#klay thompson concepts

[sportsgeekonomics]

The Crystal Ball: Predictions of what the NCAA will say when they finally (claim to) allow a limited exercise of athletes’ NIL rights

Today the NCAA issued an open letter to California Governor Gavin Newsom, threatening to cut California schools out of NCAA championships, threatening litigation, and also casually mentioning that when they get around to allowing some form of NIL rights, it is not going to be, um, well, real in the sense of allowing athletes to operate in the market. To this last point, they write:

“The NCAA continues to focus on the best interests of all student-athletes nationwide. NCAA member schools already are working on changing rules for all student-athletes to appropriately use their name, image and likeness in accordance with our values ...”

Since the NCAA’s values do not include that athletes are entitled to the full market value of their NILs, I think we can read this as a pre-announcement of an intent to restrict athletes rights.  (side note, if it’s a right, it’s not supposed to be restrictable)

But the NCAA is so predictable in this desire to arrogate athletes’ rights for their own benefit, that with a fairly high degree of confidence, I believe I can predict several other “features” of the new NCAA NIL policy.  To wit:

 1)      It will involve an artificial cap on what an athlete’s “true” NIL value is, determined by a committee of college administrator types, and designed to ensure that athletes are not “overpaid” for their NIL rights.

Recognize that in most situation where we are concerned about young or naïve people contracting with savvy businesses in the market, we have legal protections to ensure the less knowledgeable people are not taken advantage of by being paid too little.  But the problem the NCAA will be worries about will be a needless concern that young men and women will be paid “too much.”

This shows you the NCAA’s concern is not to ensure the rights of the athletes to open-market compensation, but rather to ensure they do not get their full value, for fear of what this will say about how valuable college athletes actually are.

2)      The committee’s concerns will be

a.       Fear that payment for NIL value will be inflated by payment for athletic value

This has two major problems. The first is a purely economic one. There is virtually no athlete for whom his/her endorsement value is separable from his/her athletic value, esp. prior to retirement.  When Klay Thompson does an ad for Kaiser Permanente, a large portion of why he is chosen as the endorse, and why he can command payment above a union scale commercial actor is because he is an awesome basketball player, and his value to Kaiser Permanente hinges critically on the fact that he is beloved in Oakland, where Kaiser Permanente has a presence.

For a car dealer in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, the value of Tua Tagovailoa depends critically on him playing well, and doing so for the Alabama Crimson Tide.  If he were to transfer to Clemson, his value to the Tuscaloosa dealer declines to zero, or perhaps even negative.  So thinking that these values are somehow severable is foolish.

The second is a civil/economic rights one, which is the idea that a school or sports body should somehow have the right to decide whether two adults transacting in the market for perfectly legal conduct should have their collective judgment of a fair price questioned.  In particular, for this third party to step in and override the athletes’ right to engage in commerce to make sure he/she gets less than the market’s own assessment is essentially granting to the NCAA/School ownership over a stream of payments that ought to belong solely to the adult full-citizen.

b.      Fear that only the rich schools will be able to offer NIL deals/com balance

There are two fundamental misunderstandings baked into this concern.  The first is a belief that caps on individual earnings improve competitive balance in sports.  They do not. There are dozens of sports economics papers in professional and college sports that show that caps on what individual can earn doesn’t improve the fortunes of “poor” schools, but instead just changes how the “rich” schools use their money to get talent.  (I’ve summarized a lot of them, and discussed the empirical data in the past).  If amateurism rules improved competitive balance, we would not have the concept of a Power 5 conference, because all conferences would tend to have an equal chance at being powerful in any given year.  We would not have UConn and a handful of other school dominating women’s basketball year-in and year-out.  Alabama and Clemson would not be favorites, again, to be in the college football championship after having met up in the CFP the last four years in a row.

Economics has known for 60+ years that talent flows to where it is most valuable, regardless of whether the talent itself receives a share of the profits of not.  Prior to free agency, the New York Yankees were more likely to be in the World Series than they are today.  This is know as the “Invariance Principle” and you can check out this paper I co-authored for a good discussion of this principle if you’d like.  Essentially it says that Alabama will out-recruit Fresno State for QB talent as long as Tuscaloosa has more demand for football talent than Fresno, and allowing that demand to lead to athletes receiving a share of the Tuscaloosa revenue will not change the relative success of Alabama.  Ask yourself how many times, currently, Fresno state is able to beat out Alabama if they want the same athlete even when “pay” is capped equally at a scholarship. (spoiler: never)

The second misunderstanding is to think about spending on athletes like a pure consumer luxury good and to imagine a school/community acting like a family with a (short-term) fixed income deciding whether or not to take a vacation.  That analogy is horrible for thinking about how major universities decide how much money to allocate to their various means of generating revenue and reputation as educational nonprofits.  In that budgetary environment, the value of a star athlete is assessed, not against whether the family can afford a luxury, but rather whether the benefit of adding that athlete is worth the cost.  Because it is a business decision, if a school like Fresno State felt it would generate more economic/reputational benefit from a star quarterback than Alabama would, they would offer more.  But Fresno’s market is not as lucrative as Alabama’s and so it’s not that Fresno “can’t afford” to outbid Alabama, rather it’s that Fresno’s break-even point is lower than Alabama.  So it’s rational for Fresno to stop bidding even when Alabama is willing to continue to up the stakes, and Alabama thus gains the asset.  

This is not a argument for fixing prices at the point where Fresno would break even, since all Alabama then has to do is invest in other assets, better facilities, better coaches, etc., (can you say indoor waterfalls?) and since Fresno is already at break-even, for Fresno to invest even a dollar more is wasteful.  In other words, it’s not that it’s unfair that Fresno can’t afford to outbid Alabama, it’s actually economically rational for Fresno to let Alabama pay more for talent, because it would cost Fresno more than Fresno would benefit, while the reverse is true for Alabama.  It’s win-win for Fresno not to overpay and for Alabama to get the ability to commercialize the athletes’ value.  Allowing the money to flow to the athletes instead of the Waterfall Construction Industry just ensures the value reaches those who generate it.

c.       Purported Fear that NIL rights will involve too much time away from school

This is somewhat perplexing, for several reasons.  The first reason is that shooting a commercial or lending some pre-existing video to a sponsor is not a very time-consuming activity, certainly not compared to the time it takes for a college sport team to travel to a road game (or several) over the course of a week.  College Basketball athletes miss something like 40 days of class a year.  Suddenly now we’re worried about an afternoon photo shoot?

The second reason is that, of course, activity of this sort can be focused on the summer.

But the third is that the prior goal of making sure athletes aren’t “overpaid” for their NIL goes firmly against the goal of ensuring athletes do not focus on NIL activity too much. If an athlete needs, say, $100,000 to help pay of his mother’s mortgage, wouldn’t it be easier on his time to let him film one lucrative endorsement for $100,000, than to declare that level “too much” and thus force him into doing twenty $5,000 deals?  Not everyone has a dollar goal like this, but the best way to ensure anyone who needs money will not do too many side-jobs is to make the first side-job pay enough to cover the financial need.

 d.      Unsavory advertisers.

This is not as ridiculously as the other concerns.  Every sports employer imposes these sorts of terms on their athletes, whether it is a requirement not to endorse a competitor of the team’s official sponsor, or not to advertise for illegal products, or gambling (given that it may be perceived as lowering the integrity of the sports contests themselves, etc.) But the difference here is that these terms are all negotiated as part of an employment contract.  If a team wants to tell an athlete s/he can’t advertise for a beer brand, that is baked into the salary they settle on for his/her services, and generally, the salary will rise as the endorsements are more restricted.

In contrast, the NCAA wants to impose these sorts of restrictions, but not compensate the athlete for them.  They want to treat the athlete like an employee in terms of imposing rules of employment, but it does not want to grant the athlete all of the benefits of employment, whether it be workers comp, the right to unionize, or even social security matching.  To the extent the NCAA needs to control what products an athlete can endorse (which I question), they should be forced to bargain for those concessions, not allowed to simply assert an artificial right to declare them forbidden by fiat.

 3)      It will involve some mandatory “tether” to education, such as requiring an endorser to offer a summer internship as part of the contract.

By itself, working to get athletes more exposure to the business side of sports is a fine goal.   But (a) it contradicts the goal of limiting the impact of the NIL work on school time, and (b) it may force an athlete into internships ill-suited to his/her career aspirations.  Take the example of Bryce Love, a recent star at Stanford who also plans to become a medical doctor.  He was the runner-up for the Heisman Trophy in his penultimate season at Stanford and he could have easily gotten lucrative endorsement deals from any number of advertisers.  But would forcing him to do a summer internship at adidas have helped him get ready for medical school?  

