Month: July 2022

The Milwaukee Bucks have made it a clear priority to run it back next year, believing that a fully healthy squad can win the East and compete for another title.

Given how close they were to knocking off the Celtics in the second round with Khris Middleton sidelined, it’s hard to fault them for that belief, although Boston has addressed its biggest need by taking a swing on former-Buck Malcolm Brogdon. So far this summer, the Bucks have re-signed Wesley Matthews, Jevon Carter, and Bobby Portis, with their biggest outside addition being Joe Ingles on the taxpayer mid-level, with the hope that he’ll be back from his ACL injury for the second half of the season and provide them with another shooter and secondary creator come playoff time.

On Monday, the Bucks continued their push to retain last year’s roster by working out a deal for Serge Ibaka to return next season, who they traded Donte DiVincenzo for at the deadline seeking frontcourt help with Brook Lopez’s status up in the air. Shams Charania broke the news that Ibaka would be back in Milwaukee on a one-year deal.

Ibaka averaged 6.8 points and 4.6 rebounds per game on 50.0/37.4/72.7 shooting splits in 54 games with the Clippers and Bucks last season, but didn’t really crack the postseason rotation in Milwaukee. He’s not the defender he once was, although offensively his ability to space the floor provides plenty of value. Ibaka’s chief value to the Bucks is adding depth to their center rotation for the regular season, with the hope that a full season in Milwaukee might allow him to be better equipped to help in the playoffs.

The first weekend of the NBA league year has not been lacking for drama and excitement, as we have seen multiple major trades, big extensions signed, a trade request from one of the NBA’s all-time greats, and plenty of free agent signings.

While this year’s free agency class lacked top stars, there have been plenty of big names on the move via trades, big contracts handed out to free agents, and some curious deals as well. Here, we’re going to look at who’s had the best and worst first four days so far — and whose fate is still pending.

WINNERS

Boston Celtics

The Celtics are winners not only for what they pulled off in the Malcolm Brogdon trade, but what’s happened around them in the Eastern Conference. Adding Brogdon without giving up a rotation piece from their Finals run a year ago was a terrific job by Brad Stevens of identifying a need and buying low. Given how the market for Brogdon had bottomed out, it’s clear his medicals aren’t great and it’s possible he never looks like the 50/40/90 player he was previously, but the Celtics are the type of team that can take that gamble. Even if he is simply a fairly average rotation point guard who is a 20-minute a night type player, that’s an upgrade for the Celtics who just need another ball-handling option. If he can rebound from injuries and be an above-average starting caliber guard who hits 40 percent of his threes, it’s a heist, but either way this was a great move by Boston.

Adding to the Celtics strong offseason is what the rest of the East’s contenders have been up to. The Sixers have done well, adding PJ Tucker and De’Anthony Melton to the roster, addressing two big needs in the process, but everyone else has mostly been treading water. The Bucks have re-racked it, with their most notable addition being a flyer on Joe Ingles coming off a knee injury, believing (probably rightly so) that all they need is health to be back in contention for a title. The Heat lost Tucker and haven’t added anyone of significance, and despite being on Kevin Durant’s list of preferred destinations, don’t have a trade package that is valuable enough to net the superstar. Then there are the Nets, who seem poised to blow it up and no one knows what the future holds in Brooklyn, and the Hawks, who added Dejounte Murray but are likewise still looking to sell off some players and what their roster will look like remains something of a mystery.

For the East champs to have been the team to make the biggest move of last year’s top teams seems notable, and Boston will be the favorites to repeat in the conference for good reason.

Lu Dort

The Thunder are still rebuilding, but they’ve gotta spend money somewhere to get to the cap floor and the beneficiaries of that are the players internally that get rewarded for strong development and play in what could be a difficult situation for some. Lu Dort might be the shining example of that, as the former undrafted player out of Arizona State grinded his way from a two-way contract into being an important playoff piece in 2020 to steadily improving into one of the best players in OKC amid their rebuild.

