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As you’re no doubt aware by now, the Supreme Court’s majority has decided to roll the U.S. back several decades on abortion access. That is to say, it’s about to become extremely difficult for millions of women to access the medical procedure, should they choose to do so. And it’s pretty wild that this was made possible by Trump-appointed justices when Trump himself has flip-flopped on the issue for decades. At this point, though, there’s little to do but react as the states feel their way through this issue.

Danny DeVito wasted no time (and few words) in tweeting how he feels on Roe v. Wade essentially being vanquished. He went short and not-so-sweet while staying on brand: “Supreme Court my ass.”

Yep, he’s got a record with this approach, as reflected by his 2013 message to the now-late Antonin Scalia:

And there’s zero harm in sounding off like this because there’s little recourse to do otherwise. The highest court in the land decided to shut down reproductive rights for women, and there will be plenty of fallout. Kansas, for example, could become an unexpected travel hotspot as their clinics are prepping to accommodate women from Missouri, Oklahoma, Texas, and Louisiana, all of which had already mostly stripped access (or they did so today) to the procedure. Not only that, but it remains difficult for women to find doctors willing to sterilize them. Let’s just say that Nick Cannon won’t be the only guy who will soon be prepping for an impending vasectomy.

Starting with 2014’s Captain America: The Winter Soldier, arguably one of the best films in the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s canon, directors Joe and Anthony Russo have been working side-by-side with Chris Evans for the better part of a decade now. After the Russo Brothers and Evans wrapped up Cap’s journey in Avengers: Endgame, they re-teamed for Netflix’s adaptation of The Gray Man, which arrives next month.

While promoting the upcoming espionage thriller, the Russos fielded a question about which Marvel character they’d love to see Evans play besides Captain America. Thanks to the presence of the multiverse, which opened up endless possibilities in the recent Doctor Strange sequel, the sky is the limit. However, Joe Russo already had an answer ready to go: Wolverine. His brother Anthony was immediately on board.

Via Comic Book:

“Evans has incredible range and great physicality, and he’s real good at body control,” Joe Russo continued. “He’s an incredible actor. I don’t mean this in a bad way, but he’s nothing like Captain America. Steve Rogers is very controlled and quiet, understated. Chris is energetic and funny and charismatic, and he brings a lot of energy to set. I’d love to see him do something like Wolverine.”

The choice of Marvel’s most popular mutant is sure to raise eyebrows considering years-long rumors that Marvel wants the Russos to tackle the MCU’s version of the X-Men. The brothers have an extremely strong track record with the studio starting with Winter Soldier and capping things off with the two-part finale to The Infinity Saga.

Could this be a hint that the Russo Brother’s Marvel return is in the works? Possibly. Should fans hope to see Evans popping claws as Wolverine? Maybe don’t hold your breath on that one.

(Via Comic Book)

Severance star and prospective Emmy nominee Adam Scott didn’t really feel like he was established until a triangle of notable comedic roles came his way nearly 15 years into his career with Step Brothers, Party Down, and Parks And Rec. As he told us earlier this week, he was able to endure the ups and downs of a struggling actor’s life prior to those roles due to one very powerful thing: self-delusion and the idea that everything was going fine even when it wasn’t.

So, what do you do when the Hollywood fantasy starts to become undeniably real? For Scott, the last decade and change has been about building on his successes while chasing new challenges. After Parks ended, he sought more dramatic roles while still making space to play a douchebag on The Good Place or talk REM, U2, and Red Hot Chilli Peppers with his friend Scott Aukerman and guests (including the bands themselves) for Earwolf. He started a production company with his wife, Naomi Scott, producing, among other things, three Adult Swim specials that meticulously re-created ’80s TV openings. Up-next, a collaboration with Don Cheadle’s production company on a voter impression drama.

With Severance, though, Scott has taken his biggest on-screen swing. Teaming with series creator Dan Erickson, producer/director Ben Stiller, and an amazing cast and crew, the show isn’t afraid to challenge its audience as it takes them through a twisty and complex story about grief, memory, big tech overreach, and our fraying sense of a true work/life balance. It’s the perfect weekly addiction for this post-quarantine era of ever-shifting work-from-home dynamics. A show near-universally beloved by critics and discerning viewers, with Scott’s heartbreaking dual performance atop the list of remarked upon elements.

In the following conversation, Scott tells us about whether he knew from the start if Severance (or the infamous dance scene) would hit, the importance of delivering a season finale that offered a few answers, the charm of Ben and Leslie on Parks And Rec, getting through those early years, and, naturally, his favorite R.E.M. song.

