Month: May 2024

Travis Scott is kicking it into high gear. Today (May 9), Scott unveiled his first-ever signature Jordan Brand shoe and apparel collection, the CJ1 T-REXX collection.

In the collection are a selection of tank tops with Scott’s head imprint, as well as tank tops featuring the title of his fourth studio album, Utopia. Also in the collection are workout shorts, gloves with skeleton prints, caps, belts, and socks.

These accessories go perfectly with Scott’s Jordan sneakers, which broke the record for entries on SNKRS app last week upon their drop.

The CJ1 T-REXX collection makes Scott the first non-athlete to debut a signature sneaker and apparel collection with the Jordan Brand.

Scott continued to tease the collection with a video clip shared to social media, starring his frequent collaborator Kanye West and directed by Gabriel Moses.

Sneakerheads and fashion connoisseurs can purchase items from the CJ1 T-REXX collection via Scott’s official shop, which exclusively offers a University Red edition of the sneakers.

You can see items from the collection above, as well as the Moses-directed trailer.

An earlier version of this article incorrectly stated that Travis Scott was teasing a collaboration with Kanye West, thought to be on the latter’s Vultures 2 collaboration album with Ty Dolla Sign.

After getting run out of the building in Game 1 of their Eastern Conference Semifinal series, the Cleveland Cavaliers regrouped to take Game 2 off of the Celtics in Boston. Behind the latest monster playoff effort by Donovan Mitchell, the Cavs walked into TD Garden and picked up a 118-94 win to even up the series at one game each.

Game 2 looked like it was going to follow a very similar script to Game 1, as Boston came out of the gates on fire. The Celtics opened up a 14-5 run and never really looked like they were breaking a sweat on either end of the floor.

And then, the Cavs woke up. Between Evan Mobley having one of the best quarters of his young NBA career (11 points, four assists, three rebounds, and a block) and Caris LeVert providing a perimeter scoring punch off of the bench, Cleveland was able to go on a 25-7 run that let them take a 30-24 lead into the second.

With Mobley and Mitchell on the bench, Boston was able to almost immediately erase Cleveland’s lead. An 18-7 run by the Celtics in the opening four minutes of the period where four of the team’s five players on the floor scored put them back ahead, forcing a timeout by J.B. Bickerstaff that got the two stars back on the floor.

Once again, Cleveland was able to finish a quarter strong, with Mobley and Mitchell doing much of the heavy lifting. The pair coming back on the floor helped them close the 5-point lead that Boston opened up while they were on the bench, and over the final four minutes of the period, Cleveland went on an 11-3 run that had things all tied up at 54 as the two teams entered the locker room.

Jayson Tatum led all scorers in the first half with 16, largely because of his ability to get to the charity stripe — his struggles from the field during the postseason continued, as he was only 3-for-10 in the first half, but he hit eight of his 10 free throws to go with six points and four assists. Al Horford had 11 points in the first half with three made triples, while Jaylen Brown had 10. For Cleveland, Mobley’s 15 points, seven rebounds, five assists, steal, and block stuffed the stat sheet, while LeVert had 12 off the bench. Mitchell didn’t have the scoring outbursts we’ve seen from him this postseason, but he did go for six points, five assists, and four boards.

The two teams jostled back and forth to start the third, with Cleveland starting to open up a lead that Boston was able to cut into. And then, there was yet another run by the Cavaliers to open things up — this time, it was a 10-2 run in the middle of the period that opened up a 9-point lead.

The lead got up to 14 points, and while the Celtics were able to get it down to single-digits, Mitchell closed a brilliant quarter with a stepback three as time expired, which gave him 14 points in the third alone.

Mitchell started the fourth quarter continuing his assault on Boston, as he scored seven straight points to help Cleveland extend its lead.

