet up with Lenny so I can get to practice,” explains his teammate, Shaun Wilson. “And literally every time we’re in the car together, I’m just picking his brain about everything. He just drops so many different jewels. Telling me past experiences, telling me things that I need to look out for in the future, things that happened to him. He doesn’t have a problem expressing anything.”

“With the experience that he has, his maturity and his basketball IQ, not only is he productive on the floor as a player, but he’s also helping those guys and teaching them how to play the game, how to be a professional,” says Monarchs head coach Tony Coleman. “He really is almost an extension of me, as an assistant coach on the floor.”

Before tip-off, Cooke huddles the starting lineup together to talk strategy. He does so throughout the game as well. When his point guard calls out a play, Cooke—regardless of where he is in the gym—repeats it three times louder. He instructs guys on when to slow down the pace, stopping their forward momentum with a simple raise of his bulky arm. He screams for them to set up the offense. 

Whatever passion was lost following the car accident has been restored. He’s the most animated person on the court. Teammates on the receiving end of Lenny’s daps are left shaking their hands. He bangs his chest emphatically, not unlike LeBron often does, after dropping a beautiful backdoor pass in the midst of a huge run in the third quarter. 

He still loves the game of basketball, even if the game hasn’t always loved him back.

“His passion is undeniable,” says Coleman. “Certain guys, they just have that ‘it.’ That burning passion on the inside. He has it. As long as he’s going to be involved with the game, whether he’s playing or he’s coaching or being a mentor or whatever, he’s always going to have that fire and that passion.”

Win or lose, Cooke understands the bigger picture. He’s with this organization to help others reach a higher level, to guide them on their still-unfolding basketball journeys. Though this will be the final step of his career, the same cannot be said for everyone else on the Monarchs. Most of the guys, Wilson included, hope to find opportunities overseas or in the G League.

“We got a great group of guys and I just want them to use this opportunity to be able to go somewhere else and be able to provide for their family doing what they love to do,” he says. “As I got older, I started realizing it wasn’t meant for me. My blessing is to share my story. Be that example for someone else. Prevent them from going through what I went through.” 

“He’s like the big brother of the team,” describes Wilson. “Whenever we got problems, he’s the first person we look up to.”

For several years, Lenny’s been coaching at local high schools and delivering motivational speeches to camps and colleges. Recounting the past brings him no pain or frustration. It does the opposite, really. 

This, he says, is the last chapter of his hoops story. Not when LeBron nailed that game-winner to bury his team at ABCD camp in 2001—a moment that many label as the breaking point between the two incredible talents. Not the night of the 2002 NBA Draft. Not the day of his car accident. He is retiring on his own terms, doing the work that he feels he was always meant to do—his “calling.” 

“People were just judging me off of what they saw in high school and never gave me a chance to grow,” he tells SLAM. “Nowadays, people just look back on that. They don’t care what I’m doing now. But I’m going to make it known what I’m doing now.”

And you feel like what you’re doing now is…

Lenny cuts me off. 

“It’s way more important than what I was doing back then.”

—

Alex Squadron is an Associate Editor at SLAM. Follow him on Twitter @asquad510.

Photos via Getty and H&H Visions.

The post Lenny Cooke Opens Up About the Final Chapter of His Playing Career appeared first on SLAM.

He worried that Collin was training too hard and didn’t want him going to the gym.

“He was never a kid that you needed to push,” Darnell explains. “He was always the kid that you would say, Hey dude, can you rest?”

The answer was always no, and so dad looked for other ways to slow Collin down. But none of those worked either.

“He would actually take one of the bikes and go to the area parks,” Darnell recalls with a chuckle. “I couldn’t stop him. I just couldn’t stop him.”

Now in his second year with the Cavaliers, Collin still won’t stop. He’s gotten off to an impressive start, averaging 17.8 points on 44 percent shooting as of this writing.

After last season, Sexton re-watched tape of all 82 games from beginning to end. Then he watched them again. He took notes on what he did well and what needed to be improved. He got frustrated seeing all his mistakes, whether it was unnecessary turnovers or botched layups. He studied his tendencies on defense and how they could be adjusted. Everything was recorded and stored away to be addressed in the ensuing months.

He would get up at 6:30 each morning, eat breakfast and head straight to the gym to hoop. From there, he’d hit the weights and transition into some agility stuff. At night, he’d always return to shoot more.

