Onyeka Okongwu, the big man out of USC who is viewed as a high lottery pick in the 2020 NBA Draft, is reportedly dealing with a toe injury. According to Jonathan Givony of ESPN, Okongwu suffered a fractured big toe in his left foot, and while any sort of foot injury will inherently worry NBA teams, word is that this one isn’t expected to be particularly nasty.
As a result, Givony reports, Okongwu is expected to be ready when the season begins after several weeks of rest.
Via ESPN:
The fracture was discovered in early October and was given a six to eight week prognosis, preventing him from conducting workouts with NBA teams.
Sources from multiple NBA teams told ESPN that their doctors have been aware of the injury for some time, have reviewed the medical documentation and do not expect Okongwu’s draft stock to be materially impacted or for the injury to have long-term implications.
A former five-star center prospect out of Chino Hills High School in California, Okongwu dazzled on both ends of the floor during his one year in college, averaging 16.2 points, 8.6 rebounds, and 2.7 blocks in 30.6 minutes per game for the USC Trojans. Our latest mock draft has Okongwu going No. 9 to the Washington Wizards.
I am … an alchemist, transforming scraps into fuel, breathing life into rusted wheels and wind-torn sails.
I am … playing Far: Lone Sails, an adventure-experience video game set in the desolate wasteland of a post-apocalyptic society and I am more at peace than I have been in a long time.
It’s an odd realization anyone who comes to the game – which first dropped two years ago and has since enjoyed a kind of cult following with fans praising greyscale aesthetic and ambiguous storytelling – might have within the first 10 minutes of play. You’ve met your character – a minuscule mechanic in a red hat and poncho – as she bids farewell to a marked grave. Is it her father’s? Her brother’s? Her mentor’s? You’ll never know. In fact, you won’t understand much about this world – how its oceans dried up, leaving the bones of tankards and cruise ships cemented in muddy bedrock, what happened to its inhabitants, where its wildlife went, or why you seem to be the lone survivor on this barren planet equipped with broken down steampunk ship you’re meant to sail across the dusty seas.
That unknowing, strangely enough, is part of the appeal.
In an era where every RP video game character has a story, where every multi-player world comes scripted with mythological explanations and prescribed destinies, Far: Lone Sails commits itself to an often-ignored adage: it’s not the destination, but the journey.
And this journey is one you probably haven’t taken before – at least not in video game form.
For starters, you’ll finish it in three to four hours, perhaps earlier if you’re blessed with basic coordination skills and a rudimentary understanding of machinery. If not, the gameplay asks you to trust your intuition and pay attention to the various signals and gauges on your ship. You’ll find her after sifting through the wreckage of your old life, carting mailboxes and suitcases, and lanterns on your journey to your metal mobile home.
Once inside, you’ll discover various buttons meant to work everything from the engine to the fuel dump to, eventually, the shredded sails that usher you along a monotoned landscape (the kind Denis Villeneuve would be envious of) if you happen to run out of energy boxes. This is the closest thing to a relationship with a living being you’ll have in the game and yet, somehow, I felt a deeper sense of connection to this hunk of scrap metal than I have to any character, in any other game I’ve played this year.
That’s the point of Lone Sails. There aren’t sweeping battlefields or multi-player arenas to navigate. You won’t find the same high-stakes action of a Darkest Dungeon or the constant pressure of survival odds like in Don’t Starve. Instead, your objective is to keep your rickety ship rolling – feeding it boxes of fuel when the gauge runs low, putting out electrical fires, fixing mechanical mishaps, and giving it upgrades like sets of sails, when you can.
And your reward? It’s even less obvious. You don’t rake up points or lives or coins. You don’t collect cool gear or trade in for the latest skins. You simply live. And work. And push through the various elements outside of your control – the quickly-building storms and violently-erupting volcanoes, the impassable waters and blocked bridges – solving puzzles and finding solutions so that you can keep moving forward.
It might read as a metaphor for life, if we wanted to ascribe that kind of heavy, philosophical thinking to a game whose basic controls only let you move right, left, and up. Some fans have interpreted the muted gameplay as symbolic of a journey from life – the first spark of your engine – to death, when you reach an unknown, unconquerable shore. Maybe it is, maybe it isn’t, but its that gift of immersion that feels like the game’s strongest trait.
