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      Knicks’ Julius Randle Named to His First All-Star Team

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      #masthead-section-label, #masthead-bar-one { display: none }The NBA SeasonVirus Hotspots in the N.B.A.LeBron and Anthony DavisThe N.B.A. Wanted HerMissing Klay ThompsonKobe the #GirlDadAdvertisementContinue reading the main storySupported byContinue reading the main storyKnicks’ Julius Randle Named to His First All-Star TeamRandle is the first Knick to be an All-Star since Kristaps Porzingis in the 2017-18 season. He is averaging a team-leading 23.1 points per game.Julius Randle is on a pace for career highs in points, rebounds and assists in his second season with the Knicks.Credit…Pool photo by Jason DecrowFeb. 23, 2021Updated 7:28 p.m. ETForward Julius Randle, who is having a career year, was named to the N.B.A. All-Star team on Tuesday night as a reserve, giving the Knicks their first All-Star since Kristaps Porzingis during the 2017-18 season.It was the 26-year-old Randle’s first All-Star selection. He is on a pace for career highs in points, rebounds and assists, and is the best player on a Knicks team making a push for its first playoff run since 2012-13. He is the eighth Knicks All-Star this century. (The others are Porzingis, Carmelo Anthony, Tyson Chandler, Amar’e Stoudemire, David Lee, Allan Houston and Latrell Sprewell.)“It’d be amazing, man,” Randle recently said about the prospect of being named to the team. “You put in a lot of work and sacrifice and dedication to your craft. So for you to receive those accolades or whatever it may be and be recognized as such would be a great feeling. And especially as a Knick.”With James Harden, Kyrie Irving and Kevin Durant making the team for the Nets, this season’s All-Star Game, in Atlanta on March 7, will be the first with players from both New York teams since the 2013-14 season, when Joe Johnson (Nets) and Anthony (Knicks) were selected. This is the first time the Nets have had three players in one season chosen for the All-Star team.Randle was drafted with the seventh pick in 2014 by the Los Angeles Lakers after a standout year at Kentucky. He missed all but one game of his rookie year because he broke his leg during his first game. But he recovered fully and became a solid contributor for the Lakers over the next three seasons. He then played one season for the New Orleans Pelicans, averaging 21.4 points and 8.7 rebounds per game, showing glimpses of his All-Star potential, which has emerged fully in New York.Randle’s strong play comes at a time when his future with the Knicks is uncertain. His contract is up after the 2021-22 season, and he has made it clear he wants to remain a Knick.“I signed here with the hopes of being here long term,” Randle said recently. “I want to be one of the guys that’s part of this team and eventually, hopefully, we are competing for championships and winning championships. That’s my dream. A picture perfect thing for me.”The rosters:Western Conference starter poolLeBron James (Los Angeles Lakers)Stephen Curry (Golden State Warriors)Nikola Jokic (Denver Nuggets)Kawhi Leonard (Los Angeles Clippers)Luka Doncic (Dallas Mavericks)Eastern Conference starter poolKevin Durant (Brooklyn Nets)Giannis Antetokounmpo (Milwaukee Bucks)Joel Embiid (Philadelphia 76ers)Kyrie Irving (Brooklyn Nets)Bradley Beal (Washington Wizards)Western Conference reservesAnthony Davis (Los Angeles Lakers)Paul George (Los Angeles Clippers)Rudy Gobert (Utah Jazz)Damian Lillard (Portland Trail Blazers)Donovan Mitchell (Utah Jazz)Chris Paul (Phoenix Suns)Zion Williamson (New Orleans Pelicans)Eastern Conference reservesJaylen Brown (Boston Celtics)James Harden (Brooklyn Nets)Zach LaVine (Chicago Bulls)Julius Randle (New York Knicks)Ben Simmons (Philadelphia 76ers)Jayson Tatum (Boston Celtics)Nikola Vucevic (Orlando Magic)AdvertisementContinue reading the main story More

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      Tom Konchalski, Dogged Basketball Scout, Dies at 74

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      AdvertisementContinue reading the main storySupported byContinue reading the main storyTom Konchalski, Dogged Basketball Scout, Dies at 74He traveled to schools, camps and schoolyards to evaluate high school players, and his reports were essential to college coaches in their recruiting.Tom Konchalski in 2013 at a high school basketball game in Brooklyn. Though he didn’t drive a car, he traveled throughout the East for more than 40 years, scouting high school basketball players.Credit…Julie Glassberg for The New York TimesFeb. 21, 2021Updated 5:32 p.m. ETFor more than 40 years, Tom Konchalski was a fixture in gyms, summer camps and tournaments from Maine to West Virginia, a soft-spoken high school basketball scout whose newsletter was required reading for college coaches craving insights about potential recruits.He showed prescience about future N.B.A. players like Kyrie Irving, Bernard King and Kenny Anderson, but his focus was primarily on creating opportunities for high school players at all levels of college basketball, whether at Division I, II or III schools, or in Canada. A devout Roman Catholic, he thought of players as his ministry.“You’d read his report, mark down names you wanted to investigate, and you took what he said as gospel,” said Dave Odom, a former coach at Wake Forest University and the University of South Carolina, where he recruited a guard, Tre Kelley, whom he learned about from Konchalski’s newsletter. “Tom saw the kid in a summer league, and I followed up with him.”Konchalski, who retired last year from publishing the newsletter High School Basketball Illustrated, died on Feb. 8 in hospice care in the Bronx. He was 74. The cause was prostate cancer, said his brother, Steve, who is retiring after 46 seasons as the men’s basketball coach at St. Francis Xavier University in Antigonish, Nova Scotia. For his newsletter, Konchalski assessed players in 13 categories and offered colorful accompanying comments about them like “loaded with offensive chutzpah” and “scores like we breathe!”“He had a genuine interest in getting his evaluations right,” said Bob Hurley Sr., who was the basketball coach at St. Anthony High School in Jersey City, N.J., for 45 years until the school closed in 2017. “He would never rush. If someone had a bad game, he promised to come back.”Konchalski’s long career made him the subject of a short ESPN documentary in 2013 and earned him a nomination in December from the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in the contributor category. Honorees will be announced in April.Thomas Coman Konchalski was born on Jan. 8, 1947, in Manhattan and grew up in the Elmhurst neighborhood in Queens. His father, Stephen, was a general foreman with the New York City Department of Parks and a semipro baseball player. His mother, Marjorie (Coman) Konchalski, was a homemaker who later worked as a department store cashier.Tom was 8 when he and his brother, who is two years older, went with their father to an N.B.A. doubleheader at Madison Square Garden. The brothers eventually took the subway on their own to see games at the Garden and at schoolyards around the city.And he was 14 when he first saw Connie Hawkins play. Hawkins, the exhilarating star of Boys High School in Brooklyn, was demonstrating his prowess during a summer league game, and it was an epiphany for young Tom.“I would follow him from playground to playground,” Konchalski told The New York Times in 2013. “His game was electric. With one hand, he could palm a rebound out of the air.”At Archbishop Molloy High School in the Briarwood section of Queens, where his brother played guard on its basketball team, Konchalski covered the team for the school newspaper and learned the intricacies of basketball from Jack Curran, Molloy’s coach from 1958 to 2013.“Tom never really played,” Steve Konchalski said in a phone interview. “He’d go to the park and put up some shots, and he had a nice shooting touch. But it wasn’t his thing to compete. He got the height. I’m 6-2. He’s 6-6.”Konchalski, center, with Syd Neiman, left, and Konchalski’s uncle, John Coman, when they were officials for the U.S. Open tennis tournament in Forest Hills, Queens.After graduating from Fordham University in 1968 with a bachelor’s degree in philosophy, Konchalski taught math and social studies at a Roman Catholic school in Queens (and for a time pursued another sports interest, as a linesman at the U.S. Open tennis championships, and its predecessor, when they were played at the West Side Tennis Club in Forest Hills).Konchalski’s path to scouting was accelerated by coaching Catholic Youth Organization basketball teams in New York City. His expanding knowledge of local players led him to part-time scouting in the 1970s for Howard Garfinkel, the influential founder of High School Basketball Illustrated and a co-founder of the Five-Star Basketball Camp, a celebrated youth instructional showcase for future superstars, among them Michael Jordan and LeBron James.Konchalski left teaching to work full-time for Garfinkel in 1979; five years later he bought H.S.B.I. In 1980, Konchalski famously helped get Jordan — then known as Mike Jordan — into the Five-Star camp at the request of Roy Williams, an assistant coach at the University of North Carolina, which was recruiting Jordan (and which he would attend) and wanted to see him play against high-octane competition.Not yet well-known, Jordan stunned the camp with his play.“In tryouts when people were guarding him, they were guarding his belly button,” Konchalski recalled last year in an interview with Forbes magazine. “He had a great stop/ jump. He’d stop on a dime and really elevate. He was an extraterrestrial athlete.”Konchalski — who was known for his detailed recall of games and players from decades earlier — was something of a Luddite. He did not own a computer, a cellphone or an answering machine. Working from his apartment in Forest Hills, Queens, he typed each of the 16 annual issues of his newsletter, stapled them and mailed them in manila envelopes to about 200 coaches, who subscribed for several hundred dollars a year. He did not post his publication online.“I have an electric typewriter,” he told The Daily News of New York in 1990. “That’s my concession to the ages. I always say I was born seven centuries too late.”He did not drive, so he commuted to and from games by train or bus, and was nicknamed the Glider for the way he quietly slipped into a gym, settled onto the top level of the stands and started taking notes on players on a legal pad.In addition to his brother, he is survived by a sister, Judy Ball.In 1976, Konchalski saw that Chris Sellitri, a 6-foot-5 forward at Bishop Loughlin Memorial High School in Brooklyn, had no scholarship offers from colleges in the United States.“Today, a player who made All-Brooklyn would get a scholarship,” Steve Konchalski said. “But back then, some outstanding players fell through the cracks. So Tom directed me to Chris, and he became the leading rebounder in the history of our school.”He added: “He wouldn’t tell a kid, ‘Go to my brother’s school,’ but he’d say to me, ‘This kid is still available — here’s his coach’s name and my evaluation.’”AdvertisementContinue reading the main story More