“I had to make sure that I was polished,” Sexton says. “I had to correct the things that I needed to.”

That doesn’t just apply to the summer. During the season, Collin routinely works out after games. He’ll make sure he does recovery and then gets back on the court around midnight or 1:00 am to refine the things he struggled with earlier that evening. In Cleveland, these sessions take place at the team’s practice facility. On the road, it can be a little trickier. Darnell will help reach out to local gyms to see what’s available in the cities the Cavs travel to. If nothing’s free, Collin will make the best of the fitness center at the hotel.

“Maybe I missed a few easy bunnies or floaters so I just come in and shoot about 100 floaters or something like that,” Sexton describes. “I just try to make sure everything is polished and the things that I need to correct, I make sure I do it right then and there because when it’s fresh on your mind, it’s hard to stop thinking about it.”

This level of commitment isn’t new, of course. It’s what got Collin here in the first place.

“As much as I told him, as much as I taught him, as much as we were in the gym, he still wanted more,” Darnell says. “For me, I used that as fuel for different things. Let’s take school as an example. Doing well in school would reward him more gym time. Making sure you’re doing the dishes and taking the trash out. Just your everyday things that you would normally take for granted, but he would actually put his all into everything that he did just because he knew that he would get more gym time.”

Growing up in Marietta, GA, Collin was the kid jumping out of bed at 6:00 am with no alarm clock. No one forced, or even pressured, him to do so. Before school started, he’d get in a full workout, running on the treadmill, doing ball dexterity drills and skills training. 

“He was one of the hardest workers I’ve ever seen in any sport,” says Sexton’s high school coach, George Washington. “Get up at the break of dawn. Work out again at lunch time. Work out again in the evening. His work ethic was unreal.”

When Sexton was training for U17 USA Basketball tryouts, Washington feared that work ethic might have finally gone too far. Wearing a mask, Collin was sprinting around the track in the blistering afternoon sun to prepare for the altitude of Colorado Springs—the site of the camp. Suddenly, he collapsed to the ground.

“He was out cold,” Washington remembers. “We were extremely nervous. Like, we said, Oh, God, we done killed this kid out here trying to get him ready for USA Basketball [laughs].”

Sexton recovered, made the USA squad and won MVP at the FIBA U17 World Championships, averaging 17.0 points, 4.2 assists, 4.0 rebounds and 1.7 steals off the bench. Over the course of that summer, he went from being unranked to a five-star prospect entering his senior year.

At Pebblebrook High School, Sexton shared the court with Jared Harper, who signed a contract with the Suns in July. Practice would wrap at 7:45 pm, but the two would always hang back to play one-on-one. Those games would go on for hours, often concluding past midnight.

“We couldn’t leave without winning,” Sexton explains. “So sometimes it was like, Alright, let’s play to 10 maybe three dribbles. Let’s play to 10 maybe two dribbles. Let’s play to 10 with unlimited dribbles or one dribble. So we just kept playing.”

“Man, we would go to KFC and order out some food and they’re still in there battling one-on-one and it’s 12 or 1 o’clock at night,” Darnell says. “We’re like, ‘Wash, when are we gonna stop them?’ He said, ‘We’re not, we’re just gonna try to let them get tired.’ It was always just them getting that work in and understanding that iron sharpens iron.”

Collin had a similar mindset when it came to school. He only got one B during his time at Pebblebrook. Everything else was an A.

“He’s like that in the classroom,” Washington reaffirms. “The thing I tell people like, we’re getting ready to fly to City of Palms, which is a big high school basketball event, and we’re about to be late because he’s trying to get his pre-calculus teacher a Christmas gift.”

In his one year at the University of Alabama, Sexton had a 4.0 GPA. He somehow managed to juggle that and maintain his insane basketball regimen. Security would call coach Avery Johnson close to 3:30 am some nights because Collin was still in the facility shooting. Johnson would tell them to just cut the lights out. Sometimes Collin stayed and did homework by his phone until they came back on.

He’s fueled by a love for the sport and a relentless competitiveness. Both stem from his family, particularly the latter. Game nights at the Sexton household were out of control. They’d usually have guests and get multiple boards going.

“Connect 4 was crazy in our house,” Darnell says with a laugh. “One Saturday morning, I noticed that the poster had been taken down in the garage of who was the leader in the family. Boy, let me tell you, that whole day was a mess. Who took it down? Who took it down? It had to be the last person who just lost. That’s the competitive nature. Always wanting to see who was on the leaderboard.”