That, and its soundtrack which is filled with everything from symphonic melodies that swell as you hoist your sails to the pitter of your character’s feet as she scurries across the desert searching for supplies. In the lulls between, when you’re hunting puzzle clues or organizing your cargo, quiet notes spring from a piano, drowned out by whistling gusts of wind. It’s solitary, almost hauntingly lonely, and weirdly calming.
Nearly all of the games rising through the ranks this year have been socially-oriented – think of the murder-mysteries like Among Us or the neon-painted gladiator arenas of Fall Guys. Maybe that’s why the opportunity to just exist by yourself in the world of Far: Lone Sails feels kind of revolutionary.
Whether you reach your destination or not is entirely dependent on you and how well you look after your ship – this unfeeling automaton that thrives or dies based on your choices. I’ve never understood the bond between man and machine. Maybe you haven’t either. But you’ll leave this game with an attachment to this dependent, vulnerable vessel that rivals the love Nathan Fillion’s character in Firefly had for his space-traversing pirate ship, Serenity.
Far: Lone Sails is both expansive and contained, nail-bitingly nerve-wracking (especially if you pay an unwarranted amount of attention to your ever-dwindling fuel tank) and entrancingly tranquil. It imagines an apocalypse free of zombie-hordes, deadly-viruses, and people, and somehow, still crafts genuine emotional connection, the kind of weighty stakes that might leave you quietly sobbing by the end. It’s the most peaceful Armageddon I’ve ever seen – on any screen – and I wish there were more games like it.
The first Scream movie is titled Scream. The second, third, and fourth movies are titled Scream 2, Scream 3, and Scream 4. It would naturally follow that the fifth Scream movie, starring OG cast members Neve Campbell, Courteney Cox, and Dave Arquette, would be titled Scream 5. That’s not the case. In a Scream-worthy twist, Scream 5 — Scre5m? 5ream? — has been titled… Scream. Spooky! It’s like 2018’s Halloween all over again.
The confirmation was made by producer Kevin Williamson, who tweeted, “That’s a wrap on Scream, which I’m excited to announce is the official title of the next film! Nearly 25 years ago, when I wrote Scream and Wes Craven brought it to life, I could not have imagined the lasting impact it would have on you, the fans. I’m excited for you to return to Woodsboro and get really scared again. I believe Wes would’ve been so proud of the film that Matt and Tyler are making. I’m thrilled to be reunited with Neve, Courteney, David, and [Scream 4 star Marley Shelton], and to be working alongside a new filmmaking team and incredible cast of newcomers that have come together to continue Wes’s legacy with the upcoming relaunch of the franchise that I hold so dear to my hear.”
Scream, the new one as opposed to the original one, is the first movie in the series to not be directed by horror maestro Wes Craven, who died in 2015. New directors Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett, the duo behind Ready or Not, worked closely with Williamson and writers James Vanderbilt and Guy Busick to make sure the movie “truly lives within the Scream world and has that DNA, and isn’t just a copycat or facsimile,” they told Bloody Disgusting. Not-Scream 5 comes out on January 14, 2022.
That’s a wrap on Scream, which I’m excited to announce is the official title of the next film! Nearly 25 years ago, when I wrote Scream and Wes Craven brought it to life, I could not have imagined the lasting impact it would have on you, the fans. (1/3) pic.twitter.com/RCuhVUclG4
When it comes to fan debates, there’s perhaps no greater mystery surrounding the Marvel Cinematic Universe than what exactly is Vision packing downstairs. Because the internet is the internet, you can find several threads examining this topic on Reddit, and that covers every theory from what it looks like to who made it. (Tony. Definitely Tony.) However, we’re now starting to get some definitive answers from Vision actor Paul Bettany, who fielded questions about his character’s android anatomy during an interview on Stir Crazy with Josh Horowitz.
If you’re feeling especially saucy, the purple penis talk starts at the 4:06 mark in the above video. After batting down rumors that Vision would be naked (no way is that happening on Disney+) for an entire episode of WandaVision, Bettany did reveal some intimate details about how Vision’s whole situation works. Via Comic Book:
“No, there is no nudity so to speak, but I think people can answer this question for themselves about whether he does or doesn’t [have a penis]. Vision can change his density, so there’s that,” the actor adds with a coy smile.
Horowitz couldn’t stop himself and then asked the million-dollar question. You know the one, and the actor’s response was simple enough: “He’s purple,” Bettany says.
