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      New Black N.B.A. Coaches Wonder Why It Took So Long to Get a Shot

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      The N.B.A.’s coaching ranks have long been dominated by white men, but a demand from Black players for more diversity may be changing things.Jamahl Mosley has traveled the world for basketball.He played for professional teams in Mexico, Australia, Spain, Finland and South Korea. He was a player development coach with the N.B.A.’s Denver Nuggets when Carmelo Anthony was there. He was an assistant coach for the Cleveland Cavaliers during the four long years after LeBron James left for Miami. Dirk Nowitzki’s final years with the Mavericks and the rise of Luka Doncic? Mosley was there, too, as an assistant in Dallas.He spent 16 seasons on N.B.A. coaching staffs, developing his skills and hoping for his big break to be a head coach. He had heeded his mother’s advice about playing college basketball for a Black coach, to learn leadership skills from someone who looked like him. The doubts about his ever getting that kind of job only surfaced in recent years when he interviewed for — and was turned down for — seven N.B.A. head coaching jobs.“Because you knew you were qualified,” Mosley said. “You knew you had interviewed well. You knew that you had the ability to do it.”The N.B.A.’s coaching and executive ranks have long been dominated by white men, even though more than 70 percent of players are Black. But this year, Mosley became part of an unusual off-season, in which seven of eight head coaching vacancies were filled by Black candidates. Five of them, including Mosley, who was hired by the Orlando Magic in July, are first-time head coaches. The others are Wes Unseld Jr. of the Washington Wizards, Willie Green of the New Orleans Pelicans, Ime Udoka of the Boston Celtics and Chauncey Billups of the Portland Trail Blazers. Jason Kidd of the Dallas Mavericks and Nate McMillan of the Atlanta Hawks had been head coaches elsewhere before.“If this was 15 years ago, we probably don’t get these positions,” Green said.The uptick — 13 of the league’s 30 coaches are now Black and two others are not white — came during a broader national conversation about race and hiring practices. Black players harnessed their voices to seek change that they felt was overdue.“This is a stain on the league that no one can deny,” Michele Roberts, the executive director of the players’ union, said in an interview, “and we’ve got to continue to do better.”‘There’s a natural cultural bond’Long before he became the coach of the Celtics, Udoka was a self-described student of the game. As a teenager in Portland, Ore., he would record games that featured some of his favorite college players, standouts like Syracuse’s Lawrence Moten and Lamond Murray of the University of California, Berkeley. Then he would head to the playground to mimic their moves. (Udoka still has a stack of VHS tapes at home.)“There’s a natural cultural bond that Black coaches are going to have with their players,” Boston Celtics Coach Ime Udoka said.Michael Dwyer/Associated Press“I wasn’t the most athletic or skilled guy,” Udoka said, “so I really had to use my brain for an advantage. I always thought through the game a certain way, and I think some coaches saw that in me, too.”Udoka grew up in a predominantly Black neighborhood, went to a Black high school and had Black coaches. He was not especially conscious of race, he said, since being in that environment was all he knew. But his high school coach “preached family and togetherness and a brotherhood,” Udoka said, and he carried those lessons with him.Udoka was bouncing around the N.B.A. as a defense-minded forward when he got what he described as “the coaching bug.” He helped found an Amateur Athletic Union team in Portland that included Terrence Ross and Terrence Jones, future N.B.A. players. Udoka also participated in coaching clinics hosted by the N.B.A. players’ union. After retiring, he joined the San Antonio Spurs in 2012 as an assistant under Gregg Popovich.The Celtics job opened in June when the team announced that Brad Stevens, who had coached the team for eight seasons, would be its new president of basketball operations. Jaylen Brown, one of the Celtics’ young stars, said in a recent interview with The Undefeated that he had told the team to hire a Black candidate. Representation was important to him, he said.Udoka, left, talked with Marcus Smart during a preseason game this month.Winslow Townson/Associated Press“Players were asking and demanding and wanting to see more guys who looked like them,” Udoka said. He added: “In coaching, I think there’s been a shift from Xs and Os and game plans to the value that’s placed on relationships. And there’s a natural cultural bond that Black coaches are going to have with their players.”Udoka said he was not suggesting that white coaches couldn’t bond with Black players. He cited Popovich, who is white, as someone who has long stressed the importance of relationships. But for a new coach on a new team, it would be naïve to believe that race was not a factor.