Until he reached the ninth grade, Collin would play one-on-one against his older brother Jordan. They had to stop because every game started turning into a fist fight. Darnell shut it down.

Coach Washington used to give him technical fouls in practice. He’d also ask a random person in the crowd at Pebblebrook’s games to tell Collin that he sucked.

“As soon as that person told him that, it’s a little switch in his head that would click and he’d go to another level,” says Washington. “He’d go off. He’d go bananas. He thrived on people telling him he couldn’t do it.” 

His intensity on the floor—Collin often talks to himself for motivation (“Come on, Collin. You got to go.”)—earned him the nickname “Young Bull.” It fits perfectly.

Fear of failure has always kept the Young Bull driven. Collin used to break down and cry after regular season losses in HS. During shootaround prior to a matchup against powerhouse Montverde his senior year, Sexton couldn’t hit anything. He got so angry that he ripped off his shirt like the Incredible Hulk before stringing together 20-30 consecutive makes.

That kind of stuff led outsiders to believe Collin had a bad attitude and wouldn’t make it very far.

“It was just passion,” Sexton says. 

“I figured out how to channel it and use it in the right direction. I was just like, I’m gonna prove everybody wrong. All those people who doubted me. I’m gonna show them what I can do.” 

Only a few years later, Collin has asserted himself as one of the bright young guards in the NBA. He made the 2018-19 All-Rookie Second Team and is taking steps forward in his sophomore campaign. He dropped 28 points on 10/19 from the field in a recent OT win over San Antonio. Back in November, he notched a career-high 31 points against the Knicks at MSG.

One of the biggest challenges has been coping with defeat (the Cavaliers are 6-19) and focusing on being more patient. He understands that the journey is long and it’s not always going to be smooth sailing.

But Collin isn’t exactly known for taking things slow. He won’t break down after losses or rip his jersey amid difficult outings, but he won’t stop grinding either. Following most games, win or lose, you can find him in a gym somewhere, polishing the things that have to be polished. He got here that way and he’s going to get to the next level that way.

“He knew in order for him to be great, he had to do the extra. He had to go the extra mile,” says Darnell. “He needed to do the things that no one else was doing. We always say, Move with a purpose. That was one thing our family has always said. Any time you do anything, you move with a purpose. It stuck with him and he took it to heart.”

“A lot of players play basketball because they just like playing basketball,” Washington adds. “But for Collin, playing basketball is everything.”

—

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Alex Squadron is an Associate Editor at SLAM. Follow him on Twitter @asquad510.

Photos via Getty.

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—

SLAM: What’s the best piece of advice you have for the next generation of players?

DIRK NOWITZKI: Well, I always try to see myself as a student of the game. It sounds silly, but never think that you’ve made it. Somebody else is working out in the gym. Always try to get better. Listen and learn. Watch your veterans. And just always, every summer, try to add something new to your game and never stay the same player. That’s how I always looked at it. I never wanted to be satisfied. I always wanted to be the best player I could be. It’s really all about hard work and putting the time in. To be consistently good for a long, long time takes a lot of work.

DWYANE WADE: The advice I give my son [Zaire] is, find out who you are and what it is you want to accomplish. Have somebody to look at as inspiration, but be your true self. Once you find out who your true self is, now the real work starts. Now the work that you got to put in, the advice that you need to take, the inspiration that you need to grab from—those are all the things that come with it. But I’ll say the biggest thing is, find out what’s your purpose. What’s the reason you’re playing this game for? Try to find that out. For me, it was different from someone next to me or someone on this side. For me, I played for different reasons than a lot of guys or vice versa. So find out what that is first and then you can get to the rest. 

[On his motivation]: For me, the way I grew up was my first motivation. Every little boy’s dream is to make sure that their mother can live an amazing life and they can buy their mom that big house. The way I grew up, it was about hopefully I can get my family out of the struggle—be the difference, be somebody that my mom and dad can be proud of. And then from there, it went to me in college having my son at 19 years old. Once I had Zaire, he became my sole purpose to really do something special, really do something different and be different than the people that I grew up around in a sense. Every step of the way, it’s just being different things or people or situations that motivated me a little bit more, a little different.

