Tuesday, Nov 2nd, 2021

We’re back after a two-month hiatus! In order to adjust to current life and work schedules, we’ll be switching to a once-a-week newsletter on Mondays. But we aren’t dead. We promise.

  The Opening Tip

• The generation of baggy pants and long 2-pointers is dying. 

• The Magic may finally have a rookie worth getting excited about. 

• We have updated our 'People named Ja' rankings.

Tonight's best games

 1. The players of our youth are disappearing  

Maybe you are “young,” “cool” and like to doom-scroll TikTok while buying JPEGs of monkeys.We are not. We invented doom-scrolling on Meta and started playing video games when LeBron looked like this.We came of basketball age watching clogged-up lanes and contested long 2-pointers, when scores like these were normal. 

• At 28, we’re older than most players now, which feels strange.

• Even stranger, though, is watching basketball this season and realizing almost all the characters of our NBA youth are gone. No more Paul Pierce or Vince Carter or Dwyane Wade or Amar'e Stoudemire or Deron Williams or Danny Grainger. 

Players drafted in the 2000s are in short supply. There are, in fact, only 39 of them currently on an NBA roster.

• That number shrinks to only seven when you filter it to players drafted in 2005 or earlier.

• And no one drafted in ‘02 or before is in the league. (Udonis Haslem, still technically active, went undrafted in 2002.)

Take a look:

Lou Williams (‘05) said he’ll probably call it quits after this season. Trevor Ariza (‘04) and Andre Iguodala (‘04) are on the brink. Lamarcus Aldridge (‘06) already retired and came back.If it weren’t for the Lakers, who employ eight of the 39 players drafted in the ‘00s, it would be even more drastic. They are a dying breed. And soon time will come for the ‘10s, too.[READ: Is age just a number? The Lakers hope so]

 2. Daily GIF: We must accept our new savior, Franz Wagner     

The best rookie on the Magic so far isn’t No. 5 overall pick Jalen Suggs, it’s Franz Wagner (brother of Mo, also on Orlando), who threw down this heavily-trafficked dunk on the Timberwolves last night. 

• He finished the game with 28 points and is averaging 15.6 PPG on 46.3 percent from deep.

 3. Trivia time  

Who are the eight players currently on the Lakers who were drafted in the 2000s?

Answers at the bottom.

4. Jas, ranked 

Through seven games, Ja Morant is tearing up the league. He’s averaging 28.3 PPG, 5.4 RPG and 7.7 APG and leads the league in points in the paint per game, with 16.3. (The next guard on the list is Malcolm Brogdon, at 10.4 PITPPG.) His recent heroics have forced us to revise our list of best Jas:

3. Ja(h) Live (not a person but still counts)2. Ja Rule1. Ja Morant

We will let you know if there are any more updates to the list.

 5.  Quick Hits 

• The Hawks and Wizardsmade all 45 of their combined free-throws last night. 

• The Celtics were beating the Bulls by 14 going into the fourth quarter last night, then lost by 14.

• Ernie Johnson’s son, Michael, died on Friday at age 33.

• Here’s two minutes of Damian Lillard freestyling. 

• ICYM Ant Edwards describing Giannis, here you go.  

• Udonis Haslemplayed on Saturday for the Heat. It was his 46th game since the 2016-17 season. Some poor soul in the G-League is missing out on generational wealth because Haslem refuses to retire.

 6.  Reads and pods 

• Why the Knicks’ hot start is sustainable [The Ringer]

• Aaron Gordon and his mother are determined to bring diversity to the tech world [The Undefeated]

• How legit is Ja Morant’s year 3 leap? [ESPN]

• Jeff Van Gundy x Zach Lowe [The Lowe Post]