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kalinahugtype2 · 5 years ago

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Interview with a Graduate

Abbey Hoerchner

1. Are you working on any big projects at the moment?

We have been working on our NBA All-Star Campaign - with a big push for social and web graphics to get votes for Giannis, Khris and Bledsoe. We also had been pushing “Let Pat Dunk” to campaign for Pat Connaughton to get into the dunk contest for All-Star weekend - this was through both graphics and even t-shirt designs. We are also already thinking ahead to what our Playoff look will be come April - it is usually an edgier spin off our our regular season look. Lastly, the Bucks have an Esports gaming team for the NBA 2K League (video game). They draft 6 players who get paid a salary, receive benefits, have their housing paid for, and fly to NYC each week for their games. I am currently designing the look for their Season 3 Campaign - this includes their Draft graphics, Gameday graphics progression (Matchup Motion Graphic, Starting Lineup Motion Graphic, Live Now Motion Graphic, Half-Time Score Static Graphic, Player Stat Highlight Static Graphic, Final Score Static Graphic, Victory Motion Graphic), any general announcement graphics, etc. that will end up on social media.

2. What is your intent as designer?

I focus on capturing the attention of, engaging, and holding the interest of fans/followers. An obvious secondary intent is to efficiently and effectively organize information that is easy for the viewer to decipher.

3. How do you use design to positively impact a community?

At the Bucks, we had a large focus on building up the Deer District, the area around the arena, and getting the Milwaukee community to see it as a revitalized place that they want to spend time at. We focused on creating graphics that promoted the plaza, and highlighted the different restaurants and establishments, to ultimately bring people together.

4. In what way do you think students at UWM can use design to strengthen the culture in Milwaukee?

I think there may be opportunities to showcase neighborhoods, areas, events, etc that aren’t always heavily promoted whether digital or print. I think using class as a time for research and production is great, however I wonder still if there is a way to push research, ideas, designs (especially connected with Milwaukee culture/geography) further into the public than within the UWM network.

5. Is there anything you wish you had known prior to graduating?

Connecting with #8 below - the faster pace of design in the workplace would have helped my transition more immediately. I also work in Photoshop daily for actually creating digital graphics and I was not extremely efficient in that program, based on the high focus in upper-level DVC classes on InDesign and Illustrator.

6. Do you have any tips and/or words of encouragement for current design students?

One tip would be to get comfortable talking about your work, be confident in why you did what you did and be able to clearly explain it. In the workplace you may have a client (in my case another department) that doesn’t really understand what we do or why we do it. In these cases, it is imperative to be able to clearly articulate design reasoning. Be thorough in the design process from ideation to final product - it will help you in the long run figure out what process works best for you to get the strongest design. Along with this, I would say to push the boundaries and explore the possibilities of a design. Go out of the box and you can always reign it back in after review/critique. There could be something you tried that maybe could work as an idea for a future project. I would highly encourage students to get a design internship while still in school (ideally one that you can get paid AND get credit). I stumbled upon my internship with the Bucks during my final semester of school. As a Women’s Soccer athlete at UWM, I knew I was passionate about athletics, so was intrigued about practicing design in a sports industry. I think for others who don’t know which specific industry they would like to practice in, getting internships while still in school and with different companies (whether sports, ad agency, other companies) will help you decide what specific industry you are passionate about. If you think you may be interested in Motion Graphics/Animation - take the class while still in school. I ended up finding this was the focus of design I became most passionate about, as it mixes up the creation of static graphics. While I was interning at the Bucks, I was also taking the Motion Graphics class at UWM. At that time, there was not anyone at the Bucks who knew the program, so I started elevating some graphics by using simple animation. After interning, I continued to grow my Motion Graphics skills and from there became a Multi-Media Designer, working in Adobe After Effects daily. Along with static graphics, I also create many animations that go on social media and a lot of content that runs on the LED boards inside the bowl during games (crowd prompts, matchups, sponsored content, themed animations, etc).

7. What do you feel are important resources to consult during the design process?

Specific to my role at the Bucks - I do a lot of visual auditing of other teams to see what they are doing. I don’t stay in the realm of the NBA, but look at football, soccer, baseball, etc. When I am doing my research, I am usually looking at their social channels. I also utilize Pinterest and Behance to start ideating.

8. What are the differences between the professional design climate and the one created at UWM? Do you feel you were prepared for the changes?

I think UWM prepared me very well for a professional design career, especially when thinking about the very thorough design process we go through for each of our classes in school. I think this helped figure out a personal design process that works best for each individual (ie. I still like sketching ideas/layouts out, even if they are very rough….but there are other designers who go digital right away).

One big difference that I had to get acclimated to was the fast pace for a lot of projects at the Bucks. This may be due to the professional sports industry. With some special player announcement graphics, we may have to create something within the hour. Some information design graphics may have to be done in a day. On the other hand, there could also be a logo design that you have a few days to ideate, sketch and digitize before reviewing.

9. Beyond the finished product, what is the most important part of being a designer?

For me, I think an important part is still getting the face-to-face contact with whoever you are designing a project for, especially when it is for another department. For many projects, we could sit behind a screen, design a few iterations, send via email and continue that process until a final design is approved. I am a people person and like social interaction during my work day, therefore if I am able to chat with the individual before starting, or take an iteration over to them to discuss in-person, I will! I think this offers me a better perspective on what their ultimate vision for the project is.

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cendikato · 5 years ago

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LOOK: Heartbroken Dwight reveals dunk contest plans with Kobe

Dwight Howard had hoped to team up with Kobe Bryant in the NBA All-Star Slam Dunk contest just 3 days before the tragic death of the Lakers legend

BY: Joseph Carlos Sapad

MANILA, Philippines – Even to his bitterest foes, Kobe Bryant’s legacy rooted in deeply.

Just 3 days before the tragic passing of the basketball legend, returning Los Angeles Lakers center Dwight Howard expressed the possibility of one last team-up between the two during the 2020 NBA All-Star Slam Dunk contest.

“I’m trying to get Kobe, so if I get the Laker fans to lobby to Kobe to help me in the dunk contest, that’ll be really good. That’ll be awesome,” Howard said in a post-game interview.

Ten days after Bryant’s untimely death shocked the world, fans got an update to that offer.

“I was extremely hurt, it really hurt me bad,” Howard said after the Lakers’ 129-102 blowout win over the San Antonio Spurs. “There were nights when I just cried myself to sleep just thinking about it.

“For me, a lot of people thought that me and Kobe hated each other,” he continued. “There were times when we just didn’t understand each other. I didn’t get a chance to tell him how appreciative I was for our time together, and how thankful I was to be back here in LA. That was pretty hard for me.”

Howard first left the Lakers after a promising-turned-disastrous 2012-2013 campaign, a season where he had Bryant, Pau Gasol, Steve Nash and Metta World Peace as teammates.

