We compiled a group of individuals (programming note: 30 entries, not 30 people total) who mean something special to SLAM and to our audience. Read the full list here and order your copy of SLAM 248, where this list was originally published, here.

The process for “discovering” a high school basketball player changed a lot in the social media era.

To set some context: it used to be way different. In the ’80s, ’90s, even early ’00s, you’d read about an up-and-coming player in a newspaper or a magazine, then catch glimpses of them on television if somehow possible (though likely not until they hit the college ranks). You mostly saw very little—a small article here or there with a short text description and a photo; in some extreme examples, some decent footage on a sports highlight television show; and in some super-extreme examples, a magazine cover, the ultimate stamp.

Then came the internet, then Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, all that. Pretty soon everyone had a camera in their hands 24/7, which meant that when a high school basketball player did something amazing, it immediately hit the internet, and if it was really amazing, it immediately went viral.

In 2017, Zion Williamson went viral damn near every other day. He was a junior forward out of South Carolina with a combo of flight—he could soar up to eye-level with the rim and just sort of hang out there for a few seconds—and power—he was built like a linebacker and dunked with such ferocity it shook the gym and caused a frenzy amongst the kids in the stands—that made every one of his dunk clips, which flew around social media at light speed, a must-watch.

At the time, the world had started to move with such tempo that on Zion’s game nights, those highlights were viral by the time he woke up the next morning. So where did that put SLAM, a publication with a history of “introducing” players like Zion to the world?

It was a question I thought about a lot at the time. I had become Editor-in-Chief the year before, a role I earned in part because of my ability to help SLAM compete in the hyperspeed media universe. And though the answer would continue to change (and still changes often to this day), at the time it was simple: we’re going to put him on the cover and we’re going to tell his story properly, show people the real Zion. 

SLAM 210 was Zion’s first magazine cover shoot. By the time the cover dropped, everyone knew his name (from Instagram), but this was the first time the audience actually heard from him directly. We had an interview with a “longform” video (like, three minutes) and a slew of beautiful, crispy photographs, which I half-joked at the time were the first look anyone got of Zion’s face outside of blurry camera phone footage.

That content was the result of a day spent with Zion and his family in Spartanburg, SC, where they’re from. There’s a mural in the middle of the city that says “THERE’S ONLY ONE SPARTANBURG,” and Zion’s stepfather bolted a basketball hoop to the middle of the mural for our photos. The images of Zion would become iconic in a different way than, say, a 2001 magazine cover would’ve, but in their own new-age way. Months later, when every college fan base was photoshopping Zion in their favorite team’s jersey, they meme’d our cover photo almost exclusively. Two years later, when Zion was drafted and signed with Jordan Brand, the company bought the rights and used that same photo—funny because of the many adidas logos they had to scrub and replace to make that work. The photo looked great, though, and was still the best visual representation of Z more than two years after the initial shoot.

We continued to cover Zion extensively following that shoot. His season at Duke was a blast, and we shot a great cover with him for SLAM 222—The Future Issue—right before he was drafted in 2019 to the New Orleans Pelicans. He teamed up with SLAM favorite Lonzo Ball, so we shot another cover, a group shot that also included Brandon Ingram and Jrue Holiday. Fast forward to summer 2020, post-Covid explosion but pre-Bubble, we rented an Airbnb-turned studio, masked up and shot a cool cover with Z to hype up the forthcoming return of the NBA. A few years later, in early 2023, we celebrated the then-surging Pelicans with a Pen & Pixel-style cover featuring Zion, Ingram and CJ McCollum. And then last summer he got another front page, posing on KICKS 26 alongside fellow Jordan Brand endorsees Jayson Tatum and Luka Doncic.

As I’m typing this, Zion Williamson is just 23 years old, and though it seems like he’s been around the scene forever, his career is really still in its early chapters. He didn’t rocket to immediate NBA dominance, but some of the chatter about him not performing is just nonsense; he’s a two-time All-Star who’s averaged over 25 points and 6 boards per game while maintaining a 60 percent (!) field goal percentage. It’s already been incredibly impressive, and again—he’s 23! 

There’s an anecdote in my cover story from 2017 that explains what it was like to watch Zion work out in an empty gym, how it felt like each dunk literally shook the room, the sound of the ball smashing through the hoop reverberating off the walls. That intense, seemingly out-of-nowhere, shake-the-room energy—if a sound could be a mission statement, in that moment, Zion produced SLAM’s. Bold, powerful, striking…for us, it was a North Star in the form of a sound wave. We chase that feeling with our content—our covers, our videos, our photos, our stories—every day, and that shoot crystallized it for me. Plus, it helped me figure out what SLAM’s place in the lightning-fast media landscape should be. It looks different than it used to, but we still stand head and shoulders above the competition because of our elite storytelling and the credibility that a SLAM co-sign provides. 

So yeah—we’re Team Zion. Forever. 

Portrait by Zach Wolfe. Photo via Getty Images.

The post THE 30 PLAYERS WHO DEFINED SLAM’S 30 YEARS: Zion Williamson appeared first on SLAM.

We compiled a group of individuals (programming note: 30 entries, not 30 people total) who mean something special to SLAM and to our audience. Read the full list here and order your copy of SLAM 248, where this list was originally published, here.

I called Chris Paul the “Forrest Gump of the post-2005 NBA” in a 2020 cover story about him. I think that’s pretty self-explanatory but figured I should spend some time here to explain that, because it sets the table for the reason CP3 is on this list.

Let’s quickly run through what earned him that distinction. In 2005, he’s drafted by New Orleans, but due to destruction caused by Hurricane Katrina, he spends most of his first two NBA seasons playing home games in Oklahoma City. In NOLA, he becomes homies with Lil Wayne, becomes an All-Star, becomes arguably the best PG in the League, becomes a playoff contender. Then he’s traded to the Lakers, un-traded by David Stern (I can’t emphasize enough how big a deal this was on 2011 NBA Twitter), then traded to the Clippers, becoming the heart of Lob City (another massive part of early 2010s NBA Twitter) and a perpetual postseason contender. He becomes president of the NBA Players Association, signs a long-term contract, and then the Donald Sterling racist audio incident happens, and he’s in the middle of that saga. Eventually he’s traded to Houston, then OKC. Then Covid happens, and Chris is in the middle of setting up the Bubble, lowkey a huge national public health story. Then, while in the Bubble, the Jacob Blake shooting takes place, and Chris—literally on national TV before a Thunder-Rockets game is about to tip—is a part of the group that holds the players off the court, and later as PA president, is the head of the group that figured out how to infuse social justice messaging and action into the NBA’s infrastructure. He leads the Thunder on an impressive run in the Bubble, then later joins the Suns, where he leads the team to the Finals, and is on the team when there’s another racist owner situation with Robert Sarver, who later sells the franchise.

A couple years pass and then CP3 joins the Warriors, where he’s currently attempting to help push the Steph-Klay-Dray group toward another ring. Along the way he played an iconic commercial character (Cliff Paul), amassed 22,000+ points and 11,000+ assists, made 12 All-Star teams and the NBA’s 75th Anniversary team and dropped 13 signature sneakers with Jordan Brand. And he was on the banana boat, because of course he was. The guy is everywhere.

“Forrest Gump of the post-2005 NBA”—undeniably accurate. But that’s not alone enough to make it to this list, because this is the “30 Players Who Defined SLAM’s 30 Years,” and if there wasn’t a direct SLAM connection, Chris would just be a guy who was around the NBA universe for a while, paying us no mind. But CP3 paid us plenty mind. He was first featured in SLAM in April 2003 as a high schooler with a one-page PUNKS article in the back of the mag; his brother CJ once told me that his family had that page framed in their house.

He was on his first SLAM cover in 2006, his second in 2008, his third in 2009, his fourth in 2011, his fifth in 2012 (alongside Blake Griffin), and his sixth in 2020. In his prime, he had a fun, uptempo point guard game that a magazine like SLAM was practically created to celebrate, and in his veteran years, he’s been a methodical game manager who almost exclusively plays on teams we cover deep into the playoffs. He was always relevant in the sneaker world—the aforementioned 13 sigs—and he was early in the tunnel fit game, becoming an @LeagueFits regular during our fashion account’s salad days. (The three hoodies he wore in his most recent cover shoot were produced in collaboration with SLAM and LeagueFits and sold on slamgoods.com, with the profits going to charity.)

A player who’s seemingly everywhere, finding his way into every crevice of basketball culture and NBA happenings for almost two decades, and a publication that covers every crevice of basketball culture and NBA happenings for exactly three decades. It makes perfect sense that the two would have a great, symbiotic relationship.

So, of course Chris was going to be on this list. The guy is everywhere. 

Photo via Getty Images. Portrait by Kyle Hood.

The post THE 30 PLAYERS WHO DEFINED SLAM’S 30 YEARS: Chris Paul appeared first on SLAM.

I thought a lot about the concept of leadership over the next week or so. You can’t really teach it. There’s no “AP Leadership” in high school, and any “Leadership 101”-type college courses are focused more on famous leaders throughout history than learning to be the best leader you can be. I know you can become a better leader—there’s a hundred-million-dollar category of the book industry to prove it—but there’s an innateness to leadership, like you’re either someone who’s naturally interested in bringing people together and uplifting the people around you or you aren’t. Maybe that’s a little too rigid of a way to look at it; there’s clearly some gray area here. But I wasn’t sure.

So I decided I’d ask someone who would know.

Fast-forward two weeks to a blazing-hot Tuesday in Los Angeles. I’m sitting in an airy photo studio when Chris Paul walks in to take some photos for the cover of this magazine. He cycles through a few looks curated for him by his stylist Courtney Mays, then sits down to talk about the past year. Obviously the first thing I ask about is leadership—is it innate or taught? Nature or nurture? Born with or learned?

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“I think there’s a combination of both,” he says. “I say the best teacher is experience. I don’t know if it’s fortunately or unfortunately, but I’ve been in a lot of crazy situations.”

Let me pause Chris right there to zoom into that fact. Not only has Chris been in a lot of crazy situations—he’s basically the Forest Gump of the post-2005 NBA. It’s also the first thing his brother CJ says when asked about the evolution of Chris’ personality over the course of his playing career. “It’s nothing that he hasn’t already seen at this point in the NBA,” CJ says.

THE HOODIES CHRIS PAUL IS WEARING IN THESE PHOTOS ARE AVAILABLE NOW AT SLAMGOODS.COM. A PORTION OF THE PROCEEDS ARE GOING TO THE CHRIS PAUL FAMILY FOUNDATION.

To run through it quickly: Chris is drafted to New Orleans, but spends huge portions of his first and second seasons playing home games in Oklahoma City because of devastation caused by Hurricane Katrina. Then he becomes an All-Star, becomes friends with local NOLA hero Lil Wayne, becomes the best point guard in the League and makes the playoffs a few times. Then he’s traded to the Lakers, immediately un-traded from the Lakers when David Stern vetoes the trade on behalf of non-existent Hornets ownership, then is traded to the Clippers where he forms Lob City with Blake Griffin and DeAndre Jordan. The Clippers become a perennial playoff team, Chris becomes president of the National Basketball Players Association (NBPA) and signs a fat contract to stay in L.A. for a while. But drama follows—tapes of Donald Sterling saying horribly racist things are leaked to TMZ, and CP, Griffin and Doc Rivers lead the team through what would eventually be a lifetime ban of the franchise’s now-former owner. Eventually Chris is traded to Houston, where he plays alongside James Harden, and two seasons later he’s traded to Oklahoma City in exchange for Russell Westbrook, landing back in the city he spent so much time in as a rookie.

And all of that was before this past year. On March 11, Chris was getting ready for a home game against the Utah Jazz when it was announced that opposing center Rudy Gobert had tested positive for Covid-19, leading to the shutdown of all sports and a permanent reference point for the beginning of the national quarantine. As president of the PA, Chris was essential in establishing and setting up the Orlando bubble, where regular season play began in mid-August. On August 26, following the sickening news (and video) of the police shooting of Wisconsin resident Jacob Blake, the Milwaukee Bucks stayed in the locker room and didn’t play, which led to the entire world turning on the news to see what would happen next. And what happened next, at least on our television screens, was a video of Chris Paul and Russell Westbrook—who were supposed to star in the Thunder-Rockets game later that day—walking down a hallway after deciding that their teams wouldn’t be playing, either. Chris set up a meeting for all players in the bubble to talk about the situation (more on that later), and days later play did return, and the bubble wound up being a massive success—there were zero Covid cases with the exception of a couple of players who arrived with it, the actual gameplay was amazing, important social justice messages were promoted, and, according to Chris, the players learned that as a group they’re way stronger when they’re together and unified than when they aren’t (more on that later, too).

So if experience is the best teacher, Chris has a head start, at least in terms of NBA happenings. His history of leadership goes back before his time hooping professionally, though.

Before Chris really saw a future in basketball, he played football and gravitated to middle linebacker—the leader of the defense. In the 10-and-under Pop Warner leagues he’d play quarterback, too—though as he got older he played receiver. But he was also the back-up quarterback, not even because of his passing skill so much as his natural ability to lead a group.

In seventh and eight grade, Chris was class president at school. He didn’t do it as a freshman, then picked it back up as a sophomore and held onto the role as a junior and senior. In 11th grade he was in charge of planning the junior prom, which fell on the same day as his AAU state championship game. He had to wake up at the crack of dawn to set everything up for prom at the convention center, then head to Charlotte to play (and win), then hustle back to Lewisville, NC, to pick up his prom date a few minutes late and book it to the party.

“But it seems like that,” he says, referencing his tendency to take on tons of responsibilities and deal with ’em one by one, “has sort of been the story of my life.”

After the NBA sent everyone home in mid-March, the NBA and NBPA together transitioned into “what do we do next?” mode. Chris was ready for the moment. He describes the process as a series of Zooms and phone calls, starting with a small group and gaining more and more consensus from a wider group as the bubble was becoming a reality. He credits good communication as integral to that exercise.

“I almost try to overcommunicate,” he says. “Communicating is something that I felt like we always can continue to get better at. Make sure everybody at least knows what’s going on, making sure that there’s an unbelievable team around to execute all of it. That’s the thing that I had to learn, and I’m still getting better at: You have to be able to delegate.”

“The most challenging [thing] was dealing with real-life issues,” he adds. “There’s a lot of people out there who were concerned with, Are the games gonna happen? Is basketball gonna be played? But all the players, the conversations that we were having was about real life and the social injustices that were taking place and leaving our families and the health risk because of Covid. I think that was the toughest part. Yeah, everybody wanted to hoop, but everybody’s mental health and physical health and family came first.”

The bubble got started mostly seamlessly—there were a couple of reported Covid cases when everyone descended upon Orlando, but after a mandatory quarantine time, zero players tested positive during the entirety of the remainder of the season. And then games started, and even without fans in the arena the action was truly entertaining—whether it was less travel helping with rest, the consistency of the court they played on helping with shooting percentages, or just general competitiveness built up from the time off, the players really went at it and the result was high-level gameplay.

But it was all happening very fast. Once games started, the schedule had teams playing basically every two days, and a lot of the motivation of the bubble in the first place—to bring players together so groups could more easily get together and plan social justice initiatives—weren’t happening as much as some would’ve wanted. “Guys are down there competing every day,” Chris says, “and real life is happening outside. So when the Jacob Blake situation happened, guys didn’t have the opportunity to really process it. So that gave us a chance to stop, like, Everybody stop. Let’s get in here and talk.”

After the Bucks decided they weren’t coming out of the locker room to play on August 26 and following the rest of the teams’ decision to do the same, Chris once again had to figure out next steps. One of his first calls was to NBA EVP of Events Kelly Flatow. “Kelly, we need a ballroom,” he told her. “We can do the chairs with social distance, whatever we need to do. But we need to talk.”

That meeting has been reported on many times by now, but it was an undoubtedly heated exchange. Coaches were present for the beginning, and then they left and it was just players—all the players in the bubble at the time. “The amount of quote-unquote star power that was in that room,” Chris says, “and actually in the beginning of that meeting it was coaches and players—that’s never happened. Ever ever happened.”

The group met again the following day, and by now we all know what happened next—the players did indeed stay, deciding to formulate a plan to address racial injustice issues (putting their support behind the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act) and demanding more from team owners regarding using NBA arenas as voter registration and voting hubs. “It was needed,” he says. “Without those meetings, I don’t think any more games would have been played. That gave us a chance to stop, like everybody stop, let’s get in here and talk. How are you feeling emotionally? Like, what are you feeling? And we got a chance to do that, and sort of do a reset, and to talk to the other governors about how we felt they could help support us and what some of our goals and our missions were.”

The bubble finished off successfully. The players spread important social justice messages everywhere they could—in commercials, on the backs of jerseys, on the court, and more. Plus, the fact that it was able to happen at all meant the players were able to provide for their families and loved ones. And as for Chris, he showed that at 35 years old he’s very much still got it, too. He led the Thunder, who most discounted would never make the playoffs in the first place, to a seven-game battle with the Houston Rockets. He averaged 21.3 ppg, 7.4 rpg and 5.3 apg during the series.

I asked Chris what he thinks will be the legacy of the bubble. “I think it will be something that future players will always draw back to, like, I don’t want to say defining moment, but, like, an awakening for players in understanding how powerful our voice is and how important it is to communicate with one another,” he says. “Just because we compete so hard against each other on the court doesn’t mean we have to compete like that against each other off the court. There are a lot more like-minded guys in our league than not. The ability to collaborate and partner and do things together, it will change a generation.”

Which brings us back to the idea of leadership. It can’t be easy to lead a room with a couple hundred NBA players in it, all of whom have their own strong thoughts regarding the best move for the group. On this, Chris preaches being definitive. He specifically says he refuses to sugarcoat decisions, and he won’t go to a player and say something is only happening because other people are pushing for it to happen; he’s willing to have tough conversations and say something is better for the group as a whole and it’s what needs to be done.

It’d be unfair to say Chris has a 100 percent approval rating across the League—DeMarcus Cousins has said repeatedly that he’s not a fan, and former teammate James Harden and Chris didn’t exactly see eye to eye before CP was traded to OKC in 2019. Still, his approval rating amongst a group of 400-plus millionaires—all of whom have well-deserved egos that come with being one of the 450 best basketball players on the planet—is off-the-charts high. Like, frankly, it doesn’t really make sense. It’d be almost too easy for Chris Paul to just hang out, enjoy being a basketball-playing rich guy who has a great job and a couple of iconic sponsorship deals. (Like it or not, Cliff Paul is gonna be remembered for a long time.) But instead, Chris is so consistently getting shit done that even during the two hours that we’re with him, he gets a text from one of the NBPA executives that he says he’ll “need to handle” later that day.

CJ Paul says Chris’ motivation for all of the off-court work comes in wanting to make sure the future is set up properly for those who follow in his footsteps. “I think just leaving something for the next generation of guys coming up [is his motivation],” CJ says. “As he’s been in the League, the pay has gone up—everything else has elevated. And I think he just wants that to keep happening for generations and generations and generations. What we don’t want to do is take a step back.”

And for Chris, none of this will stop anytime soon. At 35, he’s currently the only active NBA player from the 2005 draft lottery—and one of only a few still active from that draft altogether—but Chris says he has no plans to call it quits in the near future. He remains President of the PA, and who knows what challenges that’ll bring next. (For starters, there’s the 2020-21 season, which as of this writing is still totally up in the air in terms of timing.) Plus, he’s technically still class president—the senior-year class president is class president forever. Which is why in 2013, as a then-six-time NBA All-Star, Chris planned the West Forsyth High School Class of 2003 10-year reunion. “A guy as busy as him could just be like, Hey guys, I don’t have the time, y’all take it,” CJ says. “But he actually took the time to plan it out. Finding a DJ, all that.”

At the cover shoot, I ask Chris if he’s going to plan the 20-year reunion in 2023, too. “Yeah,” he says, chuckling a little. Kinda sarcastic, as if he’s trying to imply that maybe he won’t. But we both know that he’s going to do it.

—

Portraits by Atiba Jefferson. Buy your copy of SLAM 229 here.

The post Portrait of a Leader: Chris Paul on Guiding the Way appeared first on SLAM.

To celebrate #TBT, SLAM will be posting an old, iconic cover story on the website every Thursday.

SLAM 210, featuring Zion Williamson, was published in June 2017.

—

There’s a mural on a wall in the downtown area of Spartanburg, SC. On top of a royal blue background, the words “THERE’S ONLY ONE. SPARTANBURG.” are painted in white alongside an outline of the state of South Carolina, with various lines cutting through and connecting at the point in the state’s northern region where Spartanburg lies.

It’s a classic small-city welcome, some nice public art that locals and visitors can take pictures in front of to post on Facebook or Instagram or wherever. But today, on this rainy mid-May afternoon, the mural looks a little different than it has in the past. That’s because a basketball hoop has been hammered into the wall right where those in-state lines meet. Spartanburg resident Lee Anderson put it there thinking it’d spruce up the photos. He was right.

Not only does the hoop help create some fun pics, it also perfectly encapsulates the pulse and heartbeat of Spartanburg at this moment. Sure, the closest NBA team plays about two hours away in a totally different state, and South Carolina is traditionally considered football country, but on this day—and in this week, month, even year—Spartanburg revolves around basketball. All because of one individual. A 16-year-old student who attends nearby Spartanburg Day School.

His name is Zion Williamson.

You’ve probably heard of Zion. If you haven’t, you’ve almost definitely seen videos of him on one of your social media feeds, likely soaring through the air for some mind-boggling dunk that doesn’t look like it should be possible at the highest professional level, let alone from a teenager who isn’t legally allowed to vote. A little over a year ago, Zion first made headlines when he caught an alley-oop and finished a dunk over a helpless defender, whom Zion then stared down as the entire gym exploded in celebration. When it happened, Williamson was 15 years old and the No. 17-ranked player in the Class of 2018, per ESPN’s rankings.

He balled out through the summer of 2016, taking home co-MVP at the NBPA Top 100 camp, winning co-MVP and the dunk contest at the Under Armour Elite 24 and just generally dominating the AAU circuit. Then his junior season hit, and so did the dunks, the huge stat lines, the viral highlights, the mixtapes—all of it. One after the next after the next, each game containing anywhere from 30 seconds to a few minutes of must-see internet fodder. On at least a couple of occasions each game, Zion would grab a rebound or catch an outlet pass, dribble into the open court or through the defense, and rise up and dunk with a ferocity never before seen from a high schooler. Ever.

“You think he’s going to make a regular play,” says Lee Sartor, Zion’s high school coach at Spartanburg Day, “and it starts that way, but he finishes with such power and force that it just shocks your soul. You’re just amazed by what you just witnessed. And you want to see it over and over again because it’s just so unbelievable.”

Zion stands about 6-7 (and he could still be growing) and weighs around 240 pounds. He’s a lefty with the handles of a point guard and the dunking ability of…well, nobody that’s come along yet. Maybe Vince Carter? Dr. J? Dominique Wilkins? A slightly less springy, definitively more powerful version of Zach LaVine? It’s tough to put into context something that is arriving for the first time.

Those highlights, mixed with the level of command Zion was demonstrating on the court through his junior season, have turned him into a celebrity of sorts. All of the team’s home and away games are packed. Fans have traveled hours on end to watch him play. After one road game, the post-game atmosphere was so crazy that the players and coaching staff had to band together and bolt through a tunnel out of the back of the gym and run to the team bus. “I remember as we were running, I could imagine how The Beatles felt, with people running after them,” Sartor says, only half-joking. And Zion, who as a youngster asked for autographs from the highly-touted high school basketball players he admired, makes a point to sign every autograph and snap every selfie asked of him.

“I think people are realizing that they’re witnessing the beginning of something that could result in them saying, ‘I saw this kid when he was just starting, and now he’s perhaps the best player in America, or the planet,’” Sartor says. “I think people want to get a glimpse of that. It’s a show, and Zion realizes that his game and the way he plays, it excites people and inspires people and entertains people. He could, sometimes, just shoot a jumpshot or make a finger roll, but he knows that people are amazed by what he can do above the rim and finish with dunks, so that’s what he does. He wants to entertain people. People get excited by the way he plays.”

Williamson’s buzz hit another level last January when Drake posted a photo on Instagram of him wearing Williamson’s No. 12 Spartanburg Day School jersey. Zion was sound asleep as the image spread.

“I woke up probably around 8-ish,” he says. “I had hundreds of messages—group chats, like 50 Snapchat notifications. My phone just blew up. They were all like, go check Instagram, look what Drake just posted. I saw that he had my jersey on, and I sent him an IG message that said, ‘Thanks for showing me so much love—I don’t think you understand how much this means to me. You’re my favorite rapper.’”

The two haven’t met in person yet but text here and there. And to answer a question Zion often gets—no, he didn’t send Drake the jersey. “I asked him myself,” Zion says. “I said, ‘Yo, how did you get that jersey?’ He said he had it custom made. I just left it at that.”

From there, the celeb love branched out. Odell Beckham Jr also wore the uni and posted a pic on IG. Floyd Mayweather FaceTimed with him. Dez Bryant, Nate Robinson and Dwight Howard all sent messages.

When we catch up with Zion, he’s sitting in the Spartanburg Day School gym, seated upright on a folding chair under a basket during his first SLAM cover shoot. It’s in this gym where many of the viral videos originated—the bleachers and area surrounding the court filled with people standing up and high-fiving, hugging one another and yelling their faces off after any of Zion’s miraculous dunks.

“It’s an adrenaline rush,” Zion says. “It just gives you so much energy. When I get the ball or a steal and I’m wide open, you just hear everybody rise, and you hear, ‘Ohhh…’ and then you dunk it, and everybody’s jumping, high-fiving each other, and you’re just running down the floor like, Let’s go!

“I love it,” he adds. “When I was a little kid, even though I didn’t know what advanced dunks were—like windmills, 360s—I used to just want to see somebody dunk. Like, ‘Can you dunk? Dunk it!’ So when I see little kids go, ‘Zion, dunk it!’ I just look at them and say, I got you.”

Shortly before our interview, Zion, back on the court after a few weeks away from the game while he rested a bruised knee, does some “light” dunking for the SLAM photographer and videographers who are documenting the day. As he gets loose, I stand at halfcourt, watching. Eventually he takes a real running start, then leaps so high and throws it down with such fury that I contort my body in a full twist as I try to absorb what on earth I just witnessed. The aforementioned Lee Anderson—Zion’s stepdad—looks over at me and asks, “Are you OK there, Adam?” I tell him yes, but the answer is no. I’ve been to five NBA Slam Dunk Contests. I’ve never seen anyone dunk like that.

Part of the interest in Zion’s story comes from the fact that all of this—these dunks, this photo shoot, those highlight-reel games (at least the home ones)—is taking place in South Carolina’s Spartanburg Day School, a random private school with a sprawling campus in a relatively nondescript small city in South Carolina. To say that this school isn’t exactly a traditional basketball powerhouse would be quite the understatement. The entire school has an enrollment of 450 students, and that accounts for 3K (preschoolers) all the way up through 12th grade; the “Upper School,” which consists of grades 9-12, has about 150. The school doesn’t have a full-time basketball coach, and Sartor, who moonlights as the school’s varsity basketball coach, has a full-time gig as a Sheriff’s Deputy for Spartanburg County, though he says these days coaching basketball keeps him busy enough that it’s close to a full-time job.

“The school is small, intimate,” says Sharonda Sampson, Zion’s mother. “It’s not like when you go to a large high school and you get smothered. That doesn’t happen here. He goes to school with kids of people who own major corporations. So it’s like, ‘Basketball? OK, whatever.’ They see Zion, and he gets some attention, but they don’t bother him. They just like hanging out with him and being his friend.”

And like the school, Spartanburg as a city has not experienced anything like Zion. Football players, like former NFL running back Stephen Davis, have come out of the area, but never any big-name hoopers. (And Davis went off to Auburn as the No. 1 recruit in the country 25 years ago.)

“Usually you’re talking about what a community is doing to help nurture and do what’s right for teenage kids,” says Will Rothschild, Vice President of Strategic Communications of the Spartanburg Area Chamber of Commerce. “In this case, it’s a teenager doing a whole lot for his community. It’s a little odd to talk about—but it’s great.”

Rothschild gives an example of just how much attention Zion has brought upon the area: Last summer, Spartanburg hosted an AAU tournament that Zion played in, and the college coaches’ private jets were coming in at such a rapid pace that the local airport almost ran out of free space.

Zion isn’t originally from Spartanburg, though. He was born in Salisbury, NC, and moved to Florence, SC, when he was a toddler. Zion’s parents divorced when he was 5; his mother would later marry Anderson, who played guard at Clemson and then Columbus State in the late 70s. Anderson coached an AAU team and ran a basketball camp that Zion played in during the summertime.

“Zion came in very young, and he would get the basic stuff,” Anderson says. “From 9-5, every day [during the summer], for about six, seven years. That pushed him way over the top. Basic fundamentals, ballhandling, shooting, defense, rebounding drills. He got it all at a young age. That’s how he got ahead of his class.”

“I sucked,” Zion says. “But playing the game of basketball, it’s like a love—my first love. When you start playing, you don’t wanna stop.”

Zion wasn’t very tall, so he learned how to play point guard. “He mastered that pretty good,” Anderson says. “When he got to sixth grade, I just knew he would be way beyond the middle school competition. When he got to seventh grade, he was just dominating.”

Anderson had known Sartor from the South Carolina AAU circuit, and the family moved to Spartanburg at the beginning of Zion’s ninth grade year. The thought was Spartanburg Day offered a better basketball opportunity than where they were in the Florence area, and if hoops didn’t pan out, Zion would be getting a strong education in the process.

Uhh, good news—hoops panned out. As an eighth grade PG, Zion stood around 5-10, but he grew to 6-3 as a freshman and to 6-6 as a sophomore. He finished all-state as a freshman, but his team lost in the state championship and he went into that summer without any scholarship options. The following season Spartanburg Day won the state championship, and Zion hit summer ’16 with offers to local colleges like Wofford and Clemson. Then he played at a tournament in Dallas, where he picked up an offer from Iowa State. “So I’m like, OK, I can definitely go to college to play basketball,” he says. Next up was a tourney in Atlanta, where he left with “like 20” scholarship offers. He had arrived.

Zion is now a legitimate 6-7 forward but maintains the floor general skills he honed as a middle schooler with an added bounce unseen elsewhere on the high school scene. “This athleticism people keep telling me I have, it just came outta nowhere,” he says, smiling.

His game is undeniably similar to a certain previously buzzed-about high school recruit. He’s maybe an inch or two shorter than LeBron James was at the same age, and Bron was a better passer, but Zion is a better dunker and either equally or even more athletic at his size. They both were and are more than capable ballhandlers, both had and have seemingly NBA-ready bodies as high schoolers. Like Bron, Zion will need to improve his outside shooting, but if King James has taught us anything, it’s that perimeter skills can be improved immensely with hard work and time.

Zion’s stats have backed up the highlights. Per MaxPreps, he averaged 36.8 points and 13.0 rebounds this season, leading Spartanburg Day to a second consecutive state championship, albeit against lesser competition than some of his peers at basketball powerhouses—though in December he dropped 53 points in a victory over five-star recruit and future UNC guard Jalek Felton’s Gray Collegiate Academy, shooting 24-24 inside the three-point line and 25-28 overall.

He says he’s comfortable at Spartanburg Day, yet naturally many wonder if he’ll play out his senior year there or take off for tougher comp at one of the HS hoops factories across the country. And then, of course, there’s his college decision. He says his recruitment is wide open, with Kentucky, North Carolina, Duke and South Carolina considered to be at the top of the list. The college coaches have been so relentless in their recruiting that the family had to instill a rule: No phone calls or texts after 10 p.m. EST. “It’d be like 11, 12 o’clock, and coaches are calling, and we’re like, Wait a minute, do they not know you have to go to school tomorrow? You still need your rest,” Sampson says. “We were just like, OK, at this time, the phone goes on airplane mode.”

It’s no secret what Spartanburg’s residents are hoping for. As Zion takes photos in front of the “THERE’S ONLY ONE” mural, a man driving past in a pick-up truck yells, “Go to South Carolina!”

“Maybe!” Zion chirps back.

Time will tell where he ends up for what will likely be his only season of NCAA ball, just as time will tell how Zion’s game evolves from here. As an athletic wing who can handle the rock or do work in the paint on either end, Williamson’s well-rounded skill set makes him perfect for the increasingly position-less direction the game is heading. Like any teenager, he’s got a ways to go—some are skeptical that he’s even the best player in the Class of 2018, a title he competes for with Marvin Bagley III, a 6-11 power forward from Arizona. But there’s no debating that the future is bright. As a young child, he obsessed over tapes of Magic Johnson, mimicking Magic’s iconic no-look passes, and he now studies his three favorite players: LeBron (for his on- and off-court reputations), Kawhi Leonard (for the drama-free way he handles his business) and Russell Westbrook (for his ever-intense drive).

“I want to be one of the greatest that’s ever played this game,” Zion says, before listing off his personal goals. “I want to have a great reputation—nothing bad. Be a Hall of Famer. Try to win at least three NBA Finals, even though that’s probably nearly impossible, or very hard—but I’ma try. And give back to my community.”

There’s a lot of work to be done before any of that happens, but Zion is on the right track. His upbringing has provided him with such a strong backbone that texts from Drake and direct messages from a plethora of major celebrities haven’t gotten to his head. His status as a perpetual highlight reel in an era when bite-sized highlights thrive like never before means the spotlight will always shine bright. And his game suits the current landscape of pro basketball—and will likely suit it even better five-plus years from now.

Even his name is prescient. Mount Zion was the highest point in ancient Jerusalem. This Zion has begun his ascent to a height most of us can barely fathom. All we can do now is look up.

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Adam Figman is the Editor-in-Chief of SLAM. Follow him on Twitter @afigman.

Portraits by Zach Wolfe

The post ARE YOU READY FOR ZION WILLIAMSON?: The SLAM 210 Cover Story appeared first on SLAM.

All day long, a young Donovan Mitchell would jump up towards the archway that separated his family’s living room from their dining room at their house in Elmsford, NY, slapping the wall at the highest point he could reach.

Tap! Tap! Tap!

“You’re dirtying up my walls!” Nicole Mitchell, Donovan’s mother, would yell at him.

A decade-plus later, Nicole sat courtside as Donovan flew through the air time and time again en route to a 2018 Slam Dunk Contest victory in Los Angeles. He leapt over his little sister Jordan, along with comedian Kevin Hart and Hart’s son. He re-enacted a classic Vince Carter dunk—while wearing a Vinsanity jersey, no less. He tossed two alley-oops off the backboard to himself. Nicole was amazed by his ability to soar, but not surprised—she’s been watching him practice for that moment for a while.

“Whether he had so much energy that he had to jump up and down or he knew [jumping in the living room] is how he could get up closer towards the rim, he’s been working on that vertical for quite some time now,” she says. “It paid off.”

It’s been a theme as of late—years of hard work paying off all at once for the 21-year-old rookie. He was drafted last June by the Utah Jazz, a franchise that played in a city he had visited for the first time during his predraft workout. Then he started the season relatively slowly, averaging 9.4 points through the first seven games of his career. “I was just focusing on all the wrong things,” he says.

He speaks from the middle of the court in an empty Vivint Smart Arena, where the Jazz play, on an off day in late February. Cameras roll in front of him, and off to the side the lighting for his first magazine cover is being set up. “I’m a selfless player, and I was focused on, like, Who are the Rookie of the Year candidates? Who is scoring this? Who is doing that? Instead of worrying about what we’re doing here.”

Conversations with veterans like Thabo Sefolosha—who recommended that Donovan simply turn off his cell phone (gasp) during moments of stress—helped him get on track pretty quickly, though. He scored in the 20s in a bunch of games through November, and then on December 1, with his sister’s name penned on his sneakers, he dropped a cool 41 points in a home win over the New Orleans Pelicans.

And that was just the beginning. He topped 24 points eight more times in the month of December, combining high-flying dunks with a silky three-point shot and a knack for moving the ball effectively and getting his teammates involved. With star guard Gordon Hayward having bolted for Boston the previous summer, the Jazz had been a popular bottom-of-the-standings preseason pick, an organization many expected would tank away this season to load up for a 2019-and-beyond approach. Instead, as 2018 hit, Mitchell was averaging close to 20 a game and the Jazz were pushing for a playoff spot in the ever-competitive and absurdly deep Western Conference.

“On December 1 is when I was like, Man, I can do this,” he says. “I was like, I can play at this level and compete.

“Every game there’s something that I do that makes me be like, Man!” he continues. “Even when I score, sometimes—I don’t know how to explain it. I’m making these shots that a year ago I wouldn’t come close to making.”

The breakout didn’t slow down when the new year hit. Spida—as he was nicknamed by a teammate’s father as a kid because of us his spider-esque long arms—dropped 35 and 34 in January and kicked off February with a 40-point, 6-assist, 5-rebound performance against the Suns. He also threw down a few poster dunks and led the Jazz on an 11-game winning streak that stretched from late-January through most of February. At least locally, sales of his jersey went through the roof. (A team staffer told SLAM the organization hasn’t seen jerseys move at the rate they have recently since the Stockton-Malone days.) In late December, he made an appearance at a Stance Socks store at a mall just outside of Salt Lake City, and the 1,100-person line to grab a photo or autograph wrapped through the entire mall and around the block outside.

The momentum kept rolling at February’s All-Star Weekend in Los Angeles. There was that amazing Dunk Contest, plus the Rising Stars Game, where he started and threw down a self-alley-oop off the backboard during a fast break. CAA, the agency that represents Mitchell, set him up with a jam-packed schedule of events and signings for fans, which he appeared at, one after the next, with his mother and sister by his side at all hours of the day.

When we catch up with him in Utah, Donovan spends a lot of time talking about his family. They guided him through the process, but more than that, they made sacrifices to make sure he was able to take advantage of every opportunity. Nicole and Jordan traveled with Donovan to every tournament he participated in as a kid and every game he played in that they could possibly get to. “My mom wouldn’t hang out with her friends because she’s taking me to a tournament, or my sister wouldn’t be able to go on vacation with some of her friends because she’s with me,” Donovan says. “I never take stuff like that for granted.”

Since 1999 Donovan’s father has worked for the New York Mets (he’s currently the Director of Player Relations and Community Engagement), and growing up Spida was as enamored with baseball as he was basketball. As the now-commonly-told story goes, DM injured his wrist playing high school baseball, forcing him to miss the subsequent AAU basketball season. Sidelined and frustrated, Donovan learned that A.) the ability to play sports can be taken away at the snap of a finger and B.) that basketball was his future, and that if he was going to commit to it, he needed to ditch all other pursuits. He decided to go all in on hoops and never looked back.

During his junior and senior years of high school he attended Brewster Academy in Wolfeboro, NH, where he became a coveted top-30 prospect with his choice of D-1 college options. “I thought, Jackpot, we’ve got a good education ahead of us,” Nicole says. She was right, but didn’t realize that that education wouldn’t need to last long. He went to Louisville University and was decent (at best) his freshman year, but returned to his family’s new home in Connecticut after the school year ended and worked his ass off to get better. That summer, “[Donovan] would take the train all the way to 42nd Street and walk to the building where we’d workout,” says Chris Brickley, a personal trainer now known for the popular Black Ops summer pick-up games he runs in NYC. Brickley had also played at Louisville and was close with then-Louisville coach Rick Pitino, and had trained with Donovan before his freshman year of college, too.

Donovan’s sophomore year changed everything. He averaged 15.6 ppg (more than double his previous season’s scoring numbers), plus 4.9 rebounds, 2.7 dimes and 2.1 steals per game. The story’s circulated plenty by now, but Mitchell famously paid for himself to travel to and workout in L.A. after the season ended (to retain his NCAA eligibility if he decided not to enter the League), then trained with NBA superstars Chris Paul and Paul George, who wisely advised him that of course he should declare for the draft. “He was trippin’,” Chris Paul says. “Me and him did a little shooting game, and he won. We played some 1-on-1. I just told him it’s a decision he has to make with his family, but I knew he was ready to play.”

The rest happened fast. He declared, went through team workouts, was selected by the Nuggets at 13th overall and subsequently traded to the Jazz for Trey Lyles and the 24th overall pick. Twelve days later, he watched as 2017 All-Star Gordon Hayward announced that he’d be shipping off to Boston, leaving Jazz fans unsure of what the coming season held. They had some nice pieces—Rudy Gobert is a 25-year-old All-Defensive First Team stud, Ricky Rubio is a solid pass-first point guard, and there were some reliable role players like Derrick Favors, Joe Ingles and Rodney Hood (before a mid-season trade sent him to Cleveland) in tow. It’d be relatively standard, though, for a team coming off the loss of its one All-Star to fill out the roster with inexperienced up-and-comers, give them big minutes and prepare for the top of the 2018 lottery.

“I think it’s a credit to the organization and the tradition that we have,” Mitchell says, “[that] we really want to go out there and try to make the playoffs. We’ve structured our lineup to go and do that.”

Part of that structure was giving lots of playing time to the aforementioned group of vets, though the coaching staff still puts Donovan front and center, regularly starting him as a shooting guard who shifts over to point once Rubio subs out. He averages over 33 minutes per game (third in the NBA among rookies) and has a usage rate higher than guys like Kemba Walker and CP3. Which is to say that he’s been thrown into the fire, and he’s responded like he was 1,000 percent ready for it.

Brickley hasn’t been shocked. He watched Donovan participate in those Black Ops runs with NBA-level talent last summer, where he held his own. “Everyone knew,” Brickley says. “It hasn’t been a surprise. Everyone that was in the runs, from JR [Smith], to Devin Booker, to CJ [McCollum], they’ve seen how good the kid is. He was doing that all summer—he was dominating. So I really wasn’t surprised when I saw what he was doing, because I saw him do it in the summer versus elite NBA guys.”

“I never expected to be here,” Mitchell admits. But he mentions repeatedly that he refuses to let the newfound fame change him. “Breaking my wrist [in high school] allowed me to see that this isn’t a given. This can be taken away at any moment. The minute you let all this get to your head is the minute all of this stops.”

On February 26, the night before Mitchell’s SLAM cover shoot, the Jazz host the Rockets in SLC. From press row, even a cursory look around and it’s clear: Donovan Mitchell is officially this franchise’s headliner. No. 45 MITCHELL jerseys (he chose the number to honor his favorite player’s iconic baseball career, switching up the usual form of MJ worship) don’t just dot the stands—they flood them. His face is featured on promo materials and perpetually displayed on the arena’s strikingly massive Jumbotron.

The Jazz flash constant potential, as does Donovan individually. Once or twice, as he has seemingly a couple dozen times this season, he splits two defenders, finds a crack in the lane and rises up for a forceful dunk. He often plays relatively low to the ground—dribbling close to the hardwood and weaving through taller defenders by maintaining his handle while crouching down—but when he extends up and rises for a dunk, he flies higher than you’d expect he’s capable of, even for an athletic NBA player.

And yet the Rockets are the hottest team in the NBA, and at the moment Chris Paul and James Harden are simply too good. Towards the end of the first half, the rook drives on CP3, who displays vet-like poise by waiting until DM is just a little off-balance then rips the ball away from him as an unsteady Mitchell crashes to the floor. The Rockets wind up with a 96-85 victory, extending their impressive winning streak to 13, and the Jazz fall to 31-30 on the season. Since then, Mitchell’s team has gone 9-1,  holding the No. 8 seed in a competitive Western Conference as this story went live.

Mitchell’s averages of 19.9 points, 3.7 rebounds, 3.6 assists and 1.4 steals have put him neck and neck in the Rookie of the Year race with Philadelphia Sixers do-everything dynamo Ben Simmons, though Mitchell says, “I can care less [about the award]. The biggest thing right now is making a playoff push. I really love competing. I don’t wanna be at home watching it, saying, Man, we should be there.”

If the team does slide into the postseason, it’ll be largely because Utah coach Quin Snyder gave his star rookie the reps that any young NBA player craves upon entering the League, and Mitchell then turned those reps into quick results. “A lot of guys have to come in this league and sit and watch and learn,” Paul says. “He’s dealing with a coach that’s letting him play, which is really great. Watch when the game starts slowing down for him. He’s only getting started.”

“Coming in, people didn’t say I had that high of a ceiling,” Mitchell adds. “Obviously I’ve seen that their feelings have changed. I really don’t base it off what other people say I can or can’t be. It’s a matter of how much I wanna work.

“I think I can be as good as I allow myself to be.”

It’s early yet, but so far that is pretty damn good.

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Adam Figman is the Editor-in-Chief at SLAM. Follow him on Twitter @afigman.

Portraits by Ryan Young; action photos courtesy of Getty Images

Video by Christian Quezada

The post Jazz Rookie Donovan Mitchell is a Ready-Made Superstar appeared first on SLAM.

“I love Devin Booker, man … He’ll talk shit, he’ll rough you up. You better watch out for that boy, because he’s nice. He next. I’m telling you.” —Kevin Durant on The Bill Simmons Podcast

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“I think people just respect the competitive nature,” Devin Booker says. He’s sitting in a quiet room on the fourth floor of Phoenix’s Talking Stick Resort Arena, a few feet from where he’ll soon pose for the photos that grace the pages of this magazine. A few floors below him, the Phoenix Mercury and the L.A. Sparks are about to tip off their WNBA playoff game, and a few minutes after that Devin will snake through the bowels of the arena and slide into his courtside seat to take in the action. But for now, he sits on a stool and wonders why all of the League’s superstars—LeBron, KD, Jimmy Butler and Dwyane Wade, to name a few—keep saying his name when asked for their favorite up-and-coming NBA player.

“When I play against guys who are in college or when I go to pick-up games, I respect the kids that go right at me,” Booker adds. “From competitor to competitor, I know the respect. When I go against [the superstars], there’s a fire in my eye, ’cause those are the top guys in the League, and that’s the position I’m trying to get in. Every time I get a chance to play against those guys, I’m not backing down.”

It’s strange to think about how fast this all happened, how quickly he went from just another top recruit to the shortlist of NBA upstarts who have Next. Just one year in college and two in the L. One NCAA Tournament, one All-Rookie First Team appearance, one 70-point game, a slew of 30-something-point outbursts, a shit-ton of three-pointers and a lot of trash talk.

A whooooole lot of trash talk. Guys around the League have noted time and time again that D-Book loves to run his mouth on the court.

“Anytime I talk trash and somebody talks trash back to me, the level of the game just rises,” he says, smirking. “If you’re a competitor and somebody’s talking trash to you and you’re talking back, you’re getting the best out of everybody. I feel like I’m built for that.”

What you’d assume is that some kid with a take-no-prisoners approach would have such an outlook because he never really cared for the NBA bigwigs he’s consistently staring down in the first place. But then you learn it wasn’t too long ago that Booker owned a LeBron James jersey and had a Kevin Durant fathead on the wall of his bedroom. See, it’s not that Devin isn’t much of an NBA fan. It’s that he’s such a super-fan that he’s been preparing for this moment since the beginning. The very beginning.

Devin was born and raised in Grandville, MI, a suburb outside the city of Grand Rapids. He lived mostly with his mother, Veronica Gutierrez, while his father, Melvin Booker, hooped professionally in Europe. You could trace Devin’s path to the League back to those years—his pops played pro ball, so he wanted to, too. When he was around 11, Devin visited his dad in Italy and met Danilo Gallinari, who gifted him an autographed pair of his Reebok sneakers.

It helped that Devin was tall. “He was the same size as us,” says Davon Wade, Devin’s older brother by four years. “When he was younger he never wanted to play in his own age group, so he always played four years up, in mine. He’d come to my AAU practices and practice with us. He was at our skill level, but four years younger.”

Ever competitive, Devin and Davon would battle in just about anything—video games, football, baseball and, yes, hoops. They’d play one-on-one and Devin would make Davon repeat the games over and over, unwilling to accept any defeat. Davon had an edge when the two were younger, but things evened up pretty quickly.

Davon still remembers the moment he realized Devin was a little better than around-the-neighborhood good. A local kid named David Krombeen who had attended Grandville HS and was considered to be the best young player in the area came back to play in a summertime open gym while he was a sophomore or junior at nearby Hope College, where he started and was co-captain during his junior and senior years. Meanwhile, Devin, who frequented those open gyms, was heading into his freshman year of high school. Despite the vast age and experience difference, a feisty Booker outplayed Krombeen by a wide margin.

“Then I was like, OK, Devin is gonna be something really special,” Wade says.

Twelve months later, Booker’s life changed its course. His father turned down a two-year contract to continue his career overseas, opting to return to his home in Moss Point, MS, so Devin could leave Michigan and come down south to live and train with his father full-time.

Moss Point was…well, different. “We were a little nervous, because [Devin] grew up in the suburbs,” Wade says. “He moved and literally went to school in the hood. Complete, total, polar opposites.”

“He needed to be challenged,” Melvin says. “It’s nothing against suburban basketball, but it’s a little different in the hood. It’s just something that made him better. It’s just another challenge that he took upon. And he took over the area. Took over the state, actually.”

In Mississippi, Devin woke up at 5 a.m. to train on the beach with his dad before school. He played hard-nosed, in-your-face, inner-city basketball. His reputation grew, and as a result he faced double- and triple-teams regularly. He grew to 6-6, developed a smooth-as-hell jumpshot and evolved into a prototypical 2-guard.

He earned a scholarship to the University of Kentucky, which had become a factory for churning out NBA players. Even still, Melvin figured Devin had two or three years of college in him before he took off for the League. But within one week of Devin participating in UK training camp, Melvin received a call from a coaching staff member who told him he should plan on selling his house sooner than later, because he’d be moving to an NBA city the following summer.

“At the time I didn’t believe it, but as the season went on and [Devin] started playing so well, it was like, Looks like I need to put the for-sale sign in my yard,” Melvin says.

The Phoenix Suns drafted Devin with the 13th pick in 2015. (A fun, pointless hypothetical: Think about how different today’s NBA would look if Booker fell just one more spot to the OKC Thunder.) He started his pro career slowly, but when Eric Bledsoe went down with a torn meniscus that winter, Book stepped up.

He hadn’t been getting many minutes when the Suns visited Detroit for the first time, but Devin’s friends and family from Michigan showed up in droves anyway. “We were telling our family, ‘Look, he hasn’t been getting much time, You can come see him, but we don’t know if he’s gonna play or not,’” Wade remembers. “Our whole family showed up, as did all of his friends. So we were a little nervous, like he might not even get in—we have no idea. The coach ends up putting him in and he rattled off, like, 12 straight.”

Devin finished that game with 18, then a career-high. “And I was like, Wow, he can do it at every level,” Wade says.

A few games later, the Suns visited Chicago. Phoenix was down big in the fourth, so Devin got another opportunity. “I hit a couple big shots, and I was like, It’s go time,” Booker says. In the fourth, after teammate Mirza Teletovic hit a clutch shot, Devin mimicked Drake’s “Hotline Bling” dance, which subsequently went viral. And the Suns won.

We’re now approaching the two-year anniversary of that night, and Devin’s career hasn’t slowed much since. A solid rookie year—including an average of 13.8 ppg—landed him a spot on the All-Rookie First Team. He then made a name for himself throughout the ’16-17 season by battling—and holding his own—against the NBA’s best. His scoring jumped to 22.1 ppg; he drained a shade under two threes a game.

Then there was The 70 Point Game. March 24, 2017. Suns at Celtics.

And to think…before the game even started, Devin was tired.

“I was up really late the night before,” he says. The guys were playing cards on the plane ride from New York to Massachusetts, and the game spilled into the hotel, which cut into some sleep hours. (For what it’s worth, NBA players have their entire days to get ready for games, naptime included, so it’s a little different than someone with a 9-5 losing some nighttime sleep.) “When I’m tired in warm-ups, I go super hard to get it all out, so I can catch a second wind before the game. And then the game was just incredible.”

An understatement. Devin had 19 in the first half, then exploded in the second half, by scoring…and scoring…and scoring. He finished with a clean 70.

Davon watched the game from the apartment in Phoenix he shared at the time with his little brother. “My phone was just blowing up,” Wade says.

“That was a special game,” Devin says. “Some games I surprise myself.”

At this point in Book’s young career, the 70-point game is often the first thing brought up when his name is mentioned. When Devin and his brother visited China this summer, people came up to them screaming, “Mr. 70!” It was there that the two realized how much weight that one game carried—being known in NBA circles is one thing, but fans lining up to get a picture or autograph on the other side of the globe speaks to a new kind of fame.

What’s on deck is pretty obvious. He still hasn’t made the All-Star team, still hasn’t been the best player on a winning roster. But it’s clear he’ll get there. He spent last summer in Phoenix, working out and fixing up a house he bought, which should make Suns fans breathe easy, since nothing says, “I ain’t going anywhere” in NBA-speak like a guy buying a house in the city he plays in. He took yoga classes, both hot and regular, once or twice a week, and even got in a few spin classes. He visited Asia. He popped up at trainer Chris Brickley’s now-famous pick-up runs in NYC. And he prepared for the next step.

“Sometimes in the middle of a workout I’ll be like, I gotta go harder,” he says. “I’m not an All-Star yet, not where I wanna be. I can’t be complacent. I know the second- to third-year jump, people say that’s the time to make that jump. It’s go time for me.”

Seventy-point games aside (those don’t make sense for anyone), there’s a reason that, out of all the NBA’s young’ns, it’s Book who’s risen to the top of the heap, and who looks like he’ll soon rise to the top of the entire League. He’s literally been groomed to do this. As a kid he hung on the sideline when he visited his dad in Europe—along with some time with the Denver Nuggets and Golden State Warriors, Melvin played in Italy, Turkey and Russia—studying the passion required to play professional basketball. As a teenager, he moved to Moss Point and trained like an NBA player early in the morning and late at night while spending his days in high school chemistry and literature classes. We don’t know exactly what courses he took during his one year at Kentucky, but the “How To Be a Successful NBA Player 101” seminar they seemingly give to all of the men’s basketball athletes was certainly one of them.

And of course there was the constant observing of the NBA stars he now talks shit to on a nightly basis. Booker always did keep a watchful eye on the NBA’s best. Remember that fathead?

“That Kevin Durant thing, that is crazy,” he says, cracking a smile. “I used to go to sleep and a picture of Kevin Durant used to be in my room. I still have respect for KD, but it’s a totally different feeling now.”

Ask KD, or any other star who’s faced up against D-Book, and you learn one thing: The feeling’s mutual.

Related:
Deserve It — SLAM 213 Cover Story on Draymond Green
The Beautiful Struggle — SLAM 213 Cover Story on  CJ McCollum
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Adam Figman is the Editor-in-Chief at SLAM. Follow him on Twitter @afigman.

Portraits by Jonathan Zizzo

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SLAM 213 is on sale next week! Pick it up at newsstands and bookstores nationwide.

The post Savage Mode appeared first on SLAM.

It’s Cavs Media Day in late September of 2017, and LeBron James, gripping a basketball, has jokes. Seated on an apple box in a massage room-turned-SLAM photo studio, Bron fiddles with a rock as he poses for the portraits you see above and below, palming the ball the way you or I might control a softball.

Dad jokes aside (for which he gets a pass, considering, ya know, he’s a dad), LeBron not only looks plenty comfortable taking photos for the cover of a magazine—he looks plenty comfortable all day long. He speaks eloquently about social issues during a press conference; he laughs with teammates as he strolls around the photo and video set-ups; he somehow never once seems to lose the smile on his face. His 15th NBA season has arrived, and LeBron just looks…at ease.

With three championships (including one for the hometown), four MVPs, 13 All-Star appearances and enough individual and team awards that frankly this paragraph could go on for hundreds and hundreds of words, plus a relatively newly established status as the voice of a generation, we’ve collectively reached a point where anyone still hating on LeBron James is, quite simply, an asshole. He looks like he knows this, as he should, and the result is a relaxed demeanor rarely seen on a person with such a blinding spotlight perpetually shining in his or her direction.

After he finishes his SLAM photo session, the best basketball player of today’s era—and possibly ever, though that’s a conversation for another time—leans against a counter on the side of the room and settles in to field some questions about the past, present and future.

SLAM: Most NBA players head into the offseason with a certain thing they want to add to their game over the summer, but at this point for you I’d guess it’s a little of everything. Is there anything specific, even mentally, you tried to add over the past few months?

LeBron: For me, mentally, I’m always trying to learn to be a better leader every single day, and be more constant, be more vocal at times, be more there for my teammates at times. When guys say, “You’re a great leader,” I say, “I’m still trying to figure out ways I can be better.” Then for my game, I worked on everything, man, from my shooting to my ballhandling to my post [moves] to my dribbling—everything. I always felt like if I can improve myself individually, then it’s gonna make our team that much better. So that’s what I’ve been trying to do.

SLAM: What kinds of activities do you do to improve your mental approach?

LeBron: I read The Godfather all the time. I’m back reading it again—I just started again last week. It just hits home for me. Even though they were Sicilians and they come from different walks of life, the notion of family and being together and having adversity and having people that you think are in your corner and they’re not—anybody can relate to that. That’s life.

SLAM: We were also able to keep track of your summer because you’ve been supplying the world with amazing Instagram Stories. 

LeBron: [Laughs] That’s just who I am.

SLAM: It’s cool because the workout stuff, you in the gym at early hours in the day, that’s gotta be super motivational to kids trying to be like you.

LeBron: For me it’s not even for work no more, it’s just a lifestyle. I feel great when I get a workout in, and I don’t feel so great when I don’t. Even with my whirlwind of a schedule this summer, being in Vegas or Charlotte for [my sons’] basketball tournaments, or being in Asia or being in the Philippines for my Nike tour or being in New York for Fashion Week, I always figure out a way to get in the gym and improve my body, improve my mind and improve my game. It’s just a lifestyle.

SLAM: Plus you’ve been showing off your music taste on there—are you up on A&R Bron?

LeBron: I heard a little bit about it, man. I wasn’t up on it when I was doing it, but people have just been sending me, like, “You’re like a real A&R guy.” They’re like, “If you approve it, other people are going to.” I love music. I listen to pretty much everybody—I’ll give anybody a chance. And if it hits my ear, then I’m gonna let the people know that it hit my ear. I’m all over, too. Being from Ohio, we have an opportunity to listen to everybody, from the East Coast with all the East Coast rappers, to down south with Cash Money and Baby and those guys when they were doing their thing and No Limit was popping and doing their thing. We’ve also got the South where you get to Texas with UGK and Scarface and all those guys, and then we go all the way to the West as well with Pac and Snoop and Tha Dogg Pound. We cover the whole thing. It’s crazy, because I listen to everything. I just love music. It’s a passion of mine.

SLAM: Are you like, This song is good—if I put it on my IG Story, it’ll help it get a deserved boost?

LeBron: You know what, sometimes I don’t even think about that, man. If that’s what comes out of it, I think that’s amazing.

SLAM: Like that Tee Grizzley record…

LeBron: I heard! And shout out to Tee Grizzley—I’ve seen and heard a couple of his interviews where he shouted me out and said that I helped jumpstart things for him, but I just appreciate the great song. Shit, he put together an unbelievable track for the summer and we were all rocking to it. That’s what it’s about.

SLAM: You said you were inspired this summer by your sons’ AAU tournaments. There’s been a lot of talk about if kids are learning the game properly in that scene. What did you think of it?

LeBron: There’s some bad basketball, there’s some good basketball. I think it’s all predicated on the coaches and the way they’re teaching those kids. The great thing about it is the coaches that we have, they teach our kids the right way. Number one, you’ve gotta play together. Number two, you’ve gotta know the fundamentals of the game. How to make a left-hand lay-up on the left-hand side, whether to throw a chest pass or a bounce pass, knowing when to take a charge or go for a block, or knowing not to settle for a jump shot or [shoot it]—there’s certain things and intricate parts of the game that we’re teaching our kids that are more than just getting the ball, dribbling down the court and shooting. That’s such a minor detail of the game and there are so many more levels to it. I saw some bad basketball this summer, but I’m in a position where I can watch my son be a part of a program that’s trying to do it the right way.

SLAM: The way information spreads these days leads to a ton of noise around basically every single thing you do. What do you do to block that out and just focus on the things that matter?

LeBron: I really don’t get involved in it, man. If I send out a tweet, I don’t read comments. I don’t go in to look at how many—what is it, retweets, or likes, or whatever it’s called. If I send out an Instagram post, I don’t really check to see how many likes I get. When I send something out, it’s either from the passion of how I’m feeling or what I think needs to be said. I know it’s a lot of noise out there, but it’s all white noise to me. I don’t really get involved in it and I don’t really pay attention to it.

SLAM: How about in terms of basketball—we’ve seen you listen to music and read books before games to block everything out, but have you been trying anything new?

LeBron: Nah, it’s the same motto. The same tune. I listen to music all the way to the game. I read before the game as well. Then right before the game I listen to some more music. For me, it’s all about repetition and how I can maximize what I’ve been doing. It’s been working, so I wanna keep it going.

SLAM: When your name is brought up, not only now, but 10, 15, 20 years from now, what are you hoping people have to say about your basketball career? 

LeBron: First of all, that I was one of the most unselfish basketball players that played this game, at a level that he didn’t have to be unselfish—but it’s just part of my DNA. I cared for my teammates more than anything, but when I stepped out on the court, I gave it my all. There was never a moment when I didn’t give it my all. One thing that they will always be able to say is that I was a champion. They’ll never be able to take that away from me. Where they rank me, who I’m better than, who I’m not better than—I call that barbershop talk. That’s gonna happen. No matter if you like it or not, it’s gonna happen. It happens with the greatest of all time, Muhammad Ali. With Muhammad Ali, it’s who’s better, him or Floyd [Mayweather Jr]? Who’s better, Tom Brady or Joe Montana or Aaron Rodgers or Peyton Manning? It’s barbershop talk. What’s better, ham and cheese or peanut butter and jelly? They can’t even talk and people talk about them. It is what it is. For me, it’s just being able to maximize, and hopefully people will talk about some of the best qualities you have, more than the stuff that doesn’t mean anything.

SLAM: Speaking of looking back, years down the line I think we’ll talk about how during this time period, there was a shift in how athletes used their platforms to talk about social issues. Do you agree with that?

LeBron: Yeah, I do. But it’s hard to say. It’s hard to know how much impact you’re making when you’re in it. I don’t think Martin Luther King Jr knew the type of impact he was making while he was making those speeches. You don’t ever know when you’re in it. You only know after, or unfortunately when you’re not around anymore. But it’s just who I am. Hopefully I’ll make an impact that’ll last longer than me and last longer than my kids, and then my grandkids get to benefit from that. That’s the ultimate goal for me.

SLAM: I read through an old issue of SLAM last night, and in it you were about to be an NBA rookie and you were asked about the draft age limit. You responded by saying something along the lines of, “That’s not up to me. I’m just a player.” Fifteen years later, nobody would ever say that, because now being an NBA player means you have real power. You’ve driven that movement—has that been a conscious effort?

LeBron: I think it has been a conscious effort because we understand how much we mean to this league. But at the end of the day, we understand that how much commitment you put into the game is the byproduct of what you put onto the floor. It’s always been important for these kids to know that they have a platform and they have an opportunity to do something that’s greater than just the franchises they play on, understand that they are important as well. But first of all, you have to put in the work. You can’t be a guy who comes into this league who doesn’t put in the work and then feel like you have the right or the entitlement to say something. Entitlement is the worst ingredient in any mixture of anything you can have. If you’re humble about it, and you put a lot of work into your craft, and you give everything to your situation, then I think you’ll be put into a position where if you have some things to say, it’ll go beyond what you ever imagined.

SLAM: Now you’re a leader both for guys on your team and guys across the League…

LeBron: They wouldn’t tell you that.

SLAM: I think some would—guys from your agency, from Nike…

LeBron: OK, the guys from Klutch would. The guys from Nike, nah. They all got that ego. [Laughs]

SLAM: What’s it like being able to say, “I’ve experienced a lot over the last 15 years and I have a ton of information to pass down to the next generation?”

LeBron: One thing about me is I’ve always had an open-door policy. For guys who wanna learn about the game, about business or things that’s going on off the court or how to handle certain things, I’ve always had an open-door policy. I believe I have a gift to give to the game, and it’s always been bigger than just me. If I can help the next generation know that their voice can better the inner city or the way they play the game can inspire a kid to want to be great, then I’ve done my job.

SLAM: You probably don’t have another 15 years left, but you’ve got a solid chapter or two remaining. What else are you hoping to accomplish?

LeBron: I’m still in championship mode, which I’ve been in for a long time. Those things can happen, and sometimes they can’t. The only thing that you can guarantee is that you give it your all, and hopefully at the end of the day you put yourself in a position where you can compete for a championship. For me, I want to maximize my potential. Every single year, while I’m still loving the game at this level—and I still love the game, I still love to train, I still love to compete, I still love the League—then I have a responsibility to give everything to the game. And I have no signs of slowing down. I’m gonna keep it going for as long as I can.

—

Adam Figman is the Head of Content and Editor-in-Chief at SLAM. Follow him on Twitter @afigman.

Portraits by Julian Berman, action photos via Getty Images.

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SLAM Presents LEBRON hits newsstands Friday, November 10. Go cop it!

The post Royal Flush appeared first on SLAM.

I realize that might read a little absurd. The MVP of the NBA is underrated? To quote the man himself, “Bruh… what?”

And listen, I’m not out here trying to say that he’s the best player in the NBA by leaps and bounds, or that the close 2016-17 MVP race should’ve been a landslide, or that if the ball bounced a different way once or twice that Westbrook would’ve added Finals MVP to his award collection. That’s a little ridiculous.

I’m just trying to say that despite the fact that the very top of this list might (or might not!) feature a better basketball player, there’s nobody on this list that is more iconic in 2017 than Russell Westbrook. And that should count for more than just something. That should count for everything.

There are lots of good basketball players. You love them and think about them and if they’re lucky, you’ll hang onto a few memories and forget the others. But with Russ there’s going to be none of that. You’re going to remember it all.

You’re going to remember the outfits. The press conferences. The quotes. The triple-doubles. The dancing. The intensity.

Here’s the best part, though: He’s not slowing down. Our hero did this the other night. The 28-year-old is more amped up than ever before. He spent the summer honing his craft. He has two v talented new teammates, which will either be a bit of a disaster or help him elevate both his and their games to a whole new level.

He averaged 31.6 points, 10.7 rebounds and 10.4 assists per game last season. He’ll probably average a few less points, slightly less rebounds and slightly more assists this year. All of that stuff is cool and validates him being ranked the No. 3 basketball player in the League, which is a fair ranking, and you know it is, even if you want to argue that he should be a spot higher or a spot or two lower—I mean I understand if you think that, but you’re lying to yourself. Like, come on. He’s third. For now. Next year he might be first or second or fourth or fifth.

It doesn’t really matter, though. What matters is you’re going to remember everything he is doing, because he’s perpetually iconic, and that’s how we treat icons. If you’re of a certain age, you have more Charles Barkley memories than you do David Robinson ones, and you have more Allen Iverson memories than you do Tim Duncan ones. I don’t mean to compare Russ to any of those guys—I’m just trying to put into context the undeniable fact that all of these amazing things Russ is doing everyday are one day going to be put together into a 30 for 30 or an E:60 or a Showtime documentary or a Facebook mini-movie or God knows what kind of soon-to-be popular media format, and you’re going to watch it, and you’re going to think to yourself, “My God, what a fucking legend.”

Which is really my point: Russell Westbrook is underrated because so often we see him do things, incredible things, and we don’t immediately think, “My God, what a fucking legend.” And we need to. We need to be thinking that every single time.

Previous Rankings:
2016: No. 3
2015: No. 5
2014: No. 6
2013: No. 12

Rankings are based on expected contribution in 2017-18—to players’ team, the NBA and the game.

No. 50 – Dion Waiters
No. 49 – Ben Simmons 
No. 48 – Brook Lopez
No. 47 — Harrison Barnes
No. 46 — Jrue Holiday
No. 45 — Lonzo Ball
No. 44 — Myles Turner
No. 43 — Goran Dragic
No. 42 — Andre Drummond
No. 41 — Al Horford
No. 40 — LaMarcus Aldridge
No. 39 — Kevin Love
No. 38 — Paul Millsap
No. 37 — Hassan Whiteside
No. 36 — Andrew Wiggins
No. 35 — Marc Gasol
No. 34 – DeAndre Jordan
No. 33 — Bradley Beal
No. 32 — Kemba Walker
No. 31 — CJ McCollum
No. 30 — Devin Booker
No. 29 — Nikola Jokic
No. 28 — Joel Embiid
No. 27 — Mike Conley 
No. 26 — Kyle Lowry
No. 25 — Rudy Gobert
No. 24 — Gordon Hayward
No. 23 — Kristaps Porzingis
No. 22 — Carmelo Anthony
No. 21 — DeMar DeRozan
No. 20 — Blake Griffin
No. 19 — Draymond Green
No. 18 — Chris Paul
No. 17 — Klay Thompson
No. 16 — Jimmy Butler
No. 15 — Isaiah Thomas
No. 14 — Karl-Anthony Towns
No. 13 — Damian Lillard
No. 12 — DeMarcus Cousins
No. 11 — Kyrie Irving
No. 10 — John Wall
No. 9 — Paul George
No. 8 — Anthony Davis
No. 7 — Giannis Antetokounmpo
No. 6 — James Harden
No. 5 — Kawhi Leonard
No. 4 — Stephen Curry

The post SLAM Top 50: Russell Westbrook, No. 3 appeared first on SLAM.

