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As the NBA season approaches and training camps get underway, we’ll be taking a look at the player on each team that holds the key to unlocking their full potential.

In Charlotte, there’s a lot to be excited about. Reigning ROY LaMelo Ball looks like a legitimate, franchise cornerstone type star in the making. Terry Rozier and Gordon Hayward have both been terrific since arriving from Boston, and they have plenty of young wings and power forwards like James Bouknight, Kelly Oubre Jr, PJ Washington, and Miles Bridges that provide reason for optimism. However, there is one glaring weakness when you scroll through the Charlotte roster coming into this season and that is at the center position, which could make or break this team with playoff dreams.

Mason Plumlee arrives from Detroit in a salary dump acquisition, but also filling a need for at least someone with NBA experience as a solid center. He doesn’t fit the timeline and doesn’t provide an awful lot of upside, but considering the centers on the roster beyond him are all the opposite, young players Charlotte hope can emerge but don’t know about, they are more reliant on him right now than I think they’d like. Rookie Kai Jones brings the most upside of the youngsters on the roster, but is incredibly raw and might spend more time in Greensboro with their G League affiliate than he does in Charlotte.

The most likely scenario is that PJ Washington will see more time at center after splitting his time between the four and five last year (54/46 percent splits per Basketball-Reference), possibly splitting starts with Plumlee based on matchup. He has plenty of athletic gifts, but isn’t the most imposing figure and the Hornets are going to have to make adjustments nightly based on their opponent as to how they rotate their options at the five.

Charlotte is a team in an interesting situation because they have a young star that would normally dictate a future-facing timeline, but Ball’s quick emergence coupled with the next two stars being in their prime at the moment means the playoffs are a priority now. As such, it’s possible that the answer at the center position isn’t on the roster at the moment, and that they have so much depth and so many intriguing young players stacked up on the wing means it wouldn’t be hard to make a trade happen this season. There were plenty who thought the Hornets could target Myles Turner this offseason and I’d expect them to be paired together fairly often up to the trade deadline, as Turner makes a lot of sense for what the Hornets need.

Whatever the case, that will be the swing position for this team this season. They have talent at other spots and certainly could use to see continued improvement from their young players elsewhere, but figuring out what the center rotation is and getting something approaching consistent production on both ends of the floor from that will determine if they’re able to be more than a play-in hopeful.

The Hatch Act, which has been on the books since 1939, prohibits federal employees from engaging in political activities while they’re on the job. It’s a law that the Trump administration frequently broke: Citizens for Ethics reports that in October 2020, “at least 16 Trump administration officials have violated the Hatch Act a total of more than 60 times, in an unprecedented and escalating assault on the rule of law and the democratic process.” The former-president’s press secretary, Kayleigh McEnany, was also accused of “blurring lines between government and politics and violating longstanding norms, and, in many cases, the Hatch Act, which bans political activity in the federal workplace.” So it’s rich that she accused Joe Biden’s press secretary, Jen Psaki, of doing the same.

“Why does the media not hold @PressSec accountable for potential Hatch Act violations? She has twice advocated for political candidates from the podium. There is no problem in engaging in First Amendment political activity, but it must be done separate and apart from the podium.,” McEnany tweeted, along with a brief video clip of Psaki saying that “we’re going to do everything we can to help” Terry McAuliffe reclaim Virginia’s governorship, “and we believe in the agenda he’s representing.”

Psaki has faced criticisms of potential Hatch Act violations before, but McEnany is the last person who should be crying wolf at conflicts of interest. No wonder it’s being called “the least self-aware tweet in history.”

When Kumail Nanjiani prepared for Eternals, he got jacked with a body transformation that he’s been very open about in the aftermath. As it turned out, though, Kumail had another significant challenge waiting for him when he arrived on the set of the Marvel movie. He opened on the subject during a visit (alongside fellow cast member Salma Hayek) with Jimmy Kimmel, and boy, he probably wished he was pumping iron rather than shooting the “finger guns” as Kingo. It’s much more tactile to lift heavy things than to shoot imaginary cosmic energy and look badass while doing it, right?

Following a clip where those finger guns show up, Kumail opened up about how he wrapped his head around how to feel silly but look badass. He also admitted to feeling disbelief when director Chloé Zhao told him what he’d be doing during fight scenes. This happens after the 8:30 mark above when Kimmel asks about Kingo’s powers:

“I shoot… I shoot [bleep] from my hands… finger guns.. I got to work, and I was like, ‘How do I shoot?’ And Chloe was like, ‘Finger guns!’ I was like, ‘Chloe, that’s so goofy.’ She was like, ‘It’s gonna be finger guns.’ She was like, ‘I promise it’ll look cool.’ And I felt stupid for six months, doing this [gestures] every day, and it looks pretty cool!”

