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They couldn’t even let us have some Donté DiVincenzo-Knicks drama for a day! I still choose to believe in it.
Season Previews
Do the Bucks still run the Central division?
We are previewing the 2024-25 season leading up to opening night on Oct. 22, going through each division and each major individual award. Yesterday, we did the Atlantic Division and MIP award.
For each team, I’ll make a bold prediction and a take on the over/under set by BetMGM. Five 🥶 emojis on the hot seat meter is job security. Five 🔥 means it’s time to “Update that resume.” Let’s preview the Central!
Best-case scenario? They are who we thought they were going into last season, and they win the title.
Worst-case scenario? Doc Rivers throws everybody under the bus, and one of the stars wants a trade after a first-round exit.
Confidence in the Bucks: 💪💪💪💪
Best-case scenario? Kenny Atkinson saves the offense, they make a move to balance out the roster, and they make the conference finals.
Worst-case scenario? The offense continues to sputter, they get a rough first-round draw, and they’re out by May.
Confidence in the Cavs: 💪💪
Best-case scenario? Last year wasn’t a fluke, and they make the second round, if not further.
Worst-case scenario? The offense isn’t historic, the defense is atrocious, and they’re bounced in the first round.
Confidence in the Pacers: 💪💪💪
Best-case scenario? They can move Zach LaVine’s contract by the deadline, and the young players look encouraging for the future.
Worst-case scenario? They remain the same Bulls from the last couple years.
Confidence in the Bulls: 😢
Best-case scenario? Cade Cunningham leads this team to compete for a Play-In spot.
Worst-case scenario? Did you see last year? More of that.
Confidence in the Pistons: 💪
Awards Predictions
Who will win Sixth Man of the Year?
Over the last decade, there has been some pushback or so toward the idea that the Sixth Man award should just go to the player who scores the most off the bench. I’m going to push back on that. So often, we see second units on teams just try to survive minutes when the starters are mostly out. The offense falls off a cliff.
I think the top scorers being considered for this award every year is the correct way to go. Being able to drop 14 to 20 points off the bench on a nightly basis is incredibly valuable. With that said, here are BetMGM’s favorites for this season’s Sixth Man award.
Favorite: Malik Monk (+600)
Threats: Naz Reid (+1100), Jaime Jaquez Jr. (+1100), Donte DiVincenzo (+1400), Bennedict Mathurin (+1400), Bobby Portis Jr. (+1500), CJ McCollum (+1500)
Dark horse: Isaiah Hartenstein (+4000)
🔮 My prediction: Malik Monk. He would’ve won it last season if he didn’t get hurt at the end.
What’s Beef?
Let’s discuss the best NBA TV moment ever
Sadly, NBA TV does not have the must-see programming it could have. It should be a hub for all things basketball, much like “Inside the NBA” is when it comes to broadcasting games and talking about the league in a fun/entertaining way. Instead, it’s often the basketball equivalent of window shopping at a store you probably won’t even go into – you take a glance and move on with an Auntie Anne’s pretzel in hand. There doesn’t seem to be any rhyme or reasoning to its programming. I don’t say that to be rude. It’s just a fact for a lot of us die hard basketball nerds.
The other night, though, NBA TV delivered us a beacon of brilliant entertainment. It was an incredibly awkward moment, between 2006-07 NBA Coach of the Year Sam Mitchell and desk host Chris Miles, that caught fire on the internet. Miles, who was playing off of the conversation that Olympic coaches don’t get medals for basketball, attempted a playful jab at Mitchell by joking that coaches shouldn’t get paid to give analysis on TV either.
Mitchell joked about his own paycheck from the TV network being small these days before his jabs toward Miles quickly turned into haymakers. If you haven’t watched it in all its glorious awkwardness, you have to before we continue. I’ll stay right here and wait for your return.
This NBA TV segment with Sam Mitchell and host Chris Miles may be one of the most awkward in the history of sports television.https://t.co/73l1OLmh4U
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) October 12, 2024
You back? Good. How fun was that? Painfully uncomfortable but fun! Sam even gave out the address later on in the night, but that clip is tough to find. As someone who occasionally works with Sam on SiriusXM NBA Radio and has gone through what I’ll call “tests” from him (for lack of a better term), I can say, as soon as I saw Chris mention Sam’s money, I knew the situation would escalate.
Since then, plenty of damage control has happened, so it’s about what you choose to believe after what we KNOW we saw. As another NBA Radio colleague explained and talked with Sam about on the radio, this was all in jest. I can definitely believe that. The address given was apparently a made-up one, which I believe. In my experience, Sam has fun with testing people in a way people would find rude and uncomfortable, if they’re the type to clutch their pearls when coaches yell at players. Personally, I like that kind of thing, so I find the ribbing by Sam pretty fun.
I also believe Sam wanted to make it awkward and wasn’t joking as much as people think, but there was some joking there. It’s somewhere in between, which feels even more like the truth when we see a forced explanation video like this. Ultimately, I appreciate the entertainment and hope we get more like it. Dear NBA TV, please put Sam on TV more often and give us more ribbing like this. It would draw a lot more fans to the channel.
Bounce Passes
An incredible read from Jason Quick on the modern sports fan dealing with legal sports betting.
This week marks the 30-year anniversary of the greatest sports documentary ever. Read about the cultural impact of “Hoop Dreams.”
The NBA is in this new era of parity. So … what’s next?
Most-clicked in Monday’s newsletter: I smell an upcoming Beef Court trial between Donte DiVincenzo and Rick Brunson.
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(Top photo: Michael Reaves / Getty Images )