WALT “CLYDE” FRAZIER: The best piece of advice I can give is what my mother gave me, man. I remember when I first signed a big contract with the Knicks, everybody was telling me what kind of car I should drive, what I should do, wanted to borrow money, everything. I was so confused. I go to my mom, she says, ‘Son, just be yourself.’ Everywhere I go, I’m just being myself. So just be yourself, and from experience you’ll learn the nuances of what to do, how to play the game. Hopefully guys will have the opportunity that I had, to go to a team that has a Willis Reed, that has a [Dave] DeBusschere, a [Bill] Bradley, a Dick Barnett. All these guys had such a tremendous impact on me, man. I just followed their example. I didn’t really have to do anything. I just sat and I watched them. Barnett didn’t smoke, he didn’t drink. Today, I weigh almost the same because I used to watch him and how he extended his career 3-4 more years. Willis Reed—”The Captain”—how he had the most tenacious work ethic. Nobody ever outworked him. His professionalism off the court, how he dealt with the fans. So if you ever come to the Garden, you see me signing autographs, I’m laughing, I’m smiling. I learned all of that. And then I had a coach, Red Holzman, who also instilled that in me. The confidence and how to handle the city. Red was like a surrogate father to me. When I was driving the Rolls Royce and had all the suits, he would always say, ‘Clyde, you saving any money? Remember you got to save for a rainy day.’ I had all the best influences on the team. It was a blessing. I was in the right place at the right time and everything just fell in place for me.

GARY PAYTON: The only thing I can give them is, they have to respect those who came before them and who paved the way for them. A lot of these young guys don’t respect like a Dr. J or a Jerry West or guys like that because they’ve never seen them. They see LeBron, Kobe, Stephen Curry and they think their games are the ultimate games. None of them have seen Kareem. None of them have seen Wilt Chamberlain. So I tell them, man, if you go back and look at videos, the stuff that you’re doing, we were doing that early in the ’60s and ’70s. Just because you think that you’re young and y’all doing different stuff and it moves on, that doesn’t mean we weren’t 21 neither. So give respect to the OGs and pay homage. Every time I see a George Gervin or a Dr. J, or anybody who came before me and I watched coming up, I respect them. I get up and I go over there and I give them homage. Because it wouldn’t have started if I hadn’t been watching them. I just tell these young guys, they think that they know everything but they don’t. It’s all about the OGs that came before you.

And absolutely [they can learn something from watching their games]. And they can learn stuff about life: What [the OGs] went through before they were making big time money like that, because they weren’t making no money; what you should understand about struggling and about how to help other people and help your community. 

KOBE BRYANT: Be consistent. That’s the most important part. Be consistent with your work.

[On how he coaches his daughter’s AAU team]: I draw a lot from Phil [Jackson]. Phil’s coaching philosophies and my coaching philosophies were put into the Wizenard series [Kobe’s recently released book series]. It’s one where you don’t give directions so much as ask questions. You want to get players thinking on their own and figuring things out on their own. We don’t have sets. We don’t have plays. We have ideas. Within those ideas, the players are responsible themselves for figuring out what is the best idea to use at what time and why. When you have players that can think, particularly at a really early age, and you start teaching them that at 11, 12 years old, then when they get to 17, 18 years old—how are they going to be processing the game then? It’s really fun to watch them work through those ideas. 

ALLEN IVERSON: Play every game like it’s your last.

[On constructive criticism]: I wish I understood constructive criticism when I was younger, but I was just so young and stupid and didn’t know any better. That’s what I’ve been trying to tell these young guys. Like, Bro, there’s people out here that really love you and they are trying to tell you the right things. You have to listen to them. You have to. Because Allen Iverson was an asshole and didn’t listen until he got older and was like, Oh, OK, this is how life is supposed to be. I don’t want young dudes to not get the message before they take a bullet. That’s why I’m trying to preach.

STEPHON MARBURY: Try to absorb as much as you can absorb. Basically take everything in [from coaches and players] and apply what you think are the best things that fit for your game. Add it. And the things that don’t fit, don’t subtract it. Just leave it there because you grow as a player, and some of the things that people teach you over the course of time, you don’t get it right then and there but some information is so much more advanced that you’re just not ready at that time so you kind of throw it out the window. For me, what I did, I listened to everybody and tried to take something from everybody. Even the coaches. Even like Larry Brown. It’s so funny, I think about Larry Brown sometimes when I’m coaching [Marbury is head coach of the CBA’s Beijing Royal Fighters], about some of the things he used to say to me and I apply some of that stuff to my coaching method. Some of the things, things that I learned from different players, just adding a variety of different things to your game over the course of time and never deleting anything. It’s like a computer, right? It holds and stores all of the information. You just got to try to keep that database full and never delete anything, because you never know when you’re going to need it again.