When did you start to feel like, “Okay, this is going to work. I don’t have to go home and sell insurance. This is real?”

The answer is a little complicated because there’s a certain amount of self-delusion that you have to maintain in order to stay in Los Angeles or New York or Chicago, wherever you’ve kind of started your acting or entertainment career. I think there’s a certain amount of self-delusion that needs to be cultivated and maintained, in order to not just throw your hands up in the air and go home.

And that delusion is, “Everything’s going great. I’m doing great.” I remember in like 1996, looking around at my studio apartment and being like, “Okay. I’m supporting myself. I’ve got enough money to buy a round of beers with my friends. I can put gas in my car. This is actually pretty great.” Whereas if you really examined it, I was hanging on by a piece of floss, right?

And so it wasn’t until around 2010, when sort of the trifecta of Party Down, Step Brothers, and then getting the Parks And Rec job sort of all culminated and it started to come together for real for the first time, that I was able to look back and be like, “Oh man, I have been, to various degrees, deluding myself since 1993.” There were several times before then, where things had been kind of coalescing a bit and coming together, and then it would sort of dissipate or break apart and then come back together again. That was when I was finally like, “Okay, okay. I now have some solid footing to actually stand on, and let’s see where we can take it from here.” But up until then, as I discovered, I was standing on jello.

Were there ever pops of panic in that period where you really questioned it?

Sure. I remember in 1999 or 2000 I hadn’t worked in a while, six months or something. And then I auditioned for Six Feet Under, tested for it, and it was me and Michael C. Hall. And [I] went through the wringer, so many auditions, and obviously didn’t get it. And that was a real heartbreaker, where I was sort of like, “Maybe I just can’t do this. Maybe I can’t. I don’t know if I can take this brick wall I keep running into.” And that was a real tough time, where I remember my girlfriend, now wife, came to me and kind of asked me about, “have you ever thought of anything else?” And just someone asking you that sort of puts it into stark contrast. I’m so glad that Michael Hall got that job because he’s so much better than I would’ve been. I was not ready to have that big and complex a role on my back. I wouldn’t have been able to do what he did. He’s extraordinary.

Were there plan B options in your mind, things that you could have fallen back on?

No, I don’t know how to do anything else, truly.

You’ve done drama, you’ve done comedy. You’ve really established kind of a parallel path, which is so impressive. Is being able to do something with Severance that helps to reinforce that, is that extra satisfying?

Yeah, totally. I mean, after Parks And Rec ended in 2014, 2015, I really wanted to try and find something a little more dramatic, for lack of a better word, just because it had been a while. I’d been focusing on comedy. And so, I really sought out Big Little Lies and auditioned for it and was lucky enough to get the role in that. And that was a really fun, satisfying experience, working with Jean-Marc Vallée and all those incredible actors. And so, that really sort of reinvigorated me to try and stretch out a little bit because it had been a while. I’d kind of forgotten. Before Step Brothers, I primarily thought of myself as more of a dramatic actor, whatever that means. Because it’s all sort of the same. It more has to do with the circumstances and the writing and stuff. But anyway, having veered into comedy for a while, it was something I was looking to do a bit more of.

I don’t really like the idea of entertainment that’s dumbed down, and this certainly is the exact opposite of that. It’s a twisty, cerebral show with a lot of nuances. Is there ever a concern, though, about that and if it’s going to hit?

I mean, you never know if something’s going to work or not. No matter how good the material is, it may not come together and really work. So we were making the show, having no idea if it was going to end up working, and would kind of stop every couple of days and look at each other and just be like, “This is really just so weird. How are people going to find a way into this?” And didn’t know and worked hard at figuring it out. We started with just sort of a blank slate and had to world build. And Ben [Stiller, who produces the show and directed six episodes] and Dan Erickson who created the show, were always chipping away, trying to figure out the tone and the world and all of that stuff.

And it was hard. It was really challenging for everybody, but it was really, really fun. We weren’t ever not tired at the end of the day, because you’re spending everything you have, mentally, emotionally, physically, trying to figure this puzzle out.

Are there ever specific moments like the dance sequence — which obviously has a little bit of a second life having been meme-ified or gif-ified — when you think, “Okay, this might be quirky enough. This might hit?”