In the first few months after the breakup, Bryant was occasionally seen trash-talking Howard, who by then had jumped ship to the Houston Rockets. There, the infamous clip of Bryant calling Howard “soft” was born.

But time healed all wounds eventually between the two, which peaked with Howard’s stunning decision to return to the Lakers after taking short stops in Charlotte, Atlanta and Washington.

Since then, the former three-time Defensive Player of the Year has been nothing but friendly with Bryant, as evidenced with his peace offering for the slam dunk contest.

However, that plan is all gone now, as Howard will have to redo his ideas against a star high-flyer lineup of Aaron Gordon, Derrick Jones, Jr. and Pat Connaughton in the All-Star Weekend.

As for how he intends to cope with the loss of his rival and friend, Howard himself said it best, just 12 hours before Bryant passed away.

“We should appreciate people while they’re alive.”

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jankarmtic · 3 years ago

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Bobby Portis & Pat Connaughton Join GameTime, Postgame Interview – Game 6 | 2021 NBA Finals https://ift.tt/3Bo5z28

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junker-town · 5 years ago

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A Q&A with Bucks guard Pat Connaughton during quarantine

A Q&A with Pat Connaughton of the Milwaukee Bucks.

A Q&A with the Milwaukee Bucks guard as the NBA season has been paused indefinitely over the coronavirus pandemic.

Six weeks ago, Milwaukee Bucks guard Pat Connaughton was coasting through the fifth year of his career as a rotation player on one of the best teams in NBA history. He’d just competed in the NBA’s Slam Dunk Contest, and had a story about his real estate development company published in the New York Times.

Today, as Covid-19’s rampant sweep across the United States has placed the rest of the 2019-20 season in jeopardy, there’s a chance Connaughton — a free agent this offseason — has already played his last game with the Bucks.

Most people have been forced to adjust to a different lifestyle. That includes this 27-year-old NBA player who would otherwise be preparing for a playoff run, while fulfilling his second career in different ways than he currently can.

In a wide-ranging phone interview with SB Nation on Monday, Connaughton opened up about free agency, why it’s important for professional athletes to prepare for life after retirement, Giannis Antetokounmpo’s future in Milwaukee, the Netflix series Tiger King, and so much more.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

SB NATION: I’ll begin with a question I find myself asking just about everyone I talk to these days: How are you staying safe? And, did you consider traveling home once the NBA allowed its players to do so, or just bunker down and stay put?

PAT CONNAUGHTON: I stayed in Milwaukee. I tried to look at it from a variety of different angles. For me, I’m from the Boston area and Massachusetts was arguably hit worse than the majority of other places, so going home didn’t really make sense for me, for my own health but also for the safety of my family.

We’re fortunate to be in the NBA. We might as well stay close to our team just in case, God forbid something does happen and we need access to doctors, we have team doctors. If we need access to food for some reason, the chefs are trying to help us out when they can. There’s different things that I think teams are doing to help their players that stick around.

I also wanted to do my best to stay in shape, and when the facility shut down I was able to work with some of our strength staff to get some free weights into my apartment, to get a bike, to at least have some workouts that I can do outside, running up hills near the lakefront where I live, things of that nature so that I can keep myself sane.

SB: What’s been the biggest difference for you, going from the 100 miles per hour schedule you were on as an in-season NBA player to just shutting everything down as quickly as you did?

PC: I really do believe it’s a simulation of retirement. Obviously guys still want to stay in shape and work out because basketball will be back at some point in time, but it is a mini simulation of it. Our working careers end by 35, 40, if you’re fortunate, so you’ve still got 35, 40 years of life, and what are you doing day in and day out?

For me, I love doing different things with real estate. I try to work with my best friend who’s our project manager who lives with me out here in Milwaukee, we’re working on ‘Hey, how can we grow the real estate company?’ It’s similar to what I do in basketball, learning from Giannis on a daily basis. How can I use the same competitive skill-set in the business world during this time off, because when the ball does stop bouncing I still want to have another successful career in another field.

SB: How about your daily schedule. I’m just curious how you’re filling spare time, being that I’m sure you have even more of it now with the season on hold.

PC: I wake up, I’ll scramble some eggs, cook some bacon, have a few pieces of toast, yogurt, smoothie, whatever it might be. I’ll then workout, whether it’s outside, inside, bike, weights, whatever I have access to, however creative I can be. By that time I’ll have lunch, and while I’m having lunch I’ll check my emails. I’ll check some of the work stuff I’m doing as far as the business outside of basketball for a few hours, do some stuff there.

By that time it’s probably dinnertime. We’ve been making dinner at home. Tacos. Homemade pizzas. Ramen noodles. We’re fortunate: My best friend’s fiancee also is with us and she’s a little bit more expertise in the kitchen than we are, but we’re learning.

At night, it’ll vary. Sometimes we’ll watch Billions. I’m a huge Billions fan. I’m catching up on it now because the new season is coming out in May. We checked out Tiger King. Some nights we’ll play video games. We’ll play NHL. I grew up with all hockey players. I was the only basketball player, so I didn’t have a choice on learning how to play hockey video games, now I actually enjoy it. Sometimes we’ll watch a movie. Sometimes I’ll read a book before bed. So I think it kind of varies depending the night, but before you know it, it’s 9, 10 o’clock, and if I want to try to continue to simulate what it’s going to be post retirement to get a feel for it, then I try my best to get to bed at a reasonable hour, get up in the morning and do it all again.

Photo by Michael J. LeBrecht II/NBAE via Getty Images

SB: I will never forgive myself if I don’t ask this super-serious followup question, but what were your thoughts on Tiger King?

PC: [Laughs] I was a huge fan of seeing the tigers, the lions, the ligers, the animals. Those things fascinate me. I used to watch The Lion Whisperer on Youtube. There’s this guy who is out with wild lions, in Africa or wherever they live, and he’ll just go up to them and they love him. So I’ve always been fascinated by the size of them, the size of their heads, the size of their paws. Actually the background on the lock screen on my phone is a lion. So I loved that.

As far as the personal life of my man Joe Exotic and some of the characters in it, I was a little bit puzzled. My facial reactions were a little bit, like, giggle-worthy, as my buddy and his fiancee said. They’d look at me when something was happening and I’d look at the screen like ‘what the heck is going on?’ Never in my life would I have sat down to watch that otherwise, so I think that’s all part of the experience. I’ll look back on this hopefully in five, 10 years and be like ‘Hey remember that pandemic we went through? Yeah, remember that show we watched with that guy who got put in jail, and there was that other lady who might’ve fed her husband to a tiger?’

SB: I could honestly ask you one million questions about Tiger King but I think it’s best for everyone if we move on to topics that actually matter. We don’t know when or if the season will come back, but how difficult do you think it’ll be to ramp your body back into game shape? There’s really nothing that can perfectly simulate what an NBA game is like. Does that concern you?