That earned him an $87.5 million deal when free agency opened, as the Thunder rewarded his growth and locked him in long-term on a 5-year deal that places him as part of the core they clearly believe in. Playing for a team more interested in the long game than immediate success can’t be easy, but Dort has excelled in his role, averaging 17.2 points and 4.2 rebounds per game last year, and now gets a well-earned big pay day.

Karl-Anthony Towns

Getting a $224 million extension would make most anyone a winner, but on top of that, Karl-Anthony Towns has a new frontcourt partner in Rudy Gobert after the Wolves made the blockbuster deal to acquire the three-time Defensive Player of the Year from the Jazz. Time will tell if the Wolves or Jazz win that deal (or if it can be a net positive for each), but I feel confident in giving Towns a winner designation immediately. I’m not even completely sure the Towns-Gobert pairing will be a great fit or not, but what I do know is that if it doesn’t work, the brunt of the blame will go to the French star and not the longest tenured Timberwolf.

The hope, of course, is that having a defensive ace next to Towns will free him up to dominate offensively, but there will be a feeling out period as Towns is pushed even more to the perimeter on that end of the floor as the two figure out their spacing. After last year’s playoff exit, not everyone in Minnesota was thrilled with Towns’ play compared to, say, Anthony Edwards, and where next season would’ve likely been a referendum on Towns coming off a new max deal and the expectation to push Minnesota to new heights, the pressure shifts more to Gobert (and the coaching staff/front office) than him.

Portland Trail Blazers

The Blazers have had a nice offseason, starting with the Jerami Grant trade and running through free agency. They locked in their guys, and while I’m not completely sold on the Simons-Lillard pairing, $25 million per year for a quality young scorer isn’t bad value at all from a team or player perspective. Gary Payton II is a really nice addition and retaining Nurkic was their only real option, and 4/70 is perfectly reasonable. I don’t think the Blazers are title contenders as they stand, but if the goal was to be back in the playoff conversation in the West, they’ve succeeded.

Brian Windhorst

There is not a more ubiquitous sight on NBA Twitter right now than Brian Windhorst memes. Windy’s long, winding monologue asking what the Jazz are doing the morning before they dealt Gobert to Minnesota has become everyone’s favorite, but beyond that, he was also proven right in pondering what the Jazz were setting up and pointing to the last time Danny Ainge was in this position, he reset the franchise by trading its stars for picks.

LOSERS

Restricted Free Agents

It is a tough time to be a restricted free agent in the NBA. The market for RFAs has become almost non-existent in recent years and that has only continued in 2022. Deandre Ayton’s future seems tied to a Kevin Durant trade, with him likely getting a solid, but non-max deal as part of a sign-and-trade involving a third (or fourth) team, alongside Phoenix and Brooklyn — unless Toronto jumps in and swipes KD, in which case who knows where Ayton ends up.

Collin Sexton likewise hasn’t seen anyone bid for his services and seems destined to return to Cleveland on a lesser deal than he’d like unless one of these teams that’s opened cap space — like San Antonio — ends up not being the salary dump location in a KD trade and decides to take a swing. This follows how John Collins (and we’ll get to his summer in a few) found things to be last year in his quest for a near-max deal. There was a time when teams would throw a big offer sheet at guys and try to see if their current team would blink — see: Allen Crabbe, Tim Hardaway Jr. — but those days seem long gone and the result is the non-max RFAs who don’t work out an extension end up as afterthoughts on the market to most of the rest of the league.

Brooklyn Nets

There’s a chance the Nets can salvage things with what they get back from the Kevin Durant trade, but let’s be honest, any time a top-15 all-time player demands a trade, it’s a bad offseason — and I even liked the value they got on the Patty Mills and Nic Claxton deals. For three years, the Nets were willing to cede almost total control of their franchise to KD and Kyrie, firing a coach, trading promising young players, shipping out almost all of their future draft assets, and signing their friends to try and appease them.

The results never panned out and the first round sweep this year to the Celtics seemed to be the breaking point for Joe Tsai, who suddenly decided to play hardball. That’s fine, but it’s quite the course correction in a pivotal offseason and they have to live with the consequences there. They should get a lot back for KD, so it’s not like they’re completely in the wilderness here, but it’s been a rather stunning fall from where they were just over a year ago coming inches away from beating the eventual champs.