“Basketball is mainly minority-based,” Celtics point guard Marcus Smart said in an interview. “So having a minority as a coach, I can connect with him. I can say things to him, or he can say things to me, and we get it. Whereas it’s different when you don’t. You have to try to figure out, OK, how can I meet them halfway?”Still, a coach is a coach: Udoka suspended Smart for the team’s preseason finale for breaking an unspecified team rule.‘This decision is coming fast’About three years ago, Rick Carlisle, as president of the National Basketball Coaches Association, was hearing from an increasing number of young assistants of diverse backgrounds who felt they were not getting a fair shake at head coaching jobs.The league and the coaches’ association soon began the N.B.A. Coaches Equality Initiative, a program aimed at developing young coaches and ensuring that qualified candidates are visible when jobs arise. Since 2019, there have been numerous workshops, summits, panel discussions and networking opportunities.David Vanterpool, left, was passed over for the head coaching job in Minnesota after the team fired Ryan Saunders, right.David Zalubowski/Associated PressAnd there is an app, a coaches database that was unveiled last year. It now includes profiles of about 300 coaches, whom the league’s power brokers — owners, general managers, team presidents — can access, Carlisle said. Coaches can upload their histories, their philosophies and even their interview clips. Think of it is as Bumble for the N.B.A. coaching set. But it is all part of a larger mission, said Oris Stuart, the chief people and inclusion officer for the league.“We have ongoing conversations with our teams about the importance of making sure that, as they’re making decisions, the process is inclusive,” Stuart said in an interview. “We focus on the importance of making sure that the best talent is considered, that we make a wide reach and that we go beyond the pre-established networks that people are working from.”But within the past year, the hiring processes for two white coaches — including the one that landed Carlisle with the Indiana Pacers — have been criticized for not appearing to be inclusive.The Minnesota Timberwolves fired Ryan Saunders as their coach in February and announced his replacement, Chris Finch, who is white, on the same day. The Timberwolves chose not to promote the team’s associate head coach, David Vanterpool, who is Black, which would have been typical after a midseason firing. (Vanterpool is now an assistant for the Nets.)The perception was that there was no way the Timberwolves could have seriously considered any Black candidates given their accelerated timeline, said Roberts, the executive director of the players’ union. The timing of the change, she added, “got under a lot of people’s skin.”Within days, Carlisle and David Fogel, the executive director of the coaches’ association, released a statement in which the organization expressed its “disappointment” with Minnesota’s search, saying that it is “our responsibility to point out when an organization fails to conduct a thorough and transparent search of candidates from a wide range of diverse backgrounds.”Rick Carlisle expressed some trepidation before he accepted the offer of head coach from the Indiana Pacers in June.Doug Mcschooler/Associated PressBut just a few months later, in June, Carlisle accepted the Pacers job after what appeared to be an abbreviated search. Indiana had fired Nate Bjorkgren earlier in the month after just one season, and they had interviewed only one other candidate when they offered Carlisle the job. Chad Buchanan, Indiana’s general manager, said in an interview that the team wanted an experienced coach and that Carlisle had unexpectedly become available after he resigned from the Dallas Mavericks, which he had coached for 13 seasons and led to a championship in 2011.Buchanan sought to assure Carlisle by telling him that the Pacers had interviewed 17 candidates, of whom eight were Black and one was female, before hiring Bjorkgren eight months earlier.“This was something I was concerned about,” Carlisle said, “but when they gave me that information, I was comfortable moving forward.”Washington Wizards Coach Wes Unseld Jr. was known as the Genius for his attention to detail and his instinctive feel for the game.Sarah Stier/Getty Images‘It’s more of a systemic issue’As an economics major at Johns Hopkins University, Wes Unseld Jr. thought he would get into investment banking. But for two summers, before and after graduating in 1997, he interned for the Wizards. His father, also Wes, who was synonymous with the franchise from his Hall of Fame playing days, had moved into the front office as the team’s general manager after seven seasons as its head coach. The elder Unseld invited his son to learn the ropes, just in case the financial world was not for him.“If you’re going to be in this business, you’ve got to learn the business,” Wes Unseld Jr. recalled his father telling him. “So I’m thinking, OK, I’ll be around basketball. ‘No, you’re going to intern in every department.’ Community relations, public relations, marketing, sales — you name it, I did it.”Unseld, who was a very good Division III player for Johns Hopkins, soon realized that he could not leave the game behind, and he became one of the many unsung, behind-the-scenes fixtures in the N.B.A. After eight seasons as a scout for Washington, he spent the next 16 as an assistant for various teams around the league. He refined offenses. He built defenses. With the Wizards, he was known as The Genius for his attention to detail and his instinctive feel for the game. In Denver, he helped shape Nikola Jokic and Jamal Murray into stars.Yet Unseld could not land a head coaching job. He said he was never sure if his race was a factor. “When an opportunity doesn’t pan out, sometimes it’s easy to ask, ‘Was it that?’” Unseld said. “And it may have been. It’s difficult to tell.”Willie Green, the head coach of the New Orleans Pelicans, spoke to reporters at a news conference last month.Sean Gardner/Getty ImagesAfter a record 14 Black coaches were manning benches for teams at the start of the 2012-13 season, those numbers dipped in subsequent years, showing how tenuous progress can be. Unseld said the N.B.A. is “a network business like any other business.”“If you’re not connected to the decision makers, it can be difficult,” he said. “I don’t know if it’s an overt way of not interviewing or not giving people of color a chance, but maybe they just don’t have that network to pull from. It’s more of a systemic issue.”Roberts commended the coaches’ association for working to address that issue in recent seasons. But the real power, she said, has come from the players themselves.“A happy team is probably a more successful team,” she said. “And if the players think management is thumbing its nose at their articulated concerns about a coaching staff, then what’s their motivation to stay?”In New Orleans, Willie Green often thinks of his uncle, Gary Green, who coached him when he was growing up in Detroit, and who imbued him with the fundamentals. After several years as an assistant with Golden State and Phoenix, Green said he felt a heightened sense of responsibility.“We have to be caretakers of these opportunities,” he said.In Boston, Garrett Jackson, a former player on Udoka’s A.A.U. team, is now one of Udoka’s video coordinators. And Mosley got his first win for the Magic with a narrow victory against the Knicks at Madison Square Garden. He was gifted the game ball, then got back to business.“It’s like anything,” he said. “You just put your head down and do the work.” More

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      Alex Rodriguez Joins Ownership Group for Timberwolves and Lynx

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      Rodriguez and Marc Lore, an e-commerce billionaire, have a pathway to controlling ownership of the professional Minnesota basketball teams in two years.Alex Rodriguez, the former Yankees star, and Marc Lore, an e-commerce billionaire, officially joined the ownership group of the N.B.A.’s Minnesota Timberwolves and the W.N.B.A.’s Minnesota Lynx on Wednesday, after their purchase of a limited stake in the teams was approved by the N.B.A.’s Board of Governors.For now, the teams will still be controlled by their longtime owner, Glen Taylor, but it is expected that in 2023 Rodriguez and Lore will be the controlling owners. In April, a spokesperson for the Timberwolves said the purchase agreement “will initially entail a limited partnership stake with a pathway to controlling ownership of the organization.” The teams were sold for $1.5 billion, The New York Times has reported.Taylor, 80, is a Minnesota native and made his fortune in printing. He purchased the Timberwolves in 1994 from an ownership group that was attempting to move the team out of state. He has told the Star Tribune newspaper, which he also owns, that the sale agreement would include language to keep the teams in Minnesota, though it is unclear if that ended up happening.Marc Lore made billions in e-commerce, from Diapers.com and Jet.Patrick T. Fallon/Agence France-Presse — Getty ImagesGlen Taylor has owned the Timberwolves since 1994.Ann Heisenfelt/Associated PressRodriguez and Lore were part of a group, along with Jennifer Lopez and others, that attempted to buy the Mets, but came up short to Steven Cohen’s billions.Since his retirement from playing baseball in 2016, Rodriguez has worked as a baseball commentator for both Fox and ESPN, as well as invested in a number of companies. Lore made his fortune founding Diapers.com, which was sold to Amazon, and Jet, which was sold to Walmart for $3.3 billion.While Rodriguez and Lore are now part of the ownership group, there is no guarantee that everything goes well.One of the two will have to be designated the control owner, as N.B.A. rules, like those of other major professional sports leagues in the United States, require one person to be the final decision maker. Planned ownership succession can proceed smoothly, like with the Nets, or messily, like with the Denver Broncos. And despite the inclusion of a clause that the new owners of the Seattle SuperSonics put forth a “good faith effort” to find a new arena in the Seattle area in 2006, two years later the team became the Oklahoma City Thunder, a situation the N.B.A. surely does not want to repeat with the Timberwolves, who joined the league in 1989. More

