The Tuesday Newsletter Extravaganza
Even on a national holiday, yes, we're here to set up what to watch for next in the NBA, share another round of Numbers Game gems and pretend, just for fun, that this can also be a Tech Substack
You only had to survive 21 days without NBA basketball.
How did you do?
The league largely went quiet Tuesday to observe the July Fourth holiday, but there were five summer league games played Monday in Sacramento and Salt Lake City, including the long-awaited return of Oklahoma City's Chet Holmgren. Highlights enclosed:
It's a bit of a stretch from us, of course, to equate summer league play to the NBA Finals that wrapped up on June 12 with Denver completing its 4-1 series demolition of eighth-seeded Miami. It’s also true that, after summer league, it’ll be a much longer wait until exhibition play starts in early October, forcing NBA addicts to sustain themselves on international ball in August and September.
Yet what happens on the floor in Las Vegas, as all 30 teams prepare to convene for their annual desert convention, will always be a source of fun and film to study that we can't resist no matter how few true difference-makers are on show.
For your calendars ...
Wednesday: Five more games in Sacramento and Utah.
Thursday: That's the first day restricted free agents can formally sign offer sheets with other teams ... with the matching period pared down to a mere 24 hours in the league's new collective bargaining. Portland's Matisse Thybulle, Boston's Grant Williams, Charlotte's PJ Washington — who signs an offer sheet this week?
Friday: The summer schedule in Sin City commences. Victor Wembanyama's San Antonio Spurs face Brandon Miller's Charlotte Hornets in a night game. And the current plan is indeed for Wembanyama to make his Spurs debut in that one after sitting out San Antonio’s two games in Sacramento.
Next week: Turner Sports' Chris Haynes and I are working on a podcast surprise or two that we hope to pull off when we're reunited on Vegas' famed Strip. (Can't even remember the last time we were together in the same place.) Here’s our latest episode on all things Damian Lillard trade request, James Harden trade request and Kyrie Irving’s return to Dallas:
Back to today: I'm still working some on the next couple stories to publish but eager to sneak in a bit of family time tonight ... while also staring at these recently shipped beauties when no one else in the house is nearby to judge me:
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Technology Corner
One of the joys of this Substack is my occasional ventures into travel writing or restaurant reviewing or mixing in some soccer or tennis coverage just because I can. It's fun to veer into these lanes that traditional journalism didn't exactly encourage an NBA scribe to traipse into.
On this Newsletter Tuesday, specifically, I'm taking a detour into technology writing.
The inspiration: I recently received a Tidbyt for review purposes. A Tidbyt, for the uninitiated, is a portable-radio-sized device with an LED readout that, at roughly 8x4, provides all kinds of ticker-style information specifically chosen by apps you load onto your phone.
Some will consider it a novelty item. It will likewise be a pricey novelty item for some at a retail price of $179, but it’s one I can’t resist because, well, I love old school news tickers and the data they dish. Something tells me regular readers, well aware by now that they're dealing with an incurable nostalgist, probably won’t need too many guesses to figure out that I'm enjoying the device and the lo-fi retro packaging of the information it delivers.
Once removed from the box and connected to Wi-Fi, Tidbyt offers a variety of easily connected apps that put the latest sports, weather and time details on your screen … plus several other categories if you’re a more well-rounded person than me. If you’re intrigued by the prospect of watching a very scaled-down slice of Times Square at home, I suspect you'll have the same sort of reaction that I did.
In addition to local weather and every source of NBA content that the device can connect to, I loaded multiple English Premier League and international tennis apps onto this Tidbyt for a steady stream of my favorite sports. With Cal State Fullerton basketball and the Buffalo Sabres both dormant until next season, I don't have a feel yet for how those updates will feed into the scroll.
It’s obviously not going to replace much of the work your phone does — and it doesn’t have alarm clock functionality unless I’ve missed it somehow — but I enjoy the steady stream of basic news bytes that dance on what now ranks as pretty much the most colorful and vibrant screen of the many in my home office. My loudest complaint to this point is that home team is not listed on top/first on the English soccer apps I’ve seen so far, which is how it’s universally done at every level of the sport there, but that’s an issue for the app creators rather than the device engineers.