I mean when were shooting that, it was like, “Okay, well, if the entire thing works, this’ll be so fun and this’ll be a blast for people to watch, because it’ll be a respite from the tension, perhaps.” I mean, what it ended up being is even more tension, as a result of what happens there. But yeah, it’s all about everything around it, if the whole thing is working. Like when we were shooting the finale, and we were shooting it kind of in the middle of the entire shoot, because we shot the whole show at once. But when we were shooting those scenes, it was the moment when I call Patricia’s [Arquette] character Ms. Cobel, and because of that slip-up, she figures out what’s going on. When we were shooting that specific moment, we were all kind of looking at each other like, “If this works, if we have the audience with us, this moment’s going to be incredible. This is going to be so much fun.”

But you have to meticulously build to that moment in order for that moment to pay off and be fun for the audience. So, we were hoping that we would have them at that point, but you ultimately don’t know.

Why was it important to answer so many questions in the finale? Obviously, you create more questions when you do that, but I’m curious why it was important to go that way.

Well, I think we didn’t want it to be a show that just asks the questions and puts them out there for the sake of asking them and mystery for mystery’s sake. We wanted it to all fit together and make sense and give some answers for the audience, for some satisfaction. But of course, like you said, [we wanted to] ask some new ones and leave some things out there yet to be answered.

What was it about the Ben and Leslie relationship on Parks that you think still resonates with people? Because that part of the show specifically I think still connects so well.

Well, that’s 99.9 or a 100% due to Mike Schur. He wrote that relationship, he and the writers really came up with that stuff, and Amy [Poehler] and I played it. And Amy was a writer as well and had a huge hand creatively in the show. So, anything with Parks And Rec I think is due to Mike and Amy, and then we actors got to go in and play around and absorb credit for a lot of the great stuff on that show.

But yeah, I love that relationship, too, and I love Ben and Leslie. I think that these two, once they were together, they just had each other’s back and were dedicated to one another. And I think Ben was comfortable being in the shadow of his wife and would do anything for her and wanted her to rule the world. He just wanted to kind of bask in the happiness of being married to the greatest lady in the world, you know? And I think that was something that was really fun to watch. They were just two crazy kids who loved each other so much and weren’t afraid to show it. And I think that’s nice to see on a show.

Before we close, I’m curious, what’s the most important R.E.M. song to you?

That’s a good question. I think my favorite is “I Believe,” that was on Life’s Rich Pageant because it sounds the most R.E.M.-y and it sounds like a band playing outside at a 4th of July music festival or something, like playing in the sun. It sounds like American music being played in the sunshine, which sounds stupid and maybe a little antithetical to who R.E.M. are. But that’s part of what I loved about them, is they were a huge mainstream band who played interesting music that meant a lot to people and that challenged their audience. And I think that “I Believe” is a great example of all the different components that made them special. It’s not what I think is their best song or even on their best or my favorite album of theirs. But that song for me is impossible to tire of.

What’s the best song?

The best song might be “Try Not To Breathe,” maybe. It’s just kind of perfect. And Hrishikesh Hirway did that podcast where he got the guys and kind of asked them about how they made it and all the different components that went into it, and you get to kind of walk through the making of the song and get to listen to all the different isolated pieces of the song and what kind of built it. And that makes you appreciate that song even more. Song Exploder is that podcast.

But it’s always been a favorite of mine. It’s a perfect piece of music, when they were at their most confident and their kind of creative peak. Even though they made lots of great albums after that, it was sort of their apex, kind of culturally.

The first season of ‘Severance’ is available to stream on Apple TV+

Kyrie Irving’s tenure with the Brooklyn Nets seems like it could be coming to an end. After things hit a snag in talks on a contract extension between Irving and the Nets, Shams Charania of The Athletic reported that the expectation is Irving — who apparently has a list of teams he’d like to join in a sign-and-trade — will start looking for a new team.

Now, this is Kyrie Irving, so who knows what will actually happen, but one team that has some amount of interest in bringing him on board has been rumored to be the Los Angeles Lakers. While it would require a pretty substantial pay cut for Irving, who would have to give up about $30 million to team up with LeBron James again, Sam Amick of The Athletic reported that the buzz linking him to a change in coasts has legs.

“The Lakers noise — again, really tough to pull off, but it’s somewhat substantive there,” Amick said. “You’ve got people within the league actually thinking, like, ‘Man, I think he might find a way to get back with LeBron,’ and I do get the sense that … LeBron would open that door, and we’ll see if they can pull it off.”

Irving and James were, of course, teammates in Cleveland and won a championship in 2016.