I’m still learning the game and I played over 22 years. You learn so many different things, sometimes you learn things from your players, from watching certain things that they do on the court and how you can help them become better. Things that you thought you would’ve done it one way and then you see it can be done another way. The process of learning takes place every second. You are never fully downloaded, never 100% complete because the process is always in continuance.

JASON WILLIAMS: Just try to stay focused and keep improving every day. And don’t get too down on yourself if you’re not getting the minutes that you need.

[For point guards and passers specifically]: Passing was vital in my outlook of the game, but in today’s game, a guard has to get like 30 to be successful. But still, if you get on the right team—everybody can’t score, so…It’s got to be within. I think there’s a good passer and a willing passer. Those are different things. Steph Curry is a good passer, but he’s not looking to pass first or second, he’s trying to score. Whereas a willing passer is trying to pass, pass and then has to shoot it eventually because they’re not guarding him—that type of thing.

SLAM: How has the game evolved from when you first entered the NBA?

DIRK: The NBA when I first got there, every 4 or 5 was big and strong. They were rebounders and screen-setters. Then the NBA changed some of the rules—they brought in the back-down rule and put in the zone and the game changed. Now every big man has to be able to shoot—at least the 4s can all shoot threes now. The League has gotten smaller, faster, more skilled. Even some of the 5s now can pick-and-pop and stretch you to the three-point line. So it’s been amazing to watch the skill level, especially from the bigs, get so much better from when I first got in the League. 

J-WILL: I think it’s at an all-time high, if you ask me. I’m a huge fan of the NBA game, I like to see all of the offense and stuff like that. Defense is overrated to me, always has been. Defense don’t win championships to me, bro. It helps—don’t get me wrong. But somebody got to score to win, right? It’s whoever got the most points. 

I like the game where it is, but I think too many people want to score. [Not enough] people want to do the dirty job or really understand their roles when it comes to whatever it is on the team. Everybody wants to get buckets. But it’s exciting for a fan.

MARBURY: The physical play is not the same as it was when I was playing. Now you can’t really touch nobody. I played against guys like Derek Harper, obviously Jordan, Pippen, Rodman and those guys. Terry Cummings, Oakley, Patrick Ewing, those guys fouled differently. From us growing up playing against those guys—Charles Barkley, Olajuwon—you have a different understanding about the game and how it’s played. Now it’s completely different as far as the physical play.

Before, it’d be a fight and then guys would finish playing and go out after. Now it’s not like that. You got more guys hugging each other before the game. I’m not saying I’m opposed to it, it’s just, I don’t know how you can be my friend and be hugging and laughing and joking with me and we’re about to go play against each other. You might catch an elbow in the face and then after that, I don’t know how that works. That’s a little different for me. The era, it completely changed to like friends playing against friends. It wasn’t really like that—when Iverson and myself, whenever we got on the court to play against each other, it was a war. I think now it’s a little bit different. It’s not the same as it was back in the day. I don’t think you will ever see Michael Jordan going to shake Isaiah Thomas’ hand before the game, hugging and all of that. I don’t think those things were going on. When you grow up seeing that, that’s basically what you emulate. From guys doing their handshake and all of the things they do, the camaraderie things, it’s cool if that’s what’s going on and creating positive energy. But that wasn’t how it was when I was growing up and watching basketball.

I’m down with the era changing. I can flow with how things change and how things evolve. For me, it’s just different. That’s all. Now you can’t really touch nobody. I’m looking at today’s game and I’m like, What would we have averaged? … The game isn’t different as far as how you play basketball. It’s different in the rules and the rules allow you to play different. It’s more entertaining now.

SLAM: How do you envision the game continuing to change? Where does it go from here?

DIRK: That’s a good question because now we have Steph Curry pulling up from half-court and making every shot. I’m not really sure where this game is going to grow, if they’re going to put in a four-point shot or—I have no idea. But it’s been already amazing to see where guys are making shots from now and the athleticism. On Instagram and Twitter, you have videos from all these high school kids now jumping out of the gym and dunking. It’s hard to see where it can get even more athletic, more skilled, but I’m sure there are ways for it to grow even more. 