“Head and shoulders above everyone else,” Bagley Jr says. “It was like, Wow, he might be really tall.”

That’s when Bagley Jr decided that Bagley III should probably get involved with sports—Junior had played college football at North Carolina A&T and then in the Arena Football League—and basketball made sense, for obvious reasons. “It takes height, sometimes,” Bagley Jr says. “It’s a good first step.”

The second step tends to be talent, and Bagley III had plenty of that, too. He kept growing—he never stopped being the tallest kid in his class—and he quickly accumulated skills to match the height. Those skills eventually earned him a scholarship to Duke University, where he’ll be the star of the most stacked NCAA roster in the nation this fall. The team also features top recruits Trevon Duval, Wendell Carter Jr and Gary Trent Jr, along with senior Grayson Allen. Bagley III is set to be either the best or second best player in the country, depending on your opinion of Missouri’s Michael Porter Jr, and is a lock to be a top 5 NBA draft pick in June of 2018.

“There’s a lot of eyes on me now,” Bagley III says minutes after wrapping up his first SLAM cover shoot at Duke’s Cameron Indoor Stadium the morning of his freshman move-in day. “It’s exciting. It’s something I’ve always dreamed of—going to college and playing college basketball, being able to do what I love to do.”

Growing up, Bagley III never struggled to control the post, grab rebounds and generally just toss around smaller opponents. But Bagley Jr wanted his son to learn the entirety of the game, be it dribbling the ball up the floor or making the right pass. This became a bit of a source of contention for those who dealt with the family over the years, with countless coaches wanting to ride Bagley III to tournament wins by throwing him under the basket and dominating the competition, while Bagley Jr preferred his son develop a well-rounded style of play. “Some teams held me back, and that’s when my parents came in and we moved to a lot of different teams,” Bagley III says. “I can’t count how many teams I’ve been on.”

“In the beginning, we played for a lot of programs that played for trophies,” Bagley Jr says. “At a young age, you have to be aware about developing the kid. We left a lot of teams because that development wasn’t there.”

(Bagley Jr has always been his son’s guiding force. Even over the past year, at most of his son’s AAU and Drew League games, he was often spotted somewhere on the baseline holding a camcorder, documenting the action alongside members of the media who were credentialed to capture footage.)

When MBIII was in fifth grade, his pops founded Phoenix Phamily, and on his own AAU team he let his son learn the ins and outs of handling the rock. “I could have 50 turnovers, but my dad still trusted me to go out and play and push,” Bagley III says. “I’m thankful for that—that’s why I’m where I am today.”

It helped that Bagley Jr had some foresight on the evolution of the sport. With the traditional back-to-the-basket center fading away and “unicorns” like Karl-Anthony Towns, Joel Embiid and Kristaps Porzingis—athletic 7-footers who can play inside and out—taking over the center position over the past couple of years, Bagley III is next in line to carry that big man torch. But Bagley III’s inevitable ascension was put in motion before the aforementioned superstars exploded onto the scene. The soft-spoken Arizona native has been ranked top three (and usually No. 1) in his class since he was a freshman at Corona del Sol HS in Tempe, AZ.

That year at Corona del Sol, he averaged 19.6 points and 10.3 rebounds per game, leading the school to its fourth consecutive state championship. The following season, Bagley III left Corona del Sol for Hillcrest Prep, a basketball program where students take classes at Starshine Academy in Phoenix and spend hours upon hours honing their on-court craft. But mere months after the transfer, amidst a mild controversy in which Hillcrest’s academic status was in question and one of the team’s important games was pulled off ESPN, the family left Arizona for California, where they settled in Chatsworth, CA, so Bagley III and his younger brother Marcus could attend Sierra Canyon HS.

Sure, there’s a little bit of a theme of inconsistency here—with the many AAU programs Bagley III played in as a young child, and the multiple high schools he attended as a teen—but what remained consistent was, if we’re being honest, the only thing that truly mattered: a real commitment to the game of basketball. Over the years Bagley III kept getting better, and at no point did he come close to falling out of the HS prospect rankings. In fact, his grip on the top got tighter.

In 2016-17 at Sierra Canyon, a fully grown, 6-11 Bagley III averaged 24.9 points, 10.1 boards and 2.0 blocks per game, leading the school to the CIF Southern Section Open Division semifinals before the team was defeated by eventual state champions Bishop Montgomery. (Bagley III had 28 and 12 in the loss.) Chris Paul, Paul Pierce and Lamar Odom all attended Sierra Canyon games at some point during his tenure there, and he was named Gatorade State Player of the Year at the end of the ’16-17 season.

“He’s a freak,” says Andre Chevalier, who was an assistant coach at Sierra Canyon while Bagley III played there and will be the team’s head coach this coming season. “I don’t know what to say other than that. The combination of who he is doesn’t come along very often. He’s able to rebound it and dribble it, and he shoots it pretty good. There’s obviously things he needs to improve upon, but on the high school level, he was unstoppable.”

Chevalier also coached Bagley III on the AAU circuit a little bit, which is where he experienced the moment he realized this kid was playing on a different level than anyone else in his age group. In one tournament, Marvin caught a pass while running the baseline, rose up, spun for a complete 360, then soared toward the front of the rim and dunked it. “I was like, Did I just see what I just saw?” Chevalier says. “The freakishness of it—he couldn’t have thought about it. His instincts were just like, How do I get myself to the front of the rim? And he just caught it, did a 360 and dunked it.

“I was like, Good Lord Almighty.”

***

On that Tuesday in late August, minutes after he arrives on campus for move-in day, Marvin Bagley III and his family walk through Cameron en route to our cover shoot. Seemingly every person who bumps into Bagley III says the same thing, something like, “So you’re the guy we keep hearing about!” Kids ask for selfies and parents offer handshakes. Duke’s next superstar is officially present.

Just months ago, most in the college basketball scene couldn’t have guessed things were going to play out like this. Until August 14, Bagley III had technically only completed his junior year, with a full year of eligibility remaining before he could take off to college. But that night on SportsCenter, with a national audience watching, Bagley III announced that he was reclassifying and committing to Duke University.

It was yet another recruiting win for Coach Mike Krzyzewski, who has pivoted his strategy to accept—and, well, pursue—the one-and-dones that Duke previously stayed away from. It helped that Bagley Jr grew up in the Durham area (though the fact that the family had been living in sunny California should’ve also given an edge to local USC and UCLA), and it doubly helped that Coach K told Bagley III he could wear his preferred No. 35, despite it being retired as Duke legend Danny Ferry’s former number.

“Hearing the coaches talk to me about how I play and how I could get on the court and fit in with the team, I feel like it was a great fit for me,” Bagley III says. He visited the school for the first time as a ninth grader, and had been back a couple times since then. “I just love the environment here—it’s a calm place, and I feel like I’m going to be around people who want to accomplish high goals like me, so there probably won’t be any distractions. Just a perfect fit for me.

“I want to win the National Championship,” he adds. “That’s the only reason I play—to win. That’s my main goal.”

It’ll be plenty interesting to see how Duke squeezes Bagley III into what was already an exciting roster—he’ll likely play a lot of minutes alongside Carter Jr, another talented big man with a very similar skillset. But there isn’t much reason to worry. Over the summer, Bagley III hooped in the Drew League, facing up against grown men such as current and former NBAers DeMar DeRozan, JaVale McGee, Julius Randle and Baron Davis. He dropped 32 points and grabbed 11 rebounds in a contest against DeRozan, and put up an 18 and 20 performance in the league’s all-star game.

Of course one or two impressive performances during a summer league doesn’t exactly guarantee a long, fruitful career, but it’s hard to doubt Bagley III is on the right path, a path that began sometime around first grade and doesn’t appear to be coming to a halt anytime soon. NBA teams are eagerly waiting for his name to be available in 2018, and whichever team selects him next June will have a legion of fans eagerly waiting for him to hit the court. In the meantime, he’s got a season at Duke to show and prove to the few who might not be sold just yet.

“Every time I’m on the court, that’s on my mind: Be the best player you can be,” he says. “I put so much into this game that it’s hard for me to not want to do that. I work hard every day, and I just feel that I want to be the best at it. If you don’t want to be the best, then there’s no need to play.”

—

Adam Figman is the Editor-in-Chief of SLAM. Follow him on Twitter @afigman.

Portraits by Atiba Jefferson

Video by @VASHR

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Related
Family Over Everything: Michael Porter Jr and His Family Are Taking Over Missouri Hoops

The post Bag Talk appeared first on SLAM.

Then this summer we got our first taste of the real thing in what I guess you could call Diet NBA action, more commonly known as Summer League. And holy shit, did you see what Lonzo did? Don’t talk to me about level of competition—that kid went out there and dished some crazy-ass passes, rebounded the ball well, got all of his teammates involved, turned Kyle Kuzma into a young Michael Jordan, took home a well-deserved MVP award and helped the Lakers win a whole bunch of ballgames.

Bruh!

It’s a little too soon to say that the hype is real, but my god the hype certainly seems to be at least relatively justified. From just a week or two of on-court action, we suddenly know a few big facts:

• He’s unselfish as hell and his teammates are going to have a lot of fun hooping alongside him
• He’s good for one or two “Daaaaaamn!” highlights per game, at minimum
• He needs to become a slightly better jumpshooter, which is something you can say for approximately 93 percent of rookies
• His ceiling is very, very high—like Jason Kidd-meets-Penny Hardaway high
• He’s going to be the 45th best player in the NBA this season, and then in the ensuing years he’s going to be ranked even higher

I guess that last one isn’t exactly a fact. But come on—you look at everything above it, and you don’t think that’s even, like, probably true?

Rankings are based on expected contribution in 2017-18—to players’ team, the NBA and the game.

No. 50 – Dion Waiters
No. 49 – Ben Simmons 
No. 48 – Brook Lopez
No. 47 — Harrison Barnes
No. 46 — Jrue Holiday

The post SLAM Top 50: Lonzo Ball, No. 45 appeared first on SLAM.

Your favorite sneaker companies, naturally, want the same. Lord knows the industry has evolved a whoooole bunch over the last 20 years, and watching and covering that has been a ton of fun. (I can’t really vouch for much before 2010, but I can’t imagine it wasn’t just as fun back in the day as it is today.) So with this issue, our 20th annual edition of KICKS, we figured we’d dedicate a fat chunk of space to our 20 favorite on-court shoes—those that made a splash, and those that stood the test of time. To celebrate those wins.

That part was an easy decision. Of course we’d use our 20th anniversary issue to pay homage to the ground we stand on. What we did with the cover(s) (pictured below), though, not so simple. But hey, creating a basketball sneaker that goes down as one of the 20 best over the course of 20 years deserves some recognition, and what better recognition than its own cover of the Sneaker Bible?

So! Twenty covers. I will never forget the looks on the faces of our Creative Director Alexis Cook and Managing Editor Susan Price Thomas when I presented the idea, but not only did they agree to help make it happen—they killed it, tracking down 20 high-resolution, cover-worthy images of the shoes (thanks to Dan Fulton and Nick DePaula for the alley-oops) and designing 20 dope covers for a single magazine, which is either a record or something very close to it. Covers 1 and 2 (Jordan and Iverson) will be available on all newsstands, and over the next couple of weeks, we’ll be hosting a give-away on our social channels and website that’ll allow you the opportunity to win a package that includes every cover of this issue. In the meantime, enjoy all of the covers below, and stay tuned for a ton of KICKS 20 content dropping over the coming month, including the very latest from Nike, adidas, Jordan Brand, Li-Ning, AND1, FILA, Q4, Ewing and plenty more.

Air Jordan XIV (1 of 20):

Reebok Answer IV (2 of 20):

Nike Air Zoom Generation (3 of 20):

Nike Huarache 2K4 (4 of 20):

Nike Zoom Kobe IV (5 of 20):

Nike Shox BB4 (6 of 20):

adidas T-Mac 1 (7 of 20):

Nike Hyperdunk (8 of 20):

AND1 Tai Chi (9 of 20): 

Nike Zoom KD IV (10 of 20): 

Air Jordan XXXI (11 of 20):

Nike Kyrie 2 (12 of 20):

Nike PG 1 (13 of 20):

adidas Harden Vol. 1 (14 of 20):

Air Jordan XX (15 of 20): 

Nike LeBron 8 (16 of 20):

Under Armour Curry One (17 of 20):

adidas The KOBE (18 of 20):

DADA Supreme Spinner (19 of 20):

adidas adiZero Crazylight (20 of 20):

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Adam Figman is the Editor-in-Chief of SLAM. Follow him on Twitter @afigman.

The post KICKS 20 Is On Sale Now! appeared first on SLAM.

It’s probably the weirdest trend on the internet. (Wait—there’s no way that’s true.) But it is very strange. Initially it took place in message boards and website comment sections, and now you see it on Instagram and Facebook—anytime a major account posts literally anything, the race to drop a “first!” in the comments is on. Often just a “1” will suffice. Because it’s quicker, you know? Easier to be first.

Looking back to last year, I think it’s safe to say that SLAM was relatively “first” with our coverage of the Ball family—we initially introduced Lonzo, LiAngelo, LaMelo and LaVar to the world at large in SLAM 201 with a feature, the family’s first true national press following the brothers’ undefeated 2015-16 season at Chino Hills (CA) HS. Then in the fall, Zo started crushing at UCLA and highlight mixtapes floated around of Gelo and Melo beating up on opponents at will, and as the hype spread, we released a video that provided a look at how the family spent their 2016 Christmas together in Cali. LaVar was undeniably the star of that show, which I believe set the tone for all the coverage that has followed in the months since. And Lord knows that has been a lot of coverage.

For us, being first isn’t important for the sake of just being able to say that we were first (which is, I’m guessing, the only real motivation of those internet commenters), but because we want to be a reliable source for those curious about the direction of both the game and culture of basketball. In that sense, I feel comfortable saying our coverage of the Ball family has been a win. Whether you love every aspect of their movement or hate seeing LaVar’s face on your TV screen on a seemingly daily basis, you can’t argue with the fact that they matter. A lot. Lonzo is the new face of the L.A. Lakers, the younger two brothers are very much on the come-up, and regardless of your interest in copping BBB gear, it does appear that the family’s brand might be laying a blueprint for top NBA prospects to take an independent route in the industry, if those prospects so desire.

With the Ball family—and their potential influence on the years to come—serving as inspiration, we decided to devote an entire issue to the future of basketball and the culture that surrounds it. So along with an essay from LaVar himself on how the family rose to prominence and why they aren’t going anywhere, we’ve got a whole bunch of stories in this issue about where the sport goes from here. That includes pieces on young hoops studs like Lauri Markkanen, Dennis Smith Jr, Frank Nkitilina, Moses Brown, all of the Philadelphia 76ers, Tiffany Mitchell, plus some crazy new Nike technology, virtual reality, the NBA’s push into India and a former NBA player you might remember by the name of Mike Bibby, who’s helping shape the future by passing on his extensive knowledge to high school athletes.

Hopefully you can enjoy all of the issue’s content and get a little glimpse of what the basketball space will look like down the road. We’ll let you form your own opinions, but through our lens, it ain’t terrible.

RELATED:
COVER STORY: LaVar Ball Writes About His Family’s Movement
Can All Three Ball Brothers Wind up on the Lakers?

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Adam Figman is the Editor-in-Chief of SLAM. Follow him on Twitter @afigman.

Portraits by Atiba Jefferson; photo of Lonzo/LiAngelo via Getty

The post Lonzo, LiAngelo and LaMelo Ball Cover SLAM 211 appeared first on SLAM.

It’s a classic small-city welcome, some nice public art that locals and visitors can take pictures in front of to post on Facebook or Instagram or wherever. But today, on this rainy mid-May afternoon, the mural looks a little different than it has in the past. That’s because a basketball hoop has been hammered into the wall right where those in-state lines meet. Spartanburg resident Lee Anderson put it there thinking it’d spruce up the photos. He was right.

Not only does the hoop help create some fun pics, it also perfectly encapsulates the pulse and heartbeat of Spartanburg at this moment. Sure, the closest NBA team plays about two hours away in a totally different state, and South Carolina is traditionally considered football country, but on this day—and in this week, month, even year—Spartanburg revolves around basketball. All because of one individual. A 16-year-old student who attends nearby Spartanburg Day School.

His name is Zion Williamson.

You’ve probably heard of Zion. If you haven’t, you’ve almost definitely seen videos of him on one of your social media feeds, likely soaring through the air for some mind-boggling dunk that doesn’t look like it should be possible at the highest professional level, let alone from a teenager who isn’t legally allowed to vote. A little over a year ago, Zion first made headlines when he caught an alley-oop and finished a dunk over a helpless defender, whom Zion then stared down as the entire gym exploded in celebration. When it happened, Williamson was 15 years old and the No. 17-ranked player in the Class of 2018, per ESPN’s rankings.

He balled out through the summer of 2016, taking home co-MVP at the NBPA Top 100 camp, winning co-MVP and the dunk contest at the Under Armour Elite 24 and just generally dominating the AAU circuit. Then his junior season hit, and so did the dunks, the huge stat lines, the viral highlights, the mixtapes—all of it. One after the next after the next, each game containing anywhere from 30 seconds to a few minutes of must-see internet fodder. On at least a couple of occasions each game, Zion would grab a rebound or catch an outlet pass, dribble into the open court or through the defense, and rise up and dunk with a ferocity never before seen from a high schooler. Ever.

“You think he’s going to make a regular play,” says Lee Sartor, Zion’s high school coach at Spartanburg Day, “and it starts that way, but he finishes with such power and force that it just shocks your soul. You’re just amazed by what you just witnessed. And you want to see it over and over again because it’s just so unbelievable.”

Zion stands about 6-7 (and he could still be growing) and weighs around 240 pounds. He’s a lefty with the handles of a point guard and the dunking ability of…well, nobody that’s come along yet. Maybe Vince Carter? Dr. J? Dominique Wilkins? A slightly less springy, definitively more powerful version of Zach LaVine? It’s tough to put into context something that is arriving for the first time.

Those highlights, mixed with the level of command Zion was demonstrating on the court through his junior season, have turned him into a celebrity of sorts. All of the team’s home and away games are packed. Fans have traveled hours on end to watch him play. After one road game, the post-game atmosphere was so crazy that the players and coaching staff had to band together and bolt through a tunnel out of the back of the gym and run to the team bus. “I remember as we were running, I could imagine how The Beatles felt, with people running after them,” Sartor says, only half-joking. And Zion, who as a youngster asked for autographs from the highly-touted high school basketball players he admired, makes a point to sign every autograph and snap every selfie asked of him.

“I think people are realizing that they’re witnessing the beginning of something that could result in them saying, ‘I saw this kid when he was just starting, and now he’s perhaps the best player in America, or the planet,’” Sartor says. “I think people want to get a glimpse of that. It’s a show, and Zion realizes that his game and the way he plays, it excites people and inspires people and entertains people. He could, sometimes, just shoot a jumpshot or make a finger roll, but he knows that people are amazed by what he can do above the rim and finish with dunks, so that’s what he does. He wants to entertain people. People get excited by the way he plays.”

Williamson’s buzz hit another level last January when Drake posted a photo on Instagram of him wearing Williamson’s No. 12 Spartanburg Day School jersey. Zion was sound asleep as the image spread.

“I woke up probably around 8-ish,” he says. “I had hundreds of messages—group chats, like 50 Snapchat notifications. My phone just blew up. They were all like, go check Instagram, look what Drake just posted. I saw that he had my jersey on, and I sent him an IG message that said, ‘Thanks for showing me so much love—I don’t think you understand how much this means to me. You’re my favorite rapper.’”

The two haven’t met in person yet but text here and there. And to answer a question Zion often gets—no, he didn’t send Drake the jersey. “I asked him myself,” Zion says. “I said, ‘Yo, how did you get that jersey?’ He said he had it custom made. I just left it at that.”

From there, the celeb love branched out. Odell Beckham Jr also wore the uni and posted a pic on IG. Floyd Mayweather FaceTimed with him. Dez Bryant, Nate Robinson and Dwight Howard all sent messages.

When we catch up with Zion, he’s sitting in the Spartanburg Day School gym, seated upright on a folding chair under a basket during his first SLAM cover shoot. It’s in this gym where many of the viral videos originated—the bleachers and area surrounding the court filled with people standing up and high-fiving, hugging one another and yelling their faces off after any of Zion’s miraculous dunks.

“It’s an adrenaline rush,” Zion says. “It just gives you so much energy. When I get the ball or a steal and I’m wide open, you just hear everybody rise, and you hear, ‘Ohhh…’ and then you dunk it, and everybody’s jumping, high-fiving each other, and you’re just running down the floor like, Let’s go!

“I love it,” he adds. “When I was a little kid, even though I didn’t know what advanced dunks were—like windmills, 360s—I used to just want to see somebody dunk. Like, ‘Can you dunk? Dunk it!’ So when I see little kids go, ‘Zion, dunk it!’ I just look at them and say, I got you.”

Shortly before our interview, Zion, back on the court after a few weeks away from the game while he rested a bruised knee, does some “light” dunking for the SLAM photographer and videographers who are documenting the day. As he gets loose, I stand at halfcourt, watching. Eventually he takes a real running start, then leaps so high and throws it down with such fury that I contort my body in a full twist as I try to absorb what on earth I just witnessed. The aforementioned Lee Anderson—Zion’s stepdad—looks over at me and asks, “Are you OK there, Adam?” I tell him yes, but the answer is no. I’ve been to five NBA Slam Dunk Contests. I’ve never seen anyone dunk like that.

Part of the interest in Zion’s story comes from the fact that all of this—these dunks, this photo shoot, those highlight-reel games (at least the home ones)—is taking place in South Carolina’s Spartanburg Day School, a random private school with a sprawling campus in a relatively nondescript small city in South Carolina. To say that this school isn’t exactly a traditional basketball powerhouse would be quite the understatement. The entire school has an enrollment of 450 students, and that accounts for 3K (preschoolers) all the way up through 12th grade; the “Upper School,” which consists of grades 9-12, has about 150. The school doesn’t have a full-time basketball coach, and Sartor, who moonlights as the school’s varsity basketball coach, has a full-time gig as a Sheriff’s Deputy for Spartanburg County, though he says these days coaching basketball keeps him busy enough that it’s close to a full-time job.

“The school is small, intimate,” says Sharonda Sampson, Zion’s mother. “It’s not like when you go to a large high school and you get smothered. That doesn’t happen here. He goes to school with kids of people who own major corporations. So it’s like, ‘Basketball? OK, whatever.’ They see Zion, and he gets some attention, but they don’t bother him. They just like hanging out with him and being his friend.”

And like the school, Spartanburg as a city has not experienced anything like Zion. Football players, like former NFL running back Stephen Davis, have come out of the area, but never any big-name hoopers. (And Davis went off to Auburn as the No. 1 recruit in the country 25 years ago.)

“Usually you’re talking about what a community is doing to help nurture and do what’s right for teenage kids,” says Will Rothschild, Vice President of Strategic Communications of the Spartanburg Area Chamber of Commerce. “In this case, it’s a teenager doing a whole lot for his community. It’s a little odd to talk about—but it’s great.”

Rothschild gives an example of just how much attention Zion has brought upon the area: Last summer, Spartanburg hosted an AAU tournament that Zion played in, and the college coaches’ private jets were coming in at such a rapid pace that the local airport almost ran out of free space.

Zion isn’t originally from Spartanburg, though. He was born in Salisbury, NC, and moved to Florence, SC, when he was a toddler. Zion’s parents divorced when he was 5; his mother would later marry Anderson, who played guard at Clemson and then Columbus State in the late 70s. Anderson coached an AAU team and ran a basketball camp that Zion played in during the summertime.

“Zion came in very young, and he would get the basic stuff,” Anderson says. “From 9-5, every day [during the summer], for about six, seven years. That pushed him way over the top. Basic fundamentals, ballhandling, shooting, defense, rebounding drills. He got it all at a young age. That’s how he got ahead of his class.”

“I sucked,” Zion says. “But playing the game of basketball, it’s like a love—my first love. When you start playing, you don’t wanna stop.”

Zion wasn’t very tall, so he learned how to play point guard. “He mastered that pretty good,” Anderson says. “When he got to sixth grade, I just knew he would be way beyond the middle school competition. When he got to seventh grade, he was just dominating.”

Anderson had known Sartor from the South Carolina AAU circuit, and the family moved to Spartanburg at the beginning of Zion’s ninth grade year. The thought was Spartanburg Day offered a better basketball opportunity than where they were in the Florence area, and if hoops didn’t pan out, Zion would be getting a strong education in the process.

Uhh, good news—hoops panned out. As an eighth grade PG, Zion stood around 5-10, but he grew to 6-3 as a freshman and to 6-6 as a sophomore. He finished all-state as a freshman, but his team lost in the state championship and he went into that summer without any scholarship options. The following season Spartanburg Day won the state championship, and Zion hit summer ’16 with offers to local colleges like Wofford and Clemson. Then he played at a tournament in Dallas, where he picked up an offer from Iowa State. “So I’m like, OK, I can definitely go to college to play basketball,” he says. Next up was a tourney in Atlanta, where he left with “like 20” scholarship offers. He had arrived.

Zion is now a legitimate 6-7 forward but maintains the floor general skills he honed as a middle schooler with an added bounce unseen elsewhere on the high school scene. “This athleticism people keep telling me I have, it just came outta nowhere,” he says, smiling.

His game is undeniably similar to a certain previously buzzed-about high school recruit. He’s maybe an inch or two shorter than LeBron James was at the same age, and Bron was a better passer, but Zion is a better dunker and either equally or even more athletic at his size. They both were and are more than capable ballhandlers, both had and have seemingly NBA-ready bodies as high schoolers. Like Bron, Zion will need to improve his outside shooting, but if King James has taught us anything, it’s that perimeter skills can be improved immensely with hard work and time.

Zion’s stats have backed up the highlights. Per MaxPreps, he averaged 36.8 points and 13.0 rebounds this season, leading Spartanburg Day to a second consecutive state championship, albeit against lesser competition than some of his peers at basketball powerhouses—though in December he dropped 53 points in a victory over five-star recruit and future UNC guard Jalek Felton’s Gray Collegiate Academy, shooting 24-24 inside the three-point line and 25-28 overall.

He says he’s comfortable at Spartanburg Day, yet naturally many wonder if he’ll play out his senior year there or take off for tougher comp at one of the HS hoops factories across the country. And then, of course, there’s his college decision. He says his recruitment is wide open, with Kentucky, North Carolina, Duke and South Carolina considered to be at the top of the list. The college coaches have been so relentless in their recruiting that the family had to instill a rule: No phone calls or texts after 10 p.m. EST. “It’d be like 11, 12 o’clock, and coaches are calling, and we’re like, Wait a minute, do they not know you have to go to school tomorrow? You still need your rest,” Sampson says. “We were just like, OK, at this time, the phone goes on airplane mode.”

It’s no secret what Spartanburg’s residents are hoping for. As Zion takes photos in front of the “THERE’S ONLY ONE” mural, a man driving past in a pick-up truck yells, “Go to South Carolina!”

“Maybe!” Zion chirps back.

Time will tell where he ends up for what will likely be his only season of NCAA ball, just as time will tell how Zion’s game evolves from here. As an athletic wing who can handle the rock or do work in the paint on either end, Williamson’s well-rounded skill set makes him perfect for the increasingly position-less direction the game is heading. Like any teenager, he’s got a ways to go—some are skeptical that he’s even the best player in the Class of 2018, a title he competes for with Marvin Bagley III, a 6-11 power forward from Arizona. But there’s no debating that the future is bright. As a young child, he obsessed over tapes of Magic Johnson, mimicking Magic’s iconic no-look passes, and he now studies his three favorite players: LeBron (for his on- and off-court reputations), Kawhi Leonard (for the drama-free way he handles his business) and Russell Westbrook (for his ever-intense drive).

“I want to be one of the greatest that’s ever played this game,” Zion says, before listing off his personal goals. “I want to have a great reputation—nothing bad. Be a Hall of Famer. Try to win at least three NBA Finals, even though that’s probably nearly impossible, or very hard—but I’ma try. And give back to my community.”

There’s a lot of work to be done before any of that happens, but Zion is on the right track. His upbringing has provided him with such a strong backbone that texts from Drake and direct messages from a plethora of major celebrities haven’t gotten to his head. His status as a perpetual highlight reel in an era when bite-sized highlights thrive like never before means the spotlight will always shine bright. And his game suits the current landscape of pro basketball—and will likely suit it even better five-plus years from now.

Even his name is prescient. Mount Zion was the highest point in ancient Jerusalem. This Zion has begun his ascent to a height most of us can barely fathom. All we can do now is look up.

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Adam Figman is the Editor-in-Chief of SLAM. Follow him on Twitter @afigman.

Portraits by Zach Wolfe

Action photo via Alex Hicks Jr/Spartanburg Herald-Journal and Goupstate.com

Videos by @VASHR

The post Generation Z appeared first on SLAM.

But there’s something else in those videos that I love so, so much, and it isn’t the dunks. It’s what happens right before them, and more so, it’s what happens after them. Leading up to each dunk, you hear the entire room fade into the “Ahhh…” that a bunch of people make as they collectively realize something amazing is about to happen. As expected, something amazing does then happen. Sometimes it’s a 360 dunk, sometimes it’s a windmill, sometimes it’s a dunk with a seemingly impossible level of verticality. Oftentimes it’s a combination of a couple of those.

Then comes my favorite part: post-dunk, the room explodes. Children literally jump on top of each other in celebration. Teenagers hold their phones out and screech at the top of their lungs. Adults’ eyes get wide as they put their hands on their heads in complete shock. It’s like watching a video of hundreds of toddlers getting the exact Christmas present they were hoping for—except many of the toddlers are high school students and grown men and women, and the present is a behind-the-back 360 slam.

READ SLAM 210’S COVER STORY HERE

Zion’s mixtapes reinforce something that we should all spend a little more time thinking about and appreciating: the game of basketball brings forth so much pure joy. Of course you regularly see this in arenas, and in the bleachers at streetball games, and in sports bars and local parks. But in the moments that follow Zion’s jaw-dropping dunks, that happiness is just so visible, so palpable. Every time I watch those vids, I end up thinking the same thing, something like, There it is.

The fact that he regularly produces that sensation is one of the many things I like about Zion. Throw in that he’s a genuinely good, level-headed kid, a true hoophead and someone whose cultural influence extends well beyond the court (for evidence of this, take Drake rocking his jersey on IG as Exhibit A) and you’ve got an up-and-coming prep star who I was both honored and excited to put on our cover this month. If you like any of the content—the cover, the cover story, our new issue as a whole—anywhere even close to the extent to which fans young and old enjoy watching Zion play, our job here is done.

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READ SLAM 210’S COVER STORY HERE

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Adam Figman is the Editor-in-Chief of SLAM. Follow him on Twitter @afigman.

Portraits by Zach Wolfe

Videos by @VASHR

The post Zion Williamson Covers SLAM 210 appeared first on SLAM.

I like all of the aforementioned teams. We’ve covered players and coaches on the four of them extensively, and they’re all great groups, filled with fun, likeable personalities. I wish ill will on none of them, and I’ll feel great joy for whoever reaches the top of the mountain this June, be it one of those teams or another.

That said, I’d be lying if I didn’t admit I was pulling for our two cover stars to make it all the way through their respective conferences. Sure, there’s an element of repetition at play here, what with the same franchises potentially reaching the Finals three years in a row and all, but that can end next year. This year I want the best possible story to come to the light. I want a Round 3.

Honestly, I get a little giddy even thinking about it. LeBron could get one more step closer to Kobe and MJ. Stephen could erase last year’s demons. Kyrie could further solidify himself as a tried-and-true NBA superstar. KD could finally get some jewelry. Or something wildly unexpected could (and almost definitely will) go down, and it’ll top any of these ever-predictable storylines. You ready, JR?

And yeah, a 1-1 tie would get broken, and that needs to happen more than anything else. For the players, for the coaches (get well soon, Steve), for the media, for the record books. And most importantly: for the fans, especially those who read SLAM and need a little ammo for the inevitable arguments in the barbershop (or Basketball Twitter, or this site’s comment section) this summer. Let’s do this.

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Adam Figman is SLAM’s Editor-in-Chief. Follow him @afigman.

Illustrations by Caroline Blanchet of Ptitecao Studio; images via Getty

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The post LeBron James and Stephen Curry Cover SLAM 209 appeared first on SLAM.

Those were my guys—the flashy, occasionally undersized scoring guards who I worshipped as a pre-teen hoops fan in the late ’90s. In my eyes they were fearless, unafraid of the taller, more traditionally athletic players, and they were so damn fun, with those crazy handles and the ability to take over a game with a barrage of impossible floaters and jumpers at any given time. The cliché says kids gravitate to the smaller players because that’s who they can relate to—at a young age so many of us stand either equal to or beneath our peers, and in basketball even kids who are slightly above average height are often considered too short—and I’ve found zero evidence that that’s anything but the absolute truth.

Today’s youth has a pretty great group of supermen. At the top of that list are Kyrie Irving, who spins around giants like they’re cones on a driveway, and Stephen Curry, who pulls up from the mid-court logo as if it’s the deep corner of the backyard you only shoot from when the ball rolls there off a long rebound.

Now there’s a new kid on the block—not necessarily new to the League, but certainly new to stardom—and we’re more than happy to celebrate him in this month’s playoff preview issue. Celtics guard Isaiah Thomas has, for years, been known in basketball circles as an awesome dude with a great story, but following a barrage of ridiculous fourth-quarter performances and consistently amazing stat lines (as of this writing he’s third in the NBA in points per game), IT4 has officially certified himself as a member of the League’s elite. Like my aforementioned childhood favorites, he seems completely unfazed by the fact that he’s not “supposed” to be able to score at the rate he does at his size, and he gets those buckets in a way that makes young and old people alike think that in a similar situation, they could do the same.

It’s the perfect blend: a feisty guard with a take-no-prisoners attitude, a seemingly innate clutch gene and an absurdly fun-to-watch style of play. I love it, and I’m 28 years old. I can only imagine how many green Thomas jerseys I would own if I was 11.

SLAM 208 will be available later this week. Here’s the newsstand edition:

And here’s the subscriber edition:

CLICK HERE TO READ SLAM 208’S COVER STORY ON ISAIAH THOMAS

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Adam Figman is SLAM’s Editor-in-Chief. Follow him @afigman.

Portraits by Atiba Jefferson

BTS video by @VASHR, Reaction video by Shakil Uddin

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Isaiah Thomas: “Nobody Holds Me in Check”
WATCH: Allen Iverson vs Isaiah Thomas Mixtape

The post Isaiah Thomas Covers SLAM Playoff Preview Issue appeared first on SLAM.

Regardless, I’m standing behind this one. Anyone who’s been following The Joel Embiid Story—which is to say, anyone who pays even remote attention to the day-to-day of the NBA—knows that this was deserved. SLAM is a magazine that covers the best stories in basketball, and man, what an amazing story.

Joel Embiid barely practiced during the two years that he sat injured on the 76ers sideline. He was mocked as a joke, his inability to get on the court simply evidence that former Sixers GM Sam Hinkie was as in over his head as many suspected. Then the ’16-17 season started, and it was quickly clear: He was good. Not, like, a flash here, a flash there, a bright career ahead of him-type good. Really good! Borderline All-Star good! Twenty-eight points and 11 rebounds per 36 minutes good! Olajuwon-esque offensive moves and Mutombo-esque defensive prowess good! Instilling a basketball energy in Philadelphia that hasn’t been felt there since the early 2000s good!

About that.

Yeah: We remade Allen Iverson’s Soul On Ice joint. It’s been a half-baked, almost jokey idea for a minute now, but at some point this winter it became obvious that this wasn’t a ridiculous comparison or a blasphemous reach. (I realize more than a few people will feel it’s exactly that. Oh well.) If you attended any Sixers home games while Joel was on the floor this season, you learned that there was suddenly a sense of positivity in the air of the Wells Fargo Center that hadn’t existed in Philly since AI was out there playing his ass off night after night. Sure, Iverson (and that cover) influenced culture in a way that could never be replicated, but Embiid is the most prolific user of social media in today’s NBA, and if that doesn’t exactly equate to being the League’s biggest cultural icon, it certainly puts him in the conversation.

Anyway, peep the behind-the-scenes vid from the shoot above, check the cover below, read the cover story now, and look for the issue to hit newsstands and bookstores everywhere this weekend.

And, as always, trust the goddamn process.

READ SLAM 207’S COVER STORY ON JOEL EMBIID HERE

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Adam Figman is SLAM’s Editor-in-Chief. Follow him @afigman.

Portraits by Paul Aresu

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Related
SLAM 32’s Allen Iverson Cover Story
The Oral History of AI’s Soul On Ice Cover

The post SLAM 207 Cover: Joel Embiid is…Soul On Ice appeared first on SLAM.

“He told me he was gonna average 20 points per game during the season,” Hanlen says now. “I said, Hey Jo, I believe when you’re healthy and when you’re playing you’re gonna be one of the best big guys in the NBA, but averaging a point a minute is absurd. Let’s just go out there and try to help your team win more games and continue to improve throughout this rookie season and get better.”

Embiid finished his first game with 20 points, playing 22 minutes while also grabbing 7 rebounds and blocking 2 shots in a 103-97 loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder.

Hanlen found the 22-year-old big man shortly afterward.

“That was easy, bro,” Embiid told him. “I could’ve had 30.”

So began Embiid’s rookie campaign, a rollercoaster of a season that—despite large periods of time spent on the sideline for both rest and injury reasons—established the Cameroonian as the frontrunner for Rookie of the Year. He averaged 20.2 ppg (perfectly on pace with his projection) along with 7.8 rebounds and 2.5 blocks. And the Sixers are, as of press time, 13-18 in games with him on the floor and 10-22 with him off it. It’s not a massive difference in winning percentage, but for a franchise so accustomed to the lowest depths of the standings, and previously so unsure what Joel would provide after sitting out two full seasons recovering from injuries before he ever formally donned an NBA jersey, the excitement Embiid has provided has ever-so-slightly awakened a long-sleeping organization in desperate need of some fun energy.

“During the two years I missed, I don’t think anybody expected [that I could play this well],” Embiid says. It’s a couple minutes after he takes the portraits you see in this feature on an early February afternoon, and he slowly walks across the 76ers’ practice court in Camden, NJ, as he reflects. “I don’t think I’m anywhere close to where I want to be or that I’m good enough yet.”

“The way he can shoot, his ballhandling—I was not expecting that,” Sixers swingman Robert Covington says. “But he worked on it. All the stuff I’ve seen him do in a game is the stuff I’ve seen him work on when he was out.”

Sixers fans have loved every minute of it. In the waning moments of that opening night home game, chants of “TRUST THE PROC—ESS”—the slogan famously used to describe Philadelphia’s seemingly never-ending rebuild—rained down from the upper deck of the arena. Number 21 jerseys now dot the stands at every home game. He sat out every few games to make sure he wasn’t pushing himself too hard, and even still, there was some early season All-Star chatter; stories like “Why Joel Embiid Should Have Made the All-Star Team” popped up after it was announced that he didn’t make the cut.

Even Allen Iverson, who once instilled a liveliness into Philly basketball that Embiid can only hope to almost rival, is on board. AI still regularly attends Sixers games, and at a late-January contest he ran into Embiid in the bowels of the Wells Fargo Center.

“I TOLD YOU!” Iverson yelled at Embiid, a big smile on his face, his hands grabbing at the big man’s neck. “I told you this was coming! I told people that you were gonna be this!”

“He was here before and got the city going,” Embiid says now, “and basketball in this city was really good—so that’s my job now. That’s what I’m trying to do. Just bring life back to Philly, as far as basketball, and just have fun.”

That last part is certainly happening. It’s been happening, though—and from the onset has manifested itself on social media. Not long after Joel was drafted in 2014, he began tweeting about his infatuation with Kim Kardashian. Then it was Rihanna. “BREAKING NEWS: Moving on from KK to Rihanna,” he proclaimed. He gave the fake couple a hashtag: #Johanna.

Eventually he moved on, though his love for the social media space never dissipated. And his social, uhh, strategy helped his legend grow, even as he was sidelined, because he was able to look criticism straight in the eye and laugh it off. “I see everything, trust me,” he says. When a story came out that he wasn’t taking his rehab seriously and was instead subsisting on a crappy diet highlighted by full pitchers of Shirley Temples, he posted a pic of himself looking swole with the hashtag #shirleytemple. When the media complained about previous Sixers GM Sam Hinkie’s tank-heavy approach—and the “Trust the Process” tagline that was used to validate it—Embiid went ahead and nicknamed himself The Process.

“I learned I have to embrace it all,” he says. “With the fans, I’m always having fun with them on social media, and I embrace it all until everything is gone. At one point people are going to really start picking on you and start judging you by what you do on social media, so until it’s taken away from me, I’m gonna embrace it and keep having fun.

“I observe a lot,” he adds. “When people are talking to me I don’t look them in the eye and I act like I’m looking somewhere else or not hearing what they’re saying, but every time someone’s talking to me, I’m listening to everything. I take everything in and process it in my mind and take the good out of it and keep it in my mind and take the bad out of it and just get it out. I think that’s been the biggest thing that’s helped me get better—just listening to people and observing.”

It’s easy to recognize this facet of Joel’s personality, that he hears everything, hangs onto the good and flushes out the bad. How else could he get through two entire years planted on the bench, the perpetual butt of Twitter jokes and dreadful talking head commentary?

“What he’s done is flip the switch,” Hanlen says. “He’s the one making the jokes now, and people are laughing with him instead of people giving him trouble and laughing at him. I think it was just more of a mental shift of, ‘Hey listen, this is all fun and games, and I’m extremely blessed to be in the position I’m in, and I’m gonna have fun with it.’ He’s very smart. Some people think he’s just being a clown, but he knows what’s gonna get a little rise from the media.”

Which is impressive, since at times the route Embiid has taken from young draftee to NBA starter was far from fun. The first surgery took place on a broken bone in his right foot immediately before the 2014 draft—Hinkie, thinking long term as always, selected him No. 3 anyway—and after an entire season in recovery, the hope was he’d return to the court in 2015-16. But in August of ’15 he underwent a second surgery on the same foot, and it was announced he’d miss one more full season while working his way back. “I went through a rough time,” he says. “One thing I learned was patience.”

Up until that point, Joel’s life moved crazy fast. He came to the United States from Cameroon to play high school ball at the age of 16, spending a year at Montverde Academy in Montverde, FL—where he was stuck on the JV squad—and then a year at The Rock School in Gainesville, FL—where he broke out. He had barely picked up a basketball before the age of 15, when he was discovered by current NBAer Luc Mbah a Moute, so his skills were raw (at best), but his potential was through the roof: a true 7-footer who could maneuver in the post—all those years of volleyball and soccer helping him learn the art of footwork and lateral movement—swat shots into the stands, and even shoot from the perimeter. “‘Y’all can keep laughing, but in three or four years you’re gonna be asking him for money,’” Embiid says his coach at Montverde would tell the other boys on the team after Joel would get kicked out of practice. “That made me want to work.”

He showed out during the one season he spent at the University of Kansas—11.2 ppg and 8.1 rpg, with the fact that he still barely had any basketball experience hanging over every remarkable performance—and he likely would’ve been selected with the top pick in 2014 had the future of his health not appeared so uncertain.

Hinkie and Embiid met at the perfect time. In mid-2014, Embiid was a full year (actually two years, unbeknownst to anyone) away from competing, while Hinkie was a young GM with questionable people skills but a legit on-paper plan: lose, draft projects, lose some more, draft some more projects, hope enough draftees hit that winning inevitably comes along. Soon the NBA and Sixers ownership would get tired of this, forcing Hinkie out in favor of current Sixers GM Bryan Colangelo, but without Hinkie and his blueprint, Embiid likely slips in the lottery and winds up on a different team, perhaps one unwilling to display the patience the Sixers happily signed up for.

(The two still text here and there. “[Hinkie] usually talks about basketball,” Embiid says. “If he sees something that I didn’t do, he’ll text me about it.”)

https://youtu.be/AOo3WGKF-no

This past summer, Embiid slowly worked his way back into basketball activities. He walked up to Hanlen at NBA Summer League—he had seen video of him working with his former Kansas teammate Andrew Wiggins—and asked if they could train together. The guys met up the next day in L.A. and have worked together ever since.

“After our first workout, he was obviously really, really tired—he was out of shape, a little bit overweight—but he had picked up everything really quickly, which I was super impressed with,” Hanlen says. “He came to me with a ton of tools already there. We just had to polish them and put them in place.”

Just a few days after they began hitting the gym together, Sam Limon, Hanlen’s video guy, asked Hanlen how good he thought Embiid could be. “If he stays healthy,” Hanlen told him, “he can be a Hall of Famer.”

Then training camp started, and Embiid’s teammates—who in some cases hadn’t seen him so much as play in a pickup game—immediately took note of what he was capable of. In a scrimmage during those first few days, he dunked over a teammate with such rim-rattling force that Sixers guard Gerald Henderson still thinks about it.

“I don’t know if I’ve ever seen something so violent,” Henderson says. “It scared me. I was on his team—it was a post-up. I won’t mention who was guarding him because it’s one of my teammates, but it was violent. It shook me up, man. I had never seen something so powerful.”

The dunk was a sign of things to come. Embiid exploded out of the gate, validating the rationale behind the hype—if not the hype itself—within the season’s first few weeks. There was an 18-point, 10-rebound performance. A 25 and 7. A 22 and 6 (with 4 threes!). A 25 and 10. The Hakeem Olajuwon comparisons he used to get in college started looking more accurate than ever—not a coincidence, considering Embiid has watched tapes of The Dream, someone he’s relied on for mentorship, over and over. There were aspects of the game Embiid struggled with—passing out of double teams, for example—but even over the course of those first few months, his ability to improve on a task like reading the defense and finding the soon-to-be open man hinted at a natural ability to pick up things a bit quicker than your average 7-footer.

And then it all came to a halt. In January he missed a few games with a left knee contusion; it was later reported that there was actually a “very minor meniscal tear” that had been found. Weeks later the Sixers announced that Embiid’s 2016-17 is over.

The stretch in between injury and the shutdown news didn’t pass without a little extra controversy. On February 10, Embiid was filmed dancing shirtless at a Meek Mill concert, getting down to Future’s “Wicked” in front of thousands of crazed fans pointing iPhones at him. The footage went viral in minutes. The next night, speaking with the media before a game against the Miami Heat, 76ers coach Brett Brown was bombarded with so many questions about Embiid’s health status—and what his ability to dance says about that status and his commitment to his own health—that Brown eventually demanded the assembled reporters to ask about absolutely anything else. No doubt an unpleasant moment for Brown, but think about it like this: Not so long ago the questions were about whether Embiid would ever play in an NBA basketball game, and what he was capable of if he did. Suddenly they were about when he’ll return, with added emphasis and pressure because it was finally obvious that when he’s on the court, the 76ers are a markedly better team than when he is not. An upgrade in line of questioning, to be sure.

(Also worth noting is that if Meek’s DJ decided to play literally any other song, none of this ever happens. “Wicked” is Embiid’s favorite; Sixers guard Nik Stauskus says “that’s the only song he ever plays” in the team locker room.)

The team won’t rush Embiid through any of his rehabbing—they weren’t doing a ton of winning this season, anyway. But thankfully, the questions that lingered over the past two seasons—Will he ever be physically able to play in an NBA game? Does he have any talent whatsoever? What exactly are we waiting for here?—are now gone.

“With him being able to score the way he can from anywhere, and at the same time affect the defensive end as much as he does and guard multiple guys at the rim like he can, the sky’s the limit for him,” Henderson says. “He’s got the ability to be super, super special.”

“I’m not close to where I want to be,” Embiid says. “My nickname is The Process, and in my mind it’s like, something processing, or something loading. I always see that as 100 percent where you want to be. I think I’m about… maybe 5-10 percent. I have a lot to improve on my game to get where I want to be. Sometimes I’ll go on these runs of scoring the ball and playing good defense and I’m like, Here I am!”

And despite tweeting a little less than he used to—“Every time I do it there’s a lot of notifications”—he’s still very much paying attention. “I love reading articles and bad stuff they say about me,” he says. “I read what they’re saying bad about me and what I’m not doing on the court, and then the next game going and correcting it, and showing them, yeah, I can do this.”

That won’t happen anymore this season. Still, the one thing we learned from Joel Embiid this winter is that he’s capable, that he has a future in this league. The All-Star bids, the playoff battles, the individual honors—if he can stay healthy, they’re coming. Following two years of nonstop questions with unknowable answers, it is now clear that he is correct: He can do this.

Adam Figman is the Editor-in-Chief of SLAM. Follow him on Twitter @afigman.

Portraits by Paul Aresu; Action shots via Getty Images

The post I Got The Juice appeared first on SLAM.

I can’t speak for…well, anyone, but I love All-Star Weekend. It’s plenty stressful, sure—what with the running around to events and meetings and media availabilities and games and parties and god knows what else—but more than anything, All-Star Weekend is great because it is fun.

All basketball things are fun, but between the pressure we put on athletes, fans who tend to be a little too focused on the result instead of the journey, the slightly uptight media and the truly high stakes competition of the League, the NBA can get a little weighty. Which is why All-Star Weekend is a blast. Its entire existence is centered around celebrating the sport we all love. Off the court there are brand-sponsored events that range from very entertaining to very strange and random celebrity encounters in both the expected and unlikeliest of places; on the court there are dunks and…OK, really just dunks. (But dunks are dope!)

I think SLAM is pretty good at All-Star Weekend, mostly because SLAM is pretty good at fun. That’s what we’re here for. So, with the timing clearly right, our annual All-Star special covers this year’s Weekend in a few different ways—a spotlight on some stars who will be featured in the main event, a look at those who’ve experienced ASW through various lenses (coaches, celebs, retired players), a focus on some hoops-loving natives of this year’s host city of New Orleans, and even a glance back at a forgotten All-Star Weekend tradition that didn’t make it to the 21st century.

And who better to cover such an issue than Kyrie Irving? It isn’t really part of the Kyrie narrative, but on the low, the Cavs PG might be Mr. All-Star Weekend. Think about it: In 2012, Irving broke onto the scene by scoring 34 points and dishing 9 assists in the Rising Stars Challenge, taking home MVP. The subsequent year he once again showed out in the Rising Stars Challenge (you recall what happened to Brandon Knight, yes?) then won the Three-Point Shootout on Saturday and had a strong 15-point performance off the bench in the All-Star Game on Sunday. He followed that up by going for 31 points and 14 assists in 2014’s ASG, winning MVP. Not a bad little résumé.

It’s not just the accomplishments, though, that make Kyrie so damn fun, and therefore so perfect for All-Star Weekend. It’s his whole demeanor. His vibes, to use a term I wish I left in 2016. His seemingly ever-present affability. His hilarious Uncle Drew alter ego. His legitimately cool signature sneakers. And most importantly, his game itself, with those ball-on-a-string handles and clutch jumpers that are perfectly formulated for the modern era of bite-sized looping videos. (RIP Vine—miss you so much.)

Along with all of this issue’s great stories and images, we’ll be documenting every nook and cranny of 2017’s ASW on our site and social feeds, which you’re hopefully following by now. Catch you in NOLA.

—

Adam Figman is the Editor-in-Chief of SLAM. Follow him on Twitter @afigman.

Cover + portraits by Paul Aresu

The post Kyrie Irving Covers 2017 All-Star Issue appeared first on SLAM.

Years later, OutKast still regularly inspires Brown. That’s relatively normal—music and basketball often embolden one another—but the result of that inspiration is anything but typical. Because not only does Brown listen to and feel motivated by the iconic ATLiens, he regularly makes music of his own.

Brown bought a copy of Logic Pro when he was in high school, and ever since he’s been producing beats in his spare time. “It’s just to express myself and kinda do something to pass the time instead of getting into the other stuff a young 19-year-old can get into,” says Brown, who’s turned 20 since our interview with him. “There’s plenty of other enticements and things people can get caught up into and overwhelmed in: going out, girls, things like that. I try to just keep myself as level-headed and focused as possible, and [making beats] is one of the things that helps me do that.”

The 6-7 small forward grew up in the Atlanta area, spent a year of college at Cal-Berkeley and now lives in Boston as a member of the Celtics—who selected him third overall in last June’s draft—which is to say that he’s been influenced by multiple regions of the country. During an impromptu listening session in SLAM’s Manhattan office this past October, Brown played us some of his most recent beats, and we can say this: There’s undeniably zero singular inspiration.

“I make different types of sounds, so not every sound sounds the same,” he explains. “Like trap beats, I don’t just make a whole bunch of trap beats. I might make a few ’cause that’s what I’m feeling today, like I feel like making a banger or some Metro Boomin’-type stuff. Another day I may feel like slowing it down and making some Dilla-type beats or something smooth, something classic, New York-esque or something similar to that. It depends. It’s just based on how I feel when I wake up in the morning or when I dive into it. I don’t do it every day, but when I get into it I, can be into it for hours at a time, and time will just fly by.”

Brown says these days he mostly makes beats by himself when he’s looking to kill a few hours after practice—he purchased a small beat machine, a MiniNova synth and a keyboard that he can bring with him when his team is on the road—though in the past he’s been in the studio with friends and messed around there, occasionally producing songs with others as well. He’s connected to a nine-person, Atlanta-based hip-hop collective known as The Tribe Akashic, which features cousins of Brown’s—he even brought two of the group’s members to SiriusXM’s “Sway In The Morning” radio show last June.

His desire to improve musically comes a distant second to his desire to improve on the court—“I have full investment in my basketball,” he says. “It comes first”—but he hasn’t been scared to associate himself with the local music scene in every city the game has taken him to. First it was Atlanta, attending concerts and making tunes with The Tribe Akashic. Then it was the Bay Area, where he dove into the catalogs of Mac Dre and E-40. “To be honest I didn’t know who Mac Dre was before I went out there, and now I’m a big Mac Dre fan,” he says. He even attended and was photographed on stage at Hiero Day, a one-day outdoor music festival in Oakland hosted by a group known as The Hieroglyphics.

Now in Boston, Brown is interested in doing the same. He says he’s yet to link up with local artists there but would love to do so. In early November, a Cambridge mall was shut down prior to a meet-and greet he was set to host with New York rapper Desiigner—too many people showed up, and six people were arrested for disorderly conduct, disturbing the peace and trespassing. (The mall was evacuated before Brown even arrived.)

Upon being drafted by the Celtics, Brown elected to wear the No. 7—on the surface that may look like an homage to ’90s Celtic Dee Brown, and that may in part be true, but it’s largely a nod to the Five-Percent Nation, a cultural movement that heavily influenced ’80s and ’90s hip-hop acts like Rakim, Big Daddy Kane and the Wu-Tang Clan. (The number seven is an important figure to Five Percenters, as it represents God; both Jay Z and RZA have been spotted wearing pendants with the number seven on them.)

Though music is a large part of how Brown passes time away from basketball, it stays with him in that realm as well. In fact, he sees little difference between the two. “The beat of a ball and the beat of a drum is the same thing,” he says. “Having that rhythm, so when you’re in the zone and you have a really good rhythm about yourself on the basketball court, nobody can stop you. It’s the same way in the music world—like I feel the same type of way when I hear a dope beat. You feel the same type of excitement.

“Basketball and music is one to me,” he continues. “The pace, it goes up and down. The momentum, it’s all like a beat. You’ve got someone telling the story, controlling the energy—it’s very similar, very comparable.”

Brown listens to music before games, usually some type of hip-hop—nothing too aggressive, and nothing too calming. “I don’t like to be too over-hyped, but I don’t like to be too chill, either,” he says. “I like to be right in that kind of Zen mode, so I like music that puts me there instantly.” Before an October pre-season game in Brooklyn, he says he listened to The Notorious B.I.G., 2Pac, A$AP Rocky and a track from the ’70s by Italian composer Piero Piccioni, whom J. Cole sampled on “Jermaine’s Interlude,” a song on DJ Khaled’s 2016 album, Major Key.

The fact that this kid can string together Biggie and a now-deceased Italian pianist sums him up pretty well. He does things a little differently than most NBA players, and seems relatively comfortable doing so. He entered the 2016 NBA Draft without an official agent, leaning instead on his support system of basketball legends like Isiah Thomas and Shareef Abdur-Rahim and AAU Oakland Soldiers co-founder Hashim Ali. “I don’t know if I would recommend [not signing with an agent] for everybody ’cause everybody has their own process,” Jaylen admits. “All I needed was help navigating the process of going and flying to different teams and talking back and forth with GMs, and people to hear me and tell me what’s the truth. That’s all I really needed. It turned out well.”

He also has hobbies that most NBA players simply do not. He writes poetry. He plays guitar. He’s obsessed with chess. He reads a lot. He’s fascinated by business—while at Cal-Berkeley he interned at Base Ventures, a venture capital firm in the Bay, observing wanna-be start-up founders as they pitched their ideas to Erik Moore, the company’s Managing Director.

“A lot of 19-year-olds spend time differently—playing video games, girls, etc.,” he says. “Nothing’s wrong with that. I’m just thinking five, 10 years ahead, ’cause that’s just how I’m wired.”

Of course, all of this—the ability to devote a couple hours here and there to making beats or playing chess or studying business or learning guitar or doing any of the other things that make him The Most Interesting Man in the NBA—stems from his ability to maintain relevance on the court. And he knows this, referencing the fact that basketball comes first over and over. So far this season Brown is averaging only 4.7 points and 1.9 rebounds per game, but it’s early in his rookie year, and he’s stuck fighting for minutes behind older, more established players like Jae Crowder and Avery Bradley. And yet we’ve already seen flashes of what could be to come—he plays hard and with energy on both ends of the floor and has earned praise from star peers. “He’s a strong kid,” LeBron James said after an early season Cleveland-Boston tilt. “You can see he knows how to play the game.”

Brown has also had a handful of seemingly out-of-nowhere highlight reel dunks that hint at some serious star power.

“In chess, they have a piece called the rook,” he says. “The rook, in chess, most of the time it’s in the corner and sits there and nobody really notices it. It’s quiet—all game it might just sit in the corner and not do anything. But when it starts getting into action and starts getting into play, it can be very dangerous.

“I kinda look at myself as a rook right now.”

—

Adam Figman is the Editor-in-Chief of SLAM. Follow him on Twitter @afigman.

Portrait by Jihad Dennis; Action shot via Getty Images

The post Let ‘Em Know appeared first on SLAM.

Then the late ’90s hit, and the worlds of hoops and music (specifically hip-hop) crashed into one another with more force than ever. Basketball stars started dressing like rappers, and SLAM covers looked increasingly like the front pages of The Source and XXL, with the aforementioned AI resolutely embodying this movement. Naturally, we (fine: they) were happy to ride this wave into pop culture relevance, in the process creating some of SLAM’s most iconic covers and issues to date.

There was a slow steer away from some of those vibes in the years that followed 2005’s NBA-instituted dress code, as players began showing up to games looking prepped for the glossy pages of GQ and Esquire. They still do, and they’ve seemingly enjoyed it, too—and lord knows we’re in no position to tell athletes what clothing they should or should not be wearing (even if today’s “dress code” is a total joke). Yet what might have gotten slightly lost in this aesthetic shift is that the original interlocking of hoops and music, so effortlessly represented in our mag and others during a previous generation…it never really went anywhere. In fact, the two are more intertwined than ever. It all just looks a little different than it used to.

Our new issue proves that. We’ve still got your usual dose of hoops—a strong high school ball section, a couple of action photo posters, some bball history reading—but for the most part, every story in SLAM 205 is devoted to the ever-evolving crossover between the worlds of basketball and music. There’s a rookie who produces beats in his spare time. Twin college guards who make R&B ballads. A vet who strums the guitar to forget about the frustrating fact that he’s not allowed to set foot on an NBA floor. A retired big man who rocks EDM shows across the globe. A rapper who dreamed of playing pro ball his entire life, only to fall short—and still wind up on the Billboard charts. An All-Star who lives with an aspiring rapper. Another All-Star (in the video above and the cover below) who was an aspiring rapper, then a successful rapper, and is now an aspiring music mogul. And trust—we could’ve gone on and on and on. Because the crossover between basketball and music is no longer much of a crossover. The term “crossover” implies two separate, distinct worlds. The industries are more meshed together than ever before. They’re one. And we’re very much here for it, perpetually exploring that space, practically living in it.

—

Adam Figman is the Editor-in-Chief of SLAM. Follow him on Twitter @afigman.

Cover + portraits by Atiba Jefferson.

The post Damian Lillard Covers SLAM’s First-Ever Music Issue appeared first on SLAM.

In late July, Andrews received a call from her son, Portland Trail Blazers guard CJ McCollum. CJ was calling with bad news—it was obvious in his voice. He was down, depressed. “What’s wrong?” she asked. “What happened?”

“Ughhhh,” he said, letting out a deep sigh. “We’re finalizing the extension now. Four years, $106 million.”

“And she just started screaming,” CJ says now, cracking up.

It’s easy to look around the NBA landscape and think that of course McCollum—a 25-year-old up-and-comer who averaged 20.8 points per game last season on a young Portland team that needs to retain its stars at whatever cost—was going to get paid. But it wasn’t that long ago that such an outcome seemed wildly unlikely.

McCollum was selected 10th overall by Portland in the 2013 NBA Draft. As a skinny 6-3 tweener, his potential was uncertain. He had broken his left foot early in his senior season at Lehigh University, and then at Blazers training camp he broke it again, sidelining him for the first six weeks of his rookie season. He wound up playing just 38 games in 2013-14, and when he was active, minutes were light—the team had a steady rotation of Damian Lillard, Wesley Matthews, Nicolas Batum, LaMarcus Aldridge and Robin Lopez, with veteran off-guard Mo Williams gobbling up the sixth-man minutes and Dorell Wright as the primary swingman off the bench. When CJ did get in the game, he looked apprehensive, uncomfortable, even a little unsure how to fit in.

“There’s a feeling-out process, especially when you’re on a playoff team,” he says. “There’s less room for error as a rookie. If you’re making mistakes, you’re coming out, because the vets and the older guys don’t make mistakes, and everything is amplified because you’re in the Western Conference fighting for a playoff spot. You’re kinda walking on eggshells trying to do the right things. And from a comfort standpoint, not knowing when you’re going to play and not knowing how long you’re going to play can be nerve-wracking—showing up to work every day not knowing what your situation is gonna be like, because of matchups or Coach decides he doesn’t wanna play you that day.”

His second season began with more of the same—inconsistent minutes off the bench leading to relatively unsteady production within an unsteady role. Then that November he broke his right index finger, sidelining him for a month. He’d return in December to the same scant playing time, only occasionally producing well during the 8-15 minutes he’d get on and off throughout that winter.

Errick McCollum, CJ’s older brother and mentor, made sure to remain in little bro’s ear. “I just told him the NBA lacks shooting guards who can create off the bounce, off screens, and do what he does,” Errick says. “I was like, ‘You’re going to get your chance, because of your position. You’re basically a point guard who’s long enough and strong enough to defend the 2. And obviously they liked you, because they wouldn’t have drafted you if they were completely satisfied with what they had.’ I knew his opportunity was coming. I didn’t know if it was gonna be with Portland or not, but I knew somebody would give him a chance.”

That opportunity did come in Portland. In March of 2015, seemingly ever-durable Wesley Matthews tore his Achilles, ending his season. CJ, as the next man up, saw his minutes escalate, even starting a couple late-season games before the postseason commenced. The undermanned Blazers would fall in the first round of the playoffs to the Memphis Grizzlies, but CJ showed out individually, scoring 28, 18 and 33 points during the Blazers’ final three contests.

“Going against [Grizzlies guard] Tony Allen and playing in hostile environments, kinda getting exposed to that early on, that’s when I knew, Alright, I can sustain this for a long period of time,” CJ says. “I just have to continue to work.”

“He’s just the type of player where if you give him an opportunity, you can consider it done,” Errick says. “That’s all he needs, a chance. I knew throughout his whole career, that’s been his M.O.—you get underestimated, and sometimes you don’t get that chance, so when you do get it, you’ve gotta be ready to capitalize. He took full advantage.”

And yet, you don’t have to go back much earlier than that to find a time in which it wasn’t clear that McCollum, who’s currently averaging 22.0 ppg, 3.6 rpg and 3.6 apg as the Blazers’ starting shooting guard, would ever be sitting on an NBA team’s bench in the first place.

CJ wasn’t highly recruited out of high school in Canton, OH, and he wound up at mid-major Lehigh University, a school of about 5,000 undergraduate students in Bethlehem, PA. For Lehigh standards—and as a fellow LU alum and former sports editor of the student newspaper, I feel plenty qualified to speak freely on the school’s athletic standards—CJ was a good get, maybe a little too competent for our relatively off-the-radar university. But he honestly wasn’t hailed as the savior of…much of anything. At first, he didn’t even start.

“At Lehigh, I was coming off the bench and I was in the rotation playing about 20 or 25 minutes per game the first two games,” he says. “The starter in front of me kept getting in foul trouble. I played well in those two games and then I started in our home opener and had 22 points.”

And he never slowed down. CJ averaged 19.1 points per game that season, winning Patriot League Player of the Year and establishing himself as a force in a college basketball conference that typically didn’t feature anyone who could be described as much of a “force” at all. Talk around campus was that this kid could play—but even still, expectations were tempered, and the thought was maybe we were looking at a future overseas pro or, at best, a late first-round or second-round draft pick. But his freshman season ended with an NCAA Tournament berth and a surprisingly hard-fought game against the mighty Kansas Jayhawks, and though Kansas (with a stacked roster that included future NBA players Cole Aldrich, Thomas Robinson, Xavier Henry, Tyshawn Taylor and the Morris twins) won by 16, it was apparent CJ could hang with the big dogs. He dropped 26 points and kept things close into the second half.

“[Kansas] had five or six NBA guys and their whole gameplan was to stop [CJ],” Errick says. “And you’re looking at a kid who’s barely 18 years old, and he goes out there and scores 26 on them. I said, he’s going to the League. That’s when he realized it. That was the turning point for him.”

“Yeah, that’s when I was like, OK, if I’m able to play with them right now, as a freshman who’s about 165 pounds, once I put some weight on and mature and develop, I’ll definitely be able to stand out, at any level,” CJ says.

He then spent four years more or less dominating the Patriot League but also proving better competition couldn’t slow him down, finishing his junior season with arguably the biggest and best NCAA Tourney upset of all time—don’t @ me!—when 15-seeded Lehigh took down 2-seeded Duke in 2012. CJ finished that game with 30 points, besting nationally renowned NBA prospect Austin Rivers in the process. And from there, anyone and everyone could see CJ McCollum had an NBA future ahead of him.

Growing up, Errick knew CJ had talent, though back then the idea that CJ’s talent could take him as far as it has was likely pretty preposterous. Errick is three-and-a-half years older than CJ, and yet CJ would always play with Errick and his friends instead of his own. “It was too easy for him to play with kids his age,” Errick says. And lil’ bro would keep up. Errick, along with NBAer Kosta Koufos, would go on to star at GlenOak High School in Canton, and when he graduated, it cleared the way for the younger McCollum to take over the team. CJ had averaged single-digit points per game as a sophomore—“you know, a role player,” Errick says—but when Errick and Kosta graduated, CJ was given the reigns.

“We expected him to step his game up,” Errick says. “I was hoping maybe he’d have 16, 17 points a game. And he goes and averages 25—and drops 54 in the first game. I was like, ‘You wanna go to school for free, I see.’”

Nine years later, CJ doesn’t have to stress about paying for school—or much at all. His massive contract extension came on the heels of a 2015-16 season that saw him receive the Most Improved Player award, which he earned after never relinquishing the starting role he was given at the tail end of ’14-15. He averaged 20.8 ppg and 4.3 apg in ’15-16, forming one of the most exciting young backcourts in the NBA with Lillard, a fellow former mid-major standout. Through hours and hours of work put in with Blazers assistant coach David Vanterpool, CJ has developed a reliable floater for finishing around the basket, and has maintained his almost Iverson-esque ability to get buckets as an undersized off-guard.

CJ remains reliant on his big bro to keep pushing him, though it’s more difficult than it was in high school—Errick now plays in China, where last season he scored a Chinese Basketball Association record 82 points (!) in one game. Errick’s contract has him locked up through this February, after which he can return to the States or search for another hoops gig abroad. In the meantime, the younger McCollum will handle the family business on this side of the planet.