Miami Heat

The Heat, handcuffed by moves made last offseason, haven’t managed to get any better this summer and have, to this point, gotten worse with the departure of PJ Tucker. On top of that, as noted, their top competition in the East has had better offseasons so far, from Boston to Philadelphia to Milwaukee, all of them have, at minimum, bolstered their depth and tried to address roster concerns. Pat Riley might have something up his sleeve in the form of a trade, but at this point it’s looking a lot like the Heat will be running it back while those around them are making at least minor positive additions.

John Collins

The Hawks have made it painfully clear that they would like to trade John Collins, with it widely expected that he’d be somewhere else by the time the NBA Draft ended two weeks ago. Instead, Collins is still in Atlanta and remains in limbo because no one is trying to trade for him so long as Durant is still floating out there in the ether. While the Nets try to gather together the best possible package to reset their franchise, Collins will be waiting and wondering where his career will continue next fall.

A year after failing to find a market in restricted free agency, Collins is finding the same to be the case on the trade market despite seeming like a player so many teams would want and could use. If he’s back in Atlanta (again) one would think that’ll be a bit awkward given how hard they shopped him, so you’d expect them to work hard to move him once Durant’s deal is done, but that could be weeks if the Nets really want to drag things out.

The world unfortunately received news of another mass shooting with this one taking place in Copenhagen, Denmark. On Sunday, a gunman entered the Field’s shopping centre and opened fire randomly at people in the mall. Three people were killed in the shooting, and police were able to arrest the suspect who is a 22-year-old Danish man. Authorities believe that the gunman went through with the shooting on his own, but they have not completely ruled out terrorism at the moment. The shooting forced Harry Styles to cancel a nearby concert on Sunday, and in doing so, he also shared a statement about the matter with fans.

Harry took to Twitter to share his message. “I’m heartbroken along with the people of Copenhagen,” the “As It Was” singer wrote. “I adore this city. The people are so warm and full of love. I’m devastated for the victims, their families, and everyone hurting.” He concluded his message, writing, “I’m sorry we couldn’t be together. Please look after each other. H.”

Harry’s scheduled concert, which was set to go down hours after the shooting, was quite close to the mall where the incident took place. TMZ notes that it was just two football fields away which makes the show’s cancellation more than warranted.

You can view Harry’s tweet above.

It’s been a month since a jury found Amber Heard guilty of defamation against her ex-husband Johnny Depp. (Technically, Depp, too, was found guilty of defaming her, but only one count and for far less money.) At the time, the actress said she was considering appealing the verdict, and has since stood by her testimony while claiming she never stood a chance. Now she’s seeking something more dramatic.

As per Variety, Heard’s legal team filed a motion to have the verdict tossed entirely, including the $10 million fee she owes Depp. In the 43-page document, Heard’s attorneys argue that the verdict is not supported by evidence. “Mr. Depp presented no evidence that Ms. Heard did not believe she was abused,” reads the filing. “Therefore, Mr. Depp did not meet the legal requirements for actual malice, and the verdict should be set aside.”

Her attorneys also call on the court “to investigate improper juror service,” pointing out that one of the jurors was not “properly vetted.”

The defamation trial — Depp’s second, after losing one with the British tabloid The Sun — was a rollercoaster of wild allegations from both sides. It wasn’t only Heard and Depp who created fireworks. After the trial ended, a stenographer pointed out that some jurors actually fell asleep during some of the presentations.

(Via Variety)

It’s hard to believe, but Tom Cruise turned 60 on Sunday, and yet he’s still doing things people half his age wouldn’t dare. The actor, producer, and movie theater enthusiast currently has the biggest hit of his career, which is still Hoovering up cash money. His next two films are both action extravaganzas, in which he repeatedly puts his life at risk, just to entertain. Speaking of, the director of the last two — and the next two — Mission: Impossible entries rang in the occasion by sharing a bonkers on-set photo.

