Good morning. Let's basketball.
SOUND THE BELLS: I wrote about Adam Silver's comments about exorbitant NBA player contracts and the lockout foreshadowing therein. I am not convinced any financial trouble teams are facing has anything all that much to do with rising payrolls so much as ineffective revenue sharing and incompetence.
Dan Devine also wrote heroically on the topic. Speaking of which: Dan Devine is great! You ought to read him whenever you can.
PRIDE OF THE PHILIPPINES: Jake Pavorsky on Bobby Ray Parks, the Filipino player on Dallas' Summer League team carrying the weight of his nation on his basketball. The Philippines are basketball crazed; you should definitely read Rafe Bartholomew's Pacific Rims on the Filipino obsession with hoops this summer if you haven't.
WAIT WHAT? Those kneejerk Knicks fans who booed poor Kristaps Porzingis might have been wrong? I'm so surprised!
WHAT THE EXECS ARE TALKING ABOUT: Excellent ramble through the halls of the NBA decision-makers from Kevin Arnovitz, with stuff on the salary bubble, moratorium reform and more.
KNOCK THE HUSTLE: Seth Partnow on the NBA's experiments measuring hustle stats. I think this idea is super rad and useful on a macro level (like determining whether deflections or charges drawn have meaningful impacts) but potentially problematic on an individual level because of the loaded common definition of "hustle" in our world. It will be tricky to navigate while treating players fairly, in other words.
WORTH THINKING ABOUT: Why women's sports leagues in the United States struggle.
BIG BUCKS: The Wisconsin State Senate approved funding for the new Milwaukee arena.
PATIENCE! D'Angelo Russell hasn't been spectacular in Vegas. Give him time!
FACEKETBALL ... looks dreadful. But also funny, especially when LeBron does it to a late-night host.
CLASSIC MAN: Boris Diaw wrote a children's book about hippopotamuses. Hippopotamuses? Hippopotami? Hippos? Hippeaux. Hippeaux.
DEAR TY LAWSON: Listen to Vin Baker.
NOSTALGIPHILIA: How Mitchell & Ness built an empire.
KNICKS TIME: Harvey Araton on Phil Jackson de-emphasizing the importance of Carmelo Anthony. Chris Herring on the Knicks de-emphasizing the Triangle.
THE FAKE MORALITY OF GETTING WHAT YOU'RE DUE: Love this piece by Robert Silverman on the framing of players who don't take discounts.
SIGH: George Karl has taken the sharp points off of his public beef with DeMarcus Cousins, but he's still slyly assigning blame. Witness the words framing used by Karl in Ken Berger's piece on the state of the Kings. He's putting the onus on Cousins to squash everything.
#WEIRD: Three Mavericks point guards -- Deron Williams, Ray Felton and J.J. Barea -- have identical birthdates (June 26, 1984). Via BDL. Trade Devin Harris!
INTERESTING: Why there is so much more guaranteed salary in the NBA than in the NFL.
Happy Thursday. See you next time.