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ESPN’s Doris Burke Breaks Down The Five Teams She’s Most Interested In This Season

There are two words that come to mind when Doris Burke thinks about this NBA season: patience and flexibility. Both of those words popped up frequently on a recent ESPN phone call about coverage for the upcoming campaign, which Burke will call from either her home or in venues. It’s unclear how that will all play out, but on Friday, she’ll make her way to Boston to call the Celtics’ Christmas Day tilt against the Brooklyn Nets.

When she is at home, though, Burke has a set up so she’ll be able to do her job remotely. It will, of course, be a little different due to the fact that she can’t closely monitor things that are much easier to see at arenas — interactions between players and coaches, for example — but there’s also the potential for things to go quite awry technologically. Burke points to a recent college basketball game, where the technology that Dan Schulman and Jay Bilas had went haywire and Holly Rowe had to do play-by-play from the sideline until they came back.

She also has a little experience with all of this. While the consummate professional throughout her Hall of Fame tenure as a broadcaster, Burke was put on the spot during the 2020 NBA Draft. It was her first time on ESPN Radio’s coverage of the event, and two hours into the broadcast, a piece of equipment went dead and she was treated to a whole lot of static.

“To ESPN’s credit, the manager working the broadcast jumped on the phone, and in about 15 minutes had me download an app,” Burke recalls to Dime over the phone. “The technology was incredible, I was back within the hour, I finished the broadcast on my telephone. And I thought, ‘Boy, this is crazy, one, the professional expertise of this young man, Camillo, at ESPN, but also, the required flexibility that is needed.’ You have to be nimble right now in broadcasting.”

That nimbleness, along with those aforementioned two words — patience and flexibility — also come to mind when Burke thinks about this season for players and teams. When asked about her general thoughts on this season, she went right to a domino that has fallen (Giannis Antetokounmpo signing his supermax extension with Milwaukee) and one that is teetering closer and closer towards hitting the ground (James Harden’s efforts to get traded).

But she also mentioned the fact that this season is a marathon squeezed into the timetable of a sprint, particularly for teams like the Los Angeles Lakers that had a condensed offseason due to the length of time between the end of the NBA’s Orlando Bubble and the start of this season. Burke is interested in how they’ll manage things with LeBron James entering his 18th season, or a team like the Brooklyn Nets leaning on depth due to Kevin Durant coming off of a horrific injury that oftentimes needs a whole lot of time to come back from.

“Let’s not overreact early to what we see early in terms of rotations, because there are challenges coming here that we don’t know,” Burke said. “I talked about flexibility and patience in terms of the broadcast, I think the same can be said for the teams.”

Ultimately, Burke is like you or me in that her excitement for this season is through the roof. Basketball is back, and while the circumstances through which this season is going to exist are heartbreaking, the fact that this silly little game we all love has returned gives Burke an “elevated level of excitement.”

To celebrate the return of the season, we asked Burke for five teams that interest her the most heading into 2020-21. While stressing that this was not in any particular order, here’s who she made it a point to highlight:

1. Milwaukee Bucks

The Bucks can sleep a little easier at night knowing that Giannis Antetokounmpo isn’t going anywhere. Still, there are title-or-bust expectations in Milwaukee, and while their defense is going to be outstanding, Burke has her eyes on the team’s offense.

Yes, Antetokounmpo has found ways to develop his game for years on that end of the floor — he isn’t Duncan Robinson as a shooter, but his range has constantly gotten expanded every year. But when the chips have been down in Milwaukee, their offense has struggled to get out of the mud in the postseason.

“You had them fall short yet again in the playoffs in spectacularly disappointing fashion, in my mind, after the year they put together,” Burke says. “And I guess what intrigues me is the idea that they are going to use the season, essentially, to become a more diverse offensive team.”

Burke points to a pair of players who should benefit from this. One is Khris Middleton, who oftentimes plays off of Antetokounmpo but may be afforded a little more room to work this year. The other is the recently-acquired Jrue Holiday, for whom the Bucks mortgaged their future to bring on board. His defense should, as always, be stellar, but he is ripe to get a number of opportunities for a team that Burke thinks needs to have more answers on its their offense.

“I am dying to see from the Milwaukee Bucks what shape this more diverse offense takes,” Burke says.

2. Denver Nuggets

Same as anyone else who watches basketball, Burke was enthralled by what the Nuggets did in the NBA’s Orlando Bubble.

“They had to grind through two 3-1 deficits, they proved a season ago they are real, they are going to be here for a while, and they are close,” Burke says.

She specifically pointed to the play of Jamal Murray, who exploded in Orlando and averaged 26.5 points, 6.6 assists, and 4.8 rebounds per game in the postseason while shooting 50.5 percent from the field and 45.3 percent from three. This performance, she reckons, was Murray announcing that he is a “foundational” piece for Denver alongside All-Star big man Nikola Jokic.

Now, the question is who will be that third guy who pushes them past the finish line? There is one player that Burke believes is on the roster who, if he adopts the mindset of one of his teammates, has the potential to get the job done.

“Does Michael Porter Jr. have the same grit and the same mentality that Jamal Murray had the prior season?” Burke asks. “People attacked Michael Porter Jr. on the defensive end last season, what is his response? Because the fact of the matter is, we’re talking about a gifted offensive player that can rise and fire like a Kevin Durant — I’m not saying he is Kevin Durant, I’m saying he has the release point, the elevation, the rise-and-fire, the mechanics, he has everything that tells you he can be an NBA shot maker when it matters most.”