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      Alex Rodriguez and Partner Reach Deal on Timberwolves and Lynx

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      The agreement, which is pending league approval, lets Glen Taylor run the teams for two more years. Taylor believes the teams will stay in Minnesota.The baseball star Alex Rodriguez and his business partner Marc Lore have reached terms on a deal to purchase the N.B.A.’s Minnesota Timberwolves and the W.N.B.A.’s Minnesota Lynx for $1.5 billion.Glen Taylor, the lifelong Minnesotan who moved from a career in politics to become the owner of both franchises, announced on Friday that the sides have agreed to terms just a few days beyond the 30-day exclusive negotiating window they entered on April 10. The sale requires approval from the N.B.A.’s Board of Governors to formally begin “the transition of ownership and a new chapter,” Taylor said in a statement.As part of what has been billed as a 50/50 partnership with Lore, Rodriguez will bring a newfound level of star power to the Timberwolves, something they’ve lacked in any measure since trading Kevin Garnett to the Boston Celtics in July 2007. The team badly needs leadership that can make a true impact on the court with its stewardship, spending and commitment; Minnesota is 22-48 this season and has reached the playoffs only once in Taylor’s last 17 years of ownership.The Minnesota Timberwolves have performed poorly this season but the team has several talented players. Harrison Barden/Getty ImagesTaylor, who turned 80 last month, has engaged in negotiations to sell the team numerous times in recent years, only to repeatedly balk. He openly advertised a desire to sell in July 2020 and, in Rodriguez and Lore, Taylor appears to have found buyers who were not only willing to meet his purchase price but also grant his well-known wish for a slow exit from his post. The untraditional deal terms call for Taylor to serve as controlling owner for two more seasons, with Rodriguez and Lore assuming operational control entering the 2023-24 season.Rodriguez, the former Yankee and three-time winner of the American League Most Valuable Player Award, and Lore, an e-commerce mogul who left his full-time position with Walmart in January, headed a group that made a serious run at purchasing the Mets and also featured Rodriguez’s former fiancée, Jennifer Lopez. They withdrew from that process in August 2020 as the Mets closed in on selling the franchise to the billionaire hedge fund manager Steven Cohen for $2.4 billion.If the sale is approved at league level, as expected, Minnesota would become the second N.B.A. team to be sold this season. Gail Miller, whose family owned the Utah Jazz for 35 years, sold a majority stake in the team to the tech entrepreneur Ryan Smith in October for nearly $1.7 billion, with league approval following in December.Neither Rodriguez nor Lore has yet to speak in depth about their plans for the teams, but speculation about a move to Seattle is certain to swirl given that Rodriguez began his Major League Baseball career there — and since Seattle has been actively seeking a new N.B.A. team to fill a void created by the SuperSonics’ move to Oklahoma City in 2008.Taylor, who served as a Republican senator in Minnesota from 1981 through 1990, purchased the Timberwolves in 1994, ensuring that the franchise stayed in Minneapolis amid a serious threat of relocation to New Orleans. He said in an interview with the Minneapolis Star-Tribune last month that Rodriguez and Lore have pledged to keep the Wolves and Lynx in Minnesota.Marc Lore built his fortune with websites like Diapers.com and Jet.com. He recently left a post a Walmart.Cole Wilson for The New York TimesMinnesota has declined sharply since a trip to the playoffs in 2017-18, with the star guard Jimmy Butler (now in Miami) traded to Philadelphia soon after that breakthrough and Coach Tom Thibodeau (now coaching the Knicks) subsequently fired. But Rodriguez and Lore will not inherit a barren roster.The Timberwolves have two No. 1 overall draft picks in Karl-Anthony Towns and Anthony Edwards, as well as a former No. 2 overall draft pick in D’Angelo Russell. Their immediate challenge is securing a favorable outcome in the next N.B.A. draft lottery, as Minnesota, which entered Friday’s play in a tie with Cleveland for the league’s fifth-worst record, loses its top pick in the July 29 draft to Golden State unless it lands in the top three as part of its trade with the Warriors for Russell in February 2020.Rodriguez, 45, is a prominent baseball analyst for ESPN in addition to his various business pursuits. He hit 696 home runs in a 22-season career with the Seattle Mariners, the Texas Rangers and the Yankees — winning a World Series ring with the Yankees in 2009 — but also faced heavy criticism and served a yearlong suspension in 2014 for his admitted use of performance-enhancing drugs. Lore, 49, served as the chief executive of U.S. e-commerce for Walmart after founding major e-commerce firms such as Diapers.com and Jet.com. More