“I wanna continue to work and continue to be a shark,” CJ says. “Sharks eat, but they’re always hungry. That’s the premise of my mindset, and that’s what Coach Vanterpool always tells me: You need to continue to eat, even when you’re full. Continue to be hungry and continue to keep that underdog mindset and remember where you came from. This could all be taken away in a hurry.

“Just two years ago I wasn’t nothing. I wasn’t shit. In the eyes of the public and the eyes of the world, I was just another lottery pick who’s been injured on and off and hadn’t proven that he belongs in the NBA.”

No longer.

—

Adam Figman is the Editor-in-Chief of SLAM. Follow him on Twitter @afigman.

Photos via Getty Images

The post Starboy appeared first on SLAM.

Amidst the flurry of texts that arrived was one from a number Oladipo didn’t have in his phone.

“You ready?”

Oladipo responded to the text the same way all of us do when a message comes in from an unknown set of digits: “Who is this?”

Somewhere in Los Angeles, a five-time NBA All-Star and one of the best basketball players on the planet must have cracked up.

“It’s Russ.”

It’s a little over four months later, and Russell Westbrook is standing next to Oladipo and Steven Adams in the Thunder’s old practice facility as the group poses for the photos you see on the pages of this magazine. “We going tucked in?” Vic asks the other two. He and Adams both have their jerseys scrunched into their shorts, while Westbrook’s hangs loose above his.

“Hell no,” Russ responds. “Untucked.”

Oladipo and Adams promptly remove their jerseys from their shorts.

You see, after the events of this past summer, the Thunder are unequivocally Westbrook’s team. The organization’s other big dog has moved on, and now the team has one true leader, a couple of young, suddenly well-paid associates and a collection of role players that will go only as far as their captain takes them. 

As this is being written, just a handful of games into the season, the dynamics of the new Thunder are already clear: Russ is going to be doing a lot. His usage percentage—an estimate of the percentage of plays he’s directly involved in while on the floor—is at this moment 42 percent, ahead of second place Joel Embiid’s 40 and DeMar DeRozan’s 37.3. (DeMarcus Cousins led the NBA in the stat last season with 35.4; Russ was sixth at 31.6.) He’s also leading the NBA in Value Over Replacement Player and Box Plus/Minus, two fancy but effective ways of stating that the Thunder are much, much better when he’s on the court than when he is not. (Ya think?)

According to Noah LaRoche, the founder of Integrity Hoops who trained Russ this past summer in L.A., Russ didn’t prep for life after Kevin Durant any differently than he would for any other season. The two spent a lot of time working on “doing more with less and taking what the defense gives you,” LaRoche says. “Just getting to your spots and getting your hands free—and ways to get to your spot and get your hands free, using position or using your dribble.”

LaRoche began training Russ in the summer of 2015—he was previously a video analyst for the Thunder, then met Westbrook again a few years later while consulting for Wasserman, the agency Russ is signed to. LaRoche and Westbrook worked diligently that summer on improving the point guard’s game around the basket, and though LaRoche admits a lot of their training went unused during the ensuing season—not due to Russ ignoring their work so much as the fact that it takes time for the training to seep into an in-game routine—he’s starting to see a lot of what they’ve worked on in Russ’ game now.

Westbrook’s teammate Anthony Morrow played against Russ in college at Georgia Tech and has known him since the two entered the NBA in ’08. “When I saw my dog signed back with us in OKC,I [sic] called him Last night and said ‘you the realist since 2pac,’” Morrow tweeted in early August after Westbrook signed a three-year extension with the Thunder.

“Yeah, I call him Pac,” Morrow says. “If anybody talks about Pac they always talk about how persistent he was, how hard-working he was. Russ is the same. When it’s showtime, you get all of him. You get the great times. You get the crazy stuff. You get the facial expressions. It’s just his attitude. Everybody either loves him or hates him—and if you don’t like him, you really do love him, you know what I’m saying? It’s not like comparing their lifestyles—it’s nothing to do with that. It’s from a standpoint of working hard and being unapologetic, being yourself. Just, ‘You embrace me for whatever you embrace me for.’ That passion.

“He loves [the nickname], ’cause it’s Pac,” Morrow continues. “We all love Pac. I also call him Maniac Russ. I call him Killer. But I give everybody a nickname. I’m a nickname guy.”

The night after our photo shoot in Oklahoma City, the Thunder have a home game against the Phoenix Suns. The arrival of the Suns also means the arrival of their head coach, Earl Watson.

Watson and Westbrook go way back, and if you believe Watson, he knew Westbrook would be every bit as good as he currently is from the start.

Like Westbrook, Watson attended UCLA, and he spends his summers in Los Angeles, mostly hanging around the school’s gym. The summer before his freshman year in 2006, Russ would play pick-up with some L.A.-based pros during their recurring game at UCLA, which took place four days per week, Monday to Thursday. “Russ didn’t miss one day,” Watson says. “He was the only player that never missed one day.”

The following summer, after one of those pick-up games in between Russ’ freshman and sophomore years, Watson walked out of the gym and ran into then-UCLA head coach Ben Howland. Howland asked Watson whom he liked of the guys who had been playing.

“I said, ‘Man, Russell Westbrook,’” Watson recalls. “[Howland] said, ‘No, no, no. Kevin Love was there, right?’ I said, ‘Yeah, Kevin’s there.’ He said, ‘Darren Collison?’ I said, ‘Yeah, but Russ is your best player.’ He was like, ‘No, no.’ And I said, ‘Coach, trust me, he’s gone after this year.’”

Watson ran into another important figure in Westbrook’s life that summer, too: the GM for the NBA franchise Watson was playing for at the time, Sam Presti, of the Seattle SuperSonics (who would soon become the OKC Thunder). Presti asked Watson which young guys he had been playing with around L.A. that he thought could develop into someone special, and Watson told Presti the same thing he told Howland. Watson says now that Presti laughed him off, but a year later, after Westbrook showed out during his sophomore year at UCLA, there was Presti selecting the hard-nosed PG from Long Beach with the fourth pick of the 2008 NBA Draft.

You know the story from there: five All-Star selections, one All-NBA First Team and four Second Team appearances, a postseason run of some sort in every season since 2010 with the exception of ’15, and an evolution into a true, all-around superstar alongside a friend and counterpart who experienced a similar progression simultaneously.

Fast forward to late October 2016, and now, for literally the first time in Oklahoma City Thunder history, things look way different. Oladipo is in tow, with a steady responsibility to be the team’s second-leading scorer, and Adams has developed into the group’s enforcer, there to grab a difficult rebound or toss an elbow at an irritating opponent at a moment’s notice.

On October 31, the Thunder committed fully to the 23-year-old Adams, gifting him a four-year, $100 million contract extension. “Steven’s a little bit of a unique guy,” Thunder head coach Billy Donovan says, “and what I mean by that—and I really admire this—is it’s not about Steven in terms of his growth. It’s not about that. He wants to grow because he knows if he grows, it helps the team. He’s a total and consummate team guy—everything’s about the team. So it’s not like, I want to touch the ball more, I want to score more. Some guys want to expand their games for personal reasons—he wants to expand his game to help our team.”

Adams came to America in late 2011 from New Zealand, where he still spends every summer. He learned of KD’s defection while there this past July. “I was like six hours behind the news,” he says. “I woke up in the morning and everyone already did their spiel or whatever. My mate texted and was like, ‘KD left!’ I was like, ‘Oh. Sweetness.’”

Adams has a tendency to reduce seemingly important, or

at least eye-opening, events into triviality—he referred to Westbrook’s 51-point, 13-rebound, 10-assist outburst in OKC’s home opener as “standard”—and as such the media relies on him as a light-hearted complement to Westbrook’s occasional standoffishness with the press. 

Adams says he likes living in Oklahoma City, if only because it reminds him a lot of Christchurch, a city on the east coast of New Zealand’s South Island where the residents are similarly kind. Asked how he spends his time with his teammates around OKC, he responds, “We do dinners. It’s whatever, bro. Usually we’re just tired from practice, so we’ll want to step back. We do different activities, golfing and whatnot. Go to the zoo.”

But as cunningly hilarious as Adams is off the court, to opponents, he’s equally annoying and maddening on it.

Just ask his new teammate. “A year ago I wanted to fight him,” Oladipo says. “I literally wanted to smack him.”

Vic remembers a time when the Magic were visiting Oklahoma City, and a chase for the ball resulted in Adams laying on top of Oladipo, who was struggling to get up on his feet. “So when I stood up, I pushed him,” Oladipo says with a smirk. “‘I was like, if you touch me again, I’m gonna smack you.

“Now I’ve got his back more than anybody else,” he adds. “If anybody tries to mess with him, I‘m right there. He’s just a good person. People might have a misconception of him, but it’s a good misconception, because we don’t want them to know what he’s really like. He’s a great person to be around.”

Oladipo, meanwhile, also has a little history with another member of the franchise—Donovan. When Vic was a high schooler at DC-area powerhouse DeMatha Catholic, Donovan started to recruit him—but didn’t finish, choosing not to give Oladipo an offer to come play for him at the University of Florida. “He was a post player at 6-3,” Donovan says. “I never saw him shoot. So I’m sitting there, like—it’s hard to see it. I just wasn’t sure if, at his size, he could play power forward in college.”

Donovan called Oladipo the week he moved to OKC. “When he was traded here, I told him, ‘That was a huge recruiting mistake by me,’” Donovan says. “Victor’s always been a great guy. I was very honest with him back in high school, but I really admired the career he had at Indiana and I’m really happy I’m getting to coach him now.”

Through eight games, Oladipo’s numbers are almost exactly where they were during his previous couple of seasons in Orlando, but it’s early. “Getting traded and being on a new team, all the spots where I get my shots are different from where they were before, so I’ve gotta start over a little bit,” he says. “But I’m happy with where I’m at.”

Oladipo, who, like Adams, was also given a fat contract extension in late October, spent a bunch of time with Westbrook this past summer after he learned of the trade, training with him for a couple months in L.A. The two are close—their lockers reside next to one another both in Oklahoma City and in visiting arenas—and they sit close by each other before games begin, blaring music from their headphones and cracking jokes.

In the aforementioned home opener against the Suns, Westbrook comes out fiery, D-ing up Devin Booker early. He screams “NAH, NAH” after he shuts DBook down one possession in, but any momentum is quickly halted, and the Suns take over, leading almost the entire game. Westbrook is by far the most talented player on the floor, though, and during the fourth quarter he drags the Thunder back into the game, pushes the contest into overtime and then guides OKC to victory, as he will just about every time the team wins this season.

After the Suns game, the mood in the locker room is jovial—Adams cracks jokes, Oladipo looks relaxed, and Westbrook actually smiles and expounds on answers when he responds to questions from the press. It goes without saying that it’ll be quite the uphill battle for this team, as currently constructed, to win an NBA championship, but the group is already starting to form a new, fresh, post-Durant identity. “It is different [than last season], in a good way,” Adams says. “It’s positive. It’s more of a family environment. We’re much more connected. Everyone’s on the same page. There’s no, like—it’s hard to explain. It just feels good. I think it’s just because there’s a lot of young players here, so there’s a lot of energy around. And you have Russ, who’s just the master of energy. The energy guru.”

Before the Energy Guru—aka Pac aka Maniac Russ aka Killer—bolts from the locker room following his huddle with the local beat reporters, I ask him about the difference between this year and last. He answered a similar question earlier in the day with, “One year older,” but the Thunder are fresh off a win, so it seems like a slightly better time to tackle the elephant in the room.

“It is different, for sure,” he says, nodding. “But at the same time, it’s a great challenge. I’ve been blessed to be in the position I’m in, and I’ve been put in this position for a reason. My job is to embrace the challenge and enjoy it.”

—

Adam Figman is the Editor-in-Chief at SLAM. Follow him on Twitter @afigman.

Portraits by Layne Murdoch

The post Russell Westbrook, Victor Oladipo & Steven Adams: Rage & The Machine appeared first on SLAM.

So in SLAM 204 we’ve got CJ McCollum, a previously oft-injured guard without a true position who emerged from a totally off-the-radar school (I’m allowed to say that #LehighFam) to become an exciting rising star on the cusp of really breaking out. And Kent Bazemore, who went undrafted but kept pushing until he emerged as the ultimate 3-and-D guy with some justifiably fat pockets. And Coney Island-bred Ethan Telfair, younger brother of Sebastian, who ran into some trouble and bounced around a bunch but is finally finding his footing in Idaho, of all places. And Bilqis Abdul-Qaadir, who refuses to be broken by a nonsense FIBA rule that has stalled her pro ball career. And even Kevin Love, whose backstory would’ve very much prohibited him from underdog status had he not found himself matched up against a two-time MVP who feasts on slow-footed big men in the waning moments of Game 7 of the NBA Finals. Sounds like an underdog situation to me.

And then of course we have the Oklahoma City Thunder, who, if all goes well (and please God let this happen), will ultimately have to face up against the Goliath that is the Golden State Warriors in the Western Conference playoffs. While OKC’s superstar has gotten a ton of (deserved) mag love over the past couple of months from other publications, we figured it was only right to include some of his cohorts—I’m not sure if you can find an NBA team that represents the underdog mentality better than a group of guys who lost one of the League’s best players but are pressing forward regardless, despite the fact that said player and his (new) boys, with more combined talent than possibly any team in NBA history, are now their direct competition. But a true underdog never backs down.

Adam Figman is the Editor-in-Chief of SLAM. Follow him on Twitter @afigman.

Cover + portraits by Layne Murdoch.

The post Russell Westbrook, Victor Oladipo and Steven Adams Cover SLAM 204 appeared first on SLAM.

This is weird, because as a member of the basketball media, I’ve now been to maybe hundreds of Knicks games. But this was no ordinary Knicks game. This was March 9, 2003. Knicks-Wizards. Michael Jordan’s last-ever game at Madison Square Garden.

I was a shade under 15 years old at the time, and though the hoops stars who “raised” me were a trio of superstars who followed MJ—Kobe, Iverson and Sprewell—my earliest basketball memories are of watching Mike dominate the League.

So to have the opportunity to see him play against the team I grew up rooting for, the team he perpetually destroyed throughout my formative years, was truly a pleasure. Not only because I got to see Him in the flesh—but because, despite the popular narrative that Jordan’s post-Chicago career was entirely a mirage, he was still so good.

On that Sunday afternoon in MSG, at age 40, Mike scored 39 points, doing so not with athleticism but with calculated mid-range jumpers that were somehow impossible to defend even when he was flanked by above-average defenders like Sprewell and Shandon Anderson. His footwork was impeccable; his basketball IQ was off the charts. And his heart was still there, too. After the game—in which the Wizards fell by just 1—Jordan said, “It’s very disappointing when a 40-year-man has more desire than a 24-, 25- or 23-year-old, diving for loose balls, busting his chin and doing everything he can to get his team into the playoffs, and it’s not reciprocated from the other players on the team.” Mike was 40, and instead of prepping to spend a minimum of three hours per day on some well-manicured fairway, here he was giving all he had for a subpar Eastern Conference team with barely an outside shot at making the postseason—and taking seemingly deserved shots at his teammates for not doing the same.

Anyway, my point: Even to those of us who weren’t old enough to truly appreciate The Shrug, The Move, The Flu Game or The Last Shot as they happened live, Mike never stopped mattering. This was true for me, true for the basketball world at large, and perhaps most crucially to you reading this, this was true for the sneaker community.

As Nick DePaula writes in this issue, when Mike retired for the first time, Nike wanted to pull the plug on the Jordan signature line. Fortunately for everyone involved, a few intelligent people—such as design god Tinker Hatfield—rejected that idea and doggedly prepared for a return that inevitably went down not long thereafter. This laid the groundwork for what would take place in 1998: Mike’s second retirement, after which everyone agreed the line (obviously) needed to stay. Almost two decades later and here we are, with the 31st version of MJ’s signature sneaker adorning the feet of young NBA studs like Russell Westbrook and Kawhi Leonard.

SLAM Presents JORDANS Vol. 3 picks up where Vol. 1 and Vol. 2 left off, with the XII, the sneaker Mike wore as he brought home his fifth championship. We then follow the line right through the end of his Bulls career, through his time with the Wizards and all the way up to today. The fact is Jordan—both the man and the sneaker line—never stopped being important. He should have faded on-court before I caught him in 2003, but he fought to the very end, using a specific skill set to maintain relevance. The same should’ve happened years ago in the sneaker world, too—and though those first 14 kicks forever remain in a near-untouchable class of their own, Jordan Brand is still releasing a signature MJ shoe on an annual basis and holding its spot at the front of the line all these years later.

Along with write-ups about every Jordan from XII to XXXI and Nick’s aforementioned feature, we’ve got first-person essays by NBA legend Ray Allen and one of MJ’s sons, Marcus Jordan, who both have unique perspectives on the GOAT’s sneaker legacy. Theoretically, Vol. 3 could put an end to this series, since we’re now officially up to date. In order to keep going, we need Jordan Brand to continue doing things that hold our attention and to continue to matter. I wouldn’t bet against it.

CLICK HERE TO ORDER YOUR COPY OF JORDANS VOL. 3!

—

Adam Figman is the Editor-in-Chief of SLAM. Follow him on Twitter @afigman.

Cover shot by Tom Medvedich; MJ pic via NBA/Getty Images

The post SLAM Presents JORDANS Vol. 3 is On Sale Now! appeared first on SLAM.

Look, this year’s SLAM Top 50 list brought on a slew of debates. Those are fun; we’re here almost solely for that conversation.

But they’re over.

Not because we don’t want you to continue arguing about basketball players, but because we’ve arrived at the top of the list. And there’s no questioning the top of the list. Not at the moment.

LeBron James is the best basketball player on the planet. It’s been true for a while now—despite a couple of guys clawing at his spot over the past year or two—and it’s very, very true as you’re reading this, mere months removed from an epic Finals comeback that I still can’t believe actually happened.

Down 3-1 to the best regular season team in NBA history with the unanimous… etc. etc. etc. You know the story. Which is why I’m going to keep this short. Really, really short.

Most of this list requires explanations—“Here’s why this guy was ranked here, or “Here’s why I think he should be higher/lower.”

But this write-up doesn’t need such an explanation. If you watched basketball this past June, it was provided—almost force-fed—to you. Perhaps over the next year KD and/or Stephen will boost one another to a new height, or Russ or Harden will become such a one-man wrecking crew that one of them will make sense as the new No. 1, or some young gun like AD or KAT will meet his full potential and ascend all the way up. But that’s a conversation for next year. This year’s is over. We’ve reached the pinnacle, and the pinnacle, at this exact instant, is not up for debate.

What more can I say?

https://youtu.be/FaHJJoVVRcQ

LEBRON JAMES SLAM TOP 50 HISTORY

2009: 1
2010: 1
2011: 1
2012: 1
2013: 1
2014: 1
2015: 1
2016: 1

Rankings are based on expected contribution in 2016-17—to players’ team, the NBA and the game.

Follow the entire SLAM Top 50 countdown.

The post SLAM Top 50: LeBron James, No. 1 appeared first on SLAM.

And man, what a spectacle it was. Not even The Decision—I’m not here to talk about the television special that birthed a trillion takes—but the decision, the fact that a basketball player could decide to go do his job in a different city and that as a result the landscape of the NBA could be re-arranged so rapidly and with such force. It’s always been fascinating to me that this is even possible. I love it. It’s a reason for fans to never get too comfortable with streaks of big wins or bad losses—which is totally fine. We get to watch basketball played at its highest level for a couple hundred nights every single year. That’s more than enough.

I spent the early portion of that summer unemployed and confused, unsure if the music-writing job I then wanted was in any way feasible. (Entering the workforce in mid-recession 2010 was strange as hell.) At some point that July I realized I was devoting an unhealthy portion of my days to thinking and reading about basketball, and so, so much of that was LeBron-related—if not directly about him, then indirectly so, considering how much he altered the rest of the NBA. I had of course spent the majority of my preteen, teenage and collegiate years not only thinking and reading but also playing, watching, writing, arguing and dreaming about basketball, but to still be doing so at 22 years old meant this would likely never stop happening. And all of the madness looked so fun to be involved with. So I applied for an internship at a popular basketball magazine and never looked back.

The League’s tectonic plates shifted once again in the summer of 2014, when Bron elected to return to the state that had raised him. When you factor in that a previous one of these NBA upheavals had also taken place back in ’07 with the forming of Boston’s Big Three (that required two moves, but still), it becomes clear that what we have is a legitimate pattern: Every few years something happens that reignites the energy and spirit of the L in a perpetually exciting and polarizing manner.

Earlier this summer, while riding a train from DC home to NYC, I was staring at Twitter (this story already checks out) when I scrolled into the famous Player’s Tribune link that crashed the internet. The format was different, but it happened again. Kevin Durant singlehandedly took the ingredients that make up today’s NBA and shook that shit up.

I’m happy for KD, because—as Pete Walsh writes about in this month’s cover story—he made a decision that he seems pleased with, which is ultimately all that I believe really matters. But I’d be lying if I didn’t admit that I was happy for us, too, both as fans and media members.

Maybe the Warriors go on to win Championship after Championship, or maybe they implode and this goes down as a wild, ill-conceived one-year experiment; regardless, the new-look Dubs have officially given everyone a new reason to pay attention, to tune in. To think and argue and dream about basketball. And to read a season preview issue of a mag like this. Hope you like it.

Adam Figman is the Editor-in-Chief of SLAM. Follow him on Twitter @afigman.

Cover + portraits by Atiba Jefferson.

The post Stephen Curry and Kevin Durant Cover SLAM 203 appeared first on SLAM.

Karl-Anthony was always tall—as a seventh grader he was already hovering around 6-5, requiring a special desk to sit at while the other students in school sat at a table as a group—but that didn’t help him get picked to play. In fact, it was the opposite. “The older kids considered him awkward and uncoordinated,” Towns Sr says. “They said, ‘He’s only in seventh grade.’ He was big and people would say, ‘Look at him—he can’t be coordinated. He’s got big shoes, big feet.’ He was always picked last.”

That was unwise. Because ever since his son was barely old enough to walk on his own, Towns Sr had him in the gym every day, be it to teach his son the game or to have him hang on the sidelines while Pops coached high schoolers.

KAT was indeed gangly, all arms and legs, and he did have massive feet—but the kid could hoop. His range extended out beyond the three-point line and he could handle the ball as well as the older kids at the park, regardless of height. “By the time games were over, everyone would be like, ‘Who picked this kid last?’” Towns Sr says. “They didn’t know that he was in the gym every day with me practicing—and practicing with high school kids every day. Nobody ever thought that.”

“I took [getting picked last] as a challenge to be better,” Karl-Anthony says. “I took that as motivation to keep striving.”

You know what happened over the next few years. The NJ native kept getting taller and kept getting better. He became one of the top recruits in the country. Played for the Dominican national team at the age of 16. Graduated high school in three years. Played at Kentucky for one.

Declared for the Draft. Got picked a little higher than he did back at the park.

Then he went on to have one of the best rookie seasons ever, averaging 18.3 points, 10.5 rebounds and 1.7 blocks per game for the young Minnesota Timberwolves. He became the fifth rook ever unanimously selected Rookie of the Year, earning all 130 first-place votes from the media.

Not a bad way to start a career.

It’s a gorgeous Los Angeles afternoon in August, as the 20-year-old strolls into the Bay Club in Thousand Oaks to take part in his first solo SLAM cover shoot. He arrives alone, rolling into the gym wearing a Like Mike-inspired Calvin Cambridge basketball jersey, light blue jorts and all-white Air Force 1s.

“What you guys do is art,” he tells SLAM photographer Atiba Jefferson, “and I could never rush art. I’ll be here for as long as you need me.”

It doesn’t take long for the energy in the room to pick up. “Let me put on something me and D’Angelo [Russell] listen to,” he says, taking control of the photographer’s iPhone and playing Logic’s “I’m Gone” on Spotify.

Then he begins simulating some in-game moves for the camera, and suddenly I understand why a bunch of foolish kids in a park once thought Towns was way less talented than he really is. It’s not that Towns doesn’t look like he can ball—dude is a legit 7-feet, after all—but his athleticism exceeds any expectations. As Jefferson snaps away, Karl-Anthony starts with lay-ups and finger rolls, then attempts a dunk, taking off from the baseline relatively softly and drifting into the air, seemingly set to fall a few feet short of the hoop. And then: bang! His arm go-go gadgets into the sky as he floats just longer than gravity typically allows, hammering the ball into the hoop with such force that the entire gym feels like it’s shaking as the boom ricochets off the surrounding walls. Then he does it again. And again. Each time from a different—and more impressive—angle.

As a professional basketball media member, I probably should’ve known that he could pull off such maneuvers. But those kids at that Jersey park—they can be forgiven. Because while it’s a given now that KAT is on his way to becoming one of the best basketball players walking the planet, it was a little less apparent in the late ’00s. To most. But not Towns Sr.

Karl-Anthony’s dad played at Monmouth University in the mid-’80s and had plans to hoop overseas until an injury sustained in a park dashed those plans. He went into coaching, and as soon as his son hit about 3 years of age, Towns Sr was bringing the kid to his varsity practices every day.

As KAT got older—and taller—he played with the high school kids, learning to hold his own around more mature, more talented players than those his peers were practicing against. Perhaps because he was practically raised with a ball in his hand, or perhaps because of some innate ability, Karl-Anthony had a knack for the game, able to dribble like a guard and shoot like a wing, despite his height.

He attended high school at St. Joseph in Jersey, playing for head coach Dave Turco. By the time KAT was in ninth grade, he stood 6-9, but Turco didn’t pressure him to stay close to the hoop. Instead, Karl-Anthony led the team in three-pointers through his high school career. “People would come to games and be like, ‘Why do they have that big kid out on the wing?’” Turco says. “At the time we had a kid named Quenton DeCosey who was very good at getting to the rim. So Karl was on the perimeter, because if the [opposing team’s] big man stayed inside, we’d get Karl the ball and he’d knock down threes, and if he went outside then Q would get to the rim pretty easily.”

As a 16-year-old high school freshman, Karl-Anthony decided he wanted to play for the Dominican Republic national team—his mother is from the DR, so he was eligible—and the family traveled to NYC for tryouts on a weekly basis. “We were traveling to New York every weekend for, like, two months,” his mother, Jacqueline Cruz, remembers. “Elimination. Elimination. Tryout. Tryout. And Karl was still, still there. Everyone got eliminated but him. A month had gone by—from thousands of kids, now to a hundred. He said, ‘Mom, I’m gonna do better next tryout. Better. And better.’ And he got it.”

With the Dominican national team, Towns played and practiced alongside NBA players Al Horford and Francisco Garcia, and faced up against Team USA (and was guarded by Anthony Davis) in an Olympic qualifying game in 2012. “When I spent time with the Dominican national team, I think that’s where I really took that next step,” Towns says. “You know, learning to be a professional, learning how to treat my body, learning those little tips and tricks and different skill sets that I had never been introduced to.”

University of Kentucky coach John Calipari famously coached that Dominican team, which is where he met KAT, a point critics of Cal have often noted as evidence of the coach’s sneaky recruiting tactics. “Come on. I didn’t know who he was,” Cal says now. “Found out on a fluke who he was and when I watched him, it was like, Wait a minute, this is the kid you’re telling me about? He wanted to be a guard.”

Following three straight state titles, KAT was off to Lexington, where he was a member of a stacked Kentucky team that platooned two groups of five guys in shifts throughout each game. Cal claims he was only able to coach like that—a method that worked, as the team went undefeated during the regular season, eventually falling to Wisconsin in the Final Four—because KAT bought in. “Think about it: Should Karl have played 35 minutes a game?” Cal asks. “Yeah. He played 20, 21, so Dakari [Johnson] could get 18-19 minutes. If I couldn’t get through to Karl and couldn’t coach him hard, how was I gonna get anyone else to do it? We had to be able to coach him.”

KAT’s college coach had a markedly different strategy for helping him get ready for the L than his high school one, though: “I did not let him shoot three-point shots,” Cal says. “You gotta understand, he led his high school team in three-point shooting attempts. [At UK], he was gonna get next to that basket and every day he was gonna get better.”

Timberwolves president Flip Saunders—who passed away shortly before the 2015-16 NBA season—selected Karl-Anthony No. 1 in the ’15 Draft, pairing him with veteran Kevin Garnett, as decorated an NBA big man as there is, to learn the ins and outs of the League. They set up a group text with Flip, KG and the rest of the team to help Karl-Anthony become familiar with his surroundings and make him feel comfortable, and to this day KAT says he plays to make Flip proud that he drafted him and entrusted the future of the organization in him.

KG remains KAT’s primary mentor. “Every time I’m with KG, it feels like, in my opinion, like I’m looking at myself in a mirror,” Towns says. “We have that same drive, passion, determination—that same fire.”

Though KG was always more of a forward (especially early in his career) than a true center, the two share a common, if broad, on-court trait: versatility. When Garnett entered the League and made a splash during those first few seasons, it was because of his ability to do…well, everything.

And now KAT is doing the same. He can score both inside the paint and outside toward—and beyond—the three-point line. (That Turco-Calipari combo prepped him well.) He can defend both inside and out, too—he holds his own against big men in the paint and is quick enough to help on pick-and-roll switches. The analytics heads love him; his true shooting percentage (59.0) and effective field-goal percentage (55.5) stack up well. He passes every eye test, too. He provides literally everything you could possibly ask for in an NBA big man. “I try to be the best in the League at every single aspect, whether it may be three-point shooting like Stephen Curry, rebounding like Andre Drummond or blocking shots like Hassan Whiteside,” he says. “I’m trying to strive to be at the head of those categories—in all of them.”

Off the court, Garnett isn’t really a fair comparison. Towns is a little more…let’s say…personable. Kinda like a class president. Wait, no: an actual class president. KAT held that title throughout his entire high school tenure, which, if you know him whatsoever, is probably the least surprising thing you could ever learn.

Last May, SLAM held a video shoot with UK point guard Tyler Ulis as he readied for the 2016 Draft in Lexington. Towns, back in Kentucky for an autograph signing, stopped by the practice facility to say what’s up to Coach Cal, Ulis and some UK staffers. On the way out, he approached Ulis and let him know to holler at him if he needs anything at all as he prepared for the next step. Altogether a pretty casual move, but a notable one coming from a 20-year-old speaking to another 20-year-old. (Ulis had stayed in college an extra year.)

“You think he’s fake, because you can’t be that nice a guy,” Cal says. “I know when you first meet him and you’re around him and you’re with him for a few days, [you think] this isn’t real stuff, like, He’s the best BSer I’ve ever seen. Then after being around him you’re just like, ‘Holy Jesus, this is who this kid is.’”

The best possible news for Wolves fans is there’s zero reason to believe the franchise isn’t going to continue to build on its Towns-based foundation. Also on the roster are 21-year-old swingman Andrew Wiggins (2015’s Rookie of the Year), 21-year-old high-flying guard Zach LaVine and newly drafted 22-year-old PG Kris Dunn, who very well could give Minnesota its third consecutive ROY.

“We’re all just doing it together,” Wiggins tells us. “We’re all around the same age, with the same goals, and we like similar stuff. We all want to score, we all want to win and we all take pride in what we do. We know we’re in it together—we know what the future can hold if we stay together and stay on top of our game.”

Towns spent the summer doing exactly the types of things he should be doing—hanging at the ESPYs, rooting on his teammates at Summer League, making appearances on children’s TV shows, attending Cal’s celebrity softball game—all while working out in L.A. and elsewhere. Right before training camp, he’ll perform his annual ritual of unplugging from the internet for a few days as he holes up in Agoura Hills, CA, clearing his mind before the season tips.

“I always think that if I’m not doing something that somebody else is, that they’re trying to take my spot, or take my job, or just get better than me,” he says. “I can’t let that happen, so I look at every single minute, second, hour, day, as an opportunity to be better than the person that’s chasing me. I’ve always said that I want to leave the game on my own terms, finish as the best player that’s ever lived, and do it my own way—never a version two of someone else, but the first version of myself, and I strive every day and continue to work on my game so I can be the best player possible, so I can leave my legacy as that. I’m not gonna stop until I’ve accomplished that goal, until I have absolutely nothing to give to the game of basketball.”

Cal tells a story that he thinks sums up Towns’ rise pretty well. When KAT first got to Kentucky in the summer of 2014, former UK big men DeMarcus Cousins and Anthony Davis were hanging around campus. Cal asked them what they thought of Towns’ talent, the obvious context being that this kid was set to be the next iteration of gifted UK-produced centers like DMC and AD. “‘Man, that kid? He ain’t shit,’” Cal says the guys told him. “I said, guys, he’s really good. They said, ‘What? Coach, man, stop.’”

“I saw them at the end of this year and I looked at both of them: ‘What you think?’”

“‘He’s way better than I thought.’”

Leave it to Karl-Anthony Towns to turn two of the best centers in the NBA into those same kids in Piscataway who didn’t realize the lanky seventh grader could really play.

—

Adam Figman is the Editor-in-Chief at SLAM. Follow him on Twitter @afigman.

Portraits by Atiba Jefferson

The post Karl-Anthony Towns: The Perfect Storm appeared first on SLAM.

“I’ve always said that I want to leave the game on my own terms, finish as the best player that’s ever lived, and do it my own way—never a version two of someone else, but the first version of myself.”

Karl-Anthony Towns told me the two quotes above at our cover shoot this past August. It’s a strange juxtaposition, right? If all breaks right for KAT he’d be lucky and assuredly honored to follow in the footsteps of his mentor. And yet he doesn’t want to follow any footsteps at all. He wants to be the first Karl-Anthony Towns, blazing a new trail that others can some day follow.

Each quote can be true, of course. Karl-Anthony can become a legend both in Minnesota and in the minds of basketball fans worldwide just as his vet Kevin Garnett has done over the past 21 (!!!) years, and he can do so using the template that KG has established for him, with on- and off-court guidance and advice from the 40-year-old that I’m sure is fed to KAT on a daily basis. He can still do it entirely on his own terms, too.

https://youtu.be/Tf027ZnxMM8

SLAM grapples with this concept as well. We’re now a couple hundred issues and almost a couple dozen years deep, so the legacy is thick, and important to protect. To disavow anything we’ve accomplished thus far—including basic survival, if we’re being real—wouldn’t be fair to any of those who laid the groundwork, be it the editors and writers who raised us from a distance during *most* of the current staff’s formative years or those who literally molded who we are today over the past half-decade (what up, BO!).

But we also push forward—and what a weird, fun time to be sorting through the mud. Remember when having a print magazine and a website was a confusing juggle? Now throw in social media, video, live streaming, events…

Which is why we keep it moving, leaning on the brand’s foundation while figuring out what can be added to our house as we attempt to build upwards and out. KAT’s doing something similar, though he admittedly looks way cooler doing so. And in that regard, we’re happy to assist. So, two covers: One paying homage to his big bro Kevin’s classic “100% Juice,” and one CGI-enhanced joint that resembles no other SLAM cover I can remember in the mag’s history. A mirror of something that came before him, and a brand new look, a trail of his own.

* * *

* * *

Adam Figman is the Editor-in-Chief of SLAM. Follow him on Twitter @afigman.

Cover portraits by Atiba Jefferson.

The post SLAM 202 is On Sale Now! appeared first on SLAM.

But they all look plenty comfortable and plenty proud. And they should—though some big-name NBAers declined invites, these are still the 12 stars who were selected to rep their country in a global sports competition that most kids and, well, adults, could only dream of participating in.

Let’s be real, though: It’s not just a country that these guys represent when they take the big stage in Rio de Janeiro. There’s also the league they play for, their friends and families, their hometowns, and, most importantly, (we kid, kind of) the sneaker companies they endorse.

For Kevin Durant, Kyrie Irving, Paul George, Draymond Green, DeMarcus Cousins, DeMar DeRozan and DeAndre Jordan, that brand is the mighty Nike. [Only the first five made it onto our newest KICKS cover, but we’ve still got love for all of ’em.—Ed.] And with its product in the spotlight, Nike isn’t simply letting the moment pass; they’re stepping up by putting forward some of the most fire material the sneaker game has to offer.

“We totally look forward to [the Olympics] coming around every four years,” says Eugene Rogers, Nike Basketball’s Color Lead, who worked on the color strategy of all the new releases. “It’s an opportunity to approach it differently than anything else that we approach. This is a time to put country first above all else—above each of the athletes, above our own brand.”

We’ll start with the Hyperdunk, referred to as the “Nike Basketball Signature Shoe.” The sneaker Paul George is wearing in this year’s Olympics, the Hyperdunk 2016 Flyknit leans heavily on Nike’s Flyknit technology (duh), applying it all the way up through the sneak’s upper, designed to provide that locked-in feeling—the way the Flyknit extends above the ankle, it’s essentially both a sneaker and a sock. (It’s comfortable as hell, too. We wear-tested these out in Vegas and can confirm.)

The Hyperdunk has some Olympic history. The original version was unveiled on-court in 2008 at the Beijing Olympics—that first iteration was re-released this summer to celebrate that Olympic debut—and PG-13 will be alternating between a pair of sleek USA-inspired colorways in Rio: one white, one navy. “The white version and the navy version represent the two different personalities of the shoe,” Rogers says. “The white one, since it’s such a revolutionary silhouette or basketball shoe or even just sneaker in general—with the height, with the sock-like form—you see that ultra-lean expression, which plays into the overall Team USA aesthetic. Then in the navy one you really see how we amplify the Team USA pallet and we really brighten the blues and the reds. We use those for technology call-outs, like the Flyknit.”

There’s no specific player officially attached to the Hyperdunk family, but George is essentially the face of the shoe, an honor he seems to enjoy. “To kind of carry that torch for Nike, it’s been unbelievable,” he says. “Shoes are history. They tell stories. It’s a way for the younger generations to have that connection with how great some of our athletes were. It’s more than just a sneaker at this point, you know what I mean? So it’s awesome and I look forward down the line to hearing stories that I’ve been a part of with Kev [Durant], LeBron, Kobe. It’s just great that they continue to keep telling the stories.”

On the bottom of the Flyknit version of the shoe is a full-length Zoom Air unit for stability, with Flywire cables running through the sneaker for a full lock-down effect. Both the white and navy colorways retail for $200—all the aforementioned technology ain’t cheap!—and are out now.

Then you’ve got starting point guard Kyrie Irving, and more specifically, his buzzing Nike Kyrie 2s. Kyrie’s line of kicks may only be on its second run, but it’s quickly become a go-to for NBA players and everyday pick-up players alike. They’re fit properly for most guards, they’re reasonably priced ($120), and they’re distinct but clean, with a strap across the top and curved midsole and outsole.

“I think I have the best sneaker here, hands down. Bron’s not here so I can say it,” Irving says with a laugh, sitting in the corner of the Thomas & Mack Center.

Irving’s game is consistently side-to-side, based on tons of quick movements that he uses to slide around opponents en route to the basket. The Kyrie 2, of course, is designed for his style of play. “His game is very much about that lateral movement,” Rogers says. “With the personality of the shoe, we really call out that strap for that lateral lockdown amplifying Kyrie’s footwork.

“[Kyrie] was great to work with,” Rogers adds. “He definitely wants his shoe to have a bold expression and he’s not afraid to lead with his footwear. As a designer, it’s really exciting to work with that.”

The Kyrie 2 “USA” sneaks officially dropped globally in early July and in the States in mid-July.

And then there’s Durant, the most talented player on this year’s Olympic squad. His KD9 was introduced earlier this year, with a low-cut silhouette designed by Leo Chang. The Zoom Air unit of the KD9 runs all the way from heel to toe, providing the sneaker with a nice bounce, and the midsole was minimized, per Nike, to enhance the sensation caused by the full Zoom Air unit.

“The shoes are perfectly catered to my foot, like I molded these and got a special pair made,” Durant said in a Nike press release. “That’s what I want everybody to feel who puts these on. It will feel personal.”

George, Irving and Durant are the three guys Nike is marketing the heaviest, but the Swoosh also has a few others on the Team USA roster who will be lacing up their products.

Warriors forward and first-time Olympian Draymond Green is rocking the Nike Zoom Clear Out, a new basketball sneaker with Zoom cushioning and an all-mesh upper. Meanwhile, Kings big man DeMarcus Cousins has, like George, been spotted in the Hyperdunk Flyknit and Hyperdunk High, and like Green, spotted in the Zoom Clear Outs.

Then you’ve got Raptors swingman DeMar DeRozan, one of the League’s biggest Kobe heads, rocking the Kobe 11s, and DeAndre Jordan in the Hyperdunks. Which is all to say that if Nike walked away with seven players rocking their best stuff in Rio and nothing else, that’d be a massive victory.

But, well, there’s more. Team USA-inspired versions of the LeBron 13 and the Soldier Xs have been released this summer. And then there’s the nod to the past: To honor the 20th anniversary of the Nike Air More Uptempo—you might remember them as the loud kicks Scottie Pippen wore in 1996 with “AIR” in huge letters along the side—the brash sneaker has been re-released, though all available pairs were mostly gobbled up by ever-hungry sneaker enthusiasts within days of their initial availability.

Pippen is obviously less known for his footwear decisions than his Chicago Bulls’ counterpart, and to be real there were at least a few guys from his era with sneaker games that have resonated stronger over time, and yet Pip’s Air More Uptempos have slid under the radar just long enough to regain a whole bunch of cool in 2016.

The night before we spoke with a few of the Team USA guys in Vegas, Pippen and Green made an appearance together to pay tribute to the re-release of the Air More Uptempos by speaking in front of a large group of young fans at a nearby shopping mall. At the event, Pippen compared his game to Green’s; Green spoke on watching Pippen as a youngster and hoping he could one day reach his level of success. Asked why his sneakers were so noticeable, Pippen said, “Another guy that I played with had pretty popular sneakers, so I guess I needed something bold to stand out.”

The next morning, we asked Green if he ever thought about the tradition that he’s carrying on as a member of Nike Basketball’s roster. The night before, hundreds of people stood and laughed and cheered all under the context of a sneaker that debuted 20 years ago and was being re-released into stores. Who knows where Draymond will be a couple decades from now, but it’s not out of the realm of possibility that he could be sitting with one of the best young players in the year 2036, talking about playing in the Olympics and what it was like to wear a certain pair of kicks way back when. Point being: the sneaker decisions of NBA players today could have longstanding effects.

“You know, I’ve never really thought about it like that,” Green said. “But it’s true. You’re right.”

—

Portraits by Tom Medvedich, last pic courtesy of Getty Images.

Adam Figman is the Editor-in-Chief of SLAM. Follow him on Twitter @afigman.

The post We Can’t Be Stopped appeared first on SLAM.

The volume can get a little exhausting. If sneaker writers worked until they were out of material to cover, there’d be corpses in front of laptops in the basements of parents’ houses all over the world. (KIDDING. Love you all.)

This, I’d say, is a good thing. I know I enjoy it. More sneakers? More options? Hell yeah. Who TF would want fewer kicks to choose from?

But if you’re someone who wants to keep up with all of this—someone who wants to know exactly what’s on shelves, what’s hot, what flopped, who’s gaining steam and who’s losing traction—it’s damn near a full-time job to stay informed. Which is fine for those of us whose full-time job it actually is. But pretty tough for, ya know, everyone else.

All of which is why I’m happy as hell that KICKS Magazine exists today.

None of this is an excuse for SLAM to move slower than anybody else—and we don’t. (Not that long ago we absolutely did, but a sincere RIP to those days.) Pics of upcoming drops are on our site seconds after they fall from the sky. We’re at every launch Snapchatting our faces off (username: slammagazine), flooding our Instagram (@SLAMonline), Twitter (@SLAMonline) and Facebook (SLAM Magazine) feeds with photos, shooting videos and writing about it all on this site every single day.

It’s kinda nice to take a minute to step back and evaluate the scene every once in a while, though. That’s what KICKS is for. It’s where we realize that despite the fact that everybody is trying to achieve the same goal—create, market and ultimately sell dope sneakers—everybody’s attempting to do so a little differently.

Adidas, with its official NBA licensing deal expiring next summer, is doubling down on some exciting talent, and they’ve got the most influential musical artist of our time (don’t @ me) in the mix and set to dive way deeper into the fray. Jordan Brand continues to push forward while making sure no one forgets its rich, unparalleled history. Under Armour, now officially a relevant on-court presence, is leveraging that position and the MVP who helped them earn that status to compete off the hardwood with a hoops-inspired luxury line. And Nike…I mean, you see the magazine cover below, yes? With a fun group of guys about to ball out in front of the entire world and the best player in the game locked up forever, the Swoosh still has the sauce, my pals.

We’ve got plenty of other brands and individuals covered in this year’s KICKS, too. Hope it brings some sneaker-industry perspective, and even if not, hope you enjoy looking at beautiful photos of sneakers. We certainly do.

The post KICKS 19 is On Sale Now! appeared first on SLAM.

Sprewell wore red basketball shorts and a wife beater.

“I was immediately impressed by that, in an odd way,” Van Gundy says now. “I immediately knew that this guy is who he is. He was never trying to impress somebody else by what he did or what he said—he was being himself.”

If nothing else, Latrell Sprewell was always himself. This cost him relationships with both teammates and coaches and damaged his reputation more than a little bit, but he never seemed to mind—he was unapologetically himself both in and out of the spotlight, though he’s made it abundantly clear he’s always preferred the latter.

We wanted to speak with Latrell about his playing career and his post-NBA life. He had no interest in doing so, which shouldn’t come as much of a surprise; Latrell never much enjoyed interacting with reporters of any sort. Which is unfortunate, because, from what we do know of the time leading up to his disappearance from the public eye, it really was quite the journey.

Sprewell was born in Milwaukee, spent a chunk of his childhood in Flint, MI, then returned to Milwaukee after his father was arrested for possession with intent to distribute in Michigan. During his junior year at Washington High School on the north side of Milwaukee, basketball coach James Gordon spotted a gangly Latrell—all 6-4, 170 pounds of him—walking down the hallway and asked if he’d have any interest in playing basketball. Sprewell had been cut from the team as a freshman back in Flint, but, under the guidance of Gordon, he decided to give it a go once again.

He was good. Like, really good: Long, athletic, a lock-down defender with a solid mid-range shot and in-your-face intensity to boot. Gordon, through a friend named John Hammond (then an assistant at Southwest Missouri State, now the General Manager of the Milwaukee Bucks), set Sprewell up with Gene Bess, head coach at Three Rivers Community College, a local junior college. Spree grew to 6-5, filled out a little, and played with a mean streak that had him shutting down wings on one end and driving past them on the other. “The thing that impressed me most with him was that he was so coachable,” Bess says. “You didn’t have to tell him every mistake he made—he learned from other players. You only had to tell him [instructions] once.”

He did a couple years at Three Rivers, then a couple years at the University of Alabama, where he live inside the basketball team’s arena one summer as he worked meticulously on his game with one of the program’s managers every day. “Spree could run,” says Wimp Sanderson, his coach at Alabama. “He got a lot of cheap baskets, and he could take the ball to the basket. The more he played, the better he got.”

Sprewell was drafted 24th overall by the Golden State Warriors in 1992. The Warriors had just traded away Mitch Richmond, ending the fast-paced Run-TMC era, though Chris Mullin and Tim Hardaway Sr remained with the organization. They finished a rough 34-48 during Spree’s rookie campaign, but got better in ’93-94, winning 50 games with a roster that housed the likes of Chris Webber, Billy Owens and Chris Gatling. Sprewell, per reports at the time, felt that they had a solid foundation of individuals to move forward with.

Management didn’t agree. In 1994 they flipped Webber and Owens—leading Sprewell and Gatling to write their traded friends’ numbers on the back of their sneakers—and Nelson left in early 1995 with Golden State’s locker room still furious with him for his unnecessarily contentious relationship with Webber, who was the ’93-94 Rookie of the Year and pretty obviously a future many-time All-Star.

“At that particular time, the whole organization was going different ways,” Hardaway Sr says. “New ownership. New management. New GM. Don Nelson was out, and now you had Rick Adelman coming in. [Adelman’s style] suited us, but we had to change everything around.”

Adelman and Hardaway didn’t get along—the perpetual theme with the 90s Warriors is just about every group following the Run-TMC era had some sort of player-coach or player-player infighting—but Adelman and Sprewell bonded just fine, and despite the team’s mediocrity, Latrell played well, establishing himself as an elite NBA guard. He made All-Star games in ’94, ’95 and ’97 and the All-NBA First Team and All-Defensive Second Team in ’94. The high-energy Sprewell was named Team Captain in 1996, then was gifted a four-year, $32 million contract that summer. In ’96-97 he averaged 24.2 points (his career-high), good for fifth in the NBA.

But despite the on-court success, the off-court confrontations were…aplenty. In 1993 Spree fought with teammate Byron Houston, who clocked in at 250 pounds and looked more defensive lineman than small forward. In ‘95 Spree went at it with Jerome Kersey at a practice; he then left the practice, only to return minutes later holding a two-by-four.

And then there was the incident. The Warriors replaced Rick Adelman with PJ Carlesimo in 1997. Then the ’97-98 Warriors began the season 1-13. Then on December 1, 1997, a frustrated Latrell Sprewell snapped on Carlesimo during a practice. Carlesimo reportedly told Spree to “put a little mustard” on a pass, leading Spree to tell Carlesimo to back off, leading Carlesimo to do the exact opposite, leading to Spree’s hands winding up around Carlesimo’s neck.

(The strangest part of the incident, which was detailed in a report by an independent arbitrator named John Feerick and later relayed by New York Magazine, came courtesy of Warriors role player Bimbo Coles, who was on the court putting up jumpers while this all went down across the gym. Coles turned around at exactly the moment Spree had Carlesimo’s neck in his grip, but was so baffled by what he was seeing, his brain simply didn’t register it—so he turned around and took another shot. Shout out to Bimbo Coles.)

Sprewell would soon get slapped with a one-year suspension, becoming arguably the most vilified NBA player of his era in the process. He was the late 90s Ron Artest—post-Malice, pre-Metta.

“I never saw him ever lose his temper in practice or in a game,” Bess says. “I had to do some correcting, just he and I, and I was always impressed that he didn’t ever try to retaliate in any way, shape or form. [The incident] was a shock, honestly.”

After the penalty was handed down—following arbitration, the punishment became a 68-game, rest-of-the-season suspension—Sprewell did what anyone else in his shoes would do: He went home. In Milwaukee, he trained his cousin, Ceso Sprewell, a then-16-year-old student at Washington High School. And he waited. Eventually the NBA, stuck in a lockout, granted two teams permission to speak with Spree: New York and Miami.

The Knicks brass’ trip to Milwaukee was a success, as was so much of what followed it. Sprewell helped the franchise leave behind its mid-90s core of John Starks and Charles Oakley (Patrick Ewing remained, though), and, along with Ewing, Allan Houston and Larry Johnson, he brought the 8-seeded Knicks to the 1999 Finals. “Latrell, because of his competitiveness, intelligence and athletic ability, really gave us a boost defensively,” Van Gundy says. “Offensively, he and Houston, after they grew together and learned how to play together, they really complemented each other extremely well.”

They lost those Finals to the San Antonio Spurs, but no matter—Sprewell 2.0 had arrived. He proudly stated, “I’m the American dream,” in an AND 1 commercial. He was featured on the cover of this magazine. The following season he slid into the starting lineup as the Knicks’ premier small forward, averaging 18.6 ppg and 4.3 rpg in ’99-00. He became an All-Star in ’00-01. And he was so, so fun to watch; his fierce two-handed slams would remind the modern NBA fan of a certain Oklahoma City guard.

“He came to New York and the Knicks at the right time for himself, and the right time for the Knicks, and the city embraced him,” JVG says. “That run from when he came, those first couple of years—tremendous. When he was running the left wing and we advanced it to him, and he was running full speed and his brakes were flying and he was attacking, it was a sight to behold. The athleticism, the flare, the tenacity—it was a beautiful thing.”

Sprewell also became a cultural force. He started a rims company that helped popularize spinning rims, which were the car-accessory of the moment for the better half of the early 00s. Then after helping AND 1 sell a heap of sneakers, he linked with DaDa, who introduced a sneaker with a spinning rim inside of it. Outside of the great Allen Iverson, you can’t find a basketball player of the late 90s/early 2000s with an equal amount of credibility in the hip-hop community as Spree had. Not a one.

Things in New York were really great—until they weren’t. He arrived at training camp in 2002 with a broken hand, which the New York Post reported was from a fight he had on his yacht. (Sprewell denied that.) His scoring dipped slightly that season to 16.4 ppg, and the team finished 37-45, missing the Playoffs. Sprewell was traded to Minnesota that following summer for Keith Van Horn in a four-team deal.

The 2003-04 Timberwolves were guided by a three-headed beast comprised of Spree, Kevin Garnett and Sam Cassell. By all accounts, that should’ve been their year. They finished 58-24, first in a tough Western Conference. But the Lakers still had Shaq and Kobe, who knocked out the Wolves in the 2004 Conference Finals. And that was as close as that group would ever come to a ring.

For Latrell, that was basically it. He played one more year in Minnesota, then entered a contract stalemate with the Wolves—he infamously told the press he wouldn’t take a minimum contract because he had children to feed—and despite some reported interest in later years from the Dallas Mavericks and San Antonio Spurs, he never played another NBA game after ‘04.

To this day, Sprewell’s name pops into headlines every so often, and as of yet it’s been for almost exclusively unfortunate reasons. All reported: His yacht was repossessed. He foreclosed on multiple homes. He owed $3.5 million in back taxes to the state of Wisconsin. He was sued by his ex-girlfriend. He was arrested for disorderly conduct.

It’s tough to know what of this is true and what were minor issues embellished by the media. He certainly doesn’t want to speak about it. It is true that Wisconsin makes public the names of anyone who owes the state more than $25,000 each year, and Latrell’s name is not currently in that database. His name is publicly listed on 14 court cases in Milwaukee since 2006, but most of them appear to be closed.

This much we know, too: As he did through the year he resided in pro basketball exile in between his Warriors and Knicks tenures, Latrell has spent the majority of his post-NBA life in Milwaukee. He went right back to playing ball at the YMCA in the mid-2000s, the same place he honed his skills in the winter of 1997. More recently he’s been frequently spotted in local bars, most notably Jo Cat’s Pub, a tiny bar in Milwaukee’s Lower East Side overtly designed for college-aged kids, with blaring pop music, some big-screen TVs, a bunch of Christmas lights and almost literally nothing else. Ask any random 20- or 30-strolling through Milwaukee’s Lower East Side if they’ve seen Latrell Sprewell around at all—as I did to a bunch in early April—and you’ll hear plenty of stories about seeing Spree around town, in Jo Cat’s or Ugly’s or Apartment 720 or Mi-Key’s. A Twitter search for “sprewell bar” results in dozens and dozens of people boasting about hanging at the same watering hole as Sprewell. The Kenny Powers vibes are perhaps a little too real.

That said, it’s evident, on the surface at least, that Latrell does not lack for self-awareness. He accepted some public attention for the first time in years in early 2016, starring in a Priceline commercial in which he jokingly gives terrible life advice to a little girl. It’s impossible to watch the ad without squirming at how on-the-nose the whole thing feels.

https://youtu.be/YvjWCAa7kO0

But if Latrell is particularly offended by his reputation, he seems willing to laugh it off, or at the minimum accept a nice-sized check to do so.

I mention to Van Gundy that if Spree really wanted to (and really needed the money), he could easily take one quick trip to New York City and pull in a ton of loot making appearances, doing meet-and-greets, autograph signings, all that. “I’ll say this: Even if he needed the money, he wouldn’t do it,” Van Gundy replies. “That’s just not who he is. He never tried to apologize for who he was. He was just a real guy.”

When he hears Sprewell’s name, Van Gundy doesn’t think about any negativity, though. He remembers the good times. There were lots of them, but a specific instance stands out:

One afternoon JVG walked into the SUNY Purchase gym—where the Knicks used to practice—and found Latrell shooting around with one of his young children. The Knicks’ coach stood around for a while, watching from a distance. “And in that interaction with his child, he was kind, and he was sweet, and he was patient,” Van Gundy says. “I think he had a lot more of that in him than people from the outside would ever begin to know.”

That is, at least in part, Latrell’s fault. But maybe it’s ours, too.

—

Adam Figman is the Editor-in-Chief of SLAM. Follow him on Twitter @afigman.

Photos via Getty Images.

The post Odyssey appeared first on SLAM.

All things considered, it wasn’t that long ago—sometime around late 2002—when 9-year-old Kris and his 14-year-old brother John Jr were on their own, forced to fend for themselves in Alexandria, VA. Their mom was in jail, and their dad, who was trying to find his kids, was totally in the dark as to where they were. “It was just me and my brother,” Kris says. “Our mom was in a bad situation. We had to survive as young kids. I know it sounds crazy, but we had to do it.”

Kris and John Jr survived, doing whatever they could to get money for food. They’d gamble on basketball games they played at a local park. They played cards—Texas Hold ’Em, Remy, Omaha—with whoever wanted some action. They played dominoes. John Jr, always a fashion-forward kid, sold his clothing. “There were times I was gambling and didn’t have no money in my pocket, so if I lose, and I ain’t got no money, that’s 15-, 17-year-olds that I’m gonna have to fight,” Kris says. “We didn’t want to be, as people say, those thugs. But we had to. We had to survive.”

Kris leaned on John Jr. “Imagine being 14, basically a father. Without him I don’t know where I’d be.”

John Seldon, the boys’ father, and Pia Dunn, their mother, split up years earlier, and Pia brought her sons with her to VA a few months after Kris was born. Seldon spent years trying to find out exactly where they were. John Jr visited Seldon the same year the boys were living alone, but Seldon had no way of getting in contact with them, according to a 2015 ESPN report. What he did have was a phone bill with calls to Alexandria, and when he called one, he got one of Kris’ coaches, who, per ESPN, was the person who told Seldon that the boys’ mom was in jail and told him of their location. Seldon went to a courthouse, got permission to take custody of the kids, and hopped in a van to go get them. (Dunn passed away in 2013 at 50. Kris carries her memory everywhere he goes now, signing his Instagram posts with “R.I.P Mommy!!!”)

Though it was uneasy at first, the boys adapted to life in Connecticut. “New London was my safe place,” Kris says. “Once my dad came in, he put that discipline and structure in us. At first, we didn’t like it because we weren’t used to that. But he was teaching us how to grow up.”

Seldon bonded with his sons through sports. Kris was better at football than basketball, but he hated the cold—and playing football in CT requires a lot of standing in the cold. He also took to basketball, which he learned from John Jr and his friends. And he was good. Like, really good.

“[Kris] was in a rec league, and in his first or second game, he was taking the ball, going for lay-ups like five or six times in a row,” John Jr says. “They had to tell him to stop and not to pick up anyone until they crossed halfcourt, because he was taking the ball and going for lay-ups every time.”

Kris was named a McDonald’s All-American as a senior—that was the moment he realized he had a real future, he says—and went to play for Coach Ed Cooley at Providence. Injuries clouded his early career and he missed the beginning of his freshman year after he tore his labrum the summer before the season. He then missed the majority of his second year because of another shoulder injury.

Dunn broke out in his redshirt sophomore season, earning Big East POY and DPOY, averaging 15.6 ppg. The consensus was that if he went to the Draft, he’d be selected in the first round. But he chose against it, returning to Providence, to graduate.

“That close to getting my degree—why not get it?” he says. “My dad always wanted me to graduate. I wanted to get my college degree not for me, but for people who didn’t have the opportunity to go to college.

“On the court, I knew I wasn’t physically or mentally ready to go,” he adds. “That was my first full year of college basketball. I didn’t wanna rush it.”

He balled out again this season, averaging 16.4 ppg and 6.2 apg and getting a second straight Big East POY and DPOY. Now he’s set to be a top-10 pick.

What comes next is obvious. “In order to have NBA success, I’ve gotta be a good teammate, a good leader, and I’ve gotta make sure I’m on point with my game,” Dunn says. “There’s a lot of great players in the League. It’s not gonna be easy.”

—

Adam Figman is a former Senior Editor of SLAM. Follow him on Twitter @afigman.

Portrait by Atiba Jefferson

The post Coming From Where I’m From appeared first on SLAM.

“[Coach Taylor] was like, ‘How do you guys all score 36 [combined], if this freshman on varsity scored 36?’” says Ki-Jana Crawford, holding back a laugh. Now Crawford and Ulis are best friends, but it was on that random winter night about a half-dozen years ago that Crawford learned what the rest of the country soon would: No matter his height, Tyler Ulis is a hell of a basketball player.

Ulis’ journey didn’t begin in Chicago, but in Lima, OH, where he cut his teeth hooping at the local Salvation Army and idolizing Allen Iverson. He’d often play one-on-one to 100 in his family’s backyard with his neighbor, an older girl named Kobe (true story), who taught him the basics of the game. “She would always beat me, so I’d wanna keep playing and keep playing,” he says with a smile. By the time he reached middle school, it was clear he was never going to be one of the taller kids, standing barely above 5-feet as a grade schooler with no signs of a growth spurt in sight. And even still, he could control the point and he could score—enough so that it was obvious he needed to leave Ohio to prove himself against bigger-name (and literally bigger) prospects.

In ninth grade, Ulis moved away from his mother and his friends, taking up residence in Chicago with his dad. He immediately earned a spot on varsity at Marian, though it took some getting used to.

“My first high school game, we lost by 50,” he says, speaking from the Kentucky practice facility while soaking up his last days as a college student. “The competition was completely different. A point guard named Tracy Abrams [now at the University of Illinois—Ed.], he was killing us. He was 6-1, I was maybe 5-3. He was looking at the crowd, like, ‘He’s too little!’ That was a terrible game for me, a terrible experience.”

Ulis would eventually settle in, of course. And the summer before his junior year he showed out on Nike’s EYBL circuit, gaining recognition as a legit prospect, regardless of height.

“I knew I could play,” he says. “When I got on the court, it worked out for itself. I never had low stats. I never had a spurt where I didn’t play well. I just stayed confident in myself and hoped one day people noticed.”

Well, yeah, people noticed—or more specifically, one person noticed: John Calipari, head coach at the University of Kentucky. Cal delivered to Ulis the same message he tells all prospects he speaks with: That if they join his basketball program, they shouldn’t expect to stay long enough to graduate. In and out, the plan goes.

Ulis led the Cats in assists his freshman year (’14-15), but his across-the-board numbers were unexceptional, so he returned for another season. Sticking around Lexington can be a risk—each year new prospects come in ready to bypass anyone who dares to stay around for a second (or third, or fourth) season.

But it proved the right move for Ulis. His second year was ideal, averaging 17.3 ppg and 7.0 apg, establishing himself as one of the best players in the country and a clear-cut future pro. He was first-team All-American, SEC POY, SEC Defensive POY and the guiding force of a UK team stocked with future pros including backcourt mate Jamal Murray and big man Skal Labissiere. “Tyler Ulis is the Player of the Year in the country,” Cal told ESPN in March. “Everyone knows it but they’re afraid to say it because he’s 5-9.”

Now with college officially over following his decision to sign with CAA Sports and declare for the Draft, Ulis is looking forward. He’s projected as a mid-to-late first-round pick, a potential asset for a team that could use some assistance at the 1.

“There’s not that many guys my size in the League, but there’s a couple,” he says with confidence. “Isaiah Thomas is doing great, which is good for me. I’ve just gotta work out every day—try to work twice as hard as everybody else.

“I always knew I was gonna be short,” he continues. “I just live with it and try to use it to my advantage. I feel like it’s to my advantage, because if I was taller, things would’ve been given to me—rankings, scholarships, stuff like that. But I feel like I had to earn everything I got. It made me who I am.”

—

Adam Figman is a former Senior Editor of SLAM. Follow him on Twitter @afigman.

Portrait by Ryan Nicholson.

The post U With Me? appeared first on SLAM.

Saratsis is Giannis’ agent, and the two were in East Asia as part of an NBA tour that brought the Bucks’ up-and-comer to meet with fans throughout China and Taiwan. As is often the case for NBA players in public, fans were gawking at Giannis everywhere he went, including the hotel restaurant where the two were dining. But not only did Giannis not seem to mind, he was comfortable, embracing the situation. And then he delivered a message that still resonates with Saratsis to this day.

“He was saying, ‘OK, I understand that people are watching me now, I understand people are looking at me, and I’m learning how to deal with these expectations,’” Saratsis says. “He was almost like, ‘I welcome this pressure and I’m welcoming this challenge because this is who I want to be and whatever comes of it, I know it’s all in my hands.’

“Whereas before it was like, ‘Wow, golly gee, I’m lucky to be here.’ And now he was like, ‘I want this to be my team.’”

That team is of course the Bucks, for whom the man known as the Greek Freak has played since he was drafted by the organization in 2013. This past season, though, unlike the previous two, we saw a bit of a new Giannis. For the most part it appeared as though the happy-go-lucky kid who was excitedly learning about NBA life and American culture right in front of our eyes had faded, a focused, more serious version of Giannis taking his place.

I spent the better part of a week in Milwaukee in early April to find out if this was true. And the short answer is yes, of course it’s true. Part of this is simply because of time; as basketball players (and humans) get older, they mature, gain their footing on their surroundings, grow into themselves, etc.

And yet there’s also a conscious effort made by some NBA players who push themselves a little harder to become leaders because that is what the future so clearly holds for them. This is where Giannis fits. He stands at 6-11 with an absurd 7-4 wingspan, and is still capable of handling the ball like a point guard—which, unlike his first two seasons in the League, he now is.

“We looked at [Giannis bringing up the ball] last year in preseason, and he wasn’t ready,” Bucks coach Jason Kidd says after a late-season practice. “As time has gone on, we’ve seen different situations take place, and we thought this was a good time before [2016’s] All-Star break to take a look at it. He’s run with it.”

Antetokounmpo is the ideal mold of a player in a form the NBA hasn’t seen since…LeBron? KD? Damn near 7-feet tall, Antetokounmpo has legit point guard handles, can finish around the rim with an acrobatic lay-in or an in-your-face dunk, and is delivering crisp assists to teammates at an increasingly effective rate. He earned a Bucks franchise record 5 triple-doubles this season—coming very close to a few more—and can defend any position, 1-5.

He’s essentially a basketball robot. He’s also 21.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kj-skIBTiUE&feature=youtu.be

The first thing you notice watching him play is the vast array of ways Giannis makes things happen. During a Bucks-Bulls game in early April I witness in person, he scores 12 of his team’s first 18 points, and no 2 are alike. A mid-range jumpshot. A lay-up off a fast break. A dunk in the grill of Chicago big man Pau Gasol. A Eurostep around a Bulls defender that leads to a floater. And it all looks so smooth, as if he was designed to be this all-in-one hoops machine, a one-man-does-all NBA 2K cheat code.

“He’s a playmaker,” Kidd says. “He’s unselfish. He can make passes that most guys can’t with being 6-11—he can see over the defense. We wanted to put him in as many scenarios and situations to see how he’d respond. He’s responded in a positive way.”

“I knew that one day I’d be able to handle the ball,” Antetokounmpo says. “Coach, he saw I was getting comfortable, and it’s a thing that I did when I was younger, too. So now doing it, it’s a little easier for me.”

As the Bucks-Bulls game trudges along, Giannis’ (and the Bucks’) youth becomes evident. Chicago star Jimmy Butler locks him down in the fourth quarter, and a veteran-filled Bulls team picks up a rare late-season win over the young Bucks. But Giannis’ mere presence on the court carries Milwaukee for the majority of the tilt, his effect on both sides of the ball obvious to even the most casual fan in the building.

During his first two years in the NBA, Antetokounmpo’s defining characteristic was how green he was. His rookie season he marveled over newfound delicacies: “I just taste for the first time a smothie [sic]..MAN GOD BLESS AMERICA,” he tweeted. Per a Sports Illustrated report, he once took a cab to Western Union to send money home, then realized he sent all his money back home, so he began to run to practice—until a local couple spotted him and gave him a ride. A year later, he told me that he had never eaten pancakes before coming to the States. “Pancakes was something that I had here in America,” he said. “They’re the best. Every morning I love pancakes, with a lot of syrup. I fill the bowl with syrup first, then after that I dip the pancake on top of it. I put some strawberries, too.”

The basketball blogosphere ate up each anecdote the way Giannis gobbled up those pancakes. This season, Giannis’ third in the L, those fun little tales slowed as he has assimilated to American culture. He hasn’t faded from consciousness, though; instead, his name flowed through NBA Twitter on a nightly basis for basketball reasons.

