Briefing: June 14
The offseason officially begins!
Good Morning,
Jeremy Lin is an NBA champion. The Toronto Raptors put a ribbon on the 2018-19 NBA season by defeating the Warriors last night to win their first NBA championship. It was an entertaining series marked by devastating injuries to Kevin Durant and Klay Thompson.
And the offseason officially begins…
Kyrie Irving to the Nets? More evidence continues to build that Irving is headed to Brooklyn this summer. From a Boston Herald report:
“According to a source with ties to Roc Nation, the organization expected to become Irving’s new representative, the All-Star point guard is prepared to sign with the Brooklyn Nets when he becomes a free agent next month.
“A separate league source told the Herald that his team (not the Celtics) has received the same information and is operating under the belief that Irving wants to join the Nets.”
Durant prefers the Knicks? The same Boston Herald report cites an earlier report they published in May that says:
“At present, the Durant situation appears to be having no bearing on Irving. As reported here last month, a Golden State source said that Irving had definitely spoken to Durant about teaming up once they became free agents.
“Another source in that story said the problem was that Irving wanted Brooklyn, while Durant was leaning hard to the Knicks.”
Kemba Walker would take less to stay in Charlotte. The Bronx native said he would be willing to re-sign in Charlotte for less than the supermax if it means helping them build a winning team. [read more]
Pre-Draft Workouts:
Knicks worked out Hofstra guard Justin Wright-Foreman, Eastern Michigan big man James Thompson IV, and North Carolina A&T wing Terry Harris on Thursday, according to Mike Vorkunov.
Knicks will work out Miami center Dewan Hernandez Friday, and worked out Shaw guard Amir Hinton earlier, per Mike Vorkunov.
In other news…
Vegas still likes the Knicks 2019-20 title chances…
What just happened?
by Jonathan Macri
Do you have any idea what to say, think or feel upon waking up and finding out that Klay Thompson tore his ACL, just as the entire league is still coming to grips with his fellow Warrior free agent Kevin Durant suffering a similarly devastating injury barely 72 hours prior?
Oh, and the Raptors winning the damn championship?
If so, you should probably have a daily contribution to this newsletter instead of me, because I'm sure the hell speechless.
I think the most bizarre and obviously sad part of this is the lack of finality we have this morning. It's bizarre because the moment that a sports season ends, at least for a little while, we have time to sit with whatever the result was, like a glass of really good wine.
You take a sip, let it breath a bit, have a bite of cheese, maybe some imported prosciutto if any is readily available, and you dwell on what you just saw. You put things in historical context. You read a few pieces giving kudos to the champs. You reflect. You appreciate.
This morning? There's way too much "what the hell just happened" floating around in the air for any of that. There's no finality because this championship feels almost...if not tainted, then certainly smudged.
And that's not to take anything away from the Toronto Raptors, who were freaking awesome, which is the sad part of this. They were a team good enough to win it all in a lot of years. Kawhi was that unbelievable, their collective defense that superb, and their roster that well assembled.
Still, how the hell will anyone outside of Canada ever be able to think about this Finals - and for that matter, this NBA season - and not think of what was lost over what was won. We lost a dynasty in the cruelest way possible. We lost two all-time greats (who, granted, will still get paid) for the immediate future. We lost the ability to make sense of any of this.
The other reason this postseason felt so different from the norm is that every game, every basket and every great moment was immediately overshadowed by the inevitable questions about what was around the corner. Would Kawhi leave? What about KD? Or Jimmy? Or Kyrie? How will this effect Giannis' pre-agency? Would Huston try and blow it up?
Even last night on the podium, right after he'd been named Finals MVP, Doris Burke asked Leonard how this win would influence his decision this summer. She wouldn't have been doing her job if she hadn't.
The one constant - the only constant the NBA has had over the last five years through all the uncertainty - was the Warriors, and that just went up in smoke as well. At some point last night, JB tweeted out next year's championship odds, and Golden State was still the favorite. Now? There shouldn't be a favorite. How could there be?
Maybe Kawhi stays put and this championship begins to take on more of an air of normalcy as time passes. But if he doesn't? This year will forever feel like a blip on the NBA historical radar, and not necessarily in a good way.
Although...
Who knows...maybe, in this age of player empowerment and subsequent movement, this is the new normal. Maybe it's appropriate that the Warriors' dynasty ended with such a thud, abruptly closing the door on an era where sustained excellence - at least in the way we've come to understand it - is over.
Maybe it's fitting that the team that ended their run had but one player on the roster taken with a draft pick owned by the team. Maybe the Knicks' plan to stockpile picks, young players and cap space really will be the wave of the future, and the winners from here on in won't be the teams who execute the steady build, but instead know when, where and upon whom to pounce.
Of course it's not that easy. For all of the roster upheaval they experienced, the Raptors had as solid an operating base within their franchise as any team in the league. That, really, is what we should be celebrating today. They put smart people in the right positions, had a plan, adjusted it accordingly as they went along, and only pushed their chips into the middle when the time was right.
They deserve credit for that, and frankly, deserve more attention than they'll get following this win, because starting last night, all anyone is going to want to do is look forward, mostly because the future is such a mystery.
But also because what just happened, well...just kind of sucks.
Thanks for reading, talk to you on Monday!