A more under-the-radar storyline in Denver she advises watching: Who fills in for Jerami Grant, who left the team in the offseason to join the Detroit Pistons? While Jokic and Murray kept the offense humming, Grant was tasked with locking up just about everyone you can imagine on the defensive end of the floor. He’s gone now, and Burke believes they need to figure out if they have someone who can answer that call on their roster.

3. Philadelphia 76ers

Here’s the funny thing about the Sixers: In our conversation, Burke spoke for several minutes about a number of things that fascinate her about this team. The two stars got brought up, as did the moves around them, as did the new coach, as did the new hoops executive, as did how the team is going to play on both ends of the floor. Like so many NBA fans, she can’t help but, as she put it, be “seduced by the Philadelphia 76ers.”

What intrigued me is how Burke brought up a number of reasons why Philly is as fascinating as ever, and even after all of them, none of them were the fact that they’re going to be linked to James Harden until his situation resolves itself. “The fact that you’ve already read that Doc Rivers did in fact call Ben Simmons and have the conversation means it’s foremost in the Sixers’ mind,” she posits — but there is so much surrounding the Sixers that “rumblings they could trade an All-Star for an MVP” is more on the back burner than anything.

As for this team, Burke has questions about a number of things. She wants to know about Joel Embiid’s mentality, as she thinks a physical and psychological commitment to being great could bring his game to new heights … if he wants it.

“Greatness in the MVP comes at a price,” Burke says. “It comes at a 365 day, for all intents and purposes, commitment. You see it with LeBron James, you see it with Kevin Durant, you see it with Giannis Antetokounmpo, those guys are passionate about the pursuit of greatness. And I believe that Joel Embiid would be, very much like James Harden, if he put the work in and engaged himself mentally and physically, he’d be a top-5 MVP finisher for as long as he chooses to be, provided his body holds up. So I am fascinated by that.”

She’s also fascinated by the defense provided by Simmons, who can and will check just about anyone. And on the other end of the floor, Philly has made the decision to go all-in on shooting, something that she has a hunch will pay off under the stewardship of new head coach Doc Rivers.

“What you have done, hopefully, is surround those two guys with more shooting,” Burke says. “It’s the one prerequisite, it is why you’ve got Joel Embiid, at times do it in subtle fashion and sometimes more overt, it was clear to me that he was frustrated that the Sixers let J.J. Redick get away. Joel had great success in that two-man action with J.J. Redick, that was who they started out the game with. So, listen, it doesn’t matter, like Brett Brown used to always say, space is critical. With those two stars, spacing is absolutely critical. ”

On a more macro level, there is Rivers and Daryl Morey, both of whom are respected NBA decision makers and are now tasked with both getting this team over the hump and building something sustainable.

“What impact Doc and Daryl have, ultimately, on the long-term direction of the franchise?” Burke asks. “This is a team that excites me, you can get frustrated by that excitement. I cannot wait to see their excitement play out.”

4. Los Angeles Clippers

It’s hard not to have your eyebrows perk up when someone mentions the Clippers, in large part, as Burke noted to me, about the reporting that came out during the offseason about there being some resentment about the preferential treatment that Paul George and Kawhi Leonard received last year. As Burke says, it can be really, really hard to put the toothpaste back in the tube after that happens, and now, the man tasked with doing that is someone who was with the team when they fell to the Denver Nuggets in the Western Conference semis last year.

Still, Tyronn Lue is one heck of a coach with championship pedigree, and brings what Burke calls “a relaxed, confident air about him.” As much as he’ll be asked to handle things as a tactician, he’ll have to bring balance to a team that had some pretty evident internal issues.

“New team, but associated with the last one,” Burke says. “So how does Ty navigate Kawhi and Paul and what was allowed a season ago vs. whatever habits and decisions you want to make as the new head coach of the Los Angeles Clippers?”

George is the other major piece here. Burke was not a particularly big fan of the things that George said in the aftermath of their postseason loss and Rivers’ ouster in L.A., specifically mentioning his complaint that he believed Rivers used him in a similar manner to Ray Allen or Redick.

“I found that very unbecoming of a player of his level,” Burke said. “It would have been wonderful to see Paul say, ‘I didn’t play to the standards I’ve set for myself, I’m an elite two-way player, I failed.’ There’s something, to me, very appealing about that. Which of us, in our own personal lives, have not failed spectacularly? We’ve all done it, we all know the feeling, and so I don’t know, for a multi-time All-Star, a guy who’s in the MVP and Defensive Player of the Year conversation, I wish he would have had a different tact early.”

5. Brooklyn Nets

Burke and I spoke one day after the Nets blitzed the Golden State Warriors in their season opener, but even beyond that, how can you not be fascinated with what’s going on in Brooklyn? Obviously there are the team’s two stars, a pair of “incredible shot creators and fearless shot makers when the games matter” in Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving, both of whom showed few signs of rust during the preseason and to start the year.

But two stars does not a team make, and major parts of Burke’s excitement stem from the Nets’ new head coach and the team’s depth. While Steve Nash is a first-time coach, Burke already sees aspects of a championship winning coach in how he carries himself.

“Steve Nash has handled challenges early with incredible grace,” Burke says. “He has this great moment on the call where he said, ‘Oh, I didn’t hear what Kyrie said, what was it again?’ He seems very much like Steve Kerr to me in that his days as a player, his time around the league, ongoing interacting with players, I think will go a long way to helping him navigate the season.

“He said something to us in our first call that really struck me,” Burke continued. “He told me the story of, when Mike D’Antoni took over in Phoenix, Mike was watching the team play a little pickup basketball before the season started, and he remembers Mike saying something along the lines of, ‘Why would I overcoach this? Look at what I have at my disposal.’”