By the time the Cavs got their lead up to 112-87 with 4:58 remaining, Joe Mazzulla decided he’d seen enough. As the fans in Boston started to make their way to the exits, the Celtics starters got pulled and the bench came into the game. And with 3:55 left, Bickerstaff made the same decision, with both coaches watching as their reserves finished out the game.

Mitchell had his latest brilliant playoff game, going for 29 points with eight assists and seven rebounds. LeVert gave them 21 off the bench, while Mobley was fantastic with 21 points, 10 rebounds, five assists, two blocks, and a steal. Tatum led the way for Boston, as he put up 25 points with seven rebounds and six assists, while Brown had 19.

Game 3 between the Cavaliers and the Celtics will take place in Cleveland on Satuday night, with the game scheduled to tip off at 8:30 p.m. EST on ESPN.

Unless you’ve been living on a remote, deserted island, you’re probably addicted to your phone. We’ve all been guilty of ignoring someone right in front of us because of text or a notification. It’s so common we even have a word for it: “phubbing.”

But parental phubbing, while just as prevalent as ordinary phubbing, is often seen as more than just a social faux pas. And this perhaps isn’t totally without merit, since research has shown that kids do in fact feel the effects of being ignored in this way.

And yet, as one mom eloquently points out, we can’t just chalk it up to “bad parenting.”

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“I was just at my son’s Taekwondo practice, and I’d say 75% of the parents are on their phones, right?” Paige Turner, a mom of four, says in a clip posted to her TikTok.

She continues: “And I have seen a lot of commentary about how parents are always on their phones, right? Parents are always texting. They’re not watching their kids. They’re not seeing how great their kids doing during Taekwondo or baseball or gymnastics, whatever it is. They’re just too busy on their phone and why can’t they just take a break and look up?”

And this is where Turner offers her alternate, but so spot on take.

“I think the average parent is being asked to do a lot, right? They are working full-time. There’s a lack of childcare, so oftentimes, these parents are not only on their phones, I sit next to parents who are on their laptops at Taekwondo practice because we are technically still working, right?” she says.

Since most parents are technically still on the clock by the time an afternoon practice rolls around, of course they’re “Slacking on their phone. They’re answering emails. Sometimes, they’re even listening to a call,” Turner explains.

So maybe it’s not just about being present with their kids but about parents having to be on call 24/7.

“In an ideal world, our kids would have practices and games at times that allowed us to be fully present,” Turner says. But in reality, “we are being asked to go in many different directions right now, and so many of us don’t have that luxury.”

Turner also points out that the obligation to be at every practice or game is a fairly new concept, parents used to simply drop kids off and pick them up once whichever activity was over.

“We are being asked not only to do more physically: be at every practice, be at every game, volunteer, work full-time, pick up your kids from the bus stop, all these things. We’re also being asked to be fully present for all of it, which is impossible,” she notes.

@sheisapaigeturner As parents, we need to be conscious of one and how we use our phones. However, a lot of the critique online specifically about parents being on their phone I could activities is likely missing the full picture. Many parents are multitasking. They are working while at basketball, they are ordering groceries while at dance practice. They are doing many things at one time and juggling all of it as soon as they can. #millennailmom #sportsmom #parentingadvice #socialmedia #workingmom #wfhmom #workingparent ♬ original sound – Paige

Turner concludes by sharing that she posted this perspective to offer some grace against the common “ugly narrative” that parents are simply not paying attention to their kids when parents are most likely doing the very best that they can.

Several parents agreed with Turner and added their own takes on the issue.

“The idea that we have to be present every single second of our child’s life is just INSANE. Especially coming from the ‘go outside and don’t come back until dark’ generation,” one person wrote.

Another added, “also, my phone is where I schedule appointments, order groceries, order prescriptions, fill out forms for all the things, research therapists and camps and doctors and adhd, & I’m a grad student.”

A few even pointed out that even when they aren’t working, phone use during practice shouldn’t be considered taboo.