PC: Not for me, personally. I don’t think there’s any way to simulate game shape, but the ironic part about that is every offseason there’s also no way to simulate game shape, so in reality that’s not really a big difference, in my opinion. I’m more concerned about not having access to a gym. I can’t go into the facility. We’re not allowed to go into public gymnasiums. Unless you’re a guy who has a personal court in your house or live in nice weather and can shoot around in your driveway ... I’ve got a few balls in my house and I’m dribbling around but I’m sure the people below me and to the side of me aren’t thrilled about the dribbling that goes on at night, you know what I mean? I think that is something that will be on my radar as the season comes back around.

The in-shape thing, some of the workouts that I do, I’m laying on the ground dead afterwards. And as far as I’m concerned every time I’ve run up and down a court and played in a game I’ve never ended up laying on the ground in the locker room afterwards, like, purely exhausted. So I think the in-shape stuff, I can mitigate that worry, but I think the skill-related stuff, shooting, that’s something you’re gonna have to focus on a little bit more, pending when and if [the season] comes back.

SB: Is there anything the Bucks have communicated with you to try and combat that?

PC: When I think about what I can do, I think back to when I wasn’t in a gym every single day as a kid. We weren’t allowed to be. You had practice two, three, four times a week, depending on how many teams you were on. You weren’t necessarily in a basketball gym for hours upon hours every single day. Especially for me, playing baseball. I just think about the stuff that I used to do around the house. Dribble the ball around until my mom yelled at me. Lay in bed and shoot the ball up in the air, like you saw Pistol Pete do in that movie or whatever it was. Simple things like that to just keep your feel of the basketball at least somewhat normal.

SB: How did you find out the season was suspended and what was your first reaction?

PC: I was sitting in my apartment, actually just finished making tacos with my buddy and his fiancee. We were playing the Celtics the next day, and I was on League Pass waiting to watch the Oklahoma City Thunder and the Utah Jazz game. And it never came on. So we were like ‘when was the last time an NBA game didn’t tip off at tip-off time?’

So we went straight to Twitter, and for the next two hours we were watching Twitter as if it was the night of the NBA Draft, back when [Adrian Wojnarowski] used to drop the tweets before the draft picks came out. We might as well have thrown the Twitter feed of my phone up on the TV screen and just watched it that way because it was just fascinating.

I was just kind of like ‘this is wild.’ I didn’t think much about it at the start, as far as, this could end the season or anything that drastic. I was just like ‘wow this is having a serious effect on this one game.’ And then the Pelicans never even started their game and the Mavs finished their game, and we were supposed to play the next night? Will they [cancel] another game? The Celtics had just played the Jazz, so we kind of thought that our game wasn’t gonna last, but we didn’t get the official word for no shootaround until later on that night. And then we didn’t get the word about no games until the next day.

It was just kind of fascinating how quickly it unfolded, and how the NBA was ahead of everything. The NBA honestly set the precedent, in my opinion, for not just the rest of the sports world, but almost the rest of the world itself, to start taking this thing seriously.

SB: It’s hard to think about where we would be in this country had Rudy Gobert never tested positive, and we’re still so far behind.

PC: We’re far behind as far as the world is concerned. As a sports league, we were ahead of where the U.S. was, which is wild and scary to think about.

SB: Being part of such a special season with the Bucks, how often do you think about the possibility that the season is over, and how you might never get an opportunity to finish what you started? How difficult would that be, given all the hard work that was put in and what the expectations were?

PC: It’s tough because you look at it from a few different lenses. You think seasons like this don’t come along every year, so if it ends that’s gonna suck. To be honest. But when you look at it from the lens of an athlete you’re like we, as a team, are very good. What is preventing us from doing it again next year? Obviously we would be disappointed, we’re having a great year, etc. But maybe it just makes us hungrier next year. Maybe it’s fuel on the fire, as opposed to something else. Giannis will be a year older, a year more skilled. We’ll all be getting better. If you look at it that way you can throw some positive light to it.

The other light you look at it, just being open and honest, there are guys that are on contract years. There are guys that, I mean, personally I don’t have a technical contract for next year or anything. So you look at it like how does it affect free agency? How does it affect the salary cap? What does our team look like next year if the season were to end and not continue, and the playoffs weren’t to happen and there weren’t a champion to be crowned. I think all of those are unknown.

I could sit here for 24 straight hours and put down a sheet of paper, pros, cons, all these different scenarios, but I don’t think that does me any good. We don’t know. Nobody knows. The NBA is full of much smarter people than myself. Adam Silver is great. The owners are all very smart guys. The general managers are very smart guys. Obviously the player’s union, Michelle. Chris Paul. All them are very smart. I believe the best interest of as many players as possible and all the teams and the league itself will be what’s most important and what will be accomplished. So for me to worry about those sorts of things, sure, but at the same time it’s not gonna help me. I’m not gonna figure out, sitting in this apartment in the next month and a half, what the answers are.

Michael McLoone-USA TODAY Sports

SB: I wanted to ask you about being a free agent this offseason, and, as you said, we don’t know what will happen to the cap but there’s a chance it drops, given the hundreds of millions of dollars in revenue that will be lost — which could limit the amount of money teams are able or willing to pay. Respective of your own situation, I’m sure you’ve thought about that, and then also the idea that you might’ve played your last game with the Bucks. How difficult is it to cope with such an uncertain future?

PC: I definitely think about it but in the most simplistic terms. That’s one of the reasons I’ve always made sure I do other things outside of basketball. I’m not saying it’s because my basketball career is about to end, I’m just saying my dream was always to play in the NBA. Would I like to make a lot of money playing in the NBA? Absolutely. But if the cap gets affected there’s nothing I can do about it.

I want to continue to play in the NBA. I want to continue to be part of the Milwaukee Bucks as a championship contender, and I want to continue to help my team eventually win a championship, two, three, four, whatever it is. What my contract looks like while I’m doing that? If it was more money and more guaranteed years, absolutely, I’d love that. But as long as I’m here, as long as I’m playing, as long as I’m doing my job to continue to be an NBA player, a dream that I wanted to accomplish since I was a kid, it’s quite possible I make more money outside of basketball than I do in basketball when it’s all said and done.

The way that I’m trying to set up the real estate venture, the way that I’m trying to set up business outside of basketball, with, hopefully the relationships that I’ve built and will continue to build while I’m involved in the NBA, hopefully there’s a career after basketball. Maybe it’ll definitely be real estate, but maybe there’s something else. Maybe there’s a consulting role. Maybe there’s a front office role. Maybe there’s a league role. Maybe there’s something else for me because I don’t put all my chips in one basket. I can only control what I can control but I think the way that I’m setting up my life will at least allow me to have some flexibility as far as making money in the future, and continuing to play in the NBA for, hopefully, 10, 15 years.

SB: How has this pandemic impacted Beach House LLC, your real estate development company?

PC: We have a few job sites here in Milwaukee, we’ve got one that’s still moving forward. We got permission from the city because it’s right next to another building so for safety reasons they want us to make sure we get the foundation in and get some things there so it’s not just sitting as an open hole throughout this time. So I try to go by it once a day.