That talent goes beyond the top-2 players, as Burke praised Brooklyn for building up “incredible depth at every position.” Behind DeAndre Jordan, the team has Jarrett Allen. Beyond Durant and Irving, the team has a pair of players in Spencer Dinwiddie and Caris LeVert who are capable of taking over basketball games and alleviating some of the pressure as shot creators and shot makers. Joe Harris is there to let it fly from deep, creating the necessary space that guys need to make things happen.

“They’re deep, they’re talented, they’ve got scoring in their second unit, navigated some interesting early challenges with great grace,” Burke says. “I’m excited by them.”

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Post-Hardcore Band La Dispute Returns With Two New Songs, ‘Fifteen’ And ‘Kinross’

Last year, La Dispute‘s Panorama came in at No. 2 on the Uproxx list of best indie albums, and if that isn’t a strong enough cosign to get you to listen to the Michigan band, I don’t know what is. Well, maybe two new songs from the rock band that combines jazz, spoken word, and post-hardcore all into one roiling, beautiful mess. Last night, La Dispute leaned into the spoken word aspect of their creative work, dropping two new tracks via Bandcamp.

Originally, the songs were part of the band’s Patreon, but they’re donating any Bandcamp profits from Christmas Day to charity. The organization’s they’re supporting are Rent Party Detroit and Detroit Community Wealth Fund.

Back to the songs, “Fifteen” and “Kinross” are both slower tempo, eerie songs that reflect some of the uncertainty and chaos that 2020 held for everyone, and particularly for bands and music industry professionals who rely almost completely on touring to support themselves. Vocalist Jordan Dreyer has never been one to shy away from difficult subjects like guilty, and particularly on “Kinross” that subject comes into play. For now, there’s not much that small, independent bands like La Dispute can do but wait to see when shows might be possible again. So, if you can, support them and the charity’s they’ve designated for today.

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Playboi Carti Implies His Label Is Trying To Turn Him Into Lil Dicky On ‘Punk Monk’

Playboi Carti dropped his long-awaited second album Whole Lotta Red last night, following up his 2018 debut album Die Lit. But a lot has gone on in the two years since Carti hit it as one of the biggest superstars in hip-hop, and as Complex points out, on one track in particular on this new project, he can’t help but reflect on some of the inner-industry stuff that’s gone on behind the scenes.

On the song “Punk Monk,” Carti lays out a list of the rappers he was familiar with and trying to get signed before they hit it big, including Trippie Red, Lil Keed, and Pi’erre (Bourne), who helped produce his self-titled mixtape, Die Lit, and also worked with Carti on his latest release. “I was trying to sign Trippie Redd before they knew about Trippie,” he sings. Before mentioning Keed, Pi’erre, and lamenting that his label has tried to make him into a “white boy” but he’s “not Lil Dicky.” He also shouts out Key! and ManMan Savage, two Atlanta rappers.

Later, he mentions beef between Offset and Lil Uzi Vert, when the Migos member criticized Uzi over his use of inverted crosses, but in the end decided not to get involved. “I was in Paris when Offset and Uzi started hittin’,” he raps. “And I had to stay out that sh*t because that ain’t none my business.”

Well, that last one at least was a mature decision. Check out the full track below.

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Duncan Robinson’s Historic Half Propelled The Heat To A Christmas Win Over The Pelicans

The opening game of the Christmas Day slate didn’t give us any particular rivalry that we’d been looking forward to revisiting, but it did give us a chance to see how the upstart New Orleans Pelicans might fare against one of the NBA’s elite in a Miami Heat squad fresh off a Finals run.

It didn’t disappoint, and although the young Pelicans came up short in a 111-98 loss, it offered plenty of reason for optimism about the future in New Orleans. On the Heat side, it was Duncan Robinson’s blistering shooting that led the way, as he knocked a Christmas day record six three-pointers in the first half en route to a team-high 23 points for the game.

The Heat were without Jimmy Butler for the second, as he was held out the rest of the way with ankle stiffness, but both Bam Adebayo and Goran Dragic stepped up big in his absence, chipping in 17 and 16 points, respectively. Dragic did his damage off the bench in just 23 minutes of action, dishing out nine assists and reminding us just how crafty he can be in transition with this beautiful behind-the-back move for he easy lay-in.

The Pelicans young duo of Brandon Ingram and Zion Williamson led a noble effort by New Orleans as they gave us a tantalizing look at what we can expect from them in the coming season. Zion led the way with 32 points and 14 rebounds on better than 50 percent shooting from the field and proved what a force of nature he can be at the rim.

Ingram added 28 points and shot 4-of-8 from downtown, in the process showing off his ever-expanding offensive versatility with some difficult finishes around the basket.

Both teams gave us a nice little preview of what could be in store this season, with the Heat bouncing back off of an opening night loss to the Magic to regain some of their rhythm and the Pelicans having to feel encouraged by their young star duo as they look to settle in to Stan Van Gundy’s defensive system.

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For Christmas, Drake’s Uncle Framed The First Royalty Check He Ever Received

If anyone is having a good Christmas, it’s Drake — we already know he enjoys the finer things in life and isn’t afraid to splurge on a special occasion. But he’s also a big fan of nostalgia, and celebrating how far he’s come. His uncle knows that well, and sent Drizzy the kind of sentimental gift that only family can pull off. In a sweet Instagram story posted on Christmas Eve, Drake shared a photo of the framed, carefully displayed first royalty check that the Canadian super star earned from his own music. “My uncle found and gifted me my first earnings from music,” he wrote. “Came a long way from 3 bills in royalties.”