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      How Kevin Garnett Made His Case for the Hall of Fame

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      Garnett was widely doubted before he was drafted, but over more than 20 years in the league he reset the limits for N.B.A. big men and made a case for the Hall of Fame.“Does the N.B.A. have no shame?” a Dallas Morning News columnist wrote in 1995 about the prospect of Kevin Garnett going right into the league from high school.Soon after, a Washington Post columnist chimed in, “If Kevin Garnett winds up leaving childhood for the N.B.A. without first going to college, then a whole lot of adults who claim to have his best interests at heart will have failed him.” That same columnist added, “The kid isn’t physically ready to play under the basket in the Big Ten, much less against Hakeem Olajuwon and David Robinson.”“It’s preposterous,” Marty Blake, a veteran N.B.A. scout, told The New York Daily News.It’s hard to envision now, but before Garnett was chosen by the Minnesota Timberwolves with the fifth pick of the 1995 N.B.A. draft, he was viewed by many — including The New York Times — with a great deal of skepticism. The conventional belief was that a teenager could not adapt to the rigors of professional basketball. A columnist for the Detroit News even scoffed at rumors that Garnett was interested in playing for the University of Michigan, saying: “Michigan doesn’t need the huge headache Garnett would bring. Sorry. This is an easy call.”We all know what happened next. Garnett starred in the N.B.A. for more than two decades and retired in 2016 as one of the greatest players to ever take the court. He made 15 All-Star Games, his first coming during his sophomore campaign. He won the Most Valuable Player Award in 2004 and the Defensive Player of the Year Award in 2008. And last year, Garnett was selected for induction into the Basketball Hall of Fame, alongside the journalist Michael Wilbon, who is now with ESPN but was at The Washington Post in 1995, when he wrote that Garnett was not ready for the N.B.A.In an interview, Wilbon said that Garnett was “one of the great players of the last 25 years,” but that he also wished Garnett had gone to college. Wilbon said that he still felt there were too many people who said “education was an impediment to success.”“That’s not on Kevin or Kobe,” he said. “That’s on the system.”Wilbon added later: “I look at what these things have done to Black Americans and all the kids who think that they’re going to play pro basketball at 18 or 19, and they’re not.”In 1995 Kevin Garnett went directly from Farragut High School in Chicago to the N.B.A Todd Rosenberg/ALLSPORT via Getty ImagesOver his career, Garnett disproved the predraft doubts and disrupted the conventional wisdom about how someone who is nearly 7 feet tall should play.Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, an early critic who once told The Hartford Courant that Garnett was “in for a rude awakening,” now describes Garnett as “a consistent offensive threat and a great rebounder and defender.”“He was able to play and lead at both ends of the court,” Abdul-Jabbar said in a statement emailed by his manager. “It was like that from Day 1 until he retired, and that’s why I consider Kevin a Hall of Famer.”Garnett’s impact on the league went far beyond his on-court accomplishments. He showed that a 19-year-old could thrive in the N.B.A., and he influenced the thinking of scouts and executives, most likely easing the transition for others who were drafted immediately after high school, such as Kobe Bryant (1996) and LeBron James (2003).“He’s paved the way for a lot of players,” said Thon Maker, a fifth-year center who played for the Cleveland Cavaliers this season and has worked out with Garnett. “A lot of young bigs in the league like myself, the first thing I learned from him is to drown out the noise and let your basketball do the speaking.”Garnett became one of the country’s top high school prospects after playing for three years at Mauldin High School in South Carolina and his senior year at Chicago’s Farragut High School. He was compared to players ranging from Shaquille O’Neal and Abdul-Jabbar to Bill Walton and Shawn Bradley. His 220-pound frame made him difficult to assess, as did the paucity of prior high school draftees.One of them was Moses Malone, who was drafted in 1974 out of Petersburg High School in Virginia by the N.B.A.’s competition, the A.B.A. Malone would, like Garnett, have a Hall of Fame career, and in some ways, Garnett’s debut represented a passing of the torch. Malone’s last season was the year before Garnett’s first.