Christopher McQuarrie took over Cruise’s long-running franchise starting with 2015’s Rogue Nation. Before that, the series always changed directors with each film. (Brian De Palma directed the first, John Woo the second, etc.) But Cruise has stuck with McQuarrie ever since. For Cruise’s big 6-0, McQuarrie dropped a photo of yet another death-defying stunt: Cruise (presumably!) hanging onto a plane mid-air as it flips on its side, miles above the planet’s surface.

The first Mission: Impossible film came out 26 years ago, when Bill Clinton hadn’t yet won a second term. It was the first full-on action movie Cruise had ever done. (Top Gun 1 and Days of Thunder saw him mostly sitting in moving vehicles.) He was 34 years old, and some 15 years into his film career. Anyway, now he’s older than Wilford Brimley in Hard Target and Sean Connery in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. Happy belated birthday, Tom!

(Via Deadline)

Much of Killer Mike’s solo work has come outside of music over the last decade. He’s fought for better marijuana laws, protested for racial and social justice, released a documentary, and much more. In the music world, much of his work there has come alongside El-P through their Run The Jewels duo. Running strong since 2013, the duo has delivered four installments in their Run The Jewels series with the most recent effort coming in 2020. After going more than a decade without releasing a solo track, Killer Mike is back in action on the solo route and he brought a couple of friends along for the ride.

Marking his first solo release since his 2013 fifth album R.A.P. Music, Killer Mike calls on Young Thug and Dave Chappelle for “Run.” The track was intentionally released on today’s Independence Day holiday and he explained why during an interview with Apple Music. “I’m truly a patriot,” he said. “How could I as a Black American not be a Patriot?” Killer Mike’s new song, which features a sharp verse from Young Thug and stern commentary from Chappelle, arrives with a matching visual that follows a Black man on the battlefield in the middle of a war. It appears that he’s running away from something, but we soon see that the man is running towards the battle. He explained this aspect of the video during the Apple Music interview as well.

“He’s running toward destiny,” he said. “He’s running toward defeating evil, and he is empowered by his ancestors… Fannie Lou Hamer, Frederick Douglass, George Washington Carver, Sojourner Truth, Shirley Chisholm.” He added, “All these people, and their work and the energy they left as inspirations, that have bettered this country, not just bettered my community for black people.”

You can listen to “Run” in the video above.

Young Thug is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

This past weekend, Adele held her first pair of public and live shows in five years with a pair of performances at BST Hyde Park in London. It was an epic weekend that featured an all-female lineup of performers that included Kacey Musgraves, Gabrielle, Mahalia, Self Esteem, Nilüfer Yanya, Tiana Major9, Chrissi, Bonnie Kemplay, Ruti, and Tamzene. Adele herself made sure to dazzle the crowd as she delivered a pair of two-hour sets that included her recent favorites and older classics. However, if Adele had it her way, her performances at BST Hyde Park shouldn’t have been her first live shows in a half-decade.

That’s because Adele was supposed to kick off 2022 with her Weekends With Adele Las Vegas residency, which she was forced to postpone due to COVID delays. In a recent interview with Lauren Laverne from BBC Radio 4’s Desert Island Discs, Adele explained how the residency’s postponement affected her. “I definitely felt everyone’s disappointment and I was devastated and I was frightened about letting them down,” she said. “I thought I could pull it together and make it work and I couldn’t. I don’t think any other artist would have done what I did, and I think that is why it was such a massive, massive story.”

Adele later added that she “was a shell of a person for a couple of months” after postponing the residency. “I just had to wait it out and just grieve it, I guess, just grieve the shows and get over the guilt, but it was brutal.” Despite her feelings, Adele completely stands by her decision to push back the residency. “You can’t buy me for nothing,” she said. “I’m not going to just do a show because I have to or because people are going to be let down or because we’re going to lose loads of money.”

The world is still awaiting new dates for Weekends With Adele, but the singer previously said that it is still “100% happening,” so the new dates should arrive sooner than later.

You can listen to Adele’s full BBC Radio 4 interview here.