So according to Bettany, Vision has a purple penis (or penis-like object) that he built himself, presumably after meeting Elizabeth Olsen’s Scarlet Witch, and that relationship will soon be prominently featured on Disney+. Family-friendly Disney+. OK…
Late last year, hip-hop fans debated the merits of artists giving Black publications access after Nicki Minaj complained that some publications — ones perceived as geared toward a white audience — give more favorable coverage to artists than others. Kanye West furthered the discussion this year when he tried to blame “white media” for “taking down” beloved Black entertainers accused of wrongdoing. Now, Megan Thee Stallion has been drawn into the discussion after refusing to appear on the popular radio show The Breakfast Club just before granting a longform profile interview to GQ.
Meg found herself at the center of the debate about access when Breakfast Club host Charlamagne The God revealed after the GQ article’s publication that she’d rejected the radio show’s interview request. The reason: The Club refused to honor her request not to ask questions about Tory Lanez allegedly shooting Megan in July. According to Charlamagne, she granted access to “white” publications, such as GQ and the New York Times, which made her refusal to answer the same questions suspect in his eyes.
“She told all that to GQ?” he wondered. “Meg was supposed to be here this week but she um…they had a long laundry list of things not to talk to her about and it was all Tory Lanez and that situation-related.” Co-host DJ Envy chimed in to agree, “I think it’s crazy because when she does White publications, she’s able to talk and talk about everything that she wants to talk about but when she goes to the Black press and Black publications, there’s a list that the label sends out that [says], ‘Don’t ask her about this, don’t talk about this, don’t talk about that.’ But we the ones that support her and hold her down and play her music and talk about all the good things that she does and go through all that stuff.”
However, while it’s normal for publicists to request that outlets avoid certain topics in interviews, outlets can choose whether to accept those conditions or not and many times, believe the interview is worth the risk. Besides, nothing is stopping artists from talking about those topics unprompted once the interview begins. Fans on Twitter also pointed out that Charlamagne, in particular, has a terrible “bedside manner” with interview subjects, often broaching emotionally fraught subjects with insensitive questions that border on bullying — especially for female subjects. Even when the Breakfast Club isn’t forcefully pursuing a controversial quote, they tend to piss off a lot of artists anyway, prompting accusations that they only promote gossip fodder, not journalism.
It’s manipulative how Charlamagne, DJ Envy, & Angela Yee are painting Meg as being internally racist for not coming on their show. Like, The Breakfast Club has spent over a decade being harmful to Black women & they wanna act brand new when Meg doesn’t come on their show??
People starting to realize they don’t need that show. She would’ve went on there and Charlamagne would’ve been interrogating her like he the police. https://t.co/e3KymJEnPm
Charlamagne is mad Meg didn’t go to The Breakfast Club… But can you blame her??? When has The Breakfast Club ever cared for women who are victims of violence? Charlamagne is an alleged rapist, Charlamagne has sexually harassed the guests on The Breakfast Club, etc…..
It’s also worth noting that in many of those cases, Black women were centered in the storytelling; the GQ interview was conducted by Allison Davis, a Black writer, while the New York Times op-ed was written by Megan herself. While artists are never guaranteed a sympathetic forum, Megan already faced severe backlash from the peanut gallery online — mainly from men who disbelieved her account of events and made cruel jokes about her body instead. It’s understandable why she’d want to avoid more of the same.
While The Sonder Bombs got their start (mostly) in the midwestern DIY emo scene, their latest album Clothbound sets their sights somewhere greater. The band’s songwriting is more focused and concise than ever, Willow Hawks’ vocals take on a new shimmer as they float atop nostalgic instrumental arrangements that hammer home the quartet’s new and improved sound. All of this is exemplified on “The One About You,” a short and sweet number that evokes a classic old-fashioned doo-wop act, and we’re happy to have an exclusive look at the new song below.
To celebrate the new song and new album, Willow Hawks sat down to talk haunted motels, Harry Styles, and Pitch Perfect in the latest Indie Mixtape 20 Q&A.
What are four words you would use to describe your music?
Cathartic, Blunt, Sarcastic, Good.
It’s 2050 and the world hasn’t ended and people are still listening to your music. How would you like it to be remembered?
I want them to think we were the best ukulele-based band in the history of the world.
What’s your favorite city in the world to perform?
Cleveland! There’s nothing like a hometown show with all our friends.
Who’s the person who has most inspired your work, and why?