Baz Luhrmann is a lot like any other director, only more so. Likewise, Elvis has a lot of the scenes and conflicts we’ve come to expect after 20 years with the musical biopic format, only in this case with the volume cranked to 11 and the saturation pinned at 100; sameness to the point that it starts to become hallucinatory and inspired.

Elvis – in so many ways a sort of kitsch-art earnest version of Walk Hard – is to the traditional musician biopic what Las Vegas is to a traditional city. An idealized reality so manically constructed that it becomes a sort of grotesque, like an absurd parody of Americana rendered in pastel Formica and crushed velvet. It’s real sicko shit, and in that sense it’s hard not to love it. Has there ever been a Baz Luhrmann subject so perfectly suited to his brand of gaudy maximalism? I left the theater coughing up sequins.

Luhrmann has essentially jerry-rigged his own version of the old Liberty Valance adage. Elvis‘s guiding principle is, “when the Velvet Elvis painting becomes fact, shoot the Velvet.”

Luhrmann’s story (co-written by Sam Bromell, Craig Pearce, and Jeremy Doner) is framed around, and periodically narrated by, Colonel Tom Parker, who is, and I’m not exaggerating any of these points for comedic effect here, a wicked Dutch carnie. He’s played by Tom Hanks, with a crooked witch nose and balloon animal jowls, and Hanks’ accent is pretty ridiculous. But then again, so is everything else in Elvis, and so is the idea of an accented Dutchman attempting to turn himself into a cigar-chomping Southern dandy like Tom Parker did in the first place. Think Foghorn Leghorn meets Goldmember from Austin Powers.

Tom Parker is an old-school carnival man, who lives for the old “snow job,” where you grift a room full of rubes so well that they gladly fork over their money and leave smiling. He proudly calls himself The Snow Man, and in Elvis, Parker believes he’s found his ultimate sideshow act — the first white man ever to attempt to dance using the lower half of his body. If there’s a major flaw in Elvis (other than Luhrmann’s whole shtick in general, which one should either go in expecting or avoid altogether) it’s that the framing makes it hard not to wish it was a Tom Parker biopic instead of an Elvis one. Give that job to Matthew Wiener, I’d love to see the Mad Men guy’s take on a carnival kitsch Don Draper.

For his part, Elvis Presley (played by sleepy-eyed, pouty-lipped youngster Austin Butler — who may be the most Australian-looking non-Australian dude I’ve ever seen) is depicted as the identical twin of a stillborn sibling, who grew up imbibing black musical traditions thanks to growing up in a black section of Memphis, and all sorts of other now-biopic clichés that also happen to be true — because how many biopic tropes were already built partially out of the Elvis legend? Print the velvet. As such, Elvis doesn’t just see blues musicians steamrolling juke joints and charismatic black preachers captivating tent revivals foreshadowing his future persona, he hallucinates expressionistic, kaleidoscopic montages of them.

One of Luhrmann’s charms (or infuriating tics, depending on your perspective) is that he either can’t or won’t shoot a straight scene of Elvis singing one of his hits (which, as a fan of early rockabilly Elvis music, I would’ve actually appreciated). Instead, he’ll film about seven seconds of one, before the whole thing starts to melt and bubble and distort, transforming into some kind of cruel hallucinatory medley that evolves and modulates and becomes something else entirely. Oh, you wanted to hear “Don’t Be Cruel?” Fuck you, here are five different slowed-down dramatic versions of “Fools Rush In.” “Jailhouse Rock?” Nope, “It’s Alright Mama” remixed as a contemporary rap track for some reason. Baz Luhrmann’s take on Elvis is sort of like reality as filtered through psychedelic mushrooms, where you can’t quite navigate a hallway but you’re transfixed by the texture of the carpet.

There is something to this approach. To attempt to get at the root of who Elvis was as a person would probably be a fool’s errand. This was a guy who essentially became a cultural product as a teenager and died a bloated lounge act at 42. There was no time in his adult life where he was a fully-formed human separate from a stage persona. Luhrmann’s choice is to shoot him as a sort of Snow White with Tom Parker as the wicked witch. We might not learn what makes Elvis tick, but Luhrmann isn’t so concerned with that. He’s more interested in Elvis’s effect on an audience, mostly of young girls and budding gays, who see this First White Man Ever To Move His Butt On Purpose, and absolutely lose their minds. He’s not depicting music so much as collective hysteria, which is firmly within the Luhrmann wheelhouse, and oddly electrifying.

Why not shoot the velvet? And who better to shoot said velvet than Baz Luhrmann, Australia’s polyester Spielberg? You’ll leave feeling slightly nauseous, bludgeoned by kitch and blinded by sparkly plastic, but considering the subject, isn’t that as it should be?