KOBE: I think it just goes the opposite [way]—it goes back to midrange. I’m just kind of sitting here waiting for all these statistical people to figure out how to make midrange sound appealing after all these years of making it sound not appealing. Because it’s coming. 

CLYDE: I think this is it. I don’t see any more changes that could happen. This is what it’s going to be now. When I came in, you always had to have a great center and a great backcourt man. Frazier, Reed. Monroe, Unseld. Jabbar, Robinson. West, Chamberlain. That was the essence of the game. You had to have that big guy and a guard to succeed. Michael came in and now Curry is taking it to a different level. So this is the evolution that I think you’re going to see now. Like a video game. Guys running and dunking and the threes and this is what the fans want. The fans want this basketball. To me, it’s more entertainment today. Early on, I was appalled with the traveling, the euro-step, the carrying of the ball, you can’t touch [players] anymore. All the different things that they’ve done to create scoring. People want to see high scoring and action and that’s what basketball is symbolic of. I don’t think that’s going to change now. This is what you’re going to see.

—

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Alex Squadron is an Associate Editor at SLAM. Follow him on Twitter @asquad510.

Photos by Cameron Look, Jeffrey Salter, Atiba Jefferson and via Getty Images.

Additional reporting by Max Resetar and Tzvi Twersky.

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Ace is at the SLAM offices in NYC, eyeing a wall decorated with old covers. He points to an image of Allen Iverson, the player he idolized as a kid, and starts talking about his impact on the culture, noting his patented arm sleeve and headband look. 

Growing up in Jacksonville, FL, a city he describes as the “jungle,” Ace developed a love for basketball. Rap was his true calling, however, and he began making music at the age of 13. His career kicked off with the help of a few family members and after signing with Cinematic Music Group, he released his debut album, Life of Betrayal, in August of 2018. He’s built a big following, thanks in part to a YouTube channel he runs with his girlfriend, Chloe, and to his constant interactions with his fans. 

“My favorite part about [the YouTube channel] is that it makes [Chloe] smile,” he says. “It’s something she really wanted to do. Every time she uploads it, she be happy. That’s probably my favorite part about it.

“And it’s definitely a good way [to engage with fans]. To be honest, that’s made my fanbase even bigger because people who didn’t know who I was but used to watch my YouTube channel, that makes them like the music. So streams go up from that, too. It’s dope all around.”

On November 8, 2019, a day after our interview, Ace dropped another major project, Step Harder, featuring Lil Durk, Stunna 4 Vegas, NoCap, DeJ Loaf, Boosie Badazz and Blac Youngsta.

“I ain’t gonna lie, I put my soul into that,” Ace explains. “I really took my time with this one.” 

When he’s not in the studio, Ace is often at the movies—he and Chloe go at least once a week, and Ace can quickly rattle off his top five all-time (Shottas, Ghetto Stories, Paid in Full, Rush Hour, ATL)—or hooping at LA Fitness in some Jordan XIIIs. 

He’s got supporters in the League now, too. 

“I got relationships with a few of them,” he explains. “Dejounte Murray from the Spurs. I fuck with him. We be reaching out. We call each other all the time.

“There’s a couple of them, but he’s the one I mess with on the daily, though.”

Because of Murray, Ace now roots for San Antonio. He’s also a fan of LeBron (“The GOAT, for real”), Westbrook (“He’s like a smaller LeBron”) and Curry (“It’s simple but he’s smooth, like you ain’t gonna be able to stop that”). 

When Lil Durk linked with SLAM not too long ago, he challenged any rapper to play him one-on-one.

“All the hoopers who say they got skills, you got to show it,” he said. “I’m tired of challenging people. They scared.”

We know one person who isn’t.

“People from Chicago can’t really play ball like that,” Yungeen Ace says with a smile.

—

Alex Squadron is an Associate Editor at SLAM. Follow him on Twitter @asquad510.

Photos by Sean Edwards.

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As of this writing, he’s the Hornets’ leader in points (18.2) and assists (6.9) per game. He ranks second in the entire NBA in three-pointers made, trailing only James Harden. On multiple occasions, he’s been asked to take the big shot in crunch time and delivered. Head coach James Borrego moved him into the starting lineup to orchestrate the offense alongside Terry Rozier. He’s been among the most effective pick-and-roll ball-handlers in the L. He recently became just the fourth player in NBA history to record 50+ threes and 100+ assists in his team’s first 15 games.

