That’s right folks, the greatness of that pun is already known for I am already legend, but the journey it took to finally arrive was something. I mean, think about it; Rui had to actually do something very positive and also be very lede worthy and don’t get me wrong, Rui Hachimura ain’t a bad player, he’s very serviceable. He provides very adequate service!
But when you land a game-winner directly from a legend sacrificing his own personal 10-point streak on the game-winning assist, we must let pun history take its course as well. By the way, LeBron James 10-point streak began on January 6th, 2007 just 1,297 games ago. I’m not going to date myself, the 90s references do that pretty well, but the amount of years that is makes me feel existential dread. Cooper Flagg was one month old! Also obligatory ef LeBron. How is this guy so great?
And of course it wasn’t just James and Rui doing some lifting, Austin Reaves also dropped a 44 points and 11 assists on the hapless Raptors and continues the trend of being a de facto superstar when either Luka or LeBron are not present. That’s 41/5/10 on 53% field goal percentage that least four games without Doncic. If you think it’s juts a usage thing when either Lakers star is out, keep in mind that right now, for the entire season, Reaves is averaging more points, rebounds and assists than Jalen Brunson, Devin Booker, Kevin Durant, Steph Curry and Anthony Edwards.
Here are some other things I noticed the past couple of days…
So it looks like the Giannis Antetokounmpo chatter is finally real. Not that there hasn’t been many practice runs the years before, it just feels real-real this time, not just kinda-sorta maybe let’s conceptualize what happens if he wants out just to content-create the last seven years.
Bucks are poised to honor their generational champion and grant him some say in where he lands, early rumors have the Knicks and Lakers involved, but I just don’t see how. Knicks have no pieces after the Bridges and KAT gambit, so they would probably have to include KAT and the Lakers have similar issues, just not enough to pry him away and also salary match. Unless you want to get wild and involve LeBron and/or Austin Reaves.
Naw, the Bulls seem like a much better fit, but their front office is known to zag away from good ideas and might end up with a discounted Anthony Davis anyways. Spurs would be scary. Same with the Rockets. But I’ll stress patience here, in-season trades of this caliber are pretty difficult and the off season might actually be when he’s on the move. Where he ends up then, it’s tough to say, but of course New York, Miami and both Los Angeles Teams will be in the mix along with the Texas teams.
The Chris Paul retirement tour was short-lived, as the Clippers unceremoniously sent him home recently after providing little on the court and perhaps too much off of it. While there seems to be great discourse from Clippers fans and Paul fans in general, all indicators point to Paul’s demeanor losing the locker room and nothing else.
Paul has always had a personality that clashed at times throughout his storied NBA career. Sometimes being one of the greatest point guards ever wasn’t enough and while he no doubt provided great veteran leadership and productive minutes with the Spurs, it was with a team where most if not all players were half his age. What does Chris Paul have to say that James Harden or Kawhi Leonard or the rest of that veteran group doesn’t know? You may be able to point to the stint with the Warriors as evidence that Paul can contribute to the similar locker room, but he was a bit less washed, did not return and honestly, do we think the Warriors lockerroom is some kind of standard NBA teams should try and meet? I think whatever they’re doing, teams should be doing the opposite of, at the very least it would lower the number sucker-punches thrown, no?
You might applaud Paul here and stand on the hill that how can a man that wants to win do no wrong? But when that hill is an island and you’re the only one standing on it, I think on some level you have to admit that maybe it was probably him and not everyone else. And you don’t have to read my take, Chris Paul, in reports, had tried to make amends for his actions, but they apparently did not resonate because he continued to be a source of angst.
Fantasy-wise, Paul might be moved in a small deal or released to a team needing bench guard depth in a few weeks when eligible, but again, we’re talking about a starter who brought 10/8 last year but now is playing 10 minutes with 3/3. Who really cares?
On the flip, Lawrence Frank was quick to comment that Paul was not the source of the team’s collapse, but the Clippers have already responded with a win. I’m not going to sit here and imply certain things, but let’s see what happens here. Maybe more trees will get planted, who knows?
Jay is a longtime Razzball everything who consumes an egregious amount of Makers Mark as a vehicle to gain wisdom and augment his natural glow. Living in the D.C. area, he also likes spending time visiting the local parks and feeding lettuce to any turtles he encounters, including Mitch McConnell.
