NBA × Basketballita

Nuggets fans with a chant for the Lakers near the end of their team’s opening night win 😅 (via mcten/X) #nuggets #lakers #denver #nba

Gregg Popovich has faced 307 different head coaches in the past 27 years.

307.

The ongoing NBA coaching carousel is relentless. This season, only 4 coaches have been with their team for at least 8 years.

And only the Spurs have had just 1 coach in the past 27 years.

Why is that so wild?

Some coaches get fired after a winning season.
Some get fired after making the playoffs.
Some even get fired right after winning Coach of the Year.

But Gregg Popovich has lasted 27 years.

In that time, every other team has had at least 3 different head coaches.

Meanwhile, in those 27 years, Pop has:
⭐️ Won 5 championships in 3 different decades
⭐️ Made 22 straight playoffs (an NBA record)
⭐️ Become the winningest coach in NBA history

Give respect to the 🐐 coach.

The Wemby era begins tonight, and it’s time we talk about it.

Because he is going to break basketball…

With defense.

Forget the offense - we’re not even gonna talk about all the things he can do with the ball.

When other guys have the ball, they are going to have to completely change what they do because of Wemby.

Let’s do the math.

Victor Wembanyama has an 8-foot wingspan. He’s the lightest and quickest player at his size that we’ve ever seen. He can literally cover 20 feet of space around him, 10 feet in every direction.

To make that block on Andrew Wiggins in the preseason, Wemby traveled from the paint to the wing. That’s a 10-foot gap that he closed in the time it took for Wiggins to shoot.

The most dangerous offensive weapons- Jokic, Curry, Luka -- all of them specialize in making you make impossible decisions. They put you in 4 on 3s. 3 on 2s. 2 on 1s.

When you’re that last defender, you’re often either giving up a bucket or a dime that leads to a bucket. These scorers blend alley oops into floaters, and it’s just not humanly possible to stop it 90% of the time.

But Wemby isn’t a human. And he plays a different game entirely. One where he forces the scorer to make the impossible decision.

Andrew Wiggins had to shoot that shot. He was so open and Wemby was so far - in today’s NBA if you don’t shoot that shot you are hurting your team.

Wemby makes you think you have the shot. And when you commit to it, he closes the gap so fast, that now it’s too hard to score and too late to pass.

Wemby actually has the advantage in a 2 on 1. And it’s almost like watching the discovery channel when you watch him make these plays.

He watches you away from the ball with a side eye, like a squirrel who won’t let you get too close, convincing you that shot, layup or dunk is so open that any other play is the wrong play. And then, when you go for the “right” play, he comes out of nowhere - like a great white shark from under the sea - and swallows it.

If the NBA is a jungle, Wemby is far from being its King. But he is the most threatening species we’ve seen in decades.

And there very well could be a change in the food chain one day…🤷🏽‍♂️

He gave shoes also to the staff 🙏 #basketball #baller #ballislife

DeMar DeRozan has had quite the career in the NBA, and is currently sitting at 21,685 career points.

He needs;
♦️107 points to pass Larry Bird
♦️129 points to pass Gary Payton
♦️511 points to pass Clyde Drexler
♦️1465 points to pass Elgin Baylor
♦️1481 points to pass Dwyane Wade
♦️1493 points to pass Adrian Dantley
♦️1650 points to pass Robert Parish
♦️2073 points to pass Charles Barkley

It’s going to be a very interesting season for DeRozan 😤

REPORT: Once the NBA finalizes its upcoming media rights agreements, it is expected to expand to include 32 teams, per Front Office Sports.

The primary cities under consideration are Las Vegas and Seattle. 👀

Devin Booker drops 32 PTS, 6 REB, 8 AST on 62% FG as the Suns beat the Warriors 108-104!