The honest answer is no, Devonte’ Graham didn’t expect this. After being drafted 34th overall in 2018, he spent a good chunk of his rookie season bouncing back and forth from the G League. He knew a greater opportunity was coming this year,  but just how much of an opportunity, and how well he’d thrive in it, has come as a complete surprise. 

Well, maybe to Graham. 

“I’ve been a fan since he was at Kansas so I wouldn’t say I’m surprised,” Rozier says. “I’m happy for him. He put the work in so he’s getting out what he put in.” 

“To be honest, I’m not surprised because there’s opportunity here,” says assistant coach Nate Mitchell, who trained with Graham over the summer. “I also saw this last year—he just didn’t make shots. He struggled a bit, going up and down. But if you go back and look at his G League games, some things are transferable, and the way he shot the ball percentage-wise off the bounce in the G League, it’s the same thing he’s doing right now. Obviously there are bigger, longer, more athletic guys at this level, but if you can see the reads it doesn’t matter. With the time that he put in over the summer, it makes sense.” 

“We don’t really talk about everything he’s doing on the court,” Hornets forward Michael Kidd-Gilchrist says, alluding to the fact that no one treats Graham’s success as anything out of the ordinary. “We want him to stay even-keeled. We don’t want to be like, Oh yeah, you were killing last night.”

About 45 minutes after Kidd-Gilchrist spoke with SLAM, the Devonte’ Graham show began at Madison Square Garden. The 24-year-old exploded for 29 points, including nine threes, and he knocked down the game-winner to lift the Hornets over the Knicks.

Graham has dropped 20 or more in five of Charlotte’s 15 games. He had 23 on 78% shooting on opening night against the Bulls. He posted 35 in a comeback win over the Pacers and calmly sunk the winning free throws. He’s also notched double-digit assists in four outings.

“I feel like [the opportunity] is the biggest thing, if you ask me,” explains Graham. “Just trying to make the most of it. I put in a lot of hard work this summer. Didn’t know what to expect with the team this year with losing Kemba [Walker] and Tony [Parker]. I knew my role would increase, but not this much. My teammates, like I always say, do a good job of just telling me, ‘Keep shooting the ball. Keep being aggressive.’” 

His teammates aren’t the only ones who’ve passed on that message. Franchise owner Michael Jordan has consistently preached it to Graham as well. 

“He just told me to keep going and keep being aggressive,” Graham explains. “He said that sometimes I pass up some open shots that I should take, but you know, that’s just MJ being MJ [laughs].” 

With the aid of Coach Mitchell, Graham devoted his offseason to preparing for this kind of role. They focused on expanding his range well beyond the arc, shooting off the dribble, making on-target pocket passes and overall pick-and-roll decision-making. 

“[You see] guys like Damian Lilllard, Kemba Walker—obviously [Devonte’] got to see that firsthand last year—and Steph Curry. Coming off pick-and-rolls and making threes is a big thing and can change coverages,” says Mitchell. “So for him, it’s understanding how to change the other team’s coverage, and then when they do, becoming a really good passer in these pick-and-roll situations, which he’s doing a really good job of.” 

Throughout his rookie campaign, Graham paid close attention to the two PGs ahead of him on the depth chart. He took note of Kemba’s effectiveness coming off those high screens—how he was able to lose defenders and seamlessly get into his shooting motion. It’s something Mitchell emphasized over and over again in their training. The goal for Devonte’ heading into this year was to create as many open looks as possible from deep, relying heavily on that skill set. He’s currently averaging 2.1 pull up threes a game—good for seventh in the League, per Second Spectrum. 

Graham also studied Parker’s elite floater, a necessary tool for small guards (he’s merely 6-1) trying to finish in the paint. Parker was adept at releasing them unpredictably off of either foot. Graham continues to refine those types of unconventional shots with Mitchell. 

When he was coming off the bench to begin this season, Graham actually watched film on Lou Williams. He mainly observed how the three-time Sixth Man of the Year would check into games immediately in attack mode. It influenced his own mindset to see someone so fearless. 

“It’s really unique,” says Graham. “You come off the bench. You’ve been sitting for however many minutes and then you come off and he’ll take the first shot that comes to him like he’s been in the game and already made five shots. I think that’s a talent. You got to be able to have that confidence in yourself.” 