The name [Beach House LLC] might be changing soon, but one of our goals with real estate development is to mitigate risk. We’re trying to find distressed properties, we’re trying to find land, we’re trying to find things that we can create value in. My dad is a general contractor, I’ve been around it. So it’s not your typical real estate investments where you’re just investing in a property and banking on everybody that’s paying rent to at least cover the mortgage and give you a little bit of a return. We’re doing that but we’re doing it after we’re developing, fixing up or renovating a property. So in reality we’re kind of on both sides. We’re creating value in the property so the appreciation grows quicker, faster, more. And then we’re holding onto the asset and trying to cash flow it so it’s also making some money year after year. But in the long term, in the 10-year window, in the 15-year window, that’s when it really starts to make money.

I think as a professional athlete, the reason others have gotten involved is because we’re fortunate to have another source of income. How do you use that income to set up another source of income when that other source of income falls off? Aka, when your career is over, is there a way to utilize the money you’ve made in this career to set up another, arguably equal or close to equal, source of income afterwards. I think that’s kind of our goal with this.

In the short term, does [coronavirus] have an effect? Yeah, potentially. Does it also have an effect where you’re able to buy some property because prices drop? Potentially. I don’t really know how it’s going to fully affect it but in general it continues to go up over long periods of time. I think that’s what gives us an advantage in that world.

SB: Why change the name?

PC: I want it to reflect the story behind it. Beach House was an LLC that my father had for a house that he did back in Florida, way back when. I’d like to put it in something that shows athletes in business, something that’s unique about this actual story, because at the end of the day, if I’m able to do what I want to do in the business world I think it will be a unique story.

My main goal is, after seeing the 30 for 30, Broke, to shed some light, get some professional athletes involved [or] give them advice even if they don’t want to be involved and kind of help change the stigma that professional athletes go broke after their careers because they don’t know how to manage their money during, and shortly after.

SB: Have other players reached out for advice or even made requests to get involved over the past few weeks?

PC: I’d say a few have. I wouldn’t say as many as you’d think with all the time on our hands, but that’s also partly because I haven’t reached out to anyone either. What I’d like to do during this time is really think about what is that next growth for the real estate development company. We have five to 10 [professional athletes] involved in a number of different projects that we’ve done, so those are great one-off projects.

What is the next growth for my company? Is it raising a fund, or getting a bunch of guys together at a certain dollar amount? Is it trying to incorporate the pro athletes that I have with some of the businessmen that I’ve known and put them together for a fund or partnership where there’s a surplus of money, and now I’m going out, developing, buying, doing different things so that when one of the players in the NBA comes to town to play the Milwaukee Bucks next year, they’re able to go by the job site that we’re doing, and they’re able to see how it’s being built. They can see it in person and say ‘Hey, I own that.”

What is that next growth step for the company? That’s kind of what I’ve been utilizing my time and energy on during this hiatus, and hopefully in the next week or two I’ll have that answer and I’ll start to put something together for it. I’ll start to reach out to some players, or field some calls from some players and try to start to make it a bigger operation. Make it a bigger business.

SB: Are you mainly focused on properties in Milwaukee or looking to expand in the future?

PC: Location is the most important thing in real estate, so I want to expand to different areas. It’s just going to depend on the location in those different areas. I have two buildings, one that’s being built and one that’s gonna start being built in a few months around Notre Dame. I obviously know that area really well. We were able to get locations that are right near campus. You can probably hit a driver off your porch to campus.

There could be some similar growth in the future for the company. Some of the projects [Portland Trail Blazers guard CJ McCollum] is involved in, there’s no reason we couldn’t do a similar model around Lehigh. He’s obviously the biggest name to come from Lehigh in the professional sports world, so there’s no reason we can’t do some of those things. Those are the business ideas I love thinking about. But in the short term it’s about areas that we know and areas we have influence in and can get to relatively easily. We’re not locked to one city, is the short version of that answer.

Jeff Hanisch-USA TODAY Sports

SB: Circling it back to your playing career now, you competed in your first NBA Slam Dunk contest at All-Star Weekend last month. What was going through your head when the judges gave you a 45 after your first dunk?

PC: Honestly, I was ... that’s a great question. I don’t think I was as appalled at the time as a lot of people that I know. Did I think it could’ve been a little higher? Absolutely. But I wasn’t necessarily outraged, like, I like to think I’m pretty realistic. I like to think I’m relatively humble. That was my first dunk in an NBA dunk contest ever in my life. I was happy that I got it down on the first try, pulled off the White Man Can’t Jump thing pretty well, and then been able to share that moment with [Milwaukee Brewers outfielder Christian Yelich] and Giannis and Khris [Middleton] and Thanasis [Antetokounmpo] and my teammates. I thought it was pretty cool, so I was less concerned about one of the eights that could’ve been a nine. And by one of them I mean the only eight that could’ve been a nine. But that’s neither here nor there.

SB: Speaking of Giannis, you’ve been his teammate for a while and have a good relationship with him. With his upcoming free agency being one of the larger stories in the sport, do you ever talk about whether he’ll stay or go, or does it not really come up?

PC: It’s something I would talk about with him. We’re close enough friends where we definitely could. And I think our team is so close and so great as far as talking about things other than basketball, and business, and world issues, social issues. Kyle Korver brings a great element to those sorts of things. I think we have a very close knit team in our locker room.

I think sometimes it gets brought up randomly in passing and things like that, but I think at the end of the day, for us, it’s not as big of a deal as it is for the rest of the world. Obviously the city of Milwaukee, the team, everyone wants Giannis to be here forever. But Giannis has put himself in a position to provide for his family from growing up with nothing in Greece, and I don’t think you can fault Giannis for whatever decision he ends up making, that he believes is the best decision for him, his family, the people who are closest to him.

I’ll support him regardless of what he does, and I think the entire team will support him regardless of what he does. I think we’re building something pretty cool in Milwaukee so that will play a role, but it’s his decision and all of us will support what he does, whenever that decision comes to light.

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dailyvideovault · 5 years ago

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New video posted on: https://dailyvideovault.com/aaron-gordon-relives-the-2016-nba-slam-dunk-contest-with-omar-raja-hoop-streams/

Aaron Gordon relives the 2016 NBA Slam Dunk Contest with Omar Raja | Hoop Streams

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mastcomm · 5 years ago

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He Is Building a Home. And a Career in the N.B.A.

MILWAUKEE — Pat Connaughton has crammed enough high-flying acrobatics into his drives down the lane as a reserve guard for the Bucks that he was invited to compete in Saturday’s slam dunk contest at N.B.A. All-Star weekend. He loves playing for the Bucks.

He loves play for them so much, in fact, that he is planting roots. But unlike several teammates who have purchased homes in the Milwaukee area, Connaughton has gone a step further: He is tearing down a dilapidated duplex so he can replace it with a four-story apartment building.