Outside of Stephen Curry, no NBA player was more Vine-able in 2015-16 than Giannis. It could be a Eurostep into a poster dunk. Or an end-to-end fast break that consisted entirely of three dribbles. Or maybe a drive to the hoop that’d pull multiple defenders and conclude with a sick pass to a wide-open teammate. Though his team took a step back this season, falling from the 6-seed in ’14-15 the East to a 33-49 mark and a trip to the Lottery, a six-second Vine doesn’t take into account win-loss record or final score. These clips were basketball crack, visual drugs for hoopheads, even if they’ve yet to break into the mainstream just yet. (Give that one time, though.) This was the next step in the Giannis story: not yet a full-fledged superstar, but no longer an out-of-place young’n unsure of his role on the team and in the League.

“We had lunch in his house about a month and a half ago, and he was just telling me, like, ‘I feel like a different player. I feel like no matter what I do, no one can stop me,’” Saratsis says. “He has confidence. He knows he can make mistakes. Like, ‘If I make mistakes, I know I’m not coming out, because I have the ball in my hands and I can impact the game so much more.’ I think you’re finally seeing this is his natural position.”

“I am more comfortable,” Giannis confirms. “It’s my third year in the League and I’ve put a lot of work in. Coach tells me every day, you’ve got to feel comfortable, and it’s built up my confidence, so that’s what I think shows up on the court.”

The stats went up across the board, too. This season, Giannis averaged 16.9 ppg (up from 12.7 the season before), 7.7 rpg (up from 6.7), 4.3 apg (2.6), 1.2 spg (0.9) and 1.4 bpg (1.0). (It feels excessive to list all of that, but the point is this: The kid does everything.) His field-goal percentage crossed 50 percent (up to 52), and his three-point percentage went from a dismal 15.9 to 25.7, far from impressive, though it nods to another fact: He’s done all of this without being a real threat from deep whatsoever. The first thing he’ll be working on this summer is his jumper, and he’ll assuredly return in October with another step or two added to his range.

The second thing he says he’ll be thinking about this offseason is the general manner in which he carries himself, which is exactly what Kidd references when asked what he’d like Giannis to work on: “Just his voice,” the 10-time All-Star says. “The more we get guys talking to each other, the game becomes fun and easier. So his leadership is something that he’s gonna continue to get better at.”

A couple nights following the game against the Bulls, LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers are in town for a late-season bout. The Cavs are in full prepare-for-the-Playoffs mode, and this one is a blowout before most fans even find their seats. Most of his numbers come when the game is already out of hand (it’d end with a final score of 109-80), and yet Giannis still finishes with 22 points, 14 rebounds and 8 assists—solid stats in just about any NBA context.

Afterward, Giannis is asked about matching up against LBJ, still the sport’s best two-way player with an all-around game that Giannis strives toward and could possibly even achieve at the height of his powers, a few years down the line.

“I wasn’t even thinking about it,” he says. “I was just worried about myself and my team—what we’re going to do right, and what we can fix in other moments.”

Here’s Giannis in December of 2013, writing for the Greek website Sport24, on facing up against LeBron James two and a half years ago:

“When I arrived in the American-Airlines Arena, Heat’s stadium, about three hours before the game, all sorts of thoughts were going through my mind. I was wondering how it will be out there when the lights are on and I’m in front of the best basketball player on the planet. Will I be scared? Will I be nervous? These thoughts kept coming and going. But when the game started, I told myself: You are just 18 years old and playing in the NBA. You are living the dream.”

Twenty-eight months later, Giannis Antetokounmpo is still living the dream, still facing up against the best, but those nerves have stopped coming and going altogether. He’s a full-fledged man now, one capable of standing tall as the primary leader of an NBA team.

“For as long as I’m playing, if I work hard and grab the opportunity, I’ll be someone special,” he says. “I think there’s not a lot of people like me in this league who can handle the ball at 7-feet. When you’ve got something unique, you’ve got to work on it so you can be someone special and leave your legacy on the court.”

“He told me the other day, ‘I want to do for Milwaukee what Kevin Durant did for Oklahoma City,’” Saratsis says. “He was like, ‘I want that legacy, so 20 years from now, I have built this into my own Oklahoma City, so people look at me and say, he left an indelible—I’m using the word indelible, though he didn’t—but indelible mark on the city and franchise and organization.’ Last summer, when we were having that dinner, I could see that’s what he was thinking. That was him thinking, I’m at a point where I can be a leader on the team. And it’s not like ‘Me vs Jabari [Parker]’ or ‘Me vs [Khris] Middleton,’ it’s like, I can be a leader on this team and I want to leave my mark on this city and leave my mark on this organization.

“That’s when I was like, OK, this kid is starting to get it. This kid is starting to understand.”

Giannis 2.0 is a ballhandling point forward who can guard any position, create points in a silly variety of ways and conjure up a SportsCenter highlight at a moment’s notice. Imagine what awaits us at Giannis 3.0.

—

Adam Figman is a former Senior Editor of SLAM. Follow him on Twitter @afigman.

The post Freakonomics appeared first on SLAM.

“Where have you been?” he immediately asked me. “I’ve been Commish for over two years now.”

Oops.

SLAM: Are you a SLAM subscriber?

AS: Absolutely, I subscribe to SLAM and I do read SLAM. You guys talk to a core part of our audience and you guys spot trends often before we do. I’m fascinated with who you choose to put on the cover. It doesn’t necessarily coincide to the teams that get the most exposure on national TV.

I have one question for SLAM: How does the magazine travel across the country without those subscriber cards falling out?

SLAM: It’s some sort of physics magic that I will never understand either.

AS: My apartment is littered with those cards. As soon as I touch the magazine they fall out, yet it’s come across the country without being encapsulated in plastic—there’s a physics issue there. Static electricity or something.

SLAM: At the time of our interview with David Stern in 2004, the NBA was running ads featuring Elvis and Frank Sinatra and the Rolling Stones, and the writers we sent were jokingly needling David, saying players don’t really listen to that kind of music. David responded by saying, “Well, we have that lane and we have SLAM—it’s good to have that balance.” Now it all overlaps: The SLAM culture and the NBA culture are essentially the same thing, and there’s much less division within pop culture in general. Are you conscious of that? And how does that affect the way the NBA operates?

AS: Yes, it does influence me. In the same way that I read SLAM, it doesn’t mean I’m not still reading Sports Illustrated or ESPN: The Magazine. But I also think it’s just as important for me to read the Style Section as it is the Science Section. I feel that one of the great things about the NBA is that we are both influenced by culture and we influence culture. To your point, the last thing I wanna do is stay in my lane. I think it was in GQ recently, there was a spread on player wardrobes from All-Star and the players are there, but also many of the celebrities/entertainers who were in town as well. There’s always been, at least in my tenure at the NBA, that marriage with entertainers and athletes. It’s a little bit cliché to say, but you always get the sense the athletes wanna be the entertainers and vice versa.

Even from when [SLAM] did that last interview with David, I was running NBA Entertainment. So I was at the center of the production of many of those spots. I think you’re right—it’s interesting that there was, back then, more of a so-called mainstream audience. I think primetime had a meaning that it no longer has. You know, what’s primetime on Netflix? What’s primetime for House of Cards? The same way, back then I think the Billboard chart was more meaningful in terms of what so-called mainstream music is. And now audiences are much more dispersed. You can’t just, even as a marketer, you can’t reliably buy primetime now and reach your audience in the same way that the front page of the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal doesn’t reach America in the way it once did. And so I think for us it means that we have to have more balls in the air.

SLAM: How would you describe your job?

AS: I begin by saying I’m incredibly fortunate. I believe that I have one of the best jobs in the world as Commissioner. I have an incredibly diverse day. It ranges from, of course, dealing with our teams, maybe having a conversation with one of the owners, talking to a team president about a marketing campaign, talking to a GM about what he thinks we should be doing about Hack-a-Shaq. And of course, managing the roughly 1,000 people who work in the League office. I spend probably too much of my time in meetings every day but it’s a necessary part of running the business.

I travel extensively. It’s harder than I thought it would be when I took this job to get to 30 NBA teams every season, plus we have 10 international offices that I try to get to every year but they are as far away as Shanghai, Mumbai and Johannesburg. I spend a fair amount of time talking directly to business partners of the League. That means regular conversations with

David Levy, who runs Turner Sports, and John Skipper, who runs ESPN, and many of their colleagues. On top of that, I’m very involved with the WNBA and the Development League.

SLAM: That’s a lot.

AS: What makes my job so interesting is that it’s chock-full and it’s constantly changing. I should add to that mix I’ve been, especially in the last few years, building relationships with players as well. We encourage players when they’re coming through New York to stop by the League office. Not only to say hello to me, but get a sense of our business. Part of my time therefore is spent dealing directly with the Players Association.

SLAM: Do you expect Nike to do anything different than what adidas is currently doing when they become the official provider of NBA jerseys?

AS: I do. I’ll say we’ve had a wonderful relationship with adidas, but adidas was not endemic to basketball. They are at root a soccer company. I think on the other hand, with Nike, as I heard Mark Parker, the CEO, say, basketball is the soul of Nike. Even in the case of Mark Parker, he grew up in the organization as a shoe designer.

I was out in Beaverton recently and they have in essence an R&D center, where they have prototypes, where they have their equivalent of mad scientists who are noodling different approaches to uniforms: new fabrics, new styles, new fits. I have no doubt wearables will come into the equation. I think they are committed to sports science. They also recognize that we shouldn’t just think of the uniform as a fashion item—that the uniform ultimately directly correlates to performance, including injury prevention. And Nike, again, it’s a season and a half before they will begin being our official on-court supplier. I’m really excited to see what comes. But I have no doubt that they’re gonna once again change the game. That’s who they are. As I said, thank you to adidas, they’ve been wonderful partners. But I think Nike is ready to take it to another level.

SLAM: At the moment there are no adidas logos on NBA jerseys. After the new deal starts, are we going to see a Nike logo on the jerseys? And does that open the door for other advertisements on them?

AS: Number one, yes. As part of our new deal with Nike, the Swoosh will be on the jersey.

SLAM: I know some people were wondering if the Jordan Brand logo would be on some of them, too.

AS: That is not clear yet. There will definitely be a Swoosh and there is an ongoing discussion with Nike about Jordan Brand being represented on the team owned by Jordan Brand [laughs].

In terms of other advertising on jerseys, that’s an ongoing discussion with our Board of Governors. We experimented this year at the All-Star Game in Toronto—you may have seen there was a Kia patch on the uniform. That’s something that we’re considering doing.

SLAM: You’ve made it clear you’d like to raise the NBA’s age minimum. Do you see changes to that happening in the near future?

AS: The minimum age is now 19, and yes I’ve said historically that my preference would be that it would be 20 instead of 19—it’s a subject that needs to be collectively bargained with the players. It’s nothing that the League can do unilaterally. It’s something that, with the Players Association, we’ve agreed that given that it’s a subject of collective bargaining, it’s something that we will not talk about publicly. But certainly my preference has not changed.

—

Adam Figman is the Editor-in-Chief at SLAM. Follow him on Twitter @afigman.

The post Adam Silver: Man In Charge appeared first on SLAM.

Below, Looney explains what it’s been like to watch (and occasionally participate in) the team’s historic run, and how the experience has and will continue to affect his career.

—

“Draft night was a crazy night. It was all these dreams coming true. I didn’t think I was gonna [get drafted by Golden State], so when I went there, I knew it was gonna be a great fit for me, because I knew I might have to get surgery. So I knew when I came to a team like this, I was gonna have a chance to really develop, to get my body right before I even get on the court. It was really a perfect situation for me. I remember Klay [Thompson], he texted me [that night], told me, ‘Make sure you rest, it’s gonna be a long season. This is where it’s gonna start.’

“Going through the injury process was frustrating because the guys made me feel part of the team, but I really didn’t feel comfortable with the guys because they’re a little older than me and they’ve been playing together, and I couldn’t really play. I didn’t really feel confident talking about basketball with them because they’re champions—they know a lot about basketball. I didn’t really feel as comfortable because I wasn’t playing. But the guys made me feel good and accepted me, so it made it kinda easy. But it was frustrating, to go there and watch. It was really frustrating.

“The beginning of the season when we started 24-0, it was like, this is not normal. I didn’t know how it felt to lose in the beginning. In the preseason, guys were good, we lost a couple of games. But then when the season started, a whole other light just went off. I would say when I watched Steph go for 50 earlier in the year against New Orleans, I was like, ‘Yeah, this is crazy. You don’t see this every day.’

“Since I’m the only rookie, they all kinda take to me. I talk to Andre [Iguodala] a lot because when I’m on the bench, he’s on the bench with me sometimes. Shaun [Livingston] had an injury, so I talk to Shaun, he knows how I feel. Then Draymond [Green], he plays my position—he always takes me under his wing, makes sure I feel comfortable with the team. He’s the leader so he makes sure everyone’s talking and having fun. All the veterans have been great for me.

“My first game, when I first suited up [January 27 vs. the Mavs—Ed.], I didn’t expect to play until maybe the end of the game if we blew them out. Draymond got in foul trouble and they just threw me in in the second quarter. I hadn’t even played in six months. I felt a little lost. It was really unexpected and I hadn’t played—to that point, I hadn’t practiced with the team really. I had a couple games in the D-League. I never played with Steph Curry or Klay or them guys. When I got out there, I was kinda lost as to where to be. Klay told me, ‘When in doubt, just go set a screen and get out the way.’ I just followed that and it worked for me.

“Sometimes I don’t know if I’m gonna be active or not active, or if I’m gonna be playing in the D-League or with the real team. I gotta stay ready. I gotta do a lot more extra work to make sure I’m in game shape because I’m not playing really any minutes. So I gotta do a lot of conditioning. You gotta really take everything like you’re gonna play 40 minutes. Do your workout, stay focused. At any moment you have a chance to get in the game. If someone gets in foul trouble or somebody tweaks an ankle, you gotta be ready when they call your number.

“I get texts all the time, like, ‘What’s the secret? What is Steph doing?’ Sometimes I just text my brothers in our group chat, I’ll text them like, ‘Did y’all see the game? This guy’s amazing, man.’ I can’t believe what he’s doing. People ask me all the time. I get a lot of texts and calls and everyone wants to know the secret.

“Everywhere we go, the fans are waiting: waiting to watch warmups, to watch you do layup lines, do your pre-game routine. When we go to other cities, everyone’s got on Steph Curry jerseys. It’s just different. There’s nothing like this. I’ve never been on a team where at any moment, you never feel like you’re gonna lose a game. When guys come out flat, we could be down 20, but you always feel like, ‘Yeah, we’re gonna win this game.’ And they always figure out a way to do it.

“This is the best thing for me. I needed a lot of work to develop my body and my game, and what better place than with the champions? The older guys are really teaching me about nutrition and taking care of your body. Andre has been in the League 13 years and he’s still playing great, so I listen to him about taking care of your body and getting better. It’s really the perfect experience for me. I have a chance to win a championship my first year—a lot of guys don’t get a chance for their whole careers. So I’m really taking this opportunity and getting better.”

—

Adam Figman is the Senior Editor of SLAM Magazine. Follow him on Twitter @afigman.

Photo via Getty Images

The post In The Wings appeared first on SLAM.

We’re in Toronto at the brand-new BioSteel Centre, a gorgeous, 68,000-square-foot training center situated 10 minutes from the city’s downtown area, where the team began practicing in mid-February, less than a month before we gather here for a SLAM photo shoot. It’s home to two shiny basketball courts, a workout area with fresh-out-the-box equipment, a barber’s chair, a film room, a mini-cafeteria and a “war room” with a wall of stat- and analytics-filled monitors that looks even a little too intense for actual war.

Drake’s kidding (I think), but if the Raps were to give The Boy his own personal nook in the facility, it wouldn’t be without good reason. In a weird but undeniable way, the 29-year-old rapper is responsible for pushing a momentum into the franchise that’s resulted in all sorts of positive movement for the organization, perhaps the building of this facility included. It started with him showing up to a bunch of games, injecting some cool into a franchise that hasn’t exactly dripped with it since its founding in 1995 (the Vince Carter era excluded). Then that sideline role became official, with Drake in 2013 assuming the title of “Global Ambassador,” an unpaid position that nonetheless gives him all sorts of random power. He has since added an actual nightclub to the Air Canada Centre, where the team plays; collaborated with the team and Mitchell & Ness to release Raptors gear; and hosted entire game nights in his own honor (on “Drake Night,” fans received a black-and-gold OVO/Raptors shirt and could dance in the “Hotline Bling” booth). The players even wear a black-and-gold alternate jersey, appropriately referred to as their “OVO Alternate” uniforms, a few times per season.

So yeah, when Drake, fitted in a crisp suit with a sparkling, diamond-encrusted OVO Sound pseudo-championship ring on his left ring finger, takes a break from the making of his upcoming album, Views From the 6, and strolls into the shoot with a few buddies, a couple managers, a videographer, a wide-shouldered, expressionless man who says no words at all, and Diamond—his adorable 13-week-old Akita puppy—he’s right to roam around a little more like a team employee than simply an excited fan (which he admittedly is, too). But the other two guys featured on our cover who walked in a few minutes earlier—they’re kind of relevant to the franchise’s relatively newfound energy as well.

DeMar DeRozan and Kyle Lowry took two very different paths to Toronto. The 6-7 DeRozan was raised in Compton, CA—a city with a name that at this point speaks for itself—and after a 2008-09 stint at the University of Southern California, he was drafted by the Raptors, whom he’s played for ever since—“his whole life,” Lowry says. DeRozan holds the franchise record for most wins, and he’s played the second-most minutes and in the third-most games in Raptors history. He’ll break those marks, along with a lot of other records, if he re-ups with the team when he’s a free agent this summer.

Lowry, the Raptors’ 6-0 starting point guard, came up in Philadelphia, played two seasons at Villanova, then spent a few seasons in Memphis and a few in Houston before landing in Toronto in 2012. He developed a reputation during that journey as someone who can be a little too tough, both in the good sense (he absolutely battled every time he walked onto the court) and the not-so-good sense (he fell out with a few coaches along the way). That said, Lowry has since developed a maturity that’s helped him alter his rep and command the respect of his peers and coaching staff. “The heartbeat of this team,” is how DeRozan describes him.

Before they linked up with Drizzy to shoot the images you see on these pages, I sat with the duo in the corner of the Biosteel Centre’s main court to discuss where they’re currently situated, as individuals and as a unit, and how the hell they got here. And the fact is: It’s a pretty, pretty good place. Both in the physical sense—I mean, this building we’re in is massive and gorgeous, and Toronto is an undeniably fun city—and in a basketball sense. As of this writing, the Raptors are 48-22, good for second in the Eastern Conference. They reside behind only the Cleveland Cavaliers, who, despite an irrefutable abundance of talent, have had no shortage of off-the-court turmoil throughout this season. Meanwhile, the Raptors have experienced an almost confusing lack of drama, and over the course of the past month or so have positioned themselves to be the team that skirts by the Cavs if they do let the noise get to them and slip up this spring.

If that happens, it will be because of the leadership and play of two very real friends. Both two-time All-Stars, Lowry is averaging 21.9 points, 6.4 assists and an NBA-leading 2.2 steals per game as of this writing, while DeRozan’s averaging 23.7 ppg and 4.4 rpg.

“It’s pretty obvious: Those two guys are our guys,” says Luis Scola, the Raptors’ oldest player at 35. “We’ve gotta do everything to make them happy, do everything in our power to help them play better. Those are the guys who are in the driver seats, and they’re gonna drive the car—they’re the ones who are gonna take us as far as we can get.”

SLAM: Can you each tell me about the other’s role on this team?

Kyle Lowry: DeMar’s role is to be a leader, be a scorer, be a guy we can count on every single day, every single game, to get his 20 to 30 to 40 points a night, plus give us some good rebounding. And also to go out there and take the challenge of knowing he’s gonna be double-teamed and knowing he’s going to be in tough situations, but still be able to come through for us. At the end of the day, we need him as a team to be that guy who we can go to and say, “Here, go get us a bucket.”

DeMar DeRozan: Kyle’s a leader, our floor general—the general of the team. The heartbeat of this team. One of the guys that, once he steps on that frontline, everybody else falls in line as well and understands that we’re about to go to war and we’re going to go out there and fight for each other. Once you have a teammate with that caliber of attitude and presence, it’s gonna make everything else easy.

SLAM: When during this season did you guys realize, “OK, we’ve got something here—we could do something special?”

KL: I think we felt that a while ago, man. I think we felt that when we took Brooklyn to Game 7 [in 2014]. I think that was where me and [DeMar] felt like we could be special together and take this city to another level. We’ve got some great pieces around us—some young talent, like JV [Jonas Valanciunas], Terrence [Ross]. Right now, with the pieces that they’ve put in—Biz [Bismack Biyombo], Cory [Joseph]—it’s been a really good fit for everybody. It’s been one of those things where we felt we could really be special together.

SLAM: Kyle, you’ll have just turned 30 when this story comes out, and DeMar, you’re 26—pretty young to be the team’s veteran leaders, all things considered. What’s that responsibility like?

DD: I think it’s great when you have guys that look for you to be that.

I think it makes your job easier. It’s been a process for me, since I’ve been in the League, every single year, of trying to figure out how to be a great leader. [When I was drafted] I was so young and in the position of having to take on so much responsibility. Since Kyle’s been my teammate, it’s kinda been easier.

KL: It balances.

DD: Yeah, it balances it out. You have somebody you can look to when you feel like you may be lacking, leadership-wise, and you look to the guy next to you. That’s one thing that helps with my process—the knowledge of the game of basketball that he has. When he came to the team, I learned so much from him, and it kinda accelerated my process. Especially being so young—I’m seven years in the League. We’ve been All-Stars together, and now we’ve got a younger group of guys that look up to us. We just try to be the right example of working hard and winning.

KL: This is my 10th year—I’ve been fortunate to have had some good leaders. It took me a while to understand it. When you’re given the keys to the team and you’ve got somebody like DeMar to help you, and you’ve got these young guys behind you, you don’t want to show a bad example. You want to show a good example, so they can show this story one day and say, “Man, I had leaders like Kyle and DeMar.”

SLAM: Early on you had a reputation as being a little hardheaded.

KL: Little bit.

SLAM: Now it appears you’ve evolved a bunch. Has that been a conscious change on your part?

KL: I think it’s just been life, just growing up. And you know, being a father, a husband. Being able to just grow and see things and go through life. You’re going to hit trials and tribulations, and you’re going to have failures and setbacks. But it’s how you get back up. It’s how you respond to those things. I think I’ve done a good job of responding to those things, and during the process, taking tidbits from people, and seeing how they go about things when they have a problem. It’s just a learning process. Ten years is a long time in the NBA. It’s still a process, though. And as a man, you’re never done growing.

SLAM: DeMar, you think you’re still that same guy you were when you were drafted?

DD: Hell nah.

KL: He can shoot now.

DD: It’s definitely night and day. Man, I couldn’t even put a word on how different it is. Coming in, I got drafted at 19 after a year of college…

KL: You said what? College? Dog, when you say ‘college,’ just say you went to school. ‘Cause you didn’t really go to college. [Turns to me] He went to one class. Once. Ever. [Laughs]

DD: I was 19, coming into the League, everything was so new to me. People try to prepare you and tell you what the League is going to be like, but it’s nothing compared to what it is. I’d never been away from home until I got drafted, and I get drafted to Canada. It was a whole new experience.

SLAM: You make it sound like the country drafted you—which I guess was basically the case.

DD: Yeah. I didn’t have a passport until I got drafted.

KL: That’s crazy.

DD: I had to learn to grow fast. My first year I was here by myself, because nobody in my family came up, because nobody in my family had a passport. It was a life-changing experience for me, and not just for basketball. Just being able to grow and mature faster, and look at things in a different light—that’s how it was coming in.

And looking at me today, being a father, [someone who] accomplished so much already in my young career, from winning a gold medal to being an All-Star to being the winningest player in franchise history—so many things that are still things I can’t believe when I go home at night. It just shows the growth.

SLAM: Playing for the Raptors is a little different because you aren’t just representing a city—you’re putting on for an entire country. Tell me a little about what that’s like.

KL: It’s different. In the States, you have your certain city that you play for. I played for Houston, where there’s two other teams [in the state]. I played in Memphis, where it was a small market. Here, it’s really a country. We try not to think about it, and it’s not like we’re constantly thinking, Oh, we’re in another country, but when we go to Vancouver [to play pre-season games], we sell out, and people know who we are. We go to Ottawa, we sell out. We go to Montreal. We go to Halifax. That’s from Atlantic time zone to Pacific time zone that we have to cover, and they’ll watch us and live and die on our moves, watching every game. It’s crazy. It’s an experience that you have to be a part of. People are like, It’s Toronto, but nah—it’s not just Toronto. It’s Canada.

SLAM: DeMar, you’ve been here seven years.

KL: His whole life.

SLAM: Has the way the team is looked at changed a lot over time?

KL: You see this building we’re in right now? [Laughs]

DD: It’s so much. Just sitting in here, looking at this place—this place wasn’t even thought of when I got here. I look downtown, look at the freeways—there’s so many buildings that weren’t here my first couple years.

KL: You see that Open Gym episode? It was on a show we got up here called Open Gym—they showed the Air Canada Centre in the 1990s. It was literally the arena and then dirt. Nothing around it. Now it’s a major city right there.

DD: Even in the franchise, internally, I’ve seen it grow so much. It’s crazy to see the market, how much it’s grown, how much people want something to do with the Toronto Raptors. You see the fan base grow outside of the country. If we play anywhere that’s close to the border—if we’re playing in Detroit, Portland, New York—we see so many Raptors fans.

KL: If we play anywhere, we get Canadian Raptors fans. There’s Canadians everywhere.

DD: We can’t go nowhere without people coming to us, like, I’m from Canada! We love you here! Then for me, seeing how much it’s changed, then All-Star being here, the whole world seeing Toronto in the light of us pushing it and trying to get people to understand what it’s like—it’s definitely unbelievable. You really don’t realize the time that goes by and process that’s going by until you’re actually in the moment. It’s one of those things where, when you look up and we see this big ole’ facility here, it’s definitely crazy.

SLAM: I saw your coach Dwane Casey walking around here earlier. He was carrying himself like a pretty serious guy—but those are usually the funniest people behind the scenes.

KL: Man, I’m telling you, if you wanna see some funny stuff, go find some clips of his interviews. He’s the most country-est, down south, old-school…

DD: Case, he be hard on us, but he is one of the greatest dudes you can know.

KL: Ever.

DD: It’s just great to have a coach like that, knowing that he’s gonna give you the freedom to be yourself, as long as you just go out there and play hard. It’s rare to find coaches of that caliber. And with the success that he’s had with us, I just always wanna see him succeed. With that, everything Case gets—if it’s Coach of the Month, whatever—he thanks us. And we’re playing for him.

KL: He’s our guy. Everybody tried to make a big deal out of me and him—we didn’t see eye to eye my first couple years [in Toronto]. But honestly, that man’s done a lot for my career.

DD: With [Casey and Kyle], their relationship is like a marriage. You look at everybody’s marriage—you’re gonna fight, you’re gonna argue, but y’all gonna enjoy the great times together. That’s what it’s all about. His relationship with Case is like a marriage. Me and Case, it’s like, father-son.

KL: Yeah, he’s yo daddy. [Everybody laughs]

DD: I kinda come between them.

KL: When [DeMar] comes around, [Casey and I] gotta figure it out and make it work. He’s like, “Listen y’all, why can’t we just figure this out?” That’s him—that’s his role.

DD: And at the end of the day, we all laugh at it. If it’s something that’s going on, I just look at Case, like, I got him [points to Kyle].

KL: We don’t have too many moments of those anymore. But it’s been fun, man. It’s crazy how things work out.

SLAM: Who’s the funniest dude on the team right now?

KL: Gotta be Biz [Biyombo]—Biz is funny. Biz always calls himself the President of the DRC. And I’m like, Biz, you ain’t the President, I’m the President! He’s like, “You’re too little to be President of the DRC!” And before all games, me and DeMar, we try to score on Biz. We’ll push him, and if we miss, he’ll be like, “Yeah! I lock up All-Stars! I lock up superstars! I lock up people from Compton! People from Philly! I run this!” He’s just an animated dude.

DD: I used to hate Bismack when he was on Charlotte. But him being on your team, he’s one of the dudes that’s a great teammate, a great friend to have, and his energy and his presence are always positive. He always comes in with classic Jordans…

KL: …he’s got all of ’em.

DD: He has no idea they’re exclusive. One day he had on some Jordans, and I was like, Man, you’ve got some fire on your feet! He said, “Well, I don’t even know what these are. I’m gonna wear them in a game, then, since they fire.” He just don’t know.

SLAM: Say you guys are down, like, 6 points, two minutes of the game left. Who’s job is it to yell at everybody to get it together?

KL: Oh, me and DeMar. Me and him. And ain’t no yelling. We don’t even yell.

DD: It’s just a look.

KL: No words are said. No words.

SLAM: It’s not really a secret that the Cavs appear to be in a weird place—they fired their coach mid-season, there’s tons of speculation about what LeBron is up to on social media, there have been reports that players are unhappy, etc. Do you feel like there’s suddenly this opening in the East that you guys could be in prime position to take advantage of?

DD: I think we just worry about ourselves, honestly. We never got caught up with what somebody else is doing, or how they’re doing it, or their approach. We’ve just always been us. We always play with that chip on our shoulder, and we always like being under the radar, so to speak.

KL: It might sound cliché, but it’s really how we operate. We really don’t worry about nobody but ourselves, man. That’s how we work.

SLAM: But you guys have to have seen all the headlines that have come out recently.

KL: Everybody does. Yeah. We all read Hoopshype, we all read…

SLAM: Uhh…

KL: I was about to say SLAM Magazine! We read SLAMonline—I go on SLAMonline’s Instagram, I follow @SLAMonline.

DD: They be throwing the pictures up of everybody, birthday shout outs, all that.

KL: You see that Ron Artest picture today? [Laughs]

DD: But I think, to give an example of our team, it’s like when you go to the club and everybody in the club is up, jumping around, turning up on the couches—we’re the guys who are just sitting in the corner, quiet…

KL: Having fun.

DD: Yeah, having fun. We let everybody else get the spotlight and all that. We’re gonna do what we gotta do over here and be mellow with it.

SLAM: Drake is on his way here right now. How cool is it to have someone like that in your corner?

KL: For us, it’s gotten to the point where he’s our friend, and for a guy to be a megastar, to be a guy that we can call our friend, and to be at our games, to be as supportive of us as he is, you can’t put that in words. He truly loves what we do, loves the city, loves the organization—he’s a part of us for a reason. We just appreciate the respect that he’s given us. Me, him and DeMar—I can call him a friend and I’m sure DeMar, you can call him a friend, too.

DD: I mean for me, my first year here, that’s when Drake first started coming out. To see him grow and evolve into the megastar he is, and always supporting the city, the country, us, to be our team ambassador—this man got his own team jersey that we wear. To have that, it’s definitely incredible. He’s really our man. He texts me and Kyle in our group chat after games and all that. He’s really supportive of what we’re doing, and vice versa. Now, to be here, to be on the cover with him—SLAM’s been a part of my life since I was a kid. I used to cry to want to get a SLAM Magazine with Penny on it.

KL: And take the magazine and put the cutouts on the wall.

DD: Man, I had a whole room full of…everybody.

KL: I had the Jordan one—the 45 [SLAM 6, July ’95.—Ed.]. I had that poster up.

DD: To have that, and just to think of then to now, to being on the cover. Man, I’m going to 7-Eleven every day when this comes out.

SLAM: Who else is in this group chat with Drake?

KL: Just us three.

DD: A lot of times, it’s not even about basketball.

SLAM: Do you guys get early music previews?

KL: [Whispers] Little bit.

DD: Yeah, a little bit.

SLAM: You guys just both got quiet at the same time.

KL: [Laughs] No bullcrap though, it’s really a friendship. That makes it a lot better. It’s not like we’re calling him to be like, Yo, we need this… Nah, we can just call him and be like, What you doing, dog? Have a conversation. ‘Let’s go get dinner.’

SLAM: But can he hoop?

DD: Yeah. The crazy part is, in L.A., he lives down the street from me, and I go to his house in the summer and we hoop in the backyard or just chill, and just to have that—like, Yo, you at the house? I’m in L.A. and he’s like, “Yeah, come by the house.” That is definitely cool. His passion for basketball is really there. He always be playing all summer in the backyard, hooping with his boys and everything. I’ll go there and shoot around with them and all that, but I’m not really the concrete-playing type.

KL: Ain’t enough money for him out there.

—

Adam Figman is the Editor-in-Chief at SLAM. Follow him on Twitter @afigman.

Portraits Atiba Jefferson

The post Drake, DeMar DeRozan, Kyle Lowry: Them Boys, They a Handful appeared first on SLAM.

Ariza would practice at SDSU from time to time during the offseason—he was close with one of the basketball team’s assistant coaches—and on this night, Leonard noticed something specific about Ariza’s workout. It was a little different from his own, in which one of his boys—usually Jeremy Castleberry, Kawhi’s best friend since he was about 16—would feed him the ball as he tossed up hundreds of jumpshots, before the pair would switch positions, when the SDSU star would reciprocate. What Leonard realized was simple: This process didn’t make any sense.

“Kawhi was just like, ‘Man, you don’t see Trev’s boys trying to get shots up,’” Castleberry says. “He was like, ‘If you don’t shoot, I can get to the League in half the time. I could be in the NBA by next year if we cut y’all drills off.’”

“I haven’t shot since. That was the last day.”

Castleberry cracks up when he says this—he and the reigning Defensive Player of the Year are close as can be, so there’s certainly no love lost—but he isn’t really joking, and it all hints at a theme that commonly makes itself clear when analyzing his buddy’s life: Kawhi Leonard is really, really serious about this basketball shit.

That’s obviously the case these days, as he locks opponents down and puts up 20 points per game as the two-way star of the San Antonio Spurs. (Good luck evolving from sub-par college basketball shooter to the possessor of one of the top three-point percentages in the entire NBA while simply fucking around.) But it’s also more or less always been true, ever since he was a kid growing up in Moreno Valley, a city in the greater Los Angeles area. Kawhi played football, too—an old home video shows his sister referring to him as “The next NFL-NBA player,” according to Kim Robertson, Kawhi’s mom—but he quit after freshman year of high school to fully focus on basketball.

Castleberry and Leonard played on the same AAU team (and later the same high school team, when Kawhi transferred to Martin Luther King HS for his junior and senior years), and as teenagers they’d spend summer weeks and school-year weekends training with their coach Marvin Lea during the day and crashing at his apartment at night. (Lea, who had then just started the Team eLEAte program, was playing at Pepperdine University in L.A. at the time.) Their entire lives revolved around hoops—the duo would go to the gym two or three times a day, then watch NBA TV or Michael Jordan’s legendary Come Fly With Me highlight reel over and over. “[One time] we watched NBA TV on repeat for so long that we knew everything that was coming up,” says Castleberry, who now works for the Spurs as a video intern.

“It’d be late at night and I’d be trying to sleep and hear a whole bunch of noise and my girl would be like, what’s going on?” remembers Lea. “They’d be trying to play fake one-on-one on the doorstep, on the stairway. Just non-stop. Basketball is all they cared about.”

Kawhi’s father Mark Leonard was tragically murdered at the Compton car wash he owned in 2008, and perhaps to take his mind off what happened, or perhaps simply to fill time that could be otherwise spent getting into trouble, Kawhi doubled down on the sport. It was Mark who had instilled a strong work ethic in his son, forcing Kawhi to start over if he lazily missed a spot while washing a car, and that work ethic would prove itself mighty useful in the world of basketball. “Everybody loves to play basketball, but [Kawhi] loved the work part more than everybody else,” Lea says.

He sprouted to 6-7, and without the ballhandling ability of a guard or the post game of a big, he was widely seen as a tweener without a true position. DJ Gay, who would become his teammate at San Diego State, went on a recruiting visit at the same time as Kawhi and played 2-on-2 with some others during their time spent on campus. “I didn’t really understand what Kawhi had to offer,” Gay says. “He wasn’t the best shooter, wasn’t the best ballhandler.”

Then the season rolled around, and the team practiced for real. “Once I saw him the first day of practice, I was excited,” Gay continues. “He was able to defend any position. On the offensive end, he had a certain strength about him, where it wasn’t so much that he would make a certain move, it was that he would just body you to the basket. If he missed the shot, eight out of 10 times he would get the ball back and go right back up with it. I hadn’t seen anything like that before.”

Two years at SDSU resulted in a first-round NCAA Tournament loss and a Sweet 16 loss, after which Kawhi, who averaged 14.1 ppg and 10.2 rpg in college, wisely bolted for the NBA. He had hoped to become a top-10 pick, but slipped to 15, where the Indiana Pacers picked him up and quickly dished him to San Antonio in exchange for guard George Hill. “When that trade happened on Draft day minutes after Indiana picked him, I think there was a little more excitement at the table [in the Draft room],” says Dennis Robertson, Kawhi’s uncle, who manages all of his nephew’s off-the-court affairs. “Just because of the make-up [of the Spurs], and his approach, you couldn’t ask for a better fit.”

Accurate. Under Coach Pop’s Belichickian say-little, work-hard direction and Tim Duncan’s ever-unemotional leadership, Kawhi’s naturally quiet demeanor and ability to tune out the white noise that surrounds the NBA has made him beloved in San Antonio. He’s had to earn his stripes—he played 24 minutes a game as a rookie, averaging 7.9 points per, but has gotten better on both ends every season since. “He showed lots of flashes early on, whether it was going up and dunking on somebody or defensively, how good he was at making incredible steals and locking people down,” says Cory Joseph, the Raptors guard who spent his first few NBA years with Leonard in San Antonio. “I had no doubts in my mind that he was gonna be a superstar.”

Kawhi’s most important stretch to date is, at this point, well known: The 2014 NBA Finals, of which he’d eventually take home MVP. That series started slow, with him scoring just 9 points in both of the first two games, which the Spurs and Heat split. Between Games 2 and 3,

Tish Christian, Kawhi’s aunt, sent him a text, an attempt at making him feel better.

“Don’t worry, Auntie,” he responded. “We got this.”

He was right.

Kawhi scored 29, 20 and 22 points in the following three games, blanketing LeBron James and helping his Spurs dominate the remainder of the series.

The following season, 2014-15, came the big offensive leap—from 12.8 ppg to 16.5, along with the aforementioned DPOY award, establishing himself as the best perimeter defender in the League. And this season we’ve seen more progress, with his scoring up to 20.2 ppg and his three-point shooting percentage up to a nearly League-leading (!!!) 48 percent. That last stat can be credited to hours upon hours spent honing and re-honing his jumper with Spurs assistant Chip Engelland, who declined to speak with us for this story.

With the Spurs choosing to remain silent and Kawhi himself not exactly the most talkative source (more on that in a bit), we hit up Randy Shelton, the SDSU men’s basketball strength and conditioning coach, to learn more about the improvement Kawhi has made.

Shelton and Kawhi put work in every summer in San Diego (and they’ve done so during past All-Star breaks, though those will likely never again be free weekends for KL), not necessarily refining specific basketball skills so much as general athleticism and explosiveness.

“The one thing that he always had genetically was a really solid lower half,” Shelton says. “He has a football background—so when I got him, he was basically a diamond in the rough in the weight room, as someone who has really good shoulder and hip mobility.”

That last part is your major key. Apologies if this recalls a certain Happy Gilmore character, but it really is all in the hips. “With Kawhi, the huge emphasis is on hip strength and hip mobility, and I think that’s kind of a new thing that people are talking about, but that’s been my thing since Day One,” Shelton adds.

“If we can make the hips as mobile as possible, that’s going to take a lot of force and impact off the knees. With basketball players, it’s very common to see that they’re quad-dominant and not really maximizing their glutes and hamstrings and hips efficiently. We still spend a good 35 percent of our time working on transitional movements—him sliding, him being able to go from sideways to backwards, making sure that his angle between his feet is proper, that his upper body is in the same position. When I’m with him, I say I want you to be like the best free safety that’s on the field, so I have him doing a lot of defensive back stuff. We spend a tremendous amount of time on footwork. Bottom line, my job is to make him the greatest athlete he can be.”

Job well done, bruh. As of press time, Kawhi’s Spurs are the owners of a 49-9 record, second only to the magical Golden State Warriors. And if Stephen Curry’s talents were to suddenly vanish in a Monstars-like incident, Kawhi Leonard, with his crazy-high three-point percentage, 20+ ppg and smothering perimeter D, would be in the thick of the conversation for 2015-16 NBA MVP. Or the front of it.

***

In Toronto during mid-February’s All-Star Weekend, we sat down with our basketball-obsessed cover subject at the shoot for the images you see in this story. We rapped a little about SDSU, a little about his relationship with Jordan Brand and the pretty cool fact that he personally designed the hand-like KL logo JB has blessed him with, and then we talked hoops. The fifth-year swingman didn’t have too much to say—shocking news from a guy who isn’t on Instagram or Twitter and turned down other mags for covers this month, we know—which explains why you haven’t heard any of his voice in this story just yet. But this is a story about Kawhi Leonard, and Kawhi Leonard did speak with us—about what drives him, about coming into his own, about what the future holds. So we’ll let him take this thing home:

“I think I spend more time [in the gym] than an average NBA player. I do spend a lot of time just trying to get to the elite level, to a level that I think I can play at. My motivation is just trying to be a great, a top-50 player of all time—or even top-10. Just trying to reach that plateau. My family gives me a lot of strength and support, and that keeps me going. As long as I’m having fun out there on the floor and I’m not bored, I’ll keep getting better. I’m still having fun.

“I used to show a lot more emotion when I was playing at San Diego State, but just getting [to San Antonio] and learning the culture and learning how they do business, it just grew on me.

“Coming in, Tony Parker, Manu, Tim and them were still—well, Tony’s still great and in his prime—but Manu and Tim were, like, the main focus, and being a rookie, being under Coach Pop, he’s not gonna let you just showcase your talents and give you the ball and just tell you to go out there. With the Spurs those first three years or so, I was very limited with what I could do on the floor. I wasn’t able to showcase my talent.

“I still think there’s a lot that you haven’t yet seen that I can do.”

—

Adam Figman is the Editor-in-Chief at SLAM. Follow him on Twitter @afigman.

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Cory Joseph’s Toronto bona fides were already established before Drake dropped his name—being a T-Dot native who made the League set his status as a 6 God for the rest of time—but if there was any doubt, getting a Drizzy shoutout certainly solidified the fact. With All-Star Weekend about to hit the 6, we spoke briefly with the Raptors guard about growing up north of the border.

SLAM: What was it like being raised in the Toronto area?

Cory Joseph: I was born into a basketball family. I didn’t get much into hockey—hockey is the Canadian sport. We grew up in an area called the co-ops: me, my brother, two sisters and my mother. My father and my mother were separated by then, but my father was my coach. He was the coach of the high school team. We would go watch his games.

SLAM: Did you grow up a Raptors fan?

CJ: I was a fan. I watched as many games as I could when they were on TV. We didn’t get much from the West Coast, but I was an NBA fan. I would watch Vince Carter, Damon Stoudamire, Marcus Camby, Vince Carter, Tracy McGrady. I put a lot of time in the driveway pretending I was those guys and that I played on the Raptors.

SLAM: Do you remember your first jersey?

CJ: Me and my brother owned a Ray Allen Seattle SuperSonics jersey. That was his favorite player.

SLAM: What was the first pair of kicks that was important to you?

CJ: I had the VCs. I had the Shox, man. The [Nike] Vince Carter Shox.

SLAM: How about your first basketball?

CJ: The one with the Shaq hand. It might be an indoor/outdoor ball and it had a hand on it, [Shaq’s] handprint.

SLAM: How about the first hoop that meant a lot to you?

CJ: There was a couple. We used to go down to this little park—we had a hoop there. We had great games. A lot of the best guys in the city used to go there. It was in the neighborhood, down the street. And my dad, one time, he bought us a nice hoop—a really nice hoop—that we destroyed from playing so much. But he bought us a nice NBA backboard hoop. I’ll never forget that one.

SLAM: Is it crazy to you that Toronto is getting the All-Star Game this year?

CJ: I’m so excited and I’m so happy for the city. To have All-Star here? There’s a buzz to the city. It just shows how far we came, basketball-wise. It’s been unbelievable. Like I said, this is a hockey country. To have basketball here, it’s amazing. Being from Toronto, I know how happy everybody is in the city. I know how stoked everybody is to see all the celebs and all the All-Stars come here.

SLAM: How cool was it hearing your name in a Drake lyric?

CJ: It’s amazing. I was actually at a basketball game [when “Charged Up” dropped]. I was watching Canada in the Pan Am Games. I didn’t get to play because my contract wasn’t done. After the game, I got all these texts. I looked at my phone and said, What the heck’s going on? Drake is one of the best. He does a lot for the city, a lot for the country. I’m happy that I’ve gotten to know him.

SLAM: Have you played the song in the locker room to show off for your teammates?

CJ: Nah, I haven’t bragged. They’ve played it, though. Every time I do something, they say, Oh, you’re charged up, man!

—

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SLAM: What are your earliest basketball memories?

Nik Stauskas: I grew up in Toronto and started playing at about 8 years old. I was introduced to the game by my uncle. I actually have Lithuanian heritage and my uncle was running a Lithuanian club team in the area. By the time I was 8 years old, I was one of the taller kids, but I had never played before. So he invited me to come over and play, see if I like the game or not. I just happened to practice with them a few times and I guess I had a natural ability to play the game and I started falling in love with it.

SLAM: How long until you started following the NBA?

NS: Probably a year or two after I started playing. I’d say, maybe, 9 or 10 years old was when I really got interested in the NBA and watching the Raptors. I started following guys like Vince Carter and Kobe and Allen Iverson and all those guys. I started covering my room in posters of those guys and getting all their jerseys and hanging them up on my wall.

SLAM: Do you remember a specific poster you had hanging up?

NS: I used to subscribe to SLAM, and it wasn’t just the posters. I would just go through the magazine, and on every page, if there was a picture of a player, I would just cut out pictures and put it on my wall. My SLAM magazines ended up being all torn up because every page had something cut out of it and put on my wall. There was probably a two- or three-year period where I had every SLAM magazine and every single one of the pictures and every single one of the posters on my wall.

SLAM: What was the first jersey you owned?

NS: No. 8, Lakers, Kobe Bryant.

SLAM: First sneakers?

NS: My dad’s real old school, and when I first started playing on my club team, he looks at me and he goes, “You need a pair of real basketball shoes.” He takes me to the mall and he shows me a pair of Chuck Taylors. He was like, “This is what the real players played in back in the day. This is what you should play in.” I remember I showed up to tryouts and the coaches looked at me like, “You gotta get some real shoes. You’re gonna sprain your ankles.” My dad was like, “No, no, this is what you should be playing in.” I remember they made a big deal about it. They made me get new shoes before I started playing. But Chuck Taylors were my first pair.

SLAM: First hoop?

NS: A standard little, 9-foot plastic backboard in my front driveway. That’s what I had when I was really young.

SLAM: First basketball?

NS: Man, I can’t remember what the name is. I can see the ball, but I can’t remember the brand.

SLAM: Was it tough to play outside during Canadian winters?

NS: I would say maybe seven months of the year it’s pretty bad. It just got to the point where we would always have to shovel the driveway, shovel the backyard or whatever it was. At one point, my dad bought a bunch of propane tanks and he hooked it up to this thing and it would blow out fire. It would get so cold outside that we would warm up our hands. The basketball would stop bouncing a lot of times [because] it’d be so cold. That’s what we used to do and we used to have a heater out there to blow a fire and warm up your hands.

SLAM: Sounds kinda dangerous, man.

NS: Looking back at it now—I was 11 years old, and that was really dangerous. I’d go out there by myself a lot of times. I’d turn it on and use it by myself. I actually got pretty good at using it.

—

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If you had to zero in on a time, though, you could do worse than the ’08-09 season, specifically All-Star Weekend of ’09, when Wade sported a bow tie above a yellow cardigan on Friday night, then bright red-rimmed glasses on Saturday. These outlandish outfits, as it turned out, weren’t some random coincidence—at the time, Wade’s Miami Heat were painfully average (with a 28-24 record in an Eastern Conference that was strong up top but lacked any depth whatsoever), and the loud fashion decisions were made simply to avert attention from that reality.

“I started working with a stylist at a time when I was just coming back from surgeries and the Heat was having the worst season,” Wade says. “She presented the idea of using my personal style to distract the media from the terrible record we had going into All-Star 2009. I loved the idea of being able to express myself through my fashion while still [complying with the] dress code.”

Since then, we’ve seen all sorts of sartorial statements from the Miami guard: flip-up sunglasses, skin-tight pants, a Versace jumpsuit with a v-neck open down into his abs. “#Ifyoucantpullitoffyouwontunderstandit,” he hashtagged the Instagram post containing that much-parodied v-neck ’fit. Most can’t, and so most didn’t.

Fact is, whether it was a personal choice to target the pages of Vogue and Esquire or just a stylist with an idea aimed to turn eyes away from a painfully average basketball team, Wade has led the charge of athletes who focus equally on playing their best as they do looking their best.

The aforementioned stylist who pushed Wade into this realm is Calyann Barnett. Barnett began as a stylist for musical artists, eventually realizing that NBA athletes are fashion superstars in their own right. She started working with Wade in late 2006, originally planning looks for him by herself until years later when the 11-time All-Star became legitimately interested in style. Their relationship then transformed into more of a collaboration.

“Dwyane understands that his brand is bigger than basketball,” Barnett says. “When the season ends, the real work starts to maintain the brand. He also knows that the most important article you can put on is confidence.”

“We realized [Wade] was setting trends when his wardrobe was making headlines—good and bad,” says Lisa Joseph, Wade’s business manager. “The pink pants, the Versace jacket—there’s been some classics.”

In 2011, Wade visited Milan and Paris for Fashion Week, and from there, it was official: Dwyane Wade was the international face of NBA style. He sat front row at a Versace show—“It was like sitting courtside at a game,” he says. “It was like the fashion playoffs”—where the fact that he could make a real dent in this new world truly clicked. If All-Star 2009 was the unofficial beginning of the movement, Milan Fashion Week ’11 was when the concept of athletes having a secure place in the fashion industry evolved from cute trend to statement of fact.

Nowadays, Russell Westbrook’s shirts regularly become trending topics, Stephen Curry is the face of EXPRESS and LeBron James seems to own a second home in the pages of GQ. But it was undoubtedly Wade who cleared the path—runway, if you will—that so many NBAers currently strut on.

“It feels awesome to know I was the catalyst for changing the face of NBA fashion and ultimately how marketing dollars are allocated to athletes,” Wade says. “Big fashion houses are now looking to the athlete to collaborate with.”

As are sock brands.

Always a colorful sock wearer, Wade was approached by Stance years ago to get involved with the company and design his own line. He accepted, though the first few months together were not without hiccups. “I vetoed the first designs because they were all stripes,” Wade declares. “I wanted socks that made a statement.”

Wade was the first NBA player the brand signed. He’s very involved with the design of his line, evidenced by the mood boards he and Barnett send to the brand’s creatives every season. As of this writing, 34 different styles are available in the “Dwyane Wade” section of stance.com—and he says a luxury dress sock is up next. Stance has since added Chandler Parsons, Andre Drummond, Klay Thompson, James Harden and Allen Iverson to their roster.

“My sock line has been extremely successful because it’s a true expression and everyone from 10-year-old kids to 60-year-old surgeons,” he says. Wait. What? “True story, a friend of mine sends me pictures of her dad and all his 60-year-old surgeon friends wearing my socks.”

Maybe Father Time can be defeated after all.

—

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The sock company chose a solid starting point: Miami Heat superstar Dwyane Wade has been catching fans’ eyes on the court with his uptempo, flashy game and off the court with his slick, classy and, uhh, flashy style for years. Wade’s been a member of the Stance team since (almost) as long as the Stance team as a whole has existed, and he’s been an integral part of the brand’s growth in just about every sense imaginable, including his own casual sock line.

In 2014, Stance signed Pistons big man Andre Drummond and Mavs swingman Chandler Parsons—the first two NBAers to join the brand’s “Punks and Poets,” the group of celebrities who rep the company—giving each a line of Stance Fusion performance socks. Marketed as the “Battle of the Birds,” both guys were given a bird-inspired line of socks, Parsons’ with flamingos (nodding to his Floridian upbringing) and Drummond’s with penguins (nodding to his cold-weather New York upbringing and lack of fear).

“I’ve always thought a great pair of socks finishes an outfit,” Parsons says. “I came across Stance and had my agency reach out. I ended up getting the first Stance Hoops signature line, and they are the best socks on the planet.”

Next Stance added Golden State Warriors sharpshooter Klay Thompson, an upstart who could in many ways be compared to the sock company itself. Not that long ago, Thompson was, like Stance, simply a young, up-and-coming entity; just a couple years later Thompson has now established himself as a legitimate star in his own right. Klay made the All-Star Game in 2015, averaging 21.7 points and 3.1 threes per game over the course of the season, all while becoming an integral part of the World Champion Warriors—to say nothing of the endorsement deals he signed with sneaker company ANTA, sports drink company BODYARMOR and wearable-tech maker ShotTracker. In the process, Thompson was the face of Stance’s NBA on-court launch.

“You have to sign with brands you believe in and are passionate about—that’s what makes for a great relationship,” Thompson says. “[Stance’s] creativity is on another level. They’ve kind of changed the sock game, and their socks are so comfortable, too. The partnership with the League is going to be special as well. So just to have them want me gave me a huge confidence boost. I felt like we could build something great because I love to hoop, and every hooper needs good socks. I run and shoot for a living, so I have to take care of my feet.”

Every group needs a quality vet, so Stance went out and snatched up a true OG in the world of NBA style—retired Philadelphia 76ers legend Allen Iverson, the man who years ago singlehandedly pushed then-Commissioner David Stern to rewrite the guidelines of how players could dress on the sidelines of NBA tilts. AI will soon have his own casual sock line, years after he laced up official NBA socks—which he says he loved even before his NBA days. “You get some NBA socks and you aren’t in the NBA?” AI laughs. “[Then] you doing something.”

Rounding out the group is the brand’s most recent NBA signee, 2015-16 MVP candidate and all-around superstar James Harden. The Beard evolved into full-on luminary over the past year; in 2014-15 he averaged 27.4 ppg, 5.7 rpg and 4.7 apg while leading the Rockets into the Western Conference Finals and utilizing both his sick handles and ever-flowing facial hair to become a marketer’s dream (word to his partnerships with adidas, Foot Locker, BBVA, BODYARMOR, New Era KT Tape and others).

It’s a solid squad—DWade as the metaphoric coach, AI as the legend, and Parsons, Drummond, Thompson and Harden rounding out the unit.

“We could not be more thrilled with our current group of basketball Punks and Poets,” says Stance’s Basketball Category Director Tzvi Twersky. “They’re all high-caliber players; they’re all exceptional people; and they all have personalities and interests that align with our brand. It’s been awesome to see the roster quickly evolve from one guy to a team that we’d put up against anybody—on and off the court.”

—

RELATED:
Here’s how the Stance x NBA deal came together.
Learn about the technology behind Stance’s official NBA socks.

The post Power Circle appeared first on SLAM.

This isn’t some muscly big man bodying the skinny Latvian out of the paint, though. Nor is it a chiseled vet outsmarting an inexperienced 20-year-old. Nope—young Kristaps is currently being outworked and outgunned by a scrappy 6-year-old with a high motor and even higher self-confidence.

“I wanna do it!” the kid yells, grabbing the crate of chocolate milk containers and sliding it in his direction.

“OK, you can give them out,” Porzingis says, calm and collected, even in defeat. He grins widely, as he does often these days. And why wouldn’t he? Things have been going pretty well these days.

We’re in Lodi, NJ, home of a Boys & Girls Club that’s playing host to a Thanksgiving dinner give-away hosted by Porzingis’ agent, and the Knicks rookie whom everyone seems to be talking about has no problem sliding to the side, allowing a local Jersey youngster to take possession of the crucial chocolate milk distribution duties. Of course, Porzingis has slightly bigger concerns at the moment, most of which revolve around finding his footing in a League whose reporters didn’t expect him to compete on any sort of high level for at least two, perhaps three or even four years.

Ha.

As of this writing, Porzingis is averaging 13.6 points, 8.4 rebounds, 1.8 blocks and at least one or two “Whoa, that was dope as hell” plays per game. He’s had some off-nights, but he’s had a huge role in the Knicks’ semi-respectable start (they’re 12-14 as we go to press, and a Playoffs appearance is absolutely not out of the question). Remember: this team finished 17-65 last season, and, besides Kristaps, didn’t add much more than role players who have largely disappointed thus far.

Porzingis has run off efforts of 29 points and 11 rebounds vs. the Hornets, 24 points, 14 rebounds and 7 blocks vs. the Rockets, 20 points and 14 rebounds vs. the Heat, plus a slew of other impressive double-doubles. A little more than a quarter into the season, he’s right there alongside No. 1 overall pick Karl-Anthony Towns as a Rookie of the Year favorite.

So, no: Kristaps Porzingis is not the new Nikoloz Tskitishvili. He’s not Maciej Lampe. Not Frederic Weis. Porzingis has already proven he’s different from the many foreign-born players who came to the States without the aptitude to navigate the ever-difficult NBA waters and settle in comfortably with one of its franchises, if they ever made it to the L in the first place.        

The common thread that ties most (but certainly not all) of those guys is they began playing ball somewhat late, often simply because they were tall and saw the dollar signs available in hooping for a living.

For Porzingis, though, a genuine love of the sport prefaced his height and the obvious fact that he belonged on the court. Both of Kristaps’ parents were involved in the game—his dad (6-4), a bus driver, played semiprofessionally, while his mom (6-1) played on Latvian national youth teams—and a plastic hoop hung on his bedroom wall in Liepaja, Latvia, before he could stand up on his own. According to his older brother Martins, the second word he ever spoke was “ball”—the first was “mom”—and before he could string a full sentence together, he was wearing out that little rim. “As soon as [Kristaps] started to walk, he was already dunking the ball,” says Martins, who’s 10 years older than Kristaps.

“There was a bigger basketball hoop above the door,” Kristaps says. “[But] I was too small. I couldn’t score on that one. And [my brothers] were playing HORSE on that one. Until I grew, I was playing on the little hoop right next to it. That was my first memory of basketball.”

The Porzingis family house was situated just a short walk to the beach along the Baltic Sea. The boys would often train there; Janis, Kristaps’ other brother who is now 33, played professionally across Europe when Kristaps was a boy, but would be home four months a year to teach his little bro the game. 

Kristaps had natural ability, and as a kid with access to the Internet ever since he was able to read, he soaked up American basketball culture—the game, sure, but also the music, the sneakers, the clothing. And yes, for a period of time, the cornrows, inspired by then-braided-up NBAers like Allen Iverson and Carmelo Anthony. When he was little, it was tough for him to watch NBA games on TV, but as he got older it became more of a possibility, and by 2010, a 13-year-old Kristaps was regularly waking up at 6 a.m. to watch the Kobe/Pau L.A. Lakers defend their Champion status. “That was my team then, the Lakers,” he says now.

When we speak, it’s an off day a couple weeks after the charity event, and we’re sitting in the corner of the gym at the Knicks’ training facility in Tarrytown, NY, about a 20-minute drive north of Manhattan. Kristaps’ schedule for the day is relatively light—shootaround with the team, then a SLAM photo shoot, a Steiner Sports signing commitment, a massage and a drug test. (“One week is enough, right?” he jokes after mentioning that last item.)

With Janis as his inspiration and occasional tutor, Kristaps evolved from lanky kid with an awkward game to lanky kid with a smooth, versatile style of play. Janis, meanwhile, made tapes with NBA footage for Kristaps to devour and imparted Kristaps with the work ethic required of a professional athlete.

Kristaps would play one-on-one every year with his big brother when Janis would return home—over his 14-year pro career, the eldest Porzingis brother played in Latvia, Croatia, Lithuania, Austria, Sweden, Italy and Spain—which helped Janis track his baby bro’s progression. They started matching up when Kristaps was 16. “He had no chance,” Janis says. “I don’t think I gave him even one game.” Then when Kristaps was 17, it was close, but Janis remained the victor.

By the next go-around, with Kristaps at 18, it was a wrap. “I couldn’t do it anymore,” Janis says. “That was it. I couldn’t get enough space to shoot over him.” Kristaps sprouted to 7-3, but with a mobility that continues to allow him to play the 4, making him a nightmare matchup not only for Janis, but, well, anyone.

Kristaps played youth ball for BK Liepajas Lauvus as a young teenager, then began his pro career in Spain for Baloncesto Sevilla in early 2012, an 18-year-old facing up against grown men. His numbers were low his first two years but improved to 11 ppg and 4.6 rpg by 2014-15. During one of the first practices of that season, Kristaps’ American teammate Ben Woodside watched as he caught the ball in an iso situation, then performed a between-the-legs crossover into a step-back fadeaway that touched nothing but net. “I just sat there, and I’m like, ‘Coming from a 7-footer?’” Woodside says. “It was just eye-opening.”

One time, Woodside, a 5-11 guard, and Porzingis spent a practice trash-talking back and forth, a verbal battle that spilled into a post-practice one-on-one game. “I challenged him and what I like is that he didn’t back down,” Woodside says. “He was like, ‘Alright, yeah, let’s play.’ He doesn’t back down. He’s up for challenges.”

Woodside wound up with the victory. “You can’t beat the wily vet,” he says. Afterward, Porzingis reacted like any competitive, pissed off 19-year-old would: He kicked the ball into the stands.

(Let it be known, however, that Porzingis is as sweet off the court as he is unkind on it. During each of his Spanish team’s road trips, he’d purchase a souvenir in whatever city he visited, then gift the souvenir to Satu—an elderly lady employed by the team to do things like clean the locker room and take care of the players’ laundry—upon his return to Sevilla.)

Eventually the ’14-15 season ended, and what happened next is now common knowledge: the Draft night boos, the post-Draft confidence, the pre-season flashes, the regular-season highlights. And so, so much more. The nicknames: PorzingGod, Godzingis, Three 6 Latvia, Young Taps. The endorsements: BodyArmor, Delta Air Lines, Shifman Mattress. The media coverage: the Daily News declared “ZINGSANITY,” The New Yorker spoke with a bunch of Latvians about Kristaps’ rise, and we played our part, too, putting him on the cover of this here issue.

Phil Jackson called him “magical.” Kobe declared him “pretty damn good.” Dirk Nowitzki said “he’s for real.”

Why? Because he’s been killing it. He has legit three-point range; a wide-open jumper almost always becomes a bucket. He’s intense on the offensive boards, crashing in and slamming home put-back dunks over hopeless defenders, something he’s become known for. His long arms and impossible length help him maintain relevance on defense, even without the strength or muscle mass of his older peers. And he moves nicely, too—at 7-3, there isn’t that gallop in his step that you see in some goofy, seemingly injury-prone big men. In one early season game against the 76ers, he juked right around the relatively quick Nerlens Noel at the top of the key, then attacked the rim with abandon and slammed home a ferocious dunk.

For the second half of that Sixers game, I ditch the press box to go sit with some Knicks fan friends, all of whom spend the majority of the time marveling at their team’s newly bright future. “This kid is only 20 fucking years old,” one says early in the fourth quarter. “I know. He’s going to be so goddamn good,” another echoes.

I laugh, knowing I have a long cover story to write, one that will require a whole bunch of words but could really be summed up by that one stupid yet oh-so-true sentence, uttered right there by an average fan with a sub-average New York City vocabulary.

He’s going to be so goddamn good.

“If I miss this, you owe me nothing.”

During a break in the SLAM photo shoot, Kristaps and Martins are shooting around, throwing alley-oop passes to one another and firing up long, ridiculous jumpshots. Martins already owes Kristaps a 20-spot after he lost a bet made earlier in the day that he could dunk without a running start (he could not), and Kristaps is giving Martins a chance to even things up by offering double or nothing on a jumper the rookie is about to toss up some 40 feet from the hoop.

Watching Kristaps and Martins mess around, it’s easy to remember just how young Kristaps is. He’s 20, and though he’s a mature 20—as we went to press, he’s avoided all negative headlines and the many social distractions of New York City by spending the majority of his time with his two brothers and parents in Westchester—he’s still just 20. “Even when he was a kid, he was a little more [mature] than everybody else,” Janis says. “He’s always been calm in that sense.”

But you can tell he’s still so young, mostly by the child-like energy he exudes when he’s just being himself. One minute he can barely remain seated while he rants about how much he loves a specific sushi restaurant back in Sevilla, the next he’s joking “Let’s get this money!” with one of his agent’s employees. Credit his fondness for WorldStarHipHop or just the general knack he has for understanding the intricacies of multiple cultures—further proven by the fact that he speaks Latvian, Spanish and English with perfect fluency—but his sense of humor is completely in tune with today’s American youth.

He also seems to get along plenty well with his teammates—after one December game, forward Kevin Seraphin refers to Kristaps as his “brother from another mother, and another father”—though that could be a simple by-product of his strong play. And that play, while a surprise to everyone from pundits to Kristaps’ own brothers—who admittedly expected him to need a year or two before reaching this level—has not been shocking to his teammates whatsoever.

NYK guard Langston Galloway played pick-up ball with Kristaps and a bunch of other Knicks shortly after the Latvian was drafted and says he knew what was up as soon as the group got together early in the summer. “He ran off like 10 [points] straight, and I was like, ‘This is for real, this ain’t no joke,’” Galloway says before a recent Knicks game. “Soon as he got drafted, we knew he was gonna be a baller. He just made it look easy.”

Cleanthony Early, standing at his locker a few feet away from Galloway, chuckles as he listens to his teammate speak. “For real,” he says with a nod.  

“I have my own goals and what I want to achieve, but for me, No. 1 is always team,” Kristaps says back at the training facility. “We want to do something special here in the future. We want to win a Championship here. That’s the No. 1 goal.”

It’s obviously a lofty goal, one that will take plenty of time and require all sorts of breaks in the right direction. Who knows, though—maybe a 20-year-old from Latvia will be the guy to one day end the long-time suffering of Knicks fans with a Championship run and a celebratory parade down Broadway.

But first, here in Tarrytown on this December afternoon, a double-or-nothing wager needs to be settled.

“OK, deal,” Martins declares. KP nods, takes one dribble, and launches up a flat-footed J without so much as a tiny leap into the air. He’s already cracking a smile by the time the ball begins to descend toward the hoop.

—

Adam Figman is the Editor-in-Chief at SLAM. Follow him on Twitter @afigman.

Portraits by Tom Medvedich

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SLAM: What are your earliest basketball memories?

Damian Lillard: Just shooting from across the street with the rounded curb and then it bounced back and hit the street—just learning how to shoot like that. Shooting on the street with my cousins. Shooting on milk crates on telephone poles. We had tree branches that were shaped like a hoop—it was a branch that came off of the tree that looped around like the front of the rim. So we would be shooting over it like it was the front of the rim.

SLAM: You grew up in a rough part of East Oakland—who kept you on the basketball path?

DL: My dad. He was just always pushing me to do things. Before I played on the AAU team, he was like, “Man, I got this traveling team you can play on. You’ll get to meet new people.” That was in, like, the fifth grade. When I started doing that, that’s a whole summer of practice, tournaments, traveling. So that’s taking me out of Oakland enough for the summer. That’s where I grew that serious love for it and wanted to be a part of it. So I give a lot of credit to him.

SLAM: I know you had a run-in with Steve Francis at a young age. Do you remember meeting any other players or coaches when you were growing up?

DL: The one with Steve Francis, that was the only real run-in that I had that was just him standing there. But me and my brother used to sneak in the back at Golden State games all the time. We’d be right outside their locker room when they were going to the parking lot. We would meet them all the time. That was like Adonal Foyle, Tony Farmer, Mookie Blaylock.

SLAM: Who were your favorite players?

DL: I was a fan of Mookie. I liked Chris Mills. I was a fan of Antawn Jamison, Larry Hughes, Gilbert Arenas, Jason Richardson. All those guys.

SLAM: If we were walking around Oakland and I asked you to bring me to the one place that was really crucial for your basketball development, where would we go?

DL: To the rec center. That helped my growth a lot. Going there, playing against all the older kids. There was one full court and two baskets on each side. There was somebody playing on each one, every day. If you wanted to play, you had to compete. If you wanted the court, you had to play. You couldn’t be scared. People got mad and one thing led to another and fighting broke out and all kinda stuff. You coming on your own, you gotta defend yourself and be willing to play against bigger kids. That situation was huge for my growth.

SLAM: Did you play outside much?

DL: Yeah. The neighborhood I grew up in, there’s an elementary school in the neighborhood, and they had outside courts. And the rims were super low, like 7.5, 8 feet. So we would go hoop over there so we could dunk.

SLAM: Do you remember the first NBA jersey you owned?

DL: A Miami Heat jersey. I got it at All-Star Weekend. It was 2000. All-Star Weekend was in Oakland. I remember I got a Miami Heat jersey, but I put my name and number on it. I don’t know where it is now, I’m pretty sure if I go back to my dad’s house in Oakland, it’s somewhere in there.