‘Elvis’ opens only in theaters June 24th. Vince Mancini is on Twitter. More reviews here.

Will Byers was once at the center of the Stranger Things story (he inspired countless Christmas light designs), but since season one, the show hasn’t known what to do with him. That was especially evident in season four, where he was just kind of… there. The most interesting thing about the character, outside of his haircut, is something currently unspoken. Speaking of things not being said: no one said “happy birthday” to Will.

In an interview with Variety that published after the season four premiere, Stranger Things co-creators Matt and Ross Duffer were informed that “fans have noticed that in episode two of season four, a rolling camera has the date of March 22, which is supposed to be Will’s birthday.” Did everyone forget about poor Will? “The honest response is, clearly like the characters in the show, we also forgot about Will’s birthday. So the debate now is whether we adjust Will’s birthday or we just let it be really sad,” Matt replied. “We love Will, and I don’t want people to think we don’t love Will because we forgot. We do!” Sounds like something someone who doesn’t love Will would say.

The Duffers have a solution, however, they revealed in a new interview with Variety:

“It’s too sad!” Matt Duffer said. “And it doesn’t make any narrative sense. But we were talking about it yesterday, and I think we’re going to George Lucas that.” As it turns out, it wouldn’t be the first time. “We have George Lucas’d things also that people don’t know about,” he continued, while declining to detail specific alterations from previous seasons.

George Lucas famously went back and “fixed” issues he had with A New Hope, The Empire Strikes Back, and Return of the Jedi when the Star Wars original trilogy was re-released in theaters in 1997. The Duffers won’t do anything as drastic as Han stepping on Jabba’s tail (although “some of the visual effects” in season four have changed since it premiered), but they can make it up to Will by adding a scene where Max Rebo Band sings “Jedi Rocks” to him. Maybe they can even change the lyrics to “Will Rocks.”

(Via Variety)

Remember the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, when lockdowns were first being announced and it seemed like the end of the world (oh, how naive we all were then)? And do you remember how a group of celebrities who were tone-deaf in more ways than one, decided that the best way to raise our collective morale was to stitch together a video of them all singing a cover of John Lennon’s “Imagine” from their cozy, luxurious homes, resulting in an online roast session of truly epic proportions? Well, The Boys remembers. And the show found the perfect way to both pay homage and add one last roast in its latest episode.

This week’s episode, streaming now on Amazon Prime Video, opens with The Deep playing the role of Gal Gadot, setting off a parody of the celebrity video along with his super-though-not-so-heroic teammates A-Train and Black Noir. In this case, though, the celebrities include a who’s-who of comedy all-stars like Ashton Kutcher, Mila Kunis, Elizabeth Banks, Aisha Tyler, Rose Byrne, Kumail Nanjiani, Patton Oswalt, and Josh Gad. However, in the show’s world, the rallying attempt actually works, because this is a world in which Homelander can be an all-out villain without people realizing it — nothing like our world, eh?

You can watch the video courtesy of Twitter below.

This morning, the Supreme Court officially overturned Roe v. Wade. This decision sparked many reactions from the music community and now Taylor Swift has weighed in, too.

Swift shared Michelle Obama’s reaction to the news and wrote on Twitter, “I’m absolutely terrified that this is where we are — that after so many decades of people fighting for women’s rights to their own bodies, today’s decision has stripped us of that.”

In Obama’s letter, the former First Lady wrote in part, “I am heartbroken today. I am heartbroken for people around this country who just lost the fundamental right to make informed decisions about their own bodies. I am heartbroken that we may now be destined to learn the painful lessons of a time before Roe was made law of the land — a time when women risked losing their lives getting illegal abortions. A time when the government denied women control over their reproductive functions, forced them to move forward with pregnancies they didn’t want, and then abandoned them once their babies were born. That is what our mothers and grandmothers and great-grandmothers lived through, and now here we are again.”

The message concludes, “Our hearts may be broken today, but tomorrow, we’ve got to get up and find the courage to keep working towards creating the more just America we all deserve. We have so much left to push for, to rally for, to speak for — and I know we can do this together.”

Find more musician reactions to the Roe v. Wade overturn here.

Between Jalen Green’s hang-gliding finishes and Alperen Şengün’s streetball dimes, widespread fanfare for the Houston Rockets’ other young players was challenging to establish last season.