“I’ll try to own this forever,” Connaughton, 27, said on a recent morning as he stepped inside the husk of the old duplex at the corner of North Milwaukee and East Knapp streets, just a few blocks from Fiserv Forum, where the Bucks play their home games.

The structure was in an early phase of demolition. Workers were ripping down walls. The floor was covered with crushed plaster. But Connaughton could see the future: a three-unit building full of modern amenities topped by a 3,132-square-foot penthouse, which he plans to make his home. Want to be his neighbor? Connaughton is going to rent out the other two units. (Bucks employees can expect a discount.) He hopes to complete the project by midsummer. If the Bucks win a championship, the parade can launch from his new pad.

“I’ll have a housewarming party to kick it off,” Connaughton said.

Some athletes moonlight as musicians. Others dabble in fashion or film or technology. Connaughton has been building a second career in real estate through his development company, Beach House LLC, which is a family affair. His father, Len, is the vice president, and Joe Stanton, a childhood friend, is the director of project management.

The company owns four properties and sold two others in Portland, Ore., where Connaughton spent three seasons playing for the Trail Blazers. Beach House also owns three properties and sold another in South Bend, Ind., where Connaughton was a two-sport star at Notre Dame. And in Milwaukee, he has two projects in the works, including the apartment building near the arena. Connaughton purchased the property, which had been vacant for months, for $325,000, and he expects the rebuild to cost an additional $800,000.

“I’ll drop by three or four times a week,” said Connaughton, who is currently renting a high-rise apartment near the Lake Michigan waterfront. “But Joe is my roommate. So I hear about it every single day.”

Connaughton is talking, too. He is spreading the gospel of real estate across the N.B.A. by preaching the virtues of “brick and mortar, of tangible assets that won’t disappear into thin air.” More than a half-dozen players have come aboard as Beach House investors, he said, dating to when he began his career with the Blazers.

“I would have business meetings after practice, and guys in the locker room would be like, ‘Where are you going?’” Connaughton said. “A few of my close buddies on the team were wanting to know more about it: ‘Why is this second-year guy trying to do stuff with his money when I’ve been in the league for five years and haven’t done anything?’”

Connaughton learned bits of the business from his father, who spent 30 years as a general contractor and developer in the Boston area. As a teenager, Connaughton would haul lumber and drywall on job sites. He did not exactly love the work. But while majoring in business management at Notre Dame, he began to see a future in the field.

He now considers it his long-term livelihood. Connaughton joined the Bucks last season on a two-year deal worth $3.4 million, which is a terrific living by any human measure but modest by N.B.A. standards. Put it this way: For a self-described “second-round draft pick who’s never had anything more than a minimum deal,” real estate is more than a hobby.

“This is what I do, and this is what I’ll always do,” he said. “But I think the coolest thing has been the interest from other guys in the N.B.A.”

When Connaughton was playing for the Blazers, he was a member of the “steam room mafia,” as guard C.J. McCollum described it. And it’s exactly what you think it is: dudes who would frequent the steam room. They had a lot of wide-ranging “steam room talks,” McCollum said in a telephone interview.

One day, McCollum was telling Connaughton about his budding interest in real estate. It was like catnip for Connaughton, who started cluttering McCollum’s email inbox with information about everything from purchasing land to acquiring permits.

“As things heated up and we continued to learn more about it together, I essentially told him, ‘I would love to partner up on something,’” McCollum said. “And he was like, ‘When I have something that I’m interested in, I’ll send it your way.’”

McCollum is now one of several investors in a multiuse building that Beach House purchased not far from Notre Dame’s campus. McCollum did his homework.

“I must have talked to C.J.’s financial team four or five times,” Connaughton said. “It’s one of our biggest projects to date.”

Construction is scheduled to begin in a month. McCollum hopes to check on its progress when he joins Connaughton for a football game at Notre Dame this fall.

As McCollum has continued to expand his own real-estate portfolio, he has gotten a sense of Connaughton’s growing reach. McCollum recalled a recent meeting he had with the developer Don Peebles, whose company, The Peebles Corporation, cites projects worth about $8 billion. At one point during their conversation, McCollum mentioned that he was involved in a project with Connaughton.

“Oh,” Peebles told him, “I know Pat.”

Connaughton is still learning. Before construction could begin on his apartment building in Milwaukee, he had to make a pair of appearances before members of the city’s historic preservation commission. A past president of the city’s preservation alliance had sought to prevent the demolition of the existing building, a duplex from the late 1800s.

Connaughton’s second trip to City Hall to speak before the commission was in December. He wanted to attach his face to the project to pre-empt the perception that he was just some high-profile out-of-towner looking to make a quick buck

“The one thing that’s kind of been a little bit frustrating on my end,” he told the commission, “is that it seems to be assumed that the goal is to put as many units and as many moneymaking operations on the property as possible when, in fact, the goal is to put a very tasteful building that can help continue to grow the city of Milwaukee.”

Peter Feigin, the president of the Bucks, was among those who accompanied Connaughton to the hearing. He kept glancing at his watch. The Bucks had a game against the Orlando Magic that night.

The commission eventually allowed the project to move forward by unanimous vote.

“I was more worried than he was,” Feigin said. “I was sitting next to Pat, like, ‘You’ve got to get out of here.’ But I also knew how important it was for him to be there.”

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flauntpage · 7 years ago

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The Trail Blazers Have a Brand New Identity Thanks to One Simple Concept

The Portland Trail Blazers had one of the NBA’s ten worst defenses last season. Before the All-Star break, only the Denver Nuggets, Los Angeles Lakers, and Brooklyn Nets were less competent on that side of the ball. Night-to-night mental consistency was a chronic issue, effort waned, important details were made trivial, and murmurs about whether Damian Lillard and C.J. McCollum could co-exist inside a balanced framework swelled into a roar.

But that was last year. Now just over one month into the 2017-18 season, Portland is the fourth-best team in the Western Conference (trailing only the Golden State Warriors, Houston Rockets, and San Antonio Spurs). They also have the league’s lowest assist rate, a bottom-10 offense, and lost Al-Farouq Aminu—their best defender—to a sprained ankle on the first day of November.

Yet somehow, instead of standing on the shoulders of two missile-launching shotmakers, the Blazers have won 13 games and elevated their overall stature by deploying one of the NBA’s stingiest defenses. According to Cleaning the Glass, they're currently allowing 100.7 points per 100 possessions, which is bested only by the Boston Celtics and Oklahoma City Thunder.

Given the fact that there was no major change in personnel, and only slight tweaks to their conservative scheme, sustainability is deservedly called into question. Is this a mirage or a leap? And how far can a stabilized Trail Blazers squad go in the Western Conference playoffs if they preserve a top-three defense throughout the regular season?

I'll try and answer those questions in a bit, but for now let’s look at why Portland is so good, and how it’s doing what it’s doing. A quick look at their numbers from last year, compared to how they're performing today, reveals that there hasn’t been a dramatic change to their game plan.