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      Stephen Curry Sees Your Tweets, and Your Team’s Weaknesses

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      #masthead-section-label, #masthead-bar-one { display: none }The NBA SeasonVirus Hotspots in the N.B.A.The Friendship of LeBron and Anthony DavisThe N.B.A. Wanted HerMissing Klay ThompsonKobe the #GirlDadAdvertisementContinue reading the main storySupported byContinue reading the main storyStephen Curry Sees Your Tweets, and Your Team’s WeaknessesAn up-and-down season for the ailing Golden State Warriors has social media abuzz with people doubting Curry, but he’s playing better than ever.Awards and championships can’t keep the critics from coming for Stephen Curry. “I saw all of it,” he said. “It was hilarious.”Credit…Tony Gutierrez/Associated PressFeb. 19, 2021, 6:09 p.m. ETStephen Curry missed 38 of the first 56 3-pointers he attempted this season. His Golden State Warriors were punchless without the injured Klay Thompson alongside him in their famed Splash Brothers backcourt, losing by 26, 39 and 25 points within the first five games.There was little at the time to suggest that Curry would soon be crashing the race for the N.B.A.’s Most Valuable Player Award and inspiring his coach, Steve Kerr, to say that “this is the best” version yet of his star guard.Curry has stopped short of saying he agrees. The likely explanation: He is as audacious as ever with his shot selection, confidence, celebratory shimmies and ambition. So he keeps expecting more and resisting limits, even as his 33rd birthday nears next month.“I am playing well,” Curry said in a phone interview — but insisted that he can still get better.“I know that’s kind of crazy to say,” he added.Such talk is not crazy to the Warriors. Shaun Livingston, a former teammate who has moved into the team’s front office, said Curry was noticeably stronger absorbing contact after working on his body in the off-season. Curry cited an improved ability to read defenses as an even bigger development in his game.After a broken hand and the N.B.A.’s pandemic-imposed hiatus limited him to five games last season, Curry has rebounded emphatically. He busted out of his early 3-point-shooting struggles with a career-high 62 points against Portland on Jan. 3, passed the Hall of Famer Reggie Miller for second place in career 3-pointers made on Jan. 23 and hung 57 points on the Dallas Mavericks two weeks after that.Curry is averaging 30 points, 6 assists and 5.3 rebounds per game while shooting 49.2 percent from the floor and 42.5 percent from 3-point range. They are the most robust figures he has produced since 2015-16, when he was named the league M.V.P. for the second successive season. The offensive surge has him on pace to join Michael Jordan on a very short list of players to average 30 points per game at age 32 or older.Curry said he is more patient this season: “How I see the game when I’m on and off the ball, seeing what the defense is giving you and knowing that I’ll find a way to get some space.”Credit…Jeff Chiu/Associated PressTeam officials have grown accustomed to seeing him hush skeptic after skeptic since his arrival from Davidson College as the No. 7 overall pick in the 2009 draft. They understand that Curry, who became the sort of revolutionary franchise cornerstone no one envisioned back then, may have to stay at a supernova level to get his 16-13 team back to the playoffs. They have also learned by now that there is little point in trying to curb his aspirations or quirks — even when that means having to watch Curry scroll through potentially toxic social media criticism on his phone at halftime.Andrew Bogut, the recently retired former Warriors big man, revealed last month on his new “Rogue Bogues” podcast that Curry was prone to check his Twitter mentions “if he had a bad half.” Asked to verify the story, Curry laughed and said it had indeed become “a really bad habit.”Bogut last played alongside Curry for the final month of the 2018-19 regular season and the playoffs, which were marred by the serious injuries to Kevin Durant (Achilles’ tendon) and Thompson (knee) and halted the Warriors’ remarkable run of three championships in five consecutive trips to the N.B.A. finals. Asked how regularly he still takes a peek at halftime, Curry said: “Probably more often than you think.”As such, before that 62-point eruption against the Trail Blazers, Curry was keenly aware of mounting social media criticism doubting his ability to carry an injury-hit team and claims that a poor season for the Warriors could damage his legacy.“I saw all of it,” he said of the critical tweets. “It was hilarious.”Ill-advised as the doomscrolling seems, given the potential adverse effects on his mental health, Curry said he is more focused on “the comedy I get from it” than trying to “keep the receipts” from fans and the media who don’t believe in him.“It started by accident to be honest,” he said, the day before being named an All-Star starter for the seventh time. “I had this ritual with my wife where, at halftime, she’d send me some encouragement or kick me in the butt a little bit if I was playing bad. And, obviously, with how iPhones are constructed, that Twitter button is just right there. It’s easy to get wrapped up in it for a minute or two. To this day, I don’t know how Bogut caught on, because it wasn’t like I was reading the tweets out loud.”“I think he just wants to be great. I saw him chasing greatness last summer when no one was watching”, said Bruce Fraser, a Warriors assistant coach. Curry and Fraser warm up before Monday’s game against Cleveland.Credit…Jeff Chiu/Associated PressAfter two games with at least 10 3-pointers earlier this month, Curry missed 15 of his first 18 3-pointers against the Miami Heat on Wednesday — only to drain two clutch 3-pointers in overtime in the come-from-behind victory. It was the kind of performance that sets social media ablaze, with critics calling for his two M.V.P. trophies to be repossessed and supporters responding by “just asking” why he lives in so many people’s heads rent-free. (Translation: Why talk about him so much if he’s not as potent as advertised?)“I don’t think he plays the game with spite or trying to prove people wrong,” said Bruce Fraser, a Warriors assistant coach, who works as closely with Curry as anyone in the organization. “I think he just wants to be great. I saw him chasing greatness last summer when no one was watching. The main piece to his success is the time that he’s put into it and his push last summer.”Eight-plus months off, as part of one of the eight teams that did not qualify to finish last season in the N.B.A. bubble at Walt Disney World, led to the most productive off-season of Curry’s career. It was the ideal tonic after the Warriors played well into June for five straight springs. Curry was in the gym constantly, with his longtime personal trainer Brandon Payne as well as Fraser, adding muscle to play through contract and evade clutching and grabbing off the ball, and to gird himself to head inside when defenses played him too tight outside. Defenses hound Curry so closely on the perimeter that he is driving the ball more than he has since 2015-16; nearly 30 percent of the shots Curry has taken this season come within 10 feet of the basket.“I’ve always been a late bloomer,” Curry said of the strength boost, “so it’s not a surprise.”When Curry was misfiring early this season, Fraser refused to worry. He was sure Curry was ready for the challenge of leading a mostly new team apart from the title-tested Draymond Green. Fraser was the one, after all, flinging the passes at a post-practice shooting session on Dec. 26 when Curry made 105 consecutive 3-pointers — 103 of them on camera.The purity of Curry’s stroke told Fraser that the real issue was how Curry was adjusting to an array of new defensive coverages. With Durant now on the Nets, Thompson unavailable and scant dependable shooting elsewhere in the lineup, Curry needed to get used to opposing teams locking in on him like never before.“At the beginning of the season, it was really hard for him,” Fraser said. “Box-and-ones, double teams, traps, triple teams. In transition, I’ve seen times when Steph’s been coming down the floor and there are four guys around him.”Teams are committing multiple defenders to Curry, with no consistent offensive threats beyond him on the Warriors.Credit…Neville E. Guard/USA Today Sports, via ReutersFraser’s recap hit upon one of Curry’s favorite subjects. At this stage of his career, Curry seems to enjoy talking about the nuances of reading the game as much as his actual shotmaking.“My patience is a lot better now, if I had to pick one thing,” Curry said. “How I see the game when I’m on and off the ball, seeing what the defense is giving you and knowing that I’ll find a way to get some space. I’m enjoying this run for sure.”The intensity and variety of the coverages “keeps me sharp,” Curry said.The benefit and wisdom of keeping an open ear to the latest critical chatter is much harder to see — So how much of a prime do you have left, Steph? — but that may be one more green light Curry has earned.“If you occupy spaces that people never thought you could, there’s always going to be attempts to try to explain it away,” Curry said. “That kind of comes with the territory. I like to have fun with it, though.”AdvertisementContinue reading the main story More