SLAM: How about your first ball?

DL: I was like 10. My first Spalding ball—my dad ordered it off Eastbay Magazine. I’d take it to the rec—I actually left it up there. I had it for a whole summer and then toward the end of the summer I left it in the gym one day and I haven’t seen it since.

—

Adam Figman is a Senior Editor at SLAM. Follow him on Twitter @afigman.

Image via Getty

—

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When your dad plays in the NBA, you’re going to grow up surrounded by the game of basketball. Ditto for those with a father who coaches in the NBA, naturally. So if you’re Austin Rivers, whose pops accomplished both before his son turned 8 years old, you’re more than likely going to wind up playing ball—and you’re probably going to wind up being pretty damn good, too. I spoke with the Clippers guard and Florida native about his path to the L.

SLAM: Tell me about your earliest basketball memories.

Austin Rivers: I started around 6 [years old]. To be honest, it started from the movie Space Jam. I watched the movie Space Jam and I fell in love with basketball. My parents went and got me this six foot, maybe five foot, Space Jam basketball hoop. It was this legit-looking goal. They put it in the backyard. It wasn’t one of those cheap-looking ones. They nailed it to the ground and everything. I would go there every day and pretend I was Michael Jordan and Tracy McGrady. I would have warmups and layup lines by myself and pretend like it was an actual game on TV. And then I graduated from that goal to a real goal, eventually.

SLAM: What did your dad teach you about the sport?

AR: If I could say I learned anything it’s just commitment to the game. Just watching him invest so much into the game, I started to pick up on all those habits, to the point where when I was in middle school, I was working harder than your average middle school kid.

SLAM: Where’d you evolve into someone who could really play?

AR: My AAU coach would take me to this place called the Smith Center. It’s in a rough neighborhood in Orlando. He used to take me there every Sunday, every Saturday. That’s where I played all the older kids. I would just get my ass kicked every single time. But I’d keep coming back. I’d go at 8 a.m. and I’d work with my coach for an hour and then all the guys would come. And eventually I just started getting better and better to the point where, ninth grade, I was the best player there. Better than all the seniors, juniors—it didn’t matter. That’s where it all started for me, playing at the Smith Center.

SLAM: Do you have any memories of meeting NBA players through your dad when you were a kid?

AR: I gotta be honest with you: I really did not hang around NBA players much at all. I knew Paul [Pierce]. It’s crazy now that I’m on the same team as Paul. When Paul was a rookie with the Celtics, I was 5 years old. Just think about that. And then I’m hanging around him 14 years old, 15 years old, as my pops was coaching him. I came to a couple practices here and there or a game just to say, ‘What’s up?’ to him after the game, because I looked up to all of these guys because they were doing what I wanted to do. And now me and him are teammates—he’s still in the League, 18 years in, which is incredible. It just shows you what hard work  and commitment can get you. It’s a beautiful thing.

SLAM: Do you remember the first basketball you owned?

AR: Yeah, it was a tiny little ball. It was Looney Tunes, the Space Jam ball. Bugs Bunny was on it. It was red with white lines on it. That was my ball. The thing I used to drive my mom crazy with was early on, when I was young, I used to grab a hanger and make it into a circle and close it at the top of the door, make it into a basketball hoop. And me and my friends used to have dunk contests on the hanger and play actual games on the little hanger in my room, on some hood shit, knowing damn well I had a court outside—but we chose the little hanger. It used to drive my parents crazy.

SLAM: How about the first jersey you wore regularly?

AR: My first NBA jersey was a pinstripe Rockets Steve Francis jersey. It was his rookie-year jersey. I wore it everywhere. Then my second jersey was an Allen Iverson jersey.

SLAM: That’s funny, because you grew up to have a style of play molded after both of those guys.

AR: Yeah, scoring guards. Go figure that my parents got me those.

SLAM: First pair of sneakers?

AR: The first pair of sneakers that mattered a lot to me were the Jordan XIIs. My dad got me the Jordan XIIs when I was in, I want to say, fourth grade. They’re called the Taxis. They’re just white and black—the white and black XIIs. And I was scared to wear them. I never wore them to the point where when I finally wanted to wear them, I outgrew them. Those are my favorite shoes. I remember they mattered so much to me. Another shoe that meant a lot to me was the original Gary Payton shoes.

SLAM: The Gloves, with the zipper?

AR: Yeah, I used to have those. Man, I thought those were really cool.

SLAM: You grew up in the Orlando area. Were you a Magic fan?

AR: I was a Magic fan when T-Mac was there. I just liked Tracy McGrady—that’s it. Whatever team Tracy McGrady was on, I was watching. When he went to Houston, I was a Houston fan.

SLAM: So you weren’t into any specific team.

AR: Nah. I always wanted my pops to do well, obviously, and then T-Mac. That’s it.

—

Adam Figman is a Senior Editor at SLAM. Follow him on Twitter @afigman.

Share your photo with #TrueToTheGame #Sweeps on Twitter and Instagram for a chance to win Spalding NBA product, exciting trips and more. Visit spaldingtruetothegame.com to get in the game.

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That’s DeMarcus Cousins, going buckwild during a training camp scrimmage in San Diego.

Read that sentence again: A scrimmage. During training camp. In San Diego.

(OK yeah, that last part is irrelevant. But you get the point.)

That video is so DeMarcus Cousins. DMC hasn’t always been perfect—he tends to let his emotions get the best of him, the result being technical fouls, a loss of focus, etc. etc. etc. But when his skills align with his passion, he’s a straight up-beast, a scoring and rebounding machine that could undoubtedly serve as the anchor and best player of a very, very good team. He has a passion for the game that you don’t often see, and it’s been the reason for so much good and a bunch of not-so-good over the past five years.

I don’t know if this is going the year to be it all comes together for Cousins and the Kings. Probably not. They’re coached by George Karl, a sadly solidified member of the #WashedGang who hasn’t successfully connected with a group of NBA players in years. They’re going to be piloted by Rajon Rondo, an occasionally transcendent basketball genius whose mind (and, with it, talent) tends to drift away when the right group of veterans isn’t around to steer him in the right direction. They’re young—the only guy above the age of 30 currently on the roster is Caron Butler. Their front office is a fucking mess.

But at times things are going to come together nicely for the Kings, and when they do, it’s going to be beautiful. And whenever that does happen, it’ll be because Cousins, now entering his sixth season, is going to be better than ever before. He’s increased his scoring (from 17.1 per game to 22.7 to 24.1) and rebounds (9.9 per to 11.7 to 12.7) steadily over the past three years, momentum that should continue in ‘14-15. His posts moves are getting better—he’s more than just a big body who can plant himself under the hoop and reap the inevitable benefits.

Look at this: “I don’t really consider myself a center,” Cousins told the Sacramento Bee. “I’m just a basketball player. There’s so much I can do on the floor. People get stuck on the word ‘center,’ ‘big man’ and (are) kind of ignorant to the situation. I can’t really worry about that. I just go out there and do my job.”

Basically, he’s going to shoot some from the outside, which is probably needed if he wants to play in an offense that isn’t based in Memphis over the next decade.

We’ve placed Cousins ninth, which sounds about right. There’s still a class ahead of him, guys who’ve established themselves as elite superduperstars who can carry an NBA team as deep as an NBA team can possibly go. It says here that he’ll push forward this year, landing himself a couple spots upward next year after a season that excites no one more than those who draft him in their fantasy leagues. His temper will still flare up here and there, but he should have a better grasp on how to channel it into the right kind of aggression than he did as a youngster. (Playing alongside his buddy Rondo and with a strong-minded veteran like Caron Butler should help, too.) His post moves are going to get better, because he’s another year into his 20s, which is when post moves tend to get better, I guess. (And if he can shoot a little, his defenders are going to have to step out to guard him, at which point he can probably body right past them en route to the hoop.)

Regardless, the Kings are going to be soooo compelling. Rondo may still have some greatness in him yet. Rudy Gay can still score in fits. There’s plenty of young talent—Willie Caulie-Stein, Ben McLemore, Seth Curry, James Anderson, David Stockton, (potentially) Marshall Henderson (!). And there’s DMC. If this team doesn’t implode for the many reasons listed a few paragraphs up, they *could* be fun as hell.

Somehow, after five long years in the NBA, Cousins is still just 25. Twenty-five! If he puts everything together… well, quotes like these, on whether the MVP award is reachable for him this season, are going to seem way less ridiculous:

“Reachable, man? It’s mine to grab.”

It could happen! He’s already going nuts at scrimmages during preseason practices when most guys are still sweating out this summer’s alcohol intake. That innate passion, which has caused both problems and controversy over the past five years, is going to serve this cat very well over the remainder of his career.

And even if he doesn’t go full MVP mode, he’s still going to be pretty damn good this year. Like, ninth best player in the NBA good. Or a little better.

Rankings are based on expected contribution in 2015-16—to players’ team, the NBA and the game.

The post SLAM Top 50: DeMarcus Cousins, No. 9 appeared first on SLAM.

Devin Booker’s basketball roots are planted deep—his pops had a long overseas career (along with a couple NBA years), while his older brother toughened him up as a youngster on the outdoor courts in Grand Rapids, MI. (Booker would later move to Mississippi to train with his father when the journeyman moved back to the States.) We chopped it up with the newly made Suns swingman to talk about his love for the game.

SLAM: What are your earliest basketball memories?

Devin Booker: I remember just being on the playground, wanting to play with my brother and his friends. Having an older brother, he used to push me in everything. We used to play in the driveway and I used to come in and cry and tell my mom that he would stop playing me once he won. That used to make me mad. Every time I got an opportunity, I’d go my hardest to prove myself to them. That’s what it was for me—just trying to prove to my brother and his friends that I belonged.

I grew up in Grand Rapids with my mother and brother—my dad was playing overseas. I got to visit him while he was playing in Italy, so I got to travel. He used to say, “This ball’s been good to me,” and it has. Seeing how he could take care of his family by playing, it made me drive that much harder. I took that to Grand Rapids and I was competitive. At first, I just wanted to be the best on my teams. Then I wanted to be the best in my division. And then I wanted to be the best in the state.

SLAM: Any lasting memories from visiting your dad when he was playing overseas?

DB: He was a teammate of Danilo Gallinari. Gallo, I used to play one-on-one with him when I was 11 or 12. I was a big fan. He was the man in Italy. So you know, I’m playing Gallo one-on-one and he gave me his shoes, autographed. That was a big deal. I still have the shoes. I worked out in Denver and I had the same locker as him, so I told him about that. It’s crazy how that actually happened.

SLAM: What kinda shoes?

DB: They’re some Reeboks—he was sponsored by Reebok. They called him the Rooster, so it has the little rooster on it.

SLAM: What was the first NBA jersey you owned?

DB: I had an Allen Iverson jersey,the white one with “Sixers” across it. My uncle gave it to me. And then my dad played in the League, for like three or four years, so he had some extras and I used to wear them around the house.

SLAM: Is there a specific place you look back on as being important to your development?

DB: My 10th grade year, I moved to Mississippi. My high school gym—it’s not one of the better schools—me and my dad call it The Dungeon. It didn’t even have AC. It got AC the year I got there. When it rains, it leaks on the floor. My dad says, “This is where it started.” I remember the drinking fountains, you couldn’t even see through the water. You showed up with a water bottle. I’d say that’s where most of my work was actually put in, my high school gym.

SLAM: Who did you root for growing up?

DB: I was a big Pistons fan. I actually had the opportunity a few weeks ago—I was in New Jersey with Rip Hamilton. We talked a lot. I explained to him he was basically my childhood. I used to watch that dynasty team. At the time, Rip Hamilton, he was my favorite player. I wasn’t even a two-guard then—I was a big man, that’s the crazy part. I was a big man. When you’re bigger than everybody [as a child], your coach just throws you down there. So, Rip Hamilton, Chauncey [Billups], Tayshaun [Prince], all them. I was a big Pistons fan.

SLAM: Do you remember the first basketball you owned?

DB: It was for a Fisher-Price hoop. When I used to visit [my father in Mississippi], my dad used to have me stay with my uncle—but he’s like my brother, because we’re similar in age. When his mom used to be gone, we used to move the Fisher-Price goal to the living room so we had more space, then we had to move it before she got back. That’s probably my earliest memory.

SLAM: Was there a point you knew your life would be all about becoming an NBA player?

DB: Nah, it’s been forever. I get the question, “What would you be if you weren’t a basketball player?” and usually I give an answer just because, but honestly, I’ve never had a backup plan.

—

Adam Figman is a Senior Editor at SLAM. Follow him on Twitter @afigman.

Share your photo with #TrueToTheGame #Sweeps on Twitter and Instagram for a chance to win Spalding NBA product, exciting trips and more. Visit spaldingtruetothegame.com to get in the game.

The post Respect the Shooter appeared first on SLAM.

SLAM: In the promotional video, you talked about being involved in the design of the underwear. What did that entail?

Kevin Durant: When I first went to the offices, they had a kind of mood board with concepts. And I was like: I like this, I like this, this is the direction I want to go in. And from there everything was really easy and smooth. We really made a good team and liked the same things, and that made for an easy process.

SLAM: You’ve been using random aspects of your life as inspiration for your signature sneakers for years—was doing underwear similar to that?

KD: I always had a loyalty towards a brand, so it was kind of like I was already invested for a long time—emotionally, creatively. So to shift my focus over to a different category, it was different, at first. It took some time for me to really get knee-deep into where I wanted to be. But once you start to see the product and see it moving, and then I started to put [the underwear] on and opened up my underwear drawer and saw my name on my undergarments—it as like, alright, now it’s time to get down to business. It’s cool to have something of your own, and to make something so cool like this with such a creative mind like him [points to Shaun Neff].

SLAM: Does it feel like you’re kind of breaking new ground here? You don’t hear much about kids growing up dreaming of having their own underwear line, but now you’ve helped prove that that’s as a possibility.

KD: Yeah. I’d just like to say, I just want [fans] to feel loyalty towards our brand and feel like they’re one of us, because it’s a family. It’s new and different and I feel like we have the best product.

SLAM: Shaun, you’ve never worked with an NBA player. How was it?

Shaun Neff: Yeah, I mean, it’s been somewhat of a dream come true, being a basketball fan growing up and before we met, a huge fan of Kevin. To be working, sitting across the table as business partners, I had to get over that freak-out phase to be like, OK, cool, let’s do business. But I’ve been impressed by the creativity. Our first product, a lot of our artwork was really big on the [underwear’s] band, with big branding, and him and Rich [Kleiman, KD’s agent] really came through and said, Hey, let’s be different. The look that we’ve established, that’s different, fully came from Kevin. That’s why it’s been rad. It’s been a real relationship. He’s really dictated the product, which is cool.

SLAM: Kevin, are you gonna get them to your teammates?

KD: Oh, no doubt. I really wanna do something cool for my teammates. We’ll figure that out. But yeah, I’ve put ‘em on, worked out in them this week. It feels like I have basketball tights on, but it feels a little better, because it’s not as tight. It’s easy to play in, and my teammates saw them are we instantly like, Yo, I need a pair. I can’t wait for them to try it on. My whole goal is to have all my teammates—like, when I walk into the arena, and they’re changing for the game, I wanna see their underwear, ‘Cause I look at guys’ underwear, as weird as that sounds. I want them to have my underwear on. That’d be pretty sweet for me.

SLAM: Training camp starts next week. You ready?

KD: Oh, I feel great. I’m excited to play again.

The post Q+A: Talking Underwear With Kevin Durant appeared first on SLAM.

And now, nine years after the inaugural game tipped off, the Elite 24 is celebrating its 10th anniversary, having been played on both sides of the country and having featured some of the best up-and-coming talent summer basketball could possibly offer, with many of its participants going on to reach superstardom at both the collegiate and NBA levels. With the event reaching its first double-digit birthday on Saturday, August 22, it seems as good a time as ever to take a minute to reflect on just how far the Elite 24 competition has come over the previous decade.

In 2006, Kris Stone—a former SLAM ad salesman who was then the Associate Publisher of RISE Magazine and is now the Director of Sports Marketing at Under Armour—founded the game, making the historic Rucker Park its first host. Documenting the occasion was none other than Adam Yauch, also known as MCA of the legendary Beastie Boys, who made a film entitled Gunnin’ for That #1 Spot about the lead-up to the first ever Elite 24—along with plenty of footage of the game itself and mini-profiles of the cast of characters who participated, including future NBAers like Kevin Love, Brandon Jennings, Michael Beasley, Tyreke Evans, Lance Stephenson and many others.

And though the specific location of the game would change in years following, the precedent established and maintained to this date of playing the Elite 24 outside—with the exception of ’09, when it was moved indoors due to rain—helped it stand out from the usual summer tournaments played in gyms and arenas across the country.

“Playing basketball started at the park,” Stone says in Gunnin’. “It either started with your brother or it started with the older guys who you wanted to play with or fit in with, but at the end of the day, even if you’re playing in high school, you still go to the park to get in a run. That’s where you get tough and learn how to play the game.”

“I really think summer league is best when played outdoors, and I know the genie is out of the bottle, but I’m sick and tired of all these freezing, air-conditioned gyms for all these AAU tournaments,” says Tom Konchalski, an old-school scouting god who’s been to every Elite 24 that’s taken place in New York, minus the first one in ’06. “I really think summer basketball should be outdoors, and it loses something when it’s not.”

With honorary coaches Ben Gordon and Jason Kidd in tow, the first ever Elite 24 was dominated by uptempo play, featuring highlight-reel dunks from the aforementioned Jennings (who finished with 12 points and 15 assists) and JJ Hickson (34 points, 8 rebounds), both of whom shared co-MVP honors for the white squad. Michael Beasley (26 points, 9 boards) and Jerryd Bayless (15 points, 2 boards, 3 assists) split MVP honors for the opposing blue squad.

In the 2007 game, Stephenson and Evans were back again and one year older, battling one-on-one for much of the contest. Stephenson dropped 38 points, Evans scored 26, and Jennings set a yet-to-be-beaten Elite 24 assist record with a whopping 23 dimes. Stephenson was named co-MVP of his team with Jrue Holiday (who scored 24 points), while Evans and Jennings were named co-MVPs of their squad.

“It was like playing real streetball basketball,” Stephenson recently told us. “When you’re playing in Elite 24, you can earn your name—that’s where I earned my name Born Ready. The competition that you play against, especially since I was playing against the older guys—I was playing against high school guys, but they were also older than me. It was definitely special.

“I felt like playing in New York was a little easier for me because I was a little more used to it [than the other players],” the Coney Island native added. “I was used to the atmosphere, and it’s harder for other guys coming in from other cities, playing in Elite 24, because they weren’t used to the environment. I just fit right in.”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bMsFOYjhqrY

Rafer Alston and Baron Davis served as honorary coaches in ’07, with the game once again being played in Harlem’s Rucker Park as celebrities like rapper Fat Joe and college coach Jerry Tarkanian looked on from the stands.

The third iteration of the Elite 24 was also played at Rucker Park. It featured a defensively tight first half and a looser, faster second, with Maalik Wayns (10 points, 8 assists) and Stephenson (29 points—and yes, Born Ready participated in the Elite 24 for three consecutive years) shared co-MVP honors for one team while John Wall (10 points, multiple monster dunks) and Dominic Cheek (23 points, 7 rebounds) split it for the other. Kenny Anderson and Chauncey Billups, two NBA point guards of slightly different but overlapping eras, filled in as honorary coaches.

“I wanted to come [to the Elite 24] and make my name,” Wall told SLAM after the ’08 showdown, which served as an official coming out party for the PG after he had leaped onto scouts’ radars the previous summer. “I’ve worked hard at this. I remember last year looking at the rankings and seeing my name barely in the Top 100. I went to Coach and said, ‘Help me get better. What do I need to do to get better?’ And since then I’ve worked hard and now here I am.”

The 2009 game didn’t exactly go as planned. It rained through the day of the game, forcing a venue change away from famed Rucker Park and into Gauchos Gym in the Bronx at the very last minute. (The game couldn’t be delayed until a later date, with a telecast planned for the next day and many of the players leaving town that next morning.) Hundreds rushed from Rucker to Gauchos only to be turned away at the door—but eventually the game did indeed tip off inside the overheated and overflowing South Bronx gymnasium.

Local cats Doron Lamb (who hails from the Lower East Side of Manhattan) and Tobias Harris (Long Island) both played well, earning co-MVP honors for the white squad, while Josh Selby and CJ Leslie split the award for the opposition. (Harris and Lamb’s squad earned the W, though.) Selby had perhaps the night’s most memorable highlight, a huge dunk he threw down over (or alongside of, depending on your perspective) future UNC point guard Kendall Marshall. The gym erupted in cheers as Selby looked back at Marshall and flexed, yelling with all his might.

Lesson learned: A little rain won’t stop the show.

That said, after four years in the hoops Mecca, a change of scenery was in store. The 2010 game was moved to Venice Beach, CA, home to what might be the most competitive streetball on the left coast—and home to the best movie about streetball, ever. Word to Billy Hoyle.

“Moving the Boost Mobile Elite 24 to Venice Beach is a great opportunity to broaden its exposure nationwide,” James Brown, senior vice president of ESPN RISE (who hosted the event), said in a press release at the time. “We looked for a venue that kept with the premise of the game being played on an outdoor court, and there was no better venue to go to next than the Venice Beach courts. We will continue to look for other outdoor courts across the country to add to the experience of this great Rucker Park-launched event.”

Kyle Wiltjer (20 points) and Myck Kabongo (13 points, 10 dimes) dominated the 2010 game, defeating a team featuring Austin Rivers (15 points, 5 rebounds) and James McAdoo (10 points, 11 rebounds).

The 2011 game was back in Venice Beach, though like the 2009 tilt it needed to be delayed—though not because of any weather-related issues. Michigan-bound big man Mitch McGary threw down a pre-game dunk that shattered the backboard, the glass of the hoop falling all over his body, leaving him with some nasty gashes and a new nickname: White Thunder. (He was previously White Chocolate, but with a monster slam comes a nickname upgrade.) “I got a pretty big laceration on my shoulder, but I’ll be aight,” McGary told ESPN moments after he was taped up. “I didn’t want to go to the hospital—I’m gonna go after, so I can watch my boys play.”

Eventually, the ’11 Elite 24 tipped off, with the winning team led by Justin Anderson (23 points) and Kyle “Slow Mo” Anderson (18 points, 8 assists). Shabazz Muhammad (25 points, 9 rebounds) and Aquille Carr (21 points, 10 dimes) showed out as well, as Elite 24 alumni like Kevin Love, Brandon Jennings, Tyreke Evans, John Wall and Kemba Walker watched from the sideline.

2012 was the year Under Armour came aboard as the title sponsor of the event—before that, Boost Mobile had been the primary sponsor. “Having supported the Elite 24 Game since the inaugural event in 2006 at Rucker Park by providing the teams with base layer, we feel now is the right time to outfit the players from head to toe,” Stone said in a press release at the time. (By then he was working full-time at UA.) “It’s a natural evolution as we continue to push forward and show our commitment to the basketball category and the next generation of great basketball players.”

The game remained in sunny California, with Bobbito Garcia and Joe Pope calling the high- energy action. The Brandon Jennings-coached Raymond Lewis squad would go on to defeat the Kyrie Irving-coached Marques Johnson squad, with forwards Aaron Gordon (25 points, 7 rebounds) and Julius Randle (27 points) absolutely running the show.

“This is the best event of the summer,” Randle told SLAM after the game.

In 2013, the Elite 24 moved back east. Played in the Tobacco Warehouse just a few yards from the Brooklyn Bridge, the ’13 game was not just notable for what took place on the court, but the beautiful scene it took place within. The perfect view of the sun setting over New York City was gorgeous; the clear sky helped quell the fears of any Under Armour execs with dismal memories of scrambling for a place to play the game back in ’09. “It was a perfect night,” Konchalski says. “It was in the shadow of the Brooklyn Bridge and they had one stanchion of lights behind where the benches were on the bridge side, then when it got dark, the lights on the bridge came on—what a stunning visual effect it created.”

The actual game was pretty damn good, too. Brooklyn’s own Isaiah Whitehead scored a game-high 26 points, while Emmanuel Mudiay dropped 22 and announced his college intentions of SMU—key word being intentions, considering he wound up spending the year in China—during a halftime ceremony. Stanley Johnson, who’d go on to play for Arizona before getting drafted by the Detroit Pistons, put in 25 points.

Also worth noting was the dunk contest the night before the event, during which Theo Pinson threw one down by jumping over his own mother. Talk about a high-stakes situation. He won the competition, needless to say.

Last year’s game was moved to Pier 2, right in the middle of the beautiful, recently constructed Brooklyn Bridge Park. With a breathtaking view of the Manhattan skyline, the action itself didn’t disappoint, with scoring guards Malik Newman and Antonio Blakeney going at it and top-ranked wings Jaylen Brown and Josh Jackson facing up. Though the game was called with about two minutes remaining due to the threat of rain pouring down all over the court and audience, the crowd was also subjected to solid performances from Stephen Zimmerman, Thon Maker and Chase Jeter.

This year the Elite 24 is returning to Pier 2, where a new crop of up-and-comers will be showcasing their talents in the foreground of the lower Manhattan skyline.

The post Doin’ It In The Park appeared first on SLAM.

Khris Middleton may have a long and prosperous career still ahead of him—he is only 23, after all—but considering he recently signed a five-year, $70 million contract with the Milwaukee Bucks and should play a huge role in what should be a very solid, very fun team this season, it’s safe to say he’s “made it” in just about every sense of the term. A Charleston, SC, native, Middleton took a few minutes out of his busy summer to reflect on his earliest hoops memories.

SLAM: What were the first basketball courts you played on?

Khris Middleton: I think the first real one I played on was the Citadel courts. The college called The Citadel—I played on their basketball court at the gym. I just remember that feeling of being on a real college court—it was pretty cool.

SLAM: Who pushed you into basketball?

KM: Mainly my dad. My dad used to go on the court with me all the time, play one-on-one and he always wanted me to play against the older guys to just get me used to playing against bigger, stronger and faster guys. I always played against older guys when I was younger.

SLAM: What was the first NBA jersey you owned?

KM: The first one I had was a Michael Jordan jersey—the red and the black one from the Chicago Bulls. I used to wear it every chance I could when I was a little kid.

SLAM: What about your first pair of sneakers?

KM: Honestly, some Jordans, too—probably the Xs or XIs I had. I saved my allowance for weeks when they were coming out and I remember standing in line, waiting to get them. I just remember seeing Jordan play—you know you want to play like Mike, so you’re always trying to get those shoes to try to play like him.

SLAM: Is there a specific place that meant a lot to you growing up, that you think was really important to your development as a basketball player?

KM: Yeah, I had a little halfcourt on the side of my house that I used to go on all the time—rain, cold, everything. I used to just go out there and shoot all day long. And my high school gym—those are the two places that I wouldn’t be where I’m at today without those two places.

SLAM: Do you remember your first basketball?

KM: Yeah, it wasn’t a real one—it was one of those indoor balls that you could throw around the house and not break anything. I remember just sitting there with a little basketball that you could dribble around and not worry about breaking anything in the house.

SLAM: Your parents didn’t mind?

KM: Yeah, they weren’t too happy about it, but they would let me get away with a lot until I started to get toward the kitchen area. That’s when they made me settle down.

SLAM: Did you bring it to school and dribble through the hallways?

KM: Nah, I wasn’t one of those kids, but I was always one of those kids that was always in the gym any free time I had during or after school.

SLAM: How old were you when you realized your life was going to revolve around hoops?

KM: I would say around 13 or 14. I had to decide if I wanted to keep playing AAU basketball or play baseball. I ended up quitting baseball and stuck with basketball—that’s when I put all my eggs in one basket.

SLAM: A pretty good decision.

KM: Yeah. I think so, too.

Adam Figman is a Senior Editor at SLAM. Follow him on Twitter @afigman.

Share your photo with #TrueToTheGame #Sweeps on Twitter and Instagram for a chance to win Spalding NBA product, exciting trips and more. Visit spaldingtruetothegame.com to get in the game.

The post Been On My Grind appeared first on SLAM.

After the announcement, we caught up with the two-time champion to talk about the future of the Knicks, modern NBA style and plenty more.

SLAM: What are your early thoughts about the Knicks drafting Kristaps Porzingis and what you’ve seen from him thus far?

Walt Frazier: Well, obviously we were disappointed. Everyone was kind of looking for some kind of a savior now. Porzingis is talented, but he’s a few years away, and right now I wouldn’t say the Knicks are a playoff team. A lot of things have to go right for them to make the Playoffs this year. They’re still in the rebuilding process.

SLAM: The Knicks have guys like Kristaps who seem to be a couple years away from making a difference, yet they still have Carmelo Anthony, in his prime, on a max deal. Could that cause some friction within the team?

WF: It could be problematic, especially with Melo—his future is now, not two years from now. So it’s going to be interesting to see how he approaches the season and how the Knicks approach him with where he’s going to fit in with their future.

SLAM: What are some other things that you’re looking forward to seeing from the team?

WF: Defense, man. My two rings are predicated on defense. That’s the quick fix. We’re not acquiring anybody—just some more tenacious defense, and that’s what they’ve got to bring. The pressure’s on [Derek] Fisher. Last year I gave him a pass—he was a neophyte. But you know this year obviously the honeymoon is over so he’s gotta earn his medal as well, with the way he’s coaching.

SLAM: Do you ever speak with Phil Jackson about the team? 

WF: No, I haven’t really talked to him about it. I went to the training camp last year and since then I’ve never had any basketball conversations with him.

SLAM: NBA players focus on their personal style now more than ever before. Do you feel like the forefather of that movement?

WF: Yeah, a lot of the guys that acknowledge that I brought the bling to the NBA, the Rolls-Royce, the mink coats—all the things that they’re trying to do now. I kind of laugh when I see it happen before the games, after the games, when the guys are trying to outdress the other guys.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sMkA3LqR6Gg

SLAM: What do you consider to be the low point of NBA fashion?

WF: The low point was imitating the rappers, walking around with the pants—the baggy pants hanging off. You know, you’re professionals. I was happy when the NBA implemented a dress code. It’s only for only two or three hours when all these guys are meeting there, so they should look like it. I thought the NBA did the right thing.

SLAM: Have you seen the Instagram account that’s documenting your look for every Knicks game?

WF: Yeah, it’s putting a lot of pressure on me because I can’t wear the same thing over and over, so I have to check him to see the last time I wore this outfit. It’s humorous, though. I get a kick out of it.

SLAM: It gives every outfit of yours a grade, too. Do you ever look at your grade after the fact and think, Damn, should’ve dressed a little better so I could’ve gotten a higher grade?

WF: It’s just the redundancy. I try to mix ’em up a little more, ‘cause sometimes I don’t think about when I wore this suit or what I wore it with—but this guy does. He’s critiquing everything that I do. [Laughs]

SLAM: He probably thinks about it more than you do.

WF: Yeah I know, and then he goes back two or three years ago with the suits. I actually met him at a game.

SLAM: What was that conversation like? 

WF: I told him that, you know, I’m flabbergasted by what he does. It’s outstanding—keep up the good work.

Adam Figman is a Senior Editor at SLAM. Follow him on Twitter @afigman.

The post Q+A: Walt ‘Clyde’ Frazier appeared first on SLAM.

SLAM: How’d you initially fall in love with the game of basketball?

CJ McCollum: My mom and my dad played in leagues when I was really young, so I remember watching them play. My dad was a big [Michael] Jordan fan—he loved Jordan and would always watch Mike. And I used to sleep with a ball in my crib, so it was just always a part of my lifestyle. Then my brother played, so I followed his footsteps. The game’s been good to me ever since.

SLAM: Do you remember the earliest courts you ever played on?

CJ: We used to shoot the socks in the hamper and all that stuff. We had a hoop on the door, so my brother and I used to play one-on-one on our knees, you know, all that stuff that kids do. And we always played outside. I actually had a court, and we used to play on the court outside, lowering the hoop to get some dunks in and then raise it back up and go to work.

SLAM: Did the sport come naturally to you?

CJ: It was something I had to work on, but I always had talent—I just couldn’t shoot. I could get to the hole, all right hand, because I hated using my left hand. I used to always miss left-handed layups. I couldn’t really shoot until the end of the eighth grade—that’s when my jump shot started to get good.

SLAM: Is there anyone who pushed you from being an average kid who liked basketball to what you became as a high school player?

CJ: My brother, definitely. Without him I wouldn’t be where I’m at. He was and still is my best friend. We work out together when I’m home and I talk to him constantly, even when he’s in Europe [where CJ’s big bro plays professionally—Ed.]. My mom raised us to be best friends and to push each other. I remember there was a time when he hated me being around because he’s two and half years older, and my mom used to make him put me on his team. It started where it wouldn’t count when I got the ball—they were just empty possessions—then when I started getting better he wanted me to be on his team and to come play with him. It’s funny how it’s come full circle.

SLAM: When did you realize that you could hold your own on the court?

CJ: I think when I got to high school I continued to get better—my brother graduated  after my freshman year—and my sophomore year I was finally by myself, just me and Kouf [Kosta Koufous, who also attended GlenOak High School in Canton.—Ed.]. I was more of a role player, not dominating yet. Once Kouf left and it was just me, I think my first game of my junior year, I had like 54 points in my first career start and I was like, OK, I’m ready now.

SLAM: Do you remember the first basketball you owned?

CJ: My mom probably bought me my first ball. I’m sure my dad put one in my crib as a little toddler, but my first real basketball, my mom probably bought it. It’s funny, I used to sleep with the ball until I realized how dirty it was. I was like, I can’t be doing this. I can’t be putting this ball in my bed anymore.

Share your photo with #TruetotheGame #Sweeps for a chance to win Spalding NBA product, a trip to an NBA game + more. For details click here.

Adam Figman is a Senior Editor at SLAM. Follow him on Twitter @afigman.

Image via Getty

Previously:
Victor Oladipo: That’s What Maryland Does
DeMar DeRozan: Compton’s In The House

The post Get It In Ohio appeared first on SLAM.

Cameron Giles, once one of the best high school basketball players in New York City, is showered with love as he walks through Rucker Park during a hot late-summer day in August of 2014. When former hoops stars return to the courts for events like this—a Reebok-sponsored high school all-star game featuring some of the best young talent in the city—they’re generally embraced warmly, with daps and hugs thrown in their direction by everyone from local legends to up-and-comers with a respectable knowledge of roundball history.

Yet when Giles saunters through the park, it’s not just a select few who show respect—everyone loses their shit. That’s because this Harlem native isn’t merely a former hoops prodigy; these days, Giles is known as Cam’ron, a platinum rapper with a bevy of hit singles, high-charting albums and an incredibly popular group to his name.

Despite his rap success, Cam’s earliest goals were your pretty standard hoop dreams. He grew up around 140th Street and Lennox Ave in Manhattan (where Nicky Barnes got rich as fuck)—coming of age in the same building as future NBA player God Shammgod—in a neighborhood littered with basketball courts, eventually attending Manhattan Center for Science and Mathematics in East Harlem. He famously played on the same high school team as Mason Betha—later known as the rapper Ma$e—and as sophomores in 1992, the two, along with Richie Parker (who would later lose a scholarship to Seton Hall because of a sexual assault charge), brought the team all the way to the Public Schools Athletic Class A championship at Madison Square Garden, defeating Stephon Marbury’s Lincoln squad to get there.

Unfortunately, Cam bricked a running three-pointer at the buzzer that would’ve given his team the victory, and Manhattan Center fell 55-53.

In Cam’ron’s self-produced, semi-autobiographical movie Killa Season, that miss is portrayed as the shot that changed everything; after it rims out, Cam turns to a life of drug-related crime and violence. In reality, however, he kept on hooping for both Riverside Church and The Gauchos—two elite AAU teams—and in high school, where as a senior, Parker and him achieved a perfect 25-0 regular season at Manhattan Center. Yet again, postseason success eluded them, and they lost in the first round of the playoffs.

“That team was dope,” Cam says. “[But] our 2-guard had gotten hurt. We went 25-0 and lost in the first round of the playoffs. Devastating.”

Cam’ron claims to have been recruited by Miami, Georgetown, Syracuse (“Jim Boeheim, he called me up and sent me letters, sent recruiters to the games,” he says, “though there were certain rules, like you can’t talk to them or whatever”), and Cam’s own mother has provided proof that some top-level programs had interest in her son:

That demoralizing first-round loss hit hard, though, and before his senior year even ended, Cam bolted the city. “My girl at that time, which is my son’s mother now, was going to college in Albany, and as soon as school was over I broke out and bought two ounces to start pitching up in Albany,” he said back in 2011 on the Juan Epstein podcast. “I just never went back to school—that was it.”

(On that podcast, Cam also referenced being ranked a Top 25 All-American—a claim he’s made elsewhere, and which, as Grantland has pointed out, was once discussed in a thoroughly entertaining NBADraft.net message board thread.)

Cam wound up earning his GED, then receiving an offer to play for Navarro Junior College in Corsicana, TX. That plan was derailed when he tore his hamstring at the onset of his NCAA career—then got kicked out of school following a weapons arrest—so he quickly returned to New York City, where drug (and later music) dollars were readily available.

“To keep it 100,” he says, “when I got back from school, and [Ma$e] had signed on with Bad Boy, I was like, I gotta get paid today. It wasn’t like I was in a D1—I would’ve had to go to junior college, then a D1, then hopefully the NBA. But there was money available for me right now.”

And with the exception of an infamous celebrity game appearance (see the video below), that was mostly it for Killa’s basketball pursuit. Cam would of course proceed to reach rap superstardom, later using that very platform to speak on his hoops journey. Here, via Rap Genius (with some grammatical errors cleaned up), are lyrics from his 2000 song “Sports, Drugs & Entertainment”:

After all, I was nice in ball
But I came to practice weed scented
Report card like the speed limit
55-55, expellable
If you’re nice, they make sure that you eligible
Pretty final, ’92 played the city finals
Pretty swift, real MVP at 55th
I can hoop, yo
All-American in my age group, yo
Raised bad, settled for a JuCo
Uh, but why they let a thug on campus?
All I did was rob and mug on campus
Sliced, rolled dice, got shiest on campus
Had the toast, got bad, paid the price on campus
Forgot about ball, I was done, dude
Now I’m in county in an orange jumpsuit, middle of Texas

But it’s still fun to wonder just how good in-his-prime Cameron Giles was on the court. He could keep up with some of the city’s best, yeah, but did Cam have real game? Like, could’ve-gone-on-to-become-special game?

The answer comes from the great Tom Konchalski, a Queens-based high school scout with a razor-sharp memory who remembers watching Giles play regularly in the early 90s. “He was a defender and he knew his role on the team,” Konchalski says. “Especially when he played Riverside, because they always had stars. They were loaded with guys that would end up in the NBA or come close to that. But he was a good basketball player—typical inner-city, tough, gritty-but-focused guard.”

At about 6-1, Cam was an Allen Iverson-esque scoring point. “He was quick,” says Charlie Jackson, who coached Manhattan Center Cam’s senior year. “Fiery.”

“He was always driving to the basket—that was his main thing,” says streetball star Rafer Alston, a Queens native who at various points played both with and against Giles. “You couldn’t really stop him from going to the basket. He wasn’t gonna shoot no jump shot. The good thing about him was he was tough, and he wouldn’t back down from any competition.”

To make a legitimate name for yourself in the New York City high school basketball world when Cam’ron did so was no easy feat, either. This was a time when the NYC hoops scene was on fire—gyms were packed, with NY Times and Newsday writers always somewhere in attendance. And Cam faced up against all of the city’s best talent. “Rafer, Steph [Marbury]—I busted they ass,” he says with a smile. “I didn’t have the hype they had, that’s why I took pleasure in killing them all the time. I’m not just saying this because I’m talking to you—I really used to kill them for fun.”

Gotta hear both sides! “Cam had some game, but he wasn’t on [Marbury and my] level,” Alston says with a chuckle after I read him the aforementioned quote. “He wasn’t elite. There were a lot of guys that played with us, but our games, we were, like, too deep into basketball. Our games—Stephon and myself—we would eat, sleep, shit basketball. That was just what we did. Each year, our games just kept getting better and better. [Cam’s game] never got better like Stephon’s and my game.”

And yet, we still have to ask: Had he handled that first-round loss a little better, or not gotten hurt and/or arrested upon arriving to a small JuCo in Texas, could the NBA have one day been in the cards?

“I don’t know about that,” Konchalski says.

“I did think he was gonna be a good college ball-player,” Jackson says.

So, yeah: the self-proclaimed loser of Hoosiers was a pretty damn good hooper, even if he probably wasn’t headed for a fat NBA contract. But whatever, man. Those platinum and gold plaques certainly sufficed just fine.

Adam Figman is a Senior Editor at SLAM. Follow him on Twitter @afigman.

The post Could Cam’ron Have Played in the NBA? appeared first on SLAM.

Hahaha. OK.

And yet—Sunday night, with Irving sidelined for the season and the one and only Matthew Dellavedova in the starting lineup, the Cavs prevailed over Golden State, winning an insanely hard-fought game that, like the first of the series, needed extra time to find a conclusion. Your final score: 95-93.

Cleveland was going to need a monster game from LeBron to stand a chance, and Hey, what do you know? Thirty-nine points, 16 rebounds, 11 dimes, all over the course of 50 grueling minutes played on the court. He drove to the hole time and time again during the overtime session, sometimes finding success, other times getting pretty clearly hacked, though it’s tough to fault the refs for letting the players play in the tilt’s most important moments.

For the Warriors, Klay Thompson led the way with 34 points, but the bigger Golden State-related story was the absence of Stephen Curry, who disappeared for most of the night, finishing with 19 points on 5-23 shooting from the field (and a rough 2-15 from deep). Curry had a chance to put the Dubs ahead in the game’s final moments, but he airballed a mid-range jumper—and a pretty clean look at that, especially for the best shooter in the NBA—a shot symbolic of his night as a whole.

We now head into Game 3 all tied up, and though the Cavs’ worries haven’t exactly dissolved—they just baaaaarely won a game that saw the Warriors’ best player perform worse than he has in a long time—it’s now clear that those who thought the final round of these Playoffs was a wrap can chill the hell out. This is still gonna be a freakin’ great series. Buckle up, yo!

Game 3 is Tuesday night in Cleveland.

Photo via Getty Images

The post Cavaliers Win Game 2, Even Finals At 1-1 appeared first on SLAM.

Ultimately, it was the better team that prevailed, utilizing a well-rounded effort (well, at least in comparison to the Cavs’ all-LeBron-everything approach) to grab a 108-100 victory, taking a 1-0 series lead over Cleveland.

The Splash Brothers did their thing—Stephen Curry finished with 26 points and 8 dimes; Klay Thompson dropped a solid 21 points—but equally impressive is the fact that they found a way to earn a victory considering what—er, who—they faced up against.

LeBron James was an absolute monster: 44 points (18-38 from the field), 8 rebounds, 6 assists. It was a totally classic LBJ performance, up there with anything we’ve seen before. But from Cleveland, that was just about it—the Cavs’ bench was virtually nonexistent

After 50 or so minutes of back-and-forth action, Golden State made some clutch stops in overtime, and with the Oracle Arena crowd raging on at ear-splitting volume, the Dubs took an early advantage in what is sure to be a hell of a series. Game 2 is Sunday night at 8 p.m. EST.

The post Warriors Win Game 1, Survive LeBron James’ 44 Points appeared first on SLAM.

SLAM: Do you remember how you initially fell in love with basketball?

Victor Oladipo: It just feels like I pretty much loved the game of basketball my whole life. I remember distinctively my big sister Kristine, she was in seventh or eighth grade and she used to play basketball—I remember going to the games and just kinda falling in love with the game and the way it was played. But for as long as I can remember, since I was like 5, that’s all I wanted to do. It became an addiction.

SLAM: What are some of the earliest courts you played on?

VO: The first time I played, I was on my grade school court at St. Jerome’s. They had lowered baskets and everything. I was on the light-blue team.

SLAM: Were you any good when you first got out there, or did it take you a while to adapt?

VO: I was always athletic, so I could hop around people and make a lay-up, but I didn’t have as many skills as everybody else. When I was younger, there were some kids who had been playing for years, so let’s just say it was a slow start for me [laughs]. I had to work really hard.

SLAM: When did you realize how good you were?

VO: That would have to be my last year in college. My last year, when we were No. 1 in the country, I think the game that really taught me that I could play was when we played Michigan State, at Michigan State. Magic Johnson and Dickie V were calling the game, and I just sprained my ankle the game before, but I came out and played really well. That helped my confidence tremendously. It was big. That was like my turning point.

SLAM: Is there anyone specifically that you leaned on as you were developing as a player?

VO: When I was in high school, one of my all-time favorite coaches, his name is Coach [Dave] Adkins [now a player development coach for the Wizards—Ed.]. Before I met him I was a hard worker, but he taught me how to work hard. Does that make sense? He taught me how to work. He’s the one that changed my form and everything like that. He’s the one who introduced me to coming to the gym early, staying late. He had a lot to do with my success, a lot to do with my hard work and my work ethic. He was big in my life, especially in high school. He saw how hungry I was and how I wanted to get better all the time, and he kinda was drawn to that. Definitely helped me out.

SLAM: Do you remember your first basketball?

VO: Wow. I don’t really remember my first ball, but I think I stole it [laughs]. I think I might’ve stole it from my school gym. But that’s vague—I don’t really remember my first basketball, though I used to always dribble in the hallways and get in trouble in grade school. They used to call me Pistol Pete—the teachers called me Pistol Pete because I always used to have a ball in my hands. I used to dribble in the hallways and get in trouble. If I ain’t stop they were going to get me in trouble and stuff like that, so eventually it had to die down a little bit. But I always had a ball in my hand. If you go [to my school] and talk to them about me now, that’s all they remember about me. Every time I go back to my grade school, they’re like, I remember when you used to dribble that ball around here.

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Adam Figman is a Senior Editor at SLAM. Follow him on Twitter @afigman.

The post That’s What Maryland Does appeared first on SLAM.

That said, if you watched Brandon Jennings during his formative years, your knowledge of hoops would be deemed nonexistent if you didn’t notice a similarity to New York City legend Kenny Anderson. Both Jennings and Anderson are/were lefty point guards, equipped with slick handles and fun-to-watch, up-tempo styles of play who could score, dish or embarrass their defender at a moment’s notice. Anderson was a star at Queens’ Archbishop Molloy in the late ’80s, then attended Georgia Tech before hitting the NBA, where he remained until 2005; Jennings was a sensation at basketball powerhouse Oak Hill in the mid-to-late ’00s, then spent a year in Italy before the Milwaukee Bucks drafted him in ’09. He now plays for the Pistons, and was perhaps headed to his first All-Star Game earlier this year before an Achilles injury ended his season.

Inspired by the undeniable similarities between the two and the respect they have for one another—often proven on their social media accounts, where they perpetually shout one another out—we got the two of them on a conference call to talk about shared experiences and generational differences.

SLAM: Both of you were heavily hyped in high school. What was that pressure like?

KA: I just happened to have good mentors in my life, starting with my mentor Vincent Smith, and Jack Curran, my high school coach—they kept me levelheaded. Coming out of Queens, New York, LeFrak City, they kinda raised me, the projects. All the guys knew that I had some talent, that I could go places, so they kind of kept me alive. In high school, from ’85-89, before social media, I had a lot of magazines and different sports talk shows in the New York metropolitan area, and I was getting a lot of coverage. At the same time, it was like a blur. It came and went so fast.

BJ: For me, my high school was a little different. [I went to] Oak Hill, and with me being the No. 1 player in the state, it really helped me because I was away from everybody and I was just able to focus on school and basketball. I wasn’t around all the, as we call them, the “runners”—the guys who try to put you under their wing—so I was away from all that and all of the college recruiting and all that stuff, so mine was a little different because I went to boarding school away from everything. But once I got that Kenny Anderson tape in eighth grade, I knew who I was trying to prep my game after. 

KA: It was interesting when Brandon came into the League—I watched him and was like, Wow, he reminds me of myself: left-handed, kind of the same build, though I think he’s probably more explosive than me. I couldn’t jump that high. I jumped high enough, but I wasn’t a big finisher with the dunk around the basket, I was more crafty with the left hand. I was a big fan, and then I met him and he was like, I saw your tape when I was in eighth grade. I was like, Wow.

SLAM: Could you guys both speak on being a point guard coming into the NBA those first few years, adapting to the game and finding your footing in the League?

BJ: Well, my first year, it was actually tough a little bit, but I adjusted, because I had [then-head coach] Scott Skiles my first couple years. He was also a point guard in the League. We spent a lot of time together, and I think the reason I had so much confidence my first year is because he gave me the opportunity. He just gave me the ball and told me, Go. And as a rookie, you really don’t get that type of freedom like that.

KA: Mine was the opposite. I always think about these point guards in the League now—it’s probably the toughest position. I think if you’re with a coach who’s gonna hand you the ball and throw you in the fire, and you can learn on the job, that’s probably the best scenario. Me, I was the No. 2 pick, and Bill Fitch coached me, and he wasn’t fond of me, so I really did not play. I kind of just shut up, waited my time, and worked hard in the offseason, because my high school coach and my mentor, they were just like, be quiet and work out, but when you get that opportunity, you’ve gotta ball out. When Chuck Daly came [in 1992], he gave me the ball and was like, Just do it, it’s your team now. That all began my second year, then my third year I made the All-Star team. I think coaches have a lot to do with it. I don’t care how talented you are, in the NBA, with general managers, coaches, there’s a lot of politics. It’s not so much about basketball, sometimes.

BJ: It’s something about just giving the ball to us lefty point guards and just letting us go.

KA: [Laughs] Yeah, that’s definitely it. I wanted to ask you, also, because I’ve been rooting for you, and you came to Detroit and then you turned the corner and started balling and playing well. How do you like the fit in Detroit?

BJ: At first it was hard. Being 5-23 [the team’s record early in the season—Ed.], nobody wants that. That was the most difficult time, because since I’ve been in the League, I’ve never had a losing record that bad, so I didn’t know how to handle it. With Stan and his system and the way he likes things, they were definitely different. I had just come from a coach with Mo Cheeks that just gave me the ball and told me to go. It was definitely different, but once we made the move with Josh [Smith], I put it on myself, because I felt like it was my time.

KA: Let me ask you something about that. Sometimes, playing with certain players, it affects your game. I didn’t like playing with certain players. Being a point guard, sometimes [a teammate] can hinder your game. And I thought Josh Smith affected your game. What do you think?

BJ: Well the thing about it was every time I would come off the pick-and-roll, the team would trap me, because the scouting report was to get the ball out of my hands. It was tough at times because I need the ball to make plays and things like that. It was just at a time when our record was bad, so everybody was feeling down. Everybody was like, This is not gonna work, we need to do something else. It was everybody. We were all just like, Yo, something’s gotta change, because it’s either me or it’s Coach or it’s—everybody was pointing a finger instead of trying to come together. I feel like once we made that move, I felt like it was in me to just go now. Just go. I feel like once the Josh Smith situation happened [the team waived him in December—Ed.], it gave everybody else another opportunity. We were able to really do what we wanted to do. Yo, I have a question: Who was the best player you played against?

KA: I gotta go with Michael Jordan. But for the generation now, it was Allen Iverson. Iverson was a tough guard, because he put pressure on you. I had to guard him. Michael was a 2-guard, and I guarded John Paxton, Ron Harper, BJ Armstrong. But Allen Iverson I had to guard. Every play, he’s looking to shoot, to score. But I feel Jordan is the best ever. I think you go with Kobe, right?

BJ: Yeah, but I mean, it’s hard. Mike retired for two years, came back and won three more—that’s tough. Ain’t nobody doing that. That’s tough. Never went to a Game 7 in the Finals—that’s tough. You can’t argue that.

KA: You can’t! And us old guys always get a kick out of going back and forth with your era. I just think the era was a little tougher. You played for Scott Skiles—me and him used to battle. This guy was so competitive, it was incredible. The East, when I played, was the toughest conference.

SLAM: Both of you are pretty prolific on social media. From Kenny’s perspective, I wondered what it’d be like if there was social media during his era, and from Brandon’s, could you imagine if none of that existed today?

KA: I’m glad there wasn’t any. I probably would’ve gotten in trouble. Personally, I’d be in trouble. With work, I’d be in trouble. A lot of people would’ve been in trouble. With these kids and their cameras, your privacy is taken away. Social media’s been great, and it’s great for promotion and putting yourself out there, but I take my hat off to Brandon and all these athletes. It’s been pretty good for the NBA, and guys have been handling themselves pretty well. But they’ve gotta be careful. The privacy is taken away—we had a lot more privacy. Doing different things, nobody knew, nobody saw. That was a plus.

BJ: Yeah, social media is tough. Our privacy is definitely taken away. We can barely walk down the street without somebody telling everybody where you’re at. You could be out with your kids, and somebody’s snapping a picture, trying to sneak. It’s like, Yo, all you gotta do is ask. You don’t have to sneak it. So it’s definitely tough. Everybody wants to be famous, and social media’s helping people be famous for no reason. 

SLAM: Kenny, if you could talk to yourself as a young NBA player—and I think it’s safe to say Brandon is as close to that as it comes—what would you say?

KA: You can never take back what you did or how you carried yourself, but I would say, You’ve got the talent. Your body is your temple, so take care of yourself, and don’t let the lights of the NBA grab a hold of you. Work out, and don’t take your potential for granted. Work every summer, every day, and don’t let the lifestyle take over you. That means partying, drinking, thinking you’re young and can get back up and do the same thing—it’s gonna catch up to you. It seems like Brandon has everything together, so all I would say is don’t let the lifestyle get you. In the summers, there’s a time to go on vacations, be with your family and enjoy yourself, but other than that, work, have a trainer, concentrate on your body, because there are younger players coming, and you have to keep up. Alcohol, drugs, not getting enough rest, and I’ll go even further: women. The distractions. The less distractions, the better. Keep everything simple. I know it’s hard, but the less distractions, the more effective you can be. Simple is better. You can complicate that with partying, women, everything–it’s gonna take away from your basketball.

SLAM: Any other questions?

BJ: Yeah, I’ve got one. Can Kenny Anderson beat me one-on-one if we were both in high school? 

KA: [Laughs] Man, I don’t know. I have to say yes. I know you’re gonna say no, ’cause we’re competitive. You’re gonna say yes, you can beat me, I’m gonna say yes, I can beat you. I’d definitely wanna play HORSE with you one day. I want to see those trick shots. I might beat you. 

BJ:  OK, we gotta set that up.

KA:  My man. Brandon, good luck. I’m gonna be watching you, man. Stay focused.

—

Adam Figman is the Editor-in-Chief at SLAM. Follow him on Twitter @afigman.

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SLAM: Did you play basketball as a kid?

Pete Wentz: I was really into basketball as a kid, but I was not ever very good at it. My parents, they had a hoop, and then I played in school, like in elementary school when we had intramural teams. But I was just a not a big kid ever, so it was not a sport I really played growing up. My senior year we tried to name our team The Nintendo Power and the coach was not stoked about that name.

SLAM: Were you into basketball video games, like NBA Jam or anything like that?

PW: I played a lot of NBA Jam—I think the first incarnation of it, definitely. What’s the one that has the dunk contest in it? In the game, it was like an option.

SLAM: NBA Hangtime?

PW: It might have been. I think it was like, I’m trying to look it up—you could pick, like, a tomahawk, or something like that. I think it was a summer games-type game, like Summer Olympics or something.

SLAM: You might be headed into old-school underground basketball video game territory here.

PW: [Laughs] No, no, no. It was, like, really terrible.

SLAM: What was your NBA Jam team?

PW: I feel like it would always probably be the Bulls, and we would fight over who [could be them], because I was playing with all kids from the suburbs of Chicago.

SLAM: So you grew up a Bulls fan.

PW: Oh, definitely. So I grew up on the north side of Chicago, and outside of the ’85 Bears, it was the one team we had that was like America’s team. Like if you grew up in New York, you had the Yankees—the team that everybody liked. It was an easy team to like but it was also an intense time to watch basketball, actually watching Jordan in that era. When Rodman came over, I remember the strangeness of it, when he had green hair and was like a bad dude in the commercials. It was kinda awesome. I went to Bulls games a lot—not a lot, but as much as you could go, because they were all sold out and Playoff games were really expensive. So when they would get into the Playoffs, I wouldn’t get to go.

SLAM: Do you have any cool instances of meeting athletes once your band blew up?

PW: Yeah. It’s cool. We wrote and recorded a song the Bulls used [“Only the Bulls”], so we’d go to games a lot and I got to meet Scottie Pippen and he met my mom, which is pretty cool. He’s a gigantic human being—I didn’t really realize that’s how big these guys are. I’ve been in clubs that I know Michael Jordan’s been in at the same time, but I’m sure basically everybody in the world that he sees wants to meet him, so I’d want it to be more organic. I feel like if you just try to make it happen it’s just not gonna happen.

SLAM: I stumbled upon a video of you playing one-on-one with Shaq. Can you tell me everything there is to know about that?

PW: We were doing the VMAs when it was in Vegas, at I think The Palms. I know the Maloofs a little bit, who own The Palms, and George [Maloof] gave us a suite with a basketball halfcourt in it, because Las Vegas is just so insane, and he was like, Shaq’s gonna be here, and we should film a thing for it. I was like, Alright, that’s cool. I was like, I’m sure it’ll just pretty easy and whatever. And then I went and played him one-on-one, and not only did he not [take it easy], he did not let me take a shot. Any shot that I took, he just knocked down. Then he was like, Guard me! I’m like, literally, actually, half his size. Not an exaggeration. I can almost walk through his legs. I was like, I do not want to guard you. It was interesting—Shaq’s funny, but he’s definitely competitive.

SLAM: Your band has been pretty heavily involved with All-Star Weekend in the past. Any favorite All-Star memories?

PW: We played with 2 Chainz, which was really cool. I remember when Kobe was walking by, he gave our drummer a high-five. I don’t know why that happened. It was so random. They definitely didn’t know each other—our drummer’s from Milwaukee. I have no idea what that was about.

SLAM: What inspired the big basketball scene in the “Irresistible” video?

PW: So we did the “Only the Bulls” song and then we had our song “Light ‘Em Up,” which was kinda all over the place during the Playoffs last year, and we’ve done a bunch of videos that were really serious. But back in the day, we did some goofy videos. We’ve kinda always done both. What’s interesting about Fall Out Boy is we’ve got a couple of these new songs that are pretty much sports anthems, and I played soccer and a little football growing up, but outside of that, we’re not the most athletic band. So we were like, let’s set up a scenario like that. We went down to the Skid Row league in Los Angeles, and shot this video, and we had a Harlem Globetrotter there and a guy who plays on a European team, and they just schooled us. So it was a little bit of a play on how involved our songs have been [in the sports world]. We just wanted to have fun with it. I feel like sports and dorky guys mix way more now than they used to.

SLAM: One of the guys in the video wore an old SLAM t-shirt that most of us who work here had never even seen. Was that planned?

PW: I remember him wearing the shirt but I didn’t know that that’s where it was even from! But that’s awesome. I think it was really just his shirt, and that he was just way into it.

Adam Figman is a Senior Editor at SLAM. Follow him on Twitter @afigman.

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And with that, and a fresh haircut, Post found the motivation for “White Iverson,” the song that’d launch his still-very-young musical career.

Post Malone, just 19 years old as of this writing, was raised initially in Syracuse, NY, and then in Dallas, where he moved with his family at the age of 9 and lived until he moved to Los Angeles about a year ago. His father, who works for the Cowboys as the Assistant Director of Food and Beverage, once brought a young Post—real name: Austin Post—to a Mavericks game, and from there his basketball obsession crystallized.

Post began making music as a teenager, getting his first guitar at 13. “I started playing Guitar Hero and I was like, The guitar is badass, I wanna play guitar,” he says. “I asked my mom to buy me a guitar and I started playing.”

While you can find YouTube videos of Post covering songs by The Weeknd and Bob Dylan on his acoustic guitar, it was a transition into hip-hop that that helped him gain some notoriety. (For the record: His rap name wasn’t inspired by a certain Utah Jazz power forward, though he’s cool with the association.) In January, a song entitled “That’s It” popped up on his Soundcloud page, then in early February “White Iverson” did as well. Both songs are produced by Atlanta duo FKi, but it’s the latter that blew the hell up, earning over 2.7 million Soundcloud plays as of this writing. “Me being 19, with this being the second song I released seriously, it’s just crazy,” Post says.

“White Iverson” is a laid-back banger, with quick-slapping hi-hats and soft keys that play the background behind Post’s singing/rapping combination, though even the rapping is done in such a sing-song style that it can all be classified as some sort of Rap&B, a la Dej Loaf or Rich Homie Quan. There are references to Anthony Davis and Kevin Durant and James Harden, along with AI staples like the shooting sleeve and not practicing and the number 3. It’s so good.

“I got some braids and I was like, I feel like the white Allen Iverson,” he says of the song’s origins. “It just kind of happened. It was always so cool watching him play, knowing that he was just as cool off the court as he was on the court. And when he stepped over [Tyronn Lue], I was like, You are cool as hell. I wanted to be just like him.”

As for what’s upcoming for Post, he’s planning a video for “White Iverson” that’ll be out in the coming weeks, along with a full-length project that should be released shortly. “I’m working with FKi and then a couple producers that I’ve met [in L.A.],” he says. “We developed a new sound out here with the producers that we’ve got. I don’t really know who I would like to work with—I mean yeah, Kanye!”

And yet: The only thing missing from all of this is a cameo from a certain ex-NBA player/rapper. “Maybe if [Iverson’s] down he can get on the remix,” he says. “I don’t know if he’s heard it, but I want him for the video. That would be the craziest video ever.”

Adam Figman is a Senior Editor at SLAM. Follow him on Twitter @afigman.

The post The New 3 appeared first on SLAM.

Adam Figman is a Senior Editor at SLAM. Follow him on Twitter @afigman. *100 Emoji*

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That’s the route LaMarcus Aldridge’s decision took.

After the Portland Trail Blazers’ star power forward tore a ligament in his left thumb during the team’s January 19 victory over the Sacramento Kings, the Blazers announced that he’d have to undergo surgery to get it fixed, a process that’d sideline him for six-to-eight weeks. That meant the remainder of January, all of February, and probably most of March; maybe, if he recovered well, he’d be full strength for the Playoffs. Or maybe not.

Three nights after that win against the Kings, just hours after the team told the world of their big man’s plan to sit out and fix his finger, the Blazers fell to the then 14-26 Boston Celtics, losing in the contest’s final seconds. That’s when Aldridge began to think on it. Here he was, a 29-year-old in the middle of his basketball prime, his squad residing at third place in an insanely competitive Western Conference, about to have surgery and miss up to two months of on-court action, not including the time it’d take him to readjust to the game. His absence would undoubtedly result in a slide down the standings for the Blazers—ask Kevin Durant and/or Russell Westbrook what can happen when a group’s best player is forced to literally suit up and watch from the bench.

Aldridge knew pushing back the surgery until the summer was an option, pending his ability to stay on the court and willingness to play with a brace of some sort.

“I was just like, I want to try this,” he says.

The first call went to his mom. “Her reaction was like, I don’t know,” he laughs. “You know how moms are. She always backs me up, so she was just like, I’m not gonna say one way or the other, but just think it out.”

One down. Next up: Aldridge’s agent. “He was on board, but he was like, Let’s just talk to the doctor one more time.”

That’s two. Then came the doc. “The doctor was like, Yeah, it’s already torn. He said, You have to keep something on your hand, because if you don’t, you won’t be able to take the pain.

“So it was just up to me, basically.”

Aldridge attended the team’s next practice, but played it cool, not participating in many drills with his teammates. Afterwards, he ran up and down the court with an assistant coach, participating in a full-court game of one-on-one. The thumb held up. He officially decided to put off the surgery; the team confirmed the news to reporters before the big man was even able to hit the showers.

“I went into the locker room and I think the journalists had tweeted it, and all my teammates were like, This isn’t right,” he says. “And I was like, It is right. Then they were just happy to have me back. Someone was like, OK, Bionic Man!”

“I was grateful,” Blazers head coach Terry Stott says. “It kind of came out of the blue.

“As far as emotionally and from a leadership standpoint, I think it sent a strong message about how important this season was to him and that we can do something this season.”

One night later, Aldridge led the Blazers with a typically LaMarcus Aldridge-like performance, scoring 26 points and grabbing 9 rebounds in a 103-96 win over the Wizards. It was certainly a special night because of the preceding 48 hours, but on paper it was nothing Blazers fans haven’t gotten used to over the past few years: Their favorite team’s reliable starting PF leading the way from start to finish.

It’s easy to forget just how long Aldridge has been a Blazer—he backed up Zach Randolph while coming off the bench during his rookie year of ’06-07—and just how consistent he’s been over that stretch. He averaged 17.8 ppg and 7.6 rpg as a second-year starter, averages he’s topped every year since, very slowly building on both figures to eventually reach his current averages of 23.4 and 10.2.

That trend is representative of the way he’s progressed as a player, finding what works for him and sticking to just that until he feels he’s ready to push it further. He’s gradually become one of the best mid-range players in the L, and has very gradually expanded into three-point territory—in this, his ninth NBA season, he’s shooting 1.5 three-pointers per, having never averaged more than 0.3 per until this season. (He now hits 0.5 per, a 35.2 percent clip.)

“It’s just the evolution of my game,” Aldridge says in mid-February during some downtime at the NBA House, where he helped promote American Express PIVOT, a digital video experience that provided fans with the opportunity to learn about players’ moves from over 50 angles, throughout All-Star Weekend. “I feel like I could’ve been shooting threes a long time ago, but I like to do things as a process. I like to go home and work on a certain move or a certain shot for two or three years until I feel comfortable with it. So this year I feel comfortable [shooting threes] and as I take it and get comfortable with it, it’ll get even better.”

“A lot of people will go back and work on the one thing they already do well,” says Blazers assistant Jay Triano. “LaMarcus tries to find something that he can add to his offensive game or defensive ability, and he’s found a way to do that in the offseason every year and come back as a different player in a lot of cases.”

And he’s done that almost entirely on his own. Aldridge spends his summers away from the limelight, either back home in Texas (he was raised in Dallas) or in California, training by himself. “I have a guy that I hire to rebound,” he says. “I tell him what to do. My whole mindset is I know myself better than anybody else, and I know what I want to get better at and what I need to get better at. My first month of the offseason is all film, and I see the things that I’m doing bad or I’m doing good or that I should do better, so after that I can still work on those things. My whole thing is, I try to pick one or two things and get better at them.”

Last year at around this time LaMarcus went on one of the more incredible runs in recent NBA history. He scored 89 combined points Games 1 and 2 of the Blazers’ first round series against the Rockets (46 and 43, respectively), averaging 29.8 points and 11.2 throughout the round.

Aside from the threes, the biggest strides Aldridge made this past season were a little less tangible. He claims to have become more vocal, noting that it required him to step away from his innately shy personality to direct teammates around the court. “To lead the team, I’ve got to get better at being more vocal and getting out of my comfort zone,” he says.

Still, Blazers coaches refer to Aldridge as more of a leader by example, which he does by maintaining one of the strongest basketball IQs in the League today. According to Triano, the team usually plays Aldridge for the full first quarter of games, after which LA can be seen sitting on the bench, studying an iPad to see what took place during that first quarter and where improvements can be made. “Most guys go to the bench and they want a drink water and to relax a little bit,” Triano says. “He’s looking for the next advantage he can get when he gets back in the game. He’s wanting to know where his touches are coming from and where he can exploit the guy defending him a little bit.”

“He’s a pain in the butt,” says ever-honest Wizards big man Marcin Gortat. “He’s probably the best power forward in the League right now.”

Over the coming few weeks, Aldridge will guide a Blazers team that’s been struck by injury after injury: Wesley Matthews is out for the season, Arron Afflalo has missed the past week and may not return during the first round, and CJ McCollum twisted his ankle a few days ago, though he’s expected back for Game 1. It’s been the case for a while, but never more than now: The fate of the Blazers resides in the hands of their Bionic Man.

Adam Figman is a Senior Editor at SLAM. Follow him on Twitter @afigman.

Images via Getty

The post Bionic Man appeared first on SLAM.

While at Jordan Brand’s Terminal 23 gym for the announcement of the NBA’s new marketing partnership with PepsiCo (which will make the food and beverage company an official partner of the NBA, WNBA, D-League and USA Basketball), we asked The Glove to explain his MVP pick for the 2014-15 season.