Now, I’m being ridiculous when I call this an “origin story,” since this retelling clearly is not on the level of Batman: The Killing Joke or, well, any true origin story that’s about a hero or villain, rather than Kumail’s digits. However, Kumail’s undoubtedly already buried in questions about his muscles, so the finger guns are a nice switch up. Also, it’s Friday, so we can all relax a little bit.

Sean Hannity had a choice to make on Thursday night when he reported on the news that former President Bill Clinton has been hospitalized with a non-COVID infection since Tuesday: Report the news plain and simple, or be a total dick about it. The Fox News host chose the latter—and didn’t waste any time getting right to it.

With his “Breaking News” chyron blasting, Hannity began his segment to report on Clinton and give the obligatory well-wishes that any semi-professional correspondent would. But, as Mediaite reports, he really just couldn’t help himself when it came to getting in a dig on liberal Democrats:

“We have the latest breaking news report on former President Bill Clinton. He’s now been hospitalized. Fox News medical contributor Marty Makary is with us. Marty, uhhhh, we wish the president well. We… obviously have political differences. But unlike liberals, I actually care about human life. I hope he’s going to be ok. What are your thoughts on what you hear?”

That’s some serious sniper-like slighting: No hesitation, go in for the kill, and keep moving.

After discussing the seriousness of Clinton’s situation with Makary—which neither of them really know, except to say that it’s sepsis, which Hannity made sure to point out can be life-threatening—Hannity decided to spend a few minutes patting himself on the back for not wishing the former president dead:

Why isn’t everybody happy that whatever protocol [Clinton] used in conjunction with his own doctor, that he’s ok and healthy? How many times have I said, ‘I want every American in Afghanistan home’? I don’t care what their politics are. If they’re coming home to get me fired full-time and work to get me fired full-time, I still want them home. If every liberal that gets COVID wants to get well to get me fired because they don’t like my opinions, I still want them to get well. You don’t always see that from the left. You can look at comments at different times and it’s pretty brutal out there. Especially people that are anonymous in their basement in their underwear.”

Who do we talk to about nominating this man for sainthood?

(Via Mediaite)

While a good handful of Mac Miller albums can be heard on streaming services, they alone offer an incomplete picture of the late rapper’s career. Miller released more mixtapes than he did albums, after all, but due to the non-commercial nature of those releases, they’re mostly not available on platforms like Spotify and Apple Music. Now, though, it just became a lot easier to listen to a Miller classic: 2014’s Faces — his final mixtape, excluding the 2015 Larry Fisherman release Run-On Sentences: Vol. 2 — is now streaming, as was announced last month.

Fans are excited, but they’re also noticing that this version of Faces isn’t exactly the mixtape they remember. For example, one fan on the r/MacMiller subreddit shared a list of samples that don’t appear on the streaming version of the album, including dialogue from Bill Murray, Hunter S. Thompson, and Charles Bukowski.

One fan tried to see the positive side, though, commenting, “I mean it kinda sucks that these couldn’t get cleared but as long as all the beats and rhymes are unchanged then I’m cool with it.” However, other fans replied to note that some of the production on Faces actually is different. One said of “New Faces v2,” “Should have titled it new faces v3 lol. Really the 808s are just a bit heavier and start like 10 seconds sooner.”

Hear the changes for yourself by streaming Faces below.

Mac Miller is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

Geraldo Rivera and Greg Gutfeld got into a fight on The Five. Yes, at this point that pretty much describes every episode of the Fox News panel show, but in this case we’re talking specifically about Wednesday’s show. The topic, unsurprisingly, was vaccine mandates, and the conversation eventually came around to Brooklyn Nets guard Kyrie Irving, who had remained firm in his stance that he has no plans to get vaccinated—despite being told that he cannot play until he does. While Geraldo, who has somehow become the voice of reason these days, thinks that’s just plain stupid, Gutfeld has joined the likes of Marjorie Taylor Greene in defending Irving’s choice.

For many people, being in agreement with MTG would be enough to make you reconsider your position. But Gutfeld forged ahead with his argument that a vaccination-for-all stance (a.k.a. a mandate) is stupid when “we know the risk factors [for COVID-19]. The key risk factors are age, the older you are, and weight, if you’re obese. But we can’t even broach these topics, so instead we have these blanket, like, mandates that are just completely wrong.”