Back when it was released in early May, Bad Bunny’s fourth album Un Verano Sin Ti debuted at No. 1 for the biggest week of the year at the time. It beat out the sales number that Future’s I Never Liked You previously held to claim that title, but it was later surpassed by Kendrick Lamar’s Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers. In addition to a big week on the Billboard 200, Un Verano Sin Ti also had Spotify’s biggest-ever streaming day in its first 24 hours after the album was released. With all that being said, it’s safe to say that Bad Bunny’s fourth album is a big success, one that continues almost two months after its release.

For the Billboard 200 chart dated July 9, 2022, Bad Bunny made another return to No. 1 with Un Verano Sin Ti. Its surge back to the top of the charts was propelled by 115,000 album units sold this past week. A good streaming week largely contributed to the album’s return to No. 1 as that number is comprised of 114,000 streaming equivalent album units.

Un Verano Sin Ti has managed to earn over 100,000 album units sold in each of its first eight weeks, something that hasn’t been done since Drake’s 2016 album Views did it for ten weeks between May 21 – July 23, 2016. Un Verano Sin Ti is also the first album to make three separate visits to No. 1 and the first to spend its first eight weeks in the top two positions of the chart since Drake’s 2021 album Certified Lover Boy.

Un Verano Sin Ti is out now via Rimas Entertainment LLC. You can stream it here.

Multiple times per week, our TV and film experts will list the most important ten streaming selections for you to pop into your queues. We’re not strictly operating upon reviews or accrued streaming clicks (although yes, we’ve scoured the streaming site charts and ratings) but, instead, upon those selections that are really worth noticing amid the churning sea of content. There’s a lot out there, after all, and your time is valuable.

TIE: 10. Ms. Marvel (HBO Max series)

The Marvel shows can’t seem to stop, but with this one, we’re receiving a sneak peak of the youngest piece of dynamite coming in 2023’s The Marvels, which will also obviously feature Carol Danvers (Brie Larson) and Monica Rambeau (Teyonah Paris). Iman Vallani makes her debut as Kamala Khan, a Captain Marvel superfan whose characters differ in substance and origin from the comics. Don’t worry, that’s for the best even if it is slightly controversial for those who don’t like adjustments to the canon. Lighten up because this show is a breeze.

TIE: 10. Dark Winds (AMC+ series)

FX’s Reservation Dogs led the way last year in bringing indigenous writers to the forefront of their own Native American stories. This series also happens to be produced by George R.R. Martin (because can you blame him for delaying The Winds Of Winter a bit longer in favor of different winds?) and follows 1970s Navajo cops who are dealing with murder and other ominous happenings near Monument Valley-tangential outpost. What they see makes them question everything that they’ve ever been told or believed, and it’s a sleeper of a show that’s worth queuing up.

9. Peaky Blinders (BBC One/Netflix series)

This addictive series is still as cool and addictive as always, but it’s all coming to an end now, at least temporarily, for Cillian Murphy’s Tommy Fookin’ Shelby, but the good news is this: this show’s swagger will be back, either in movie or spinoff form. Shelby’s journey points him toward America and a fresh-ish beginning, but before that happens, the gang’s got more confrontations and Cockney rhyming profanity while the show also does not ignore the untimely passing of Helen McRory.

8. Beavis and Butt-Head Do the Universe (Paramount+ movie)

If you’re familiar with the MTV series, then you know that this show isn’t exactly brainiac material. Mike Judge’s couch slackers also mostly rely on one joke, but what a joke it is. Revisit all the buttmunch jokes and, for that manner, a lot of mentions of butts, and thank goodness Cornholio still needs TP for his bunghole. “Do you have any…. olio?” This wave of pointless-yet-entertaining nostalgia couldn’t be more welcome on the heels of Top Gun: Maverick will striking a very different tone. God, I missed these two idiots. They’ll help you forget about the dumpster fire of today’s very serious world, and that spirit couldn’t be more appreciated than right now.

7. Doctor Strange And The Multiverse Of Madness (Disney+ movie)

Benedict Cumberbatch’s title character alerted Robert Downey Jr.’s Iron Man to the one chance the Avengers had to stopping Thanos, but since then, the Sorcerer Supreme’s been absolute chaos. He f*cked around and found out with the multiverse, and Wanda Maximoff was not pleased going into this film after she broke the rules and actually faced consequences. As a bonus, as well, this film turned out to essentially be an Evil Dead movie from director Sam Raimi with a few other notable cameos that should help to integrate the Marvel characters previously snatched up by Fox.