Green and Şengün rightfully headline conversations of Houston’s future, as does Jabari Smith, who surprisingly fell to the third pick in Thursday night’s draft. Along with that trio, another 2021 first-round pick quietly wrapped up his rookie season maintaining and expanding upon his pre-draft intrigue: Josh Christopher.

In 74 games, playing 18 minutes per contest, the 6’5 guard averaged 7.9 points, 2.5 rebounds, two assists, and 0.9 steals on 53.4 percent true shooting (.448/.296/.735 split). Amid a class stocked with future high-level starters and stars, Christopher did not warrant All-Rookie Team consideration.

Nonetheless, at 20 years old, he flashed an enticing bag of two-way tricks. He remains someone whose development is worth monitoring, both for his league-wide standing and how he fits with the Rockets as they progress toward hopes of immediate winning again.

At this juncture, Christopher is optimized offensively as a second-side option, a powerful wing who feasts attacking off the catch and bulldozing mismatches via the drive. He’s still figuring out the proper utility of his jumper (more on this later) and is rather adept chiseling his way downhill. According to Cleaning The Glass, he shot 62 percent at the rim (64th percentile among combo guards), with 39 percent of his shots coming there (87th percentile). He created more than half of his makes around the basket.

Houston ranked just 26th in offensive rating this past season, lacking cohesion and reliable advantage creators, so Christopher didn’t consistently see opportunities to puncture a tilted defense. When he did, though, his forceful, elongated strides and ability to fashion driving lanes with his East-West handling chops glimmered.

He touts the core strength and balance to overwhelm defenders and shrewdly migrates along the arc to simplify openings to the rim; he’s a shrewd off-ball mover, hence his 1.42 points per possession on cuts (78th percentile), per Synergy. Heightened offensive stability around him in the coming years should only further amplify his slashing and off-ball prowess.

The finishing numbers themselves are impressive and deserving of plaudits, but Christopher also shot 54 percent on two-pointers altogether, slightly above the league average of 53.3 percent. For a 20-year-old rookie guard to achieve that, with nearly 58 percent of those makes coming unassisted, is noteworthy.

Although the depths of Christopher’s creation is still being refined and explored, he displayed encouraging pacing and craft in ball-screens. According to Synergy, he ranked in the 59th percentile in pick-and-rolls and when passes are factored in, that mark rises to the 74th percentile. His passing requires further enhancement, particularly with laydowns on drives and avoiding premeditated decisions, but he’s exhibited serious manipulation using screens to venture downhill.

Despite some struggles with his handle, often against stunts and point-of-attack pressure, I hold confidence that he will blossom into a capable secondary pick-and-roll operator. The handle is a notable problem that limits his volume on the ball, but his strength, cadence, and screen manipulation should fuel his downhill escapades, where his finishing acumen prospers.

A couple notes from that montage: the way he sort of casually bludgeons through Kyle Anderson and Buddy Hield for finishes underlines his functional strength — he’s only 20 years old! His premeditated nature as a facilitator is evident on the feed to Şengün. Kenyon Martin Jr. is open for the pocket pass, yet Christopher lasered in on the pass up top and extinguished a potential bucket at the rim.

Christopher’s quickly established proficiency as an attacker and finisher in the league, so that’s likely to serve as his primary scoring means. The jumper, of course, looms prevalently to determine what level of offensive volume he can reliably shoulder, both on and off the ball.

Beyond short pull-ups and turnarounds (inside the free-throw line), I don’t envision off-the-bounce jumpers being a dependable tool for him. His release is a bit slow to consistently fire against defenders off the dribble and his pull-up numbers the past two seasons aren’t ideal. Per Synergy, at Arizona State, he ranked in 29th percentile on pull-ups in the half-court (0.65 PPP, 54 shots in 15 games). This last year, he ranked in the 30th percentile (0.75 PPP, 109 shots in 74 games). It’s both a low-volume and low-efficiency playtype for him.

That being said, this thought process doesn’t really extend to my projection of his catch-and-shoot prospects. South of 32 percent on fewer than two spot-up triples per game as a rookie, as well as 0.82 PPP on no-dribble jumpers at Arizona State, don’t portend well for his chances.

However, he’s made significant mechanical strides over the last 15 months. While his release can be slower than preferred, he’s shown a knack for speeding it up against tight closeouts, especially as last season progressed. Defenses didn’t give him the silent treatment in 2021-22, even if hurried closeouts weren’t always the norm. Christopher packages the requisite power, off-ball instincts, and finishing to predominantly subside on drives in spite of a middling jumper, which is the level I deem attainable for him.