Up until this point, Irving’s name had not actually been spoken, but it was clear who they were talking about. So when Geraldo finally said his name, Gutfeld’s immediate response was: “Do you want to call him stupid?” Geraldo, however, was doing his damndest not to rise to the bait:

“I will say this: When people make a stand like this, and it’s costing him and his family and his children $400,000 a game, there’s something else going on besides his repugnance over the vaccine”

“Yeah, it’s called bravery,” Gutfeld interjected. Twice. The conversation continued until Gufeld finally dropped his bomb of an epiphany, which is that: “We now have created an artificial division. A couple years ago it was race versus race, thank you CNN. It was gender issues. But now, Geraldo, you’re mad at this guy!”

Rivera agreed that, sure, he is mad, “Because [Irving’s] not just hurting himself.” But Gutfeld thinks that bullsh*t and that his co-host is being maninpulated without him even knowing it. “You’re being played,” he told Geraldo. “You’re being stubborn,” Rivero responded, before dropping the ultimate Peanuts-approved insult: “You’re being blockheaded!”

You can watch the full clip over at Mediaite.

(Via Mediaite)

Highs and lows are part of sports handicapping, and that has been evident the last two weeks in this space. After a sparkling, undefeated Week 4 performance, Week 5 was a house of horrors for our NFL card. The Sunday night finale was simply a pick that had no chance, as the Kansas City Chiefs were bludgeoned as a small home favorite, but the first four games… were unfortunate.

For a quick snapshot, the Falcons-Jets game was a horror drawn up from the depths when it came to an Under bet. The Bengals somehow pushed (at +3) despite myriad opportunities. The Browns (+2) became the first team in the history of the NFL to score more than 40 points with more than 500 yards and no turnovers… in a loss. And, finally, the 49ers out-gained the Cardinals and gave away multiple opportunities to lose by seven as a five-point underdog.

Things happen, of course, but part of the fun is pressing through. Before we hand out five selections for Week 6, let’s check in on the season-long work and a hideous Week 5 showing.

• Last Week: 0-4-1
• 2021 Season: 14-10-1

Come get these winners.

Miami Dolphins and Jacksonville Jaguars UNDER 47 points

The London under bit us last week, but I’m not deterred. Miami’s offense has been horrendous, landing 31st in both points and points per drive. Jacksonville hasn’t exactly been lighting it up either, and this number feels a touch high. Pray for hideousness.

Cleveland Browns (-3.5) over Arizona Cardinals

Arizona is undefeated and catching more than a field goal against a Browns team that lost a high-profile game a week ago. Admittedly, it would’ve been preferable to get Cleveland earlier in the week at a better number, but I don’t think the Cardinals can stop Cleveland. It’s the rare situation where the favorite isn’t the public side.

New England Patriots (+3.5) over Dallas Cowboys

This is really gross, particularly if you’ve been watching New England’s offense lately. We might be jumping in front of the train, but the Patriots’ hiccup last week helps us get a good number here.

Las Vegas Raiders (+3.5) over Denver Broncos

It’s been a long, ugly week for the Raiders. I get that. It’s still wild to see them catching more than a field goal against Denver in this spot. I’ll bet on a bit of a bounce after the Gruden exodus, and Las Vegas mailing it in last week perhaps throws the market off the scent.

Seattle Seahawks (+5.5) over Pittsburgh Steelers

Seattle was favored on the look-ahead line. Then, the Steelers looked spry last week and the Seahawks lost Russell Wilson. That certainly explains the massive shift in this point spread, but Pittsburgh laying more than a field goal here feels silly. It’s possible that Geno Smith lets us down, but we’ll take the chance.

This is the spookiest of all seasons, but let’s face it: the streaming services have been cranking out the Halloween-themed content for weeks already, and maybe you wanna pace yourself a bit (and set straight-up horror aside) before the big day? Luckily, Netflix is fully here for you for that endeavor. This week, one of the most deliciously dark shows on TV, You starring Penn Badgley, returns to put the “D” into Dysfunction. Stalker Joe’s marriage is forged in homicidal tendencies, and we’ll see if he can get his sh*t together. Next up, Noomi Rapace plays half of a similarly afflicted couple in an entirely different setting. Both are very dark selections, so would you like to lighten up as well?