So yes, let’s encourage endorsers to offer these sorts of internships, but let’s not allow the NCAA to impose a one-size-fits-all mandate on athletes. There is also ( c) the question of how to handle the star with multiple offers.  If the total amount is going to be capped, and if then an internship is also required, an athlete will find his/her ability to do more than one or two sponsorships curtailed as well, which effectively would impose a cap on total earnings on top of individual deal earnings.

 4)      This will all be done in an effort to maintain a “line of demarcation” between college and pro sports.

Of course, there is, and always will be, a strong demarcation between pro sports and college sports, which is that to play college sports, the athlete must be a student at the college.  As long as that “tether” is maintained, no one will confuse the two.  It's simple guys: College Athletics = The Athletes Attends College.  

Beyond that, further demarcation is unnecessary from the point of view of avoiding consumer confusion.  If a real college student is wearing Nike shoes because his school is being paid for him to do so, and suddenly that changes so that he is wearing Nike shoes because his school AND he himself are both being paid, it’s hard to see this as blurring the line.  The only way the line between pro and college would be blurred, is if consumer questioned whether the college athlete’s education was genuine.  As long as it is, the availability of endorsements, and true access to an open market for those endorsements, will not change that fundamental distinction where College Athletics = The Athletes Attends College.

If the NCAA is worried that endorsements blur this line, it is really a signal they are not confident that college athletes really DO attend college in the same sense as a normal college student.  This should be a sign to California to push back and tell the NCAA to focus on fixing that problem, rather than limiting athletes’ economic opportunities to cover up for the NCAA’s failure to ensure all athletes are receiving a true college education.

Conclusion

This ends my prognostication of what we’re going to see from the NCAA.  Almost surely, the NCAA plan will seek to override the market assessment of athlete NIL value with the express goal of lowering their income and controlling their efforts to commercialize their image.    Whatever the NCAA plan is, it will almost certainly reject the best method of determining fair market value, which is to let transactions in a fair market set value.  It will arrogate to the NCAA the athlete's right to determine who he/she endorses, how much he/she can bargain for, and how much time he/she wants to devote to this, in a way that schools do not do for any other student.  At core, it will not accept that this is about the athletes’ rights as adults in society, and instead will consider that doling out a slightly higher level of compensation, but denying the fundamental right of market access, should suffice.  It is a “how much cash will you need us to dole out to stop insisting on athletes’ getting all their rights” kind of deal.

This is the key.  The purpose of ensuring athletes recover their NIL rights is because, well, rights are fundamental.  Athletes’ are not second-class citizens – and we should not be fooled by “well, this is less exploitative than before” when the real standard should be “this is no longer exploitative at all.”

This is why my work with the HBL is so vital to my efforts to try to restore college athletes’ full sets of rights.  Even when a state passes a law restoring a limited subset of college athletes’ full rights, the NCAA is ready to go to court to use the full weight of our legal system to make sure this doesn’t happen.  The NCAA is never going to be on board with the simple concept that College Athletes have equal rights to College Coaches.  And so, no matter what the legal question, the fact is we will not see the NCAA pay athletes their full market worth unless and until someone else enters the market and forces them to do so.  That someone is going to be the HBL. 

The HBL will be the first professional college basketball league.  We’re not worried that consumers will be confused; rather we’re confident that when we put teams on the court with the bulk of the elite collegiate talent, fans will be excited to watch, sponsors will be excited to be associated with our league, etc.  The league is run by Ricky Volante and NBA legend David West, and you can learn more about us at HBLeague.com.

Remember #AmateurismIsACon

[updatedtime]

Klay Thompson Denies Dating Model Abigail Ratchford, According to Reports.

Klay Thompson Denies Dating Model Abigail Ratchford, According to Reports.

  In an interview with Damon Bruce of 95.7 The Game on Tuesday, Klay Thompson appeared to downplay the possibility that he is dating supermodel Abigail Ratchford. Ratchford may have implied she had connections with Thompson in an Instagram post this summer, and Thompson’s aloofness in response to Bruce’s inquiry on the matter may suggest a distaste for the concept itself. To set the stage for…

[xbacklily]

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[dingbest123]

There's still no skill difference.

Sizeups are not hard to use and do not demand a lot of skill. Dribbling has a lot more to do with only spamming a combo it must also do with NBA 2K21 MT Coins a change of pace aswell. A match with sizeups that automatically set the pace of a move is going to be a lot easier to use as opposed to a sport in which you're needed to create your own speed and use that for your advantage. The sport should separate the Kyries in the Klay Thompsons in relation to dribbling and 2k20 is a step in the right direction in regards to making players place their own pace with their moves.

The dribbling is much more realistic. You can not moonwalk or do glitchy moves now and that's making people mad, even though they're often the same people that were complaining about ut. I think the precise opposite. The moves go together more smoothly this year. Show me a combo and I'll believe it. As I said, demo was out for a day using brand-new controls and default packages. I bet it's going to be better. It is not possible for combos to be greater compared to 16 or 17 (the 2 best 2k games) when 1 I'm talking about it being simpler than 20, and two there has been no opportunity to find shit yet.

Plus you attempt doing smooth combos using Paul George and kawhi Leonard at 19 or 20. They are probably trying to make it harder for individuals to spam combos. I am not digging the shot at all my shots are actually just off I am not the best player but at least with 2k20 I could handle to make 3 pointers with this it is either too short or an airball hopefully that changes from the actual match but idk?

The game is legit garbage. . Sorry to state:-LRB- bourght it last year in hopes of patches but after playing the demo for a couple of hours. . Im not gonna buy 2k21 for sure. Reasons:Ignore no modifications in the circulation of the match - Still the slow, robotic feeling in motion and shooting.Testet such as a 99 overall"Shot Creator" with maxed out shooting and 80's layup and dunks. Even if hitting damm close to ideal release on all open shots. . He still missed 90% of them. A 99 OVERALL RATED PLAYER??? Crap. Dont even get me started on the broad open lay-ups misses.

You get drafted it is all gravy. Glad I do not need to see my player act like a clown at every interview no matter what exactly.

That's the stage lol, he's become such a marketable player. Why do you believe he is about a cover of a game that symbolizes the league so fast... even though the choice after him was obviously better this season? It is all company my guy, even the trailer. These guys will do anything and everything that makes them money, and I get it tbh. Just remember it's people making these games. . .go play deus ex the original,devs alswys have used games to  Cheap NBA 2K21 MT hide conspiracy or opinions associated stuff,nice find. You can walk around in nba2k? Can it be like GTA now? Since when? They included a small"open world" concept into the game, and it's only if you literally pick that mode. They have something called"the neighborhood" I believe where you choose your created character into a miniature open world multiplayer area and can buy shoes or clothes or play games from other people's characters.

[junker-town]

Remember when Klay broke a 3-point record in the season’s first month?

This is typically a time of year for small-sample statistical delights.

I say this not to be weepy or dramatic, but in a normal year, NBA basketball would be returning right around now. Instead of this uncertain pre-draft refractory period, we’d be hitting that annual rush of novelty — lovely 0-0 records, fantasy drafts, players in their new uniforms, compelling lineup changes, and funky small-sample stats. I love that period of the season, before the Knicks hurt my feelings, before I take League Pass for granted.

Anyway, this isn’t that kind of year, so my choice for this week’s video throwback is our first episode of High Score. High Score was a really fun show, and one I’d love to do again someday if we can find a way through the huge post-production workload and the kinda dense concept. This first episode talks about the NBA and WNBA’s individual record-holders for single-game three-point attempts. Attempts, not makes. In this little world we’ve created, you get credit for audacity rather than accuracy.

This episode walks through the history of the three-pointer, from its roots in the ABA to its outsize role in modern offenses. In between, we visit those instances in which one person decided to heave a whole bunch of them in one game. Those tend to be players green-lit to chuck on freewheeling teams (like Michael Adams on Doug Moe’s Denver Nuggets) or players on awful teams bored enough to chase records late in a lost season (like one-time record-holders Damon Stoudamire and J.R. Smith).

But as of today, the record comes from one of those early-season, clean-slate games. In just their eighth game of the 2018-2019 season, the Golden State Warriors watched Klay Thompson pull TWENTY-FOUR three-pointers, hitting 14 of them to notch 52 points.