“Even if you AREN’T working or doing something productive on your phone. Why would I want to watch soccer drills for an hour? Let me play candy crush in peace lol,” one person quipped.

Another seconded, “I’m absolutely not working but I’m using the opportunity of my child being fully engaged with an activity to freaking relax a little. I don’t have to just sit and watch them 24/7 to have a relationship.”

Bottom line: of course, it’s important for parents to be mindful of their phone usage, especially when around kids. But our world makes that nearly impossible, and passing judgment on the moms and dads who do find themselves scrolling isn’t of help to anyone. A little compassion can go a long way here.

Being over 30 doesn’t usually qualify someone as an ‘elder,’ but those who fall into the “elder Millennial” generational bracket or above had plenty of wisdom to share in a Reddit thread that recently exploded onto the front page.

A post by Redditor ThickEmployee8948 asked what the tricenarian crowd regretted doing or not doing when they were younger, and the community was quick to answer.

The thread’s top comment, “TEETH. Wish I’d Brushed and flossed more regularly (…)” by anthonystank, bit off over two thousand upvotes.

User MkVsTheWorld agreed that taking care of your teeth should be high on the to-do list, sharing their harrowing experience.

“[I] skipped regular check ups for 3 years and when I went back for a checkup I had 6 spots that needed filling. (…) One of the cavities ended up being so deep on a molar that I had to later get a root canal, get a crown on it, then an extraction because that tooth cracked, and then finally an implant & crown. Start-to-finish, it took me 6-months to complete the repair.”

The advice from the not-quite-elders ranged over topics from finances to relationships to drinking and drugs, with the 30-plus crowd often coming down on both sides of a given topic.

User humancanvas79 regretted not doing psychedelics, while user fin425 advised “Quit drinking. Alcohol sucks and it’s really bad for you.”

Education was a recurring theme in the comments. The importance of education itself was generally agreed upon, but two opposing views about how to approach it emerged.

User JoeyTepes wishes they had put more thought into the specifics of their education:

“I was the first person in my immediate family to go to college, buthad no idea what I was doing when I got there. I wish I had planned out my major inadvance, and done a better job of networking in order to get a better job when I graduated.”

User wagedomain took the opposite view:

“I went into college knowing what I wanted to do (writing, probably journalism). I dedicated a LOT of time to it, and learned a lot,” they shared, going on to say, “But I do feel like I missed part of the college experience. (…) I didn’t go to any parties, didn’t make any lasting friendships, didn’t really “experience” things even like movie nights or shows.”

User lovemydogwillow shared information from their thesis on the topic of regret. “The overwhelming finding was that regret for things that you fail to do (…) stick with you much more than regrets for things you did (…).”

Findings supported by a 2009 paper published by Frederick Leach and Jason Plaks and any number of other comments, including one by user TraditionPast4295. “My friends and I talked about doing a 2-3 week Europe trip back in our 20s. “Oh maybe next year”. Eventually jobs, bills and families put all that to rest.”

User nycmonkey didn’t offer specific advice but spoke to the question itself. “[You’re asking] the right question. Your regrets are usually due to not doing something you could’ve controlled. The answer to your question is put yourself out there and go do.”

To the shock of almost no one, the second installment of Kanye West and Ty Dolla Sign‘s Vultures album didn’t arrive at its initially proposed release date last Friday (May 3). But it looks like the album may arrive pretty soon.

Earlier today (May 9), rapper Travis Scott shared a snippet of a new track to his Instagram story. The short clip features a smooth, cinematic instrumental, with vocals and adlibs by both Scott and Ye. Ye is also clearly seen in the video.

The clip was captioned “YE AND THE JACK,” with photographer and creative director Gabriel Moses tagged.

While it sounds like new music playing in the background, but it’s also likely they may be teasing new fashion projects.

Fans in the comments indicated that they would much prefer the two release music instead of clothing.

“Pls be music nd not clothes,” said one fan, whose comment received over 19,000 likes.

