Trying to see the sunny side in the midst of the NBA's scorching hot dog days
A source of potential comfort as we all await some tangible progress in Miami's trade chase of Portland's Damian Lillard: August shouldn't be as barren for NBA fans as it usually is ... or so we think
Damian Lillard's trade demand is essentially one month old and generating little pressure on the Portland Trail Blazers with training camp so far in the distance.
Media Day is a full two months away for 28 of the NBA's 30 teams … and it falls on Sept. 29 for the twosome of Dallas and Minnesota before the Mavericks and Timberwolves travel across the world to play two preseason games in Abu Dhabi.
So …
There’s no sense trying to sugarcoat things on this Newsletter Tuesday.
The start of the next NBA season really does feel a long way off.
Yet I would submit that this August has the potential to be better (as in more entertaining) if not cooler than most ... even if we don't get any significant movement on the Lillard or James Harden or Pascal Siakam trade fronts.
Five happenings this month that have me optimistically pointing to August's sunny side:
1. Hall of Fame inductions are less than two weeks away.
Dirk Nowitzki. Dwyane Wade. Tony Parker. Pau Gasol. Gregg Popovich.
All in the same HoF class.
(Ditto for my longtime colleague and former teammate Marc J. Spears, who is poised to collect the Hall’s Curt Gowdy Award for print media excellence.)
The induction ceremonies take place Aug. 11-12. They are usually held in September but were moved up in part because Nowitzki and Gasol have upcoming ambassadorial roles to fulfill at the FIBA World Cup.
Brace yourselves for lots of words from yours truly, written and spoken, direct from Springfield.
2. The aforementioned World Cup starts Aug. 25.
We will soon be getting almost a hundred bonus high-level games post-summer league to help us make it through the heat wave that’s seemingly everywhere until NBA basketball returns.
And that doesn't even include exhibition warm-up games for the World Cup, like Luka Dončić's formal return to the hardwood after nearly four months away when Slovenia plays host to Greece on Wednesday, followed by United States vs. Puerto Rico on Monday night from Las Vegas' T-Mobile Arena.
3. International Left-Handers Day is Aug. 13.
It falls on a Sunday this year and, truth be told, lands a little closer to Hall of Fame proceedings in Springfield than I’d like.
But, yes, that means the world’s most authoritative annual All-Lefty Team — mine — will be published here soon!
4. August, remember, also happens to be NBA Schedule Release Month.
The league delivered its 2022-23 schedule on Aug. 17 last summer. I’ve been advised to expect the 2023-24 unveiling to land in the same time frame this summer ... nestling it right between Hall of Fame weekend and the World Cup opener.
5. I've been writing about my various issues with HBO's "Winning Time" for about 18 months in various columns here ... but I'm starting Season 2 with some rare kudos for the series on the Showtime Lakers:
Bringing this show back right now, reportedly for the next seven Sundays, is a welcome touch when we're mired in the warmest throes of the offseason dog days. This is the time of year we really need it.
Now let's hope the Season 2 accuracy improves by a notch or five.
HBO + NBA and why I care so much
A former NBA All-Star who loves watching HBO's Winning Time asked me recently why I have voiced so much displeasure about its accuracy levels. The show, after all, flashes the same disclaimer on the screen every week, warning that there will be no shortage of dramatic flourishes woven in as it purports to tell the story of the Showtime Lakers.
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Urgent Hoops Housekeeping
I can't tout the virtues of the upcoming FIBA World Cup without acknowledging that several NBA players of note have indicated that they will not be participating for various reasons.
That list naturally starts with the Serbian trio of Vasilije Micić, Miloš Teodosić and a certain Nikola Jokić of the newly crowned champion Denver Nuggets.
Other well-known unavailable names as furnished by HoopsHype's Alberto de Roa and his peerless bookkeeping on such matters:
Australia: Ben Simmons
Canada: Andrew Wiggins, Brandon Clarke, Bennedict Mathurin and Shaedon Sharpe
Dominican Republic: Chris Duarte
France: Victor Wembanyana
Germany: Maxi Kleber and Isaiah Hartenstein
Italy: Danilo Gallinari
Mexico: Juan Toscano-Anderson and Jaime Jaquez Jr.