This wasn’t some bullshit tactical gimmick or depressing late-season nonsense. It was Klay and the Warriors flexing their muscles for the whole league, showing they were fully prepared to defend their championship. (They didn’t, of course, but that’s a story for another time.) It was one of those nights that made you feel so thankful the NBA was back; one that dropped a statistical bomb on the virgin snow of a new season. We’ll have that feeling again someday! For now, I hope you enjoy this old video, and perhaps some other episodes of High Score.

Side note: This is also an opportunity to mention how much it kills me to make errors in a video. This one contains two corrections. Tony Jackson had his huge three-point night in the short-lived ABL, not the ABA. And that photo of a baby Stephen Curry is actually his brother, Seth. These fuck-ups will haunt me for the rest of my life (although not as bad as the time I mispronounced Robert Horry’s last name throughout an entire Rewinder episode, and evidently my whole life up to that point). By far the worst part of my transition from blog-writing to video-producing is the indelibility of errors. It terrifies me every time I publish something new. Huge shoutout to our painstaking review process, and especially to beloved Dorktown Comptroller Alex Rubenstein, who often volunteers to fact-check videos, and has saved me from embarrassment so many times.

[angelinasmith69]

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[cutsliceddiced]

New top story from Time: ESPN’s New Michael Jordan Documentary Is Exactly What We Need Right Now. Here’s How They Made It

ESPN has taken noble swings at programming a sports network with no sports. But there are only so many airings of marbles races, old games and gabfests about the April 23–25 NFL draft—an event that, during the COVID-19 pandemic, feels as significant as a speck of sand—that viewers can take. That’s why fans clamored so hard for ESPN to move up its highly anticipated 10-part docuseries starring Michael Jordan, widely regarded as the greatest athlete ever to grace this earth, from an original airdate of June 2—coinciding with an NBA Finals series that no longer exists—to ASAP. People need a dose of nostalgia, and reason to anticipate any kind of shared cultural experience, now more than ever.

Luckily, the network listened. The first two episodes of The Last Dance, which chronicles Jordan’s final championship season, with the 1998 Chicago Bulls, debut on the network on Sunday, April 19. On each of the following four Sundays, a pair of new episodes will premiere on ESPN; the series will stream on Netflix outside the U.S. starting on April 20. Through previously unaired footage captured from a crew embedded with Air Jordan and the Bulls that 1997–1998 season, and fresh interviews with all the major characters—including Jordan, his running mate Scottie Pippen, coach Phil Jackson and Dennis Rodman, who went on a team-sanctioned bender in Las Vegas with then girlfriend Carmen Electra in order to clear his head a bit—The Last Dance offers raw, rare insight into a team that became the subject of global obsession. (Game 6 of the 1998 NBA Finals, in which Jordan’s final shot in a Bulls uniform clinched Chicago’s third straight championship and sixth in eight years, remains the most-watched NBA game in history, having averaged 35.6 million viewers.)

For a generation of fans who never witnessed Jordan or those Bulls teams live, the film will serve as a satisfying crash course on the MJ mystique. And while amateur Jordan scholars probably won’t discover any new bombshells, at least in the eight episodes available to the media, the project offers all viewers a useful reminder: Jordan’s career arc was unfathomably bizarre. He first retired in his prime after his father’s tragic murder, shifted to playing baseball—baseball!—then took a second forced retirement after ’98 because Bulls executives, for some still inexplicable reason, felt inclined to break up a team that did nothing but win and thrill the globe. If Jordan existed in today’s Twitter-mad, media-saturated world, the unstable Internet would have already lost its collective mind.

Ron Frehm—APMichael Jordan scores 55 points vs. New York, while wearing No. 45, upon returning to the NBA in 1995.

Moving the documentary up a month and a half to appease the quarantined masses added some logistical challenges. The final two episodes aren’t done yet, and the production crew is working remotely to see it to the finish. Before the pandemic, director Jason Hehir compared the edit process to preparing Thanksgiving dinner, where he could be in the kitchen communicating with people preparing different portions of the meal. “Now, instead, they have to send me the potatoes, send me the carrots, send me the turkey via messenger,” says Hehir. “Then I can taste and tell them what I want it to be. It’s a more roundabout process.” One of the most crucial interviews—with Utah Jazz point guard John Stockton, a key Bulls foil in the 1997 and 1998 Finals—was conducted in Spokane, Wash. in early March, just before the outbreak shut down the state and the rest of the country.

Going into the 1997–98 season, Bulls management hinted that the team’s dynasty was nearing its end. So Andy Thompson, then a field producer for NBA Entertainment—and uncle of current Golden State Warriors star Klay Thompson—thought this final campaign should be recorded for posterity. But the league needed buy-in from Jordan. An up-and-coming NBA exec, current commissioner Adam Silver, pitched the idea to Jordan; he could sign off on how the footage was ultimately used. At the very least, Silver told Jordan, he’d have the most amazing collection of home movies for his kids.

The NBA shot more than 500 hours, a haul that sports documentarians had been lusting after for nearly two decades. At the 2016 NBA All-Star Game in Toronto, producer Michael Tollin, co-chairman of Mandalay Sports Media, met with Jordan’s reps. Tollin pitched the project not as a documentary but as an event. The market for long-form epics was taking off: OJ: Made in America, the multipart doc that would go on to win an Oscar, had just debuted at Sundance. (With the continued rise of streaming services that give the films a bingeable home after airing, the demand for such docs has only grown.) Jordan, assured that the project would offer breathing room to share his full story, signed on.

Although Jordan had a hand in the project—two of his longtime business managers, Curtis Polk and Estee Portnoy, are executive producers—The Last Dance doesn’t feel too sanitized. Turns out, he’s the Michael Jordan of documentary interviewees: the best talking head in the film, honest, conversational, unafraid to unfurl profanities. We see Jordan at his most petty, like in archival footage when he pokes fun at the height and weight of diminutive Bulls general manager Jerry Krause, with whom Jordan feuded for years. (Krause died in 2017.) In one interview, ex–Bulls center Will Perdue calls him an “a–hole,” before in the next breath acknowledging Jordan was a “hell of a teammate” for pushing Chicago to greatness.

Jordan defends his ruthless motivational methods. “Look, winning has a price, leadership has a price,” he says during one interview in The Last Dance. “You ask all my teammates—one thing about Michael Jordan was he never asked me to do something he didn’t f-cking do.” The film cuts to a montage of Jordan lifting weights and running sprints. Still, Jordan tears up, a middle-aged man conflicted by his past. For once, many can relate to him.

Jeff Haynes—AFP via Getty ImagesMichael Jordan celebrates his sixth, and final, title with coach Phil Jackson in 1998; both soon leave the Bulls.

The Last Dance also takes on the controversies, like Jordan’s penchant for gambling and aversion to politics. He famously refused to endorse Harvey Gantt, the African-American Democrat from Jordan’s home state of North Carolina, in his 1990 Senate race against conservative Republican Jesse Helms, who opposed the Martin Luther King Day holiday. “Republicans buy sneakers too,” said Jordan, whose Nike Air Jordan sneakers launched the concept of sports marketing into the stratosphere. (In the film, Jordan insists he made the statement in jest.) Even Barack Obama, an unabashed Bulls fan, admits to the filmmakers he wished Jordan had publicly backed Gantt.

Jordan’s defense: activism’s just not in his nature. He was too focused on his craft. “Was that selfish? Probably,” he admits. “But that’s where my energy was.”

While The Last Dance deserves credit for exploring this part of Jordan’s legacy, the section still feels like short shrift, given the emergence of social activism among today’s sports stars. What does Jordan think of modern athlete engagement? How do today’s stars, LeBron James and others, view Jordan’s neutrality? These questions go unanswered. Even in a documentary covering the late 1990s—and even amid a pandemic where politics has taken a back seat to more serious chaos—placing Jordan in a contemporary context feels not only appropriate, but crucial.