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The check was for $304.04 – hence the three bills reference — and is dated November 2007, aka right around the time his second mixtape, Comeback Season, was released. The certificate that came along with the check is from the Society of Composers, Authors and Music Publishers of Canada or SOCAN, wh also issued the check, and they offer their congratulations as well. “Congratulations in recognition of your first performance royalties we are pleased to present you with this commemorative certificate,” it reads.

Well, there’s still some things money can’t buy, and memories of your first check is definitely one. Merry Christmas Drake!

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Weekend Preview: ‘Wonder Woman 1984’ And ‘Soul’ Bring Blockbusters To Streaming

Wonder Woman 1984 — (Warner Bros. film on HBO Max) Years ago, no one would have imagined the newest Wonder Woman movie heading straight to streaming (at the same time as some U.S. theaters), but here we are. And the end result ain’t dark and gritty but, instead, a lot like dessert. Gal Gadot’s Diana is done with World War I, and now she’s soaring through a mall food court and working in a museum. Watch out for that Cheetah (Kristen Wiig) and Maxwell Lord (Pedro Pascal), and yes, Chris Pine’s Steve Trevor is somehow back for more after presumably biting the dust.

Soul — (Pixar film on Disney+) Yep, this movie was scheduled for theaters, too, and you know the drill by now, but you’ve probably never seen anything like this Pixar installment. Jamie Foxx voices a jazz-obssesed music school music teacher in this existential and cosmic movie. His character dies, turns into a fuzzy blob, and then ends up in a place called The Great Before. There, he learns about the inception of souls and personalities before they head up to Earth. He ends up answering profound life questions for himself while exploring what makes life worth living.

Bridgerton — (Netflix series) Shondaland brings us a series that I’m predicting will appeal to the Emily In Paris crowd but in a far less problematic way. Essentially, the show follows the debut of a daughter from a powerful family, who must navigate high society with the help of the rebellious Duke of Hastings, as they hatch a plan to reach their mutual goals. The romantic aspect of this series might be predictable, but the lessons learned and the lightly nibbling social commentary should strike a chord out there on Twitter.

Letterkenny: Season Nine (Hulu series) — This season, the Hockey Team digs into Judaism, Katy goes into the dating scene with guns blazing, and there are some strange sleepovers afoot. Oh, and we’re in post-fight territory with Hicks, Skids, and Hockey Players going to the “American Buck and Doe” event.

The Mandalorian: Making of Season Two (Disney+ special) — Get ready for a special Baby Yoda present under your holiday tree. Yep, it’s an hour-long special that dives into the process behind this season’s biggest moments, including the return of Boba Fett and the live-action introduction of Ahsoka Tano. Can we please get a little Olyphant up in here, too?

The Midnight Sky (Netflix flm) — George Clooney’s got a good-enough Netflix movie, y’all. He’s also got a David Letterman beard while playing a cancer-afflicted, lonely scientist in the Arctic who’s also struggling to survive on post-apocalyptic Earth while attempting to help save some astronauts. The screenplay hails from The Revenant‘s Mark L. Smith, so The Revenant + Gravity? That sounds epic, Oscar-y, and like a different kind of late-December movie than we’re used to from Netflix (Bright, Bird Box, 6 Underground). Let’s hope we don’t see any angry (polar) bears entering the equation.

The Stand (CBS All Access) — Constant Readers will appreciate this fresh take on Stephen King’s epic novel, which is widely regarded as one of the greatest post-apocalyptic works of fiction. Those who are afraid of checking into pandemic land can rest assured that the show feels like an unlikely antidote to the hellish things that humanity has seen this year. The show also goes non-linear in order to avoid wading through the superflu like the book did, since this isn’t really a “pandemic” story but one about the rebuilding of society and the archetypal battle between good and evil.

Here’s the rest of this weekend’s notable programming:

Supermarket Sweep (Sunday, ABC 8:00 p.m.) — Leslie Jones and every bit of her enthusiasm will host contestants in this revival of the grocery-shopping game show.

The Outpost (Sunday, CW 9:00 p.m.) — Tobin’s a hero, and relatives are bringing painful truths for both Talon and Zed. Meanwhile, Yavalla’s horde is growing while it’s almost battle time.

Shameless: Hall Of Shame (Sunday, CW 9:00 p.m.) — Enjoy the first “Hall of Shame” episode that’s on tap for this final season. This week, Mickey and Ian’s volatile relationship gets the spotlight and a retrospective glance all the way back to their teen days to chart their evolution, which has led them to a very complicated marriage.

Your Honor (Sunday, Showtime 10:00 p.m.) — This week, Bryan Cranston is Panic-Cranstoning all over the place while Adam is consumed by guilt and buried in lies. Elizabeth tries to help her grandson at an incredibly awkward dinner party, and the dog totally knows what’s going on here, right?

In case you missed these recent picks:

Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom (Netflix film) — Chadwick Boseman left this world far too soon, but before he departed, he left us a lasting performance alongside Oscar winner Viola Davis. She portrays the legendary “Mother of the Blues,” and he’s her ambitious trumpeteer, Levee. Together with his fellow musicians, they will conquer a blazing hot 1920s Chicago recording session, and Levee will help inspire his colleagues to unleash truth-revealing stories that will alter their lives and, possibly, history itself. It’s a testament to the blues’ transformative power and adapted from two-time Pulitzer Prize winner August Wilson’s play of the same name with Denzel Washington onboard as producer.

The Flight Attendant (HBO Max series) — It’s Season 1 finale time, y’all, so who’s the murderer? Kaley Cuoco busts away from the The Big Bang Theory with a fun flight of (darkly comedic) fancy. She plays portrays an airline stewardess whose international jet-setting lifestyle includes falling into bed in various countries with various handsome men. During the course of one particularly fateful encounter, Cassie wakes up next to the dead body of a one-night stand. She spends the rest of the series attempting to clean sh*t up. It is such a blast, truly.