And that brings up another Tidbyt plus that will never apply to me but might appeal to more tech-savvy readers out there: You can create your own apps for the device if you have the technical skill. App creation is encouraged.
Anyone want to help me figure out how to make an app that puts all the headlines from my Substack onto a Tidbyt?
Some pictures of the readouts in my rotation:
Numbers Game
🏀 6
When James Harden unexpectedly picked up the playoff option for the final year of his contract at $35.6 million and then asked the 76ers to trade him, it marked the sixth trade demand in a span of less than three years from Harden (three) and his former Nets teammates Kevin Durant (two) and Kyrie Irving (one).
🏀 35
Dennis Schröder's reported two-year, $26 million contract to join Toronto will take his overall earnings to nearly $35 million since Schröder declined to accept a reported four-year, $84 million extension offer from the Lakers during the 2020-21 season. Schröder wound settling for a one-year deal with Boston in 2021-22 for just shy of $6 million and returned to the Lakers last season on a one-year minimum deal worth $2.6 million.
🏀 15
Starting next season, as part of the league's new collective bargaining, NBA teams will be allowed to dress 15 players for games.
🏀 1985
New Kings forward Sasha Vezenkov represents Bulgaria in international play, which naturally (for a 1980s nerd like me) brings to mind Bulgarian forward Georgi Glouchkov. During the 1985-86 season, Glouchkov became the first player from an Eastern bloc country to play in the NBA, appearing in 49 games for the Suns.
🏀 477
More evidence that the Indiana/Sacramento trade headlined by Tyrese Haliburton and Domantas Sabonis in February 2022 was won by both teams: Haliburton ($260 million) and Sabonis ($217 million) agreed to contract extensions over the weekend with their new teams worth up to a combined $477 million if Haliburton earns All-NBA status next season.
🏀 7-3 1/2
Something tells me you've heard by now that Victor Wembanyama was officially measured at 7-foot-3 1/2 by the Spurs after the French phenom’s arrival in San Antonio. The NBA changed its policy starting with the 2019-20 season and began measuring players without shoes to determine their official height.
🏀 7-4
Houston's Boban Marjanović was the tallest player in the NBA last season. Marjanović is currently a free agent.
🏀 12
New York's Josh Hart has claimed the 12th and last open roster spot for USA Basketball's Steve Kerr-coached FIBA World Cup team for this summer. Hart joins his Knicks teammate Jalen Brunson, Orlando's Paolo Banchero, Brooklyn's Mikal Bridges, Minnesota's Anthony Edwards, Indiana's Tyrese Haliburton, New Orleans' Brandon Ingram, Memphis' Jaren Jackson Jr., Brooklyn's Cam Johnson, Utah's Walker Kessler, Milwaukee's Bobby Portis and the Los Angeles Lakers' Austin Reaves on the team.
🏀 80
The legendary Peter Vecsey, who pretty much invented the genre of NBA insider-ing as a print and television reporter — most notably at The New York Post, New York Daily News and NBC Sports — celebrated his 80th birthday Saturday. Vecsey's birthday is fittingly July 1, which for so long was synonymous with the start of NBA free agency. Former Knicks coach Hubie Brown famously dubbed him The Viper; here’s a collection of tributes to Vecsey's inimitable style as compiled by Japan-based journalist Ed Odeven.
🏀 97.1
Readers in the Dallas area or those who want to listen online can catch me live for an hour on Saturdays from noon to 1 PM CT talking NBA on 97.1 The Freak. Saturday Sportsworld with Marc Stein presented by Panini America debuted last weekend on the first full day of free agency and episodes will soon be re-distributed on the show's in-the-works podcast feed.
I have to say Marc that your work ethic is second to none. Very impressive! Posting on the 4th - even in Canada we are 👏👏👏👏👏 you!
Love the tidbyt. Pre-smart phones I had this amazing white pager with scrolling scores. Never left home without it as I did a little gambling in those days.