Such nitpicking, however, counts as part of the fun. And we sure can use a little of that. No Michael Jordan treatment, even one as comprehensive as The Last Dance, will leave everyone entirely fulfilled. Viewers can look forward to weekly debates about the documentary’s merits and shortcomings. Whether it’s during his playing days, his retirement years or a still surreal quarantine, His Airness is always worth talking about. Even from a social distance, it turns out, Michael Jordan can bring us together.

via https://cutslicedanddiced.wordpress.com/2018/01/24/how-to-prevent-food-from-going-to-waste

[lovediva013]

Steph Curry and Klay Thompson Splash Brothers shirt

Browne says he was Steph Curry and Klay Thompson Splash Brothers shirt . inspired first and foremost by the female form. “I designed this dress for Cardi specifically because she has the ultimate beauty in a woman’s body, and that is what the dress is about for me: taking advantage of that beauty,” the designer says. In spite of its full coverage, the dress really does emphasize certain areas—there are yonic embellishments, a heart-shaped cutout on the backside, and 44-carat ruby nipples, custom-designed by Stefere Jewerly, which cost a whopping. Only Cardi could manage to show no skin yet still draw attention to every single body part.Katy Perry always embraces the Met Gala’s themes with gusto. As music’s queen of kitsch, she lives to interpret an offbeat concept and her frequent collaborations with Moschino designer Jeremy Scott have yielded some of the wildest Met fashion moments in recent memory. Still, she may have outdone herself this year by arriving on the carpet dressed as a giant crystal chandelier complete with glowing lights. Steph Curry and Klay Thompson Splash Brothers shirt, hoodie, sweater, longsleeve and ladies t-shirt

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Steph Curry and Klay Thompson Splash Brothers Unisex The over-the-top outfit had onlookers reaching for their iPhones in an attempt to capture what could be the night’s most unexpected look Steph Curry and Klay Thompson Splash Brothers shirt .For its creator, the decision to light up the carpet quite literally was an obvious one. “Who has ever been to a ball that did not have a chandelier?!,” shared Scott. “The idea of elegance itself is quite camp and I wanted to play with that concept, poke a lil fun at it with a loving nudge.”As one can imagine, bringing this radical idea to life required serious skill. “The look is extremely complicated, perhaps my most complicated creation to date!” said Scott whose team spent 6 weeks painstakingly placing thousands of Swarovski crystals onto the dress before hanging actual chandelier pieces from the Swarovski’s lighting branch for added authenticity. All the effort would have been in vain if Perry’s look didn’t have a final touch of magic: a working light fixture beneath the layers of sparkle. “There is a built-in corset consisting of 18 steel bones and two hidden battery packs to illuminate the lights,” said Scott, “I mean who wants to wear a chandelier that doesn't light up!”With a personal spotlight to brighten her strut up the steps of Metropolitan Museum of Art, Perry was at her exuberant best. Not to be outdone, Scott gave the crowds disco dapper in his crystal-encrusted suit and together they were a perfectly matched pair. After years of collaborating, Scott considers the star his partner in crime. “Working with Katy is always fun because she really gets my humor and can play with it like nobody else and even amp it up a few notches,” he says noting her meticulous knowledge of his oeuvre and fearlessness. “I could not have dreamt up a better muse if I had created her in a test tube at a lab!” You Can See More Product: https://hottrendtees.com/product-category/trending/ Read the full article

[karenuse54-blog]

How will the Bulls advance with LaVine, Markkanen and Dunn back?

So is Friday the first day of the rest of the Bulls life? Coffee mug slogan anyone?

Will the game with the Washington Wizards be A3R? And everything that came before being B3R?

You know, After the Three Returned and Before the Three Returned.

"It's new," Bulls coach Jim Boylen said Thursday about starting the organization's proposed Big Three for the first time this season. "What have they had, 278 minutes together (in two years)? Something like that. It's going to take some adjusting. It's going to take some feel. It's going to take some respect, but also some assertiveness.

"I'm excited," Boylen added. "We don't know what's out there yet. I do know that it's going to come down to sharing and caring and uplifting each other. I looked at some of the numbers from other teams. (Kevin) Durant wasn't the leading scorer for Golden State last year every game. Klay Thompson wasn't the leading scorer for that team. I'm not comparing our team to theirs. I'm just comparing you're not going to have the same leading scorer every night if you have a good team. You have guys that are feeding the hot hand. You have to have guys that are working the right matchup. You have to have guys that are executing and unselfish. That's what we're going to try to do. But if your heart's pure and your soul's with the team, it'll work out for us."

Getting the ball in the basket probably will help more, but Zach LaVine, Lauri Markkanen and Kris Dunn all have demonstrated they can do that.

Unfortunately since the Bulls acquired them in the franchise-altering trade for Jimmy Butler, it's been primarily not together.

Last season, it was LaVine recovering from his ACL surgery into January, after which Dunn suffered a severe concussion. They combined to play 11 games together last season, a season in which LaVine admits he never was fully recovered from his injury and sat out the last month with tendinitis. The team was 4-7 in those 11 games.

This season opened with first Markkanen suffering an elbow injury in training camp and then Dunn a knee injury. Neither played until into December, and then when they were ready to start, LaVine suffered an ankle injury. LaVine came off the bench in Wednesday's loss to the Minnesota Timberwolves, but Boylen said LaVine will return to the starting lineup Friday against the skidding Wizards.

"I do know that it's going to come down to sharing and caring and uplifting each other... You have to have guys that are executing and unselfish. That's what we're going to try to do. But if your heart's pure and your soul's with the team, it'll work out for us." - Jim Boylen

"That stat I saw online that we only played 11 games together was crazy, so it's unfortunate circumstances that happened. But we have to get chemistry down," said LaVine. "We have to learn how to play with each other, our moves, our spots, when somebody is hot go to them. You have to learn that and it doesn't come with just practicing; it comes with games. So it's going to be a process and we have to get it down soon. We will figure it out.

"We're good enough (the trio)," LaVine insisted. "Individually we're all extremely talented. We just have to put it together as a group and a unit. But it's not going to get easier. You've got Washington competing for a playoff spot, the No. 1 team in the East with Toronto (on the current road trip). We have to go out and compete and come together."

So for the Bulls, Friday really is the first day to start learning if there is a working core for the team to move forward.

All have shown flashes this season of even All-Star potential, LaVine especially.

He is averaging 23.9 points per game, which is in the NBA's top 15 scorers. He has demonstrated an uncanny ability to make tough shots, better than anyone on the roster, and is the most adept at making individual one-on-one plays. It shouldn't be discounted. Many NBA games come down to that, and there aren't any successful teams without that kind of player. He came off the bench the best player in the game for the Bulls Wednesday, scoring 28 points in 26 minutes.

Markkanen is underutilized at times because he plays so unselfishly; often too unselfishly. But he is the best pure shooter on the team and a natural matchup nightmare with an ability to shoot over players inside and take bigger players outside and then drive past them. He was coming off back to back 30-plus scoring games coming into the Timberwolves game when he had a quiet 16 points, which led the starters.

Dunn, in some respects, had the most pressure given his role as point guard and questions about his shooting. But he has flirted with triple doubles the last three games—within three assists and two rebounds each game—playing a well-rounded game with an accurate mid range jump shot that has been the best on the team and with an ability to finish at the rim even against taller players and defend on the perimeter.

Now will they fit together? Can they?

"What I talk about is when Kris Dunn has the ball that means two of our more talented guys, Zach and Lauri, don't," Boylen noted. "So when they don't have the ball, they have to honor their assignments off the ball. Maybe it's running the lane. Maybe it's screening. Maybe it's spacing appropriately. Maybe it's forceful cutting. Maybe it's making an open three on penetration when his man helps. I just talk to them about their obligation to the team and to each other. When they do possess (the ball), it's about decision making, creating situations. Each of them has to be a creator at times and a receiver at times. That's where we've got to grow. That's what we have to do better as a group is understanding that role at that time and executing. We'll see how we do."

Not that everything flows from the Warriors, but it's clear Steph Curry, Thompson and Durant aren't personally close. Curry is a family man with children and they aren't. They probably don't socialize that much, but they are basketball players who meld. Michael Jordan and Scottie Pippen were not close off the court, but they respected one another and learned how to work together. What was most important was that each had the talent. That's where it starts, and without that it's just a lot of guys trying hard with limited results.

"It's hard to find chemistry," LaVine acknowledged. "I think there's an understanding of a pecking order, but I think it has to be a team concept, too. I think we all know who we are and who each other is, but I don't think anybody is just like, ‘Hey look, I'm the No. 1 guy, nobody else can say so.' I don't think we have a team like that, have personalities like that.

"I think Lauri and Kris got more in common. I don't got a kid right now, so I think they can bond a little bit more than me," said LaVine. "We're all cool and everything like that. It's just you gotta get it together on the court. In a perfect world, we're all really good friends, so everything should be real easy. But nothing is made that way; you gotta work at it. I don't think we've had the correct time to work at it, but we have to get it done regardless because you start evaluating things like that eventually. Pretty much every team has a core three, two or three main players. I know we're all talented enough individually; we just have to do it together."

