Welcome to the 'Who He Play For' Olympics

The rest of this week is going to be wild.

Dec 22

Good morning. Let’s basketball.

NBA commissioner Adam Silver went on ESPN’s NBA Today on Tuesday to talk ‘bout the coronavirus. He’s pretty firm in saying that the NBA is not going to pause operations to flatten the curve.

(Here’s Part 2 of the interview. Malika Andrews is good at this. Tough questions that I think a lot of fans are wondering about. And Silver was up front and answered everything. Good on him.)

In fact, while a certain segment of fans laments the fact that the NBA is still playing a handful of games every night, Silver is pushing the conversation toward accepting COVID-19 as endemic, a la influenza. He’s talking about shortening the protocol time period for asymptomatic or lightly symptomatic players — he didn’t even really rule out changing the rules by Saturday. (To me, this opens the door that the league may find a way to get Giannis Antetokounmpo, James Harden and Trae Young available for Christmas.) Toward the end of the interview, Silver makes the case that it’s safe for fans to go to games, something I am skeptical he knows to be true. But it’s about normalizing economic activity as it pertains to the league and rejecting calls to alter the league’s business operations. It’s about trying to head back toward normal, even in the face of the new surge.

Based on what the league did in March 2020 and again in July 2020, I don’t think Silver would press ahead if he knew it to be wildly irresponsible and unsafe. Seeing Silver as some kind of monster for letting games continue and not restricting attendance and veering toward looser rules instead of tighter ones, I don’t vibe with that viewpoint. A viewpoint, I’ll note, that seems popular among the NBA fan sub-community I consider myself a part of.

It’s not just the NBA acting differently in December 2021 than in March 2020: school systems around the country, public health officials, employers, many (most?) individuals and families, politicians — it seems like most people are acting differently. Access to highly effective vaccines and more robust testing is a huge difference from March 2020. The lessons learned and knowledge gained by the scientific community over the past 21 months help. Maybe some are just exhausted by the loneliness or confusion or stress. Maybe that’s impacting the institutional decisions being made. Maybe it’s money. Maybe it’s greed. But behavior is different now than then almost universally, and there is some reasonable, rational explanation for why it should be (testing, vaccines, some evidence that omicron is less severe).

To expect the NBA to revert back to a March 2020 modus operandi as the rest of the world takes a new path seems unreasonable. Perhaps you view the NBA’s new path as an accessory to a damaging liberalization of economic and social activity that endangers lives, just as we commonly viewed the NBA’s March 2020 shutdown as an accessory and accelerant to a broader global shutdown. I just don’t think that it’s reasonable to hold the NBA to a standard for caution that no other institution in the country appears willing to meet. I don’t think it’s reasonable to assume the worst of Silver or the NBA at this point, at least in excess of what you assume about the rest of society. (I do understand if you assume the worst about … everything. I don’t agree, but cynicism has a strong foundation these days.)

Anyway, I didn’t mean to get all serious this morning. What I really wanted to talk about is the amazing side effect of the daily roster churn in the NBA right now, something I’m dubbing the ‘Who He Play For’ Olympics. Look at this.

Tim MacMahon @espn_macmahon

Replacement player Theo Pinson after playing 22 minutes in his Mavs debut: “They were calling stuff; I had no idea what it was. I was just reading off of my teammates.”

Theo Pinson is back in the league. He played 21 minutes last night! You know who else played real minutes for the Dallas Mavericks last night? Marquese Chriss. He played 16 minutes last night after playing 27 NBA minutes all of last season.

Who else do we have?

Adrian Wojnarowski @wojespn

The Sacramento Kings are planning to sign free agent guard Emmanuel Mudiay to a 10-day deal, sources tell ESPN. Mudiay had been playing in Europe this season. He's expected to be available on Wednesday vs. the Clippers.

Emmanuel Mudiay last played in the NBA in garbage time of Game 3 of Jazz vs. Nuggets in the bubble. He “parted ways” with his Lithuanian team last month after a poor start. He’s quite possibly going to play 20 minutes for a team fighting for a play-in spot tonight. Hell yeah.

Gimme more.

Shams Charania @ShamsCharania

The Mavericks are signing guard Charlie Brown of NBA G League Delaware to a 10-day hardship deal, sources tell @TheAthletic @Stadium.

Charlie Brown, bless him, got less than 200 minutes combined in two seasons on two-way contracts with two of the most talent-starved teams in recent memory: the 2019-20 Hawks and the 2020-21 Thunder. Him and Theo Pinson, coming off the bench for Dallas on Christmas Day? A … Charlie Brown Christmas? It’s on the table.

NBA general managers are literally asking around about which former NBA players are hanging out in the United States right now. “Hey, anyone know where Ersan Ilyasova’s been?”

Adrian Wojnarowski @wojespn

The Chicago Bulls are planning to sign veteran forward Ersan Ilyasova on a 10-day hardship exemption, pending a physical and protocols, sources tell @ramonashelburne and me.

The Raptors play tonight?

Adrian Wojnarowski @wojespn

The Raptors have seven players in protocols, including four new cases today with Barnes, Achiuwa, Fred VanVleet and Malachi Flynn. Also: Pascal Siakam, Gary Trent and Dalano Banton. A full outbreak in Toronto.

The Raptors play tonight.