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      High School Basketball Players Are Jumping to College

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      #masthead-section-label, #masthead-bar-one { display: none }The Coronavirus OutbreakliveLatest UpdatesMaps and CasesVaccine RolloutSee Your Local RiskNew Variants TrackerAdvertisementContinue reading the main storySupported byContinue reading the main storyLast Month, the High School Gym. This Month, the College Arena.An N.C.A.A. decision related to the pandemic inspired some elite players to finish high school early and jump to college to take advantage of an extra year of eligibility.Guard Carter Whitt finished high school early, jumped to Wake Forest and made his Division I college debut 10 days later.Credit…Charles Krupa/Associated PressFeb. 19, 2021, 7:00 a.m. ETIn September, Carter Whitt, a 6-foot-4 guard from Raleigh, N.C., was preparing to spend his senior season at Brewster Academy, the prep basketball powerhouse in New Hampshire. But with the season delayed by the coronavirus pandemic, he made a strategic decision to return to his high school in North Carolina. He took online classes in history and English and graduated “a little bit early.”By New Year’s Eve, Whitt, whose long, dirty-blond hair makes him hard to miss on the court, was playing guard for Wake Forest, registering 11 points, 4 assists and 1 rebound in 25 minutes against Catawba College.Whitt is part of a wave of elite high school players taking advantage of an N.C.A.A. ruling that effectively gives them a free season of college eligibility. A decision by the Division I Council in October gives winter athletes who compete during 2020-21 the opportunity to play five seasons within a six-year window rather than the typical four seasons in five years.For many men, the goal is to get to the N.B.A. as fast as possible. Women are starting their college careers early as well, lured by the extra year of eligibility and the opportunity to compete at a higher level.“Carter Whitt should be playing his senior year in a fast-food-sponsored holiday tournament,” Wake Forest Coach Steve Forbes said. “Instead he’s playing against a seven-course meal” in the Atlantic Coast Conference. He continued, “On Jan. 6, when his high school team was playing their season opener, he was starting on the road against the defending national champions, the Virginia Cavaliers.”To Whitt, it didn’t make sense to continue at Brewster. “I figured if I’m going to be away from home, I might as well just be in college,” he said.For some players, the journey from their final high school game to their first Division I game was even shorter than Whitt’s.On Dec. 21, Jordan Nesbitt scored 18 points in a winning effort for St. Louis Christian Academy. On Feb. 1, having completed his academic work to finish high school, the 6-6 guard from St. Louis played seven minutes for Memphis in its 96-69 win over Central Florida.Guard Saylor Poffenbarger graduated from high school in Middletown, Md., in early January and made her college debut for the Connecticut women’s team against DePaul on Jan. 31.“I’m excited for Saylor and her family that they wanted to take advantage of this opportunity,” UConn Coach Geno Auriemma said.In recent years, it has become common for high school players to do the academic work needed to “reclassify” with a graduating class earlier than their original one, but there are obvious benefits to midyear enrollments this year.In the men’s game, DePaul added two midyear enrollees in Keon Edwards and David Jones. Among other high-profile high school players to make the jump: Sean Durugordon (Missouri), Mac Etienne (U.C.L.A.), James Graham (Maryland), Ben Gregg (Gonzaga), Trey James (Iona), Meechie Johnson (Ohio State), Franck Kepnang (Oregon), Austin Patterson (Wofford), Trey Patterson (Villanova) and Whitt of Wake Forest.Some are already playing, while others are practicing with their teams and will wait until the 2021-22 season to compete in games. Some plan to participate in their high school graduations this spring either virtually or in person.The Coronavirus Outbreak More

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      N.B.A. Announces All-Star Game Plans Despite Player Objections