They've only just begun; Start out walkin' and learn to run; Sharing horizons that they hope to foresee; Takin' over one, two, three; Yes, they've only just begun.

Source: https://www.nba.com/bulls/gameday/how-will-bulls-advance-lavine-markkanen-and-dunn-back

[jeramymobley]

Tissot Launches Basketball Concept Store in NYC

Tissot has opened a new concept store in New York City to highlight its National Basketball Association partnership and passion for the game.

Tissot has opened a fourth boutique in New York City. Situated in Midtown, the concept store celebrates the brand’s role as official watch and timekeeper of the National Basketball Association. The physical location aims to embody the style and performance attributes representative of the sport.

Spanning 2,800 square feet, the Tissot space features a wall of multi-coloured basketballs and mannequins dresses in uniforms from the watchmaker’s nine NBA team partnerships. In addition, photos of its athlete partners like Tony Parker, Klay Thompson, and Trae Young grace the venue’s interiors.

Meanwhile, fans are welcome to watch an NBA game on large television screens or try to beat the clock in the mixed Tissot Buzzer Beater reality game, a feature debuting at the NBA All-Star 2019 before arriving at the new store. Also, a custom art installation will soon find a permanent spot there.

“This is a departure from our traditional merchandising strategy but with our continued partnership and passion around the NBA, we wanted to harness that power to showcase our brand in a new light. We have seen a tremendous response so far from fans,” said François Thiébaud, President of Tissot.

The article Tissot Launches Basketball Concept Store in NYC appeared first on World Branding Forum.

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How to save the 2018-19 NBA season

The Boston Celtics began the season because the favorites to win the Japanese Convention. After a disappointing 11-10 begin, many followers have hit the panic button. The Celtics have to make strikes to avoid wasting their season.

The Boston Celtics are ready that few, if any, predicted they’d be in at the start the season. In actual fact, they opened the season within the prime two of just about each energy rating out there on the worldwide internet.

It’s no marvel expectations have been so lofty, after a playoff run wherein an injured Celtics roster continually exceeded expectations with out two of their All-Stars in Kyrie Irving and Gordon Hayward. The emergences of Jaylen Brown, Jayson Tatum, and Terry Rozier in that playoff run additional bolstered an already loaded roster. Even LeBron James vacated the East, and seemingly blew open a path for Boston to make the Finals.

But 21 video games into the season, the Celtics only one recreation above .500 and have misplaced eight of their final 13. With the Four-15 Cleveland Cavaliers on deck, and a stretch of video games wherein the Celtics will play seven straight with out going through an opponent above .500, it’s time to avoid wasting the season. This can be a blueprint for the way.

Commerce Terry Rozier

A lot has been stated in regards to the Celtics needing to make a commerce. No, there gained’t be a commerce for Anthony Davis this season, however that doesn’t imply the Celtics can’t make a transfer. Frankly, Terry Rozier ought to be the man on the block.

Buying and selling Rozier isn’t a lot about return as it’s eliminating a participant who has been a plague on the second unit this season. A season in the past, Rozier made a reputation for himself filling in for Kyrie, placing up 15.6 factors and 5.1 assists in 33.Three minutes per recreation on .381/.389/.750 taking pictures splits as a starter in Kyrie’s place.

Rozier’s play obtained even higher within the playoffs, as he averaged 16.5 factors and 5.7 assists in 36.6 minutes per recreation on .406/.347/.821 taking pictures. His emergence was so putting, some pundits even puzzled if the Celtics ought to commerce Kyrie within the offseason.

Fortunately, the Celtics retained their star level guard, and Rozier was relegated to a bench position. He hasn’t precisely been thriving within the Celtics second unit, as he’s posting the worst taking pictures splits in his profession as a sixth man at .370/.351/.708, whereas additionally taking extra pictures than he ever has off the bench. At instances it’s felt like Rozier’s shot choice has broken the power for different rotation gamers to discover a rhythm on offense.

Extra telling than simply his shot choice and taking pictures, the complete staff falters on offense when Rozier is on the court docket. Per NBA.com, the Celtics put up an offensive ranking of simply 97.9 when he’s on the ground, which is nice for the worst ranking amongst common gamers on the roster. Conversely, when Rozier is off the ground, Boston’ offensive ranking rises 108.Four, which is a staff excessive.

In actual fact, the one staff offensive ranking in the identical stratosphere as when Rozier is off the ground is the Celtics’ 107.9 ranking when Kyrie is on the ground.

Buying and selling Scary Terry is just not a query of including a giant man or getting again a choose. It’s a query of placing Rozier and the Celtics each in the very best place to succeed. It’s turning into extra clear by the day that his emergence as a starter a season in the past has broken his skill-set as a rotational participant, and the Celtics ought to enable him to turn out to be a starter elsewhere.

Make open pictures

This sounds foolish, as a result of it’s so apparent, but it surely has been the worst facet of Boston’s offense this season. The Celtics, and particularly Jayson Tatum, have come beneath hearth for a penchant of taking lengthy 2-point pictures and never attacking the rim sufficient. It’s true the Celtics have the second-fewest factors within the paint within the league, but it surely’s laborious to fault them for making an attempt open pictures.

The Celtics have an efficient discipline purpose proportion of simply 56 % on “vast open” pictures, per NBA.com, good for 14th within the league. The flip facet is that they’ve the second-most “vast open” makes an attempt at 24.Zero per recreation. In addition they lead the league in “open” makes an attempt, whereas changing solely 40.5 % of these makes an attempt, good for 27th within the affiliation.

Exterior of Marcus Morris and Kyrie Irving, who’ve an efficient discipline purpose proportion of 74.5 % and 73.Zero % on “vast open” makes an attempt, respectively, the Celtics have been remarkably inefficient on these makes an attempt. Solely 4 gamers have a Three-point proportion over 40 % on “vast open” makes an attempt, regardless of Boston boasting a beginning lineup of 5 gamers who shot 40 % from Three-point land of their earlier full seasons.

The regulation of averages would appear to dictate that in some unspecified time in the future, the Celtics’ pictures will begin falling. Nevertheless, 21 video games is a fairly respectable pattern dimension, and it’s surprising that they’ve solely three gamers on the roster posting percentages above 40 on Three-point makes an attempt.

This is the reason Boston’s offense has been so irritating this season. They lead the league in shot high quality, however rank within the bottom-five in offensive effectivity. They rank eighth in help proportion, however have had many extra help alternatives fall to the wayside as they shoot simply 44.9 % on catch-and-shoot alternatives. Merely put, if the Celtics have been hitting open pictures, they may moderately be within the vary of the Toronto Raptors’ win complete atop the Japanese Convention.

It’s vital to notice the Celtics, and head coach Brad Stevens, made enhancements in offensive effectivity of their newest effort towards the New Orleans Pelicans. Boston posted an offensive ranking of 125.Three in that contest on the again of a really prime quality Three-point taking pictures night time. The staff’s newest efficiency leads instantly into the following level.

Play Jaylen Brown off the bench

Jaylen Brown has gotten off to probably the most disappointing begin of any Celtic but this season, with the notable exception of Terry Rozier. The staff’s internet ranking with Brown on the ground checks in at -2.Three, the worst internet ranking of any starter or common participant on the staff. Like Rozier, the web ranking when Brown is on the bench rises to a team-high +7.Three.

Apparently, the Celtics’ best offensive efficiency of the season got here towards the Pelicans in a recreation wherein Brown sat out because of damage. The open spot within the lineup was stuffed by Marcus Good, who Kyrie praised for bettering the staff’s mentality on each side of the ground.

A big a part of the rationale has been Brown’s propensity to shoot the basketball almost each time he touches it. He has the second-lowest help proportion of any participant on the roster (not simply common rotation) whereas posting the third-highest shot makes an attempt.

The shot attempt-to-pass ratio wouldn’t be so disturbing if Brown have been taking part in successfully as a catch-and-shoot participant, a la Klay Thompson. Nevertheless, Brown is taking the third-most pictures on the staff regardless of only a 39.eight % mark from the sector. Worse but, he’s launching the fourth-most Three-pointers whereas hitting on solely 25 % of these alternatives.