Photo by Nelson Chenault-USA TODAY Sports

The Blazers still rank near the bottom of the league in deflections and charges drawn per 36 minutes, while only two teams force fewer turnovers. Their bigs still drop back near the elbow when defending a pick-and-roll, and once more they’re forcing opponents into a ton of long twos while holding them to league-low shooting percentage at the rim. Good luck pulling off a clean assist against this team, as they're also only allowing 17.8 per 100 possessions, which leads the NBA.

“Our focus [heading into this season] was not necessarily making wholesale changes, but just being more consistent,” Blazers head coach Terry Stotts said before last night's game against the New York Knicks. “We looked at some of the stats last year, where we could improve, and debated about making some changes—maybe being aggressive, trying to create more turnovers—but we ended up just trying to do what we do and being consistent with it.”

They’re also fouling less, rebounding more, and getting back in transition with increased discipline. According to Cleaning the Glass, Portland ranks first in defensive transition efficiency, a modest improvement from where they ranked (24th) last year. Talk to any player on the team (I interviewed quite a few) and the phrase “attention to detail” springs up sooner than later. It's a simple concept that's made a world of difference. They now know what type of punch the other team wants to throw before they can step into it.

“We communicate through other team’s plays. In shootaround everybody’s like ‘What’s the name of that play?’ We communicate amongst each other in how we’re gonna guard it. ‘Let’s talk about this, let’s talk about that,’” Lillard said. “So not only is the communication up ten levels, and the activity is up ten levels, but we’re doing our homework. We know what’s coming before the game. We’re watching clips on our iPads. We’re studying them. We’re doing the stuff that it takes to be a good defensive team.”

Much like an offense wants to get on a roll by stringing together successful scores, the Blazers preach a “three stops” mantra. Halt the offense on three straight trips down the floor and good things will happen. To help get them there, Portland’s coaching staff absorbs data provided by its analytics team on a regular basis, in an attempt to place the opponent in a position where they don’t normally find much success.

The Blazers also aim to hold the other team to under 24 points in every quarter. That sounds like an impossible task in today’s three-point hungry NBA, where offenses regularly crack 100 points with ease, but Portland has taken logical steps towards making it a reality.

“They can look up at the scoreboard and know that ‘Damn, they scored X amount of points this quarter. We’ve got three minutes left, we gotta lock up. These next few minutes they can’t score any points.’” Blazers assistant coach David Vanterpool told VICE Sports. “When we break it down like that, I think they kind of gravitate towards the competition of it all. It can become a game within a game.”

In last Friday’s afternoon game against the Brooklyn Nets, the Blazers got off to an understandably sluggish start, but watch what happens on Portland’s very first play after Brooklyn comes within one possession of reaching 24 for the quarter.

It’s not necessary to walk through every pivot point from this sequence. Instead just watch as all five guys help, recover, dive under screens, pressure the ball, shut down driving lanes, and eventually force a turnover without making any massive gambles. Portland’s season is filled with plays that look exactly like this one.

Their coaching staff has also placed an emphasis on closeouts. Instead of racing out to the three-point line just to get a hand up and contest the shot, the Blazers want their guys to close out to the touch—that is, getting so tight that a three-point attempt turns into a drive, or situation where the ball-handler picks up his dribble. To date, it’s worked like a charm.

This isn’t a brand new adjustment—the Blazers ranked first, first, eighth, and fourth, respectively, in opposing three-point frequency since the 2013-14 season—but it’s something Portland has valued even more of late. Right now only the Miami Heat permit fewer three-point attempts per 100 possessions, and only three teams allow a lower percentage from beyond the arc than Portland. (According to NBA.com, only the Heat allows fewer “wide open” threes than the Blazers, and from those attempts opponents are shooting a below-average 36.2 percent.)

Here’s one example from Monday’s game against the New York Knicks. Notice how Pat Connaughton treats Courtney Lee after he catches a threatening pass in transition. The third-year guard takes away the three, downs the screen, forces Lee to drive away from the middle and towards Jusuf Nurkic, then watches as the pass back to Kyle O’Quinn results in a satisfying air ball.

For that sort of aggressiveness to take place along the arc, Portland’s perimeter defenders have to believe that even if/when they get beat off the bounce, their man won’t embarrass them by scoring easily at the rim. It’s here where trust and backside help enter the equation and become so critical to the Blazers’ early-season triumph.

It’s evident in both clips already shown, but not only does Portland approach the defensive end with obvious effort, but its help rotations are consistently crisp. Everyone knows where everyone else is supposed to be, while being cognizant of the opponent’s desire. Their success boils down to a rigidity that bleeds from possession to possession, quarter to quarter, night to night, and week to week.

“We want [our defense] to be as solid and basic as possible, because if my teammates know exactly what I’m going to force this ball to do, then we don’t have any problems,” Vanterpool said. “As soon as it starts to get randomized and you get a guy just doubling out of nowhere, everybody’s looking around and you end up giving up points. The overall philosophy is solid. Be as solid as possible and stay as basic within our parameters, as far as what we want to accomplish defensively, no matter what. Always know where the ball is going to be forced towards, or where it’s supposed to be forced towards. If somebody makes a mistake, cover their backside.”

Watch here as Connaughton finds himself slightly out of position helping Lillard on Elfrid Payton’s drive.

Once the ball hits the corner and Terrence Ross starts to drive baseline, Lillard immediately slides off Payton to cut it off. Connaughton is then able to retreat back and make a smart closeout on a career 29.7 percent three-point shooter, forcing a swing pass to Aaron Gordon. Here’s where Mo Harkless finishes out the play with another solid closeout that persuades Gordon to put the ball on the floor and commit a travel.

Scheme, execution, and effort are all significant ingredients found in any good defense, but so too are quality individuals. Lillard and McCollum were once scapegoats thanks to their one-dimensional reputations, but when both are on the floor Portland allows only 102 points per 100 possessions, a figure still good enough to rank in the top ten. Each has been feisty while maintaining composure, and a relentlessness unseen in the past.

"I know from working with them in the summer...defensively has been where the focus has been, and the three of us have done a lot of different defensive drills for individual defense, help side stuff, and I think they’ve taken to it and done a great job," Vanterpool said.

Here’s Lillard matched up with Otto Porter in a recent win against the Washington Wizards.

It’s a sideline out-of-bounds play designed for Porter to pop off Marcin Gortat’s flare screen for an open three. He eventually scores on a long two, but Lillard’s effort on the play, battling through two picks and contesting the shot as a trailer, makes a difference.

“Let the media tell it,” Ed Davis tells VICE Sports, with a smirk. “We got two guards that don’t play defense. But obviously they’re showing that they’re very good defensive players, so that’s helping us a lot.”

Behind those two, Portland is filled with length, versatility, and quickness. Evan Turner is as stout and fluid as any NBA wing off the bench, Harkless is a gazelle, Aminu (when healthy) allows Portland to go small without sacrificing too much, Noah Vonleh is able to switch onto guards whenever absolutely necessary, Shabazz Napier’s hands are a pissed off rattlesnake, and Davis has been an agile ogre on the glass.