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Jimmy Butler Will Not Return Against The Pelicans With Ankle Soreness

It’s Christmas, and that means a full slate of NBA action, in keeping with the holiday tradition that, in many people’s minds, marks the unofficial start of the season. And with the season just tipping off earlier this week thanks to an adjusted schedule, it’s even truer than usual.

The Miami Heat and the New Orleans Pelicans got us started off on Christmas morning with the first of five games throughout the day, and it didn’t take long for them to get things going on the right foot in the first, behind a Christmas day record six three-pointers from Duncan Robinson to take a healthy lead into halftime.

But they’ll have to go the rest of the way without their best player in tow, as Jimmy Butler will reportedly sit out the rest of the game with a sore ankle.

This appears to be nothing more than a precautionary measure this early in the season, but we’ll continue to monitor the situation for updates. Butler left the game with four points, five assists, and six rebounds, as Robinson and Bam Adebayo continue to lead the way for Miami.

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Looking Back On The Best NBA Christmas Day Commercials

Maybe it’s just because Christmas feels a bit off this year, but 2020 feels like the perfect time to look back on some of the great NBA Christmas Day ads from years past. That’s just what NBA Twitter got to work doing on Friday morning to get into the Christmas spirit.

Let’s start back in 1992, when the NBA on Christmas was an even bigger deal, something that was appointment live viewing for anyone who called themselves a hoops fan. Riley’s Knicks versus Jordan’s Knicks, plus “Roundball Rock” with a little classic Marv Albert in there? Yes, please.

Then there’s these classics, brought back by the great social media team at Yahoo! Sports, which feature some of the biggest stars still in the NBA today combining forces (in some admittedly bad uniforms) to make Christmas music with the sound of their dribbles and jumpers. Even if there was some very good editing used here, it is far more fun to imagine that didn’t happen.

Finally, this one isn’t even from Christmas specifically, but from the debut of the NBA following the lockout back in 2011, which ended up putting the start of the season right around where it was this season, just before Christmas. This one just features some incredible video editing that lets our brains see in live action what it might look like for yesterday’s legends to match up against the stars of today.

The NBA on Christmas is a tradition nearly as old as the league itself, and settling in for a day of great basketball is a nice chance to look back at the legacy of the NBA and reminisce on all the great Christmas Day battles over the years.

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The Best And Worst-Case Scenarios For Every Western Conference Team This Season

There has never been a conference quite like the West this season. Fourteen teams legitimately have reason to believe they can make the playoffs this year, and despite the NBA adding a play-in tournament, not everyone is going to be able to make it. As a result, we decided to treat the West like we did the East and look at the best and worst-case scenarios for every team.

Dallas Mavericks
Best: Luka Doncic wins MVP and they make the conference finals
Worst: Last year was too much too soon and they fall back to earth

There is *a lot* of hype surrounding the Mavericks this year, and much of it involves the expectations on Luka Doncic, who is expected to ascend to the MVP conversation this season. He is capable of doing it, and Dallas is going to be a really, really good team — one of the more unheralded moves of the offseason was them acquiring Josh Richardson, and even though it cost them an outstanding player in Seth Curry, he should thrive on the Mavs now that he’s no longer given a perpetually-shifting role in Philadelphia.

Having said this, not having Kristaps Porzingis as he recovers from surgery to repair a torn meniscus will be hard. No one else really has the offensive game to be a reliable second option next to Doncic on a nightly basis, and while the Mavericks are a team that can certainly MacGyver their way to a good offense in the meantime, it will be worth watching. Still, all eyes come back to Doncic, and the expectations on him are quite high. If he plays up to what he’s believed to be capable of doing, Dallas is going to have something to say in the West. If not, they’re at worst a play-in team, but would they be able to get out of it if he’s not able to force his way into the MVP conversation?

Denver Nuggets
Best: Finally get over the hump and make the Finals
Worst: They stall out and get bounced early

The only team to make it to the conference finals each of the least two years, Denver is extremely close to making the final leap and becoming a title contender. Two guys will be crucial in making this happen: Jamal Murray, who needs to show his leap into superstardom in the Bubble was not a fluke, and Michael Porter Jr., who has to go from “occasional nuclear scorer” to “matchup nightmare who can consistently take over games and make a big step forward on defense.”

We know what Nikola Jokic is going to do, and the team’s supporting cast is solid. Gary Harris finding his pre-injury form would be huge, Will Barton doing Will Barton stuff would be huge, Paul Millsap fighting off Father Time for one more year would be a welcomed addition, and Monte Morris will do all the unheralded stuff off the bench. Murray and Porter will be the ones tasked with answering the biggest questions.

Golden State Warriors
Best: Title contenders
Worst: It just doesn’t work and they miss the play-in tournament

If you want to talk about a wide range of options, let’s talk about the Warriors. There is a scenario where everything falls into place. Steve Kerr is still a wonderful coach. Steph Curry is Steph Curry. Draymond Green bounces back in a big way. James Wiseman is ready to anchor this defense and be a delightful two-man game counterpart with either of the two aforementioned players. Kelly Oubre and Andrew Wiggins thrive in roles where they aren’t asked to do as much, and the various bench guys who played a ton last year and got valuable reps are better than expected — think Eric Paschall, or Damion Lee, or Marquese Chriss.