Once more, these issues could be excusable if Brown have been performing in different areas, however sadly, he’s off to a poor begin all over the place. He has typically appeared misplaced, or on the very least extraordinarily beatable, on the defensive facet of the ground, and is posting a profession worst -Four.Zero field plus/minus as a starter.

Brad Stevens has made waves in his lineup by shifting Gordon Hayward into the second unit, however it might be time to place Brown on the bench as nicely. In actual fact, the Celtics have a wing participant in Semi Ojeleye who has displayed excessive versatility and poise in restricted minutes.

Not solely has Ojeleye displayed the power to protect a number of the greatest gamers within the league, as he performed respectable protection on Giannis Antetokounmpo and LeBron James throughout final yr’s playoffs, however he additionally has constructive results on the staff when on the ground.

The Celtics’ Three-point proportion is at its highest when Ojeleye is within the recreation. Likewise, in 141 minutes, Boston’s internet ranking rises from -Zero.2 to +12.Four when he will get on the parquet. When Brown is at his greatest, he’s a greater choice than Ojeleye, however in the meanwhile there aren’t actually worse choices than Brown.

Stevens opted to go together with an Irving-Good-Tatum-Morris-Al Horford beginning 5 in New Orleans, and it may not be a foul concept to keep it up. In 52 minutes this season, that lineup is posting an offensive ranking of 125.7 on an efficient discipline purpose proportion of 60.1. It’s the best lineup the Celtics have fielded for at the least 30 minutes this season.

Not solely is their newest beginning 5 displaying effectivity offensively, however they’re additionally posting a second-best 96.6 defensive ranking, which is nice for the very best internet ranking of any lineup Boston has fielded usually this season.

The Celtics have a protracted strategy to go, and there are nonetheless 61 video games left to play. Nevertheless, 21 video games is an inexpensive pattern dimension, and 11-10 is definitely not the place this staff anticipated or wished to be.

Subsequent: Week 7 NBA Energy Rankings

Brad Stevens displayed a willingness to make changes towards the Pelicans. He could be smart to proceed to take action. With a slate of much less aggressive opponents arising, there isn’t any higher time than now to experiment.

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from SpicyNBAChili.com http://spicymoviechili.spicynbachili.com/how-to-save-the-2018-19-nba-season/

[junker-town]

The Warriors trade for Andrew Wiggins was not about Andrew Wiggins

Photo by Thearon W. Henderson/Getty Images

The Warriors’ window for contention cracked open even further after the trade with the Timberwolves.

After five straight years reshaping how the NBA is played, the Golden State Warriors are a sleeping giant in the middle of a much deserved nap. Last week they traded D’Angelo Russell, Jacob Evans, and Omari Spellman to the Minnesota Timberwolves for Andrew Wiggins, a 2021 top-three protected first-round pick, and a 2021 second-round pick. The move flapped open one of their eyelids like a window shade.

The Warriors are currently the worst team in the league. Their offense is vomit and their leading scorer is a 23-year-old rookie named Eric Paschall, who’s averaging 13.4 points per game. But for those who might have forgotten, Steph Curry, Klay Thompson, and Draymond Green will all be healthy next season. They now also have Wiggins, a positional upgrade over Russell who contradicts the cerebral persona that best fits Golden State’s system.

Most coverage of the deal has centered around the players involved, which is natural but, as we’ll eventually get to, besides the point. It’s OK to think Wiggins will bundle up inside the Bay Area’s auspicious basketball preserve and finally learn how to maximize elements of his limitless potential that would’ve forever gone untapped in Minnesota. Even though winning has been a foreign concept, the Timberwolves were better with Wiggins on the court in every single season of his career heading into this one. What the Warriors will now do is introduce the former No. 1 pick to a different slice of NBA life, where great expectations are annually overshadowed by tangible achievement. Who knows, maybe Wiggins was miscast from the start?

From the Warriors’ perspective, it’s also fair to wonder how much of this deal was about ego. Golden State is seemingly betting on its culture to rehabilitate the NBA’s most expensive lost cause. Even if they end up being wrong, it’s OK for the Warriors to try and milk, if not all-star potential, a useful two-way cog who elevates those around him by making smart decisions and efficient shots while finally understanding that possessions don’t exist just so he can take them for granted. They are precious.

Wiggins receives more criticism than any player who’s scored over 8,700 points before their 25th birthday — with good reason, considering only nine other players are in that club and they’re all either in the Hall of Fame or headed there someday — because there are no easy ways to explain why he can’t be great. He’s his own worst enemy, a tragic antihero who’s selfishness blends with frustrating indifference. Wiggins is an objectively talented solo act who doesn’t know how to sacrifice, let alone express a willingness to try.

Golden State’s front office wasn’t born yesterday, though. They know how hard it was to reach the NBA Finals with Kevin Durant, the two hottest shooters who ever lived, and a defender who forever changed defensive strategy. The denouement of their dynastic run will not be dictated by a player who epitomizes disappointment. Bob Myers is not delusional and Wiggins is not the answer; picturing him in the Finals wearing a Warriors jersey is like seeing a penguin in the Sahara. As one rival executive risibly texted one day after the trade when I asked about the viability of this new relationship, “Maybe Kerr can help Wiggins find joy.”

To that end it, factoring in the three years and $95 million that remain on his contract, Wiggins will not be remembered as the most consequential part of this deal. Sure, it’d be a boon for the Warriors if measurable strides were made, though filling a void left by Harrison Barnes ignores the irreplaceable contributions made by Andre Iguodala and Shaun Livingston, let alone the age, wear, and tear of Golden State’s remaining Hall of Fame trio. It’s too hard to fathom a world where he helps an all-time juggernaut find its legs. This team must evolve, not chase their own ghosts.

Instead, it’s Minnesota’s 2021 first-round pick, the honey-dipped asset that every contender wishes it had, that I can’t stop thinking about. It’s no coincidence that this was the only future first that changed hands last week. They’re priceless for small market teams (like Minnesota) that can’t attract top-tier talent in free agency. When a pick like that is originally owned by a team that’s still rebuilding, with zero cap flexibility, an infestation of inexperience, and either James Johnson or Josh Okigie as their best defender, it becomes a diamond. (This may not matter, but it being unprotected in 2022 is a low-key stunner.)

Now, all is not entirely hopeless in Minnesota. Russell and Karl-Anthony Towns are all-star talents who will give birth to an unanswerable pick-and-roll, and if Towns finally treats his defensive responsibilities with the seriousness they deserve, the pick’s value drops. When the Brooklyn Nets make the playoffs Minnesota also receives their pick, giving them two first rounders in this year’s draft. Their own has a 12.5 percent chance of being No. 1 and a 48.1 percent chance of landing in the top four; perhaps they move one or both for a player who can help them win sooner than later, or even select a prospect capable of giving the organization a B-12 shot next season.

All that’s possible but not very likely because the Timberwolves have been bad for approximately one million years. Since they picked Kevin Love fifth overall back in 2008, they’ve had five top-five selections, not including Jarrett Culver, who they traded up to take at six last June.

The Warriors now add that pick to all their own — Golden State does owe the Memphis Grizzlies a top-four protected pick, but not until 2024 — and assuming they Curry, Thompson, and Green pick up where they left off there’s a good chance all of them will be shopped, if not as picks then as invaluable rookie-scale contracts.

Even though no clear path to trading for a key contributor can be seen today, what happens over the next year is anybody’s guess. The NBA’s future is a total crapshoot, at the whim of impatient owners, insatiable stars, and desperate front offices. Moves that seem unfathomable at the moment will be made, and the Warriors are positioned to lure someone significant.

What if the Washington Wizards are lottery-bound again next year, and before the deadline Bradley Beal discloses a desire to leave. Would Washington take Wiggins (who’d only have two years left on his own max contract) if tethered to whoever Golden State picks in this year’s draft plus that Minnesota pick? Another team may be able to present a better offer, but how many would also be confident enough to re-sign Beal when he hits free agency in 2022?

What if the Sixers are finally ready to pull the plug on either Ben Simmons or Joel Embiid? Or the Houston Rockets implode and a lifeline is offered for James Harden? Or Rudy Gobert gets upset because the Utah Jazz aren’t willing to give him the super max? Or Victor Oladipo starts to feel out of place in Indiana and the Pacers fear he’ll test free agency? Or, in an all-time best-case scenario — assuming Golden State doesn’t drift above the tax apron — Giannis Antetokounmpo is willing to take a pay cut and agree to a sign-and-trade?