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      #masthead-section-label, #masthead-bar-one { display: none }The NBA SeasonVirus Hotspots in the N.B.A.The Friendship of LeBron and Anthony DavisThe N.B.A. Wanted HerMissing Klay ThompsonKobe the #GirlDadAdvertisementContinue reading the main storySupported byContinue reading the main storyN.B.A. Announces All-Star Game Plans Despite Player ObjectionsThe game and three related events will happen over several hours on March 7 at State Farm Arena in Atlanta, even though the city’s mayor and top players have expressed concern about the health risks.N.B.A. Commissioner Adam Silver said the All-Star Game “will continue our annual tradition of celebrating the game and the greatest players in the world before a global audience.”Credit…Stacy Revere/Getty ImagesFeb. 18, 2021Updated 6:37 p.m. ETThe N.B.A. will host its All-Star Game on March 7 at State Farm Arena in Atlanta, despite the misgivings of the city’s mayor and strong pushback from several top players because of the health risks. In announcing plans for the game and related events on Thursday, the N.B.A. and the players’ union said they would commit $2.5 million to support Covid-19 relief efforts and historically Black colleges and universities.The league had been criticized in recent weeks for planning to hold the exhibition game during the coronavirus pandemic while also requiring players and staff members to stay at home and avoid all nonessential contact outside basketball activities during the season. This week, the league postponed six games because of a virus outbreak among the San Antonio Spurs and contact tracing among the Charlotte Hornets. More than two dozen games have been postponed this season in connection with the pandemic.But the league views the All-Star Game as a key outreach to fans around the world, and there is a financial benefit, although the extent of it is unclear. By one estimate, according to a person familiar with the league’s television deal, a traditional slate of All-Star events is worth about $60 million for the league.“We made a decision beginning last summer that we were going to take the pandemic on in a full-throated way and we were going to attempt to conduct our business to the extent that it was safe and healthy for our players and our staff to the full extent we could,” Silver told ESPN on Thursday afternoon. “All-Star has been a tradition in this league now going back 70 years. We only missed one year over those 70 years and for us, it’s our No. 1 fan engagement event of the year.”He added: “It seems like no decisions during this pandemic come without uncertainty and come without risk. And this is yet another one of them. But it’s my job to balance all those interests and, ultimately, it feels like the right thing to do to go forward.”On Tuesday, Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms of Atlanta posted a message on Twitter urging fans not to come to the city for the game. Aside from a small group of players’ guests, no spectators will be admitted to the arena, but there are concerns that fans will gather in Atlanta anyway.“Under normal circumstances we’d be grateful for the opportunity to host the N.B.A. All-Star game, but this isn’t a typical year,” Bottoms wrote. “I’ve shared my concerns w/@NBA & @ATLHawks & agree this is a made-for-TV event only & people shouldn’t travel to Atlanta to party.”What is traditionally a weekend full of events will be truncated to one day, without the typical parties, fan activities or game for rookies and sophomores. The skills challenge and 3-point shooting contest will take place before the All-Star Game, and the slam dunk contest will occur at halftime. According to the league’s collective bargaining agreement, players must participate in the All-Star Game if selected unless they are excused by Silver. The starters will be announced Thursday, and the reserves will be named on Tuesday.The league will provide private transportation for players to and from Atlanta. Each player will be allowed to bring up to four guests, but they and the players must all remain at a designated hotel — the N.B.A. is calling it a mini-bubble — when they are not at games or daily testing.Earlier this month, Los Angeles Lakers forward LeBron James, the N.B.A.’s highest-profile star, said that holding the game would be a “slap in the face” and that he had “zero energy and zero excitement” for it. Giannis Antetokounmpo, the Milwaukee Bucks star and the most recent winner of the Most Valuable Player Award, said he agreed. Both are expected to be named All-Star starters.Other potential selectees have been more open to holding the game.“I understand both sides,” Julius Randle, a Knicks forward who might become an All-Star for the first time, told The New York Times last week. “And I understand the impact and the benefits it has for the league, if we do have All-Star games. It’s a tough decision. Everything this year has been tough.”Damian Lillard, who is likely be named to his sixth All-Star team, said recently: “A lot of players are saying, ‘Why are we even having a game?’ And I understand that. If they said, ‘We’re not going to have a game,’ I’d be perfectly fine with it. I just had two newborns, and I would love to spend that extra time at home with my family.”“But,” he added, “if they say we’re going to do it, I understand that because this is our job, and I understand that with the kind of money we make, you’ve got to make sacrifices.”AdvertisementContinue reading the main story More

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      A New Era of Million Dollar Sports Trading Cards Is Here

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      AdvertisementContinue reading the main storySupported byContinue reading the main storyMove Over, Honus: A New Era of Million-Dollar Cards Is HereAs prices soar in the high-end collectibles market, cards of stars like LeBron James and Mike Trout are in the same discussion as those of Honus Wagner and Mickey Mantle.Aaron Davis brings security to the bank when he visits his LeBron James cards. The two on the table are worth more than $7 million.Credit…John Francis Peters for The New York TimesFeb. 18, 2021, 7:00 a.m. ETAaron Davis’s wife thought it was absurd when he spent $312,000 on a one-of-a-kind LeBron James trading card in 2016. That assessment has not been officially retracted, but only five years later the card could fetch well over 10 times that at auction, experts say.In July, another James card — this one not nearly as rare — sold for $1.8 million. That caught Davis’s attention because there are only two versions of that particular card that share the same high quality, and Davis, a 42-year-old investment manager in California, owns the other one.Davis keeps those two cards, with a combined worth in excess of $7 million, safely squirreled away in a bank vault with some of his other prized specimens.“Every time I buy a card I feel like I’m a little bit crazy, too, and the rest of the world might also think that,” Davis said during a telephone interview in which he revealed, for the first time publicly, that he owns the two million-dollar cards. “But that’s when you’re buying a good card, because they are irreplaceable. There are two of them, and they are in tight hands.”The folklore that has built up around valuable, vintage sports cards over the last few decades is a romantic one. Antique trading cards, each one a colorful, pocket-size painting depicting a legendary player, fortuitously discovered after surviving decades in attics and shoe boxes, only to then realize staggering sums on the resale market.A Honus Wagner baseball card from the early 20th century was long considered the holy grail of collecting, with the few good ones that exist selling for hundreds of thousands of dollars 30 years ago and now worth a few million each. In January, a 1952 Mickey Mantle rookie card set a record when it sold for $5.2 million thanks to its unusually pristine condition.But players no longer have to be dead — or even retired — for their cards to sell for astronomical figures. Until that Mantle card sold, the most money ever paid a sports card was $3.9 million, for a Mike Trout rookie card made by Bowman in 2009.Mickey Mantle’s 1952 Topps rookie card is one of the most sought-after classic cards. One recently sold at auction for $5.2 million.Credit…Jeenah Moon for The New York TimesThe buyer of that Trout card, who remains anonymous, could have purchased a Brooklyn brownstone for that amount. Instead, they spent it on a small piece of cardboard depicting a 29-year-old slugger who has never won a World Series.