Fortunately, a humanity-affirming documentary has you covered, along with some fluffiness with the return of The Babysitters Club. There’s also an anime film and a historical drama, and if you’re a Shameless fan who hasn’t caught up with the final (Fiona-less) season, it’s time to binge some high Gallagher drama.

Here’s everything else coming to (and leaving) the streaming platform this week.

You: Season 3 (Netflix series streaming 10/15)

Nothing says (twisted) family bonding like two parents digging a grave for their murder victims while an infant sits in his car seat and does his best to amuse himself. Yikes. From the looks of things, this show somehow manages to sustain its own gimmick after a second season of barely containing its own crazy (and careening off a cliff). Near the end of that sophomore round, Stalker Joe (Penn Badgley) found himself trapped in a relationship with a woman, Love Quinn (Victoria Pedretti), who’s just as homicidal (if not more) as he is. Naturally, it seemed that Joe didn’t quite learn his lesson by the end of the season, and we saw him noticing that he’s got an attractive neighbor that perhaps he might stalk. This sounds like a good time for the ghost of Beck to deliver a lecture, and who knows what shall happen there, but in the Season 3 trailer, Joe appears to be scared out of his mind. (Good!) Love definitely has the upper hand, or so it appears, but Joe’s awfully nervous that his kid will follow in his parents’ footsteps.

The Trip (Netflix film streaming 10/15)

Noomi Rapace plays one half of a married couple who can’t remember why they ever loved each other. He’s a director, and she’s an actress, and both have failed heavily (even in soap operas) over the past handful of years. There might be infidelity involved, and there are definitely personality issues on both sides, and then they end up taking a weekend in the woods at an isolated cabin. Will either of them be able to emerge alive, and if not, will one take out the other? Or maybe they’ll reconcile, who knows! Crikey.

The Baby-Sitter’s Club: Season 2 (Netflix series streaming 10/11)

The updated dramedy series continues to adapt the best-selling Ann M. Martin books to follow friendships that evolve through the opening of a babysitting business. New members arrive, along with new lessons and new journeys, but thank god that they always remember what’s most important.

Convergence: Courage in a Crisis (Netflix film streaming 10/13)

This documentary poses an unlikely idea: did the pandemic really bring us together, as much as it’s torn humanity apart? Listen up for the argument that unsung heroes are pushing us toward a collectively brighter future.

Bright: Samurai Soul (Netflix film streaming 10/13)

This anime movie takes place in between the Shogunate’s fall and the Meiji era’s rise, all while a wandering ronin and an orc (who’s working toward redemption) meet up with a young elf girl, and they all take a journey toward the land of the elves. In the process, they must evade a shady organization who aims to take the elf’s wand and use it to resurrect the Dark Lord’s power.

The Forgotten Battle (Netflix film streaming 10/15)

Allies are facing off against the German army in 1944 in Zeeland. There’s flooding and all sorts of other hardships involved when three young lives intersect, possibly forever. There’s a Dutch boy on the German side, an English glider pilot on the Allies’ side, and a Zeeland girl who picked up with the resistance. All three must make decisions not only for themselves but for the whole of humanity and with a mind toward freedom for all in the future.

Karma’s World (Netflix series streaming 10/15)

Karma Grant, an aspiring rapper with loads of talent and an enormous heart, leads this story with all manner of empathy, which fuels her songwriting. Soon enough, she’s whipping out passionate rhymes that are spiked with humor. She’s harnessing the power of words and music and hopes to influence generations (including her own) to come.

Here’s a full list of what’s been added in the last week:

Avail. 10/9
Blue Period
Insidious: Chapter 2

Avail. 10/11
The Baby-Sitters Club: Season 2
Going in Style
The King’s Affection
Shameless (U.S.): Season 11

Avail. 10/12
Bright: Samurai Soul
Convergence: Courage in a Crisis
Making Malinche: A Documentary by Nacho Cano
Mighty Express: Season 5
The Movies That Made Us: Season 3
Rita Moreno: Just a Girl Who Decided to Go For It
Smart People

Avail. 10/13
Fever Dream / Distancia de Rescate
Hiacynt
Love Is Blind: Brazil
Reflection of You
Violet Evergarden the Movie

Avail. 10/14
Another Life: Season 2
​​In the Dark: Season 3
One Night in Paris

Avail. 10/15
CoComelon: Season 4
The Forgotten Battle
The Four of Us
Karma’s World
Little Things: Season 4
My Name
Power Rangers Dino Fury: Season 1
Sharkdog’s Fintastic Halloween
The Trip
You: Season 3