6. Only Murders In The Building (Hulu series)

Heck yes, this dream team is back with Selena Gomez alerting everyone to the many reasons why she’s been underappreciated in Hollywood, until recently. The first season wrapped up while perfectly unwrapped and the season begins with a few new guest stars and everyone buzzing about “Bloody Mabel.” One of those guests actually ends up being a romantic interest for Mabel, but I don’t trust the newbie! Everyone’s a suspect, man. And everyone should be very clear that Gomez is a fantastic costar while bouncing perfectly off Steve Martin and Martin Short. This second season turned around in less than a year, and as previously, it’ll hook you on a weekly basis.

5. The Umbrella Academy (Netflix series)

Get your dancing shoes on because The Hargreeves siblings begin this sublime season in a gleeful way, despite the fact that they’re about to deal with yet another world-shattering timeline disruption. Elliot Page’s Victor makes his formal debut this season, all while the Sparrow Academy’s antagonizing the O.G. Hargreeves siblings. This show continues to strike a careful balance between “overstuffed” and “still character based,” all while literally dancing through the quirky, action-filled mayhem.

3. The Boys (Amazon Prime series)

The show followed up the “Herogasm” episode with a major revelation that lines up a spectacular confrontation in the upcoming season finale. Meanwhile, the world still hasn’t recovered from The Deep’s octopus fetish, but hold tight because Black Noir and Mother’s Milk are both ones to watch as well. This show consistently manages to skewer superheroes while going way too far in the most skilled way possible. Who needs restraint, anyway?

2. The Bear (FX series streaming on Hulu)

You may not be able to stop shouting “Chef!” after watching this show that’s ultimately about finding one’s own family. It’s an intense story about a high-pressure working environment as a former fine dining chef (Jeremy Allen White, back in Chicago) tries to wrap his arms around running his family’s sandwich shop. He’s got some trauma embedded deep inside, and White is supported by some stellar players, including a megaphone-wielding Ebon Moss-Bachrach and a perspective-sharing sous chef played by Ayo Edebir. The title means something, of course, and you gotta watch to find out.

1. Stranger Things (Netflix series)

The final (enormously long) episodes of this fourth season finally arrived, and the Duffer brothers prepare to close in on their final season production but not without crashing Netflix’s servers in the process. Millie Bobbie Brown publicly hoped for some Game of Thrones-style deaths, but will she receive her wish? There’s absolutely no telling, but expect for this season to at least reap some Emmy nominations that will challenge Thrones in the record-holding department. Happy streaming.

There’s a chance — maybe a small one — that the Jan. 6 hearings will end with Donald Trump either barred from a third presidential campaign or sued into oblivion (or, heck, maybe jailed). But there’s another far right boogeyman to take his place: Ron DeSantis, the bullying Florida governor, who’s gone to war with the LGBTQIA+ community and even his state’s biggest employer. It’s gotten so bad that another governor from another state bought air time to trash him.

As per CNN, California leader Gavin Newsom spent over $100,000 to run ads over the July 4 weekend in the Sunshine State in which he lays out how bad things have gotten there.

“Freedom is under attack in your state,” Newsom says in the ad. He then lays out ways DeSantis and team have come for the citizenry: banning books, making voting difficult, curtailing abortions, and, of course, his so-called “Don’t Say Gay” bill, which restricts the mention of LGBTQIA+ issues in schools.

“I urge all of you living in Florida to join the fight,” Newsom says, adding, “or join us in California, where we still believe in freedom: Freedom of speech, freedom to choose, freedom from hate, and the freedom to love.”

The two governors have frequently clashed before, and the rivalry has no signs of dissipating. When reached for comment about Newsom’s ad, a DeSantis spokesperson simply mocked it. “Gavin Newsom might as well light a pile of cash on fire,” said Dave Abrams. “Pass the popcorn for his desperate attempt to win back the California refugees who fled the hellhole he created in his state to come to Florida.”

You can watch the ad in the video above.

(Via CNN)