That confidence quickly landed Graham in the starting lineup and has him among the early candidates for Most Improved Player. He believes spending four years at Kansas made a huge difference in his transition to the NBA. The Jayhawks ran a pick-and-roll heavy offense so Graham got used to assessing schemes and making quick adjustments. He filled various roles during his time in Lawrence so he’s comfortable playing on and off the ball as well—a key factor when it comes to developing chemistry with Rozier. The initial plan wasn’t to mix them together so frequently. Rozier was going to be the team’s primary point guard and Graham, his back-up. Devonte’s play through the first 10 games left the coaching staff with no choice but to adapt. He’s been flourishing in his brief position as a starter, averaging 18.8 points and shooting 40% from three.

“I guess he turned that corner of being a rookie to noticing he belongs,” says Kidd-Gilchrist. “You can see that.” 

This opportunity may have been unexpected, but that doesn’t mean Graham wasn’t ready for it. Truth is, he’s been preparing for it forever. 

“You got to be ready whenever. That’s what [Hornets veteran] Marvin Williams is always telling the young guys,” Graham says. “You just got to be ready, that’s what the NBA is about—being ready when your name is called. Even if you don’t play 10 games, that 11th game, if your name is called and you’re ready and you perform, then you might go from there and play the next 15 games. So you just always got to be ready no matter what.” 

At this point, little else Devonte’ Graham does should come as a surprise.

“It’s been really good for us and surprising for a lot of people,” Mitchell says. “But for me, the work that he put in, this is expected.

“And I only expect more.”

—

Alex Squadron is an Associate Editor at SLAM. Follow him on Twitter @asquad510.

Photos via Getty.

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Somewhere in each of these unique settings, at least one golden net hangs from a basketball hoop. Pretty much all of them were attached by a man with a big beard wearing a white t-shirt and white painter’s overalls. His name is Jeremy John Kaplan.

Kaplan grew up in Philly and played competitive basketball through high school. His passion for the game remained strong, even as he pursued a career in the art industry. In 2005, along with his friend and fellow artist Michael M. Koehler, he created a simple, yet powerful project.

“It was born out of conversations with Mike and trying to identify an area where we could make an impact,” Kaplan tells SLAM. “It’s hard to find any kind of needle in the haystack that doesn’t exist, so this was something that without a lot of resources, we could immediately identify that it was needed and do it.”

From his own experiences, Kaplan knew that many of the world’s parks had basketball hoops that lacked nets. So, adding his own artistic touch (gold spray paint), he set out to fix that problem.

“The gold was just trying to add a level of poeticism. I see it as giving a gift to a loved one, like you give a necklace or a piece of jewelry,” says Kaplan. “It is just a regular act. We’re just putting nets where they’re needed. But having it be gold makes it that there’s, like, another kind of thoughtfulness involved and out of respect and admiration for the people that make use of these spaces to better themselves.”

Kaplan would devise routes and hit court after court, armed with his stepladder, tool kit and a box of nets. With the help of Koehler, Kaplan estimates he adorned a little over 100 rims in ’05.

The initiative did not continue at that pace but was always at the forefront of Kaplan’s mind. He decided to fully reignite it this summer and the results have been staggering. Since May, around 291 gold nets have been placed, from Kaplan’s neighborhood in East Williamsburg all the way to South Africa. He remembers the first of those, which he hung at a playground right near his personal studio in Brooklyn. Ten guys were about to run full-court but only one of the two hoops had a net. So Kaplan got to work.

When the job was eventually done, he received a huge ovation from the entire group. One player even told him, “I’m gonna win this next game for you.”

“That was really a motivating force. The fact that I know what that’s like. I play on these courts and the gratitude that I felt [made me think]: OK, this is something that you should repeat over and over and over again,” says Kaplan, noting that the short-term goal is to get 365 up before the end of the year, but that’s just the beginning.

“My plans are to continue to grow,” he adds. “I think there’s value in going to the court, and the more parks that I’ve visited, the sentiment is even greater that people use them meditatively and therapeutically. So I think that there’s certainly a mental health element to [the project] in that that action should be rewarded and looked after. If you’re traveling to the court to spend some time to improve your situation physically, mentally, then you should be looked after too.

“The overall message is: That space [the basketball court] is a valuable space and member of our community and deserves to be taken care of.”

—

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For more information on the Gold Nets Project, click here.

Alex Squadron is an Associate Editor at SLAM. Follow him on Twitter @asquad510.

Photos by Sheldon Omar Abba.

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