New Zealand: Steven Adams
Puerto Rico: Jose Alvarado
Spain: Serge Ibaka
Also in this section we've compiled the top three remaining free agents at every position:
PG: Kendrick Nunn, Ish Smith and Goran Dragić
SG: Jaylen Nowell, Hamadou Diallo and Austin Rivers
SF: Kelly Oubre, T.J. Warren and Juan Toscano-Anderson
PF: PJ Washington (restricted), JaMychal Green and Derrick Jones Jr..
C: Christian Wood, Bismack Biyombo and Blake Griffin
One more also …
I will be on the run at week’s end at USA Basketball’s training camp in Las Vegas, but I plan to arrange the usual subscribers-only chat for Friday at a TBD time amid the expected chaos. Stay tuned for details.
Numbers Game
🏀 30,000
This Substack, now in its third year, realized a major milestone in July by crossing the 30,000-subscriber threshold when accounting for overall audience, which includes customers with either a Free or Paid subscription.
🏀 288
We have a new contender for Most Wildly Overreported Contract of the offseason. Jaylen Brown’s extension in Boston, as explained in this comprehensive Spotrac article from my pal Keith Smith, is correctly estimated as a five-year deal worth $288 million rather than its frequent billing as the NBA’s first $300 million contract. The NBA, you see, is currently projecting the salary cap to rise 4.4% in 2024-25 to $142 million. It would have to rise by the maximum possible 10% for Brown to reach the widely reported $304 million figure. Keith’s piece has tons of good context and information about the Brown extension and I advise you to read it in full.
🏀 2
The other top two contenders in this summer’s Overstated Contracts Department: 1. Fred VanVleet’s three-year, $128.5 million deal with Houston, touted by ESPN on the opening night of free agency as the first max deal of the offseason, was neither a max nor, really, even a three-year max since Year 3 is a $44.9 million team option held by the Rockets; 2. Bruce Brown’s two-year, $45 million deal with Indiana, in the same spirit, is more realistically a one-year, $22 million deal with the Pacers holding a $23 million team option in Year 2.
🏀 4
Bahamas will have four current NBA players on its national team this summer as it chases a spot in the 2024 Olympics: Phoenix’s Deandre Ayton and Eric Gordon, Indiana’s Buddy Hield and Charlotte’s Kai Jones. Bahamas must win the eight-team Olympic qualifier in Argentina from Aug. 14-20 to advance to next summer’s final qualifying round before the Paris Games. Chile, Colombia, Cuba, Panama, Uruguay and the U.S. Virgin Islands join host Argentina in comprising the field.
🏀 23
The Lakers' LeBron James is switching back to No. 23 next season, surrendering No. 6 in deference to the legendary Bill Russell, who died on July 31, 2022. James has won two championships wearing No. 23 (2016 with Cleveland and 2020 with the Lakers) and two wearing No. 6 (Miami's back-to-back titles in 2011-12 and 2012-13).
🏀 15
The coming season will be James' 15th wearing No. 23 compared to six wearing No. 6. The NBA retired No. 6 leaguewide last summer in Russell's honor but players who wore No. 6 in 2021-22 were not forced to relinquish it.
🏀 119
When Slovenia plays host to Greece on Wednesday night in a FIBA World Cup warm-up game in Ljubljana, it will be the first game action for Dallas’ Luka Dončić since April 7 — 119 days.
🏀 97.1
Readers in the Dallas area — or those who want to listen online — can catch me live for an hour on Saturdays talking NBA on 97.1 FM The Freak. The Saturday Stein Line debuted on July 1 and can be found via Apple Podcasts, Spotify Podcasts, Google Podcasts, etc.
Marc, Gut feeling on any big trades made before start of regular season? Above or below 50%?
As a committed southpaw, please include in your "world’s most authoritative annual All-Lefty Team" only lefties, i.e., none of those ambidextrous types who try to play it both ways (I'm looking at you, Mason Plumlee).
One deserving member is Goran Dragic. Another, of course, is Manu.