And then there’s Nurkic, the inside presence who simultaneously has no place in a modern league that's exterminating cement-footed big men, and also rank 16th in Defensive Real Plus-Minus. The 23-year-old shores up the paint, slides from one block to the next, and does a decent job putting out fires whenever they pop up elsewhere on the floor.

“He’s very smart about when to come up on a guy, when to step back,” New York Knicks head coach Jeff Hornacek said. “He clogs that lane, and then that allows the guards to put a little more pressure on the outside players and get up on guys because they know he’s back there.”

The Blazers have an elite defense whenever Nurkic is on the floor, and don’t improve (or decline) when he sits. Here he is switching from Ian Mahinmi to Porter to Bradley Beal, shuffling his feet all the way to an impressive rejection.

Portland’s defense isn’t perfect, though. They still miscommunicate on switches, and the NBA’s Karma Gods have so far blessed them with a few timely misses when they do screw up. In their big comeback win against Washington, Beal was left wide open for two three-point tries in the fourth quarter because Connaughton thought he was supposed to switch onto the screener instead of fight through the pick. Portland doesn’t win the game if one of those falls.

“Even if we are top five, I’m on their behind daily about certain things we are not doing as well as we need to do, at certain things that we need to improve at, about a lot of things that, basically, we’ve gotten away with,” Vanterpool said. “Sometimes people miss shots. People miss wide open shots. We’ve been missing wide open shots. Our offense hasn’t been what it normally is. I try to keep that temperament involved in the equation so we don’t just start thinking—start poking your chest out and almost break your arm patting yourself on the back, and you end up 26th again.”

Add all this up and it’s hard to think Portland hasn’t turned a meaningful corner in an area that’s plagued them over the past couple seasons. Assuming the offense comes around sooner than later, possibly even climbing up to a top-ten level, the Blazers will have the profile of a spunky championship contender.

But executing in the regular season vs. doing so inside a seven-game series are two separate animals, and it’ll be interesting to see how sturdy their defense holds against a team that’s able to ruthlessly pick apart a relatively weak individual defender (like Connaughton, Lillard, Nurkic, or McCollum) who has physical limitations.

Maybe it won’t matter. Maybe their offense is a fireworks display by then, with a defense still strong enough to keep Lillard and McCollum on the court without fear of habitual abuse. We’ll see. But Portland has spent the opening month of a season that could’ve spiraled out of control into an opportunity to reshape who they are and what they’re about.

“I think [defense] has become our identity, which is...it’s strange for us,” Vanterpool said. “This is my sixth season and we’ve always been an offensive juggernaut. I had this conversation with our players and I’m like ‘Look, until our offense gets back to where we know it should be, our defense—that’s who we are now—so that has to be just as consistent as our offense has been over the past five, six years.’ I just take my hat off to them for being true to it, and just sticking to it.”

The Trail Blazers Have a Brand New Identity Thanks to One Simple Concept published first on http://ift.tt/2pLTmlv

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jankarmtic · 3 years ago

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Khris Middleton & Pat Connaughton Postgame Interview – Game 5 – Bucks vs Suns | 2021 NBA Finals https://ift.tt/2VU3IC1

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amtushinfosolutionspage · 7 years ago

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The Trail Blazers Have a Brand New Identity Thanks to One Simple Concept

Yet somehow, instead of standing on the shoulders of two missile-launching shotmakers, the Blazers have won 13 games and elevated their overall stature by deploying one of the NBA’s stingiest defenses. According to Cleaning the Glass, they’re currently allowing 100.7 points per 100 possessions, which is bested only by the Boston Celtics and Oklahoma City Thunder.

I’ll try and answer those questions in a bit, but for now let’s look at why Portland is so good, and how it’s doing what it’s doing. A quick look at their numbers from last year, compared to how they’re performing today, reveals that there hasn’t been a dramatic change to their game plan.

Photo by Nelson Chenault-USA TODAY Sports

The Blazers still rank near the bottom of the league in deflections and charges drawn per 36 minutes, while only two teams force fewer turnovers. Their bigs still drop back near the elbow when defending a pick-and-roll, and once more they’re forcing opponents into a ton of long twos while holding them to league-low shooting percentage at the rim. Good luck pulling off a clean assist against this team, as they’re also only allowing 17.8 per 100 possessions, which leads the NBA.

“Our focus [heading into this season] was not necessarily making wholesale changes, but just being more consistent,” Blazers head coach Terry Stotts said before last night’s game against the New York Knicks. “We looked at some of the stats last year, where we could improve, and debated about making some changes—maybe being aggressive, trying to create more turnovers—but we ended up just trying to do what we do and being consistent with it.”

They’re also fouling less, rebounding more, and getting back in transition with increased discipline. According to Cleaning the Glass, Portland ranks first in defensive transition efficiency, a modest improvement from where they ranked (24th) last year. Talk to any player on the team (I interviewed quite a few) and the phrase “attention to detail” springs up sooner than later. It’s a simple concept that’s made a world of difference. They now know what type of punch the other team wants to throw before they can step into it.

Watch here as Connaughton finds himself slightly out of position helping Lillard on Elfrid Payton’s drive.

“I know from working with them in the summer…defensively has been where the focus has been, and the three of us have done a lot of different defensive drills for individual defense, help side stuff, and I think they’ve taken to it and done a great job,” Vanterpool said.

Here’s Lillard matched up with Otto Porter in a recent win against the Washington Wizards.

And then there’s Nurkic, the inside presence who simultaneously has no place in a modern league that’s exterminating cement-footed big men, and also rank 16th in Defensive Real Plus-Minus. The 23-year-old shores up the paint, slides from one block to the next, and does a decent job putting out fires whenever they pop up elsewhere on the floor.

“I think [defense] has become our identity, which is…it’s strange for us,” Vanterpool said. “This is my sixth season and we’ve always been an offensive juggernaut. I had this conversation with our players and I’m like ‘Look, until our offense gets back to where we know it should be, our defense—that’s who we are now—so that has to be just as consistent as our offense has been over the past five, six years.’ I just take my hat off to them for being true to it, and just sticking to it.”

The Trail Blazers Have a Brand New Identity Thanks to One Simple Concept syndicated from http://ift.tt/2ug2Ns6

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junker-town · 5 years ago

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These 6 NBA teams will hit the under on their projected win total

Photo by Kevork Djansezian/Getty Images

Sorry, Lakers fans.

Everyone in the NBA is undefeated in the preseason, but that glorious early fall optimism has a way fading quickly. With only a few weeks until the games start to count for real, the SB Nation staff examined some over/under betting lines on win totals and picked the teams we think will disappoint.

The lines are from Draft Kings and all come with their own odds. These the teams we like to hit the under this season.

