Paul George - Carmelo Anthony - Chris Paul - Kyrie Irving - Gordon Hayward - Paul Millsap - Dwight Howard Lonzo Ball - Donovan Mitchell - Lauri Markannen - Dennis Smith Jr. - Markelle Fultz - De’Aaron Fox
BASKETBALL
MONSTER
CAN THEY DO IT? Will the Celtics be able to overcome Gordon Hayward’s gruesome injury in the first quarter of the season?
What a crazy offseason!
The Warriors receive their rings at opening night, but get stunned by the Rockets!
Who made the best moves?
INDEX Page 4 - Boston Celtics outlook
Page 9 - Ratings for the offseason moves
Page 13 - The warriors receive a curse in disguise in the opening night!
TEAM Gustavo Johann Quandt - Chief Editor Kobe Bryant - Photographer Shaquille O’Neal - Director of Art Larry Bird - Lead Reporter Magic Johnson - PR & Media
As a new season approach us, we become very anxious to watch the NBA. Who will emerge victorious? What are the new talents that are going to shine? Injuries, buzzerbeaters, thrilling games and blowouts, it all waits for us! This season is going to be special, I can feel it. So many moves during the summer can only assure you one thing: get ready for some crazy games as teams challenge the champions every night. Will Lonzo Ball live up the hype? Can Ben Simmons be the difference maker in Philly? What about the new big three in OKC? The NBA season is about to begin, and all of these questions will be quickly answered. Thanks, BBM team.
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THAT’S SOME BAD LUCK
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“Oh my goodness, Hayward came down so hard,” Kevin Harlan was saying halfway through the first quarter of the TNT broadcast. And then a second later: “Hayward broke his leg. Hayward has broken his leg. Hayward has broken his leg.” Then more silence. “Oh my gosh. Oh my gosh. And that is how quickly a season can change.” Then Reggie Miller: “This is unbelievable. I mean...” For the next 90 seconds, the broadcast team went silent. All you could hear were murmurs from the crowd while the camera panned across stunned fans and players.
“IT’S HARD TO DESCRIBE THE FEELING IN THE BUILDING,” HARLAN SAID NEAR THE END OF THE GAME.
“It’s hard to describe the feeling in the building,” Harlan said near the end of the game. Watching at home, there was the initial confusion, and then horror that set in watching everyone in the arena recoil at once. And then, obviously, as he grimaced and nodded toward LeBron James and the Cavs while being carried off the floor, everyone felt awful for Hayward. But the whole time, there was also a kind of disbelief that any of this was really happening. Hayward’s injury would’ve been awful in any game, but five minutes into the first game of the NBA season, it seemed like some kind of alternate timeline nightmare for basketball fans. This was Paul George’s Team USA injury, with the entire sport watching, in a game that we’d all planned our week around. The injury was bad enough that announcers could diagnose him seconds afterward from 50 feet away. Various players ran off the Cavs bench. The Celtics played the next hour looking dazed and lifeless.
Brad Stevens told reporters after the game that Hayward had dislocated his ankle and fractured his tibia. He flew back to Boston on Tuesday night for more tests, and we should know more by Wednesday afternoon. In the meantime, once their daze wore off, we did learn a little bit more about how the Celtics might respond without him. That might have been the only encouraging development in Cleveland on opening night. After trailing by 18 points early in the third quarter, Boston came back and took the Cavs right to the end. Jaylen Brown had no answers for LeBron battering him around inside in the final minutes, and Love hit a huge shot for the Cavs to take control of the game in the final minutes. But the Celtics pushed back the entire way
KYRIE IRVING
Kyrie Irving was awesome. He had 22 points on 8 of 17 shooting and 10 assists. His shooting was as dangerous as expected, and he mixed in some gorgeous finishes at the rim. But he also moved well off the ball, he created for teammates, and he never relapsed into isomode to junk up the offense the way he’d done at various points with the Cavs. Meanwhile Brown put up 25 points in 40 minutes, and Jayson Tatum scored all 14 of his points in the second half. The Celtics went small with Al Horford and Aron Baynes as the primary big men, and they spent most of the game playing five-out on offense, opening up massive lanes for Kyrie, Tatum, and anyone else attacking the rim.
TATUM WAS THE 3RD OVERALL PICK IN THE 2017-18 NBA DRAFT!