Marc Stein @TheSteinLine

Toronto is calling up Nik Stauskas of @NBAGrandRapids from the @nbagleague, league sources say. More NBA from me:

Marc SteinInsider coverage of the NBA since 1994marcstein.substack.com

Reports indicate that the NBA may shuffle Saturday’s actual schedule, moving games with more stars available into primetime slots. Warriors vs. Suns is currently one of the slots; all the main stars are currently available (sorry Jordan Poole and Andrew Wiggins). Celtics-Bucks and Lakers-Nets are the other two games on ABC. But I can’t imagine either Mavericks-Jazz or Hawks-Knicks getting the call-up. I mean, Atlanta is in Outbreak City.

Adrian Wojnarowski @wojespn

Atlanta Hawks center Clint Capela has entered the league's Covid protocols too, sources tell ESPN. The Hawks are potentially without him, Trae Young and Gallinari on Christmas Day vs. the Knicks.

Adrian Wojnarowski @wojespn

Atlanta Hawks forward Danilo Gallinari has entered the league's health and safety protocols, sources tell ESPN.

We need star power in Madison Square Garden. Come on, Hawks. You’re never getting a Christmas Day game again if you don’t fix th—

Scott Agness @ScottAgness

Lance Stephenson got the call. He’s joining the Hawks on a 10-day contract, source confirms. @TheSteinLine on it first. It reunites Lance with coach Nate McMillan for a third time. As I often say, he’s misunderstood by those outside his team and appreciated by those on it.

We’re back.

Share

Scores

Pacers 96, Heat 125 — Indiana was never in this game. Kyle Lowry is such a fun fit for Miami, even with Jimmy Butler and Bam Adebayo on the shelf. How fun? KLow missed a triple-double by two points. 8-11-12 in 30 minutes. Weird stuff! Twenty-six each for the deadly Duncan Robinson and ebullient Tyler Herro.

Pistons 91, Knicks 105 — Detroit trailed by as many as 22 in the second half yet got within five in the fourth. For the last 8:55 of the game, when the Pistons had gotten with five, they shot 4/19 from the floor. Crunch time offense is a work in progress.

Kemba had fun out there.

NBA TV @NBATV

Kemba set up this oop perfectly for Robinson 🤝

The Knicks were 10-9 when Kemba was pulled out of the rotation. The team went 3-7 in that 10-game stretch where Kemba didn’t play. They are 1-1 since he’s been back. I … I think he’s staying in the rotation, unless this goes to hell again.

Blazers 97, Pelicans 111 — Speaking of players’ presence or absence being perhaps more important than previously thought to the competence of a team …

Brandon Ingram is in total control of his game right now. The Pelicans are 11-14 when he plays and 0-7 when he doesn’t. But then recall that New Orleans started off really, really rough: 1-5 in their first six games before Ingram was hurt, then 0-7 while he recovered. So since he came back they are 10-9. No. 16 in net rating, No. 22 in offense, No. 15 in defense. Almost completely average. Which is a huge upgrade on what we thought they were! The Pels are still in the No. 14 spot in the West, but they’re just two games out of the last play-in spot.

The Blazers look worse than average, even with Damian Lillard popping off for 39. Nickeil Alexander-Walker put 18 on Portland in the fourth. Can’t let that happen if you want to be a playoff team. The Blazers are tied for the last play-in spot.

Timberwolves 102, Mavericks 114 — Straight-up bad loss for Minnesota to a Dallas team without Luka, Porzingis, THJ or Reggie Bullock. When Anthony Edwards is out, Karl-Anthony Towns has to get 20-25 shots up. And while it’s nice to see D’Angelo Russell with 12 assists and three turnovers, the 1/11 deep shooting is really not nice. He’s shooting 33% on threes this season, and taking damn near nine per game. That’s too many, bud!

Suns 108, Lakers 90 — Phoenix was in control a few minutes into the fourth quarter, but L.A. was alive: down 12, 7:43 to go. LeBron takes a rest and CP3 comes in to finish the game. Over the next seven possessions, Phoenix scores 8 points (normal stuff). In that same span, L.A. scores zero points in six possessions. It goes:

Missed Westbrook lay-up
Isaiah Thomas live ball turnover (Westbrook goes out for a rest at this point)
Missed Wayne Ellington three
Isaiah Thomas live ball turnover on a blown fast break opportunity
Missed Isaiah Thomas three
Rajon Rondo live ball turnover

LeBron and Westbrook come back in at the next stoppage, but the 12-point deficit is now 20 and the game is basically over. This team doesn’t have any juice against good opponents because LeBron just cannot play 48 minutes. In this game, the Lakers were even with Phoenix in LeBron’s 34 minutes and -18 in the 14 minutes he sat. It’s a constant struggle.

Schedule

All times Eastern and, I would say, tentative.

Magic at Hawks, 7:30, NBA TV
Cavaliers at Celtics, 7:30
Raptors at Bulls, 8
Rockets at Bucks, 8
Nuggets at Thunder, 8
Clippers at Kings, 10, NBA TV

Links

Big Zach Lowe piece on ESPN Insider on the Suns being even better this season. ($)

Marc Stein on the wild happenings at the G League Showcase, where basically everyone is getting called up.

This is a first-person essay from basketball trainer Rob McClanaghan on severe depression and attempted suicide. Know that before you click. It’s a really powerful and emotional piece, and I’m so grateful that Rob is sharing it because I know it will help someone if not many someones.

Candace Parker Facial Expressionism is now my preferred art movement.