Good morning. Let's basketball.
THIS IS GREAT: Michele Roberts, head of the NBA players' union, said labor talks have already begun and the sides hope to iron out a deal by the end of the 2015-16 season, more than a full year ahead of when the current deal expires. That'd be a huge win for Adam Silver. We'll see.
RUDY CAN'T FAIL: Statistical modeling suggests Rudy Gobert is highly unlikely to fail, barring injury.
NBA PLAYERS ELSEWHERE: FIBA Americas has begun and Eurobasket is around the corner. Here's a list of NBA players participating in the tournaments.
DID YOU KNOW: Tommy Heinsohn was smallballing like four decades ago as the Celtics' coach.
OF COURSE SHE DID: Riley Curry won the GOP Debate.
YOUR RETRO VINE OF THE INDETERMINATE TIME PERIOD: Shaq sonning Chris Dudley, Chris Dudley getting mad.
THE SACRAMENTO DICHOTOMY: The Kings' business operations are completely high-tech and devoted to the bleeding edge. The Kings' basketball operations is rather, uh, old-school. How does this work? (Via REDEF.)
AUTOCLICK: A tribute to Antoine Walker.
THIS COULD BE FUN: An argument that if the Kings offer Marshall Henderson a spot with the crazy Reno Bighorns, he should take it.
WELL THAT WAS STUPID: Dwight Howard forgot to leave his loaded gun at home before going to the airport.
MAKES SENSE: Using analytics to fix pickup hoops scoring systems.
THE COUNTERINTUITIVE PATH: An argument that if you want to destroy the college sports cartel you should not be in favor of paying student athletes.
YOU LIKE FOOTBALL? Well then you're going to love SB Nation's grand ol' NFL preview.
Happy Thursday. See you next time.