My bandmate and best friend Jimmy. He’s the most passionate person I know and that gives me daily inspiration!
Where did you eat the best meal of your life?
Al’s Finger Licking Good Bar in Tampa, Florida. I had pulled pork bbq with spicy collard greens, mac n cheese, & coleslaw!
At the end of DeRon Hayes’ basketball games in Europe, children would take to the floor, being afforded the opportunity to play on the court. It was a chaotic scene, with hoards of youngsters dribbling around and stealing the balls from one another.
In the midst of this was DeRon’s son, Killian. At two and a half years old, Killian looked a bit older — “about five,” DeRon recalls — but wasn’t exactly showing the early signs of the skills that would make him an NBA Draft hopeful more than a decade later. Other kids would steal the ball from him, he couldn’t get it back, and he’d get a little bummed out.
Despite Killian’s early frustrations on the court, DeRon and his wife, Sandrine, wanted to do something to make sure their son always got to play even though he was younger than many of the other kids. Their solution: a pink basketball.
“It was funny at the moment, but like I said, he didn’t care, a ball was a ball,” DeRon recalls. “The older kids were like, ‘Oh, I’m not going to play with a Barbie ball, a pink Barbie ball.’ It worked out.”
From there, a basketball never left Killian’s hands again.
His father had a lengthy career in Europe, with stops in Portugal, Sweden, Ukraine, Russia, and France following a productive collegiate career at Penn State, and for the young Hayes, there was never a doubt he was going to follow DeRon into the family business. When his grade school teacher asked what he wanted to be when he grew up, Killian said a basketball player.
“She used to say, ‘That’s not a job,’” Killian says. “I’d say, ‘I don’t have nothing else.’ So, I just fully committed to basketball and just put my mind into it and I just stuck with it.”
From the outside, it may have seemed like an unattainable dream, but it’s hard for the people closest to Hayes to consider that the long and windy road he traveled would end with anything other than him becoming a pro hooper. That officially became the case in 2017, when Hayes made his debut for French side Cholet – one of the teams for whom DeRon played in his professional career — at age 16. And later this month, when the 2020 NBA Draft commences, he will go up to a different level.
Killian Hayes is on the precipice of the biggest day of his life.
***
The Hayes Family
“My first impression of Killian was just his poise,” ESPN Draft analyst Fran Fraschilla says as he recalls the first time he checked out Hayes’ game. “For a young man that is only 19 years old — and at the time I think he hadn’t turned 17 yet when I first saw him — the thing that stands out is his size and his poise. To be a 6’5 point guard and you’re 17 years old and you have a very good — what I would call countenance — about you, graceful under pressure, that’s the first thing that jumped out at me.”
Something fun that happens in reporting these stories is noticing trends in the way people talk about someone that give you a clearer glimpse into the person you’re writing about. While talking to Hayes and those who know him, whether personally or through their jobs as basketball scouts, one thing kept popping up: He does not approach anything like a person who turned 19 only three and a half months ago.
It’s probably not a surprise given how Hayes got to where he is today. His first memories involve playing basketball at home; the Hayes family had a little plastic hoop that he’d dunk on in their living room. Eventually it was moved outside, where a young Killian would run at full speed and perform the most rim-rocking of dunks that you can as a child.
“There has never been a question at this time,” Sandrine says of how quickly her son fell in love with the game. “He was just so natural. There was no forcing, there was no need to force it.”
Growing up, he’d go to DeRon’s practices and hang out until they ended, at which point he’d make his way onto the court and get coached up by his dad. DeRon considers himself a gym rat and as a result, Killian became a gym rat from a young age.
“He would wait and come and watch me practice, and then we would practice and we would train or just shoot and just play around, just play around and just have fun,” DeRon says. “That was our fun, that was our amusement, and that was our thing.”
The floor time, and the interaction with the pro game, had a lasting impact on the young hooper.
“I got to see what it was like to be a professional at an early age,” Killian recalls. “He taught me a lot, and since I was there at his practice, I could see and watch what they were doing and how they were staying, getting extra shots, getting there early, making sure they work at their craft and being sharp on the court.”
These formative moments with DeRon, whom Killian calls his “best friend,” were as important to molding him into the baller he’d one day become as the YouTube rabbit holes he’d fall down, watching Dwyane Wade and AND1 Mixtape legends Hot Sauce and Bone Collector. The former’s Euro step is still a staple in his game, while the latter two stuck out amid the raucous atmospheres that drew a young Killian in. He especially loved watching Shammgod dribbles, to the point that he admits that he did them a ton when he was younger, although he’s a little more conservative with them now.
