Mon, September 16th, 2019

An NBA-obsessed newsletter for the info-craved basketball mind. Did a friend forward you this newsletter? Sign yourself up here.

Written while listening to Ghostface Killah's New World

Gasol had a hot boy summer (Are we doing this right?)

Take a good, hard look at this picture/advertisement for the wonders of puberty:No, that isn’t the awkward/goofy/two-left-footed/tall kid who made your high school basketball team because he was 6-foot-10, that’s Marc Gasol, who just completed one of the best summers a professional basketball player has ever had.His Spaniards on Sunday beat team-of-destiny Argentina in Beijing, 95-75, to win the 2019 FIBA World Cup.To recap, Gasol, who finished 14 points, seven rebounds and seven assists in the victory, was on a terrible Memphis team in early February, staring at months/years in NBA Siberia.Since being traded to the Raptors, on February 7, he:

• Helped Toronto win a miracle title, beating Joel Embiid and Giannis on the way

• Helped topple an NBA dynasty

• Dropped 33 points in a double-overtime classic in the World Cup semis against Australia

• Helped his country beat Argentina in the World Cup Finals

• Helped clinch his case for the Hall of Fame

The NBA-World Cup double-win in one summer has only been done by Lamar Odom before him, and Gasol’s NBA exploits mixed with his international accomplishments (he also won the World Cup with Spain in 2006), means a lock -- whether you like it or not -- for the BASKETBALL (remember, it’s not just NBA) Hall of Fame, whenever he chooses to retire.Basically, in a span of seven months, he hit his basketball puberty -- blossoming from fairly memorable player into Canadian/NBA/international lore --  and it was almost as wonderful as his biological puberty. 

“NBA champion and a World Cup champion as well,” Gasol said to the New York Times. “What can I say? How does it sound to you?”

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Spain wins FIBA World Cup, giving Marc Gasol a rare double

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Some final World Cup notes

You can rejoice: Our month-long quest to try and get you interested in the World Cup is over; the NBA returns on October 22.Some final notes from the tournament: Ricky Rubio was named tournament MVP, and got pretty emotional after the game. He later tweeted out a tribute to mom, who died earlier this year. It’s a great piece of karmic justice for him, because now he has to go play for the Phoenix Suns. Luis Scola finished with eight points and eight rebounds in the final game of the tournament. He’s 39, and will probably be back for the Olympics next year, but his run through the World Cup should give every mid-lifer inspiration. Remember Team USA? They beat Poland, 87-74, on Saturday to clinch seventh place, the worst finish ever for USA in the World Cup or Olympics. Gregg Popovich, on a disappointing tournament, to ESPN: Some people want to play the blame game. There’s no blame to be placed anywhere. They want to play the shame game, like we should be ashamed because we didn’t win a gold medal? That’s a ridiculous attitude. It’s immature, it’s arrogant, and it shows that whoever thinks that doesn’t respect all the other teams in the world and doesn’t respect that these guys did the best they could. And finally, this gif of Víctor Claver hitting an indescribable shot before the World Cup finals on Sunday:

  Dearica Hamby, from very deep

Nevermind that she hoisted from near-half court with six seconds left, Dearica Hamby’s miracle 3-point shot last night gave the Las Vegas Aces a 93-92 victory over the Chicago Skye in the WNBA’s playoff play-in game.

SI’s top 100

Sports Illustrated released its top 100 players for the 2019-20 NBA season.

You can scroll through the list here.

Some interesting/notable rankings:

• Giannis -- No. 1

• Andrew Wiggins -- No. 100

• Russell Westbrook -- No. 12

• Kawhi Leonard -- No. 2

• Luka Doncic -- No. 30

 Quick Hits 

• A psycho fan rocking a Hakeem Olajuwon jersey at an L.A. Sparks game Sunday ran onto the court to try and confront sisters Nneka and Chiney Ogwumike. He got bodied. 

• Michael Jordan has sold a portion of the Charlotte Hornets to two finance bros. He will still remain the majority owner.

• The Milwaukee Bucks are (obviously) planning to offer Giannis a super-max deal after the end of next season.

• 2009 No. 2 overall pick Hasheem Thabeet, one of the worst draft picks ever, will be working out with the Knicks this week.

• Justise Winslow wants to play point guard for the Heat this season.

• Rudy Gobert is still hyped about winning the bronze at the FIBA World Cup.

• Derrick Rose was also recently in China...promoting his new sneaker.

• The Nets will be giving away free Kyrie Irving jerseys when they host the Knicks October 25. Too bad all the real fans will have been priced out by then.

 Concrete Reads 

• Every great thing about Dearica Hamby’s miracle game-winning 3 [The Ringer]

• France basketball’s next wave could be a golden generation [SB Nation]

• A year after coaching Anthony Davis, Darren Erman is leading the G-League’s Red Claws [The Boston Globe]

 Podcast Pick

The Lakers’ dubious roster construction [Sports Illustrated]