The downside is that the Warriors can’t defend anyone, Steph alone can’t kickstart their offense, and this jumbled version of a team does not have the horses to compete. Golden State looked bad last year before Curry went down (an admittedly very small sample size), and the mind cannot help but wonder if this is a team at the end of the line. Expectations are high in the Bay as always, and it probably isn’t unreasonable to think that they’ll try to do something if stuff isn’t working. But it does legitimately feel like anything could be possible with the Dubs right now.

Houston Rockets
Best: ¯_(ツ)_/¯
Worst: ¯_(ツ)_/¯

Getty Image

How the hell is anyone supposed to project what the Rockets will be this season? Maybe they make James Harden happy and he stays! Maybe they don’t and he gets traded! Maybe they get a lot back for him! Maybe they get pennies on the dollar! Maybe Harden doesn’t move despite wanting to and the team has that cloud hanging over them all year! These are the James Harden questions, and doesn’t consider things like “a first-time head coach” or “John Wall is back after two years of being injured” or “P.J. Tucker’s contract situation” or any other number of things. So let’s just shrug and move on, because Houston is the single most fascinating (and opaque) team in all of basketball this year.

Los Angeles Clippers
Best: Win title
Worst: Don’t

Hold this thought!

Los Angeles Lakers
Best: Win title
Worst: Don’t, but at least they’ve won one before

The Los Angeles teams both have the bar set at the exact same place. Outside of the Bucks, these are the only two teams that are in the “title-or-bust” conversation, while other teams merely have championship aspirations. It’s a delicate line, but it could be the difference between making gigantic offseason decisions or staying the course if you come up short.

The Lakers, to their credit, probably wouldn’t feel like they have to blow everything up under almost any circumstance. They know this group can win a title, and unless something totally unforeseen happens, there is no reason to not stay the course. Still, having LeBron James means the expectation is for you to win a championship, and you can argue pretty convincingly that acquiring Dennis Schröder in the backcourt and Marc Gasol/Montrezl Harrell in the frontcourt made them better. The difference between the teams, though, is the lack of an existential crisis around not winning one this year.

As for the Clippers, whew. They had, legitimately, one of the NBA’s most spectacular failures last season in the Bubble, blowing a 3-1 lead to the Denver Nuggets and looking horrible while doing it. They fired their head coach (Ty Lue is now coach), did a little shaking up to their roster (Harrell and Landry Shamet out, Serge Ibaka and Luke Kennard in), and still have one of the best postseason performers of his era (Kawhi Leonard) and someone who was an MVP contender before needing surgery on both shoulders (Paul George). They should be right there in the title race. It is fascinating to think of what happens if they cannot get over the hump, because unlike their Staples Center neighbors, they do not have the goodwill built up to say “at least we’ve won before.”

Memphis Grizzlies
Best: Collective step forward and they don’t need the play-in tournament
Worst: Can’t take that step, miss the play-in tournament altogether

Memphis was a blast last year, and then, Jaren Jackson Jr. got hurt and the team just ran out of gas once it got to the NBA’s Orlando Bubble, losing to the Portland Trail Blazers in the play-in game. Ja Morant is just wonderful, and the team might have my favorite young core in the league, as they have a whole bunch of young dudes who play hard and compliment one another well.

Like all young teams, how they respond to expectations and how they take whatever step they can off of a successful prior campaign is the question. The team is basically built on having a ton of Draft Twitter darlings, and all of them — Morant and Jackson, Brandon Clarke, De’Anthony Melton, even newcomer Desmond Bane — can play. Their “veterans” are one legitimate veteran in Jonas Valanciunas and then a bunch of younger dudes who have been around for some time, like Justise Winslow, Grayson Allen, and Dillon Brooks. Is this enough to take that step forward and earn the six seed? Are they stuck in the play-in tournament? Or is the West so loaded that Memphis is going to end up a lottery team?

Minnesota Timberwolves
Best: League Pass darlings who just get the 6-seed
Worst: Swiss cheese defense keeps them from the play-in tournament

Boy, these Timberwolves have the potential to be an absolutely destructive offense. D’Angelo Russell and Karl-Anthony Towns might carve teams up in the pick-and-roll, and God knows what they’ll get out of Anthony Edwards, but he has the potential to be a hilarious microwave scorer almost right away. And what happens if Jarrett Culver and Naz Reid and Josh Okogie take steps forward? Or if Ricky Rubio throws a zillion delightful passes that makes Russell and Towns’ lives easier? They could be a blast, and there’s a path forward for this offense be supercharged.

And then, there’s their defense, which, yikes. Russell and Towns have never exactly been Gary Payton and Dikembe Mutombo on the defensive end of the floor, and while guys like Culver and Okogie can defend, teams are going to hunt Russell (and possibly Edwards depending on how locked in he is on that end) and go at Towns. Being the kind of team that can outscore anyone might be Minnesota’s calling card. Can they do that enough to make the play-in tournament?

New Orleans Pelicans
Best: Everything clicks and they get a top-6 seed
Worst: Miss the play-in tournament

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Stan Van Gundy was a really good hire here. He should, theoretically, help solidify their defense a little and know to get out of the way with this offense, which is going to be must-watch. There is no reason to miss a single Pelicans game this year, because year two of Zion Williamson and Brandon Ingram looking to build off of last year’s campaign has the potential to be electric. Also, Steven Adams is here now! Everyone who runs off of a Steven Adams screen and then has to run off of a Zion screen will need to take the next day or two off.