“Garnett has more skills than Moses, but he doesn’t always come to play every night,” Tom Konchalski, an N.B.A. scout who died this year, told The Chicago Sun-Times in 1995. “He takes nights off. Emotionally, he isn’t ready to handle the N.B.A. lifestyle. He still is a kid. Moses was a man.”Kevin Garnett was chosen by the Minnesota Timberwolves with the fifth pick of the 1995 N.B.A. draft.Andrew D. Bernstein/NBAE, via Getty ImagesThere was also Bill Willoughby, who spent eight seasons as a role player for six teams from 1975 to 1984. He struggled in his transition and lost much of his money. (He called Garnett to offer advice as Garnett prepared to make his decision to enter the league.) Darryl Dawkins had a productive career from 1975 to 1989 after being drafted fifth over all. Both Dawkins and Willoughby entered the N.B.A. through a hardship waiver.Shawn Kemp enrolled at the University of Kentucky but left without playing and briefly went to a junior college instead. He did not play there either before becoming the 17th overall pick of the 1989 draft and joining the Seattle SuperSonics.There was a downside to Garnett’s brilliance: His immediate triumphs in the N.B.A. set a lofty bar that few players coming out of high school could meet. In his rookie year, he averaged a productive 10.4 points and 6.3 rebounds, while starting roughly half of Minnesota’s games.“His legacy is as one of the greatest players, one of the greatest two-way players,” said Danny Ainge, the president of basketball operations for the Boston Celtics. Ainge traded for Garnett in 2007, revitalizing the franchise and helping it win its first championship in more than 20 years.Garnett was, Ainge said, “a guy that was all about winning and gave great energy night in and night out. The ultimate teammate.”Before entering the N.B.A., Leon Powe, part of Boston’s 2007-8 championship team, was on an A.A.U. team called the Oakland Soldiers along with a future Celtics teammate, Kendrick Perkins, and LeBron James.“LeBron, me and Kendrick, everybody, we all wanted to go out of high school,” Powe said, referring to the N.B.A. “Especially because we knew what happened with Kobe, K.G., everybody that came before us. That just inspired us.”Like James, Perkins made the leap in 2003, becoming a late first-round pick who would have a 14-year career in the N.B.A. If not for an injury, Powe might have jumped too, he said. Instead, he attended the University of California, Berkeley.There were more high school players who did not meet expectations in the N.B.A. — such as Kwame Brown and Sebastian Telfair — than those who did. The result was a rule in the mid-2000s that said a player had to be a full year removed from high school before he could be eligible for the N.B.A. The last high school player to be drafted into the N.B.A. was Amir Johnson in 2005.But the clamor to reverse the rule has grown larger with every passing season. In 2019, N.B.A. Commissioner Adam Silver said that it would probably be eliminated within a few years, and in March he told reporters that it would be discussed as part of the next collective bargaining agreement. So soon enough, the craving will start anew for another Garnett: a worldbeating talent whose prime might last 15 years. That’s still a lofty bar to clear, but he was the one who, as he might say, made it so that “anything is possible.” More

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      Anthony Edwards Will Dunk on You. And Beat You in Ping-Pong?

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      The Minnesota Timberwolves are not good this season. But Edwards, their rookie No. 1 draft pick? He is giving fans many reasons to watch (and listen).As a senior at Holy Spirit Preparatory School in Atlanta, Anthony Edwards commuted about an hour each way from his home in the southern reaches of the city. In addition to the geographical distance, the challenge was that he had no reliable mode of transportation. So he would lean on friends, family members, neighbors and coaches to ferry him back and forth. They wanted to help.“People just enjoyed being around him,” said Tysor Anderson, Edwards’s coach at Holy Spirit, who was among those who gave him occasional rides.Anderson, though, was more impressed that Edwards somehow made it work — that he was resourceful enough to find his way to school each morning. “He figured it out,” Anderson said.Edwards’s ability to figure things out is a skill that he has been working to apply this season as a first-year shooting guard for the Minnesota Timberwolves, a longtime fixer-upper franchise. As the top overall pick in last year’s N.B.A. draft, Edwards, 19, has been the center of attention for a struggling team, offering the Timberwolves’ fans some hope for the future.Glimpses of that future have come in the form of a 42-point performance against the Phoenix Suns and highlight-reel plays, including a dunk against the Toronto Raptors that was so explosive Edwards immediately peered toward the Jumbotron above center court so that he could watch a replay.“I was like, ‘Damn, that’s crazy,’” he said.Edwards, who appears to be 6 feet 4 inches and 225 pounds of tightly coiled springs, is averaging 18.3 points and 4.3 rebounds for the Timberwolves, who are 16-44 ahead of their game against the Utah Jazz on Saturday night.Edwards has come to be seen as an interesting character off the court as well.Steph Chambers/Getty ImagesEdwards has already revealed himself to be one of the league’s more engaging personalities, a player who has managed to elevate humdrum, pandemic-era video conference calls to high art. There was an interaction with an Irish reporter that went viral after his accent drew admiration from Edwards — “I want to learn how to talk like that,” he said — and, more recently, the rookie’s introduction to Alex Rodriguez, who is nearing a deal to become one of the Timberwolves’ new owners.