“Maybe I should have kept that one,” Trout joked with reporters a few days later.Trout’s card sold in August, shortly after the market for modern cards went into overdrive. In September, two months after the James rookie card sold for $1,845,000, a Giannis Antetokounmpo rookie card produced by Panini fetched $1.9 million. Antetokounmpo is 26, with barely eight seasons in the N.B.A. and a full career ahead of him.“The modern cards are taking the market by storm,” said Chris Ivy, the director of sports at Heritage Auctions. “The vintage market is very strong, too, but the modern cards have joined in.”Of the top 10 prices paid for sports cards at public auction, seven were cards of modern stars who were playing as recently as 1999, and five of the 10 cards have players pictured who are still active. The list, however, is ever changing. A rising star card in the collectibles world is an immaculate so-called Logo Man card of Zion Williamson and Ja Morant (the top two picks from the 2019 N.B.A. draft). It can be had on eBay for a cool half a million dollars — just click on “Add To Cart.”“The industry is at its hottest point in my 40-year history,” Ken Goldin, the founder of Goldin Auctions, said in an email. “It is nearly impossible to keep up with demand from buyers.”Ivy said that with the coronavirus pandemic shutting down many businesses, the sports collectibles industry expected hard times, too. But the opposite happened.“It’s not something I saw coming,” he said. “We, like many businesses, were tightening our belts preparing for a potential downturn, but the fact that we’ve see so much interest and so many people jumping in the market is a bit surprising.”The “T206” Honus Wagner card from 1909 was long considered the pinnacle of high-end sports cards because of its rarity. Now it competes with modern cards where the scarcity was built in from the start.Credit…Fred R. Conrad/The New York TimesAnd the market continues to boil. Earlier this month, a 1997 Michael Jordan card fetched $1.4 million at auction. The soaring prices have created such a frenzy that investment groups are being formed to buy cards, making it harder for individual collectors to compete — even extraordinarily wealthy ones.“Billionaires chasing cardboard — we can deal with that dynamic,” Davis said. “But some people who don’t have the money themselves go around raising capital to buy the big stuff, which is really annoying.”The driving force behind the surge in modern card values, Ivy explained, is a new breed of collector, many of whom are similar to Davis — millionaires in their 40s and 50s who see sports cards as both a hobby and an investment. They hunt for the finest cards available, featuring athletes whom they actually watched play, like James, Trout, Jordan and the hockey legend Wayne Gretzky, whose unique 1979 O-Pee-Chee rookie card sold for $1.29 million in December.The Gretzky card belongs to the older category of cards. It was printed at the O-Pee-Chee plant in London, Ontario, to be sold in wax packs along with an almost inedible piece of gum for kids to collect, trade or wedge into their bicycle spokes.The valuable modern cards are a completely different animal. These packs are not sold by the thousands at candy stores, and no kid is likely to have ever flipped one in the park. The new ones are produced in micro batches, like signature wines, often with a swatch of authenticated uniform fabric affixed to the card, and the player’s real signature emblazoned over a flashy chrome design.Whereas the supply of old cards from baseball’s antiquity were culled over time through wear and tear and loss, the newer cards, which date only to the beginning of this century, have scarcity built into them by limiting the supply at the front end.Scarcity has always driven the resale prices of cards, but in the mid to late 1980s, as the hobby morphed into a lucrative business, speculative collectors began buying cards of promising baseball prospects in bulk — Gary Sheffield, Gregg Jefferies, Todd Van Poppel, to name a few — hoping each one would turn into the next Mantle rookie card.In order to meet that demand, card companies like Topps, Donruss, Upper Deck, Fleer and Bowman overproduced the cards, which flooded the market. Today, many of those cards are effectively worthless.“The ’80s and ’90s are known as the junk wax era,” Ivy said. “Nothing was scarce, nothing was rare.”Davis owns two of the most valuable LeBron James cards. There are 23 of the 2003-4 Upper Deck Exquisite Rookie Patch on the left. The 2003 Ultimate Collection card on the right is the only one ever made.Credit…John Francis Peters for The New York TimesBut in 2003, Upper Deck made a singular rookie card of James under its Ultimate Collection imprint. That card — the one Davis bought in 2016 — contained the N.B.A. logo from James’s jersey, and James signed the card under a photo of him in his crimson Cavalier jersey. It has “1 of 1” written on the card and no other version exists. Packs of that series were sold in some retail shops at the time for $500 or more, and that James card is considered among the most prized in the world.“I know some people out there who are trying to hunt whales,” Davis said. “I have LeBron’s whale, the only one that someone could ever get.”But he had to go way out on a perch to get it. When he secured the winning bid of $312,000, it was considered such an outlandish amount that Goldin called Davis, a new bidder at the time, to ask, gently, if he was really going to pay.“If this card were to be sold today, I would expect it to be the most valuable card ever,” Goldin wrote in an email, “and sell for more than $5 million.”Davis did pay, and he also coughed up the cash for the Upper Deck Exquisite Rookie Patch card, the better-looking twin of the one that sold in July for $1.8 million (James is wearing a white jersey on that card). There are only 23 of those, but the one that sold, and Davis’s version of it, have the highest grades, according to the two main grading companies — PSA and Beckett. Those companies rate the cards according to four main factors: sharpness of the corners, quality of the surface, how well centered the design is and the crispiness of the edges. They also issue population reports to notify collectors of how many of the cards exist in each grade.“This is the art of the future for sports enthusiasts who have money and don’t want to buy art,” Davis said. “Pretty much everything I collect now is because I think it is a good investment and because I like the player. The common thread is, I think it will be a good investment. It’s part of the fun.”Davis won’t rule anything out, but he has no immediate plans to sell either of his prized James rookie cards, because he cherishes them so much. When he gets the urge, he ventures down to the bank vault and, under tight security, gazes over his tidy little gems.“My wife says, ‘You like to spend time looking at cardboard,’” Davis laughed. “She’s right, but she also knows that a lot of the decisions I’ve made worked out pretty well.”AdvertisementContinue reading the main story More