22 PTS - 10 ASTS - 8/17 FG JAYLEN BROWN
25 PTS - 40 MIN JAYSON TATUM
14 PTS IN 2ND HALF
Boston has deliberately built a roster full of stretchy, 6’8”-ish athletes that will give Brad Stevens a ton of flexibility to drive teams crazy every night. When Marcus Morris gets healthy in the next few weeks, that’ll be one more weapon to deploy. Even without Hayward, this is a blueprint that can work. If not against LeBron James in crunch time, then those small Celitcs lineups could be strangely effective against most everyone else the Celtics will be playing in the East. There will be a few big challenges. The obvious one will come on defense. Hayward was supposed to be one of the few stabilizing forces on that end, and he’s gone now. The good news here is that the Celtics were always going to be shaky on defense given the state of their big men, so going from “mediocre” to “bad” may not cost them much ground against most teams. The other challenge will be counting on Marcus Smart. He’s in a contract year, and he looked fantastic this preseason, but he was 5 of 16 from the floor Tuesday. The Celtics will need him to be better. They won’t get 25 points from Jaylen Brown every night, Tatum will be hitor-miss from night to night, and Marcus Morris can only do so much. Smart and Terry Rozier will be really important to holding together the offense whenever Kyrie Irving sits. That sounds terrifying, but it’s not impossible that between the two of them they can make it work. And Kyrie. He wanted his own team, and now he has it for real. This is a good time to remind you that he never looked like much of a leader early in his career, and he never had the chance as he got older next to LeBron. That second part was painted as a curse this summer, but it was a luxury, too. In Cleveland, there were long stretches of the regular season where it looked like Kyrie was going through the motions, but it never mattered.
None of those habits will fly this year. It’s not exactly groundbreaking insight to say that Hayward’s absence makes Kyrie twice as important, but what it really does is make him twice as interesting. Everything he was nitpicked for over this summer—the passing, moving off the ball, effort on defense, and especially consistency—are criticisms he’ll now have to answer for the Celtics to stay near the top half of the conference. The reality is that playing hard and being wellcoached is generally good enough to get you 45 wins in the East. The Celtics will play smarter than most everyone else, they have a ton of versatile pieces, and they have a superstar who’s capable of carrying them in a lot of the same ways Isaiah Thomas did a year ago. They won’t challenge for the East with this roster, but this could definitely turn into a young, weird, overachieving team that the city falls in love with anyway. Kyrie will have to execute as the centerpiece to make any of it work, but there’s nobody doubting he has the talent to do it. Obviously, none of that comforts anyone in Boston today. Hayward’s injury is the only story that matters. This should’ve been a career year for him—always bet on the All-Star in the West who moves to the East—and he was about to make himself a household name in a city that would’ve worshiped him. Now everyone has to press pause on that process. Hayward’s season is likely over. His career shouldn’t be, though. After the nightmare opening Tuesday, it was helpful to remember that Paul George has returned as great as he was before. Training staffs are better than ever at helping athletes bounce back, and at 27 years old, Hayward should have as good of a chance as anyone to recover and return to All-Star form. Tuesday night in Cleveland was a flat-out disaster, but there will be room to salvage things. It won’t be easy, but it’s not hopeless, either.
THE OFFSEASON THAT KEPT ON GIVING! Chris Paul - Rockets
Kyrie Irving - Celtics
What team has made the best moves? What is the grade of each of the best team’s offseason?
Paul George - OKC
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EAST Cleveland Cavaliers: B+ With limited salary cap flexibility, the Cavaliers managed to add depth. They re-signed guard Kyle Korver and signed forward Jeff Green and guards Jose Calderon and Derrick Rose, a former MVP, to veteran’s minimum deals. They also signed Turkey’s Cedi Osman, a 22-year-old forward who the Cavs drafted in 2015. However, that’s unlikely to close the gap on the Warriors. The Cavs have traded their superstar PG Kyrie Irving for Isaiah Thomas and a pick from the Celtics, and although IT is injured, it was a good move for both teams.
Boston Celtics: AThe Celtics signed forward Gordon Hayward, one of top free agents available, traded IT for Kyrie, and drafted forward Jayson Tatum after trading the No. 1 pick to the Sixers – a deal that also netted Boston another future first-round pick. The Celtics also acquired forward Marcus Morris in a trade with the Pistons. While this team will trot out some versatile lineups, they lost depth with the departures of guard Avery Bradley, center-forward Kelly Olynyk and forward Amir Johnson.
Washington Wizards: B Now that the contract questions are in the rearview and John Wall (four-year, $170 million extension) and Otto Porter (four-year, $106.5 million contract) are locked in for the long term, the next question is: Does this group have enough to take another step forward, or is a 49-win season and a conference semifinals trip their ceiling? The Wizards didn’t have much flexibility heading into the summer, so the fact that Jodie Meeks, Tim Frazier and Mike Scott were the only additions should come as no surprise. Meeks and Frazier figure to be solid backups to Wall and Bradley Beal, while Scott’s one-year, $1.7 million deal comes with little risk.
T oronto Raptors: C+ Ah, the Raptors: Talented enough to win 50 games for the third straight year, weak enough to be sent home in the first round of the playoffs. We get it: Toronto brass may have made the right move by not uprooting a team that’s coming off the best four-year stretch in franchise history, especially with the questions looming in Cleveland, so the Kyle Lowry (three years, $100 million) and Serge Ibaka (three years, $65 million) signings make sense. What’s more, the addition of C.J. Miles will help spread the floor, and it’s nice to have the oftinjured DeMarre Carroll off the books. But haven’t we already seen this team’s ceiling?