Producer SHDØW, who produced a fair portion of Vultures 1, also commented on the post — and his comment indicates the the post may be in relation to music.

In the comments, SHDØW left a “2” emoji, leading people to speculate that the snippet may be from a song set to appear on Vultures 2.

Fans will find out soon enough — you know, assuming that Ye can stick to a release date.

When Rocky Kanaka first met Katie, a scruffy beige Australian Shepherd mix, he thought she was a senior dog. As it turned out, the shelter pup was only about a year old. She had just been found by a good samaritan as a stray, her fur and skin in terrible shape, her paws swollen and her spirit muted. She didn’t even want to look at Kanaka when he first entered the kennel to sit with her.

That all changed as he took the time to sit with her and earn her trust. Kanaka has gained a huge following on YouTube with his videos sitting with shelter dogs, and his way with them is truly inspiring. He brings his own home-baked treats and a huge amount of patience and compassion, helping abandoned animals learn that humans can be kind and caring companions.

Katie is one of many dogs Kanaka has visited, and her behavior in the kennel showed him that she hadn’t had much of a chance in her short life to learn how to be a dog.

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For instance, when Kanaka offered her a stuffed unicorn to play with, she didn’t know what to do with it. He tried a squeaky toy, which she also didn’t know what to do with and found overwhelming after a few squeaks. She took Kanaka’s treats, but not immediately and not in the way a dog who understands the concept of treats would.

But throughout the video, the stray pup responded to Kanaka’s affection and love by melting right into it. She even wanted to sit in his lap toward the end, but didn’t seem to know how. Kanaka scooped her up, despite the foul smell her skin condition created, and it’s clear that this pupper just loves being loved.

Watch:

It’s hard for animals with obvious health issues, especially something as visible as a skin condition that makes them look and smell bad, to attract people looking to adopt. But by taking half an hour to get to know her, Kanaka helped us all look past all that and see Katie’s sweet spirit shine through.

So many people fell in head over heels for Katie through this video:

“OMG, The person who gets her will have the best dog as she is so obviously starved for affection and so willing to give it back ten fold.”

“That dog doesn’t have an aggressive bone in her body. she was instantly ready for you to pet her.”

“Her little tail wag broke my heart for what’s she’s been through but also lifted my spirits that she has a strength to survive and become a loved family member.”

“It’s shocking how neglected she looks but her desire to be loved is so strong. She’s going to bring such joy to her forever home.”

“I consider myself somewhat of a tough guy…. I’m from the streets, had a crazy hard life, i did 9 yrs in prison, seen it all, done it all and ain’t scared of nothing… I’m telling you that because in spite all that, when i see videos like this, i start crying like a 5 yr old girl…Goes to show you that what life has done to them, we can relate, and we see it in animals that have been hurt by others and part if me wants to knock out someone that would hurt a dog or kitty like that. Animals bring out the love and compassion we’ve forgotten because we know they’re teaching us what we definitely need to learn. What is truly considered, unconditional love….”

Rocky Kanaka’s work with dogs is both inspiring and informative, and he’s succeeded in helping so many dogs find forever homes instead of languishing in shelters because they don’t make the best first impression. Not long after this video aired, Katie was rescued and will hopefully continue to get the tender care and kindness she deserves.

Follow Katie’s journey on Kanaka’s website here. You can also follow Rocky Kanaka’s channels on YouTube, TikTok and Instagram.

The Phoenix Suns did not have the 2023-24 season they hoped for after trading the last of their remaining draft assets for Bradley Beal. The former Wizards star struggled to stay healthy and by the time he did get onto the floor with Kevin Durant and Devin Booker, that trio never clicked and ultimately got steamrolled in four games by the Minneosta Timberwolves in the first round.

With nothing left to move in terms of draft assets and their cap sheet maxed out, the Suns have few avenues to make changes this offseason. That meant Frank Vogel, despite just one year on the job, was on the hot seat as a coaching change was their best chance to try something new for next year. Sure enough, on Thursday word broke that Vogel had been fired.