From the time he was six, Killian was in the Cholet system. The club — which used to be home to NBAers like Rudy Gobert and Chandler Parsons — is in the western part of France, and where DeRon spent a chunk of his career. He worked his way through that system, making an impression on people like Sylvain Delorme, who coached him with Cholet’s under-18 side.
Delorme recalled watching Killian with Cholet’s U-15 team, which he broke into when he was a 12 year old. Killian made the jump up to the U-18s when he was 15, and in that year, he got bumped to the U-21s with the opportunity to practice with the senior side. Delorme was impressed by his relationship with DeRon, whose influence Delorme believes manifested itself in Killian’s love for the game, and how games would usually end with him on the floor.
“Every championship, almost, he played, he won it,” Delorme says. “He played under-18, he won it. He played under-21, he won it. He played in the European championship, he won it. If he didn’t win it, he’s an MVP. Everything he played, he won. I’ve never seen that before.”
To Delorme, it was obvious after one year that Killian had pro potential. He kept raising the bar for him, and while he understands that circumstances can often determine a person’s ability to make it in the NBA, there was something special about this kid.
“You put him in the under-18s, he beat the under-18s,” Delorme says. “You put him in the under-21s, he beat the under-21s. You got his ability to do that. So after my first season with him, I think he [is] going to play [at a] very high level.”
***
Chris Henry
Being a young star in Europe can be tricky. It’s a path so radically different from the ones that American-born standouts trudge. Instead of playing high school and AAU ball against fellow teenagers, you more or less need to put your head down and do the work, whether lining up against grown men with your club or your national team. The celebrity that oftentimes comes with being a big-name prospect in America isn’t necessarily as prominent — Killian notes a certain spotlight is on teenagers in the States, marveling at how “crazy” it is that a 16 year old can have millions of Instagram followers.
He has gotten a taste of the American basketball hype machine, participating in camps in the U.S. and winning the Jordan Brand Classic co-MVP award as a 16 year old in 2017. Back in Europe, he participated in plenty of showcases, catching the eye of Chris Ebersole of the NBA’s Basketball Without Borders program. It’s been a springboard for plenty of youngsters abroad, and when Killian took the floor during a BWB event in Los Angeles in 2018, Ebersole praised him for sticking out despite his age.
“He was a full year younger than many of the other participants there, but his savvy, his maturity, his confidence, all those things jumped off the page, jumped off the screen when it comes to him, even at that younger age,” Ebersole says. “And he made the All-Star team in that camp as well as the following year in the same camp. So he’s a two time BWB Global All-Star, which is pretty rare.”
All of these various showcases gave Killian a further glimpse into American ball. Seeing the athleticism of guys like fellow 2020 draftee R.J. Hampton and Phoenix Suns guard Jalen Lecque served as an “eye-opener,” hammering home that if he ever wanted to make it in the States, he had to work on his body.
These sorts of events reinforced what made him unique as a player. He sits at the intersection of how basketball is played in two places, France and the United States, and he believes both of those come through in how he plays.
“Growing up in France, I really had the French culture of basketball with a lot of team plays, set plays, and stuff like that, organized basketball,” Killian says. “And every time I used to go back to the U.S., I mean, we used to play pickup, and it was one-on-one. So, it was two men going at each other, trying to prove who was the better one. So, I feel like the American side really brought out the aggressiveness in me, and the French side really brought the collective aspect of the game.”
He almost got a chance to really lean into the American part of his game: Killian wanted to come to the United States and play high school ball. While he doesn’t remember exactly how old he was when he approached DeRon and Sandrine with this — he claims 15 or 16 — the conversation ended with him staying in Europe.
DeRon went through the American pipeline, going to high school then spending four years in college. His time in Europe, though, gave him a glimpse into how basketball works there, and how the fundamentals and “good basketball” are drilled into you from a young age. And besides, with the heights Killian reached at a young age, DeRon posited that there would not be a better situation for him in America.
“He had the opportunity to be a professional earlier, so that means for him at 16 or 15, he was already playing and making an impact with the 21 and under teams,” DeRon says. “He was making an impact. So you’re thinking about, this kid is 15 and he’s playing with guys 21 and under, and playing at a good level and good basketball on a good team, and he’s one of the main players. Where can you get this kind of education in the States?”