Los Angeles Lakers: 51.5

There are so many potential pitfalls for the Lakers. On the brink of season No. 17, LeBron James no longer seems indestructible after being limited to 55 games because of a groin injury last year. LeBron has famously coasted through the regular season (especially on the defensive end) for the last few years, but he doesn’t have that luxury this season even if he remains fully healthy. Who else is going to initiate this offense? Rajon Rondo? Quinn Cook? Alex Caruso? Would any of these guys even be in an NBA rotation if they weren’t with the Lakers?

Yes, Anthony Davis is great, but 65 percent of his field goals were assisted last year, a number that’s more than 10 percentage points higher than even Joel Embiid and Nikola Jokic. For all of Davis�� talent, it’s hard to imagine him carrying the offense by himself if and when LeBron isn’t on the court. The defense will likely be a real problem even if they’re at full strength. Then there’s the issue of lineup optimization: Davis doesn’t love playing center full-time despite that being his best use when the games really count. Davis is already talking about the Lakers using “super big” lineups with Dwight Howard and JaVale McGee on the court together. That’s a hard pass.

I’m buying the idea of the Lakers being able to beat anyone in the playoffs if they’re healthy. The LeBron-AD two-man game is that intriguing. I just don’t see them winning 52 games or more before they get there.

— Ricky O’Donnell

Milwaukee Bucks: 56.5

Giannis Antetokounmpo was everything last season, but as a one superstar team, the Bucks were still a team only as good as the sum of their parts. So what happens when one piece of the machine is stripped away?

Malcolm Brogdon’s signing with the Indiana Pacers was one of the most overlooked moves of the 2019 offseason. Brogdon’s a really good on-ball defender and an elite shooter. Both things are crucial to what makes Milwaukee’s system work. He connected on 51 percent of his shots from the field and 43 percent of his four three-point looks and 93 percent of his free throw attempts. Brogdon’s minutes are super productive, and they’re going to be replaced by less stable replacements. Will this be Wes Matthews’ bounce back season? Does Pat Connaughton take a leap? Donte DiVincenzo maybe?

There’s a missing piece in Milwaukee’s floor-spacing offense, and no obvious replacement.

— Matt Ellentuck

Indiana Pacers: 47.5

There are several reasons why 48 wins is a reach for the Indiana Pacers this season, but none touch the unknown surrounding Victor Oladipo. Here’s what Pacers head coach Nate McMillan said about his star guard last week: “I don’t anticipate Victor being available for a while, and I don’t know what a while is. There’s no timetable. “I haven’t had any information given to me that he will be practicing live anytime soon.”

Now, a Pacers optimist can counter by looking at Indiana’s “strong” finish after Oladipo’s injury. Yes, they avoided total collapse and made the playoffs. But after January 26th, they also had the league’s 24th offense and a defense that relied on an ability to force turnovers. Indiana also lost five of their top-seven scorers—including Bojan Bogdanovic, who averaged 20.7 points per game after Oladipo went down—and five of their six minutes leaders. Who is replacing Thad Young?

Malcolm Brogdon was really good in the role he had in Milwaukee, but asking him to generate shots on a team that doesn’t have Giannis Antetokounmpo or Khris Middleton eating all the defense’s attention will be quite an adjustment. T.J. Warren is a nice player, and we’ll see how he responds to competitive basketball for the first time in his NBA career. But the Pacers have too many questions and concerns to knock on the door of a 50-win season until they have at least one healthy All-Star making a nightly contribution. Onward to 2021.

—Michael Pina

Indiana Pacers: 47.5

This is your resident Indiana Pacers fan, doubling down on the Pacers hitting the under. There is no optimistic way to spin this but Pacers are going to spend a large chunk of their season without their star in Victor Oladipo. And that team without Oladipo, probably won’t be in the hunt to win 50 games. This feels like free money.

Oladipo ruptured the quad tendon in his knee and at one time had an expected return of January, but the Pacers continue to preach there is no timetable for his comeback. The Pacers also have no reason to rush their star back onto the court this season.

No matter how lovable Domantas Sabonis and Myles Turner and Malcolm Brogdon may be, they are sadly not a 48-win team. They will be fine and and sometimes fun. Just not ya know ... as good as they’d be with Oladipo on the floor.

— Whitney Medworth

Washington Wizards: 27.5

This summer featured Ted Leonsis reportedly calling every high-profile general manager candidate he could think of and begging them to take a job as the highest paid GM in the NBA, with none of them even accepting the interview. Tommy Sheppard seems like an extremely qualified and well-respected dude, but the Zards needing to resort to roughly their 5th choice tells you all you need to know about the state of their roster. Several smart people took one glance at the situation and quickly determined it was a loser for them.

Thankfully for fans, the Zards do have their own pick, so SuperTanking could prove extremely fruitful. So could trading Bradley Beal, who rules, but is almost certainly worth less to the Wizards than the assets he could fetch from a contender.

A healthy John Wall, a handful of new young players and a couple of lottery picks could make the Wizards extremely entertaining in 2020-21. I’m looking forward to the Anthony Edwards era in Chinatown. But betting on 27 wins or fewer this season feels like free money.

— Kim McCauley

New York Knicks: 27.5

Much has been made of the Knicks’ disastrous summer from a macro perspective. They embarrassingly struck out on the superstars they promised to bring in, watched their crosstown rivals swoop in to snag them, and released what amounted to a public apology less than 24 hours into free agency. All this after trading their best young player at the deadline on the theory that having additional cap space to build a superteam was preferable.

In response, the Knicks proudly refused to hand out long-term maximum deals to second-tier stars, which is understandable. The problem is they didn’t build a coherent basketball team in doing so.

The Knicks have more useful NBA players, but none of them fit together. It’s hard to see how Julius Randle helps elevate Mitchell Robinson, or how a bunch of 4.5s up front combined with non-shooting point guards helps space the floor for R.J. Barrett’s inevitable growing pains with the ball in his hands. Does Marcus Morris really help Kevin Knox, or will he simply block his playing time? Where is the infrastructure that’d allow Dennis Smith Jr. to play with the ball in his hands consistently? Is it even possible for David Fizdale to build a functioning five-man unit that has everything he needs without pissing off someone who believes they should be playing?

NBA teams need a pecking order and a coherent style of play to win games in the regular season. The Knicks’ full roster may be better than last year’s 17-win unit, but there’s no way all the parts can add up to a sum of 11 wins more than last season.

— Mike Prada

New Orleans Pelicans: 38.5

They traded for a new core that even Anthony Davis couldn’t drag to competency last year — and all due respect to Zion, but at age 19, AD he is not.

Additions like Derrick Favors, J.J. Redick, and Jaxson Hayes are nice, but not enough to move the needle in the savage West such that they’ll flirt with .500; David Griffin may have them well-positioned for a future when Zion develops, he potentially trades his point guard who can’t hit a J, and all those picks from the Lakers start to become real, tangible, actual hoopsters. But 2019-20 will feature a fair amount more losing than winning.

— Alex Rubenstein

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