The first name tied to the Suns opening was Mike Budenholzer, the former Bucks and Hawks head coach that took a year off from coaching after being let go by Milwaukee. There were whispers players were interested in Chauncey Billups, who could be on the way out of Portland, but ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski indicated talks with Budenholzer were moving quickly and trending towards a hire.

Budenholzer led the Bucks to a title in 2021 and is widely respected around the league, but the fit in Phoenix is a bit curious. Budenholzer’s teams have, historically, been aggressive attacking the rim and shooting three-pointers. Bud’s teams have been top-8 in three-point attempts every year except one, the year the Hawks started dismantling things and signed Dwight Howard.

The Suns, meanwhile, have two of the highest volume midrange shooters in Kevin Durant and Devin Booker. Those two weren’t particularly interested in putting up a lot of threes under Vogel (Phoenix was 25th in three-point volume this year), and it’s hard to see them changing what they do dramatically under Budenholzer. That is one of the many fascinating challenges facing Budenholzer in Phoenix, but he must be confident he has a plan to extract the most out of this Suns team and make them the contenders they believe they should be.

The New York Knicks picked up a win in Game 2 of the Eastern Conference Semifinals despite a pair of crucial starters leaving the game with injury. One, Jalen Brunson, missed part of the first quarter and the entire second quarter due to a sore foot, but was able to return and play well down the stretch against the Indiana Pacers.

The other, OG Anunoby, left the game after pulling up with a sore hamstring on a fast break in the third quarter and did not return. It was a tough pill to swallow for the already-hobbled Knicks, as Anunoby had 28 points in 28 minutes of work, and apparently, the team will not have his services heading into Game 3 on Friday night. Shams Charania of The Athletic brings word that Anunoby is dealing with a hamstring strain, which will keep him sidelined for the next game.

Beyond Anunoby, Brunson will apparently be listed as questionable heading into Game 3.

It’s unclear how much time Anunoby will miss due to the injury, but considering New York’s current injury situation — Julius Randle, Bojan Bogdanovic, and Mitchell Robinson are all out, while Brunson is obviously also carrying something — losing a player as impactful as Anunoby is a tough pill to swallow.

Taylor Swift’s The Eras Tour is back underway — but this time, it’s got some changes, thanks to the recent release of her eleventh studio album, The Tortured Poets Department.

As suggested by its name, the Eras Tour setlist has spanned all of the “Anti-Hero” singer’s “eras,” from her self-titled country debut to the heights of her commercial dominance with Midnights.

But now that she has a full 31 new songs, fans might be wondering which of the tracks from The Tortured Poets Department have made it into the setlist, which already runs three hours long, even without the new material.

So, What Tortured Poets Songs Are On Taylor Swift’s The Eras Tour Setlist?

According to Uproxx’s own Swift expert Josh Kurp, Swift performs a seven-song mini-set from The Tortured Poets Department, which includes the hilariously titled “But Daddy I Love Him,” “So High School,” “Who’s Afraid Of Little Old Me?” “Down Bad,” “Fortnight,” “The Smallest Man Who Ever Lived,” and “I Can Do It With A Broken Heart.”

While the new setlist adds some of Taylor’s newest songs, it’s reported that it also swapped a few of the eras’ orders, moving Red up, and Evermore, Reputation, and Speak Now down the list.

The two best teams in the Western Conference this year look to be the Minnesota Timberwolves and the Oklahoma City Thunder. The No. 1 and No. 3 seeds in the West have yet to lose a game this postseason and are up 2-0 and 1-0 in the conference semis, respectively. But the most impressive thing isn’t just that the Wolves and Thunder are winning, it’s the manner in which they’re doing so.