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      Knicks Fans Want Someone to Love. Julius Randle May Be Their Guy.

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      #masthead-section-label, #masthead-bar-one { display: none }The NBA SeasonVirus Hotspots in the N.B.A.The Friendship of LeBron and Anthony DavisThe N.B.A. Wanted HerMissing Klay ThompsonKobe the #GirlDadAdvertisementContinue reading the main storySupported byContinue reading the main storyKnicks Fans Want Someone to Love. Julius Randle May Be Their Guy.Randle is playing the best basketball of his career in his second season with the Knicks, and he wants to be here. “A picture perfect thing for me,” he said.Knicks forward Julius Randle is coming into his own this season, a star turn he hopes gives him a solid place in the future of New York basketball.Credit…Nathaniel S. Butler/NBAE, via Getty ImagesFeb. 17, 2021, 4:06 p.m. ETOne of Julius Randle’s earliest tormentors on the basketball court was his mother, Carolyn Kyles. Once, when Randle was in fourth grade, Kyles teamed up with Randle’s older sister, Nastassia Caldwell, in a game of two-on-two against Randle and one of his friends.“I was throwing hook shots on him,” said Kyles, who once played for the University of Texas at Arlington. “She was passing me the ball and I’m knocking him around and he got so mad because they were losing. And I threw his sister the ball and he went up to her and just slammed her down on the court after blocking her shot. I’m like, ‘Really, Julius?’”She added: “I couldn’t take it easy on him. I had to teach him how to stay strong on the court.”Now, Randle is the bully. A bulky 26-year-old in his seventh N.B.A. season, he has made a living in the league by combining an overpowering 6-foot-8 physique with finesse to outwork taller players.“How I approach the game, and how I play hard and try to leave everything out there on the court, I get from her,” Randle said of his mother.This season, Randle’s second with the Knicks, has been a revelation: He is averaging career highs in points, rebounds and assists, making a serious push to be the team’s first All-Star since Kristaps Porzingis in 2017-18. After an underwhelming campaign last year, Randle is providing hope to a beleaguered fan base as the best player on a Knicks team that might make the playoffs for the first time since 2012-13. He bolstered his credentials with a dominant 44-point performance on Monday against the Atlanta Hawks.Randle is averaging career highs in points, rebounds and assists. He had 44 points in a win against the Atlanta Hawks on Monday.Credit…Pool photo by Jason DecrowAnd yet Randle’s contract is up after next season, and his future with the franchise is unclear, an unusual position for a potential All-Star entering his prime. Tom Thibodeau, the Knicks coach, has spoken about needing at least one more star and wanting the team to be “aggressive” in pursuing other players. Randle could be anything from a cornerstone to a player traded for a cornerstone. But Randle wants to wear a Knicks jersey for years to come, an encouraging sign for a franchise that has long struggled to attract top free agents.“I knew where we were starting at,” Randle said. “I knew the challenge I had when I signed here. I signed here with the hopes of being here long term. I want to be one of the guys that’s part of this team and eventually, hopefully, we are competing for championships and winning championships. That’s my dream. A picture perfect thing for me.”Randle’s journey to New York began in Texas, where he first began playing basketball at age 3. A Dallas native, he grew up with his sister and Kyles, who described him as a confident, outgoing gym rat. Randle eschewed parties for basketball practice, Kyles said.“Being that he played basketball, he was around a lot of coaches or other fathers that he was able to talk to or maybe I felt they could say the exact same things that I would say,” Kyles said. “And it would be so much clearer to him coming from a male’s voice. So he always had mentors.”But Randle’s mother remained his biggest influence. When Randle first started playing basketball, he wore the No. 8 of his idol, Kobe Bryant. But one day — again in fourth grade — Randle walked in the kitchen and asked what number Kyles wore. She said: “Thirty. Why?”“‘Then can I have that number?’” Kyles recalled Randle asking. She snapped back: “Well, if you’re going to do something with it, yeah. If not, leave my number alone.”Now she says, “I guess he did do something with it.”Randle said he learned his toughness from his mother, Carolyn Kyles. He wears No. 30 because of her; it was what she wore in college.Credit…Courtesy of Carolyn KylesRandle took that number to the University of Kentucky, where he played one standout year under John Calipari. (Randle’s 4-year-old son, Kyden, also now wears the number in his blossoming basketball career.)“If you’re around a young man and you see the desire, the heart, the fight, you tell people, ‘Whatever you think he’s going to be, it will be more,’” Calipari said. “There are other guys that you coach that it either came really easy for or they were still learning that competitiveness of, ‘it’s either him or me.’ Julius had it.”Strong college play landed Randle a new No. 30 jersey: The Los Angeles Lakers selected him with the seventh pick in the 2014 draft, teaming Randle with his idol, Bryant, who was nearing the end of his career. But Randle’s career began on an extraordinarily difficult note: He broke his right leg just 14 minutes into his N.B.A. debut. He did not play another game that season, but he never doubted he would recover fully.“It just sucked because it was my first game my rookie year,” Randle said.Kyles, who saw the injury in person, felt obligated to be optimistic about what she called a “devastating moment.” She immediately went to meet him and stayed with him as he had X-rays taken.“We feed off each other, and so I know that if I showed any sign of fear that he wouldn’t have been able to make it back on the court,” Kyles said. She continued: “Of course, when I was by myself, and I was in a room, I cried. I cried with my daughter. But when I faced him, I just put this strong face on.”Randle did make it back the next year, missing only one game. And in the ensuing seasons, he developed a reputation for his strong work ethic and for keeping his body in shape.Randle grew up idolizing Kobe Bryant, then got to play with him after the Lakers drafted him seventh over all in 2014.Credit…Doug Pensinger/Getty ImagesBut his career over all has been mostly one of transitions. In four years in Los Angeles, he was often the subject of trade rumors on a seemingly rudderless Lakers team struggling to move out of the Bryant era. In July 2018, Randle signed as a free agent with the New Orleans Pelicans. He was slated to be a part of one of the most talented frontcourts in the league alongside Anthony Davis, the franchise star. Except Davis wanted out of New Orleans, creating a testy situation and a franchise in flux. Randle left New Orleans after one season and signed with the Knicks.In Randle’s first year, he struggled, in part because he didn’t have the right complementary pieces around him. There also seemed to be constant turmoil surrounding the franchise, including Coach David Fizdale’s firing less than two months into the season. This season, the Knicks have stabilized behind the team president, Leon Rose, and Thibodeau. Randle said Thibodeau has been “like a perfect match.”“Honestly, Thibs is a dog,” Randle said. “He’s a guy that is an extreme competitor and very aware of everything that’s going on. Takes each possession like it’s our last, and really coaches with the type of intensity and passion that you want from a coach.”This Knicks season isn’t just a refreshing change of pace for fans, but for Randle as well. For someone who hates losing, he has become intimately familiar with it. In each of his six previous seasons, Randle’s teams never finished higher than 11th in the conference. He’s not solely, or even mostly, to blame for that, but the fact remains: Randle has never played for a winning team. This season is his best opportunity.Knicks Coach Tom Thibodeau “really coaches with the type of intensity and passion that you want,” Randle said.Credit…Adam Hunger/Associated Press“When we come to the game, we feel like we have a chance to win every game,” Randle said. The Knicks were 14-15 entering Wednesday’s game against the Orlando Magic, good enough for sixth in the Eastern Conference.If Randle gets his way, he may be on his way to attaining something few recent Knicks have: the approval of Knicks fans. Former Knicks like Patrick Ewing, John Starks, Charles Oakley, Allan Houston (Randle counts him as a mentor) and Carmelo Anthony are still beloved, but all except Anthony are from an era when Knicks wins weren’t so hard to come by. For Randle, wearing a No. 30 jersey at the All-Star Game on behalf of the Knicks may go a long way toward cementing his approval with fans.“It’d be amazing, man,” Randle said. “You put in a lot of work and sacrifice and dedication to your craft. So for you to receive those accolades or whatever it may be and be recognized as such would be a great feeling.”Randle paused slightly.“And especially as a Knick.”AdvertisementContinue reading the main story More

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      NBA All Star Game Predictions: Picks and Snubs