A major question is what happens if they really miss Jrue Holiday. Lonzo Ball is what he is, and it’s fair to wonder if that’s as a full-time point guard who gets the job done for a playoff team. Kira Lewis is going to be good, but asking him to contribute right away could be tricky, as it is for any rookie point guard. Eric Bledsoe gives them a veteran presence, which should help. Also, how will Adams survive their fun-and-gun style? Will Williamson be able to stay healthy and in shape? Can Ingram build on last year? If this team turns into a jumbled mess of a roster — which could very well happen — then it’s not hard to see them getting lost in the sauce out West.

Oklahoma City Thunder
Best: Show a whole lot of promise
Worst: Look aimless all year

The rebuild is on in Oklahoma City. Really, the record is beside the point here, because the Thunder are almost certainly the only team in the West that would be shocking if they made the playoffs. While Al Horford and George Hill bring reliable veteran presences here, the mind wonders if they’ll end the year here.

The Thunder do, however, have a lot of talented youngsters worth keeping an eye on. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander is getting the keys after playing alongside Chris Paul and Dennis Schröder, while guys like Hamidou Diallo, Luguentz Dort, Darius Bazley, Theo Maledon, and NBA Draft Twitter icon Aleksej Pokusevski will get chances to play through mistakes and develop. There is a plan in Oklahoma City, and if it comes to fruition, I suspect we’ll point to this year as being the one where some of the foundation was put in place.

Phoenix Suns
Best: Push for a top-4 seed
Worst: Bounced in the play-in tournament

I wrote this section after purchasing any and all Phoenix Suns stock. This team is well-coached and has a budding star in Devin Booker next to a guy who should be an outstanding backcourt mate for him in Chris Paul. Having Paul will let Booker take on a Bradley Beal-type role where he can play on or off the ball at his leisure, which is a pretty dangerous thing for the Suns to have in their back pocket. The rest of their starting five is delightful — Mikal Bridges is a nightmare to get defended by, Jae Crowder brings some veteran savvy, and Deandre Ayton made strides defensively last season.

They have some interesting depth on the bench, and it is not hard to see everything clicking and competing for the right to host a playoff series in the first round. The worst-case scenario more or less assumes that Paul and Booker don’t work, Bridges can’t hit a shot, and Ayton regresses, but the median outcome is that the Suns are a very respectable basketball team, something that has not been the case in Phoenix in a hot second.

Portland Trail Blazers
Best: Make a run to the conference finals
Worst: Bounced in the play-in tournament

Don’t look now, but Portland might have figured out its issue with a total lack of threes and fours last season. Damian Lillard, C.J. McCollum, and Jusuf Nurkic are going to do what they always do, and while Enes Kanter certainly has his limitations, he is a fine insurance policy as a backup big until Zach Collins gets back from ankle surgery.

Going out and adding the duo of Derrick Jones Jr. and Robert Covington is fascinating, and they have options beyond them in Rodney Hood and Carmelo Anthony at those spots. The team can opt to go small, too, and let Gary Trent Jr. get a little run next to Lillard and McCollum. Portland is a team that always plays hard and takes a ton of pride in being in the playoffs, so them getting there in some capacity seems likely, particularly because a play-in tournament strategy of “we have Damian Lillard and you do not” is a damn good one. Still, avoiding the play-in tournament is a priority, if only because of the randomness of it all, and if they avoid the L.A. teams in the first two rounds and can stay healthy, the Blazers have a legitimate path to the conference finals for the second time in three years.

Sacramento Kings
Best: Make the playoffs any way they can
Worst: Kangz

Sacramento has to make the playoffs one of these years, right? There is more than enough talent on this team that has played together for long enough, even with the loss of Bogdan Bogdanovic this offseason, that Sacramento can do something. The backcourt duo of De’Aaron Fox and Buddy Hield is good enough — even if the latter and head coach Luke Walton seem to, uh, have some issues that need to be worked out — Marvin Bagley is talented, Harrison Barnes is a reliable pro, Richaun Holmes impressed last year, and the bench includes fascinating rookie Tyrese Haliburton, sharpshooting big man Nemanja Bjelica, and a handful of other guys who belong on an NBA court.

No matter how the Kings do it, the goal is to make the playoffs. They can be the 10-seed in the play-in tournament and get lucky twice, it does not matter. The franchise has not made the postseason since 2005-06, the longest streak in the NBA right now. It has to change. Unfortunately for them, this is a brutally tough year to gun for the playoffs, and there are big questions that need to be answered — Is Hield’s future in Sacramento a long-term one? Can Bagley give them consistent production? — if they’re gonna make it.

San Antonio Spurs
Best: MacGyver their way to the 6-seed
Worst: Miss the play-in tournament

The last time San Antonio missed the playoffs in back-to-back years was never. It has literally never happened in the franchise’s history. As always, it’s hard to foresee Gregg Popovich not figuring something out — what that something is, of course, is tricky. This is hardly the most talented roster the Spurs have had, and banking on young guys to take steps forward while LaMarcus Aldridge, DeMar DeRozan, and Rudy Gay give them just enough veteran savvy seems to be the move. There are a lot of “ifs” here: They can make the postseason … if Dejounte Murray and Derrick White can be a reliable backcourt, or if Lonnie Walker and Keldon Johnson can be intriguing wing scorers, or if Devin Vassell can be a solid three-and-D option right away, or if Jakob Poeltl takes a leap as a consistent rim protector. It’ll be hard to make the playoffs, but it’s the Spurs. This is just what they do.

Utah Jazz
Best: They’re the team we thought they’d be last year
Worst: Bounced in the play-in tournament

Remember when Utah was a sexy pick to potentially win the Western Conference last year? And then remember how they started slow, then caught fire, and then eventually got to the Bubble and came a few RPMs on a Mike Conley jumper away from making the second round to take on the Clippers? Man, that was fun! Anyway, the Jazz are back and are still quite good. Their starting five — Conley, Donovan Mitchell, Bojan Bogdanovic, Royce O’Neale, Rudy Gobert — can go toe-to-toe with just about anyone in the league, and they go eight deep, with Derrick Favors returning to bolster the frontcourt rotation.