“I don’t know who that is,” Edwards said in a call with reporters this month.Edwards has since familiarized himself with Rodriguez’s body of work (he used to play baseball), and they even had an exchange on social media.“He was like: ‘What’s up, Anthony? I’m Alex,’” Edwards said. “And I was like, ‘What’s good?’”There are also moments when Edwards sounds like the most confident person on the planet. He is convinced, for example, that he could have played professional baseball. Or football, for that matter. (Once upon a time, he said, he was the best 10-year-old running back “in the world.”) Mere months into his career in amateur table tennis, he considers himself the best player on the Timberwolves. He would like to get involved in the rap game — as a producer and a performer, because why not?“I love music,” he said with a disarming smile.In a way, Edwards seems unaffected by the pressure that comes with being a top pick who will go a long way toward dictating the future of an N.B.A. franchise. And those who know him best say that his temperament makes him uniquely equipped for the role.“I’ve always been struck by how effortlessly himself he is,” said Anderson, now an assistant coach at Jacksonville State. “He laughs. He talks. If he has questions, he asks. If he has an opinion, he opines. And if he doesn’t know about something, he won’t pretend that he does.”Edwards during his career-high 42-point performance against the Suns.Michael Gonzales/NBAE, via Getty ImagesIt has not been an easy season for N.B.A. rookies. Summer league was canceled because of the pandemic, and training camp was abridged. Now the schedule of games is compressed. Timberwolves Coach Chris Finch, who replaced Ryan Saunders on Feb. 22, said that he had been able to organize about a half-dozen practices since he took over and that half of those had been walk-throughs without much on-court activity.In other words, Edwards is learning on the fly against a buffet of far more experienced opponents. Finch, though, has found him to be highly coachable — perhaps too coachable at times.A few weeks ago, Finch stressed to his players that he wanted them to “play through” Karl-Anthony Towns, the team’s starting center and another former No. 1 overall pick. Edwards took the message to heart.“He kind of went through this period where he wasn’t aggressive at all because he was just trying to get the ball to KAT all the time,” Finch said, referring to Towns by his nickname.Edwards, though, is still a teenager who is not all that far removed from Holy Spirit, where he established himself as a star. Shortly after Anderson was hired by the school in 2018, Edwards attended the Pangos All-American Camp in California and made an impression.“Just destroyed everybody,” Anderson said.Edwards was soon on his way to another elite summer showcase, the National Basketball Players Association’s Top 100 Camp, and Anderson knew he had to be there — if only so he could actually meet Edwards. He wanted to make sure that Edwards did not transfer to another high school before the start of his junior season. But the camp was a tough ticket. Anderson called his grandfather, the longtime college coach Lefty Driesell, who had connections.Edwards while he played for Holy Spirit Prep.Gregory Payan/Associated Press“Granddad,” Anderson recalled telling him, “I don’t ask you for much, but I’ve got to get in the building.”Driesell delivered, and Anderson took Edwards to dinner, where they bonded over a conversation about the video game Fortnite. Anderson soon learned more about Edwards and the hardships he had experienced. When Edwards was 14, his mother, Yvette, and his grandmother Shirley both died of cancer. They were enormous figures in his life.“They made me happy,” Edwards said. “So I just try to stay happy.”Edwards wound up staying at Holy Spirit, but only for a season. He was so dominant that he reclassified as a senior so that he could graduate early and enroll at Georgia.“You didn’t have to be a genius to watch one of his games and figure out that this guy didn’t need any more high school basketball,” Anderson said. “He barely needed college basketball.”With the Timberwolves, Edwards has discovered that each game presents a fresh challenge. The N.B.A. is not the N.C.A.A.’s Southeastern Conference.“Everybody on the court is good,” he said. “That’s the difference. Everybody can go.”After Finch got the job, he talked to Edwards about eliminating some of the low-percentage shots cluttering his games — the midrange pull-ups and the 3-pointers that he was launching off the dribble. Finch wanted him to get to the rim, seek contact and attempt more catch-and-shoot 3-pointers, because he was already making a solid percentage of those.“We wanted him to be more efficient,” Finch said. “So much about being a good shooter is getting rid of the bad shots.”Timberwolves Coach Chris Finch has been trying to help Edwards become a more efficient scorer.Stacy Bengs/Associated PressEdwards feels more comfortable now than he did through the first few months of the season, when rookies “don’t know anything,” he said, and his production reflects it. Since the N.B.A. All-Star break in March, Edwards has averaged 23.3 points while shooting 43.5 percent from the field and 34.5 percent from 3-point range — solid numbers that reflect improvement over the season and still show room for development.For his part, Edwards said he did not have specific goals other than to “be the best version of myself.” And what does that look like? “I don’t know,” he said. “I’m just 19.” More