He took it from there:

I’m a little different about what the MVP is considered to be. I’m thinking that when a guy who has a team already, and has a lot of players on his team and they’re a front runner—that guy isn’t considered the MVP unless they’re putting up great, great, great numbers. Like [Anthony] Davis—if he wouldn’t have gotten hurt, I think he would’ve been the MVP in my book. They’re in the 8-seed right now, and I think they could [make that Playoffs], but that’s the type of basketball player I’m seeing as MVP, when you have numbers like that with points, assists, rebounds, blocked shots, and then you get your team in the Playoffs, that’s the MVP to me because you put that team in there.

 

But right now, the three that’s gonna be there are Westbrook, Harden and Curry. If I would have to pick right now: What Westbrook has done is amazing, what he did with the triple-doubles. I don’t like that he shoots a lot to get the points, but he’s done a great job. I would give him the edge right now, then it would be Curry, and then Harden. But you don’t know what’s gonna happen.

 

What Westbrook has right now in that team, he doesn’t have Durant right now. So this is the way they’re winning basketball games, with him [shooting a lot]. But the good thing about it is he’s getting assists in rebounds, too. He’s getting a triple-double. It’s a total game. So with the 43 [shot attempts on Sunday], I think that was a little too much last night. I think you’ve gotta get the other players more involved. When you [take 43 shots], you get everybody to watch you, and I don’t like the watching. You’ve gotta cut it down to about 25, 26 shots per game.

The post Gary Payton Says Russell Westbrook Should Win MVP appeared first on SLAM.

When I came here to Dallas, I just felt right at home. It felt like a place that I belong, like I should be here, and I’m making the most of my opportunity.

I signed a non-guaranteed deal, a camp invite, and it went from a camp invite to eventually making the team. But the crazy thing is, they already had 15 players signed, so they basically paid somebody off so they could add me on the team. It’s been a crazy process for me, from making the team and not being in the rotation to being in the rotation then not being in the rotation—it’s been an up and down roller-coaster, and I’ve enjoyed every minute of it. The aspiration is going to the Playoffs and going far, so this is a very exciting process for me.

I’m a firm believer that everything happens for a reason. In Detroit, my expectations were pretty high, and things just didn’t work out. I felt like I was at the lowest point in my career. And now, nine years in and in my 10th season, not knowing where I’m gonna be—back in 2009 I signed on the first day of free agency, and then now, I signed a non-guaranteed not knowing what’s going to happen, uncertain about my future. But I took it day by day and just kept working, kept grinding, and ended up making the team.

The Detroit experience helped me out a lot. We were a losing team, and it was just frustrating not being able to help. So I think being in Detroit helped me out so much, so when the uncertainties come up, I’m prepared for it. I’ve been professional, I’ve been working and only worried about the things I can control so when my name is called I can make the most out of the opportunity.

As a team, we’ve got to get everybody healthy—that’s first and foremost. We’ve got a team loaded with veterans and guys that have won Championships before and been around the NBA a long time. Plus we’ve got a group of guys that really care for one another, so we’ve just got to stick together and take it a game at a time. But this is a talented team that’s deep. With adding Amar’e to the mix and picking up Rondo late, that’s our strength: our depth. I think it’s going to pay dividends for us in the Playoffs. One night it could be Dirk, the next night it could be Richard Jefferson or myself—there are so many weapons, and I think we’re gonna get it together and make a run.

Being where I started, it came from just a workout to a camp invite; from a camp invite to making the team; from making the team to being a rotational guy. To be a part of something special, that would mean the world to me. I got a championship in high school, got a championship in college. A Championship in the NBA would just be perfect. It would mean everything.

The post Check Tha Resume appeared first on SLAM.

And the pre-game atmosphere, for what it’s worth, matches the hype. ESPN2 cameras are everywhere, as the network’s Doris Burke sits courtside scribbling notes to herself while preparing for the broadcast. The student section is bumping, rolling through cheer after cheer and looking exactly like the crazed group of college students they very much are. A row of media members—including out-of-town folks from the New York Times, Boston Globe and this magazine—stretches across the side of the court.

There’s one problem, though: This game ain’t no close-fought showdown. Truthfully, it’s not much of a showdown at all.

Halfway through the first half, the Huskies bust it open with a few threes and a bunch of defensive stops, gaining an 8-point edge that quickly becomes (and never leaves) double digits. Lanky UConn forward Breanna Stewart (22 points, 8 boards, 5 blocks) seems to do whatever she wants to, while her frontcourt counterpart Kaleena Mosqueda-Lewis (23 points, 4 assists) dominates from the perimeter. The Huskies win 87-62.

“As if we needed more proof this is the basketball capital of the world,” Coach Geno Auriemma said, on court after the game, “we just proved that.”

What South Carolina, and many others around the nation, learned on this night was a simple, indisputable fact: When it comes to women’s college basketball, the Connecticut Huskies are the best of the best. And they aren’t going to be pumping the brakes anytime soon.

The beginning of the program’s now-legendary status can be traced to the mid-’80s, when an Italy-born, PA-bred man named Luigi Auriemma took over as coach of the Huskies. Auriemma started as an assistant in high school, then was an assistant at St. Joseph’s and Virginia before earning the leading job in Storrs in 1985. At the time, UConn’s women’s squad wasn’t known for much; meanwhile, the school’s men’s team, still pre-Jim Calhoun, was solid if unspectacular, having earned several Tourney berths throughout the ’50s, ’60s and ’70s.

The women’s team boasted a 12-15 record in ’85-86, and from there, it climbed up the ranks, elevator style: 14-13 in ’86-87, 17-11 in ’87-88, 24-6 and a Tourney bid in ’88-89. And by 1991, led by forward Kerry Bascom, the group made the Final Four, losing 61-55 to Virginia.

The success of that group led to the recruitment and subsequent arrival of Rebecca Lobo, a center from Massachussets. And in 1995, Lobo led the UConn team that put the program on the map, permanently. Lobo’s Huskies finished the season undefeated, 35-0, defeating Tennessee in the final to take home the National Championship.

The chip put the Huskies on the map, but more importantly, it established Storrs as a hot spot for those looking to take their careers to the next level.

“It took us 10 years to win a National Championship, and in those 10 years I don’t think we had a kid playing for us that was [from] outside the northeast, from Boston to DC,” Auriemma says. “Then after that, you know.”

Indeed. And once the recruiting doors swung open, so did UConn’s success. They went to the Final Four in ’96, the Elite 8 in ’97 and ’98, the Sweet Sixteen in ’99, and then in 2000, behind star PG Sue Bird, they won another title, knocking off Tennessee in a 71-52 blowout.

There wasn’t a lot of losing after that. The team reached the Final Four every season from ’01-04, and then again from ’08-present. They went undefeated in 2002 and won a Championship with what may be the best starting five of all time: Bird, Swin Cash, Asjha Jones, Tamika Williams and Diana Taurasi. Taurasi led the group to another Championship in ’03 after her star teammates graduated—and then another one in ’04. (Taurasi’s decision to leave sunny California and attend UConn in ever-frigid Storrs is perhaps as great a coup as Auriemma has ever managed.)

A few “down”—in the sense that they didn’t win National Championships—years in the mid-’00s followed, but the arrival of Maya Moore in ’07 quickly changed that. The Huskies lost in the Final Four in ’08, then won it all in both ’09 and ’10, both years in which the squad didn’t lose a single game. They finally lost a contest in ’10-11—ending their insane 90-game winning streak, obviously a record—falling to Stanford on December 30, 2010, and then fell short of a Championship that season, too, losing to Notre Dame in the Final Four.

In the following couple of years, a few now-familiar names showed up: Mosqueda-Lewis and Kiah Stokes, and then Breanna Stewart, Morgan Tuck and Moriah Jefferson. And, like clockwork, Championships followed, in 2013 and 2014.

To recap: In almost three decades, Auriemma’s Huskies racked up nine titles, 15 Final Four appearances and featured countless players who have gone on to greatness in the WNBA and overseas. Asked about his team’s on-court success, Auriemma is quick to deflect the praise: “You know when your scheme really, really works? When you’ve got good players.”

And the current Huskies seem poised for yet another Championship—or, at the very least, a run that ends close to one more. They washed Dayton 91-70 Monday night to earn a trip to this year’s Final Four.

Stewart, known simply to her coaches and fans as “Stewie,” is the reigning AP POY and Naismith Trophy Winner, and is the team’s pulse, constantly chirping at her teammates and exuding leadership during games on both the court and the bench. She averages 17.0 points and 6.6 rebounds per game. When she steps to the free-throw line against South Carolina, chants of “Let’s go Stewie!” and “I love you, Stewie!” rain down.

Mosqueda-Lewis (13.9 ppg, 4.2 rpg) leads the team in minutes played, which, per Auriemma, isn’t much of a coincidence. “I never want to take her out,” he says. “I know that in three possessions, she can blow the game open. You can feel it, when she gets it going like that.”

Then there’s Jefferson, the incredibly vocal, ever-active junior PG, and Stokes, a senior center. Freshmen Kia Nurse and Gabby Williams get their share of minutes, and will be expected to take over as leaders once the upperclassmen move on.

Which is all to say: The perennially contending Huskies aren’t going anywhere. As long as Auriemma is at the helm—his current contract lasts through the ’17-18 season—top recruits will flock to Storrs.

Speaking of, back at Gampel after the UConn-SC bout, Auriemma is asked about the possibility that the Gamecocks could evolve into a powerhouse like the Huskies. Under coach Dawn Staley, who gained control of the Gamecocks in 2008, the team has reached the Tourney in ’12, ’13 and ’14 and reached the Sweet Sixteen in ’12 and ’14.

“It’s the same formula for everybody, I really believe that,” Auriemma says. “You to have a school that wants to be in that situation, and then you have to have a coach that understands what it’s going to take to be in that situation, and then your recruiting base has to be national.”

A simple formula, and one the Huskies mastered: The school invested in a smart coach; that coach was patient and built the program up until it was able to win on a national level; then the program/coach flipped that success into recruiting dominance.

“You can’t just win a couple games and then say, OK, we’re gonna get the best player in California,” he continues. “That takes time. But once you start recruiting outside your area, then all of a sudden, the perception of your program changes. Your team starts to take on a different kind of aura, because kids from all over the country want to play, and they’re coming there for one reason: to win.”

Adam Figman is a Senior Editor at SLAM. Follow him on Twitter @afigman.

The post The Dynasty appeared first on SLAM.

SLAM: Sometimes fans give guys like Charles Barkley crap about the fact that they don’t know much about the NCAA players they’re analyzing on TV. Are you all studied up for your new gig?

Jason Collins: You know, Charles knows what it’s like to be on the court. Charles knows basketball. And that’s what I’m gonna do. I’m not gonna go out there and act like I know every single player and every single team, but I can tell you what it’s like to be on the court, both in college and professionally, playing in the postseason. My freshman year, my team, we went to the Final Four. I wasn’t able to play in the game because I was recovering from two knee surgeries, but I was participating in practices we had in San Antonio, at the Alamo Dome, and talking about what it’s like to shoot the ball with different sightlines because the arenas are so huge, just that adjustment that the players have to make. And also, with my NBA experience, going to the Finals twice. Zo’s walking around with that big-ass ring, which is amazing and I wish I had one of those, but I can talk about what it’s like to be the starting center in the NBA Finals matched up against David Robinson and Tim Duncan. I’ll bring that knowledge. And then my experience being a No. 1 seed and getting knocked out by North Carolina, who was the 8-seed, in the second round. And the disappointment of that. That’s what I’m trying to bring to the viewer, and we have a lot of other guys who can be the talking heads about the different players and that.

SLAM: In that case I won’t ask you for too many super-hot takes, but obviously everybody is curious if anybody can beat Kentucky. What do you think? 

JC: We’re actually talking about that today. I don’t know. I’ve watched a lot of college basketball in preparation for this job, and I like that Arizona has two big guys, but will those guys get in foul trouble? Will they be able to stay on the court? You have to have size to go up against these guys. And I talked about this a little bit on today’s panel, but the way that low-post defenders defend now, you have to have your arms straight up. In pro basketball, Jerry Sloan was my brother’s coach, and my brother told me this: He called it surrender defense. When Jerry Sloan would see a low-post player with his hands like that, he called it surrender defense, but in college basketball you have to play that way. It’s like, if you’re a skilled low-post player or have athleticism to jump up and over guys, the advantage is totally with offensive players. So Kentucky being a bigger team with a lot of big guys that can score the basketball, they have an advantage against most teams. The key thing with teams like Arizona is: Can those guys who are guarding them stay on the court and not get in foul trouble? Also, they’re gonna have to hit a lot of threes. A lot of things have to go right. But hey, we were a 2-seed going up against Gonzaga, who was still an unknown in 1999, and we shot horribly from three-point range, and we had all this size inside with my brother and myself and Mark Madsen, and they were still able to win because Richie Frahm got hot. If you’re able to knock down a bunch of threes, the three-point ball can be a great equalizer in college basketball.

SLAM: You’ve spoken and written a bunch about being the guy whose job it was to try to find a way to slow down Shaq—that sounds like it was miserable. But was there anybody that you looked forward to guarding, knowing you could really shut them down?

JC: I love challenges. From a defensive standpoint, I loved going up against the best and shutting them down. I’ll never forget a game when we played against Dwight Howard when I was with the New Jersey Nets, and the two primary low-post defenders guarding him were myself and Cliff Robinson. Between the two of us, we held his butt to 1 point. Can you imagine playing against Dwight Howard, and for the entire game—it wasn’t like he was in big foul trouble, he just wasn’t able to score on us. We took so much pride in that. And granted Dwight has gotten a lot better with his post moves, but with Orlando he was still a dominant beast, and we held him to 1 point. Cliff and I, speaking of Shaq, we were the primary low post defenders, because the other big on the team was Nenad Kristic, a Serbian kid, and Nenad wasn’t necessarily the most physical basketball player, so he always played on the perimeter. Cliff and I, against Shaq, when he did his moves, we would say, OK, this is the “meat cleaver,” when he uses his arm to move past the defender. And then we had another term called the “spine tingler,”when he just puts all his body weight in, and he’s going for the offensive foul, but he’s just doing it so he can hurt your spine [laughs].

SLAM: The NBA big man has evolved a lot over the past decade-plus—if you were entering the League today, do you think you’d be able to have the kind of career you had?

JC: My senior year at college—after my wrist injury—I actually became a better shooter, and I was shooting like 44 percent or something like that from three-point range. Hopefully I would’ve told myself to continue to work and develop my three-point shooting. Even early on in my pro career, I think it was my second or third year, I can’t remember, but I actually went 2 for 5 from three-point range, and it wasn’t like desperation, end-of-shot clock shots. I was actually out there shooting threes. And then I just got to a point where I just didn’t want to be a spot-up shooter. I enjoyed being the defensive player and that just kind of became my role and served me well.

SLAM: Did you realize you could have more longevity being that guy? Because there was always a role for that in the NBA.

JC: Yes. There’s always a role for a player like that, and granted I’ve been very fortunate and have made a lot of money playing basketball, but—and hopefully one day I’ll have kids—my brother has a son, and if my nephew ever gets to this “Which path do I take?” situation, defense will win and you’ll have an offer, but offense will get you a bigger contract [laughs]. So it’s like, which one do you want?

SLAM: How’d you get involved in the Real Strength panel?

JC: I do a lot of work with The Players Tribune [one of the panel’s sponsors]. I’m a contributor to the site and I’ve done a couple articles with them—and now that they’ve expanded their content, we’ll see when it comes out, but I interviewed congressman Joe Kennedy.

SLAM: How was that?

JC: It was funny. It was weird to have to keep the conversation going.

SLAM: Now you appreciate being on this side of the table.

JC: Yeah, it’s not easy. It’s actually easier to be on this side, because you can just ramble and keep talking, but Joe would go in a different direction, and it’d be like, Do I stick to the script of questions? Or do I just go with this train of thought? So yeah, that was my first time doing it.

SLAM: Having spent 13 seasons in the NBA, did you see the concept of strength change at all over the years? 

JC: Yeah, because I think strength has turned into acceptance. Like in the past, say I made my announcement a decade ago, I think we would’ve seen a lot of mixed [reactions]—like when John Ameachi came out a few years ago, you saw the comments that were made by Tim Hardaway. To Tim’s credit, when I came out, he actually called me out to congratulate me and support me. That’s how much growth he has done.

SLAM: Did that feel genuine? Or more like something he thought he had to do?

JC: Yeah, because he definitely did not have to do that. I actually did my homework, and after that conversation I went online and saw that he’s actually become a huge supporter of gay rights. It just shows you how much someone is capable of change once A. they know someone and B. once they’re confronted with an opinion and they go out there and say what they said, and he realizes that that’s not being a good teammate, that’s not being a supportive individual for someone who is just living their authentic life. To his credit, I give him a lot of credit to how much he’s grown as a human being. He’s not the only one. I’ve heard former teammates of mine use homophobic language in the past, and then when I came out, they reached out to me, and I wasn’t expecting that, that they’d be so supportive. It just shows that once you know that so and so, or your teammate, is gay, it helps them change. And it’s like, “I don’t know them as gay, I just know them as Jason. The guy who works hard, the guy who’s always there for the team.” And they were so supportive.

Adam Figman is a Senior Editor at SLAM. Follow him on Twitter @afigman.

The post Q+A: Jason Collins appeared first on SLAM.

Minutes before the panel kicked off, we spoke with Zo—who also works as the Miami Heat’s Vice President of Player Programs and Development—about what to expect in this year’s Tourney, how the Heat are looking as the Playoffs approach, and plenty more.

SLAM: You seem to be a pretty busy guy, but have you been following the college basketball season?

Alonzo Mourning: I have. My son [Trey] is a freshman at Georgetown University, so I do watch. And I love the game of basketball.

SLAM: Do you think anyone can beat Kentucky?

AM: I feel like Coach Calipari has an amazing formula that these kids have bought into. Along with the talent, the depth, the athleticism—and serious depth. When you can go 10 deep into your bench, that gives you a lot of flexibility as a coach. But more importantly, these kids have trusted the system. I’ve seen some very talented teams, but if you don’t trust in the system or believe in the system, it doesn’t matter. Calipari has done a great job with that.

SLAM: So you’re picking the Wildcats to go all the way?

AM: I don’t know. I’m a little biased, because my son goes to Georgetown. And I’m on the Board of Trustees there, and I graduated from Georgetown [laughs]. But I do know that [Kentucky] has the strongest chance of everybody in the field. I think it’s an easy pick for everybody, it really is. But I’ve seen strange things happen in March Madness. When we played against Princeton, it was like David and Goliath. And we almost lost to Princeton, and they were the 16th seed. So I’ve seen strange things. Anything can happen.

SLAM: When this time of year rolls around, do you have specific memories that always come back to you?

AM: That Princeton game [laughs]. That one comes to mind. I remember that moment, and I remember how we came into that game so confident, and yet we were so humble—and we were picked it win it all. We ended up losing in the final eight to Duke, and we should’ve gone on to the Final Four that year. But I’ll tell you, that would’ve been the most amazing upset in NCAA history, if they would’ve pulled it off. And they were close to pulling it off, they really were. They were very patient, and they picked us apart. Then eventually, as the game wore on, I think our strength and athleticism wore down on them and we prevailed at the end. That was a pretty exciting game.

SLAM: That’s also why Kentucky is so highly favored headed into the Tourney—if you have the right big men, when the game gets tight and slows down toward the end, you can just feed it down low. That’s a huge advantage.

AM: That’s where I came in [laughs].

SLAM: It’s been a pretty crazy past 10 or so months for the Miami Heat. How do you think the team looks as we move toward the postseason?

AM: Well, unfortunately, we have two keys players out: Josh [McRoberts] and Chris [Bosh]. If you tally that up, that’s about 30 points. That hurts, it really does. So when you’ve got about 30 points on your bench, it’s very difficult to fill that void and become a productive team. But considering the injuries we’ve had to deal with and the 20-something different starting lineups that we’ve had to go through over the course of the season, if we get into the Playoffs and start jelling, start stepping in and performing at the highest level, then we can threaten some teams.

SLAM: The Goran Dragic addition could be huge.

AM: It could be. Significant guys, at their positions, if they start performing and get out of the thinking and just start reacting—it’s a new system for a guard. The defensive system, especially for a point guard, is very tough to grasp in the beginning years. It takes some time. But we have DWade, we have some legitimate scorers, and DWade’s an amazing playmaker. I feel like we really have the capabilities—it’s just a matter of the seeding, getting the right team, and seeing who we match up well against. I like our chances.

SLAM: One of the really impressive things about the Miami Heat is how well the franchise takes care of its own. If you look at the moves the team’s made over the past half decade, whether it’s sticking with Coach Spoelstra when things were tough in the beginning, making sure to bring back DWade last summer, or even giving Michael Beasley another shot, Pat Riley shows so much love to guys who came up within the organization.

AM: That’s a Pat Riley thing. I think that’s the only way to do it, it really is. I think if you’re gonna be a consistent organization, you’ve gotta take care of your own people. You do. Every year, you can’t have turnover. First of all, Spo knows the culture—it’s just a matter of getting the guys to come in and buy into it. We had a great team for four years straight, and the reason why we had a great team was not just because we had the best player on the planet, it’s because we had the best team that bought into a culture. Everybody bought into this culture. After going to the Finals four years like that, I find it very difficult for individuals like we had to stop buying into the culture that got you four straight NBA Finals appearances. How do you stop buying into that? If you got there four years in a row, why not get back there four more times? And then four more times? Why not get back there 10 years in a row? It’s doable. And Pat Riley wasn’t gonna stop bringing pieces in to complement, you know? So why walk away from a dynasty?

SLAM: You gotta ask LeBron.

AM: [Laughs] Yeah. That’s the question. Why walk away from a dynasty when you have to go somewhere and rebuild, basically? Then you’ve got Kevin Love, who’s not happy at all. He’s outta there.

SLAM: It’s just different priorities, right? It’s the mindset that the NBA Championship isn’t everything, that there’s more to it than that.

AM: Evidently. It had to be. It’s very difficult to even think about walking away from something like that. How do you walk away?

SLAM: Where do you think Kevin Love is going to go? LA?

AM: I think he’s probably going to go to LA. I could see that.

SLAM: Tell me a little about the #RealStrength campaign you’re working on with Dove and why you’re participating in this SXSW panel.

AM: With Dove Men+Care, we’re exemplifying what real strength is all about, with March Madness and this campaign—it kind of magnifies how the definition of “strength” has changed, from the standpoint of our fathers and our grandfathers—how they depicted it—until now. Times have definitely changed, and there’s different aspects of what we feel strength is. You ask eight of 10 men, they believe masculinity has changed since their father’s generation—it truly has. There’s so many different ways of showing your masculinity other than being aggressive and taking an aggressive approach. I feel like me showing my masculinity and me showing my strength, I do that through caring for my children. That’s something that my father did not show me. So I make an extreme emphasis on the characteristics of passion and love and caring and all those particular things—those words define strength.

SLAM: Have you seen the idea of strength change in the context of the basketball world over the past 20 or so years?

AM: Yeah, I have. I’ll tell you: When you think about when we were growing up, our fathers weren’t expected to show affection. I have friends of mine who have told me, Hey, my father never told me he loved me until I was much older. I think now more than ever kids are thirsting for that, they want that type of nurturing. It makes all the difference in their overall approach to the decisions that they make in life. When you think about athletics, you see more hugging before games. You do. Then they get after it and get after each other, but before games, you see it.

Adam Figman is a Senior Editor at SLAM. Follow him on Twitter @afigman.

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Ahead of his participation in the Sprite Slam Dunk Contest, we caught up with the 20-year-old to talk all things dunking—along with music and, uh, pancakes. Pancakes are awesome.

SLAM: I know you were in New Orleans last year for All-Star Weekend—what was your favorite part?

Giannis Antetokounmpo: All the players being able to be around our families, a nice little break. It was great. My family was there, and I was able to have that experience with my family. It was nice being around such big players—like Kevin Durant was there, James Harden was there. It was really nice.

SLAM: You’re obviously in the Slam Dunk Contest Saturday night—do you remember your first dunk, ever?

GA: Yeah, I was 15. It was in my neighborhood and I was with my brothers, and we were trying to dunk—me and my older brother, Thanasis. My two little brothers were imitating us. Then I had my first dunk.

SLAM: Did all you guys go crazy?

GA: Yeah, we went crazy, because I was there for hours. After two hours I got the dunk. I have a picture of it, too. I still have the picture.

SLAM: Do you have a favorite dunk ever?

GA: No, I don’t have a favorite dunk. When I was announced to be in the Dunk Contest, I went back and watched Larry Nance—he had so many amazing dunks.

SLAM: Did any stand out?

GA: Yeah, he threw the ball from one side of the rim, and he caught it on the other side! His head was above the rim. That was pretty amazing.

SLAM: How about a favorite dunk that you’ve done so far in the NBA?

GA: I’ve done so many dunks that I don’t even remember them. Yeah, one of my favorites was the one I did in Dallas—I took one dribble from the 3-point line and got really high above the rim.

SLAM: What’s better: A big dunk when there’s no one around where you can fly through the air or dunking in someone’s face?

GA: I like dunking on top of someone, you know? You get momentum for the team and get more energy, and it gives me more confidence.

SLAM: Which NBA players do you like to watch dunk?

GA: I like Russell Westbrook’s dunks. He’s killing the rim. He dunks with a lot of force.

SLAM: I remember at All-Star last year you got a lot of questions about your newfound love of smoothies. In the year since, is there any other aspect of American culture that you’ve discovered? 

GA: Give me 15 seconds, let me think. [15 silent seconds pass] Oh! Pancakes! Yeah, pancakes.

SLAM: You hadn’t had pancakes before you moved to the States?

GA: No, I never had pancakes. In Europe, they have crepes. Pancakes was something that I had here in America. They’re the best. Every morning I love pancakes, with a lot of syrup. I fill the bowl with syrup first, then after that I dip the pancake on top of it. I put some strawberries, too.

SLAM: That’s amazing. What about music? Have you been introduced to new music?

GA: Most of the time, my teammates introduce me to new songs and new artists. Lately I’ve been listening to a lot of Justin Timberlake, Drake, Tupac. But it’s a little different from Europe, because we like more house music, I think. When I go to Europe, there’s [a lot of] house music. Here it’s more about hip-hop, R&B and stuff like that.

SLAM: Did you teach your teammates about stuff that you listened to back home?

GA: No, no. I did not.

SLAM: You don’t think anybody would be interested in it?

GA: I don’t think so. They’d be like, Giannis, what is this that you’re listening to?

Adam Figman is a Senior Editor at SLAM. Follow him on Twitter @afigman.

The post Q+A: Giannis Antetokounmpo appeared first on SLAM.

SLAM: We don’t see you TNT or ESPN on a nightly basis giving basketball analysis, but have you been following this year’s NBA season closely?

Karl Malone: I’ve been following a little bit. The reason I’m not on those shows is they never reach out and ask me to be on those shows. Maybe they don’t want me to tell them what I really think about the game and all that, which is not bad, but it ain’t my doing.

SLAM: Would you have an interest in regularly appearing on TV?

KM: Yeah, if it’s set up the right way. If we can do it between hunting and fishing season and set it up the right way, I probably could pull that off. If you can go mobile with the satellite truck and I can get out long enough from fishing and hunting and driving heavy equipment, I might do that, yeah.

SLAM: Who have you enjoyed watching this season?

KM: Well, I love the old-school players, so San Antonio, I really like them. The Portland Trail Blazers are young—I like to see the way they’re playing. Of course Golden State. I don’t sit down and say, I’m gonna watch “this guy,” but some of my favorites would be Kevin Durant, Blake Griffin, LeBron James and Steph Curry, because I played with his dad. But here’s what I like: I just like good basketball and I like guys who play hard. We take rest now—we [are supposed to] work around the clock. Our servicemen and women and first responders, hell, they can’t take a break. They can’t take rest. What is rest? I’m paying you $20 million and you’re taking a rest? I don’t understand that. Enlighten me on that. Here’s the thing about it: I took pride in playing. When a family of four comes to see a person play and they show up and he’s resting, I don’t understand it. Now look, San Antonio and Coach Pop, they’re grandfathered in. They can rest all they want to. I love them. But beyond that, the young guys coming in that haven’t done anything—I don’t like that kind of basketball. I like real basketball. There’s some good teams out there, some good players out there, and you just want them to play every night. That’s what I miss most.

SLAM: A lot of this generation of players grew up watching you—do you see your game in any of today’s NBA?

KM: Well, better. Like as far as power, LeBron. But I didn’t jump like Blake Griffin. I didn’t shoot like Kevin Durant. But I see some guys doing it. I just like guys who play hard. I want to pick up my program and everybody that I came to see play, I want to show up anywhere—at home or on the road—and I want to see them play. I don’t want, “Oh, I’m gonna take this game off.” And then, all the geniuses of the world telling guys they shouldn’t do [certain things on the court], and they’ve got the analytics of basketball, which I don’t even know what the heck that means, but they’ve got that going. It’s like, suit up, get in the weight room, get bigger and go play. We’ve got more injuries now—shoulders, groins, all that kinda stuff. Please. Just go play. What if our soldiers or our first responders were like, “Oh, I’m sorry! My shoulder! My back’s sore! My groin hurts!” Come on, really? It’s called playing basketball—that’s all we wanna see you do.

SLAM: It’s funny you mentioned analytics, because last night that came to the forefront last night when—

KM: Can I ask you a question?

SLAM: Sure.

KM: Enlighten me on analytics. I’m a country bumpkin. Please tell me what that means, pertaining to my sport. Enlighten me and let me give you my response.

SLAM: It’s just a deeper way of looking at statistics, valuing numbers that aren’t necessarily in box scores. They’re supposed to encourage efficiency and smarter basketball, so like, advanced stats would generally value three-pointers and shots around the basket over long two-pointers.

KM: Can I tell you something? When you find the guy, whoever invented that word, if he wants to debate me, please let me know. I want to talk to him about the analytics. You cannot tell me—you know what? My memory’s coming back to me a little bit. Someone told, I forget which player it was, that you don’t need a mid-range game. I want to say somebody said that to Kevin Durant. Are you kidding me? I will kill you with a mid-range game. That’s the analytics? That’s what they’re talking about? How many games are they playing? And how many games are they winning? When you find that person [who invented the term “analytics”], please get in touch with me so I can debate him. Just go play and get rid of all that.

SLAM: Today’s power forwards and centers play way differently than they did in the ’90s, but DeMarcus Cousins seems like a player today who would’ve fit in with you guys back then. He’s been in the news recently for reportedly not wanting to play for Coach George Karl [who the Kings hired minutes after this interview ended—Ed.]. Have you watched him play at all?

KM: I can actually say I don’t know DeMarcus Cousins really well, but I will say this: You have two ears and one mouth for a reason. Sometimes you learn a lot more by just being quiet. You get a Hall of Fame coach, he might teach you something. And how about this: Don’t make no judgments until you meet the coach and have issues with it. Or how about this, young fella: Just play. When you’ve done something in the League, in about 10 years, maybe 12 or 14, then you get your comments. Right now, I don’t know that fella personally and unfortunately you do hear some negative things, but I do know he’s a hell of a talent. So hopefully one day he’ll just play the game and let other people see how great he is. But you’re talking to a Hall of Famer—respect your elders, young fella. That’s what I’d say to DeMarcus Cousins.

SLAM: You really should be doing more TV spots.

KM: Well, I’ll tell you what. If you get a satellite truck out there between hunting and fishing season, I might take my camouflage paint off my face—‘cause you know, you shine in the sunlight—and we’ll do a show from the woods. Absolutely.

SLAM: How much of the year are you tied up with hunting and fishing?

KM: Look, it’s somewhere to hunt or fish everyday, son. The fish and the animals don’t take a break, we do.

SLAM: Tell me a little about the Karl Malone Delivers For You campaign you’re involved in.

KM: Well, I got involved in it because I lost my mom to a heart attack. She had high blood pressure—I guess the sexy word is “hypertension,” but it’s high blood pressure. My mom understood that. So I had an opportunity to partner with AstraZeneca to do a campaign, because, number one, it’s Black History Month, and it’s American Heart Month. African Americans are more prone to diabetes and high blood pressure, so we formed a partnership. If you go to karldeliversforyou.com, you’ll see my story—there’s recipes and family activities, but also a very private way for you to get your blood pressure medicine delivered right to your door. If my mom had the opportunity to use this, she would’ve loved it, because my mom was a very discrete lady and a very private person. The convenience of it in your home is just awesome.

SLAM: And as someone who doesn’t do a ton of public appearances, it seems like if you’re involved in something like this, it must have a special meaning for you.

KM: Yeah, I lost my mom as well as my grandmother to a heart attack. So my thing is, I’ve played for a long time and I’m known as the Mailman and all of that, but if I can help or assist one person to go to karldeliversforyou.com, that one person could’ve been my mom, or that person could be your mom. But you have to go to the website to look at it. And how do you know if you’re a candidate? You have to have a conversation with your doctor. I’m not a doctor—I’m the Mailman. But you’ve gotta be honest. My mom would talk to us about how she felt all the time, but when she got in front of a doctor she wasn’t honest with him. People don’t realize—there aren’t warning signs, where you can say, OK, this is going on. I’ve got high blood pressure—well, what is that? You’ve got to talk to a doctor.

Adam Figman is a Senior Editor at SLAM. Follow him on Twitter @afigman. 

The post Q+A: Karl Malone appeared first on SLAM.

We caught up with Jadakiss at his Westchester studio to talk about those Reebok spots, hooping with other rappers and plenty more.

SLAM: What’s your personal basketball history like? Did you play in school when you were younger?

Jadakiss: Yeah, I played little league, high school, AAU, PAL—all of the above. Point guard, like a distributor. I really didn’t start scoring until I got out of high school, then I started shooting. I was always pass-first.

SLAM: You must’ve been decent if you were playing AAU.

Jadakiss: I mean, I was slow. I was good, though, considering the competition. I was short and slow, but I had good court vision, good handle—I know how to run the team.

SLAM: Did you have dreams to go pro?

Jadakiss: Nah, pro was a little far-fetched. My lifetime dream was to play for Syracuse, for the Orange. Until about 10th grade, until I knew it was over. I still wanted to go there academically and walk on.

SLAM: At what point did you become conscious of the hip-hop/basketball crossover?

Jadakiss: You know, after we were signed by Bad Boy, we were able to start meeting professional athletes and all of that. You see how much rappers wanted to be athletes and how much athletes with they were rappers. It’s a crazy, crazy thing. I’ve got Double-A—Alan Anderson of the Nets—hitting me right now. He said he needs some music before the game. I’ll show you the text: ‘I need them bars. Yo, Kiss—I need them bars, man!’ I said, ‘Double-A, I got you. I got you.’

SLAM: Did you have any interactions with NBA players early in your career that stand out to you?

Jadakiss: From the first initial jumpoff, it was Jalen [Rose] and [Chris] Webber. They embraced us, showed us wild love. AI, of course. And then Melo—I stayed watching Melo because he went to Syracuse and won the Chip for me [Kiss is a huge ‘Cuse fan.—Ed.], so once I was able to meet him, we just linked up like fam. Jason Terry, he just called me a little while ago, ‘Come to the game in Philly next week.’ Just to see how much they rap off the court and how much they love music is a major thing for me. They always got the iPod—they need music at all times in the locker room, in the crib, in the hotel, in the party bus. They’re just big music heads. That’s a good thing. Shaq bought 10,000 copies of my first or second album. Then he was on Tha Basement with Big Tigger and told people, ‘Go get Jadakiss’ album.’ That’s like priceless to have them in your corner like that.

SLAM: You starred in those iconic Reebok commercials with Allen Iverson. What do you remember from that experience?

Jadakiss: Oh yeah, that was great. Steve Stoute put a lot of them together. The good people over at Reebok called me—it wasn’t too watered down. Shout out to Trackmasters, they did the tracks. [Reebok] really let me do my thing. They told me about the sneaker, about the technology of the sneaker, and the rest was just my knowledge of AI. That was a good thing. We did two of them. The A5 and the A6.

SLAM: At that point AI was on top of the world.

Jadakiss: His whole swag was just: they loved him on the court, they loved him off the court. AI was like the hood legend that made it. He brought a lot of the hood to the NBA, just with the way he looked, with his tattoos, him being short, him having that killer crossover. That attracted a lot of could’ve-been-negative stuff, but it was just him. He made the people from where we’re from feel like you could make it. He was short, he had braids, he had tats, and he was bustin’ ass. All the other short dudes with braids and tats, that gave them a boost of energy. That opened the floodgates for the dribbling, shooting point guard.

SLAM: And now the League is filled with them.

Jadakiss: Mmhmm, you almost need that now.

SLAM: Do you have memories of hanging with AI?

Jadakiss: I’ve seen him spend about $20,000 to $30,000 at the pool area at—what’s next to the Fontainebleau? That hotel used to have a hoop court, and we were playing against Brian McKnight and them. Chuck was just cool. Drinking his Coronas or his Don P, just chill. Real down to Earth. He had his whole childhood crew with him—his uncles, his mans, everybody.

SLAM: Did you ever go to the Fridays outside of Philly that he used to bring everyone to?

Jadakiss: Yeah, I went to one of them Fridays after a game. Philly is like one of my second home, anyways. For me to just chill with him at that Fridays after the game, and see him turn it into a club—wild girls. It was crazy. He did that anywhere. I invited him up here to the games we had in the summer and he caused mass confusion. Came with a couple of Bentleys and his boys. Everybody just ran off the court and ran to where he was at. That’s probably just normal everywhere he go.

SLAM: Have you played ball with any rappers that are particularly good?

Jadakiss: Mase used to be nice. Cam’ron was good. Chris Brown is nice. J. Cole is nice. Wale got game. R. Kelly got game. The Game got game. Trey Songz can play, too. I don’t get in as many celebrity games as I’d like to. Now that All-Star Weekend is gonna be in New York this year, I wanna get in the celebrity game this year, the big one that Kevin Hart’s been getting the MVP in the past two years. Let me get in there and get MVP.

Adam Figman is a Senior Editor at SLAM. Follow him on Twitter @afigman.

photo by Olu Waseye

The post Q+A: Jadakiss appeared first on SLAM.

Toward the end of June of 2014, a crew of adidas-endorsed NBA players—Ricky Rubio, Joakim Noah, Harrison Barnes and John Wall—boarded a plane and began a trip that the foursome will surely remember forever. The group’s destination was Rio de Janeiro, where they watched a pair of World Cup games, ate steak at the renowned Churrascaria Palace, took a helicopter tour of the city and played pick-up fútbol on a gorgeous Brazilian beach.

If it sounds like the kind of getaway any sane human would want to experience, that’s because it was exactly that. But Serge Ibaka, another Three Stripes-repping NBAer, passed on the opportunity. Not because he’s insane, but because he had somewhere else to be: about 4,100 miles northeast, in the Republic of the Congo, a country in west-central Africa where poverty runs rampant and decent health care is tremendously difficult to come by—if it’s available at all.

Ibaka was raised in the city of Brazzaville, the capital of the Republic of the Congo. Like many NBA athletes, he returns home every summer. It’s a little different for him, though. Lots of guys were brought up in rough environs, and their ability to make it out and achieve whatever it is they have achieved is nothing short of miraculous. And yet: Ibaka’s story is a little different.

Scratch that: It’s extremely different. His path to becoming a perpetual Defensive Player of the Year candidate and a vital piece on a title contender—the recent injury woes that have clouded Oklahoma City’s future notwithstanding—wasn’t just miraculous. It was damn near impossible. And Serge doesn’t sound like he’s about to let the end of that path cause him to forget the beginning.

***

When Ibaka was 7 years old, literally the day after kids in the United States had watched Michael Jordan put up 38 points, 13 rebounds and 9 assists in Game 2 of the 1997 NBA Finals, the politically fueled War of 5 June broke out in the Republic of the Congo—violence flooded the streets of Brazzaville, bombs being dropped all over the city.

In the following two years, Ibaka’s mother passed away and the Second Congo War began. (It’s said that the Second Congo War was the bloodiest war since War World II, with a final death count above 5 million.)

Serge’s family—he has 17 siblings though he didn’t grow up with all of them—fled to the small town of Ouessa during the war. He lived there for a few years before returning to Brazzaville. They would scrounge for necessities; running water and electricity were scarce, and food was expensive, so at times Serge would hang out near restaurants as they were closing, hoping those who worked at the establishments would toss him some scraps they were planning on otherwise throwing out.

When the family did make its way back to the capital around 2002, Serge’s father, Desire, returned to his former job working at a port on the border of the Republic of the Congo and the Democratic Republic of Congo. The local DRC government scooped up Desire and imprisoned him for what was essentially a “wrong place, wrong time” offense, and Serge spent months living with his grandmother without knowing if his father was even alive. He was freed over half a year later.

Desire Ibaka meant a lot to Serge. Desire taught Serge the game of basketball—he had previously met Serge’s mother through the sport, as she played in the neighboring DRC, the home of Dikembe Mutombo. As a young child, Serge would sit on the sideline of a beat-up court in Brazzaville while his father would hoop; years later, Serge would elect to wear 9, the same number his pops once wore.

“My dad wanted me to be an equal basketball player [as him],” he says. “So when I started playing basketball a little bit, he would give me his jersey. I’d start wearing his jersey to go play basketball, and I just started falling more in love.”

Naturally, there was little access to NBA games. Ibaka knew of guys like Magic Johnson and Michael Jordan, but it wasn’t until years later that an older friend of his showed him a videotape filled with Kevin Garnett highlights—from then on, he was a full-blown KG fanatic.

He first played for the club Avenir du Rail in Brazzaville at age 16, then at 17 moved to France, taking the first opportunity he had to get out of his war-torn country; a few months later he’d get situated playing pro ball in Spain.

During the summer of 2007, the agency You First Sports brought Ibaka to the US. His first stop was Las Vegas, where he trained with Joe Abunassar, with whom he still works out. Abunassar also happens to be the long-time trainer of Kevin Garnett, who was in the gym during Ibaka’s first visit.

“After the first workout, I called the guys who sent him, and I said, I don’t know what kind of contract you’re gonna sign this guy to overseas, but don’t make it too long,” says Abunassar. “He was amazing.”

The Thunder selected Ibaka at No. 24 in the 2008 Draft, though the 6-10 power forward would spend another year in Spain before joining the franchise. In OKC, he rose from rotation player averaging 18 minutes per his rookie year to his current role: a starting big man and a defensive force averaging 14.7 points, 6.9 rebounds and 2.1 blocks per game in 2014-15, his sixth season.

While Serge was back in the Brazzaville last summer, he walked into a refuge camp to find glaring needs: Hundreds of people were without both food and water.

“I’m not going to give the amount,” says Bill Horn, co-founder of Pros For Africa, an Oklahoma City-based nonprofit organization that works with Serge, “but he went to the bank and got a very large sum of money, and had water and food delivered. He doesn’t just go over there and say, ‘Let’s do this, let’s do that.’ He gets right into it. He’s hands on.”

It’s not easy to compile a comprehensive list of all the charity-related things Serge does for his home country, but here’s an attempt:

He works with UNICEF to fix up a pair of orphanages—one girls, one boys—and to make sure those who live there have what they need: educational resources, health care supplies and more.

He works with the aforementioned Pros For Africa and Project C.U.R.E., who will be bringing a six-figure sum worth of medical equipment to the country.

He works with the Starkey Hearing Foundation, providing hearing aids for children, many of whom don’t know the technology to fix their deficiency exists in the first place. Ibaka sizes the aids onto kids himself. “Serge actually wound up fitting a couple of children—not just children, but teenagers—who had lost their hearing from some of the fighting with the rebels,” says Brady Forseth, executive director of Starkey. “They had lost hearing from explosions and grenades and all of that stuff, and he restored their hearing. It was very emotional for him. To be quite honest, I think he was holding back some tears.”

He also fixed up that same beat-up basketball court that Desire Ibaka once ran up and down—the dirt floor has been replaced by proper blacktop, and the crooked, net-less rims have been subbed out in favor of FIBA-official baskets, shipped over from Spain.

Though all of the scattered charity work is now going to be under one umbrella—the Serge Ibaka Foundation—it won’t be slowing down anytime soon. “Even before I started playing basketball and making money, I would always come back and give back to people,” Ibaka says. “That’s what I always wanted to do.”

Individually, at least, Ibaka has begun this season strong, if not remarkable. “I think he’s going to have a monster year,” says Caron Butler, who played alongside Ibaka in OKC in ’13-14. “He really understands the game, from a defensive standpoint and an offensive standpoint, how to get to his spots and be consistent and make shots. I think he’s hungrier after last year, knowing the importance of what he means to that organization.”

About that importance: During a series-clinching win against the Los Angeles Clippers on May 15 in ’13-14’s Western Conference semifinals, Ibaka went down with a bad calf injury—doctors speculated he would be off the floor for many weeks, through the remainder of the postseason. The Spurs won the first two games—by scores of 122-105 and 112-77—of the subsequent conference finals (and eventually the entire thing), but via some kind of scientific phenomenon, Ibaka was back by Game 3, on May 26. He went for 15 points, 7 boards and 4 blocks in 30 minutes, helping OKC earn a 106-97 victory that salvaged their season, if only for a little longer.“I knew that from a treatment perspective he was doing everything you could possibly do, plus 100,” Abunassar says.

What became evident is this: The Thunder need Serge Ibaka. They need Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook, too (duh, man), but without their reliable man in the middle, their chance against teams like the San Antonio Spurs and the L.A.  Clippers dwindles from whatever it is to nothing at all.

“My goal is to be Defensive Player of the Year and be an All-Star, that’s my dream,” Ibaka says. “That’s why I’m coming to the gym—for that. I don’t know when it’s going to happen, but that’s my dream. And I’m going to keep working hard to make my dreams come true.”

An All-Star bid will be tough (at least this year, but at just 25 years old, there’s plenty of time for that), and Defensive Player of the Year is probably a long shot, but a crucial role on a team that’ll remain relevant into the spring is almost guaranteed. (If they can squeeze into the postseason—the finally healthy team sits at 11-13 as of this writing—imagine how dangerous a 6-, 7- or 8-seeded Thunder squad would be.) In that case, he’ll keep proving that importance through April, May, maybe even June. And then in July, he’ll be back in Brazzaville, where his importance … well, that’s just not a strong enough word.

“There’s more work to do,” he says. And there is.

Adam Figman is a Senior Editor at SLAM. Follow him on Twitter @afigman.

More features from SLAM 184:

John Wall is having the time of his life—at least when he’s not busy breaking down overmatched opponents.

Following a decade of spreading the floor for others, Kyle Korver is finally seeing some long-overdue star treatment of his own.

The post Never Satisfied appeared first on SLAM.

Harris might talk a big game, but he’s got a point. When we get up with him in mid-September, his new sneaker store, co-owned with Roc Nation A&R Lenny Santiago, Jay Z’s right-hand man Tyrone “Ty Ty” Smith and Ty Ty’s sister Tashawn Smith-Green, has only been open for a matter of days, and yet its buzz is already strong.

Roc N’ Sole may have officially opened in mid-August, but the spot had been in the works for years. Harris, a former Foot Locker employee who rose the behind-the-scenes ranks of Roc-A-Fella Records in the mid-’00s (and worked at Nike, too), and Santiago, a through and through sneakerhead whose name you’ve more than likely heard shouted out by Hov on multiple occasions, originally had plans to open a store in Cali called Sole Mate. The plan was scrapped when the economy fell apart in the late Aughts, but in 2013, with the assistance of Ty Ty and Tashawn, a rebooted plan to open a shop in New York City was conceived.

Harris then found a space tucked practically in the shadow of Brooklyn’s Barclays Center on Atlantic Avenue, and ever since it’s been full steam ahead. Along with a plethora of the hottest kicks you can find in the borough, the store sells exclusive TrapStar and Roc Nation-branded hats, along with socks, tees, watches and more. There’s even a social media-inspired kick frame, so you can snap a photo of your new sneaks and tag it #RocNSole, just as @RocNSole often does on its own Instagram account.

“It creates the moment,” says Harris. “People are a part of it from the time they walk in to the time they walk out.”

Roc N’ Sole is located at 492 Atlantic Avenue in Boerum Hill, Brooklyn. For store hours and more info, hit up RocNSole.com.

The post Run This Town appeared first on SLAM.

(Riff Raff’s answers were emailed in; we left them unedited. Clearly.—Ed.)

interviews by Tzvi Twersky and Adam Figman

1. Who you got coming out of the East?

Jadakiss: You can’t count Cleveland out. I still like Miami—I think Miami’s gonna be solid, they’ll have a nice chip on their shoulder. Nets should be pretty solid. Indiana, I don’t know. I think you gotta look out for Chicago, Cleveland and Miami. Then the sleepers are Washington, Charlotte and maybe Brooklyn. But I’ll say Cleveland.

Bun B: You gotta look at the Cavs as a contender. It just depends on how quickly those guys get it together. I don’t expect it to take these guys long. LeBron comes back to this team as a leader—it’s safe to say Miami was Dwyane’s team. But this Cavaliers team, this is LeBron’s team. He’s coming with the experience and the rings.

Jay Rock: Anybody could win I think, because it’s pretty much wide open since LeBron left Miami. But if I have to choose a team, I think the Knicks got a shot.

Lil Bibby: If DRose is even halfway healthy, I think the Bulls will get it. If not, LeBron and those guys might win it. That’s a cheatin’ team, though. I hate those super teams.

Gunplay: I’m a die-hard Miami fan. If they came out with a soccer team, I’d be a Miami soccer fan, too. So, I hope we’ll pull it out without LeBron and show everybody that we didn’t really need him. Thanks for your services, but we can still pull it off. Hopefully. I don’t know.

Fat Trel: Cleveland, of course. Simple as LeBron, Kyrie and Kevin Love.

Problem: Haven’t seen everybody yet, but on paper the Bulls look strong. Cavs are gonna be fun to watch. Don’t sleep on Toronto though.

Riff Raff: LeBrons n NEM

Skyzoo: To me, the East this year is so open ended, it’s unbelievable. I don’t think you can honestly give a clear cut 99 percent answer like we may have all done in the past. With Paul George going down for the season, Derrick Rose coming back but uncertainty surrounding that outcome, the Cavs loading up but needing time to jell I’m sure, it’s a free for all in the East. My heart, as a life long blue and orange fan, wants to say my Knicks, but my mind is built on reality so I honestly can’t say NYK. I hope we get it and I’d be the first to champion the feat, but really it’ll most likely come down to Cleveland or Chicago, depending on Derrick Rose’s health. Let’s sadly roll with the Cavs.

Your Old Droog: Of course the Cavs. There’s nobody else, really. The East is dry. I feel bad. I think it’s gonna be the Cavs, b.

2. Who you got coming out of the West?

Jadakiss: I’ll say San Antonio’s the front-runner to win it all. They didn’t touch nothing. Teams usually trade away or lose someone after they win a Championship because somebody played really well and they feel they gotta go to Milwaukee or something. They kept everybody. It’s theirs to lose. They’re gonna try to stay healthy and make that run at the end.

Bun B: I think the Rockets have as good a chance as anybody. I think everybody looks at the West as wide open right now, with Kevin Durant looking to miss at least six weeks. I think Russell Westbrook can’t do everything by himself, and I think he’s already said that. I would love to see some mid-season free agency pick-ups to strengthen the bench. That’s my only concern. Guys like Golden State and San Antonio have a really solid bench. So it’s gonna be a hard road, but I’m not down about it. I’m extremely optimistic.

Jay Rock: I hate to say it, but I think the Spurs might get it again in the West, even though it’s Laker Gang on mines. But it’ll be either the Spurs or OKC.

Lil Bibby: I hope Kevin Durant and them win it all, but I think he needs to take over a little bit more. That guy Westbrook shoots too many shots. To me, Westbrook do the shit that Durant’s supposed to be doing.

Gunplay: I think the Spurs will do it again. They’re a real well-rounded team.

Fat Trel: Either the L.A. Clippers or OKC Thunder. Yeah, KD’s injured, but that’s a small thing to a giant. The Clippers, they did great last year, and now they’re even better. Outside of that, I want to give Kobe and the Lakers a chance, but I want to keep it realistic, too.

Problem: Lakers, in a perfect world! Spurs, though. Too good. Too disciplined. Great balance of vets and young talent. They’re gonna be tough to beat.

Riff Raff: Clippers n NEM

Skyzoo: The West is way easier to pinpoint. I like Golden State as a team, love Steph Curry and Klay Thompson, which to me is the best backcourt in the League by a landslide, so I’d love to see them take the West, but I think they’re one more piece away from that. OKC is always gonna be in the talks, and I think the Clippers are knocking at the door. Houston looked dope on paper before they lost Parsons, but now I think they’re off the table. Really, OKC or LAC will be there in my opinion, and if I’m picking one, give me LAC since the Thunder hasn’t updated their roster since their last Finals appearance. I hate the Spurs, that’s why they’re not on my list. I’m cool on them, except for Tony Parker.

Your Old Droog: I think it’s either San Antonio or Dallas. I feel like Carlisle is the best coach in the League, by far. That was the only team that took San Antonio to seven games, and that squad was not that ill. Calderon couldn’t play any D. Dirk had like five bad games. It’s all coaching.

3. Finals prediction?

Jadakiss: I think San Antonio wins it. I think [Coach] Popovich got the remedy. He uses his whole team. See how easy they beat Miami? Easy. It was no way Miami was winning at all. They couldn’t win.

Bun B: Oh man, Rockets in seven. It’s gonna go the whole way.

Jay Rock: San Antonio, because they got more Playoff experience.

Lil Bibby: I hope the dog comes out in Durant, and [the Thunder] win it.

Gunplay: Of course I’ve got the M-I-Yayo, baby! Deep down I’m like, well, it’s gonna be a tough one, but I keep faith ‘til the very end.

Fat Trel: I won’t say the Cavs are going to win the Finals no matter what. As far as me betting cash-wise, yeah, I’m going with Cleveland all the way. But I think the Clippers or OKC could win it.

Problem: Spurs vs. Bulls, with Spurs winning in 7.

Riff Raff: Clippers sweep VERSACE broom style

Skyzoo: Cleveland would probably get it off of Lebron’s experience, but I wouldn’t be surprised if LAC got it based on Doc being in the driver’s seat. I can’t call that one, but seven of those would be pretty nice.

Your Old Droog: I think the Spurs might repeat. If I’m not mistaken, I don’t think they’ve ever had a repeat.

4. What did you think of LeBron’s decision to return to Cleveland?

Jadakiss: I was happy for him. I know even though he won those two chips and went to the Finals three times, there was still something in the back of my mind, with the way he did The Decision, that he was still never really in peace with himself. His wife is from [Ohio], he’s got a huge mansion over there. That was one of the smartest things he ever could’ve done. It was a sigh of relief for Cleveland, for him, for everybody.

Bun B: Obviously the Rockets put their pitch in. I would’ve loved to see him come here. But I think once people realized Cleveland was even on the table that was pretty much a done deal. I think he’s already done what he came to accomplish in Miami, and now he kind of wants to do it at home. And you can’t blame a guy­ for that—he’s got the opportunity to do it.

Jay Rock: I guess he made a decision that’s best for him and what he wanted to do with his career.

Lil Bibby: LeBron was my favorite player when he was on Cleveland, the first time. He was by himself, and he was taking them all the way to the Championship. When he left, I was thinking, Why would you go to a team with two other guys? You’re already the best. And now he’s home? Nah, you can’t do that. You can’t be back and forth.

Gunplay: I just thought it was business, ain’t nothing personal. People take it a little too far, I think. He brought the rings here! What the fuck? Let him go about his business and go back home. We got some rings, now keep it moving.

Fat Trel: As far as Championship-wise, yeah [he should’ve returned]. You can’t even argue with that. There’s no doubt that Dwyane Wade is practically kinda done, you feel me? You hate to put it that way, but I feel as though he’s near done. Chris Bosh was a great player, but he’s Chris Bosh and he’ll never do numbers like Kevin Love. So, LeBron did what was best for him. And he’s home. You can’t argue with that. Maybe if it was a third team and he was going all over the place, but he just went back to his previous team and you can’t argue that.

Problem: LeBron should’ve done whatever was best for him and his family.

Riff Raff: LeBrons an icon “LeBron The iCoN” He wanted to prove to the world that he can face any challenge everyone was mad he left but he is back and gunna showcase why could have been the best wide Reciever in NFL history but he chose to shoot jumpers

Skyzoo: I’m not mad at the move, but I also was prepared to see him retire in Miami. For everything it took to get there, what he accomplished, the glory, the mistakes, him staying in Miami would’ve made sense. But I do respect the theory and drive behind the move.

Your Old Droog: I don’t know. I was never a fan of that whole switching-teams thing. I think Danny Ainge kinda fucked up the League with that shit. I mean, [LeBron] should’ve never left anyway, but he’s his own man, you know?

5. Who will win MVP this season?

Jadakiss: I don’t really know. I gotta see how the season starts. They’ve got LeBron the top candidate to win it, but I dunno. I like the underdog.

Bun B: I think it’s really early. It’s gonna be very hard with KD’s injury to consider him right now. I think Melo is gonna be a candidate. I think Melo is really gonna make a big push to solidify himself in the NBA this year as a player. I would definitely say keep your eyes on Melo. I think he’s starting see that people aren’t placing him in that category because the team hasn’t made it to the Finals, and he hasn’t gotten that ring yet. I think he comes into this year more determined than ever.

Jay Rock: I think LeBron. All eyes on him right now, plus if he’s consistent he’s gonna get MVP.

Lil Bibby: If Rose comes out the gate running, I think it’ll be him. If not, it’ll be Durant or LeBron.

Gunplay: I think LeBron will take it. I think LeBron is the best player since Michael Jordan retired, you know what I’m saying? I was there for the Michael Jordan days, his height. I remember those days. I haven’t seen nothing like that—offense and defense, putting up numbers like that—besides LeBron. So I have to go with LeBron.

Fat Trel: LeBron. First year back with Cleveland, he finna go off. Go off, go off, you feel me?

Problem: Tim Duncan. He’s still the best power forward/center in basketball. That’s why.

Riff Raff: DeAndre Jordan he the most highest jumping versatile big man in the league he can hang on the top of the backboard and do chin ups

Skyzoo: The typical answer is LeBron, but I’m going Melo, 100 percent. What he’s gonna be able to do in this new system should show doubters his versatility as a player and face of a team, on the court. Easy answer, Melo all the way.

Your Old Droog: Probably Bron. I don’t see his skills fading. And the East is so trash, the Cavs are just gonna dominate.

6. Who will win Rookie of the Year this season?

Jadakiss: I like Jabari. I like Wiggins, he’s looking good. But I think Jabari has more of an NBA game already. Jabari’s like a baby Melo. He’s got a mid-range game, he can go on the blocks, he’s got a nice little handle. I think he’s gonna be the sleeper. He’s got nice elements to his game and has size already. Wiggins is a little slim but he’s fast and lanky and he’s got hops, but Jabari’s got those shoulders—he’s gonna be able to take them bumps. I haven’t met Cleanthony [Early], but can’t wait to meet him. I made a lot of money betting on him in the NCAA Tournament. Wichita State was killing it.

Bun B: I know all eyes are on Wiggins, but I think Jabari, based on his position, has a better opportunity to show how well-rounded he is. I don’t know. I expect Wiggins to do big numbers, but I expect Jabari to have better all-around stats. But it all depends on which of these guys adapts to their system best.

Jay Rock: Ain’t no telling.

Lil Bibby: I hope Jabari wins it. When I played in grammar school, I played against him a lot. He was one grade under me, and when we played them he had the ball in his hands the whole game. Like, he was 6-2 and he was the point guard and center! So, salute to Jabari.

Gunplay: I haven’t been following the rookies. I ain’t gonna lie to you.

Fat Trel: I don’t really like the class, but I say Jabari Parker. It’ll be him or Wiggins, but I personally think Parker is better.

Problem: A sleeper, the dope white kid from the Bulls. He’s a beast.

Riff Raff: JODY HiGHROLLER

Skyzoo: I’ve been a Jabari Parker fan for a while now, and I think he’s gonna easily pick that award up. As talented as this Draft class is, he’s the most prepared to go up against vets, and he’s also on a team that literally needs him, so he’ll be able to shine for 82 games straight

Your Old Droog: Nah. I don’t know. I’m not even gonna front. I’m not clocking them like that.

7. What kind of season will Kobe have?

Jadakiss: Never is The Mamba done! The Mamba ain’t done ‘til the Mamba says he’s done. I see everybody counting him out and all of this stuff—that’s just gonna make him go harder. I don’t think he’s over. I’m not sure how far [the Lakers] are gonna go, though. If they make the Playoffs, that’s crazy.

Bun B: I think Kobe’s pissed. That’s what I think. If he’s healthy, he’s gonna make a lot of people pay for what they’ve been saying. Putting Kobe Bryant 40th [in the ESPN rankings]—I may not be the biggest Kobe Bryant fan in the world, but shit, we’re not gonna act like he isn’t who he is. I’m biased because he came down here and torched us. He looked me in my face a couple times, so me and Kobe have a little history. He gave me the MJ shrug after he nailed a three right in front of me. He gave me the MJ shrug. But you’ve got to respect who Kobe Bryant is. He’s the fiercest competitor in the NBA—I don’t think anybody wants it more than Kobe.

Jay Rock: Can’t count Kobe out, he got something up his sleeve. The Black Mamba will perform.

Lil Bibby: I dunno. With that jumper, Kobe might just stick around for a minute.

Gunplay: I don’t think he’s done. He’s just getting a little old now. He’s still a hell of a player. I think he’ll try to make his mark this year to prove a point. I think he’s got five more years, then he needs to sit on down somewhere.

Fat Trel: I believe Kobe will have a good year, but I don’t think we’re going to see the Black Mamba, or whatever the fuck they call him.

Problem: He’ll average 24, 6 and 6. Hopefully, we will get a midseason trade goin’ so we can shock the world!

Riff Raff: Kobe Is gunna be inspirational to watch I want him to average 25ppg

Skyzoo: Kobe is gonna be better than people are predicting, but I don’t see it being 2008 or anything. He’ll show flashes of brilliance and will overall have a dope season, but it won’t be what it was. Still in all, he’s Kobe, point blank. Never be another.

Your Old Droog: Kobe’s a beast, man. He’s got a lot to prove. Cats like that, they go insane with the preparation and training. I think he’s got two or three more years in him. But I’m glad the Lakers and Celtics got shitty squads.

8. How will Carmelo Anthony and the Knicks do?

Jadakiss: The Knicks are up in the air. You know how the Knicks are. I’m leaving it in the hands of Phil—right now I’m on Phil and Melo. I hope Cleanthony can come in and have a solid rookie year, I hope Tim Hardaway [Jr] can show some progression like he did last year, I hope JR comes in stable. It should be alright if everybody do what they do. But it’s the Knicks, so you never know. They could lose to all the teams they’re supposed to lose to, then win the games you never think they’re gonna win.

Jay Rock: I think they gonna do good.

Lil Bibby: I think they need another player. The team looks good on paper, but I think they need a leader-type point guard. If they get that, they’ll be straight.

Gunplay: Eh, it’s to be seen.

Fat Trel: I think it’s going to take a year for Phil Jackson and DFish to get it officially right. As far as this year, I say they make it to the first round of Playoffs but no further.

Riff Raff: CARMELO Anthony in the Candy Toyota Camry

Skyzoo: Again, as someone who bleeds blue and orange, I think this year will be tough for us. Melo is gonna be Melo, top five in the League, hands down. But the help isn’t where he deserves it to be. Next season should be everything, a LaMarcus Aldridge and Rajon Rondo scoop of sorts should help fix things. We can all hope, right?

Your Old Droog: Honestly, I don’t care. I’ll watch regardless. As long as Walt “Clyde” Frazier has rhymes, I’m gonna be tuned in. But [the team] is just sad. I try not to think about the Knicks.

The post 10 Rappers Preview the NBA Season appeared first on SLAM.

Kendall Marshall: I grew up in northern Virginia, in Dumfries, about 20 minutes from DC. A lot of where I grew up is influenced by the DMV culture. I’m from the suburbs—I went to private school and everything, but I love where I’m from.

SLAM: Did you spend a lot of time in DC as a kid?

KM: Well, in high school, I played in a DC Catholic league. In my area, when you’re good at basketball you go play in the WCAC. My school was in Arlington, Virginia, but we played against DeMatha, Gonzaga, St. John’s—they were all in our conference.

SLAM: What are your earliest basketball memories?

KM: My earliest are playing in the Dale City Rec Center. They told my dad that I could play for free because they needed a coach, so he threw me out there and he always kept me in the freshest Jordans, the wristbands and everything. It kinda just took off from there.

SLAM: What was your dad like as a coach?

KM: My dad, when I was younger, it was more just for fun. When he realized I had a knack for passing the ball, he got a little more intense after that.

SLAM: What was the basketball scene like where you grew up?

KM: The kids [that were into basketball] were few and far between but it was me and my best friends that were all the best kids in the area when it came to basketball. We all went up to Maryland to play, because the DC-Maryland area, they’re known for having hoopers. We wanted to play with and against the best, so from the age of 10 and up we went up there to play for AAU teams and for high school.

SLAM: Who did you grow up watching and wanting to play like?

KM: The guys I would watch were Cliff Hawkins, who played at Kentucky, Nigel Munson, who played at DeMatha—and I know he started at Virginia Tech—guys like Tywon Lawson, who started at [Bishop] McNamara [High School] and then went to Oak Hill, Chris Wright, who went to St. John’s and then went to Georgetown. These were all point guards and guys who I looked up to who were the real deal where I was coming from.

SLAM: What about NBA guys?

KM: I was a huge, huge Dirk fan, so Dallas was always my team. I was a big Jason Williams fan, so I loved the Kings while they were going through their little stretch. Those were really my two favorite players and teams growing up.

SLAM: What about your earliest sneaker memories?

KM: I can go back to those Dale City Rec Center days, the first time when I really started playing basketball. I can remember the low-top black-and-navy XIIIs—my dad got them for me and my friend had them as well. I remember my first AAU team, we wore the Nike Air Garnett IIIs, I believe—the black-and-royal blue and the white-and-royal blue. We had both colors for home and away.

SLAM: How’d you learn that sneakers were such an important part of basketball culture?

KM: That definitely comes from my dad. He always kept me in a fresh pair of shoes, so that’s all credit to him for that. But I don’t know, it’s just something that kind of stuck with me. When you’re a hooper, basketball shoes go hand in hand with that.

SLAM: Did you remember ever seeing anyone older or in the NBA play where you really wanted the kicks they were wearing?

KM: Yes, I can remember a couple. To this day I still don’t have these shoes: The first one is I was playing with the DC Assault, and I was on the 14-and-under team and Mike Beasley was on the 17-and-under team, and they had the patent leather [adidas] Pro Models, and I remember he had them in all navy blue with gold writing that said DC Assault. To this day I still think that’s one of the best PE shoes of all-time. Adidas had the Super 6 at the time, where it was like the New Jersey Playaz, the DC Assault—they were taking care of a couple teams—and me playing for the younger Assault team, we would always go watch them play, and Mike Beasley was a big deal. I can distinctly remember him wearing those.

SLAM: You should ask him for a pair of those now—he’s gotta have a few in storage.

KM: I never got around to asking him. I’m gonna have to get on that.

SLAM: What other memories stand out?

KM: I was always a Carolina fan growing up, so the Carolina XIIs—that was in 2006, I believe. Also I remember Raymond Felton wearing the ice blue Xs when they won the National Championship. Ty Lawson, he wore the LeBron Soldiers in the finals and won the [National] Championship—I remember he had a foot problem, and those were the best with the hard toe box. There’s a bunch of little stuff that I can remember.

SLAM: Did you own any NBA jerseys that you specifically remember?

KM: Oh man, I was one of those kids who had a bunch of jerseys, and my dad always kept me in the authentic ones. I had a Tim Duncan Wake Forest jersey, a Dominique Wilkins jersey, a Dirk white Dallas jersey, a Magic Johnson Michigan St. jersey, a Shareef Abdur-Rahim Hawks jersey.

SLAM: Still have any?

KM: I kept the special ones. If I go back and look, there’s a couple I kept. For instance, the LeBron white Cavs jersey, I kept that. Kept my Dirk jersey. The ones that meant a lot, I kept.

SLAM: What about with sneakers? If you have a good game, will you keep playing in them or save them?

KM: I like to keep as many of my sneakers as possible. Sometimes I give them away, but I still have all of my shoes from college, except for the ones I put in Carolina’s basketball museum. Whenever I have a good game in a shoe, or like the first time I started as a rookie, I still have those shoes. Those were the [Air Jordan] 28s, black and volt.

SLAM: Growing up, did you keep your kicks super organized or were they all over the house?

KM: Oh nah, man, I always took special care of my shoes. Whenever my dad bought me a new pair of shoes, I would always sleep with them that night in my arms. For some reason, I just wanted to hold them. The smell of new shoes is one of the best smells in the world. And there’s the stitching, the detail—things like that that I think some people take for granted.