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      #masthead-section-label, #masthead-bar-one { display: none }The NBA SeasonVirus Hotspots in the N.B.A.The Friendship of LeBron and Anthony DavisThe N.B.A. Wanted HerMissing Klay ThompsonKobe the #GirlDadAdvertisementContinue reading the main storySupported byContinue reading the main storyPredicting N.B.A. All-Star Picks and SnubsThe usual All-Star Game debates — who’s in, who’s out — have a new component this year during the coronavirus pandemic: Should the game happen at all?The Utah Jazz are the best team in the West, and their stars — including Donovan Mitchell, fourth from left — have earned a spot in the All-Star Game. The question is, though: How many of their stars will make it?Credit…Jamie Schwaberow/Getty ImagesFeb. 17, 2021, 3:00 a.m. ETIf you enjoy spirited discourse about N.B.A. All-Star matters, this is your year.There is the ongoing debate about the wisdom of holding even a scaled-down version of the event in Atlanta amid the coronavirus pandemic, which continues to disrupt the regular-season schedule. There is also the traditional wrangling over who should claim the 12 All-Star spots in each conference — as spirited and layered as ever in a season marked by game postponements, mostly empty arenas and more parity than usual in the standings.Fan balloting ends Tuesday at midnight, Eastern time. All-Star starters will be revealed Thursday night on TNT, with the reserves, as selected by the league’s coaches, to be announced next Tuesday.Here is our annual projection of the rosters featuring my unofficial reserve sections:Eastern ConferenceThe Nets’ Kyrie Irving, left, and Bradley Beal of the Wizards, right, are each having career seasons in the Eastern Conference.Credit…Brad Penner/USA Today Sports, via ReutersLikely StartersFrontcourt: Kevin Durant (Nets); Giannis Antetokounmpo (Bucks); Joel Embiid (Sixers)Backcourt: Bradley Beal (Wizards); Kyrie Irving (Nets)Durant, Antetokounmpo and Embiid have such sizable leads in fan voting (and rightly so) that we can proclaim them starters. Beal (2,528,719) was the leading vote-getter among guards, over Irving (2,104,130) and James Harden (1,829,504), as of last week’s balloting update, which was pleasing to see.Beal missed out last season on All-Star and All-N.B.A. honors despite averaging 30.5 points per game. He is averaging 33.1 points per game this season while facing even more attention from defenses. A starting nod, if you can get past the Wizards’ 8-17 record, would be a nice makeup call for a player who has pledged his loyalty to a franchise that is floundering in its attempts to build around him.The Celtics are in a skid, but Jaylen Brown, front center, and Jayson Tatum, right, have proved talented enough to keep Boston fans from losing all hope.Credit…Brian Fluharty/USA Today Sports, via ReutersSure-Thing ReservesKhris Middleton (Bucks); Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown (Celtics); Bam Adebayo (Heat); James Harden (Nets)The Bucks packaged an array of trade assets to acquire Jrue Holiday from New Orleans in hopes of persuading Antetokounmpo to sign a five-year, $228 million contract extension. Antetokounmpo did sign in the end — on the 31st of 37 days he was eligible to do so — but Holiday’s arrival appears to have sparked Middleton just as much. Lest anyone suggest Holiday had supplanted him as Milwaukee’s clear-cut second star, Middleton is shooting (and playmaking) better than ever.Tatum and especially Brown have also ascended to new levels as two-way forces and, because of their promise, give the Celtics reason to avoid plunging into full-blown panic mode after a 5-10 skid dumped them to fourth in the East.The Heat have two undeniable All-Stars, but their 11-16 record has me fearing Jimmy Butler could get passed over by voting coaches on a technicality: Butler missed 12 of Miami’s first 27 games. Adebayo, by complementing his defensive versatility with an improving jumper and a vastly improved free-throw stroke, should ensure that last season’s East champions have at least half the representation they should.And, yes, Harden still counts as an All-Star automatic for me — disruptive as his behavior was in Houston during the season’s first six weeks in an ultimately successful bid to coerce the Rockets to trade him.Julius Randle had 44 points for the Knicks on Monday, continuing a strong season that should earn him his first All-Star honors.Credit…Jason Decrow/USA Today Sports, via ReutersWild CardsGordon Hayward (Hornets); Julius Randle (Knicks)The Hornets were mocked for giving Hayward a four-year, $120 million contract in free agency after his three injury-plagued seasons in Boston. Hayward has responded with some of the strongest across-the-board play in his career, alongside the exciting rookie LaMelo Ball, to establish the Hornets as an unexpected playoff contender.Perhaps I let romance sway me on both picks here, but it’s true: I also went with the Knick! The Knicks’ competitiveness is an even bigger surprise than Charlotte or anything else we’ve seen in the East, and Randle, along with the first-year coach Tom Thibodeau, has been a cornerstone of that competence.Even before Randle’s 44-point masterpiece Monday night in a victory over Atlanta, I couldn’t resist being swept up in his 23.1 points, 11.0 rebounds and 5.6 assists per game while shooting a career-best 40.6 percent from 3-point range. Those benchmarks have been sustained by only one player for an entire season: Larry Bird.It’s difficult to say what more Chicago’s Zach LaVine could have done to deserve a spot in this year’s All-Star Game.Credit…Mike Dinovo/USA Today Sports, via ReutersThe SnubsFrontcourt: Nikola Vucevic (Magic); Domantas Sabonis (Pacers); Jerami Grant (Pistons); Tobias Harris (Sixers); Jimmy Butler (Heat)Backcourt: Zach LaVine (Bulls); Trae Young (Hawks); Malcolm Brogdon (Pacers); Fred VanVleet (Raptors); Ben Simmons (Sixers)LaVine, Vucevic, Young and Sabonis were especially tough to omit. Like Randle, LaVine is surely wondering what more he has to do when he is averaging 28.2 points, 5.5 rebounds and 5.2 assists per game — and has Chicago in the playoff mix. Sportswriters love to dramatize the agony involved in these unofficial choices, but I don’t envy the coaches. In either conference.Western ConferenceGolden State’s Stephen Curry, left, is leading the backcourt fan voting in the West; the Lakers’ LeBron James, right, leads in the frontcourt.Credit…Jae C. Hong/Associated PressLikely StartersFrontcourt: LeBron James (Lakers); Nikola Jokic (Nuggets); Kawhi Leonard (Clippers)Backcourt: Stephen Curry (Warriors); Luka Doncic (Mavericks)James has played in each of the Lakers’ 28 games in an apparent bid to convince the Most Valuable Player Award voters who have bypassed him since 2012-13 that he is not coasting this season — even after the shortest off-season (72 days) in N.B.A. history. A slimmed-down Jokic is likewise a top M.V.P. candidate, with his gleaming stat line of 26.5 points, 11.5 rebounds and 8.7 assists per game. Leonard, who held a narrow lead over Anthony Davis entering the final week of balloting, has been a two-way menace as usual.Damian Lillard has a slightly stronger claim to the West’s second backcourt slot than Doncic, given the Trail Blazers’ superior record even after losing CJ McCollum, another All-Star contender, to injury. Both, though, are locks to get an All-Star invitation no matter what.Utah’s Rudy Gobert, left, and Donovan Mitchell, right, are two of three strong candidates from the Jazz to make the All-Star team.Credit…Chris Nicoll/USA Today Sports, via ReutersSure-thing ReservesDamian Lillard (Trail Blazers); Anthony Davis (Lakers); Paul George (Clippers); Rudy Gobert and Donovan Mitchell (Jazz)Lillard is here because we’re assuming that Doncic, who was voted in as a starter last season, will hold on to the West’s No. 2 backcourt post.Davis appears likely to miss the All-Star Game, now that the Lakers intend to be conservative in treating the nagging discomfort in his right Achilles’ tendon and right calf, but he has anchored the league’s top-ranked defense ably in spite of the injuries. Even accounting for the dip in Davis’s scoring and rebounding from last season and the legitimately worrisome decline in his free-throw shooting we detailed last week, it wouldn’t surprise me if West coaches picked Davis as a reserve to foist a harder choice — selecting an injury replacement from the usual long list of the snubbed — upon the league office.I’m keeping George among the locks because he is averaging 24.4 points, 6.2 rebounds and 5.5 assists per game while shooting a robust 50.8 percent from the field and 47.8 percent from 3-point range. Where some doubt creeps in: George has been sidelined for the Clippers’ last six games by a foot injury and has missed almost a third of their schedule.Did you notice how deep we went into this discussion without mentioning the league’s hottest team? The Utah Jazz are 8-0 in February, 19-1 in their last 20 games and 23-5 over all. They will probably have at least two All-Stars, and they have three strong candidates: Gobert, Mitchell and Mike Conley. Gobert is the strongest of the three because of his defensive excellence and how much he helps his teammates at both ends with his screening and rim-running. Mitchell has found a new gear, while hamstring trouble has kept Conley out for the past five games.Chris Paul, left, is doing for the Suns what he did for the Oklahoma City Thunder last season: turning a veteran’s savvy into wins for a young team.Credit…Jerome Miron/USA Today Sports, via ReutersWild CardsMike Conley (Jazz); Chris Paul (Suns)This basically comes down to: Should the Jazz have three All-Stars, like the Nets, or do the Suns deserve two because of their surge to a top-four seed in the competitive West?Conley, 33, has never made it to the All-Star Game, and this might be his last good shot. Did I let that Hallmark story line (and Conley’s left-handedness) nudge me into a sappy call? Guilty.In my defense: It’s also true that Conley is an advanced-statistics darling whose role in