After dismantling the Suns and sending them into an offseason of soul-searching, the Timberwolves have dominated the defending champs over the first two games in Denver, something no one has done over the last two years. One of those wins came without the DPOY, as Rudy Gobert missed Game 2 for the birth of his first child and the Wolves defense didn’t skip a beat. On Tuesday night, the Thunder got in on the second round fun by routing the Dallas Mavericks in Game 1, led by a similarly suffocating defense that frustrated Luka Doncic and Kyrie Irving into their worst combined scoring night of the playoffs.

There are certainly similarities to how the Wolves and Thunder have built their contenders, with young star guards leading the charge for rosters filled with long, athletic, versatile players. However, they diverge in a few key ways, most notably with Minnesota focusing heavily on an interior presence, while Oklahoma City loaded up on the wing. Regardless of how the rest of the playoffs shake out for both, the biggest lesson from how the two franchises built rapid-rising contenders isn’t necessarily in their specific construction, but in having a clear vision of how they wanted a team to look, play, and even interact off the court.

There is always a little luck involved with landing a young star, either via trade or the draft, but once it’s clear you have one, the real work begins to maximize a window that has presented itself. That’s what happened to the Timberwolves and Thunder as Anthony Edwards and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander began to emerge as two budding faces of the league. What trips up that process for many teams is coming up with a coherent and cohesive plan that has buy-in from top-to-bottom throughout the organization. From the front office to the coaching staff to the stars themselves, there were clearly conversations about what the ideal team would look like, and they have made every single decision with that vision in mind.

For Tim Connelly and the Wolves, they had already had an All-Star in place with Karl-Anthony Towns but needed a backcourt counterpart with the right energy and skillset to help maximize Towns’ abilities and minimize his weaknesses. Edwards, in that regard, was a godsend even beyond his own immense talent. The young guard was happy to step into a vocal leadership role, but in the opposite manner of Jimmy Butler, who tore Towns down in hopes of building him up — Edwards props Towns up with constant praise and affirmation of how good he is. On the floor, Edwards and Towns work in a symbiotic relationship, with Edwards getting more space to attack downhill and Towns getting cleaner looks off the attention Edwards commands. With that pairing in place, the Wolves could go about building a team around them, focusing their efforts on the defensive end while adding complementary skillsets offensively.

They drafted Jaden McDaniels as a hopeful fit between Edwards and Towns on the wing, and took Naz Reid to provide a potential avenue to keeping a big who is a shooting threat on the floor at all times. Those two obviously developed into phenomenal supporting pieces, but the thoughtfulness about skills and fits ensured that if they did get some developmental luck, they’d fill two critical spots on their roster.

From there, they signed Kyle Anderson, a veteran in the mold of the long, versatile defenders they hoped to fill their wing spots with. Then, a day later, they made their biggest move of all, trading their most valuable future assets and some young talent to bring in Rudy Gobert, the then 3-time DPOY. Once Gobert was on board, they tried to evaluate what they’d crafted for the first half of the ’22-23 season, and came to the conclusion they needed more. They shipped out D’Angelo Russell to bring back Mike Conley and Nickeil Alexander-Walker in a three-team trade, opting for more defense, some much-needed veteran steadiness in the backcourt, and a guard who knew how to coax the most out of Gobert.

With all of that in place, they were able to create the culture and identity that now has this team dominating the defending champs. The team feeds off of each other, with Edwards’ energy being infectious, Gobert and McDaniels’ defensive focus spreading to teammates that were otherwise apathetic on that end, and Conley’s calming influence balancing it all out. Every piece they put in place was done so deliberately and with the overall vision in mind, never deviating from the plan just to bring in a big name to win a press conference.

For the Thunder, they acquired Shai Gilgeous-Alexander in the Paul George trade and have since built almost exclusively through the Draft, but have had similar focus and clarity of vision when it comes to the players taken. The Thunder have been one of the best development teams for years under Sam Presti, largely because they’re one of the best teams at evaluating talent and, more importantly, identifying the qualities that allow players to improve.