Yes, some of those read like a pipe dream, completely unrealistic in a world where Wiggins is static. But let’s momentarily ignore him altogether and take things down to a less glitzy reality, one where the Warriors exchange unproven assets for more established prospects — even extension candidates who may reach an impasse with their current team. Think Lauri Markkanen, John Collins, Luke Kennard, or Jarrett Allen. These are expensive propositions, sure, but ducking the tax this year allows them to avoid the repeater.

Down the line, Wiggins’ contract may be intriguing salary filler when attached to another asset. What about teams that may suddenly need to change direction, like, say, the Milwaukee Bucks, if Antetokounmpo wants to play for the Miami Heat (him choosing Bam Adebayo with his second pick in the all-star draft was ... something?). Golden State could go after Khris Middleton. They could pounce on Nikola Vucevic or Tobias Harris or Jrue Holiday. What about Buddy Hield?

The Warriors might also look around the Western Conference and think what they have is good enough to contend. They draft someone like James Wiseman then tinker around the margins with exceptions that can actually land a meaningful player or two, given the dearth of cap space and favorable destinations in this year’s marketplace.

From there, assuming Minnesota’s pick lands in the top 10, let’s say they keep it and find another young gem. (Easier said than done, but I’m a glass-half-full type of guy and am not about to stop thinking Golden State’s front office isn’t one of the NBA’s best.) Suddenly the Warriors can straddle two functional timelines, and may be able to stiff arm the harsh rebuild every regime inevitably sees on the other side of extravagant success. All that’s too far down the road for speculation, but it’s worth thinking about.

Point being: the Warriors are not in a bad spot. Even without the pick, their ceiling with Wiggins is probably higher than it would’ve been with Russell. With it, they have endless options to explore over the next 18 months, and a better chance to scale a mountain top they used to live on. If they return, we’ll look back on this trade as the move that kick started it all. And there’s a very good chance Minnesota’s draft pick is the first reason why.

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#Nike'Spicy'PizzaHut 25 Spicy' Things You Didn’t Know About Pizza Chili' Hut

Oh, Pizza Hut. America’s largest pizza chain is also one of its most dynamic, with wild menu items all over the world, various concepts that have come and gone, and an eagerness to embrace the most modern of technology. But before it became the ubiquitous chain it is today, it was just another small business founded by two guys with a dream. Here are 25 things you didn’t know about Pizza Hut. Pizza Hut’s beginnings were about as humble as you can imagine. College-age brothers Dan and Frank Carney borrowed $600 from their mother and opened a pizza restaurant near Wichita State University on May 31, 1958, at the suggestion of a local real estate agent who was looking to rent a former bar and convinced them that pizza would be a good concept. Neither brother had any restaurant experience, but they quickly got the hang of it. Business was soon booming. The first franchise opened in Topeka in 1959, and a later franchise in Aggieville, Kansas, became one of the first fast food restaurants to offer delivery, revolutionizing the industry and leading to even greater success, with 4,000 outlets in operation across the country by the time the Carney brothers sold the business to PepsiCo in 1977. They’re both still alive (and very wealthy); Frank Carney is ironically a major Papa John’s franchisee today. Today, Pizza Hut is a subsidiary of Yum Brands, which also owns chains including Taco Bell and KFC, and there are nearly 17,000 locations worldwide. There have been several spinoffs introduced in recent years with marying success, including an upscale one called Pizza Hut Bistro, small storefronts called Pizza Hut Express that only sell a limited menu, and “Red Roof” stand-alone restaurants that have a full bar, a lunch buffet, a jukebox, and occasionally even an arcade. Whether some of your best childhood memories take place in those old-school full-service Pizza Huts or your only experience with them has been some late-night greasy slices, there’s a lot we bet you didn’t know about this huge fast food chain. Read on for 25 unexpected facts about Pizza Hut. https://www.msn.com/en-us/foodanddrink/restaurantsandnews/25-things-you-didn%E2%80%99t-know-about-pizza-hut/ss-AAxnpK0

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#Nike'Spicy'PizzaHut 25 Spicy' Things You Didn’t Know About Pizza Chili' Hut

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How Dwyane Wade opened a path to China for young NBA players

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How Dwyane Wade opened a path to China for young NBA players

1:49 PM ET

Nick DePaulaESPN

4:31

Dwyane Wade sits down with Nick DePaula and opens up about his global reach and his return to Miami.

As he looked out into the Beijing crowd of thousands gathered to see him officially sign on to endorse one of China’s very first sportswear brands, an overwhelmed Dwyane Wade could muster only one thought.

Whoa, this is big.

In 2012, the former Finals MVP and Chicago native was fresh off of his second NBA championship, but he was leaving the familiarity of Jordan Brand for a company nearly 8,000 miles away from Miami. He had seen the brand’s founder and namesake, Li Ning, light the Olympic torch in the same city just four years earlier during the 2008 Summer Games, and here he was, alongside China’s celebrated former Olympic gymnast to announce his new 10-year endorsement deal.

“You think you know what you’re signing up for, and you think you know the vision that you have, but looking around, it was like, ‘This can be something special,'” Wade said recently.

NBA stars such as Shaquille O’Neal and Kevin Garnett had signed on with Chinese brands in years prior, but toward the end of their careers and as big men — a group that has long struggled to captivate the American sneaker-buying market. Never before had a superstar guard who still had a robust domestic sneaker market available to him made the move to a Chinese shoe at the height of his career.

Wade had been the face of the annual Air Jordan shoe — a dream-like endorsement deal for a 2-guard who grew up idolizing Michael Jordan — but Li-Ning offered a 10-year pact worth more than $8 million per year with additional incentives and royalties in tow. Ultimately, the financial offer and a market featuring more than 300 million active basketball players was too massive to overlook.

“They have more players playing than we have people living in the U.S.,” Wade said.

It’s a move that has made waves through the signature-sneaker industry in the years since, drawing the attention of young NBA players who are navigating their own endorsement deals and branding opportunities. There are now more than a dozen players with endorsement deals with the three major Chinese manufacturers (Li-Ning, Anta and Peak), most of them guards — a significant shift from a decade ago.

Word of mouth matters throughout the NBA, and it didn’t take long for the concept of doing a Chinese shoe deal to gain traction. A year after Wade signed, Rajon Rondo agreed to a six-year deal with Anta, following in the footsteps of teammate Kevin Garnett, who landed with the company in 2010 after his Adidas deal was up.

When Golden State Warriors sharpshooter Klay Thompson received an offer from Anta the following summer, his agent at the time, Bill Duffy, suggested he reach out to Rondo, a fellow BDA Sports client, for feedback.

“Wait till you go out there,” Rondo told Thompson. “They’ll show you so much love.”

“At first, you know, you’re skeptical,” Thompson said. “Then, you come over [to China] and you see it firsthand, how much these people love hoops.”

Known for his deadpan personality, the Warriors’ 3-point ace fielded initial offers in 2014 from a variety of companies when his rookie deal with Nike was expiring. Anta offered $2 million per year and promised his own sneaker by the following season, along with royalties from the sale of every pair.

“I knew with the other brands in the States, whether it was Nike or Adidas, it was going to be tough for me to get a signature shoe,” Thompson said. “I knew with Anta, I would have so much input creatively. I was going to hopefully be the Michael Jordan one day of Anta.”

Klay Thompson has used his endorsement deal with Anta to raise his profile in China, touring the nation annually each summer. VCG/Getty Images

In his first four seasons with Nike, Thompson simply wore the latest edition of the brand’s Hyperdunk model in Warriors colors. Early on, Anta looked to incorporate him into the process more than ever before.

“We actually asked Klay to build a shoe by himself so that he can understand how Anta builds his shoe and the attention and the quality that goes into it to help his performance and fit his needs,” said Ben Tsai, Anta’s basketball footwear director.

“I didn’t know how hard it was to design a shoe until I tried to give input,” Thompson said. “There’s a lot of creative minds out there — I wasn’t one of ’em.”

After launching his first two “KT” shoes, just as Thompson rose to All-Star status and the Warriors became a championship team, the two sides tore up his contract early and signed a new decade-long extension that could run through 2026.

“Knowing that I could be really big in China — that was really cool to me,” he said. “The shoe market sometimes is overflooded in the States, and I thought, ‘Well, why not branch out and be global?'”

With incentive clauses, the total value of the extension mirrors Wade’s 10-year contract and could pay Thompson as much as $80 million. Anta has 8,000 stores of its own and is expecting to sell millions of KT sneakers in Asia, along with signature apparel items and additional KT lifestyle shoes in the coming years.