DeRon admits it was a tough conversation, because Killian’s heart was set on coming to the U.S. It wasn’t for long, though — Sandrine says Killian was bummed out for about three or four days, then he got over it. Like everyone who has analyzed his game told me, maturity is very much one of his strengths.
***
Chris Henry
On Oct. 21, 2017, Killian made his debut for Cholet’s senior team. He had turned 16 a little less than three months earlier, and after two minutes of work against Nanterre 92, he could officially call himself a professional basketball player.
For someone whose life has been a constant march towards a professional career, it’s funny that Hayes doesn’t remember much about that gigantic inflection point.
“Honestly, I forgot,” Hayes says when asked about what he recalls from that day. “But I was probably tired because we played a game … When I used to play in France, I used to play a game right before the pro games with the under-21 team. I used to play with the under-21, 30-35 minutes, and right after, go with the professionals, the first division. So, I was probably tired and anxious as hell. I was maybe not expecting it, so I was probably surprised getting on the court.”
He bounced back and forth between the U-21s and the senior team for his first year. Killian says the team wasn’t great, and he needed to get stronger and more confident, but getting to the point of playing pro ball still garnered him plenty of attention. Ebersole remarked that any 16-year-old who gets to that level will find their way onto his radar soon enough, while Fraschilla first started closely following him that next summer, when Killian attended the NBA Global Academy in Treviso — he was quite impressed, as usual, with his poise.
Amid all of this, Killian had DeRon in his corner, acting as an extra coach who approaches things through the lens of an ex-pro. While he insisted he never told Killian to do something that would go against the wishes of his coaches, DeRon would attend practices and games, shooting texts to him at halftime with little notes about how he can do this or that a little better.
“I could see what coaches were doing, what they were trying to instill in their player and everything and trying to teach, and everything,” DeRon says. “So I would go to the next level, and say, ‘Okay, he’s trying to teach me this? Okay, you can do this. You can do this,’ gave him all the options. Instead of being one option, I gave him four or five other options too so he wouldn’t have to be limited to anything, any type of situation.”
That had to change a bit this past year, as Killian moved from Cholet to ratiopharm Ulm, a German club in the Basketball Bundesliga which closed off its practices. Still, it gave him the opportunity to play multiple games a week and participate in EuroCup, the second-highest European club basketball competition, while learning from Jaka Lakovič, a former Slovenian point guard with a decorated playing career.
There was an adjustment period. While DeRon and Sandrine packed up and moved to Germany, Killian doesn’t speak the language and was getting used to a country he’s never been to before, all while he had to get used to a league that is “way more physical” than what he was used to in France — Fraschilla called the Basketball Bundesliga “arguably the fastest-improving league in all of Europe.”
A major adjustment was getting used to his role on the floor. At Ulm, Lakovič wanted him to have the ball in his hands and make mistakes as a way to learn and grow. At the start, DeRon saw a young, anxious player for whom the game was too fast.
“I don’t have to tell him this because he already knows this, but it was just like, ‘Just play the game. It’ll come. It’ll come. These are the growing pains that you have to go through,’” DeRon recalls. “And he went through them. And then once he got to the point where everything clicked, and I saw that everything clicked for him. Everything slowed down. Everything got easier, and he was a whole different beast, another person. He got on another level.”
Sam Veceine, The Athletic’s NBA Draft analyst, thought moving to Germany helped Killian make “an enormous leap” in his game. As of this writing, Vecenie — who praised his IQ on both ends of the floor and his ability as a passer but thinks he needs to iron out some wrinkles with his jumper and become less “left-hand dominant” as he dribbles — has Hayes ninth on his Big Board.
“I had worried that he was someone that, physically, played good defense [in France] because he was physically prepared, being 6’4 to 6’5, 190 to 200 pounds, but the skill level hadn’t seemed to have taken the leap that I was hoping for,” Vecenie says. “But this year, moving to Germany and getting out of France, I thought that the skill level did take a pretty real jump.”
Everything during Killian’s European career helped lay the path for him to eventually make it to the NBA, particularly going up against adults from such a young age. Vecenie mentioned getting “punched in the face” as a major formative aspect of playing in France and Germany, something Killian echoed.