Beyond his interior scoring profits, the most surprising component of Christopher’s Year 1 skill-set was his defense. Houston’s defensive cohesion and execution were consistently underwhelming, yet the rookie guard flashed considerable competency on that end.

His communication, positioning, and awareness off the ball, largely when stationed on the weak-side, popped. Conversely, he had a tendency to be caught in no man’s land and tardiness on switches or reacting to movement was a common theme. The entire team made a habit of flubbing switches, so I won’t knock him much there. Given how concerning I deemed the Rockets’ collective defensive approach, Christopher’s broad knowhow for certain off-ball rotations and positioning should be overwhelming points of optimism.

One of the more thought-provoking exercises as it pertains to his development is discerning his ideal defensive role. On and off the ball, he established obvious assets and warts, both of which were often linked in some manner.

As an on-ball defender, he seemed a beat slow processing decisions from his assignment and that left him susceptible to dribble penetration. That often was masked as lateral mobility limitations, but I consider it linked to delayed recognition more than a physical flaw.

Whether it’s more redeemable than movement problems is tough to answer; I lean yes as he continually adapts to NBA speeds and conditions. When that wasn’t plaguing him, his size and pesky hands frustrated ball-handlers, though he’d occasionally overindulge with the pressure and allow assignments to boogie by him. His dexterity is a weapon, evidenced by a 2.1 percent steal rate (84th percentile, per Cleaning The Glass). He’s adept at denying dribble handoffs, pickpocketing dribblers and cutting off drives with disciplined closeouts.

If a screen neutralizes him, which happens a bit too frequently, he’s prone to wandering into purgatory. With his swift hands and strength, peel switches should become integral to his pick-and-roll defense. Ingraining that into his approach would mitigate this specific shortcoming. If or when he assimilates to the speed of initiators, Christopher’s on-ball defense brings significant promise and is worth being rather excited about moving forward.

As I went from curious observer with a general grasp of his game to in-depth connoisseur this past week, a few swing skills and questions populated my thoughts: To what length does the 3-ball influence his scoring ceiling? Teams invited jumpers by playing off of him and his decision-making in those spots fluctuated. How reliant will he be on its development to climb the offensive hierarchy and increase his usage?

Similarly, when operating North-South, his handle poses setbacks, but he knows how to generate horizontal space with it. If the pull-up reaches a certain tier of comfort and impact, his handle could augment that growth and earn him expanded on-ball duties, namely through pick-and-rolls, where he’s already effective.

Although reaction time seems to be his most pressing inhibitor on the ball, he could benefit from improved technique as a lateral mover. Too routinely, his steps are choppy and he’s more running than sliding. Addressing that and growing more comfortable in his processing of on-ball actions could render him a trustworthy point-of-attack menace.

Yet consistency as a low man in conjunction with his weak-side awareness could see that as his foremost defensive responsibilities. How the Rockets determine this answer, especially with their shallow defensive infrastructure, captivates me.

As Houston embarks on the second full year of a rebuild, Christopher will not define its vision. Regardless, his rookie season provided a clear glimpse into his upside, a player whose complementary two-way game may fill the gaps presented by the future stars of this roster.

The 24th pick will rarely headline discussions of a young core, but after one year, Christopher emphasized he’s absolutely not someone to neglect either. He’s got the juice to earn himself a spot in southeastern Texas for a good, long while.

A war vet. A gangster. A politician. A spy. Tommy Shelby (Cillian Murphy) has worn many hats on the historical crime drama Peaky Blinders. Now, as the show enters its sixth and final season, he’s determined to turn over a new leaf. But some formidable enemies threaten the criminal mastermind’s grand plans of retirement.

Of course, there’s plenty of political maneuvering and intrigue to be had in the show’s last outing — the end of Prohibition brings about a new era of business for The Shelby Company Limited. To help catch you up and give you a map for the road ahead, we tapped Uproxx TV critic Jessica Toomer and head whiskey writer Zach Johnston to tease the new season while also celebrating the collaboration between Bushmills and the series on a new bottle — the Bushmills Peaky Blinders Prohibition Recipe Whiskey (available only in the U.S.). Buy it here.

From the beginning stages of a second world war to a new crime family emerging to challenge Tommy Shelby’s reign, this season is filled with even more of the same thrilling action and highbrow drama that fans have come to love. Let’s set the scene.

Jessica Toomer: We pick up directly after the events of the season five finale, which means Tommy is still reeling from that foiled assassination plot. He’s reluctantly taken on a new partner in business and the family’s undergone some changes. But we can’t dwell on that for too long because a time jump launches us into the action of the 30s.