The post Big ‘Fries appeared first on SLAM.

SLAM: Back in 2012 you said you think the NBA has been ruined by superteams. Do you still feel that way?

Pusha T: Yeah, I’m very upset about that. As it comes to being a passionate fan of a team, I don’t think you can be a passionate fan of a team when they’re being built like such. So as it stands right now I’m just supportive of all of the different ballplayers, my favorites—the KDs, LeBrons, all those guys. But as far as a team goes, you can’t love it. I was a true fan of Boston, man. Now if you just sit back and look at the Boston team, and then you look at the guys who were playing from [the late 00s], from that team—it’s just dumb. It’s like, yo, I don’t know. [Shakes head] The one thing that I can’t knock about it is, it’s business. It’s big business for these guys, and they’re showing that they’re true, very real businessmen, and I respect that.

SLAM: What’d you think of LeBron deciding to return to Cleveland?

PT: Lebron coming back, I mean, I don’t know. I don’t know what that means. I can see it and understand it—everybody wants to go home. Home is always a comforting place.

SLAM: When My Name is My Name had just been released LeBron tweeted that he was bumping it—that must’ve been a pretty good look for you.

PT: For sure, man. I’ve met him a couple times and he’s a very cool guy.

SLAM: You had that little crack at him on “Popular Demand,” though.

PT: Ah, yeah [laughs]. But that ain’t have nothing to do with LeBron. I mean, I was speaking in terms of the woman.

SLAM: Are there any other NBA players that you’re cool with?

PT: I’m from Virginia, so Allen Iverson, of course. We’ve had our run-around-the-city days.

SLAM: How has AI influenced you?

PT: Ah man, listen. Allen Iverson, he was everything to the Seven Cities in Virginia, like the 757 area. He was the dream. It’s just his impact, and everything he did, that was so inspiring. We were kids seeing this guy with like four Bentleys, just going crazy down the street, with a basketball in the back. I remember seeing him being out at clubs and man, he just was an inspiration. He was the NBA rapper.

SLAM: What are your thoughts on NBA players trying to rap in their off time?

PT: I have to say that Shaq and Big’s “You Can’t Stop the Reign” is one of my favorite songs. Shoutout to Shaq—you did it, Shaq. He did his thing. But you know, I pay attention to everything. Every rapper wants to be an NBA baller and every NBA baller wants to be a rapper.

SLAM: Why is that?

PT: I don’t know, man. I know I wish I was an NBA baller.

SLAM: Who’s in your all-time starting five?

PT: All-time? I’m gonna go with KD, Jordan of course, Kobe of course, LeBron of course, and Duncan, of course.

SLAM: Only modern-era guys?

PT: Yeah. That athleticism, man.

SLAM: Early 2015 NBA Championship prediction?

PT: Who do I think is gonna win it this year? Dammit, you know who I think is gonna win it? The Spurs. Again. And those kids, listen: Who’s old on the Spurs now?

SLAM: Tim Duncan.

PT: Besides him.

SLAM: Manu Ginobili.

PT: Nobody. Come on, man. Those guys are still all ready to go.

SLAM: Are you able to watch regularly when you’re on tour?

PT: Oh yeah. Everybody’s hip on the bus. Everybody.

SLAM: Last question: You’re obviously big into fashion—can we hurry up and bring back throwback jerseys?

PT: Not happening [laughs]. But I don’t think throwbacks go out of style if you’re a true fan, man. It doesn’t really go out of style. It’s not a fashion thing—that’s really a lifestyle type of thing.

The post Q+A: Pusha T appeared first on SLAM.

The reply read: “You on your way to get it.”

“When that type of guy tells me that,” Davis says now, his head shaking from side to side, “it’s like, man, it’s just amazing.”

Amazing? Sure. But a reach? Not really, no.

Because just two years into the Pelicans’ center’s budding career, Davis’ potential matches or tops that of anyone currently signed to an NBA team. That, too, is amazing.

Look at the evidence: There are the stats, the 20.8 points, 10.0 rebounds and 2.8 blocks per game in only his second season in the League. There’s the body, that slim but athletic 6-10 frame with arms that technically measure 7-4 from fingertip to fingertip but look as though they could legitimately Stretch Armstrong from sideline to sideline of an NBA court.

Then there’s the game: a force on the defensive end, patrolling the paint to ensure all floaters and lay-ins are wholeheartedly rejected, and a work-in-progress but true difference maker on the offensive end, where he has the handle to drive by slower forwards and centers and the reach to throw down over all of them.

Oh, and there’s the age: an absurdly young 21, barely old enough to order a beer.

And, most importantly, the work ethic, that endless desire to reach the status of the aforementioned KD and his superstar ilk.

“I know he wants it,” says Carlos Daniel, the New Orleans Pelicans Director of Athletic Performance, who works closely with AD. “I think he can be great. There’s a difference between being elite and being great—there’s quite a few elite players in this League, but you’ve gotta have a different sort of dedication in order to be great. He has that in him.”

On a cloudy mid-June afternoon, Davis sits on the bleachers along the side of a small gymnasium tucked within Chicago’s Park Manor neighborhood talking about the city he was raised in and what he hopes to accomplish over the next few months. There’s not much in the St. Columbanus School’s athletic center beyond a basketball court and a couple locker rooms, but it works well for what we’re here for, the shooting of some digital video spots for Nike and the photos you see in this magazine.

About seven miles away rests the Josline Campus of Perspectives Charter School, the high school where—in the span of barely two years, between his sophomore and senior seasons—Anthony transformed from a run-of-the-mill 6-2 guard to an absolute beast of a 6-10 center. “When I saw him his junior year after he shot up to 6-7, I didn’t recognize him at first,” says Cortez Hale, who had arrived at Perspectives the year before as an assistant and was the basketball squad’s head coach AD’s junior and senior years. “I walked up to him and was like, Who is this kid? He was like, ‘It’s me, Anthony.’ I was like, Wow, this kid is actually going to make it.”

Davis was an overnight sensation, rocketing up the national rankings as a senior and becoming a local star in the process. Which became a problem for Perspectives—the school hadn’t even existed for a decade at the time, and its basketball history was virtually nonexistent. The administration had no idea how to handle a star athlete of any sort. “They kept asking me, ‘How do we handle this? How do we handle that?’” Hale says. “It was just me, the Athletic Director and some of the leaders in the school just trying to figure it all out because it happened so fast. After a while, we started getting used to it, and were telling [Davis], this is gonna keep happening forever.”

Without a single gymnasium in the school, the team practiced down the street at the Illinois Institute of Technology. “We technically never had a home game,” Hale says. “All our games were away games because we were getting bused everywhere.”

Davis, though, handled the newfound attention just fine. Though he had options to go play ball elsewhere, he elected not to transfer, staying at Perspectives with the friends he grew close with many years prior. A perpetual Honor Roll student, Davis would willingly visit students at the campus’ middle school who had gotten in trouble and lecture them about the importance of staying on the right track. “They kinda looked up to me, like, Anthony Davis is this rising star and he plays ball,” he says. “I tried to tell ’em, If you want to be who you’re saying you want to be, all this stuff you’re doing—getting in trouble, getting detention, getting suspended, kicked out of class—all that has to stop. Dropping knowledge on them, I thought it can help them get them to where they wanna be. I did that not because I had to but because I wanted to.”

“We used to say, Oh, he’s doing his NBA Cares stuff now,” Hale says with a laugh. “That was just him being him, honestly.”

If that was the beginning of Davis’ positive effect on the Chicago youth, the end has yet to be reached. Minutes before we spoke with the laid-back big man in the St. Columbanus gym, Davis walks across the street into Meyering Park to take some flicks for a Nike photographer as a handful of neighborhood kids go absolutely berserk at the sight of a Chi-Town-bred hero.

A wide-ranging group of people at a nearby barbecue are the first to notice Davis, chanting “Wassup Ant!” and “What’s good, man!” as he strolls toward the park’s court. Once he gets there, every kid within eyesight rushes to the court’s perimeter, iPhones pointed in the NBAer’s direction by the dozen.

“I wanna see him dunk!” one kid yelps.

“He probably gonna be MVP next year,” another declares.

Davis, decked head-to-toe in fresh Nike Sportswear, stays mostly stone-faced throughout, but every few minutes he cracks a quick smile, a clear sign that he realizes the importance of his ability to enamor a group of random Chicago kids with only his presence. In an area where everyone knows at least a few people who are no longer with us, victims of the inner city’s catastrophic violence, the effect a positive role model like Davis can have doesn’t seem to be lost on him.

“[Those kids] definitely need someone to idolize and someone that they can look up to,” says Davis, who grew up a Bulls fan obsessed with Michael Jordan. “It’s unreal, because most guys had the fame since they were kids. Look at Austin [Rivers]—he was Doc Rivers’ son, and then he became his own person. He’s used to that. I’m still new to it. So when I hear kids say, I’m about to go play 2K right now and play with Anthony Davis, it’s like, Man, it’s still all surreal to me. I’ll never take that for granted.”

Minutes after the photo session at Meyering Park, during which Davis acknowledges his past by standing tall in front of a south side Chicago basketball hoop not unlike those he practiced on as a young child, he walks back into the gym to confront his future. He immediately changes out of the Nike sweats and into a Team USA jersey, posing for pics in front of an American flag while clad in the same red, white and blue uniform he’ll be wearing when he proudly represents his home country at the 2014 FIBA World Cup in Spain this August.

Before he suited up for a single NBA game, Davis was a member of the 2012 Gold-winning USA Olympic team, earning the role as the token up-and-comer on a roster laden with established names like Kobe Bryant, LeBron James and Chris Paul. He says he kept his ears open during the experience, soaking in knowledge wherever he could find it. “I picked all of their brains,” he says. “Kobe took me under his wing and told me you’re gonna be fine, just keep working. I was hanging out with him a lot, just trying to see who Kobe is and why he is Kobe. I learned a lot from him. I learned a lot from all of those guys. Those guys just told me to go out there and be yourself. Have fun.”

This summer, on a team expected to feature Davis, KD, Kevin Love and a few others—approximately half of which will likely represent Team USA at the 2016 Olympics—AD will certainly play a bigger role, one he’s preparing for. “I just wanna get better, and I think USA Basketball is gonna help me do that for the upcoming season,” he says. “I’m just excited to get started. I’ve been looking forward to this all summer. I didn’t play as much in 2012, and I feel like I’m gonna be a key contributor to the 2014 team and go out there and do my thing. Guys don’t get paid for playing USA Basketball, but it’s a real honor, going out there and playing other countries with the mindset that we’re not settling for anything less than Gold. That’s what America expects and that’s what we expect.”

In addition to a few weeks with USA Basketball, Davis figures to have a productive offseason amidst his journey to become one of—if not the—NBA’s best. When we get up with him in Chicago, he appears to have clearly put on some weight; per FOX Sports, he’s already added the always coveted 15 pounds of muscle this offseason. (Word to MUSCLE WATCH.) “I want him to be able to not just get big for the sake of getting big, but gain muscle that he feels confident with and that he can use and that doesn’t have an adverse effect on his game,” Daniel says. “The focus is staying in the game and using the muscle.

“He has to live a little bit differently than he used to,” Daniel continues. “Instead of waking up in the morning and eating whatever he wanted to eat or doing whatever he wanted to do, now he has to dial it in so we can get him the proper carbohydrates, the proper protein, the proper fat, to one, recover from the workouts, and two, be effective on the court.”

To be effective on the court he’ll need to stay on it—Davis missed 18 games his first season and 15 his second—but assuming he can manage that, there’s little chance he shouldn’t be taking the next step in 2014-15. Think about how fast he’s progressed over the past four years: From barely noticed to the No. 1-ranked player in the nation his senior year of high school; to leading the Kentucky Wildcats to the National Championship as a freshman during his only year of college; to becoming the No. 1 Draft pick and subsequently finishing on the All-Rookie First Team and amassing the second most Rookie of the Year votes during his first year in the L; to upping his averages above 20 and 10 and getting voted to the All-Star team as a reserve in his second.

That 20 and 10 looks good on paper, but a deeper dive into the numbers proves that they’re no fluke. Davis’ block percentage—a figure that measures the percentage of 2-point attempts blocked by that player while he was on the floor—was 6.7 percent in ’12-13, the single highest in the NBA. Among players who use at least 25 percent of their team’s possessions and were on the court for at least 600 minutes, Davis was the single most efficient center, scoring 1.19 points per possession, a figure that ranks him behind only KD, LeBron, Dirk Nowitzki, Love and James Harden among all positions. And think about where he goes from here. Davis’ shooting range will expand as he becomes more comfortable spotting up, and his ability to finish down low should improve as he spends more time working on post moves and adding muscle to his gangly frame.

“I think with strength comes confidence,” Daniel says. “The things that he knows he’s capable of doing, that he could do at Kentucky or at different places, now his body is allowing him to pull those moves off and make those plays in NBA games. I think that comes from him gaining more confidence, from him gaining more strength, like, They’re not gonna push me around and they’re not gonna push me off this spot.”

“I’m trying to get better every day,” Davis says. “Whether it’s film, weight-lifting, basketball drills—whatever it is.”

And though he’s working daily on the little things, Davis admits he keeps the big picture in the back of his mind, occasionally thinking about the way in which he’ll ultimately be remembered as a basketball player: “I want guys to say how hard I worked and what I did to help my team,” AD says. “I want guys to say, He wasn’t just a great basketball player—he was a for-sure Hall of Famer. I don’t want it to be, Anthony Davis scored X amount of points, yada yada yada. I want it to be, He helped his team win. That’s what I want.”

He’s on his way to getting it.

—

Adam Figman is the Editor-in-Chief at SLAM. Follow him on Twitter @afigman.

Portraits by Ahmed Klink

The post Anthony Davis: Graduation appeared first on SLAM.

SLAM: Did you play ball growing up?

Gunplay: Yeah, I used to play in high school, but my grades were so good, they were like, Pssh, you should just do rap [laughs]. I used to watch football, baseball, basketball, but I kinda lost touch with it after I couldn’t really be involved in it anymore. Then my favorite player or whoever I was following, I would wake up one morning and he’s on another team and everything just started flipping around. I just got sidetracked with rap, but I still got love for it. I’ll still go out there and ball you out, though. Word up.

SLAM: Are you a Heat fan?

G: Yeah, big Heat fan. They got that boy LeBron over there, making a movie. You know, I grew up in the era of Michael Jordan, so watching LeBron play now, it’s like watching Jordan on steroids. I don’t think there’s anybody in the League that’s fucking with that boy. I don’t really see it. Defense, offense, everything. I grew up watching Jordan, Isiah Thomas, Magic Johnson, and the way LeBron plays now, it’s like all of them in one. It’s crazy.

SLAM: When LeBron decided to join the Heat back in 2010, did it feel like it meant something special to Miami?

G: They welcomed him with open arms. They knew what was gonna happen after that. The first year they didn’t win the Championship—they had a little setback—but they got it right.

SLAM: Now LeBron’s a free agent. Do you think he’d leave Miami?

G: I think Miami loves him—I don’t think it’s enough love for him to stay, though. I wouldn’t be mad at him if he left. It’s business. I would just hope that they’ll do what they can to keep him there, ‘cause ultimately Miami wins financially with him there, you know what I mean?

SLAM: If you had a chance to sit down with him and convince him to stay, what would you say?

G: I’d probably threaten him [laughs]. I’d say, Listen, Miami niggas don’t play that, yo. You better … nah, I’m playing. Nah, I’d just say, Miami loves you, man. You brought the Championship home, and we really would love you to stay here, man. We’ve got bad bitches—what else you need? We’ve got beaches and bitches!

SLAM: Who else around the NBA do you enjoy watching?

G: Durant. Durant does his thing—he’s been doing his thing. Garnett, he still plays. I watched Garnett come up back in the day, so it’s like, he’s still a beast, though. Still! I like watching Garnett play. Who else? Kobe, too. He’s getting older, but he’s still a beast. He still pulls it out in the clutch. See, I’m old school. I liked Dumars, back in the day. Grant Hill was aight to me. Penny, Kemp. Especially MJ.

SLAM: There aren’t a lot of Miami-bred players in the League now, but there are a few. You’ve got Udonis Haslem…

G: Yep! UD, that’s my dog. We always see UD. You might see UD walking through the flea market, you know what I’m saying? We definitely embrace UD.

SLAM: You’ve been spotted at a few Heat games—do you have a good courtside ticket connect?

G: Nah, man, I need one! Y’all got the SLAM posters all over the place—y’all gotta hook me up! Damn! Maybe next season. Next season they’re probably gonna go for five bucks, because LeBron’s gonna leave, and I’m gonna be courtside watching a losing-ass team [laughs].

The post Q+A: Gunplay appeared first on SLAM.

• LeBron James is set to officially become an unrestricted free agent on Tuesday, July 1 at 12:01 a.m. EST.
• The Houston Rockets are among the few teams that will be attempting to sign James and who are said to have a legitimate chance to do so, pitching him a spot on a roster alongside superstars James Harden and Dwight Howard (or one of those two, with the possibility of the other being moved for a third big-name free agent).
• If anyone is going to convince LeBron that Houston is the move, it’s the one and only Slim Thug.

About that last point: You might remember that around this time last year, it was Howard whose future was uncertain, and it was the H-Town rapper who took to Twitter to list the reasons why the center needed to ditch the sunny skies of L.A. for the equally sunny skies of the Lone Star State. Because of said efforts, or, yeah, despite them (though we’re going with “because,” haters), Howard wound up with the Rockets, then led the team to a solid 54-28 record and a hard-fought first round loss to the feisty Portland Trail Blazers.

Now he’s back at it. Thug already tweeted at Bron explaining why the two-time champ should bounce from Miami and head west, but we figured we’d give him the opportunity to expound on why King James needs to take the Dwight Howard route to south Texas this summer. Like a boss.

SLAM: If you were the Rockets’ GM and you sat down with LeBron James on July 1, what would you tell him?

Slim Thug: Man, we’ve got Dwight Howard, we’ve got James Harden—we young and hungry. I love the Heat right now, but I think if he wants to be the best, he’s gotta come to the West and play with the best.

SLAM: Do you think it’s a big upgrade from Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh to Howard and Harden?

ST: I ain’t gonna take nothing away from D-Wade or Bosh, they’re definitely stars. But at the same time, we’ve got two stars, too. We’ve got Dwight Howard and James Harden, who ain’t never won, who are hungry.

SLAM: What about off the court? What are the advantages of living in Houston?

ST: Oh man, it’s beautiful. In Houston, it’s like living in a whole other world. In any other big city, you’re gonna pay a grip for a crib. Your dollar ain’t gonna go so far. You can live like a king for nothing [in Houston], man. You can get a big-ass house for a million dollars in Houston.

SLAM: The Miami social scene is pretty great, though.

ST: Well, LeBron is married now. He needs to stay away from all that temptation. He needs to get away from Miami and come live a little more of a family life, so he won’t have to deal with all that temptation every time he walks out of the house, man. And we’ve got the best food in the world. Houston is the baddest city because we’ve got the best food.

SLAM: But that can be tough for an NBA player who needs to stay in shape.

ST: He’ll be aright, man—he’s got plenty of time to work out, but you get a good cheat day out in Houston when you go out to eat.

SLAM: If LeBron doesn’t join the Rockets, do you think they have a shot at Carmelo Anthony? Or another star?

ST: We need Melo. If we can’t get LeBron, we need Melo, man. We need whoever’s trying to win this ring, man, because we’re right there. We’re knocking on the door. We’re building our team up and we’re right there—we’re missing like one good piece. If we get Melo or LeBron, we’re going all the way.

SLAM: You’ve dropped LeBron James’ name in a song before, too.

ST: Yeah man, that’s LeBron James—everybody’s dropped LeBron James’ name in a song. But I swear if he comes to this city, we’re gonna have a LeBron James anthem. It’s gonna be so off the chain, man. He’ll get so much support. Houston is loyal to our teams, and we haven’t won in a long time. We’re still selling out. There’s just a loyalty in this city that you ain’t gonna find nowhere else.

SLAM: Right, people say the Miami sports fan base isn’t very strong.

ST: Everybody in Miami is too cool. Everybody in Miami has too much money, and they ain’t even from Miami—they’re from different places, the majority of them. Houston is a city and Texas is a state where if you ride for them, they’ll die with you. I think that’s what [LeBron] needs.

SLAM: Do you go to a lot of Rockets games?

ST: Oh yeah, I was at almost all the games—I probably missed like one. I was there the whole time. I was proud of the team. I think Howard gave it all he got. I think a few of the other players, they were struggling for whatever reason, but I think Howard’s hungry right now and he’s ready. With a little help from the rest of the team, I think we can make it.

SLAM: As a big fan, do you ever see any of the players at nightclubs and think they probably shouldn’t be out like that?

ST: I mean, nah, ain’t nothing wrong with partying, but yeah, at the same time, be serious about them rings, man. We divvy out those checks for Houston—we want to win something. So yeah, I definitely feel like, yeah, man, go to work. Give it 100 percent. Don’t be like, Fuck it, and go party the next day. That’s disrespectful.

SLAM: What do you think of NBA players rapping?

ST: I ain’t hating—if you can rap, rap. I wish I could play ball and get some of that basketball money, goddamn. So I ain’t gonna hate on that. I haven’t heard too many people—I think I heard KD rapping, I was like, OK, that’s somethin’ somethin’. Who else raps?

SLAM: Iman Shumpert. Stephen Jackson, too, though he isn’t in the League at the moment. 

ST: Oh, definitely Stephen Jackson. Me and Stephen Jackson did a song together, too. Stephen Jackson’s like a real rapper. The song we’ve got, we’re about to drop the video and they’re supposed to play it on MTV this week or next week. Check it out, man. He really can rap, though.

SLAM: Last question: Say you had LeBron’s number and were to shoot him a text before free agency begins tonight, what would it say? 

ST: LeBron James, you need to come to this city! Have you ever heard of V Live and Dream? We’ve got the best strip clubs in the world, man, right here in Houston, Texas. We’ve got the best food—come to Max’s and you’re getting the best brunch you’ve ever had in your life. You’re getting the whole city, 100 percent support, man. Come to where the love at.

The post Q+A: Slim Thug appeared first on SLAM.

Miles had plenty more going for him than his spot on this electrifying team. He was a young star, a high school phenom, and his No. 3 selection was the highest a prep-to-pro player had been drafted at the time. He was signed to Jordan Brand—probably the coolest kicks company in the market—who laced him with both a fat sneaker contract and as many retro Js as he could stuff into his closet. He graced the cover of Sports Illustrated alongside Kevin Garnett, and then a year later was posted up alongside Brand and Odom on an iconic cover of this magazine.

Considering what could lay ahead, a Darius Miles jersey seemed a pretty wise investment, and it was one that many made—by 2002 Miles’ jersey was in the top 10 of NBA jersey sales worldwide, alongside superstars like Allen Iverson, Kobe Bryant and Vince Carter.

And by 2009, before he hit of the age of 28, Miles was out of the NBA for good.

“Nobody could tell me what transpired with him was going to happen,” says Larry Butler, Miles’ AAU coach and the man who guided him into the NBA as a teenager. “Nobody could tell me that.”

Nor could you successfully explain the future to anyone who watched Miles play ball during his high school years. Miles, raised in East St. Louis, IL, where he was pushed into hoops as a youngster by his mother, sprouted to a lanky 6-9, with the slick handles of a guard and the dynamic athleticism of a wing. “When he was in the eighth grade, I said this kid is gonna be special,” says Rick Lewis, then an assistant at East St. Louis High. “He just had a special thing about him. Once he was on the floor, you couldn’t stop watching him. You just knew he was gonna make something exciting happen.

“In East St. Louis, there has not been a player to really ever come through there that has been as exciting of a player, that can do things so quickly and could control the excitement from start to finish, in transition, from defense to offense, offense to defense,” Lewis continues. “The gyms were packed for every game—everywhere we went people were excited for us coming into the gym, home games and away games. Our home fans followed us all over the country. It gave everyone in the community something to look forward to.”

“Darius was electrifying,” Butler says. “He was a high-energy, big-time athlete.”

The Clippers were happy to bring Miles aboard in June of ’00—he likely would’ve been snatched up by the Bulls, the closest thing Darius had to a local NBA team, had he fallen to fourth—and Miles was certainly happy to bring his raw skills to the City of Angels. The Clips had won just 15 games in ’99-00, but Miles, Richardson and Co. helped them improve to 31 wins in ’00-01, and then 39 in ’01-02. Miles averaged a decent 9.4 points and 5.9 rebounds his first year, then 9.5 points and 5.5 boards his second.

“There was so much young talent on that team,” Brand says. “We were all just coming into our own, learning how to play together. The thing about that era, just the constant highlights, SportsCenter Top 10s, [Miles] and Q banging their heads together—just constant joy. [Miles] played with a lot of joy.”

But those Hollywood lights shine very bright, and to a college-aged kid from a rough section of East St. Louis, they can be blinding. In The Youngest Guns, a documentary about Miles and Richardson’s friendship and first few years in the League, Miles recanted the social excitement of it all: “When we first got to L.A. last year, it was like, Man, we in L.A. with all these beautiful women—we finna be in the club almost every night.” As Miles spoke, Richardson nodded. “You couldn’t keep us out of the club. We were going to the club late, late night. We’d leave games, go straight to the club, then show up at practice the next morning in the same outfit we wore to the game.”

“Being in L.A. was not good for him at that time,” Butler says. “They had some good, young talent, they just didn’t have the leadership there to help them get through those rough stages. Sean Rooks was an elder statesman for them, but he was not the kind of guy who was gonna sit them down and have some long chats with them.”

Those “rough stages” refer to the second half of ’01-02, when the Clippers seemed poised to make a postseason run but unraveled as the season wound down. Miles was shipped to Cleveland that summer in exchange for Andre Miller.

“I’m 20 years old, turning 21, going to a team where they want me to be The Man and they want me to be a leader,” Miles says in The Youngest Guns, in an interview conducted after the trade was announced. And it’s true—perhaps the Cavs did want him to be The Man and a leader, but this was during a tank-it-away season where the organization’s main goal was to win the subsequent year’s lottery and scoop local hero LeBron James. Miles’ numbers remained consistent—9.2 points and 5.4 rebounds during ’02-03—and head coach Paul Silas, along with his son and assistant coach Stephen, put in extra work helping Darius round out his game after they were hired for the ’03-04 campaign.

“He listened to what I had to tell him,” Paul Silas says. “We really worked on his shooting, I remember that. He started shooting better. I would have each player shoot 100 shots before every practice, and after practice I would get him and my son and the coaches would go over his shooting with him, and he really started feeling good.”

But Miles ultimately clashed with management and, despite occasional flashes of brilliance, couldn’t find his footing in Ohio. Days after sleeping through a practice in January of 2004, he was traded to the Portland Trail Blazers for Ruben Boumtje-Boumtje and Jeff McInnis.

Miles’ best statistical years came in Portland, when his points per game jumped to 12.6 in ’03-04 and 12.8 in ’04-05. (He also scored a career-high 47 points in April of 2005.) It’s also where he earned his biggest paychecks, as the Blazers fattened his pockets with a six-year, $48 million in the summer of 2004.

Yet things went sour there, too. In January of 2005, Miles and Blazers coach Maurice Cheeks squabbled during a film session, leading to a two-game suspension for Miles. (According to various reports, Cheeks had been breaking down a series of errors Miles made one by one, causing the Portland forward to flip out, berating Cheeks and screaming “That’s right, run to your daddy!” as Cheeks left the session and headed toward General Manager John Nash’s office.) The Blazers had undeniable talent that season—Zach Randolph, Damon Stoudamire, Shareef Abdur-Rahim and Ruben Patterson joined Miles on their roster—but lacked the structure needed to become anything resembling a true contender in a tough Western Conference.

“Portland could’ve been a great spot for him, but once again, him being young and him thinking, I’m with Zach—my boy Z-Bo—things are gonna fall for me,” Butler says. “[But] his attitude during that time in the Cleveland and Portland stops—it wasn’t centered properly for him to succeed. He was almost unapproachable.”

Knee injuries plagued Miles through ’05-06, and then in November of 2006, during what was reported to be a simple routine arthroscopic clean-out, doctors decided a more drastic measure was needed and performed microfracture surgery on Miles’ right knee. He missed the remainder of that season, and the following one, and his once-promising career never recovered. He’d play a controversial set of games for the Memphis Grizzlies in ’08-09—due to a league rule, those games ruined the Blazers’ attempt to push Miles’ contract off their books—but by then it was clear the otherworldly athleticism with which his style of play relied on had faded into the distance. He attempted another comeback in 2010, suiting up in a few preseason games for the Charlotte Bobcats, but was waived just days before the regular season began.

There were off-the-court hiccups during this time period as well. While attempting his eventual comeback in 2008, Miles was suspended 10 games for violating the NBA’s Anti-Drug program, reportedly for taking the appetite suppressant Phentermine, a weight-loss drug. Then in 2009 his car was pulled over for failing to use a turn signal; during a search of the car a small amount of marijuana was found. (He was ticketed and charged with a misdemeanor.) Then in 2011, with his NBA career fully in the rearview, Miles was arrested and charged with attempting to bring a handgun through security at Lambert Airport in St. Louis. (A St. Louis County Prosecutor told SLAM that Miles pled guilty to the misdemeanor charge of Attempted Unlawful Use of a Weapon and was fined $100.)

We reached out to Darius to discuss his winding road through the League and how and where he’s settled down since, but through his stepdad, Donnell Dunn, he declined an interview. Though he didn’t provide a specific reason, we understood; his tale certainly doesn’t contain the Hollywood ending that’d align nicely with his entrance into the League.

But his career is also evidence of how dependent an NBA player’s professional life is on circumstance and environment. Could Darius have treated his time in the League differently? Of course. The money and the fame and the women and the life most likely hit him at too young an age, and unfortunately he wasn’t in the right place—professionally speaking—to handle it. (The captain of those ’00-01 Clippers was then-21-year-old Lamar Odom, the youngest C in League history.) When he landed in Cleveland, the Cavs had just ditched their top three scorers—Andre Miller, Lamond Murray and Wesley Person—as they prepped to toss away a season with their eye on the following year’s Draft. Not exactly an ideal place to develop. Then he wound up amongst a cast of characters nicknamed the “Jail Blazers.” Enough said, unfortunately.

D-Miles may not have had the proper mindset to handle NBA life as a teenager and young adult, and if not, his decision to leap head first into NBA waters at age 18 is on him and only him. But unlike so many other players whose careers begin slowly before they find the proper support system within the right franchise, Miles never wound up with the right franchise—or even one that was accomplishing much of anything positive whatsoever.

Could he have added muscle and tried harder to slide into the post, like Kevin Garnett, whom he once shared that SI cover with? Probably. Or could he have spent more time working on his jumpshot and attempted to become an all-around scorer like Tracy McGrady, whom scouts compared him with before he was drafted? Again: probably. But a plethora of knee issues plagued the latter years of Miles’ career, and his athleticism was robbed years before he likely ever expected to have to undergo a full on-court transformation.

Terms like “bust” and “cautionary tale” get thrown around when discussing guys like Darius Miles, but those words shadow the context required to understand why a career like Miles’ unwinds the way it does. And though you can talk about how his career ended—quietly, with nary a press conference or even on-the-record interview to rehash it—many of the things Miles accomplished during the early 00s were nothing short of spectacular, and the highlights and memories so many of us have of those days will never be erased.

“There were flashes of pure greatness,” Brand says. “Crossovers, windmills from the dotted line—he was a special talent, man.”

Originally published in SLAM 180

The post Fly Away appeared first on SLAM.

SLAM: Where in Brooklyn did you grow up?

Taj Gibson: I grew up in Fort Greene. It was rough. Still is rough.

SLAM: That area’s changed a little over the years. Do you notice the difference when you go back now?

TG: The other side of Fort Greene Park has changed, but the projects are still the same. I’m back there every day over the summer.

SLAM: How old were you when you first started playing basketball?

TG: About 5. I saw Ed “Booger” Smith—he grew up in my neighborhood and was a streetball legend, so I was always watching him, and I just wanted to play because he was playing.

SLAM: Where’d you play back then?

TG: I just stayed outside. Mostly I would go to Marcy Projects to see my cousins—they lived in Marcy, so I would go to Marcy Projects and play all day. I had to get off the court all the time, but I fought literally every day because [older kids] would take my basketball from me. I’d have to wait outside until about 10 o’clock at night just to get my basketball. Over the years I had to just put up with it, until I was able to handle my own on the court.

SLAM: Did you learn the game from any specific family members?

TG: Yeah, my dad played basketball all throughout Brooklyn. I would always go with him to different projects and see how different kids live in different neighborhoods and different projects. Sometimes it was fun, sometimes it was bad, because after the games there’d be shootouts and fights. But it was exciting just to go to different neighborhoods all throughout New York—Brooklyn, the Bronx, Queens. You see how everybody lives and plays basketball differently.

SLAM: What was different about the style of ball you were familiar with and what you’d see in different boroughs?

TG: They played 21—we just played Utah. They called it differently. The way they were talking was different in different boroughs—different boroughs talk differently, and we played differently. Like if you go to Harlem, guys in Harlem think Brooklyn basketball players are different because they think we bring ruckus and we want to fight after the game. I played for the New York Gauchos, and there were many times I’d go watch games at The Rucker and they’d be playing a team from Brooklyn, and they’d be like, “Alright Brooklyn, we ain’t gonna have no drama today.” When those boroughs clashed, it was crazy. There was always tension.

SLAM: What are the rules of Utah?

TG: Utah was like a real rugged game. There were no foul calls—it was similar to 21, we just called it Utah. No foul calls. It was real physical. I just remember going outside and just playing it. I liked it. Playing that, it made me tough.

SLAM: Did you only play outside in the summer? Or all year?

TG: I played all year round. All year round. You take a shovel, scrape some stuff out the way, and just keep hooping no matter what. The majority of the time, you can’t go to a recreation center or a gym.

SLAM: You didn’t have a local rec or anything like that?

TG: Nah, just straight outside. Until I started going to the Gauchos Gym I was always outside.

SLAM: Do you think the fact that you grew up playing outside had a legitimate effect on your development?

TG: Yeah, because playing outside there were always people who came around and watched the game. You want to make the transition to play against the older guys, the legends out on the court in your neighborhood. You’ve got the hustlers, [and] everyone that’s out watching the game and seeing you play. Over the years, I always wanted to be known in my neighborhood as being one of the best basketball players. We had Bernard King, we had Omar Cook, we had Ed “Booger” Smith. We had a lot of players, but I always wanted to be known as being one of the top ones just like them.

SLAM: Is there anyone specific who you always wanted to be as good as or who you always wanted to beat? 

TG: I played in a tournament called The Kingdome one year, and I had to go against a guy they called “The Franchise.” [John “The Franchise” Strickland—Ed.] I was excited because he was a streetball legend. I got the chance to go against him, and I scored one bucket and I was like, The sky is the limit! You can do it! I felt like he was God to me, because he used to dominate NBA players whenever they’d come down. I always wanted to be like him so much because he loved the game and everybody loved him—there was never negativity toward him, so I wanted to be just like him. That was one of the highlights of my career, just being able to guard him. And he wasn’t even an NBA player, just that guy who was just known.

SLAM: What team did you grow up rooting for?

TG: I grew up a Knicks fan. But then, when my mom sent me to California [where he spent his final three years of high school—Ed.], I kind of became a Lakers fan, too. So it was like half and half.

SLAM: Who were your favorite players back then? 

TG: Chris Childs and Allan Houston. Chris Childs was gangsta. Him, Allan Houston and Latrell Sprewell, they didn’t back down from anybody. That’s why I loved them.

SLAM: I assume you remember the Chris Childs-Kobe Bryant fight.

TG: Yeah, I remember that. [Childs] didn’t even wait. He was one of those players who didn’t talk—he just acted. It’s funny because me and Coach Thibs, we talk about those Knicks teams all the time, because he was coaching. He was an assistant coach.

SLAM: What does Thibs tell you?

TG: He talks about how rugged they were, how they had similarities to the way we play on the floor. They just didn’t care—the odds were always against them. The year they went to the Eastern Conference Championship and the Finals, being the 8 seed and knocking off the Miami Heat, it showed anything can happen.

SLAM: This season you guys were kind of the modern NBA version of those squads.

TG: Yeah, how we just play hard, practice every day and have fun.

SLAM: Did you try to steal moves from anyone specific?

TG: I wanted to be like Charles Oakley, because when he got on the court, nobody messed with him. He just had that respect. My favorite players were Charles Oakley and PJ Brown. They just played hard and loved the game.

SLAM: Did you always have the same style of play that you have now?

TG: No, I was different. I adapted to whatever team I was on. Playing with New Yorkers in a guard-oriented league, it’s like nine times out of 10 you have all point guards on your team, so all you can really do is rebound and block shots.

SLAM: What courts did you like playing on?

TG: I loved the Rucker. I loved Dyckman Park. I loved Soul in the Hole in Brooklyn. I loved the Gauchos Gym. West 4th always stuck out to me, because people would just stop and watch you play all day. When you’re young, you want to get attention, and that’s a good way to get attention—play against the old guys in the middle of the day. The only thing is, once you lose, you gotta wait forever to get back on. But the crowd and people are great.

SLAM: Were you into any other sports?

TG: I played everything. I was mostly into BMX. One of my best friends, he would ride bikes to get cardio and to work his legs, then one day he just started doing tricks. We would go down to the Brooklyn Banks underneath the Brooklyn Bridge all the time, and hang out with the other bike riders and have fun. I still do it. I do it for my cardio and I still try to see if I can bunny-hop as high as I can.

SLAM: The area you grew up in was obviously pretty rough. How’d you stay on the right path?

TG: Just seeing young guys lose their lives over stupidness. Every day there were guys getting locked up, getting sent upstate, losing their lives. It was traumatizing. You had to find some way not to end up like that. I’m lucky to make it out.

SLAM: How often do you go back? 

TG: When I’m out in New York every summer, I’m in either Marcy Projects or I’m in Fort Greene. I’m always in front of my old building. My parents still have the same old house, and we still go there and still own everything. Most of the time I live in Manhattan but sometimes I’ll spend the night in Marcy Projects, and sometimes I’ll spend the night in my old apartment in Brooklyn. People are shocked I’m still in my neighborhood. They’re like, “He love this neighborhood.” I’m still the same—nothing’s changed. I’m never gonna change.

The post In The Cut appeared first on SLAM.

Originally published in SLAM 178

by Adam Figman

Alvin Williams clearly remembers his first meeting with Kyle Lowry. They were at Villanova University, on the Main Line in the suburbs of Philadelphia, where Williams was training during an offseason in the midst of his 10-year NBA career, and Lowry was a high schooler, visiting the campus on a recruiting trip. Williams, an established hooper from Philly, was simply reaching out to an up-and-comer from his hometown. Lowry wasn’t really having it.

“I thought he was a jerk,” Williams says. “Kyle was tough. He was tough to get along with, from my standpoint. He was stubborn. I didn’t really like his attitude at all.”

Though Williams quickly bonded with the point guard (who did end up attending  Villanova before being selected 24th by the Memphis Grizzlies in the 2006 Draft) that tough-to-get-along-with rep followed Lowry around during his first few years in the League. “You won’t run into people who knew Kyle early in his career who say he was a nice guy,” Williams says.

Now, though, eight seasons into his career, Lowry’s reputation has evolved. He’s the guiding force and possibly the most important player on the Toronto Raptors, a team somehow sitting at 47-33, good for a surprisingly high third place in the Eastern Conference. He’s averaging 17.8 points, 7.5 assists and 1.5 steals per game, the first two of which are career highs. He was either the first or second player left off the East All-Star team. And his rep as a tough-nosed, difficult-to-coach hardhead has softened; he was highly coveted before the 2014 trade deadline and will be once again this summer when he hits free agency.

It’s been an undeniably great 2013-14 for the 6-0 Lowry, a process that began as soon as the 2012-13 campaign concluded. “Coming off of last season, we had a meeting at the end of the season and just decided it’d be his best summer ever,” says Joe Abunassar, who manages Impact Basketball and has trained Lowry every offseason since he was drafted by the Grizzlies. “What we did early was get his weight down and get him in great shape physically—normally guys would take some time off after the season, but he didn’t really take time off at all. He got going with mostly low impact cardio training.”

After spending time in his hometown of Philly, Lowry went to Las Vegas to train with Abunassar through the hot summer months. They worked on improving his jumpshot, which had been Lowry’s Achilles heel early in his career. They ran hundreds of pick-and-rolls, making sure the then-27-year-old would be prepared for every possible outcome. And Joe made sure his client and friend was in tip-top shape, ready for the slog of another 82-or-more-game year. (Lowry has been on the court for 2,799 minutes this season, the most of his career—and three games still remain.)

“Kyle’s summer—and I’ve had guys for a long time—it was as good as any summer anyone’s had,” Abunassar says. “His focus was unbelievable.”

In late September, Lowry convened with the Raptors overlords—chairman Larry Tanenbaum, team president Tim Leiweke, senior basketball advisor Wayne Embry and general manager Masai Ujiri, who called the meeting—to discuss his future. The group loved what Lowry brought to the table, talent-wise, and knew that the team would go as far as their bulldog of a starting point guard would bring them. And it wasn’t much of a secret: If he failed, he’d likely be shipped out of town before the trade deadline and the organization would turn its focus toward the upcoming Draft. If he succeeded, they’d keep him on board for a Playoff run.

“They put a lot on my shoulders,” Lowry says now. “They pretty much told me, How you go is how we’re going to go. They put their hearts and trust into me to be a successful player and lead the team, you don’t want to let down and disappoint them, so you do what you have to do in order to not disappoint them and let them down. That was a goal for me—I personally wanted to make sure I didn’t let those guys down. I wanted to make them proud.”

Safe to say he’s done just that. So when the All-Star rosters were announced in January, many expected Kyle’s name to be on the list—alas, he was left out. “It wasn’t a big thing to me,” he says. “I mean, I would’ve loved to accomplish that. I would’ve loved to achieve that accomplishment, but it didn’t make me say, Oh man, I’m mad. It basically made me say, OK, it’s not my time. Just keep working harder and maybe it’ll happen.”

Kyle’s evolution has likely been a shock to many—especially some who dealt with the point guard early in his career as he struggled to gain his NBA footing—but some say this is exactly where they expected him to be at this point in time. Count both Abunassar and Williams in that camp, along with Lonnie Lowry, Kyle’s big brother, who steered lil’ bro into hoops way back when. “My brother wanted me to be something,” Kyle says. “He knew I loved the sport, and he loved the sport, and he just put the ball in my hands and made me run with it.”

“He followed me and my friends around and played sports with us,” Lonnie says. “We’re five years apart, but honestly, from age 7 on up, he literally played sports with me and my friends—tackle football, basketball, baseball. Anything we did, he came and played with us. That probably toughened him up more than anything.”

And, of course, Lonnie played hoops, so Kyle did, too. Basketball kept both boys out of trouble, as did the duo’s foundation: their mother and grandmother, who ran a tight ship in the Lowry household. “We were scared of our mom—our mom and our grandma,” Lonnie says. “We knew they weren’t playing. We were the kids where everybody would be playing, and it’s 8 o’clock, and you can hear my grandma screaming our names out down the street to come in the house. A lot of our other friends didn’t have that. Our grandma would come out—it’s 8 o’clock, let’s go. We knew what it was.”

The duo avoided trouble and stayed on the right path, though the city’s violence would creep into their lives by simple proximity. One day in either 2001 or 2002, during a pick-up game at Connie Mack Court in North Philadelphia, shots were fired in the gym. Everyone fled. According to a National Post report, the ever-competitive Kyle wanted to keep playing immediately after. “It was just a bad place at a bad time,” Kyle says. “The neighborhood I grew up in, it was definitely one of those places where it definitely wasn’t easy to get around, wasn’t like you can just say, Hey, I’m gonna go walk around the corner, without your brother. There’s violence, drugs, things like that.”

Lonnie, despite only being half a decade older than Kyle, coached his younger brother’s AAU team, slowly coming to the realization that his sibling had a very serious hoops future. Even back when they were kids, the younger Lowry had an insanely competitive spirit, and as he got older, Lonnie says there were multiple moments when he was blown away by his brother’s talent. He pinpoints a game in 2003 when Kyle’s AAU team was in Fort Wayne, IN, for the Run ‘N Slam, facing a skilled group called The Family. Though his squad was expected to lose, Kyle dropped 41 points in a victory. “[The Family] had like eight high-major kids, and he just trashed them, from start to finish,” Lonnie says. “I was just like, Whoa.”

He played two seasons at Villanova—one in which he came off the bench and often clashed with coach Jay Wright, then one in which he settled in, started, scored 11 points per game and helped the Wildcats reach the Elite 8—before getting drafted by the Grizzlies in 2006. That he’s bounced around the NBA for a bit since—playing two and a half seasons for Memphis, then three and a half for Houston, and now about to finish his second in Toronto—could be credited both to a set of unfortunate situations (the Grizzlies drafted PG Mike Conley with Lowry already on the roster) and how far he needed to come as a person (after the Rockets ditched coach Rick Adelman, Lowry reportedly refused to give new coach Kevin McHale a full effort).

Now situated in Toronto—at least until this summer, when he’ll be keeping an open mind toward all free agency opportunities, in the T-Dot or elsewhere—Lowry has been one of the main factors behind the team’s decision to avoid the all-tank-everything route and attempt to make at least a small splash in the postseason. As could probably be expected, Lowry is quick to deflect the attention to his teammates: “We take a little bit from everybody on our team,” he says. “From me, every single night I know these guys are gonna go to war for me, and in the same way they know I’m gonna go to war for them. We get our swagger from Greivis, because he has the best swag on the team—he’s definitely swagged out. From John Salmons, how humble he is—he’s always ready to go. DeMar [DeRozan], too. Everybody takes a little something from everybody, and it builds an uncanny, cool team.”

And as for Kyle individually, it looks like his career is finally steered in the perfect direction. His NBA mentors Chauncey Billups—whom he met through Abunassar—and Chester, PA-bred Jameer Nelson helped him reach this new level of maturity, as has simply getting older and the birth of his 2-year-old son, Karter. “Having a healthy kid is one of the greatest things that’s ever happened to me,” he says proudly.

“He’s made tremendous strides as a player, but more so as a young man,” Williams says. The former Toronto Raptor guard literally watched the evolution of Kyle Lowry from a stubborn young pup in high school to his current status as a more level-headed, valuable member of a soon-to-be Playoff contender. “The person he is now is so far from the person he was when I first met him. He still has his moments, but he’s so much different, such a better person than he was back then. He has a ways to go, but it should be emphasized that he makes it an every-day goal to become better in that locker room and as a player off the floor. He really does, man.”

Abunassar agrees wholeheartedly. “We talk about attitude and [Lowry’s] approach more than anything else,” he says. “It’s a learning process. He’s started to realize his off-the-court mannerisms and his mannerisms in the locker room are just as important as his value on the court. That team is winning, and his attitude and approach has a lot to do with it.”

The post Aphillyated appeared first on SLAM.

Originally published in SLAM 177

by Adam Figman

Early on in the summer of 2013, it would’ve been understandable if Goran Dragic felt a little uneasy about his status with the Phoenix Suns. Sure, he was the team’s starting point guard the previous year, but suddenly the future was unclear, uncertain—after all, the organization spent the beginning of the offseason hiring a new general manager (Ryan McDonough), a new head coach (Jeff Hornacek), trading for a new, up-and-coming PG (Eric Bledsoe) and stockpiling young talent and Draft picks, making the sort of moves generally executed by teams planning to tank away the upcoming season and restock through the following year’s loaded Draft. Dragic could easily be moved to the bench or dealt for more young talent and more picks. Not exactly a super-high level of job security.

But it’s amazing the change one phone call can make. With a single conversation, Hornacek not only assured Dragic that his importance within the team would maintain, but that Dragic would hold onto his role as a starter, as the new coach laid out his plan to play Bledsoe at the 1, Dragic at the 2, and occasionally vice versa, depending on the opponent’s defensive schemes. Then, in early September, as Dragic prepared for a game during the European Championships in his home country of Slovenia, the skinny 27-year-old noticed two familiar faces in the crowd; McDonough and Hornacek had made the long trek to Central Europe to see him play.

That’s when Dragic knew for sure: If he took care of business on the court, he wouldn’t need to worry about relocating his wife and newly born son out of Arizona in the coming few months.

“[Hornacek and I] were in different hotels in Slovenia, and we couldn’t go out,” the 6-3 Dragic says, sitting in the courtyard of the adidas-sponsored space at the W Hotel in New Orleans during 2014’s All-Star Weekend. “But I spoke him to before the games when he was in the stands, and it was a good experience. I said, ‘Welcome to Slovenia, I hope you’re gonna have a good time.’ I wish I had some free time to show him around, but I couldn’t.

“We spoke a lot on the phone about what he expects from me and Eric, and that we’d be playing most of the minutes together, because there were rumors out there that I was gonna get traded. They told me that they wanna make this thing work, with me and Eric on the court together.”

“It was great,” Hornacek says of his visit to Slovenia. “Goran had to be the leader and face of Slovenia basketball. When he went into those games, teams were prepared to go against him. That put a lot of pressure on him from the country. He handled it great—their team had a great tournament, and he proved that he can be that guy, a main guy.”

Then, after showing Hornacek and McDonough in Slovenia what he was capable of, Dragic spent the following six months demonstrating the same to the rest of the world. He and Bledsoe did indeed play alongside one another, just as Hornacek had planned, until December 30, building up an impressive 16-8 record during games the two both participated in (and a 19-11 mark as a team overall). But that night Bledsoe went down with a right knee injury, and it was widely expected that a young run-and-gun squad fueled by an unknown source of momentum would finally, inevitably, fade away.

And yet, here we are: At the moment, the Suns sit at 44-30, good for seventh in a tough Western Conference. (They’d be sitting pretty at third if they were positioned in the lousy East.) And why? Many reasons, but here’s a start: Goran Dragic, and his per-game averages of 20.5 points, 5.9 assists and 1.3 steals.

“Goran is one tough competitor, he ain’t going to back down from nothing,” Bledsoe says. “And that’s what you like. To me, I like guys like that, guys who don’t care who they’re playing against, they just go out there and try to win.”

“[Dragic is] a guy who can really push the ball, a very good scorer, a guy who’s tough and you can count on,” Hornacek says. “You know that he would play through anything. Those are the type of guys you want on your team—those tough-nosed, hard-nosed guys who are gonna compete night in and night out. Goran’s done that his whole career.”

The aforementioned stats have only improved since EBled went down, and a deeper look confirms Dragic’s importance to the group. As this issue went to press, he led the team in both minutes and usage rate (at 24 percent), and he’s also the team’s most efficient scorer, scoring 1.2 points per possession. His true shooting percentage—which takes into account both free throws and the added value of three-pointers—is 60.9 percent, also a team-high.

“I feel a lot more comfortable, and I know when I need to choose my shot,” the left-handed Dragic says. “I was playing as a 2-guard a little more, I could focus on spot-up shooting. When [Bledsoe] got injured, I’ve played more 1. I’m just doing my job.”

To say the least. Out of all NBAers who have usage rates above 23 percent—so, all guys who have the ball in their hands as often as Dragic does (or more)—he’s the sixth most efficient player offensively, trailing a decent group comprised only of LeBron James, Kevin Durant, Chris Paul, Dirk Nowitzki and Kevin Love.

“He’s got such a knack and ability to get to the hole, and he’s a great finisher,” Hornacek says. “At that height, you would think a 55 percent finisher inside is pretty good. He’s at 60, or maybe even above that. [Yep, above that: 65.5 as this issue went to press—Ed.] And he’s worked on his outside game. The one thing that separates him is with that great finishing ability, once you can make those outside shots at a high clip, now teams don’t know what to do. Maybe in the past they said, We gotta keep him out of the paint, so let’s go behind on pick-and-rolls and make him shoot. Well, he’s proved this year that he can light that up. That makes him especially dangerous.”

Which he was not, admittedly, when he was a teenager back in Slovenia, hoping for nothing more than an opportunity with a pro franchise. As a kid, Dragic would wake up at 2 a.m. to watch his favorite players Michael Jordan and Grant Hill battle it out in the NBA, and like so many other Europeans, Dragic was originally a soccer fanatic until a leg injury switched his focus to basketball. By his early teens, though, he realized hoops were his destiny; at just 17, he signed his first pro contract, agreeing to play for a second-division team in Slovenia.

“My first goal was to get to the first division,” he says. “Then to one of the best teams in Europe, then of course I was with a top team in Spain [CB Murcia], and after that I knew I could reach the NBA. I told the media that I’m gonna go to the NBA, and a lot of media and a lot of people in Slovenia told me that it’s not a good decision, that I’m gonna come home quick, because when I was in Europe, my jump shot was not good and I was more of a driver. When I’d practice, I kept it in the back of my head, like, I have to prove to those people that they’re wrong.”

The San Antonio Spurs selected Dragic 45th overall in the ’08 Draft, immediately shipping his rights to the Suns, who hoped to use him as a back-up (and eventual successor) to Steve Nash. He suffered through a bumpy rookie campaign (4.5 points and 13.5 minutes per), but eventually broke out during the ’10 Playoffs, scoring 26 points (23 in the fourth quarter) in a victory against the Spurs, officially earning both newfound confidence and a slick nickname: The Dragon.

The next season, during a rough stretch for the Suns, first-year general manager Lance Blanks traded Dragic to Houston for point guard Aaron Brooks.

And yet, following two on-and-off, potential-flashing seasons with the Rockets, Dragic found himself back in Phoenix two summers ago, when he inked a four-year, $34 million deal only days after the Suns sent Nash to the Lakers in a sign-and-trade. He started for the Suns in ’12-13, averaging a decent 14.7 points and 7.4 dimes per, while the squad piled up losses, sitting lowly in the NBA’s cellar. Then came the franchise’s 2013 summer of upheaval—new coach, new GM, new point guard, new attitude.

For Dragic, though, last summer consisted of his standard routine—some time spent back home in Slovenia, and some time spent in California’s Hermosa Beach, training day in and day out with Tom Vachet, a former Navy SEAL who’s worked for years as a strength and conditioning coach with a variety of pro athletes. Through Dragic’s agent, the point guard and Vachet met when the former was drafted into the League, and they’ve been working together ever since, usually outside, in the sand, doing drills that’d have the average gym rat’s legs sore for weeks on end.

“If your workouts are as difficult as your most difficult game, than you aren’t training the right way,” Vachet says. “You have to train much harder. I trained in the military on the beach, and sand workouts were very difficult. That’s one of the reasons I started going to the beach. The other is, there’s something about training in the outdoors that’s cool and exhilarating.”

“I enjoy maybe the last week of them, because I’m in good shape, but the first couple of weeks, it is not fun,” Dragic says. “My body is hurting. But I think it’s the right thing to do, especially on the sand, because it’s unstable and it helps for my balance, my ankles and my knees, to prevent injuries. For all of my six years in the League, I’ve always been healthy. I think the reason is because of those beach workouts.”

When we got up with Goran, first at the adidas suite during All-Star Weekend and then a few days later via phone, there was a bit of a bad taste in his mouth—both of our conversations came during or within days of All-Star Weekend, of which Goran was only a small part, participating in the Skills Challenge but not the game itself. Many have cried “Snub!” though it’s hard to pinpoint a Western Conference player who he should’ve replaced. Regardless: More fuel for the fire.

“When I found out [I wasn’t selected], I was mad, disappointed, full of emotions,” Dragic says. “But that’s the way it is in life. I did my job on the court, and I still want to play good, help my team, try to make players better. If I think negatively, that’s not gonna help me. So I always think positive: There’s always next year.

“Every point of your life, you remember some things that you get energy from,” he continues. “When I came to the NBA, it was people back home that doubted me. Then the front office of Phoenix [who traded me]. Now it’s the All-Star Game. A lot of people were saying I should’ve been in the game, and I feel the same thing, but there’s always next year. Next year I have to demonstrate again that I belong.”

But beforehand, there’s a different goal: Demonstrating that his team, which many thought would be competing with the likes of the Magic, 76ers and Jazz for a top Draft selection and little else, belongs as well.

“There are a lot of games left,” he says, “but I think if we play well, and together, we can make something happen. In the Playoffs, we wouldn’t have anything to lose. We just want to play our game. I think we’re gonna be a tough, tough team to get rid of.”

The post Enter the Dragon appeared first on SLAM.

Quinton Ross had a weird week. The former NBA player—who played for five teams during his seven-season career from 2004-2011—woke up Monday morning to learn that the entire world believed he was dead, the victim of a horrific crime, first reported by the NY Post, in which the body of a man named Quinton Ross was found stuffed in a trash bag in Queens, NY. Alas, it was a different Quinton Ross—the Quinton Ross who spent the mid-00s suiting up for the Los Angeles Clippers currently lives in Dallas and is very much safe and sound—and the Post inevitably modified its report.

(That said, a man named Quinton Ross was indeed found dead, and our thoughts go out to his family and friends.)

We spoke with the 32-year-old Ross about his emotional past few days.

SLAM: You’ve had some week.

Quinton Ross: Yeah, it was definitely unexpected, man.

SLAM: Tell me a little about your Monday—how’d you find out that reports of your death were circulating?

QR: I was actually just waking up in the morning, and my fiancé had received a text message from one of her friends that said, “Tell me the news isn’t true.” And I’m looking at her, like, “What news is she talking about?” She called her friend and the friend said I was dead. So I got up really quick and got on the Internet, and I saw my picture and everything. It said I was dead. I couldn’t believe it.

SLAM: What’d you do next?

QR: Well, my mom was at the house with me. Her phone was blowing up. My brother’s phone was blowing up. I just got on my phone and was texting and calling people to let them know that it’s not me. I went on Facebook and posted on Facebook that I was alive. Shoot, just reaching out to as many people as I can to let them know that the person that did die, it definitely wasn’t me. There were a couple people I hadn’t spoken to in years, so I guess you can definitely say it brought people back into my life that I hadn’t communicated with in a minute.

SLAM: And it’s such a sad situation because there was someone that was actually killed.

QR: Yeah, somebody died. All my prayers go out to their family, because they’re dealing with that. That’s a really tough situation.

SLAM: Did anyone from the Post reach out to you or your family at all?

QR: That’s the great thing about it—I didn’t receive nothing. I guess you can post a story like that and just make it go away. I don’t know, I didn’t receive a call or an apology or nothing. That’s amazing. Shoot, I had people calling my momma crying, distraught, because they really thought I was dead. I don’t know, that doesn’t make any sense to me.

SLAM: What are you up to these days?

QR: My back situation hasn’t always been the greatest—I had surgery back in 2011, and I’ve been off and on trying to play since then. The back will be good one day, off one day, so I think I’m gonna shut it down. I was really just enjoying my family for a little bit and getting ready to try to get into coaching. I’m gonna try to get into that and see where it takes me. I have a couple contacts that I’ve already reached out to, so hopefully when this college season ends things will work out.

The post Q+A: Quinton Ross appeared first on SLAM.

Ten or so deep breaths, in and out. Then the second-year point guard closes his eyes, concentrating all of his energy on his inner center—either down at his navel, or within his forehead, right between the eyes. Focus hard enough on a specific spot, he was taught, and you can block out all feelings of fatigue, gaining an obvious advantage on your wind-sucking opponents in the process.

“What he’s doing is calming himself down so he gets in a flow state by slowing his brain waves down,” says Anthony Eggleton, the Oakland-based trainer who imparted this technique. “The next thing is focusing on the center of will—what that does is drive chi through the body and change his whole Neural System.”

“It helps me,” Lillard says. No need to specialize in neuroscience to know what works and what doesn’t. “It’s a mental thing.”

Then come the final few minutes of the game, during which Lillard leans on his overdeveloped mental toughness to keep pushing through the final buzzer. And, not coincidentally, mere seconds before that buzzer rings off—whether in regulation or overtime, where he was an unbelievable 15-19 from the field in his career as this issue went to press—the 23-year-old shines. This season, as the clock expires, we’ve seen a gliding lay-up in November to beat the Suns; a mid-range fade-away in December to defeat the Pistons; and, just two nights later, a deep three to down Kyrie Irving and the helpless Cavs.

#LillardTime, they call it. It begins with the breathing. It ends with the scowl, a furious glare he gives after each and every game-winner—an intense, almost resentful stare that seems to hint at an internal desire to prove someone wrong. Maybe some local kid who thought Dame wasn’t any good back in the day, maybe the coach at St. Joseph Notre Dame who refused to provide a 10th grade Dame with decent playing time, maybe the dozens of big-time college recruiters who refused so much as a glance his way, maybe the group of reporters who smirked when Dame, upon declaring for the NBA Draft, said he plans to be the next Rookie of the Year.

It’s confidence, anger, grit and fearlessness all mashed into one very specific, constantly reappearing look. “That’s the East Oakland in me,” Lillard says. “It’s like this kind of chip that you have on your shoulder that you carry with you, that underdog mentality. It’s always been where people didn’t believe in me or I didn’t have an opportunity, so I kind of have a me-against-the-world mentality. I feel like I still need to earn it.

“So when stuff like [game-winners] happens, that’s the expression of, now what?”

***

“A good martial artist does not become tense, but ready. Not thinking, yet not dreaming. Ready for whatever may come. When the opponent expands, I contract. When he contracts, I expand. And when there is an opportunity, I do not hit. It hits all by itself.” —Bruce Lee

“This is the honest to God truth: I thought God put him on Earth just to play basketball. It might sound funny, but I used to tell his mother all the time, this boy was put on this Earth just to play basketball.” —Houston Lillard Sr, Damian’s father

We’re in a gymnasium at the Portland adidas headquarters for the photo shoot of the cover of SLAM 176 during a late January afternoon, and Dame is doing nothing to prove the words of his pops incorrect. The minute he arrives at the court, he finds a ball and starts launching up shots, continuing to practice quick dribbling moves in between flicks.

During a break in the shoot, he sits on a nearby bleacher talking about his journey to the League and where he hopes to go from here. Clad in a Blazers jersey, matching shorts and his special edition black-and-red adidas Crazy 8s, he seems relaxed, comfortable. Which makes sense, because, come on: things could be plenty worse. He could not be the starting point guard of a team positioned firmly in the upper echelon of the ultra-competitive Western Conference. He could not be the reigning Rookie of the Year, an up-and-comer about to make his first All-Star Game in a few weeks. Shit, he could have never made it out of East Oakland in the first place.

That’s where it all began, of course. The Lillards had a little kiddie court set up in their living room, and Houston Sr (Damian’s big brother is Houston Jr) would watch in amazement as a tiny Dame would sink bank shot after bank shot. A couple miles away, outside his grandmother’s house in the Oakland neighborhood of Brookfield Village, Damian and his older cousins would shoot through a curved tree branch that resembled a hoop. “It got to the point that they got older and weren’t shooting on the tree no more, and I was still out there like it was new,” he says. Later, his grandfather posted a milk crate to a telephone pole, which became the boys’ new basket, until they outgrew that, too.

Eventually Lillard began hooping at the Brookfield Rec, where his game was honed facing off against kids from around the way. Damian could play, but he wasn’t great, and he didn’t have the work ethic required to take his talent to the next level. Then his father introduced him to Raymond Young, the coach of the Oakland Rebels, a local AAU team, and that rapidly changed. “His work ethic just switched overnight,” Houston Sr says. “All of a sudden he just picked up that good work ethic.”

Dame and his AAU teammates earned money for AAU trips by selling magazine subscriptions, raffle tickets and AAU-branded gear on the street. “We were on 4th Street in Berkeley out there all day, just trying to make sure we could get enough money,” he says. “That’s how we learned how to hustle, how to make a way.” Years later, Dame would make sure an adidas sponsorship for the Rebels was written into his first sneaker deal.

Lillard didn’t break out until his junior year, when he averaged 19.4 points at Oakland High School, and though an improved work ethic did put him on the radar of some mid-major schools, none of the big programs (including UNC, his dream school) came calling. Weber State had gotten in early, and Lillard, ever loyal, decided to sign there.

Ogden, Utah was certainly no Oakland, but Damian enjoyed the newfound serenity. His first Friday night in Ogden, at around 11 p.m., he walked over to a local Burger King, thinking how impossible it’d be to roam the streets of East Oakland at such an hour without having to worry about winding up in the wrong place at the wrong time, as he once did after a high school practice when three men—one brandishing a gun—rolled up on him at the Eastmont bus station, demanding he empty his pockets and give up his backpack.

To hear those who were around him tell it, Dame hit Weber State with a relentless hunger to get better. “The hardest working kid I’ve been around in 22 years,” says Randy Rahe, the team’s head coach. “We’d give him the weaknesses he had to work on, and he’d live in the gym until they got better.” He improved each year at Weber State, entering the Draft in 2012 projected as a top-15 pick. The Blazers owned No. 6 and 11, and though they felt he may be available at 11, GM Neil Olshey avoided the risk by scooping Dame at 6.

The rookie-to-be’s first-year goal had already been set. “When he was here he did his press conference announcing he’s going to the Draft,” Weber State assistant Phil Beckner says. “The press were here, and they’re like, ‘Dame, what’s your next goal?’ He goes, ‘I wanna be Rookie of the Year.’ Right after that I told him, Dame, you can’t say that stuff! You’re crazy. He’s like, ‘Phil, I’m gonna be Rookie of the Year.’” Though the Blazers struggled—finishing a disappointing 33-49, missing the postseason—Lillard lived up to his personal expectations, averaging 19 ppg, 6.5 apg and 3.1 rpg and earning ROY just as he claimed he would.

“Right after he got [Rookie of the Year], they did a YouTube thing here with the school, and the first thing he said was, ‘I told Phil I’m gonna be Rookie of the Year and he didn’t believe me,’” Beckner laughs. “He will prove anybody wrong.”

The 6-3 Lillard demonstrated he had a real future in the NBA right off the bat, scoring 23 and dishing 11 against the Lakers on opening night, then putting in 37 against the Warriors in his first game back in Oakland. He sank a game-winner vs New Orleans in December, debuting the aforementioned Lillard Face. More than anything, though, it was the poise he performed with that distinguished him from the rest of his rookie class.

“He’s always calm and cool,” says Earl Watson, Portland’s veteran reserve point guard. “His emotions are only visible when he’s aggressive during a big moment—like a big play or big dunk—but you’re not gonna rattle him, you’re not gonna make him nervous, and you’re not gonna put him in a situation where he’s uncomfortable.”

As we went to press, Dame’s numbers were similar to last year’s—2 more ppg, 1 less apg—but with the insane clutch performances and the little fact that the Blazers are swiftly becoming a fully formed contender (evidenced by victories over just about everyone, save the Miami Heat, who beat them by a single point), Lillard’s selection to the ASG was a sure thing.

“It just seems like he’s one of those guys that practices every day, and some of those shots he makes when he attacks the basket are like…” Blazers guard Wesley Matthews says, unable to finish his sentence while smiling and shaking his head. “He’s coming into his own.”

Lillard also stays in touch with Eggleton throughout the season, receiving text messages from the trainer filled with notes about improving his mental toughness and overall mindset. In early January, Eggleton sent Dame a YouTube link to a video called “Power and Serenity of the Focused Mind,” a series of Bruce Lee highlights from Enter The Dragon spliced together as Lee, and then a separate narrator, describe how one can use mind control to defeat an opponent.

Sure, it’s difficult to imagine an NBA player finding much use in the material there. But then you think about two teams sitting on their respective benches during a timeout, two minutes left in a close game, everyone exhausted to the brim, 10 sets of lungs searching for air. And you think about Damian Lillard, closing his eyes, somehow (successfully) convincing his body that it isn’t tired, perhaps remembering one of those ridiculous but timeless Bruce Lee quotes, and you realize, clock ticking down, with just enough time remaining for one player to step up and close it out … who the hell could possibly be better prepared for the moment than this guy?

***

After the photo shoot, Dame and some adidas reps walk to the employee store for a meet-and-greet with fans to celebrate the release of Lillard’s Crazy 8 PE. The shop’s blaring hip-hop music is turned up so loud that it’s difficult to hear much of the conversation between the star and those here to grab an autograph or snap a quick picture, but it’s obvious Dame has come a long way in the past 14 months. All 120 pairs of the sneaker released on this day are sold out over an hour before Lillard even walks through the front door, with some customers spending hours outside in the cold waiting for their favorite player to arrive.

One lady strolls in holding a baby not yet old enough to stand up on its own, asking for a signature on a pair of child’s shoes and excitedly proclaiming, “It’s his first pair!” A preteen in a LILLARD jersey tells Dame he was in attendance at the Moda Center the night prior, and that he witnessed Dame’s “ferocious dunk!” in person. A middle-aged woman gets a pair signed for her son, telling Dame, “Your mom must be proud.”