The contracts for Wade and Thompson caught the eye of the rest of the NBA, paving a new route for endorsements in China. Stateside brands such as Nike, Under Armour and Adidas usually reserve contracts of that size to perennial MVP candidates such as LeBron James, Kevin Durant, Stephen Curry and James Harden.

Dwyane Wade left Jordan Brand for China-based Li-Ning in 2012. Bobby Metelus/Getty Images

“Those deals showed other NBA players that Chinese sports brands are serious about them,” said Shawn Liu, Anta’s director of basketball sports marketing. “The players that go with Chinese brands are getting what Nike, Adidas and Under Armour wouldn’t give them here — massive exposure in China, TV commercials, social content and images in thousands of stores that make them more famous.”

Thompson saw that last summer as he celebrated his new extension with Anta with a five-city, seven-day tour of China. Whether it was pickup hoops with locals at an outdoor court in Changsha or showing a more vibrant side of his personality in front of a mall teeming with fans in Zhengzhou, the legion of followers were enthralled with his every move.

“I can do a USA tour, whether it’s Portland, Seattle, Chicago or wherever, and I’m not getting these crowds,” Thompson said. “But I’m taking a five-city tour in China and there’s thousands of people waiting to see me, and I can’t believe it. The hunger from these people just to see one of their favorite basketball players is so cool. Knowing I’m 7,000 miles away from home and I can just shake their hand or give them a smile and they freak out, it’s unbelievable.”

Wade has felt the love of those crowds as he has expanded his pursuits beyond sneakers. His Li-Ning deal allowed him to develop and trademark his own logo, which he can use not only on his signature Way of Wade shoes, but also on any other product he develops and endorses, such as his “Wade Cellars” wine.

“Here we are, and the Wade logo and the Wade brand is known in China,” he said. “We have over 10 Wade stores in China, and I never imagined having a Wade store.”

In addition to the Wade-specific stores, the Heat star is also heavily featured in the more than 6,000 Li-Ning stores throughout China. The potential across the country is dramatic, creating opportunities simply not available to all players in the U.S.

Notable NBA Players with Chinese sneaker deal

Player Brand 2017-18 PPG George Hill Peak 10.4 CJ McCollum Li-Ning 21.7 Rajon Rondo Anta 7.8 Klay Thompson Anta 19.8 Dwyane Wade Li-Ning 11.5 Lou Williams Peak 23.1

For Portland Trail Blazers combo scoring guard CJ McCollum, the opportunity to leave Nike and sign a five-year shoe deal with Li-Ning this past fall was too good to pass on.

“With the market four or five times the United States’, it could be crucial in my development as a player, person and brand,” the 26-year-old McCollum said.

The concept of going foreign isn’t so foreign any longer. Before re-signing with Nike earlier this fall, All-Star starter Giannis Antetokounmpo seriously entertained a Li-Ning offer that would have paid him north of $10 million per year. The route is now a viable option for everyone: emerging rookies, role-playing fixtures on big-market teams and superstar icons at the pinnacle of the sport.

While Wade’s championship-level play during the height of his career and his Li-Ning deal have extended his brand into regions all over the globe, he’ll always be most strongly connected with Miami.

After Wade was traded back to the Heat last month, customers from more than 100 countries bought endless merchandise, such as the Heat’s new, vivid, powder blue and pink “Miami Vice”-inspired jersey with his familiar No. 3, sending team sales skyrocketing 8,000 percent, according to ESPN’s Darren Rovell. The franchise’s most beloved player happened to see the eye-popping stat in real time.

“I told my wife, ‘I’m good for business,'” Wade said with a laugh. “We definitely have grown, and being able to be a part of a Chinese brand and being global has definitely helped and opened up more ears and eyes to myself.”

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The strength of a trademark

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N.B.A. Finals Game 3: Raptors vs. Warriors Live Updates and Score

What to watch for in Game 3

The Golden State Warriors should be riding high as they return to Oakland for Game 3 having stolen home court advantage in the series by winning Game 2 in Toronto. But with Kevin Durant still out, Kevon Looney lost for the series and Klay Thompson out for Game 3, Golden State is vulnerable ahead of tonight’s crucial game against the Raptors.

The key story lines:

Klay Thompson is officially out

Over the last seven seasons, the Warriors have played 120 playoff games, and Thompson has started all of them. He’s the only player on the team who can make such a claim — Draymond Green is second with 119, having missed only Game 5 of the 2016 N.B.A. finals because of a suspension — but Thompson’s streak is over thanks to an injured hamstring. Shaun Livingston will start in his place. Thompson had played through injuries before, including a sprained ankle in last year’s finals, so there is no doubt that he lobbied the training staff to allow him to play. Now Golden State will play its first postseason game without him since 2007, when he was still in high school.

Can the Raptors stay out of foul trouble?

Toronto has kept its rotation tight in these finals, with eight players combining for 473 of 480 minutes. (Patrick McCaw, the former Warrior, got the remaining seven.) Potentially standing in the way of keeping things so neat — especially with this series leaving Toronto for two games — is the foul trouble of both Marc Gasol and Kyle Lowry. Gasol fouled out of Game 1, and had four fouls in Game 2. Lowry had five in Game 1 and fouled out of Game 2. Considering how important both players are to the team’s defensive scheme, keeping them on the court is paramount.

A potential boost for the Raptors’ defense, though, could come from OG Anunoby should the small forward be sufficiently recovered from his appendectomy. He was available for Game 2 but did not play.

Andre Iguodala is staying humble

Andre Iguodala is the oldest player on either team, and he and Leonard are the only active ones who have been named most valuable player of a finals. But with Iguodala coming off one of the biggest shots of his career (the Game 2 clincher), and with people once again bringing up the viability of the Hall of Fame for him, the versatile swing man recently talked openly about how he plays to support Curry and “protect his legacy.” He also cleared up that while he does not love being called Iggy, he doesn’t mind being called an author.

Can DeMarcus Cousins effectively replace Kevon Looney?

DeMarcus Cousins could hardly be a more different player from the injured Looney. The four-time All-Star is known almost entirely for his offense, and he has struggled with defense, especially during his brief time in Golden State, which has never seen him 100 percent healthy. As a result, Cousins, in just his third game back from a severely injured quadriceps, is an awkward fit to fill the crucial crunchtime minutes that the Warriors have often gotten from Looney. There is some optimism that Cousins’s strong second half in Game 2, when he showed a strong nose for rebounds and some intricate passing, means he is ready to step up his minutes. But there is also a strong possibility that more minutes will instead have to fall to Andrew Bogut or Jordan Bell.

The Raptors miss their bench players.

In Game 1, the Raptors got a subpar performance from Kawhi Leonard (23 points on 5 of 14 shooting), great games from several of the team’s less heralded players, and they won. In Game 2, Leonard was dominant (34 points, 14 rebounds), the supporting cast regressed a great deal, and they lost.

Even against a short-handed Warriors team, Toronto will need a lot more from its “other” players to win in Oakland’s deafening Oracle Arena. A return to form from Pascal Siakam, the hero of Game 1, would help, but so would a stepped-up performance from Kyle Lowry, Toronto’s only All-Star besides Leonard; Lowry scored just 7 points in Game 1 and only 13 in Game 2.

Lowry was confident ahead of Game 3, telling reporters that he expected “to do whatever I need to do to help my team win. Being on the road, I may be more looking for my shot, being more aggressive.”

Toronto may need a new strategy to defend Stephen Curry.

A hallmark of Curry’s career has been that no matter how down he or his team gets, it takes just one or two of his circus shots to get the Warriors right back into a game. It’s why he has, essentially, become the Roboshooter that Coach Steve Kerr once prophesied. Game 2 was no exception, with Curry seeming sluggish throughout the first quarter only to spark the team’s comeback, which began in the second quarter and continued into the third.

In the fourth, Toronto resurrected an old defensive concept called the box-and-one, in which four players form a zone defense (the box) and the remaining one attacks Curry directly. He called the strategy “janky” and said it was “disrespectful” to his teammate Andre Iguodala. He may have a point about the disrespect, as Iguodala proceeded to hit a game-sealing 3-pointer, but the jankiness is debatable since the plan seemed to negate Curry’s ability to score.

The question now is whether Coach Nick Nurse would go back to that defense when Curry is on the floor with four subpar shooters, or if he would avoid it, knowing that Kerr has had a few days to think about how best to crack the scheme.

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