“When people know that you are a Draft pick, they’re going to come at you to prove to anybody that’s in the stands that they earned their spot in the NBA,” Killian says. “Everybody, especially the American players, were coming at me every night. So, yeah, you’ve just got to hold your own and stay strong physically and mentally.”
***
Chris Henry
Killian Hayes has finally gotten to the biggest day of his life. It won’t be in a packed Barclays Center like past Drafts, with all the pomp and circumstance that has made this a tentpole event of the NBA’s offseason, but he is going to be drafted by someone. When he gets picked, in his parents’ eyes, does not matter.
“I just want him to get drafted on a team that he can be good, playing good,” Sandrine says. “I don’t really care, pick one, pick two, pick three. I don’t care about that, but if you’re pick one and you’re not on the right team … I don’t care.”
Killian also wants to end up in the right spot. In discussing what that could look like, Vecenie mentions a situation like the Chicago Bulls, which are currently slated to pick No. 4 in the Draft, as an ideal, and has him going to the Phoenix Suns at No. 10 in his latest mock. In his eyes, the best kind of situation is one that has him with the ball in his hands, either as the team’s point guard or while sharing those duties with someone else.
“I see him as someone that if he plays around good floor spacing, that questionable ability to gain separation could be helped along a little bit early in his career,” Veceine says.
In classic soon-to-be NBA draftee form, Killian recognizes that he has to get better at everything, even if there are a number of elements to his game — the court vision, the defending, the size, the passing — that would make any scout salivate. No. 1 on that list has nothing to do with his ability to do any traditional skill.
“I know on the mental part of the game, stop being frustrated with myself, because when I show that I’m mad at myself, that gives the opponent an advantage,” Hayes says. “So, I’ve been told to never show my emotions especially as the point guard. If your teammate is looking at you and sees that you’re down, that you’re mad, they’re going to be down and mad.”
While ball is life, making sure his family is taken care of and in his corner is something upon which Hayes will not negotiate. When asked about where he sees himself 15 years down the road, the first thing he says is making sure his family is taken care of, even before he gets to things like winning a championship and being known as a great player and teammate.
For now, he’s getting used to life in America. Despite spending summers in Lakeland during DeRon’s offseasons, and despite coming to the States for a number of basketball events, he’s never lived in the U.S. for an extended period of time. That changed when the Hayes family went to Florida during the COVID-19 pandemic after Killian’s season in Germany was postponed, although Killian said getting stateside was “pretty stressful” because Sandrine did not have a U.S. passport.
DeRon and Sandrine have stayed in Lakeland, while Killian has done Draft prep in Orlando. He’s still gotten to hang with his family, and after spending a whole lot of time studying YouTube videos, he’s become the de facto barber. While Sandrine insists she won’t let Killian touch her hair, DeRon thinks he’s gotten pretty good.
“He cuts everybody’s hair now,” DeRon says. “He’s really serious about it. That’s a little hobby that he picked up, but when he’s set to do something, he does it. He’s all into it.”
DeRon’s excited to do things like bring Killian to Penn State for his first college football game. Killian’s excited to get drafted and celebrate with his family that night, but after taking some time to take it all in, he’s prepared to start grinding — “the next day,” he says, “we’ll just move on and go forward from that.”
Wherever he goes, his future is going to feature a ton of DeRon and Sandrine. His parents plan on following Killian to whatever NBA city he ends up calling home at the start of his career. Like Killian, it’ll be the first time Sandrine calls a city in the U.S. home full-time, and it’ll be the first time DeRon’s roots are in the States since his collegiate career ended, save for one cup of coffee in the now-defunct American Basketball Association.
Other than the game he’s dedicated his every moment towards since he was a child, DeRon and Sandrine two are constants in his life. Just like DeRon’s parents used to make it a point to go to all of his games when he was in college, driving to tournaments or hopping on flights to be in attendance, they’ve always made it a point to be there for their son, and from DeRon’s perspective, that love is reciprocated.
“We did the same thing,” DeRon says. “So I see where Killian, he got that from, the family values. We didn’t insist on it, but it’s just something that is in our DNA, and it just transcended into him.”
The young man on the verge of making it to the NBA would not have it any other way.
“I’ll do anything to get my family right,” Killian says. “Family first, all the time.”