Utah’s success has been undeniably pivotal. And I do think the Jazz should have three All-Stars, in tribute to their standing as one of the few consistently dominant forces in a season marred by so much unpredictability and abnormality.Going this route, though, leaves only one spot for two worthy Suns (Paul and Devin Booker) as well as New Orleans’s Zion Williamson, Sacramento’s De’Aaron Fox and San Antonio’s DeMar DeRozan. All five have a strong All-Star case. I went with Paul over Booker because he has made such a cultural difference in Phoenix in his ever-efficient quarterbacking at age 35.De’Aaron Fox is having a great season for the Sacramento Kings, whose record (12-15) doesn’t quite capture his impact.Credit…Kyle Terada/USA Today Sports, via ReutersThe SnubsFrontcourt: Zion Williamson and Brandon Ingram (Pelicans); Christian Wood (Rockets)Backcourt: De’Aaron Fox (Kings); DeMar DeRozan (Spurs); Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (Thunder); Ja Morant (Grizzlies); Devin Booker (Suns)As the proud curator of an All-Lefty Team every August, it was painful to snub Williamson, who I’ve unfairly punished for his team’s struggles, and Fox, who hasn’t received enough shine for living up to a new mega contract. The same holds for DeRozan, who has quietly led the retooling Spurs to the top of the Southwest Division and, at 31, can’t count on future All-Star invites the way the other two can.Corner ThreeDenver’s Facundo Campazzo knew the transition to the N.B.A. would be difficult, but he has earned a spot in the Nuggets’ rotation.Credit…David Zalubowski/Associated PressYou ask; I answer. Every week in this space, I’ll field three questions posed via email at marcstein-newsletter@nytimes.com. (Please include your first and last name, as well as the city you’re writing in from, and make sure “Corner Three” is in the subject line.)Q: Why do most teams rely so much on switching defensively? There are very few big men who can really defend guards, so I don’t understand why it is the main strategy. But I also confess that I am a huge fan of Facundo Campazzo, and I know that switching does not suit him. — Emanuel Suhotliv (Buenos Aires)Stein: Entering Tuesday’s play, N.B.A. teams were averaging 34.9 3-point attempts per game. Last season’s 34.1 per game is the record.Teams are constantly searching for answers to improve their pick-and-roll defense and combat the growing 3-point threat. “Drop” schemes, in which a big man sinks toward the rim on pick-and-rolls, are becoming more frequent and, yes, defenders are switching assignments on pick-and-rolls more than ever. The idea is that switching enables a team to rely less on making extra rotations to open shooters and to defend the ball with two players instead of all five directly involved. Switching, when effective, reduces the scrambling teams have to do.I am a Campazzo fan who couldn’t wait to see him make the leap to the N.B.A., just like you, but everyone knew he was going to face major challenges adjusting to the league’s size, speed and athleticism. He has been pretty open about the difficulties, too, after making the move relatively late in his career (Campazzo turns 30 on March 23) and standing just 5-foot-10.I think it’s better to look at the situation this way: Denver wanted him in spite of the naysayers, and Nuggets Coach Mike Malone finds 12 minutes a game for him because he looks beyond the modest statistical production and likes Campazzo’s playmaking and tenacity so much. (I’m guessing by now you’ve seen the no-look pass from Campazzo against the Lakers on Sunday night that had me tweeting giddily.)If you expected the Nuggets to entrust him with as much offensive responsibility as Campazzo carried with Argentina’s national team, you are sure to be disappointed. Denver (and especially Malone) seems to be encouraged by Campazzo’s progress, and his fans back home should be, too.Q: I’d love to read more about the Tokyo Olympics and who will play for the United States if the Games go ahead. Have any players said they would be willing? — Brad (Adelaide, Australia)Stein: N.B.A. players aren’t asked often about the Olympics these days because the fate of the Tokyo Games remains uncertain. Some of the league’s biggest names are likely to be unavailable because the N.B.A. playoffs are scheduled through July 22 and the Olympics are set to begin the next day. U.S.A. Basketball is nonetheless confident it can assemble a roster capable of winning a fourth successive gold medal — one certainly stronger than that at the 2019 FIBA World Cup in China.The player pool U.S.A.B. has been assembling in recent weeks is expected to feature about 60 names, including on-the-rise players such as New Orleans’s Zion Williamson, Memphis’s Ja Morant and Atlanta’s Trae Young. U.S.A.B. has also petitioned the U.S. Olympic Committee, the International Olympic Committee and FIBA to scrap their usual rules and allow roster changes in July rather than mandating that rosters be pared to 12 players well before the Olympics begin.The Americans understand, though, that they will generate zero sympathy from their competition around the world if they are limited to choosing players from N.B.A. teams that miss the playoffs or exit the postseason early. Even after slumping to a stunning seventh-place finish in China under San Antonio Spurs Coach Gregg Popovich, nothing has changed: U.S.A.B. has by far the world’s deepest talent pool.A trip to the Olympics continues to be far more meaningful to America’s N.B.A. players than participating in the World Cup. Combine that with Popovich’s presence — which LeBron James has said will keep him interested in making his fourth trip to the Olympics even as he expects to make a long playoff run — and one surmises that the United States will be just fine.I’m sure you’re aware that the basketball officials in Australia, where you are, have taken a similar approach, naming a preliminary Olympic roster of 24 players that included 10 current N.B.A. players. Australia knows it has to cast the widest possible net because it can’t count on being able to field its first-choice 12 in Tokyo given this season’s atypical N.B.A. calendar on top of the usual injury issues and concerns.Q: Going back to the recent discussion about suggesting better names for the “baseball-style series” N.B.A. teams are playing this season, two games in a row against the same visiting team in baseball is a “set.” Three or more games is a series. — Terry ThomasStein: Admire the certitude with which you made your case, but I don’t think there are absolutes in baseball when it comes to “two-game set” and “three-game series.” Clarification from any baseball experts reading along is certainly welcome, but I’ve seen both terms used liberally.Either way, while I still don’t love “baseball-style series,” that phrasing carries more clarity for N.B.A. fans than “baseball-style set.” So I’m afraid that the search for better alternatives continues. (Or it’s futile at this point.)Numbers GameCarmelo Anthony has given Portland critical scoring off the bench while key players have been out with injuries this season.Credit…Craig Mitchelldyer/Associated Press10If the Los Angeles Lakers needed any additional incentive to be extra-cautious with the Achilles’ tendon injury that has been hampering Anthony Davis, they need only scan the data accrued by the noted injury tracker Jeff Stotts, who maintains InStreetClothes.com. There have been 31 full Achilles’ tendon tears in the N.B.A. since the 2005-6 season, according to Stotts. Ten of them (32 percent of cases) have occurred since the start of the 2018-19 season and have felled stars such as Kevin Durant, Klay Thompson, DeMarcus Cousins and John Wall. Medical experts around the league have struggled to pinpoint why Achilles’ tendon tears are on the rise.9-3A positive omen for the team that polarizes opinion like no other in the league: Durant, James Harden and Kyrie Irving have played in only six games together, but the Nets are 9-3 this season against teams with .500-or-better records. No other team in the East has a winning record in such games, offsetting the damage of the Nets’ 7-9 record against teams with losing records. The 9-3 mark is second only to Utah’s 10-3.95-55The Spurs have flourished for years on their rodeo road trip, which sends them away from San Antonio every February while a stock show and rodeo take over their arena. But not this season: After the Spurs got off to a 2-0 start on the seven-game trip, with wins over Atlanta and Charlotte, the league postponed their next four games because of a coronavirus outbreak within the team. Since the 2002-3 season, when San Antonio moved into the AT&T Center, it has posted a record of 95-55 (.633) in rodeo trip games.17.0Portland’s Carmelo Anthony, 36, is averaging 17.0 points per game and shooting 42.5 percent from 3-point range in 24.6 minutes per game in February. The Trail Blazers need the added offensive punch with CJ McCollum (fractured left foot) and Jusuf Nurkic (fractured right wrist) sidelined by long-term injuries.432Blake Griffin’s last dunk for the Detroit Pistons came on Dec. 12, 2019, according to Stathead — 432 days ago. Shocking as the statistic sounds, it must be pointed out that Griffin, who turns 32 on March 16, scarcely played in 2020, thanks to stubborn knee issues that have plagued him since a stellar 2018-19 season in which he averaged 24.5 points, 7.5 rebounds and 5.4 assists per game. Griffin appeared in only five of Detroit’s final 41 games last season after his most recent dunk and has missed seven of the Pistons’ 27 games this season.The team said this week that it would stop playing Griffin between now and the March 25 trade deadline in hopes of finding him a new team via trade or perhaps buying out his massive contract (which pays Griffin nearly $37 million this season and nearly $39 million next season) to make him a free agent.Hit me up anytime on Twitter (@TheSteinLine) or Facebook (@MarcSteinNBA) or Instagram (@thesteinline). Send any other feedback to marcstein-newsletter@nytimes.com.AdvertisementContinue reading the main story More