The following night, the Blazers best the Timberwolves at home to improve to 33-12, Lillard going for a relatively quiet 14 points during a tilt headlined by a LaMarcus Aldridge-Kevin Love big man showdown. But sitting in the arena, as it was at the adidas emoployee store, it’s evident that Damian Lillard Fever is very real. Fans flood the Moda Center wearing red and black LILLARD unis, and Lillard-loving fan signage is abundant, with “LILLARD FOR PREZ” and “ALL I WANT FOR MY 13TH BIRTHDAY IS TO MEET LILLARD” headlining the lot.

He still has a long way to go, but with each accolade—each crazy buzzer-beater, All-Star Game appearance and whatever it is that may follow—Dame’s climb to the top gains a little more steam. And he knows it. “I think there are [point guards] that are on a higher level of me based on their body of work, just how they see games,” he says. “It slowed down for me from year one to two, so a guy in year five or six, it’s probably unbelievable for them. But I think I’m at the top—not saying I’m the best, but I’m in the group of the better point guards in the League based off of what I bring to the table for my team every night.

“You’ve just got to want to prove it,” he continues, confidence oozing. “You’ve got to want to do it for the right reasons. I’m not here for the money or the fame or anything like that. I’m here to show who I am as a basketball player.”

Originally published in SLAM 176

portraits by JUCO

The post #LillardTime appeared first on SLAM.

by Adam Figman

Here’s a bit of an understatement: These past few months have been a particularly tough stretch for the New York Knicks. They’re five games out of postseason contention in the absurdly weak Eastern Conference; their starting point guard is facing all types of legal issues; their superstar’s future with the franchise is beyond murky; they can’t avoid the injury bug; and, of course, they have zero first-round picks in the loaded 2014 NBA Draft. Meanwhile, through all the turmoil, starting center Tyson Chandler seems to be keeping it together—as the group’s occasional spokesperson, the 31-year-old has been and will continue to be the squad’s go-to for level-headed veteran leadership during the ’13-14 campaign.

While promoting Activision’s Skylanders, Chandler phoned SLAM from the team bus to talk about playing the video game with his kids, the Knicks’ trying season and more.

SLAM: Are you a big video game fan?

Tyson Chandler: Yeah, mainly just with my kids or when my brothers come to town. Stuff like that.

SLAM: What do you play with the kids?

TC: They love the Skylanders game. They love that they can change the characters in the middle of the game and stuff like that. With other games, they can’t stay entertained that long, but with Skylanders, they can change their characters in and out—it kind of keeps their attention.

SLAM: Makes sense. It’s tough to keep kids’ attention.

TC: Yeah, exactly. If it’s not for that, they’re gonna be running around the house and pulling on my neck.

SLAM: Do any of your teammates play video games on the road?

TC: Some guys play video games, but it’s kind of rare because you have to bring the whole console, and the way we travel, you already have a lot of stuff, and we’re in and out of hotels. But yeah, [some guys play] if you have a long road trip or something like that.

SLAM: On Instagram, JR Smith referenced cards being played on the plane. What games are popular there?

TC: I think bourré. Poker and bourré. I’m good at poker, but not at bourré. I don’t have time to play it.

SLAM: Who’s the best cards player on the team?

TC: Honestly, I don’t know, because I’m never up there playing. I’m in the back, napping.

SLAM: Well you’re a father—you have to get whatever sleep you can.

TC: Exactly, that’s I was gonna say. [Laughs] I’ve gotta make sure my minutes count.

SLAM: It’s obviously been an up-and-down season for you guys. How do you stay focused when things get rocky?

TC: Just taking it day by day, game by game. I think when you look at it as a whole you get a little overwhelmed and burned out. But if you look at each game as a new challenge, and then in that game work on each possession, you find yourself locked in. When you’re younger you have your set goals, and sometimes you can get distracted if you’re reaching them or not reaching them, but if you really just focus in on that moment and putting all your energy towards that, you can accomplish whatever it is that you’re after.

SLAM: Is that difficult to understand when you’re younger?

TC: Yeah, absolutely, because you’re not patient. You don’t have the patience to look at it that way, because you’re ready for it now.

SLAM: There obviously isn’t one specific answer to this, but what’s the key in your mind to turning the Knicks’ season around and making a postseason run?

TC: Really just taking it the way I approach things individually and putting it into the team—not getting ahead of ourselves, focusing on the one game at hand. If you look at the whole picture, it can be intimidating, as far as things that we’re gonna need to win to put ourselves in that position. But if you look at it game by game, you understand it can be accomplished.

SLAM: Have you had any advice for Raymond over the past 24 hours?

TC: No, no. Just kind of been there as a friend and a teammate.

SLAM: People always talk about how intense the media is in New York City, but you’re pretty good at handling it. How do you avoid letting the media drive you crazy?

TC: I don’t pay attention to it. I don’t read any articles that come out, whether they’re good or bad. That way, I never let it distract me. A lot of times you can get consumed with the writers and blogs and media and what they put out about you, but if you don’t know what they put out, it’s not really affecting you. I try to approach them day to day as men and women in the locker room, but other than that, I don’t really know what they put out, and honestly, I couldn’t really care less.

SLAM: You should still read SLAM, though. It’s much better than the newspapers.

TC: [Laughs] Much better.

SLAM: Has this season been the biggest challenge you’ve experienced during your NBA career?

TC: Yeah, it’s definitely tested not only my basketball abilities, but also my character and leadership qualities, because it has been a tough one. But this is one that I feel like I can get my guys through.

The post Q+A: Tyson Chandler appeared first on SLAM.

by Adam Figman / @afigman

Dikembe Mutombo is excited to see us. “I like your magazine!” he announces as soon as we walk into an adidas suite in the back of a courtyard in the center of New Orleans’ W Hotel. “You guys have the best trash talk!” Naturally, we were pretty psyched, too; hanging with a legendary NBA big man and chopping it up about two of our favorite things—sneakers and basketball? Works for us. With his adidas Mutombos back in stores, the eight-time All-Star spoke to us about the re-release of the kicks, his relationships with current players, his NBA Mount Rushmore and more.

SLAM: How’s everything going with the re-release of the sneakers?

Dikembe Mutombo: I’ve been very excited. I think it’s a great gift for adidas to do this for me. This is a company that I started with during my career, who saw my career take off, and when I had all the great moments over my career, I did it with adidas shoes on. So to bring back something that represents my culture, my values, my style of play, it’s always good to all of the great fans who got a chance to see Dikembe Mutombo play—and even some of them who never got a chance to see me play. 

SLAM: Right, young kids are into sneakers as much as anyone.

DM: Yeah, it’s amazing. It’s very cool. It’s surprising to me. Everywhere I go now, from my kids’ school to any school I visit, the first thing I get is, “No, no, no!” And then, “Mr. Mutombo, we want to get some of your shoes, but we can’t get it!” To see the volume of the demand, I’m very, very thankful.

SLAM: In what way does the sneaker represent your style of play?

DM: When you look at it, the M [on the tongue] represents the back, the defender, the guardian of the village, the castle, protector of the basket. That’s me. That’s what I was known for, to protect the basket. You have [the spear], which means that I’m capable of killing any enemies that come my way, which means to stop anybody that tried to dunk on me. It’s just what I am, and I’m glad that adidas was able to go in that direction.

SLAM: When you first signed with adidas, did you have an understanding of how impactful the shoes you were wearing could be?

DM: I knew that it was something magical, but when you come to the League, your legacy depends on how you go out and play. But I’ve said since day one when I came to the NBA that I just want to be remembered as one of the best shot blockers in this game. So thank God that I did have the ability to go out and accomplish that mission. Today, I live in the history book.

SLAM: What kind of basketball lessons do you try to instill in your children?

DM: It’s all about mental focus. That’s the lesson that I learned from the great legend Bill Russell. It’s about your mind—the game is all here [points to head]. Bill Russell told me a lot before I got drafted. He spent a couple days with me and told me to stay focused, be mentally strong and if you consider every game your last game, you have a great chance to dominate this game for a long time. And I did it.

SLAM: Do you have tell current NBAers that?

DM: Of course. They say that the Olympics don’t end in one city—it goes on every four years to a different city. I always felt that the torch was passed on to me by great players, those who came before me like Bill Russell, Coach John Thompson—who was lucky enough to play alongside Bill Russell—[and] Alonzo Mourning, who was my teammate and who motivated me every day to challenge him. I feel like I need to do the same thing for the next generation. Every time I get a chance to go to a game, I always love to go to the locker room and talk to the young players, tell them, “You did this, you did that. Why don’t you do this next time you play?” 

SLAM: Any interest in coaching?

DM: No. I don’t want to coach in the NBA. I won’t say never, but right now, I don’t want to coach. I enjoy my role as an NBA Global Ambassador, to spread the game and spread our philanthropic work, and doing my side work with adidas, promoting my shoes. But coaching, and being on the bench 24/7, to that I would say, “No, no, no!”

SLAM: LeBron James named his NBA Mount Rushmore—Michael Jordan, Magic Johnson, Larry Bird and Oscar Robertson. Who’s on yours?

DM: Magic, Hakeem Olajuwon, Larry Bird, Michael Jordan and…

SLAM: That’s it. You only get four.

DM: I get only four? No, it needs to be five! I’ll take Karl Malone. You’ve gotta give me Karl Malone. I think there will not another power forward, ever, who will play the game at the same level as Karl Malone any given night—rebounding, scoring, defending, free throw shooting. There you go. You take my five.

The post Q+A: Dikembe Mutombo appeared first on SLAM.

Chris Webber represented a handful of sneaker brands during his 15-year NBA career. He began with Nike, teaming with David Robinson to wear the Nike Air Unlimiteds before switching to his signature Nike Air Max CWs, then moved on to Fila, AND 1 and Reebok before retiring in 2008. But most notably, though, C-Webb made a ton of shoe-related headlines for his time spent as the President of DaDa, the apparel/kicks company he repped from ’02-03. (The chrome DaDa Supreme CDubbz he wore during the 2002 All-Star Game are, for better or worse, undeniably legendary, so much so that the company felt the need to re-release them in early 2013.)

During a break in an NBA on TNT telecast in New Orleans, Webber—who now works as an analyst for Turner Sports/NBA TV—sat in a hotel suite and spoke candidly about his sneaker history.

SLAM: DaDa rereleased the infamous Supreme CDubbz last year. Did you have a part in that?

Chris Webber: I knew about it. Hopefully there’s something a little more special with a remix next year. I’m releasing a book next year, so it’d be nice to release a shoe with the book or something like that. I don’t know if Nike’s investing, but I’d love to have my shoe re-released. 

SLAM: Do you have any say in that?

CW: Nah, it’s out of my hands. I think it’s up to the powers that be.

SLAM: You had a pretty big role with DaDa during your playing days, right?

CW: Yeah, when I signed with DaDa I actually ran the company. We set some pretty big earmarks that year—I had the chrome shoe that did really well for DaDa. But I told them when I left that it was gonna end—not ‘cause of me. But I’m a fan of basketball and shoes, and you gotta listen to the fans with shoes, and I think they stopped listening to the fans. I was gone two or three years before all that.

SLAM: Do you have any specific sneaker memories that you cherish?

CW: The first shoe that I wore in the NBA was the shoe that David Robinson and I had together (the Nike Air Unlimited). Then I just remember being excited showing people my shoe (the Nike Air Max CWs). Putting it on my desk, looking at it. As a player you always dream of having your own shoe, and I remember how hard I fought to keep them low-tops. Back then they wanted everybody to have high-tops, and I was like, Guys, I gotta wear my shoes with my jeans. So mine were low-tops, and yeah, I loved ‘em.

SLAM: You never worried about the low-tops messing up your ankles?

CW: Nah, you get taped—the tape job in the NBA is better than the support of a shoe anyway.

SLAM: Do you remember kicks you wore or really wanted when you were a kid?

CW: Yeah. Adidas Conductors—$80. High-top Patrick Ewings—my aunt got them for me. They were heavy, bulky, but they’re my favorite shoes ever. The Etonics. The New Balances that James Worthy wore. 

SLAM: What NBA players were wearing had a big influence on you.

CW: Oh yeah. I was a Nike and an adidas guy growing up, but Dominique wore Brooks, [so] I wore Brooks. Hakeem Olajuwon wore Etonics—I wore Etonics. I was just wearing what was hot at the time.

SLAM: How many sneakers do you own now?

CW: A couple thousand.

SLAM: What’s the storage setup like?

CW: I’ve got a barn.

SLAM: A barn?

CW: Yeah. It’s a barn with a lot of stuff, a lot of storage. Some memorabilia and stuff like that, but mostly shoes that I have. Other guys would have [signature shoes] and I just told them to give me 50 pairs back in the day, and I got them and just wanted to keep them.

SLAM: Have you ever worn anything that you look back on now, like, What was I thinking?

CW: The DaDas. I wore the DaDa shoe on purpose. I knew it was a gold or silver chrome, and I always liked shoes that were down low and not too flashy, and I knew that that would get a lot of attention. But being the president of the company at that time—I didn’t want to be known as the guy who wore those shoes, but I was glad the company that I was working for had that shoe. I’m glad I did it.

SLAM: It was attention that benefited you, but if you weren’t in that situation, you might not have wanted it.

CW: Exactly.

SLAM: Did anyone give you shit about them in the locker room?

CW: Nah, at the time I was signing guys like [Latrell] Sprewell—I signed Spree. So nah, guys weren’t [talking trash], because I was gonna make them wear those ugly shoes. 

SLAM: Do you like any of the current players’ signature shoes? 

CW: Not a big fan of them. I like Kobe’s, but besides Jordans right now there’s nobody that excites me with shoes, no. I mean, Nike excites me. I know LeBron wears a high-top, but I think in order to sell a shoe, it can’t be a high-top. A lot of kids don’t have enough money to buy his shoes, and you have to be able to wear them practically. You can’t wear a high-top practically with jeans. If you look at Barkley’s cross-trainers with the strap across, if you look at some other shoes—you can wear them and play ball in them. Those are the sweetest basketball shoes. One of my favorite guys, shoe-wise, is Rasheed Wallace. Always the Air Force Ones. You gotta love it.

SLAM: Yeah, he wore those even through his final days with the Knicks.

CW: He wears them in practice now, with the Pistons.

SLAM: You don’t think the technological advances in some of the more modern sneakers can help avoid injuries?

CW: Wilt scored 100 in some Chucks [laughs]. But I agree, yeah, there’s probably some better technology. When I was in high school they had shoes with the big bulk here [points to bottom of foot], so you could try to jump higher. So yeah, I think technology helps, but for the most part you gotta be able to run and jump and have game on your own. I will say the lightness of the Nike Air shoe, how light it is, has always been an advantage.

SLAM: Did you understand at an early age how big of a cultural influence you guys could have by wearing certain sneakers?

CW: We knew right away. At Michigan, we’d go to the mall and buy black socks, then they’d sell 300,000 in a weekend. We understood when we wore Nike Huaraches that that was for style—now that shoe is bad for your ankle. You gotta get extra taped.

all photos courtesy of Getty, gallery compiled by Abe Schwadron

The post Q+A: Chris Webber appeared first on SLAM.

Early Friday morning inside the New Orleans Morial Convention Center, before the doors open at the NBA All-Star Jam Session and hundreds of fans begin arriving, Clyde “The Glide” Drexler walks off one of the many mini-courts set up. Save for his attire—now more appropriate for his Rockets TV broadcasts than his playing days—he still looks like if a stander-by flipped him a ball, he could throw it down with ease.

“I could,” he tells us after grabbing a muffin and a cup of coffee, “but then I’d be out for about two weeks. I’d need a stretcher tonight, and it’d really mess up my golf game. I can still dunk, but it hurts when I land.”

Funny, since over his Hall of Fame career, which included 10 All-Star appearances and an NBA title in ’95 with Houston, Drexler was usually the one putting a hurt on any defender brave enough to meet him at the rim. One of the best in-game dunkers of all-time, Drexler participated in the Dunk Contest fives times between 1984 and 1989, but never won. (He ran up against a couple dudes named Michael and Dominique.) So we talked with The Glide, thanks to an alley-oop from Sprite, about his favorite All-Star Weekend memories, which players he’s keeping a tab on these days and plenty more. 

SLAM: Do you have specific memories from the five Dunk Contests you participated in?

Clyde Drexler: A lot of great memories. The first one was ’84, my rookie year. If you look at the talent of the guys in that contest—you had Orlando Woolridge, Michael Cooper, Dominique Wilkins, Julius Erving, Larry Nance, myself—those are pretty good players, as a well as dunkers. 

SLAM: Do you have all-time favorite dunkers?

CD: Many. My favorite, probably the most impressive dunker to me when I was competing, was Dominique Wilkins. He could get up so high and do so much—he was just fun to watch. I looked forward to competing against Dominique but I loved watching him dunk.

For me, dunking was always about whoever’s under the basket—I wanna dunk on him! It wasn’t just the fact that you’re dunking. But now it’s evolved, because you have all the props, you have guys dunking over cars. I wish we had thought of something like that back in the day. We could’ve been really creative. But you know, it really has evolved. I’m proud to say that the young guys have that love and the good players are still participating in the Slam Dunk Contest. Think about it, if LeBron James competed, that would be phenomenal. I’d love to see DWade and LeBron compete.

SLAM: Think LeBron and Wade could still do it?

CD: Oh, absolutely, if they wanted to.

SLAM: Why do you think LeBron is hesitant to participate?

CD: Well, health issues. He’s tired—probably dead tired. He’s played until June the last couple years. He’s dead tired, trust me.

SLAM: The new team format has three dunkers in each group. If it was like that when you were in the Dunk Contest, if you could choose any two guys as teammates, who would you want?

CD: I was in the West, so I couldn’t choose Michael or Dominique or Julius. So in the West, it would’ve had to been guys like Larry Nance. Man, who was in the West? I’m drawing a blank.

SLAM: Sounds like the East was loaded.

CD: The East was loaded back then. I mean, in the West, James Worthy was a high dunker, but he wasn’t a Slam Dunk [Contest] kind of guy.

SLAM: What if you could pick any two teammates from basketball history?

CD: I’d pick Dominique Wilkins first. And the Doctor, Julius Erving.

SLAM: Do you have favorite memories from All-Star Weekend?

CD: Yeah. I’ve been a part of All-Star Weekend since 1984. Thirty years! Woo, I’m getting old. Really, I haven’t missed very many, because now my kids love All-Star Weekend, and I come just as a fan. I have four kids, and they grew up with, so they always want to continue to go. So it’s a great part of our family culture, our family history. It’s bonding time with my kids. So I can’t imagine not going to All-Star Weekend. As an NBA fan, it doesn’t get any better. There’s something for everyone, whether you’re a fan of the All-Star Game, the Shooting Stars, the Skills Competition, the young guys. You’ve got something for everyone. And my favorite part is the Sprite Slam Dunk Contest.

SLAM: Some of the guys participating now probably grew up watching you play. Are there any NBAers who remind you of yourself, or that you can tell were influenced a little by your game?

CD: Yeah, like when I watch DWade and I watch how he makes his moves offensively—real slick, real smooth—it reminds me a little bit of my game. I watch LeBron in transition, how explosive and how powerful he is taking off—a lot of my game. Guys like Russell Westbrook, the quickness on defense and how they get a steal and convert that to offense real quick, that was a lot of my game. So I see it from time to time.

SLAM: Who are your favorite players to watch these days?

CD: I like watching those guys that I mentioned. Also Kevin Durant, Carmelo, just phenomenal players. I do the Rockets TV broadcast, so guys like Dwight Howard, James Harden, phenomenal players night in and night out. I really appreciate their efforts. LaMarcus Aldridge, Blake Griffin, Chris Paul. It’s hard not to like those guys. The guards in Golden State—[Stephen] Curry and [Klay] Thompson, phenomenal to watch. And that’s what the NBA is all about. Because you know when we played, we had a lot of guys on every team who could embarrass you on any given night, so I think it’s back to that because the talent level has picked up tremendously. Think about it: We’ve got the Raptors in third place in the Eastern Conference, with young good players like Terrence Ross and DeMar DeRozan. Rising stars. And that’s what the game has always been about, on top of the more established stars, like LeBron, Kobe, DWade, Durant and Carmelo. It’s fun to have that mix of young and old, because the game is always going to continue to evolve. 

SLAM: There’s been a lot of talk about LeBron James naming his NBA Mount Rushmore. Who would be on yours?

CD: Who were his guys? He said Oscar Robertson, Michael, Magic and Larry? That’s a pretty good Mount Rushmore. But I’ve got some guys that would contend with his comments. I guess he just left the big guys off, guys like Wilt, Russell, Olajuwon, Kareem. Because those guys would be a Rushmore themselves. I think you’ve got to go by position if you’re going to do a Rushmore, because it’s going to always be a lot of arguments. And quite frankly I’m disappointed he left me off [laughs]. But LeBron is a phenomenal player, and he’s entitled to his opinion. I appreciate him because all he does is produce. Under all the intense pressure, he continues to impress, not only his teammates but fans and people around the world. I’ve watched him since he came out of high school, and I’ve liked everything I’ve ever seen from him, because as a player, he’s humble, he’s complete, he’s unselfish—there’s nothing not to like about his game.

SLAM: LeBron also said he’ll be in the Top 4 one day. Do you agree?

CD: He’s the best player in the game today, by far. But Durant is a close second. Close second. LeBron is phenomenal, and you can’t argue with his accomplishments. He could be at the top of that Mount Rushmore. But that’s for other people to talk about, not for him to talk about [laughs]. As a young player, he’s got to motivate himself somehow, and that’s a great way to do it.

SLAM: Do you think guys are too friendly with each other in today’s NBA?

CD: You hear some of the old guys saying how these guys love each other. It’s a good thing to respect your competition. When we played, we didn’t kiss and hug guys after games. As a matter of fact, we wanted to choke them [laughs], but we certainly respected their game. It’s a different culture now.

SLAM: There was no Twitter back then or anything like that.

CD: Are you kidding? Don’t ever call me. We were fierce competitors. We respected each other and now when we see each other as old men, we have the greatest times ever. But back then, you couldn’t stand those guys. I’ll give you an idea of how we felt: Cedric Maxwell of the great Boston Celtics, he said he hated the Lakers so much, that if he had seen any one of their guys stuck on the freeway and his car is stopped, he said not only would he not stop to help him, he’d try to run over him. That gives you an idea of how much he didn’t like them. It was pretty much across the board, every team hated everybody on the other team, even if he’s a guy you played with in college—you probably got together after the game, but while you’re on the floor, you want to beat him. You definitely want to beat him.

SLAM: If Twitter and Facebook existed when you were playing, who would have been the most annoying guy on social media?

CD: It’s hard to imagine. I gotta say Gary Payton, The Glove. He can chat it up a little bit. I think he would have been the most annoying [laughs].

The post Q+A: Clyde Drexler appeared first on SLAM.

Originally published in SLAM 176

by Adam Figman / @afigman

SLAM: Where were you were raised?

CJ Watson: I grew up in Las Vegas, with my little brother and two parents, and they kept us into basketball and different activities just to keep us out of trouble. I fell in love with the game of basketball and was pretty good at it, so I just kept playing.

SLAM: What’d your parents do for a living?

CW: My dad owned his own janitorial business, and my mom worked for the city, in Parks and Recreation. We struggled at first, but once my parents both started working we were middle class after that. 

SLAM: Las Vegas obviously doesn’t have an NBA team—who’d you grow up rooting for?

CW: The Lakers. My favorite player was Magic. The way he played—he was a pass-first point guard, and I really liked his game. In transition he was always playing the up-and-down game, in that Showtime era, with the flashy passes and all that kind of stuff. I really just like the way he played—unselfish, I guess.

SLAM: What about other sports?

CW: The Ravens for football, and of course the Yankees for baseball. There’s no teams in Vegas so I just picked anybody.

SLAM: Did you play other sports?

CW: I ran track and field and I played a little football, but it was too hot in Vegas, so I stopped. Football’s pretty big in Vegas, especially high school, but not a lot of players really come out of Vegas. 

SLAM: How old were you when you started playing ball? And how’d you get into it?

CW: Probably 6 or 7. Both my parents played basketball, and my dad pushed me and my brother [Kashif] all the time. I always played at the parks and local gyms and stuff like that, so I just kept playing. 

SLAM: At what point did you start to think seriously about the NBA? In high school?

CW: Not really. I played basketball just to play and to also get a free education. I knew my parents couldn’t pay for college, so I had to somehow get into college and basketball was the only way. I kept my grades up and just kept playing, and went to [the University of Tennessee], the best school I wanted to go to. 

SLAM: And your high school retired your jersey, right?

CW: Yeah, me and my brother’s. It’s the same number. I won two state championships, and he won one, and the athletic administrator told my brother that if he won a championship they would retire our jerseys. So, he won it.

SLAM: Do you ever give him crap that you won two and he only won one?

CW: Yeah, I have a lot more accolades than he does [laughs]. 

SLAM: We heard you played at one of Baron Davis’ camps as a kid, which is pretty great because you guys later became teammates.

CW: Yeah, I went to his camp as a camper, and then as a counselor, and he was always one of my favorite players. Then we played on the same team together, and now we’re good friends, still. He’s like a big brother to me.

SLAM: Tell us about your Quiet Storm Foundation.

CW: My family and I started it three years ago. When I was growing up, my parents and I always worked at homeless shelters and churches helping the less fortunate. I thought that since I’m in a position to give back again now, I should. That’s what the foundation is all about. We have a free basketball camp in the summers for kids back in Vegas and we have a back-to-school event with free supplies for the kids. It’s doing good right now. Hopefully we just keep getting bigger and bigger. It’s cool because I never had an NBA player where I’m from or from my city to look up to or model myself after, so to see the smiles on these kids’ faces, to know that they watch the games and cheer for the team I play for, it’s pretty cool.

The post In The Sun appeared first on SLAM.

by Adam Figman and Abe Schwadron

The 2014 All-Star Game MVP award went to Cleveland Cavaliers point guard Kyrie Irving, who led the East to a 163-155 win over the West in New Orleans. But the real breakout star of the evening was Sir Foster, the Atlanta Hawks’ in-house organist who was behind the keyboard at the Smoothie King Center for much of the weekend.

Foster performed organ-ized covers of hip-hop songs new and old, like “All of the Lights,” “Pop That,” “Ms. Jackson” and “Whistle While You Twurk,” while talk of the game’s unique soundtrack rapidly gained steam on social media and inside the arena. We’ve been aware of Foster for a minute—his musical interludes alone make Hawks home games required League Pass viewing—but we’re glad to see him finally getting some long overdue shine.

Foster, 26, grew up in Fort Valley, Ga., about an hour and a half south of Atlanta. His first year with the Hawks was back in 2009-10, and he’s been rocking happily Philips Arena 41 times per season ever since.

An hour after the final buzzer sounded Sunday night, we found Foster on the court, still soaking in the final scene of his 2014 All-Star Weekend experience.

SLAM: Was the All-Star Game the biggest event you’ve ever played?

Sir Foster: I would have to say this is the biggest. Last month, the Hawks had a game in London—it was a regular season game but it turned into more of an exhibition game because it was overseas and a neutral-feel type place. That was big, but it wasn’t like this. They didn’t have musical guests on stage. This is the biggest thing I’ve done. This is just ridiculous—ridiculous in a good way. 

SLAM: Did you have a set playlist?

SF: No, my approach to every game is the same. I show up at the arena—if I’m in Atlanta, I might listen to the radio on my way to the arena to see what they’re playing, to get me in the mood or get the sense of where the city is that day. But most of the time, I just show up to the arena, and if there’s something on my mind, I just play it. It’s not a really complex process.

SLAM: How’d you wind up at this year’s All-Star Game?

SF: God blessed me. He really did. He blessed me. When we did the game in London, the NBA was producing that game, so that’s where I got a chance to work with them. And they said, Mr. Foster, we would love to have you for the All-Star Game. On the inside, I was like, Yeaahhh! But on the outside, I was like, Well, sure, we can talk, I would consider it [laughs]. But it’s been a great experience. New Orleans has been wonderful.

SLAM: What was it like when your phone started blowing up with Twitter notifications?

SF: At that point, you just have to realize, like, OK, I’m glad my phone’s blowing up. Obviously that means people are noticing what you’re doing, and they like it, and I appreciate it. But this is the All-Star Game, and I gotta stay focused. So at that point you don’t even worry about it. I told myself I wasn’t gonna check my phone until after the first half, and then I don’t think I checked it until after the third quarter, ‘cause I had requests. That’s when I started checking it. You just have to stay locked in, but I appreciate all the support. It’s been great.

SLAM: Do you usually work alongside a DJ like you did at the All-Star Game?

SF: That’s standard. I’ve always played with a DJ. I play during the gameplay, and the DJ handles the timeout music or if the dancers are doing something. But what was different about tonight was that in an All-Star Game, the pace of the game is much faster, and the rules of when you can play are much different. I probably on an average game night play eight to 10 songs, and then little grooves here and there on offense and defense—chances to get the crowd involved. [Sunday] I may have played 40 songs.

SLAM: And you’re playing every note of those songs, right?

SF: Every single note, yeah. Everything is live. I have my keyboard set up so I can play drums live. I do use pre-programmed drums from time to time, which I program myself, like if it’s a special song that I want to play. [Sunday] for example, “Still Fly”—we’re in New Orleans and I wanted to play a Big Tymers song, so I programmed the drums for “Still Fly” so I could play the organ on top of it. [Ed.’s Note: “Still Fly” was incredible.] I pre-program drums, but I never pre-program melodic elements because I want it to always sound live. Ninety-five percent of what you heard was live.

SLAM: Do you ever get requests from players?

SF: I’ve gotten some. Most of the time it’s, “Hey man, you were really jamming up there.” One of the Hawks coaches last year used to always ask me to play Snoop Dogg. Like, every game.

SLAM: Which coach?

SF: When Nick Van Exel was [an assistant for the Hawks], he used to always want to hear Snoop Dogg. Any Snoop Dogg. And it was funny, because I would play it and the next game he would be like, Hey, you got me last time!

SLAM: Can you tell us about a time you’ve performed a song that has a random story behind why you chose it?

SF: One year I played Guile’s music from Street Fighter, because I used to love Street Fighter—it was my favorite game as a kid, and I’d wake up at 7 a.m. on Saturdays to go play Street Fighter so when my friends came over, I could beat them all. I played the X-Men theme one year. I guess the coolest story would be, you know in Mario, when he goes underground? I used to play that and one of the Hawks fans would always run up and do [the run] as if he’s Mario. He’d stand up in his seat and do it to me. He really liked that song, so he’d request it and start acting like Mario. I love that guy. He comes to every game.

SLAM: What’s your musical background?

SF: My musical background is this: When I was 6 months old, my mom says I walked up to the piano, I looked at it, hit one note and I sang the note back to her. She said, “He’s not banging on it like all the other babies, so he must be special.” So her and my dad got me piano lessons and I started playing in church. Then I went to the clubs, and now I’m here. The way I started playing for the Hawks is unbelievable. I was at work one day, bored out of my mind, not doing anything, and I was on Craigslist, and the Hawks listed the job on Craigslist, and I just answered it. That’s it.

SLAM: Really? Did you audition for them?

SF: The Craigslist link took you to their website that had this long, drawn-out application. I’m at work with three hours to go, so I said, I ain’t got nothing else to do, so I filled it out.

SLAM: What was your job then?

SF: I think I was in an office at that point, like part-time office work. Anyway, the super-long application, I filled it out, and then they called me in. They just wanted to talk to me and they were like, If I told you to play a country song what would you do, if I told you to play a pop song what would you do. They were like, Cool. So they called me to play a pre-season game, and they just threw me out, like, OK, go! And I guess I swam more than I sank, so they were like, OK, we’ll roll with you.

SLAM: So what’s next? Are you hoping to flip this All-Star attention into more gigs?

SF: I would love to. I had a situation that happened to me two months ago, when the Lakers came to Atlanta, and I said I was gonna get a picture with Kobe Bryant. That was my mission. So after the game I saw Kobe Bryant, and when I walked up to him, I did something that I’ve never done: I straight-up froze up. I’ve met Kobe two or three times before, and I walked up to him and I was like, Hey. He was like, What’s up, man? And that was it. So, in addition to me not getting my picture with Kobe Bryant, what made it terrible is my friend went and got a picture. She was like, Yeah, you could’ve got one! I got one! Look! I did not take advantage of my moment when it was there. I said to myself, I will never again not take advantage of my moment when it’s there. So [the All-Star Game] was my moment, and I’m very thankful that I was able to take advantage of it and grab it, and hopefully I can just keep making the best of it. 

The post NOLA’s Breakout Star appeared first on SLAM.

by Abe Schwadron and Adam Figman

When we arrived at NBA All-Star Jam Session on Friday morning around 8 a.m., we were tired. Then, we learned that Raptors guard and defending Sprite Slam Dunk champion Terrence Ross had been there since 6 a.m.—more than an hour before he was scheduled to begin his gauntlet of morning interviews. Evidently, Ross is taking his dunk title defense seriously.

Before T-Dot Flight 31 takes off on Saturday night, we sat down with him to discuss what we can expect to see in this year’s contest, his biggest in-game dunks, his relationship with Drake, his sneakers and more.

SLAM: Got any specific ideas for the Dunk Contest yet?

Terrence Ross: Yeah, I’ve got a couple dunks. One dunk, something came together earlier yesterday, so I’ll probably be doing something new tomorrow. I practiced some dunks—I was with Team Flight Brothers, and they were helping me out with some things. I should have a couple dunks.

SLAM: Any teammates that we should expect to make an appearance?

TR: Nah, nah.

SLAM: Is there less pressure this year, considering you won it last year?

TR: If I don’t win, I don’t win. It’s a big deal but at the same time, if I don’t win, the only way I can get myself over it is if I’m like, it’s not that big a deal. It’s gonna be fun regardless, but we’ll see how the night goes.

SLAM: You’ve had some big dunks in games this year. Which one sticks out the most to you?

TR: Kenneth Faried. That’s the one that sticks out more than anything.

SLAM: That was crazy.

TR: [Laughs] Yeah. I saw him walking in the lobby yesterday, and he didn’t even say hi. Just kept walking. [Laughs] I saw him from like down the hall, but I was like, Nah, I’m not even gonna walk that way.

SLAM: After you dunk on guys, do you know that the relationship with them is definitely gonna be weird?

TR: Umm, you know, you hope for the better. But whatever happens, happens.

SLAM: What do you think of the Dunk Contest’s new format?

TR: A lot of people are gonna be like, Oh, I don’t like the format. It doesn’t make sense. But I can guarantee you by tomorrow, everybody’s gonna like this format. Just because it’s like nothing anybody’s ever seen before. Everybody’s like, it should be like the old school, where everybody’s going against each other. You’re gonna have a little bit of that, but at the same time, I think they did a great job—the fans are gonna like it.

SLAM: If you could pick any two players from NBA history to be your teammates in the Dunk Contest, who would they be?

TR: I would pick Dominique Wilkins and, ahh, man, that’s hard. I wanna say Jordan, but I kinda want like a big man that can go in there and throw some windmills and throw it down hard. So I would say, actually, Dominique Wilkins and Jason Richardson. Just ‘cause I know Jason’s done unbelievable things that nobody can do today. I watched a lot of him, but when I’m done watching, it’s like, I can’t even do half of the things that he just did, so there’s no point in watching him. He was incredible.

SLAM: What other dunkers in the NBA were you a fan of growing up?

TR: For me, I started watching a little later. Guys like Josh Smith, he was a big influence on me. Because even today, there’s not too many guys that jump off one foot. Most guys try to go off two, or go close to the basket. He had two-foot jumps but at the same time, he could do a one-foot windmill, one-foot jump over somebody. I think that’s kind of how I jump. That’s the one guy I looked at the most.

SLAM: Who around the NBA today do you see as your competition for best dunker in the game?

TR: Best dunker? I’d say Paul George, LeBron James and most definitely Gerald Green.

SLAM: Who’s the worst dunker on the Raptors?

TR: Let me think about this. I would say Kyle Lowry. I’ve seen him dunk once, but it was nothing special. It was nothing special at all

SLAM: You scored a career-high 51 points against the Clippers recently. Is that the most points you’ve ever scored in one game in your whole life?

TR: Yeah, most I’ve scored in my life, 51. Like in a real game where they kept stats and everything, yeah. Not to have it happen in high school or college, but have it happen in the League, that’s something special.

SLAM: What was a more important moment for you—winning last year’s dunk contest or that 51-point game?

TR: I’d say the game, for sure, because it was a real game. The dunk contest is just a dunk contest, something you do for fun. But during the season, in the midst of things, I would say the game for sure.

SLAM: What did you do with the game ball?

TR: I gave it to my mom. I met her in New York the next day. My mom, she always wants anything I have in terms of accolades, jerseys, posters, whatever. I thought it was something she would like.

SLAM: Did you feel like that was important for you to prove to people that you’re not just a dunker?

TR: For sure. Everybody thought of me just as a dunker that’s good in the open court, but it helped me a lot to show people I can do a lot more.

SLAM: What’s it feel like when you’re in the zone like that?

TR: Against the Clippers, playing against Jamal [Crawford], he was getting four-point plays and shooting threes and all kinds of crazy stuff, so it felt almost like a Pro-Am or Summer League type of game. Like a pickup game. You don’t really realize what you’re doing until it’s all over. It felt like one of those summer league games.

SLAM: Did you do anything different in preparing for that game?

TR: No. Nothing. Same thing I do every game. As soon as I shot my first couple of threes, I felt like I had just caught fire. It felt like a playoff atmosphere.

SLAM: Did you know early on you were going to have a huge game?

TR: No, because there’s been times that I’ve hit three threes in the first quarter, and the defense will switch it up and I’ll end up with 20 maybe or 15, something like that. I knew something was going on when the first half was over and I had like 20-something or 15 at the end of the first quarter. I was like, if I stop right here, that’s cool. At the beginning of the third quarter, I didn’t make any shots. My first points came off some dunks. Then after that I hit a three, I hit another three, and I just kept shooting. It felt good.

SLAM: What were guys saying to you towards the end of the game?

TR: Once somebody told me I had 40, I was like, What? DeMar just got his career-high a couple days ago, when he had just got 40. Towards the end, there was like 20 seconds left and one of my teammates came up to me like, Man you got 48 right now, you might as well try and go get these last two points and get fifty. Luckily I got fouled two times and ended up with 51.

SLAM: The Raptors are having a great year in the East, exceeding most people’s expectations for this year. But there are also trade rumors. What are you hoping happens down the stretch?

TR: I hope we don’t make any trades. I hope we stay together. We got here basically with this core group. We’re still winning, nothing’s going bad. I feel like everybody is doing the right things. So I hope that we all stay together, this team, and see how far we can take it in the playoffs.

SLAM: Drake name-dropped you in a big Rolling Stone story that came out yesterday. Did you see that?

TR: Yeah, that was big time. I felt official after that. It was cool. I mean, I know him now, so it’s nice, but when you throw a name out there to somebody like Rolling Stone, it’s definitely a good shoutout.

SLAM: Is it cool having him as a part of the organization?

TR: Yeah, for sure. He brings a lot of excitement to the city. He gets everybody excited about the Raptors, and every time he comes to the arena, it’s like the crowd just steps it up. They get loud and see him cheering, and they start to cheer. He just brings life to the arena.

SLAM: You have to get him on the court at some point.

TR: Oh, for sure. He’s with Amir [Johnson] sometimes at the practice court late at night, shooting around. He’s out there now and then.

SLAM: Did you get a pair of his Jordan kicks?

TR: He’s getting sizes from everybody. He’s sending a couple pairs our way.

SLAM: Your whole team is pretty deep in the sneaker game.

TR: Yeah. I’ve been trying to catch up a little late, but DeMar [DeRozan] be holding it down, Amir has some things from time to time. But I’m trying to step my game up.

SLAM: Is it a competition within the Raptors?

TR: Nah, man. DeMar has every shoe known, from Jordans to Nikes. He just don’t wear them, though. He sticks with his Kobes and does his thing. But I’ve been trying to step my shoe game up.

SLAM: What’s your favorite shoe to wear right now?

TR: Right now? The [Air Jordan] 10s. Any 10s. They’re comfortable, the most comfortable shoe I’ve ever worn.

SLAM: What about off the court?

TR: I like the Vs—the Vs are probably my favorite shoe. The Vs, the XIs, the VIs and some of the IXs.

SLAM: We spoke to your former college teammate Tony Wroten earlier this year, and he said that he’s the best in the League, sneaker-wise.

TR: No, no, no. Nah, I’m not gonna dispute it, because Tony’s got some heat. I’ve seen it. Even in college, he would come to the game and we would try to outdo each other when it came to shoes. But nah, Tony has some heat. I would say he’s No. 1 if I had to pick.

SLAM: People probably didn’t notice, but back in college you guys were clearly big into kicks.

TR: Oh, for sure. Ever since [I played with] Isaiah [Thomas] and Quincy [Acy], we always try to have some heat. Isaiah was kind of the first person to really do it, then I started to really do it my second year, and Tony was just always on it since high school.

SLAM: Have you noticed people are starting to ask you about your sneakers more, ever since you started getting more playing time?

TR: Yeah. Every game I try to pull something out.

The post Q+A: Terrence Ross appeared first on SLAM.

Kenny Smith is plenty familiar with All-Star Weekend. The two-time NBA champion and current Inside the NBA studio analyst participated in the Dunk Contest in 1990, ’91 and ’93, the Three-Point Shootout in ’93, and has been covering the annual series of events for TNT since 1998. During a break in Thursday night’s Inside broadcast, Smith spoke briefly to SLAM about all things All-Star. 

SLAM: Do you have a specific All-Star Weekend memory that stands out?

Kenny Smith: For me, the biggest All-Star memory that I can remember is Magic coming back [in ’92]. Because I always thought that basketball was an icon of what life is, and that was a big moment in the NBA when it truly was. It was about acceptance, about inclusion, and about breaking down barriers and breaking down a fear. Before that happened, so many people were fearful of people with HIV. I think it helped not just for HIV, but a lot of fears that people had in general—to kind of attack it from a different standpoint. So for me, that’s the biggest All-Star moment. I don’t think you can ever top that. 

SLAM: Did it affect you personally? 

KS: It actually made me smarter. It made me become more educated about HIV. It helped me become, I guess, smarter and more educated. I was happy to be a part of that moment indirectly by being in the NBA family. 

SLAM: What’s your favorite All-Star Weekend host city?

KS: I like the smaller cities, because sometimes in the bigger cities, there are so many things going on that everyone doesn’t get focused until maybe Saturday that it’s here. But smaller cities, they start the week before, two weeks before. Everyone’s coming to town. And when everyone converges in, they’re here. So I like the smaller cities. New Orleans is good. I like Atlanta, which is not a small city, but I loved Atlanta. Houston is always really good—that’s a big city, though. Denver wasn’t bad. I mean, when you come to All-Star Weekend, it’s like all of your trading cards are walking around. It’s a different dynamic, man. It’s so much fun seeing that.

SLAM: You participated in the Dunk Contest three times. What do you think of the way it’s evolved?

KS: I’m interested to see it, because a lot of people say, “Oh, it’s changed.” But a lot of people don’t remember where it started, in the ABA, and how they used to do it. Each guy used to get three dunks, and then the next guy would do three, and then the next guy would do three. And then they went to the everyone-does-one-dunk format, and now they went back to this. I think it’s good. This year is gonna be fun because you have a lot of players that are not just dunkers—they’re really good players. You’ve got some really good players in it, which is gonna be really fun to watch.

SLAM: Do you think the freestyle round is going to be good enough to stick around?

KS: It worked for breakdancing [laughs]. It was a freestyle, then it was a one-on-one battle—that’s breakdancing! And like I said, I just want to see the best dunkers dunk. So regardless of how you rate ’em, put up numbers, vote on the Internet, socially get people engaged, I just want to see the best dunkers in there dunking, and we’re gonna see that.

SLAM: Do you have a prediction?

KS: I go back and forth every day. At first I had John Wall. And now I’m leaning toward Terrence Ross. I’ve been watching the Toronto games over the last week or so, and I was like, Oh, I forgot how high he jumps. Not even when he’s dunking, just going to the rim. I was like, Oh, right.

SLAM: What do you think of Damian Lillard doing all five main events?

KS: Well, I was the only one, and you can research this, to do the Dunk Contest and the Three-Point Shootout in the same night, which I thought was exhausting. I thought it was exhausting, and I only did two events in the same night. 

SLAM: So you think it’s a little over the top?

KS: Yeah, because you lose the one thing that this is about—you start to lose the adrenaline. You come out, and everyone goes “Ahhhh!” and you shoot the threes, and then you go back out for the dunks, and everyone goes “Ahhhh!” and you’re like, I’ve been out here already.

SLAM: Was there anyone snubbed from the All-Star Game that you were upset about?

KS: Not upset. I really truly understand how everyone there is good. I truly do. There are guys who have a case—Lance Stephenson, Serge Ibaka, Goran Dragic—but, like, who would you take off? All these guys have a case, man.

The post Q+A: Kenny Smith appeared first on SLAM.

by Adam Figman / portraits by JUCO

For most basketball players, a game-winning shot typically precedes a moment of immense joy. Forty-eight minutes of intense competition—and hours upon hours of laborious practice beforehand—have come down to a single jumper, and then that jumper finds the bottom of the net, and it was all worth it, and the genuine elation and joy that results is (and should be) palpable, unmistakable.

I noticed at some point during the past few months that Trail Blazers guard Damian Lillard seems to react differently than most, though. After his last-second buckets, of which there have already been a small handful during his one-and-a-half years in the L, the Oakland native scrunches up his face as if he just smelled something horrible, stares daggers at nothing in particular, and juts his jaw a la late-career Kobe Bryant. Check out the below photo, snapped immediately after Lillard buried the New Orleans Hornets less than two months into his rookie campaign:

Let’s use some top-secret Internet technology to get a bit closer.

There it is. That look has fascinated me since Lillard first began draining clutch shots during the winter of 2012—not only that he has an amazing method of demonstrating all-out excitement, but that he completely skipped the requisite “Woooooo this is really happening!”-type emotion that most rookies exhibit after hitting their first huge shots and jumped directly to, “Yeah, I just did that”-styled confidence. Transitions are overrated, anyway.

When I sat down with Dame in late January, this subject was one of the first things we discussed. Here he is on the matter: “That’s the East Oakland in me. It’s like this kind of chip that you have on your shoulder that you carry with you, that underdog mentality. It’s always been where people didn’t believe in me or I didn’t have an opportunity, so I kind of have a me-against-the-world mentality. I feel like I still need to earn it. So when stuff like [game-winners] happens, that’s the expression of, Now what?”

A fun answer, especially because now, at the onset of the second week of February, 2014, we know exactly what “what” is: A starring role in the upcoming All-Star Weekend, during which the 23-year-old will be participating in the Rising Stars Challenge, the Skills Challenge, the Sprite Slam Dunk Contest, the Three-Point Shootout and the actual All-Star Game—the first player to ever hit all five events. He also remains the starting point guard of the feisty Portland Trail Blazers, a group off to an excellent 36-15 start and one that could absolutely (and somewhat shockingly) come out of the West this season. 

And, of course, that “what” includes the reason we’re here now: his first SLAM cover. Dynamic photography duo JUCO shot Dame on the adidas campus a few weeks ago, and along with attending the shoot, I spent a half a week in Portland, caught a pair of Blazers games and held a lengthy interview with Dame for the cover story. You’ll need to pick up the issue to read that piece in full (though it’ll creep online in a couple weeks), but here are some quotes from our conversation in the meantime:

On maintaining the hard-nosed edge he had when he first entered the League:

DL: Over the summer, I was scared. I woke up nervous a lot of times. In the morning, it’d be 9 o’clock, and I’d get up nervous, because I was so busy with stuff I had to do like Rookie of the Year appearances, and business stuff, that I didn’t have the time right away to start working out, and that’s all I was used to doing. So when I wasn’t able to do that I feared I wouldn’t be better than I was last year. So that type of edge, it’s not something that I force myself to think about, but it bothers me. Having that type of thought process and edge is what allows me to keep wanting to get better and keep expecting more. 

On how he matches up against the NBA’s best point guards:

DL: I think I’m up there. I think there are guys that are on a higher level of me based on their body of work, just how they see games—it slowed down for me from year one to two, so a guy in year five or six, it’s probably unbelievable for them. I think I’m at the top—not saying I’m the best, but I’m in the group of the better point guards in the League based off of what I bring to the table for my team every night. 

On which PGs he enjoys facing the most:

DL: Russell Westbrook. Chris Paul, too. Chris Paul, just because he’s the consensus best point guard in the League to a lot of people. But Russell Westbrook because he’s a killer. He’s always in attack mode­—he wants to outplay you. That matchup for me is like, if I can get the best of him, then I’m moving up. He’s in attack mode when he has the ball, and he’s gonna attack you on defense. He plays both sides, and he’s one of the guys I have respect for. That’s probably the matchup I look forward to the most. 

On his unrelenting will to keep getting better:

DL: You’ve just got to want to prove it. You’ve got to want to do it for the right reasons. I’m not here for the money or the fame or anything like that. I’m here to show who I am as a basketball player.

There’s plenty more in the story, including quotes from Dame’s father, teammates, coaches, and his trainer, Anthony Eggleton, who breaks down the awesomely bizarre “high-level martial arts” lessons he regularly instills in our cover star. (If you’re wondering how and why Dame, who’s averaging 19.0 ppg and 6.5 apg at the moment, is so good with the game on the line, some of that might explain it.)

Plus, we’ve got a bunch of non-Lillard reasons to pick up this issue, including great features on up-and-coming stars like Klay Thompson, Jeff Teague and Gordon Hayward, a look at the careers and current lives of ex-NBA greats Adrian Dantley and Marques Johnson, a candid conversation with the one and only Yao Ming, and lots more.

It’ll be available in New York City this week and on newsstands nationwide early next week. Read it with your best post-buzzer-beater expression on full display. Or don’t. Either way, enjoy!

The post SLAM 176 is On Sale Now! appeared first on SLAM.

by Adam Figman / @afigman

Over the past seven months, Red Bull has held basketball runs in nine major US cities—Atlanta, Chicago, Houston, Indianapolis, Los Angeles, New Orleans, New York, Philadelphia and Washington, DC—pulling a team of eight guys from each city to represent that respective metropolis. (You can watch highlights of the events here and here.) Today, those nine squads will compete on the Barclays Center practice court, and four of ’em will earn the right to compete in the Red Bull Midnight Run, a competition that will take place tomorrow night on the Nets’ home floor minutes after Brooklyn takes on the Miami Heat. The winning group of players will earn nothing but pride and the right to say their city is home to the best streetballers in the nation.

In advance of the Midnight Run, we got up with Red Bull endorsee John Wall to talk about the tournament, the current streetball scene and his thoughts on the Washington Wizards’ play as of late. 

SLAM: Are you excited about the Midnight Run?

John Wall: Yeah, I feel like it’s a great opportunity for people to go out there and try to put their city on the map. It’s gravitating to guys who’ve been overseas, been in the D-League and been college players, and if you really wanna represent your city and do big things, this is a good opportunity. If you have the best city for that year, you have an opportunity to win it all.

SLAM: Do you think there’s a different mentality for playing for your home city as opposed to a pro team?

JW: I think it’s kind of the same, but it is different. You might have the opportunity to play with a lot of guys you grew up with and knew around the area, and when you go play overseas or anything like that, you’re meeting new people. I think people really want to go out there and represent, try to put their city on the map as much as possible. Why not have the bragging rights to say you’re the best city in the world for that whole year?

SLAM: What do you think of the streetball scene, especially as a way of coming up in the basketball world?

JW: I really like it. I enjoy it a lot, man—it’s a lot of fun. That’s what I grew up watching. I grew up learning how to dribble from watching so much streetball. It kind of was hot for a minute and I feel like it was going back away from getting on the map—this is a great opportunity to bring it back in an organized way. I used to watch Hot Sauce and AO and all those guys—those are guys I used to watch a lot of film of and just try different moves and stuff. In games you can do those types of moves and see if somebody will fall for it, so it was exciting for me to see how they handle the ball and it made me want to improve my skills.

SLAM: Is there a different mentality for games like the Midnight Run, as opposed to the NBA style of play?

JW: Nah, I think you play it like a regular basketball. That’s the biggest thing. Some guys are gonna try tricks and those things, but the main thing is you’re not getting no prize or getting any money or anything like that—you’re basically just putting your pride up for it. If you really care about and love your city, you’re gonna try and put your city on the map as much as possible. 

SLAM: The Wizards are 16-17, middle of the pack in the East. What do you think of where the team is at this point?

JW: I feel OK about it, but there are two times I feel like we’ve been at .500 and had the opportunity to get on a winning streak having games at home, and we find a way to fall off and not stay focused, and we fall behind. This is a great opportunity for us to get past those and get on a winning streak where we can try to win some games and get some separation.

SLAM: Still writing “PLAYOFFS” on your kicks every night?

JW: Yeah, definitely. Never gonna stop that. Once I say something it’s a “Go” with me.

SLAM: Do you sense a different camaraderie within the team this year, as opposed to past years?

JW: Yeah, I think we’ve done a great job. How we finished last year, we kind of already had built our chemistry, and we added a couple pieces this year. The main thing with us is we just need to stay consistent. Gotta find a way to win these games when we get the opportunity to do that. And we gotta stay focused. I feel like if we stay focused we can find a way to win these games and try to get some separation in the East.

SLAM: Who’s the funniest guy on the team?

JW: It’s tough, man. You’ve got guys like Martell [Webster]—he’s funny in a weird way. He’s different that everybody. Probably Glen Rice Jr, our rookie. He’s a pretty funny guy, a funny guy to be around. He’s always got jokes and always something he wants to say.

SLAM: He’s cool with putting himself out there, even as a rookie?

JW: He does it the right way. He has a lot of fun and then he sits back—he makes us laugh and then keeps it moving.

SLAM: Your free-throw percentage is at 85.1, up from 80.4 last year and 78.9 the year before. Where’d that jump come from?

JW: Just being more focused, you know what I mean? I’ve always been a great free throw shooter most of my life, but not really being focused or locked in on those things—and those are easy points. So that’s my main focus, [being] locked in on that and trying to make sure I keep making those.

SLAM: Are you starting to think about potentially making your first All-Star Game this year?

JW: I mean, you hear about those stories and those things, and I have my separate goals aside that I keep in my head, but other than that I’m just trying to go out there and play basketball, be the best point guard that I can be, be a leader to the team and try to make these guys better and make myself a better player. And lead them to the Playoffs, really.

SLAM: They’ve been calling the Warriors’ backcourt of Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson “The Splash Bros.” Are you and Brad Beal trying to get a nickname for the Wizards’ backcourt?

JW: Nah, I’d rather just keep it the same. They’re both of a heck of a player that can shoot the ball, and that’s why you can call them that. I just like [the media] calling me John Wall and calling him Brad Beal, and let’s go play some basketball.

SLAM: When we spoke a couple years ago you told me you were reading T.I.‘s books. Are you reading anything good these days?

JW: Yeah, I’m reading Terrence J’s book. And I’m starting to read Dwyane Wade’s book. I just got it, so I’m trying to read his book. But now I’m reading Terrence J’s book about being raised by his mom.

The post Q+A: John Wall appeared first on SLAM.

Originally published in SLAM 175

by Adam Figman / @afigman 

Serbia and Montenegro was not a fun place to live during the 1990s. War, a faltering economy, political tension, protests, riots, an outbreak of disease—that’s just a short list of the plagues that tormented the nation during a rough time period that natives of the country would likely prefer not to reminisce over. In May of 1992, the United Nations, disgusted with the area’s inability to maintain some semblance of peace, unanimously voted to issue United Nations Security Council resolution 757, establishing an embargo that prevented foreign goods from entering or leaving the country.

But there was one commodity the UN could never fully blockade. And so every night throughout the months of May and June during the late ’90s, with the school year complete and the weather warm enough to sit outside through the morning’s earliest hours, a local man in the town of Bijelo Polje would place a small television outside his home and turn the volume all the way up, a dozen neighborhood boys huddling around it to enjoy one of the few imported products they could get their hands (well, eyes/ears) on: NBA basketball. 

“The parents in the whole neighborhood would let us watch,” says Nikola Pekovic. “They knew how much we liked it.”

In 1998, the Sacramento Kings became beloved amongst the group. A Serbian sharpshooter named Peja Stojakovic and a crafty Serbian big man named Vlade Divac joined the team that year, as did Head Coach Rick Adelman, who installed an incredibly fun-to-watch, up-tempo offense. Though they never won an NBA Championship, the Kings were post-season contenders during each of the subsequent eight seasons.

Now, 15 years later, Adelman guides the Minnesota Timberwolves; Pekovic, at age 27, is his starting center. Adding a poetic note to the whole saga, it was under Adelman that the 6-11, 285-pound Pekovic got his first real NBA opportunity, and it’s under Adelman that Pek has flourished into an excellent NBA player, one good enough that the Wolves inked him to a five-year, $60 million deal last summer.  

After struggling with constant foul trouble throughout the scant minutes he played during his rookie season of 2010-11, Pek received a real chance the next season when an injury to Darko Milicic opened a hole in the Timberwolves’ rotation. He took full advantage; while Jeremy Lin captured the attention of the world during his unimaginable outburst that winter, Pek broke out in a subtler but very legitimate manner, averaging 13.9 points and 7.4 rebounds per game for Minnesota. “He worked his tail off, and we had some injuries, and he stepped in and he won the job,” Adelman says. “He’s gotten better each year.”

Pek solidified his status as an up-and-coming center in ’12-13, when he averaged 16.3 and 8.8 per, slowly and steadily making a name for himself as a giant with the ability to outmuscle the biggest of big men and set picks that guards and forwards would need a tractor to push through. He’s a refrigerator-shaped man of pure strength, an attribute earned from hours and hours spent alone and with various trainers in the weight room. “I just like how I feel when I go to the weight room,” Pek says with a slight smile. He’s seated in the lobby of a posh hotel in Philadelphia, PA, clad head-to-toe in Wolves-branded sweats, relaxing a few hours before Minnesota takes on the 76ers toward the end of the preseason. “Nothing else matters [when I’m lifting weights]. I really like it.”

A couple decades ago, the idea that Pek would one day be playing professional basketball in America must have seemed beyond impossible. He didn’t grow up playing ball—like the majority of kids in Serbia and Montenegro, which became simply Montenegro in ’02, he was more interested in soccer—but a gigantic growth spurt in his early teens pushed him away from the field and onto the hardwood. Following high school (during which he played for a junior team) he moved to Belgrade, Serbia, to play for KK Atlas. It was a tough decision—unlike in the United States, where collegiate athletes may wind up with a degree to fall back on if a career in sports doesn’t materialize, players in Europe jump directly into the pro ranks full-time. “You put your whole life in basketball, so if you don’t succeed, you’re in trouble,” Pek says. Two years later, he transferred to Partizan, where he won three consecutive Serbian League titles.

It was a difficult process at first, but the Serbian teams had systems in place where they’d essentially grow players until they became good enough to trade away, so Pek knew at some point an opportunity would present itself. Eventually it did, barely. “The third year [playing professionally] I really needed to fight for my position,” he says. “Basically all my life I’ve been fighting for position.”

He went off to Greece in 2008, signing a deal to hoop for Panathinaikos. He was also drafted by the Timberwolves with the first pick in the second round that year, reportedly falling to the second round because of concern regarding the contract he had signed overseas. Pek didn’t even watch the Draft, learning he was selected after his agent Jeff Schwartz called to inform him. “I just knew for two years I was going to be in Greece,” he says.

His first season in Greece featured tons of team success—Panathinaikos won the ’08-09 Euroleague title and the ’09 Greek Cup. “That was really fun,” he says. “We’d just look at the opponent and be like, ‘We’re gonna beat them.’” On a personal level, Pekovic blew up, receiving with First-Team All-Euroleague honors and earning a reputation as one of Europe’s elite big men. 

In 2010, he signed a three-year, $13 million deal with Minnesota, all of his previous accomplishments effectively evaporating once he crossed the Atlantic to join the NBA. “Toughest part is nobody knows you,” Pek says. “Nobody knows what you do, nobody knows how you play. Basically, everything I had been fighting and playing for, it just goes away. It just disappeared in a second.” 

And it took more than a second for it to return. That first year was trying, with Pek often wondering if he should just ditch his contract and bolt back to Europe. “I was really at the edge at that time,” he admits. “I was really, like, thinking about going back. I mean, I knew I had three years on my contract, but it was a really difficult time for me. That first year was the most difficult time of my basketball career.”

Conversations with Schwartz kept him on the right path, even when his most/only impressive on-court stats were related to fouls: 181 in 887 minutes, a personal foul for every 4.9 minutes played. One summer, one lockout and a couple months later, though, Pek was a new man. He reduced his foul total to 98 in ’11-12 (in 377 more minutes) and evolved into a slightly less polished version of the player he is today (although it feels wrong to refer to this bruising hulk of a human as “polished” in any sense). He finished third in Most Improved Player voting that season. Even if he was still short of the potential he could someday reach, Pekovic had officially become a real factor in the League. It was the culmination of small opportunities successfully grasped by fiercely fighting for position in various respects over the course of almost a decade—in Serbia, in Greece, in Minnesota.

Something else changed between his awkward rookie year and the season or two that followed: Pek fully adapted to his environment. He came to like Minnesota, making a small group of friends and finding some great places to fish, a pastime he’s loved since he was a boy catching trout in northeastern Montenegro. (Trout also happen to be native to Minnesota.) Plus, he became an important fixture in the Timberwolves’ locker room, his goofy personality—a full flip from his menacing in-game look—helping him bond with teammates. Never mind the damn-near-terrifying tattoos that snake up his left arm, the most recognizable of which is a menacing Serbian warrior stabbing a sword into a pile of skulls. “There’s never a dull moment with Pek,” says Minny forward Kevin Love. “He’s like a court jester. He’s the guy that keeps everybody light. His most-watched movie is The Hangover, the first one. He impersonates Mr. Chow and Zach Galifianakis, who would be [the character] Alan, maybe every day. For us American-born players, hearing his voice in that Eastern bloc, the way he talks, it’s funny hearing him say certain things that just don’t sound normal to us.”

“He’s always showing me funny videos on his phone,” says Timberwolves teammate Ronny Turiaf, who accompanied Pek on a fishing expedition during a day off this past October, the Montenegrin’s love for fishing and fondness for his teammates coming together as one. “He’s always cracking jokes.”

This season, Pek stands as the literal centerpiece of a unit looking to find some—any—kind of forward progress. With Pek (who missed 20 games last season with a calf injury), Love and point guard Ricky Rubio finally fully healthy, the group should be ready to put together a respectable post-season push. Especially because, along with the now-resolved injury issues, the guys have some light but much-needed time on the court with one another under their belts. When Pekovic first began suiting up alongside Rubio in ’11, the point guard would often shock the bearded big man with his signature, impossibly crafty passes. “Now I’ve learned a lesson, now I look for it all the time,” says Pek, who’s averaging 18.0 ppg and 9.3 rpg for the 17-17 Wolves. “Whenever [Rubio] gets the ball, I’m always looking out. You never know. Especially if I see that my man is not paying attention, I know the pass is coming, because I know he sees everything.” 

Minnesota could presumably be competing for a 7 or 8 seed in the crowded Western Conference, though several teams seem more than capable of snatching those spots. “I would just like it if we could go to the Playoffs,” says Pek, who hasn’t sniffed post-season action since his time in Greece. “That would be really, really fun.” 

And assuming all of their core pieces stay healthy, the Timberwolves are bound to at least be in the mix, fighting hard for positioning. Should be a fun ride for Pekovic, who’s been doing just that all his life.

The post The Viking appeared first on SLAM.

by Adam Figman / @afigman

Both on the court—in the form of consistent mid-range jumpers—and off of it—in the form of incredible videobombs—Chris Bosh has become a massive part of the Miami Heat’s identity. And though LeBron James remains the team’s guiding force, and the oft-injured Dwyane Wade remains its wild card, the 29-year-old big man will play a huge role in determining how well the Heat stack up against their competition this spring. We spoke to Bosh about the team’s position nearly a quarter of the way into the season, his Parks and Rec guest spot, Coach Spoelstra’s evolution and plenty more.

SLAM: How do you feel about how the Heat are doing at this point in the season?

Chris Bosh: We’re doing OK. We’ve reached the point where we have to start doing a lot better, and that’s how the season is—it’s gonna be filled with ups and downs, peaks and valleys and everything. You deal with it, you address those situations and you try to get over the hump.

SLAM: Shane Battier said teams generally have all of their individual roles set around New Year’s. Do you think you guys are approaching that point?

CB: Umm, yeah. We’re always approaching that point, but I think at this moment, right now, there are some things that we have to correct. That happens. We’re mature enough to address that and not beat around the bush, and be honest with each other about the reason we need to play better and why we need to play better. So I think with that said, the more we play, the more experience we get under our belts, we’re gonna figure that out.

SLAM: Does anything specific jump out to you when you say there are things you need to correct?

CB: No, nothing specific. It’s so many things you have to work on as a player on a good team, and we know what it takes to win a Championship. The broadness of it is like, OK, we pretty much have to work on everything even if we think we’re doing good in this area, we [still] need to improve. It’s always about improving. It’s a process—it just takes a while.

SLAM: Is there a difference in locker room chemistry this year compared with how it’s been the last few years?

CB: It’s the same deal every year. I think the formula is the same. You wanna get along with your teammates, hold each other accountable and hang out as much as you can off the court. I think that’s a very important building process for any team. That kinda makes things easier when it’s time to really address everything and hold each other accountable. If it’s your friend, you know how to talk to your friend, you know how to communicate effectively. That information that needs to get to the person is reciprocated and is heard.

SLAM: What about you, personally? Did you come into the season hoping to improve on anything specific?

CB: Well you know the funny thing with the season is you can come in working on something and thinking that’s what’s gonna happen, but it very seldomly happens like that. It never really happens in a way where it’s like, Yeah, everything that I worked on in the summer, I’m using it and it’s all happening. It’s funny how the game will give you something totally different that you weren’t expecting. So I was just trying to come in with an open mind frame, work on everything that I need to work on, but at the same time be ready for the challenges that come up, because you don’t wanna just be like, OK, I’m gonna work on my outside shooting, then I never get to take outside shots, you know what I mean? It’s kinda just working on my game as a whole and making sure I’m just ready for anything.

SLAM: There was a story about the Heat’s offense recently that included a shot chart stating that you’re the best shooter in the NBA from a solid portion of the mid-range area. Is that an aspect of your game that you always expected would one day become your bread and butter?

CB: Yeah, I mean over time it just naturally developed into something. When I was in Toronto, for me, I always wanted to get to the basket. [The jumper] was a tool for me to get guys mixed up because it was so open, so I continued to work on it. Now it’s evolved into something where I can help spread the floor with this team, knock down open shots and give our slashers opportunities to really be aggressive and make the defense think twice about leaving them.

SLAM: The East has been pretty horrible with the exception of Miami and Indiana—is there a sense for you guys that they’re the group the Heat are inevitable going to have to go through?

CB: Well yeah, I think when it’s all said and done, of course, we know we’re gonna have to face them and vice versa. But we know that the season is a process, and it’s a very long process, and you never know what could happen. So with that said of course we always wanna get off to good starts, we wanna play well throughout the season, but we know that there’s ups and downs. You deal with ’em. It’s not always gonna be easy; it’s not always gonna be good. We kinda take that into consideration a lot if we’re not doing well at a certain particular time, or if [the Pacers] are doing better than us, we can’t worry about outside stuff. We just need to fix what we need to fix within our organization. If we’ve lost a couple games or we’re not playing up to our capability, we fix that and we move on. I’m sure they’re gonna have their challenges as the season goes on, and it’ll happen at different times.

SLAM: That sounds like the kind of attitude you can really only have after proving to yourselves that you’re a Championship team. You don’t need to bother yourselves with what others are up to.

CB: Yeah. I mean, you always are aware of what everybody else is doing. We’re aware of what [the Pacers] are doing. We understand how it is to play with that chip on your shoulder. We understand that, and that’s something that we don’t have, so we have to find our own way to be successful and try to win three in a row.

SLAM: You’ve had a front-row seat watching Coach Spoelstra evolve from a coach who admittedly didn’t really know what he was doing into one of the best coaches in the NBA. What’s that been like?

CB: It’s been interesting. It’s been a process. It’s been so funny because we’ve all grown and evolved, and just to see where we all our now is pretty cool. But he’s always thinking about getting better. He handles situations a lot better than he used to. It used to really bother him if something wasn’t going the right way—now he’s able to take a step back and think a little bit more and think objectively, and we’re able to communicate a lot better. He’s getting that part down pretty good. It just works for everybody, and we’re continuing to really, really get better. He’s come a long way, like we all have, and I think he’ll continue to evolve.