Avail. 10/16
Misfit: The Series
​​Victoria & Abdul

And here’s what’s leaving next week, so it’s your last chance:

Leaving 10/17
U Turn

Leaving 10/20
Containment: Season 1
Free Fire

Leaving 10/21
The Hummingbird Project

Leaving 10/23
The Mist: Season 1

The Brooklyn Nets will tip-off the 2021-22 NBA season on Tuesday night in Milwaukee, as they watch the Bucks raise a championship banner on ring night. Next October, the Nets hope it will be them hosting the league’s opening game and raising a banner of their own, but to get there they will, at least to start, have to do so without the services of Kyrie Irving.

The star guard will not play with the Nets at all due to his refusal to this point to get the COVID-19 vaccine, which makes him ineligible to play home games in Brooklyn due to New York City’s vaccine mandate. Irving broke his silence on Wednesday night, but offered little in the way of substance regarding the reasoning behind his choice and it became clear on Thursday night that the rest of the Nets were ready to simply move on.

Steve Nash said as much when he told reporters he didn’t watch his star’s IG Live and didn’t want to talk about the situation anymore. The Nets other two stars, James Harden and Kevin Durant, seem to fall into the same boat when it comes to being tired of the Kyrie questions, as Harden said they have a job to do and the focus is now on the guys in the locker room. Durant addressed the situation for the first time on Thursday night after a preseason game against Minnesota, and offered a similar sentiment, noting that there’s nothing they can do about it so it’s not worth being upset about (via Kristian Winfield of the New York Daily News).

“Why am I not upset? Because we still get to do what we love to do every day. We still get the opportunity to play,” Durant said after Thursday’s preseason finale win over the Minnesota Timberwolves. “This is not the ideal situation coming into the season, but some of this, it’s out of our control. So what we can do is come in and focus on our jobs every single day.

“What is being mad going to do? We are not going to change his mind, you know what I’m saying? We’ll let him figure out what he needs to do and the team figure out what they need to do. And us as players, when we are in that locker room, on that floor, we are going to work with each other.”

It’s a very zen approach from Durant and really the best way for him and the rest of the Nets players to look at this. While no one would fault them for being frustrated, there still isn’t a soul around the NBA who would view anything but a title being a success for this team, even without Irving, and as such, they’ve got to shift complete focus to the season.

That Durant, despite being one of Irving’s closest friends (at least in the league), doesn’t feel like he can change Kyrie’s stance on the matter is only further indication that this doesn’t seem like it will be a saga that comes to a happy resolution for the Nets anytime soon. All they can hope is that, at some point, Irving changes his mind or the city lifts the mandate, but until then, they are moving on without Irving and it seems everyone in that locker room is ready to stop talking about the guy who isn’t there.

The Los Angeles Dodgers are headed to the NLCS where they will take on the Atlanta Braves after defeating the rival Giants in five games in the NLDS.

It was a battle between the two teams with the best records in baseball, an unfortunate byproduct of being in the same division, and while many wish it had been a seven-game set, it at least went the full five the two teams deserved. However, the Dodgers win in Game 5 came to a close not with a bang, but an unfortunate whimper, as a controversial strike three call will be the lasting image of an otherwise tremendous series.

Dodgers ace Max Scherzer came in to close out Game 5 for L.A., getting his first batter to fly out before Kris Bryant reached on an error by Justin Turner, putting the tying run on base. LaMonte Wade Jr. strolled to the plate and nearly ended things with a bomb that he pulled foul on an inside fastball, before ultimately striking out looking on a pitch up and away. The final hope for the Giants was Wilmer Flores, who quickly fell behind 0-2, as Scherzer threw a breaking ball low and away to try and get him to chase.

Flores started to chase, but checked his swing pretty clearly before passing parallel with the plate. Unfortunately for the Giants, the first base umpire saw it differently and rung him up to end the game in an anti-climactic end to the series — and one that on review was clearly wrong.

The worst part is, the Dodgers still very likely win this series as it would’ve been a 1-2 count against one of the Cy Young favorites, but it robbed the Giants of the possibility of tying or winning the game in the ninth and robbed fans of a fitting ending to the game and series. It is a brutal way to close out the series, where the talk should’ve been about the ups and downs as both teams played incredibly well throughout, where now the lead story is about a bad call that potentially took away San Francisco’s chance at a late rally — however slim it was.