Fans of Ben Gibbard, Jimmy Tamborello, and Jenny Lewis’ collaborative project The Postal Service are perpetually hungry for new material. The band just released one album, 2003’s Give Up, and that’s it as far as studio material. In 2014, they put out a a live album, Everything Will Change, but that was only available as a concert film. Now, though, big news: The group is making the project available as a live album for the first time on streaming platforms, as Everything Will Change is set for release on December 4 via Sub Pop.
The set was recorded at the band’s stop at at the Greek Theatre in Berkeley, California during their 2013 reunion tour. In addition to songs from Give Up, the set also features a cover of Beat Happening’s “Our Secret” and a live version of “(This Is) The Dream Of Evan And Chan,” by Tamborello’s Dntl.
To mark the occasion, Sub Pop has shared live videos of “The District Sleeps Alone Tonight” and “Natural Anthem.” Check those out above and find the Everything Will Change art and tracklist below.
Sub Pop
1. “The District Sleeps Alone Tonight”
2. “We Will Become Silhouettes”
3. “Sleeping In”
4. “Turn Around”
5. “Nothing Better”
6. “Recycled Air”
7. “Be Still My Heart”
8. “Clark Gable”
9. “Our Secret (Beat Happening cover)”
10. “This Place Is a Prison”
11. “A Tattered Line of String”
12. “Such Great Heights”
13. “Natural Anthem”
14. “(This Is) The Dream of Evan and Chan (Dntel)”
15. “Brand New Colony”
Everything Will Change is out 12/4 via Sub Pop.
Some artists covered here are Warner Music artists. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.
Change is usually a good thing — except when it comes to the layout of apps we’ve all become accustomed to. That’s why many Instagram users weren’t happy when the platform’s creators completely switched around the app. Tyler The Creator was particularly confused about the update and took to his Instagram Stories to critique the app’s decision.
Users who have logged onto Instagram recently surely noticed the change. The app moved the post and notification buttons from the bottom panel to the top right corner next to the messages section. The platform’s bottom panel now hosts a search feature, a Reels feature, and a shopping button, a decision that was likely made to encourage users to spend money on the app.
Tyler The Creator notices the changes and agreed with a number of users who were frustrated about the updates. “this update stupid why the f*ck would you put that corny reels sh*t right there,” he wrote tagging Instagram. “and a shop from insta? like brooo i get it get cho money baby but give us the option to retain a layout thats just for photos n friends sheesh.”
Tyler wasn’t the only one who voiced their opinion about Instagram’s update. Many others flooded social media with their reactions and opinions about the change.
BREAKING NEWS THAT WILL MOST DEFINITELY CHANGE YOUR LIFE: James Charles GOES OFF on Instagram for updating the app and moving the notifications and post buttons to the upper right corner of the screen. pic.twitter.com/bvaJBnDwR8
i hate that fuckin reels button right in the middle of my fucking instagram and i can’t reach the fucking post button on the top right of my screen when i’m holding my phone in one hand i didn’t fucking sleep enough i’m having a bad day and i’m too old for new fucking app layouts
BREAKING NEWS THAT WILL MOST DEFINITELY CHANGE YOUR LIFE: James Charles GOES OFF on Instagram for updating the app and moving the notifications and post buttons to the upper right corner of the screen. pic.twitter.com/bvaJBnDwR8
Zendaya made Emmys history, becoming the youngest person ever to win Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series, and shot a film with John David Washington, so all things considered, she had a good year. But she’s also human, which means 2020 was a bad year. I don’t need to explain why (OK, I will: Dune was delayed until 2021).
When asked by Essence how she’s stayed positive in a “stressful year,” Zendaya looked to Rihanna, as we all should.
“Seeing Black women win, in any form, brings me joy,” the Euphoria star said. “I was just looking at Rihanna’s Savage x Fenty fashion show, and I was like, ‘You better, girl! Bad-gal Riri is giving us what we need right now!’ Then there are also small things — like a conversation with my grandmother, who I have to call after this because I keep forgetting. Hearing her voice is like food for the soul.” First of, Zendaya reminding herself that she needs to call her grandmother reminded me that I need to call my grandparents, so thank you for that, Zendaya. Also, I imagine this was her reaction to the fashion show:
ABC
Euphoria season two doesn’t have a premiere date, but Zendaya recently confirmed that the HBO series will have two “special” episodes coming soon, the first on December 6. Hopefully Rihanna will be watching. Unless she’s working on her new album. Then she should finish that. A new Rihanna album could redeem 2020, however slightly.
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