Zach, you’re a bit of a history buff. What did you think about how this season kicked off?

Zach Johnston: It’s just a whole new world. Prohibition’s over. Tommy is on his own for the first time. He’s still in a position of power in Parliament, he’s still a smuggler, but he’s out of his depth in many ways when it comes to the enemies he’s facing.

JT: I love how this show weaves in historical elements around all of the action within the Shelby group. It reminds you that there were bigger things at play. We’re going to America now. There’s mention of President Roosevelt and Winston Churchill. There are a bunch of things that are cluing you in to the fact that everything’s about to get really dicey for everyone.

ZJ: What I sort of love about this season is that there are double-crosses, triple-crosses, quadruple crosses. It’s kind of amazing how it all makes sense. There’s a through-line, and it’s really exciting to watch it all unravel and come together and fall apart and ultimately end where it ends. I have always enjoyed a nice whiskey while watching this show, but this season really called for one.

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Ready to put down your phone and pick up a glass before settling in for the ride? Make sure you’ve got a bottle of Bushmills and do give our custom Peaky-inspired cocktail (and a separate Bushmills original) a try.

Tommy’s Secret

JT: This season, Tommy Shelby is a bit of a broken man. He faces challengers like Oswald Mosley (Sam Claflin), a fascist MP hoping to oppress the same working-class community the Shelbys hail from, and Jack Nelson (James Frecheville), a Boston gangster whose ties to the powerful elite rival Tommy’s own. In order to survive the political machinations and street warfare engineered by his enemies, the Shelby leader needs to keep things close to the chest, which is what inspired this original drink. Can you tell us about it?

ZJ: For this cocktail, I was drawn to the times. Things are unknown in the world in 1933, scary even. It was also a time when the liquor cabinet and the medicine cabinet shared some of the same ingredients. Apothecaries were still full of dried herbs, florals, and botanicals, and those same things went into some of the whiskey people drank.

Tommy’s Secret is a cocktail that layers elderflower, ginger, and lemon – things you’d have at the pub and at home back in those days — into a stirred whiskey cocktail. It’s floral, full of citrus, and has a hint of heat built into the apple and honey-forward Bushmills whiskey.

Ingredients:

• 3 oz. Bushmills Peaky Blinders Prohibition Recipe Whiskey
• 0.75 oz. Elderflower syrup
• 0.25 oz. Ginger syrup
• 4 dashes of Orange Bitters
• Lemon peel
• Ice

While it might seem like elderflower and ginger syrup are something you’ll have to make yourself in your own pop-up apothecary, you can get them at any good liquor store. Or just order them online. Elderflower is available here and ginger syrup here. The same goes for the Orange Bitters, every liquor store will have it.

What You’ll Need:

• Rocks glass
• Cocktail mixing jar
• Cocktail strainer
• Jigger
• Paring knife
• Barspoon

Method:

• Add ice to the rocks glass and set aside to chill.
• Add the Bushmills Peaky Blinders Prohibition Recipe Whiskey, elderflower syrup, ginger syrup, and Orange Bitters to the cocktail mixing jar. Add two handfuls of ice and use the barspoon to stir until the mixing jar is ice cold to touch — about 30 to 45 seconds.
• Dump the ice from the rocks glass and add in a large ice cube.
• Strain the cocktail over the ice.
• Express the oils from the lemon peel over the glass and cocktail by gently squeezing it between your thumbs and index fingers with the outer peel facing the glass.
• Drop the peel in the glass and serve.

Bottom Line:

ZJ: This is a super refreshing and light cocktail. The elderflower plays so nicely with the honey and woody apple of the Bushmills. There’s a sweetness first, then a hint of ginger heat hits at the very end of the finish.

JT: In other words, it’s an elevated yet accessible cocktail made with the kind of authentic ingredients that will give you the vibe of that 1930s era without all of the danger that came with it. I like that and it rings true for me, as a fan.

ZJ: That was the goal! Slàinte!

The Shelby Sour

Not quite in the mood for Tommy’s Secret? The Shelby Sour is one of a few official offerings from Bushmills Peaky Blinders Prohibition Recipe Whiskey (which you can find on their site). The shaker is an easy-to-make-at-home drink that’s also super refreshing. Check out the official Bushmills site for more on that drink.

Go here to learn more about Bushmills Peaky Blinders Prohibition Recipe Whiskey. Season 6 of Peaky Blinders is now available on Netflix