It is not hard to imagine Utah being a menace this season now that they have a year of the Conley experiment under their belts. If it does go awry, in part due to a lack of a consistent guy who can just get a bucket (something I don’t think will happen because Mitchell was a monster in the Bubble), they could limp to the play-in tournament and get bounced by a frisky team like, say, Memphis or New Orleans.

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A’ja Wilson Embodied The Perseverance Of Professional Athletes In 2020

In late September amid a hard-fought WNBA semifinal series against the Connecticut Sun, third-year forward A’ja Wilson stepped into frame for a Zoom press conference with reporters. Tied 1-1 with Connecticut and facing what would be her first WNBA Finals berth in the league’s south Florida Bubble, Wilson was locked in. Just a week earlier, she’d been named WNBA MVP for the first time in her career after helping her Las Vegas Aces surpass analysts’ most optimistic expectations. Everything was lined up for Wilson’s coronation.

But there was a sinister mood that day. Because the basketball accolades, even the thrilling WNBA playoff rematch between these two teams, that all was happening atop a backdrop of injustice. When Wilson came forward to speak with reporters that day, less than 24 hours had passed since a Kentucky grand jury failed to charge the officers who killed 26-year-old EMT Breonna Taylor while she was asleep in her apartment in March, the latest in a ceaseless wave of empty decisions in police violence cases in America. There was no way Wilson was just talking ball.

“No one cares, and that’s the thing that does not sit right with me, is when will people care and understand that this is a human rights thing?” Wilson pleaded to the camera. “Black Lives Matter isn’t this big thing of taking money and this, that and the third. It is a statement. It is the life that I live. I am a Black woman. You take everything that I have away from me and I am a Black woman. And I fear for my life.”

Stuck away in a Bubble that represented a growing league’s only chance to pull off a season and watching the injustice pile up around her, Wilson was struggling to keep going. She called the decision day “my 9/11.” Still, she reiterated that she had plenty of strength left to keep competing with her Aces teammates and to keep fighting until Black people were treated fairly in their communities. After all, while the decision on Taylor’s case was tragic, it followed a nauseating pattern as old as our shared history.

“I can’t be angry at this because I saw it coming,” Wilson said. “The element of surprise is out of my mind at this point. I’m disgusted and I hate that Breonna Taylor didn’t get justice.”

The grand jury’s decision was also a reminder of the purpose of the 2020 WNBA season in the first place. There was competition to be had, yes, but also a higher calling. The players made it clear early in the summer that without a dedication to social justice and in particular female victims of police brutality, there would be no season at all.

Without the pandemic, the league’s opening tip-off would have taken place the same weekend that George Floyd was killed by Minneapolis police. While the women of the WNBA are pioneers when it comes to activism in sports, there would be no subtle statements or unplanned gestures this time around. Unified within the Bubble and their shared identity in an 80 percent Black league, these tremendous athletes stood together to draw attention to the Say Her Name campaign and America’s violent brand of systemic racism.

As Wilson continued her pregame press conference, the weight of the year threatening to crush her, she received a question from Pepper Persley, a skilled elementary-age reporter who was a breakout star of the so-called Wubble (women’s Bubble) in her own right. Persley, who is 9 years old, asked the MVP what her message was to young Black girls who were “confused, scared and angry” about the decision in Taylor’s case. Hearing Persley’s voice had a clear impact on Wilson, whose tears welled with emotion. Yet it also seemed to give Wilson strength — a reminder of who the work is for.

“My message is to keep fighting,” Wilson said. “We cannot stop fighting at all for young girls like Pepper, for young girls like myself. This fight does not stop. It gets harder as you get older … but it’s people like me and this generation that’s going to help fight this fight alongside you.”

Though many in both pro basketball Bubbles said it was hard to feel part of the fight from afar, Wilson kept that defiant energy all summer. She penned an essay in the Players Tribune titled “Dear Black Girls” that spoke directly to the discomfort and pain of growing up misunderstood — what Wilson called “a double minority” in a world that doesn’t value them. She started a podcast alongside fellow young MVP candidate Napheesa Collier to highlight the swagger of the WNBA’s younger generation of stars. And Wilson finished out the year being named to the Forbes 30 Under 30 list after working with LeBron James’ More Than A Vote campaign and becoming the first WNBA player to be endorsed by Mountain Dew.

In terms of on-court brilliance, few can match what Wilson did. Las Vegas entered the Wubble without two starters, including 2019 All-Star Liz Cambage. Yet Wilson slowed the game down, improved her efficiency and defense, and played off her teammates to become a one-woman wrecking ball all summer.

“I’ve had a lot of great players, lots of All-Stars, but no one with an individual performance that carried a team like A’ja has this year,” said Aces head coach and four-time WNBA champion Bill Laimbeer when Wilson won MVP.

Many times this year, watching the WNBA was cathartic and enlightening. Wasn’t this what sport should always have been? Not an escape from the realities of the people wearing our favorite teams’ jerseys, but a reminder of them? After all, as the women of the WNBA made sure to remind us every night on the hardwood, they are all Breonna Taylor. In many cases, there is no distinction between what happens in our communities and what happens to our favorite athletes.

It would have been easy for Wilson to look at 2020 as a lost year. Instead, she stepped up as a leader for her team, her league, and all of us to deliver an unforgettable performance on and off the court as she continues an inspiring career.