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I’m a little surprised we never got an “Air Bud” movie where he’s just broadcasting with Marv Albert and Mike Fratello.
Anyway … let’s check in with Shams!
The Latest From Shams
Lillard remains steadfast
A month after Damian Lillard requested a trade out of Portland, there remains no real traction on any kind of a deal.
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The latest I’m hearing in my conversations with people who have direct knowledge of the situation, including people inside the Blazers organization, is that there remains no shift in Lillard’s mindset and goal of playing for the Miami Heat in the wake of the league’s initiative to warn Lillard and his agent that any further comments made “suggesting Lillard will not fully perform the services called for under his player contract in the event of a trade” will be subject to discipline. That memo was also a warning to other players and agents.
Lillard and his agent, Aaron Goodwin, both assured the league that the superstar would “fully perform the services called for under his player contract in any trade scenario,” the league’s memo to all teams stated.
For the time being, however, a trade to Miami remains the scenario to watch for.
I’m told the Heat have been working on a trade package of expiring deals, three to four first-round picks and one of the team’s younger players, with Tyler Herro going to a third team. The deal could potentially also involve second-rounders and pick swaps.
Will that be good enough for Portland? Can the Blazers get anything better? We don’t know yet. But this is where things currently stand. We’ll continue to report on things as they develop.
Back to Zach, with a few more thoughts on some of this.
Picking and choosing
So … we know Dame wants to go to Miami. And we know Blazers general manager Joe Cronin is not having it … yet?
We also know the NBA, as Shams noted, sent out a memo about the comments and reports around Lillard and his representation that have suggested there could be some sabotaging of potential deals. The league did some investigating, and it turns out Goodwin (Lillard’s agent) was pretty dead-on in denying those reports.
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A few additional bullet points from the memo:
- “The relevant teams provided descriptions of their communications with Goodwin that were mostly, though not entirely, consistent with Goodwin’s statements to us.”
- Future comments by Lillard or Goodwin to suggest not being all-in to non-Miami teams are subject to discipline.
- “We also have advised the Players Association that any similar comments by players or their agents will be subject to discipline going forward.”
I’m always confused when the NBA decides to randomly enforce rules it usually turns a blind eye to. Tampering is never allowed … unless the league gets a serious complaint about it. Then it investigates the complaint before possibly docking a team a second-round pick. The league lets players pretty much do and say whatever they want when it comes to player empowerment … unless it randomly decides to audit a situation like Lillard’s.
It’s like the highway patrol selectively deciding to hit someone for speeding when the flow of the traffic is dictating the pace on the road. Either do it or don’t.
Bubble Burst?
Should LA’s other team have a crown?
I still don’t know what to do with the NBA bubble and its results in 2020. It seemed like the 2019-20 season was shaping up to be an all-timer. Then the COVID-19 pandemic hit, the world stopped, the NBA resumed, and the Lakers were crowned champs in October.
Some say the title is even more impressive because basketball essentially played in a vacuum proved the Lakers to be above the rest. And it’s not like they were schlubs in the regular season. They went into the bubble with the best record and net rating in the West (second-best in the league for both).
Others say the title is so far removed from what “normal” circumstances are for a playoff run that it doesn’t count the same. Regardless, the Lakers were the champs fair and square, and 50 years from now, as the robots are in a war with the literal sun, we’ll only remember that LeBron won his fourth title back in 2020.
Well, maybe all of us except Patrick Beverley. He was a Clipper at that time, and he doesn’t quite see it the same way. One of those lazy aggregation accounts on social media posted a picture of Kawhi Leonard, Paul George, Montrezl Harrell, Lou Williams, Landry Shamet and Beverley recently. The caption was:
“We really thought this lineup was winning it all.”
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Pat Bev shared it with:
If you were worried about whether Pat tagged his podcast’s Twitter account (I’m not calling it X), don’t fret at all. He did.
Is Pat correct? Were the Clippers going to win it all? When the bubble hit, they had the second-best record in the West and the second-best net rating in the West. They were third in offense and fifth in defense. They for sure looked like contenders in the first year with Leonard and George.
In the bubble, they were up 3-1 on the Denver Nuggets in the second round, then collapsed when Marcus Morris Sr. screamed in the face of Paul Millsap. The Nuggets took it seriously and were offended. The Clippers did not take it seriously, and they blew the series lead, losing in seven games.
Such a stance isn’t surprising from Pat Bev. His delusional confidence is part of what has earned him a long, lucrative career in the NBA. But does he also feel like the Raptors are contending for the title if the bubble doesn’t happen? They had a better record and a better defense than the Clippers. Or maybe he just believes in the matchup of those Clippers against those Lakers.
We never got to see what that would look like because the Clippers blew a 3-1 lead as the Lakers were waiting for their opponent in the conference finals. If anybody should feel cheated by the bubble gods, maybe it’s Milwaukee. The Bucks were entirely dominant (53-12, plus-10.7 net rating) before the world shut down.
A-Team tweaks
Changes coming to ESPN broadcasts
The ESPN/ABC broadcast team for the biggest NBA games is undergoing an overhaul. Don’t worry; Hall of Famer Mike Breen is still doing the play-by-play, and you’ll still hear “BANG!” after every big shot.
But our Richard Deitsch confirmed the news that a month after Jeff Van Gundy was let go in a round of layoffs, his former broadcast partner Mark Jackson is also gone. Mama, we don’t know where that man is going next, but we know Doc Rivers and Doris Burke could be joining Breen on the No. 1 broadcast team.
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Rivers briefly did broadcasting between his Orlando and Boston coaching stints. And he was good at it. Burke was previously paired with Mark Jones for ESPN.
Bounce Passes
Jovan Buha looks at the Lakers’ upcoming rotation and who should start at point guard.
Why Anthony Edwards is switching from No. 1 to No. 5.
Should the Suns be worried about playing Devin Booker at point guard?
Referees mic’d up, including Joey Crawford buying two fans a beer.
JR Smith and Iman Shumpert marvel at playing alongside Jason Kidd.
Screen Game Homework
Last Friday, we reviewed “Above the Rim” from 1994. This week, we’re staying in that year with the recruiting scandal movie, “Blue Chips.” This stars Nick Nolte, Shaquille O’Neal and Anfernee Hardaway.
You can watch it on Amazon Prime, if you want to do some homework ahead of Friday’s review. We’ll answer the age-old question: Is Neon Boudeaux the greatest NBA prospect ever?
(Photo of Damian Lillard: Soobum Im / USA Today)
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