Work ethic, curiosity, and a willingness to be coached are prerequisites of the Oklahoma City program. Every team talks about wanting players with those attributes, but Presti and the Thunder staff are better than just about anyone at cutting to the core of players to figure out whether they possess those qualities. They focus heavily on players with positional versatility and a strong defensive background who are willing to put in the work to improve offensively. You can have the best development staff in the league, but without players willing to spend the extra hours to hone their craft and make those leaps, it won’t matter.

Lu Dort is maybe their greatest development win, turning from a two-way signee with defensive upside into a cornerstone of the starting lineup, working tirelessly to become not just a competent three-point shooter but a flat-out threat from the three-point line. From there, Jalen Williams and Chet Holmgren came from the same 2022 Draft and have become Gilgeous-Alexander’s co-stars, both bringing two-way impact that’s launched this team into contention this year. Josh Giddey, their top pick in 2021, provides a secondary playmaker next to SGA, while rookie Cason Wallace and Aaron Wiggins (a second rounder from that 2021 Draft) bring depth to the rotation behind him if they want to swap playmaking for shooting, as we saw in Game 1 against Dallas. Jaylin Williams, also from that 2022 Draft, has become a steady backup big for Holmgren that likewise can space the floor offensively.

Their lone rotation players that weren’t drafted in-house are Isaiah Joe and Gordon Hayward. Neither were hot commodities, but each aligned with the team’s culture and filled a need with Joe’s shooting and Hayward’s veteran steadiness.

Everyone is always looking for trends in the NBA, and sometimes there are things to learn about where the game is going from emerging teams. But the real lesson to be learned from the construction of most any championship roster is that you have to have a clear plan and execute it at every level. The first step is to acquire and identify who your best players are, and be honest about who can be your absolute best player and who is a secondary star. From there, you have to craft a vision of what the best team looks like around them both in roster makeup and in play style, with the front office and coaching staff in agreement. Finally, you have to always have that vision in mind when bringing in and sending out players, while being adaptable to changing needs as players either continue to develop or stagnate.

That’s why trying to copy a certain team’s style rarely pans out, because the best teams build their style and roster around the talent they have. What the Thunder and Timberwolves are doing isn’t particularly groundbreaking, but that’s part of what makes their build so remarkable. They have, for the most part, blocked the outside noise and temptations to chase an apparent trend, choosing instead to have internal resolve in what they’re building and how they are doing it.

That’s incredibly difficult to do, because there are always forces trying to push and pull you in different directions. Egos exist from players to coaches to executives to ownership, and can derail a build as quickly as it starts once one party decides they aren’t properly involved or credited. Injuries are the ever-present boogeyman in sports, rendering the best laid plans moot or creating the appearance that a plan isn’t working. Both teams have pushed through those potential pitfalls to give themselves a chance this year.

The Wolves could have decided the Gobert-Towns pairing wouldn’t work after a small sample last year, as Towns missed most of the season. The Thunder could’ve listened to those of us who felt they needed to cash in chips for an established veteran to help them take the next step to contention. Instead, they did what has become an overwrought sports cliche and trusted the process. Most importantly, they trusted their process rather than attempting to duplicate someone elses. And both were led by stars in Edwards and Gilgeous-Alexander who have never once waivered in their belief that the organization is going down the right path — it is much, much easier to execute a long-term vision when your best player isn’t attempting to speed you along, and Edwards and Gilgeous-Alexander have totally bought into the vision as it was presented to them.

Now we’ll see teams try to find the blueprint of what Minnesota and Oklahoma City have done, but most will fall short if all they take away from their success is that long, versatile wing defenders are the answer. That alone won’t get it done — just ask the Raptors. However, the teams that see how the vision came together thanks to true cohesion throughout the organization will give themselves a chance at replicating their success. They’ll just have to find the right stars and tailor their build around them.