WEST Golden State Warriors: A+ The Warriors won the offseason – again. Not only did Golden State secure their core by re-signing Steph Curry (five years, $201 million) and Kevin Durant (two-year deal with a player option next summer), but they returned to their “Strength in Numbers” roots by bringing back Andre Iguodala, Shaun Livingston, Zaza Pachulia, and David West. But wait, there’s more. Their bench got even deeper with the additions of scorers Nick Young and Omri Casspi and they drafted a rookie in Oregon forward Jordan Bell (by way of a second-round draft pick purchased from Chicago for $3.5 million) who could make their elite defense even better. Houston Rockets: A The Chris Paul trade doesn’t put the Rockets on the Warriors’ level, but it’s as loud a statement as they could have made that there will be no white flags waved. Even at 32, Paul – who spent his past six seasons with the Clippers before his decision to leave for Houston in free agency sparked this deal in late June – remains one of the most impactful players in the game. And while Paul can be a free agent next summer, James Harden’s decision to sign a massive extension through 2023 should only up the odds of his new co-star re-signing. The loss of point guard Pat Beverley in the Paul trade hurts the Rockets’ defensive identity, but they bounced back nicely in free agency by landing veteran forward P.J. Tucker to help on that front. Oklahoma City Thunder: A+ Take a bow, Sam Presti. One year after losing a former MVP in Durant to the Warriors, the Thunder general manager had as good a summer as anyone in the NBA. He orchestrated a trade with the Indiana Pacers for an MVP-caliber player in Paul George for pennies on the dollar (Victor Oladipo and Domantas Sabonis) while giving MVP Russell Westbrook a worthy co-star again. He responded to the free agency loss of veteran forward Taj Gibson to Minnesota by landing the very-capable Patrick Patterson on an efficient contract. The re-signing of defensive standout guard Andre Roberson was crucial to maintain their top-tier defense. Now if only Presti could compel Westbrook to sign that five-year, $217 million extension offer that expires at the start of the regular season. If not, Westbrook and George will be free agents next summer and the Thunder’s season will be as compelling as they come. Minnesota Timberwolves: A By adding star forward Jimmy Butler and veterans Jeff Teague, Jamal Crawford and Taj Gibson to the young core of Karl-Anthony Towns and Andrew Wiggins, the Tom Thibodeau-led T’Wolves are destined to not only put an end to the franchise’s 13year playoff drought, but fight for a top-four spot in the Western Conference. Sure, Crawford’s 37, Teague’s probably not worth $57 million over three years, and it may take some time to work out the kinks — but as far as improving a roster goes, the T’Wolves hit the jackpot
HOUSTON, WE HAVE A PROBLEM OAKLAND, California. Kevin Durant’s baseline jumper swished through the net just barely too late, and the Houston Rockets rallied in the fourth to beat Golden State 122-121 Tuesday on the night the Warriors received their championship rings.
27 PTS 6 REB 11 AST 4-9 3PT James Harden - Rockets
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The Warriors had one last chance with 10.6 seconds left and Durant came up with the ball after Stephen Curry had missed. Durant and the Warriors thought they’d won and confetti began to fall when the two remaining officials - the third got hurt in the fourth quarter - reviewed the play and said Durant’s shot was after the buzzer. Trevor Ariza’s 3-pointer with 2:09 remaining pulled Houston within 119-118 then Patrick McCaw hit a baseline jumper immediately after Golden State’s timeout. James Harden made a layup and PJ Tucker hit two free throws with 44.1 to make it 122-121. Nick Young came off the bench to hit six 3-pointers and score 23 points in a brilliant Warriors debut, Curry scored 22 points and Durant had 20 after a slow start. Klay Thompson added 16 points. Chris Paul had four points on 2-for-9 shooting in his Rockets debut, while Harden scored 27 points and Eric Gordon 24 for the Rockets. Houston opened the fourth with a 9-0 run to get back in it.
The Warriors found their rhythm early but couldn’t close it out after an abbreviated preseason in terms of practice time given their recent trip to China for a pair of games against Minnesota. Still, this opener was a far cry for the forgettable 129-100 defeat at home to San Antonio in Durant’s Warriors debut a year ago when Golden State came off a record 73-win season and runner-up finish to Cleveland in the 2016 Finals. “I just remember the last game of the season we played,” Durant said of the Game 5 Finals clincher in June. Young found his stroke right away, hitting his first four 3s and five shots overall. It’s exactly what the Warriors want him to do: shoot every time he has a good look. His six 3-pointers set a franchise record for anyone in their Warriors debut and also in a season opener. Durant had one spectacular sequence in the third when he blocked Anderson’s shot on one end then converted a three-point play moments later on the other, slapping hands with a lucky boy fan on the baseline.
HOUSTON ACQUIRED PAUL FROM THE CLIPPERS TO GIVE THEM A 1-2 BACKCOURT PUNCH TO TRY TO GAIN GROUND ON GOLDEN STATE IN THE WESTERN CONFERENCE.
Houston acquired Paul from the Clippers to give them a 1-2 backcourt punch to try to gain ground on Golden State in the Western Conference.
TALE OF THE TAPE
121
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122
20 PTS 5 REB 7 AST
27 PTS 6 REB 11 AST
22 PTS 5 REB 4 AST
4 PTS 8 REB 10 AST
16 PTS 6 REB 3 AST
24 PTS 1 REB 1 AST