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      Twins, Timberwolves and Wild Postpone Games After Shooting

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      With the Minneapolis area on edge, M.L.B., N.B.A. and N.H.L. teams decided they could not play on Monday following the shooting of Daunte Wright.Professional baseball, basketball and hockey games in Minnesota were postponed on Monday in response to tension and unrest after a police officer shot and killed a Black man during a traffic stop north of Minneapolis.The Minnesota Twins postponed their afternoon game with the Boston Red Sox and were quickly followed by the N.B.A.’s Minnesota Timberwolves calling off a game against the Nets and the N.H.L.’s Minnesota Wild postponing a match against the St. Louis Blues.With the region on edge as the trial of Derek Chauvin, the police officer facing murder charges in the death of George Floyd, continues in Minneapolis, the Twins said it would not have been appropriate to play. The police in Brooklyn Center, Minn., where the latest shooting took place Sunday, said that the victim, Daunte Wright, 20, was shot accidentally by an officer who had intended to use a Taser.“Our community’s been through a lot, and we have a trial taking place just blocks away from Target Field,” said the Twins team president, Dave St. Peter, in a video news conference with reporters. “Emotions across our community, emotions across our organization, are raw.”He added that baseball seemed “a little less important” now, and that the Twins prioritized safety and compassion over holding the game as scheduled.“Make no mistake, part of the decision here today is out of respect for the Wright family, but there’s a big part of this decision that’s also rooted in safety and consultation with law enforcement about unknowns, about what will, or could transpire within the broader community over the next several hours, based on the news that has come out of Brooklyn Center this morning,” St. Peter said.“Once you understand that information, for us the decision becomes a lot easier. The right thing to do is always to err on the side of safety for our players, for our staff, for our fans.”Outside of Minnesota, Aaron Hicks, who had previously played for the Twins, asked to sit out of Monday’s game between the Yankees and the Toronto Blue Jays. Another Yankees player, Giancarlo Stanton, was considering sitting out as well.“I would say that Aaron is hurting in a huge way,” Manager Aaron Boone told reporters. “I think in a way felt like it was probably the responsible thing to take himself out and knowing that it was going to be hard for him to be all in mentally in what’s a high stake, difficult job to go out there and perform for the New York Yankees.”In a statement, the N.B.A. said the decision to postpone Monday night’s game was made after consultation with the Timberwolves organization as well as local and state officials.Last spring, after the killing of Floyd, several N.B.A. and W.N.B.A. players became active participants in the protests that broke out around the country.Last August, after the N.B.A. had resumed its season on the Walt Disney World campus near Orlando, Fla., some N.B.A. players took their demonstrations further after the shooting of Jacob Blake in Kenosha, Wis. Blake, then 29, was partially paralyzed after being shot multiple times in the back by police while trying to enter his vehicle.With emotions high after the shooting of Jacob Blake, the Milwaukee Bucks refused to take the court for a playoff game on Aug. 26, 2020.Kevin C. Cox/USA Today Sports, via ReutersBefore a playoff game between the Milwaukee Bucks and Orlando Magic, George Hill, then a guard for the Bucks, persuaded the rest of his teammates to sit out the game. This created a cascade effect: The other games on tap that night were postponed as well, as well as those in other leagues, like women’s basketball, baseball and soccer. Naomi Osaka, a Black tennis star, threatened to leave the Western & Southern Open, which pushed officials to delay the tournament by a day.Two days later, the N.B.A. and its players’ union announced an agreement that would convert some team arenas into polling sites and lift the player-inspired work stoppage. Some of the league’s top players, including LeBron James and Chris Paul, consulted with former President Barack Obama on a path forward.In discussing the Twins’ postponement on Monday, Manager Rocco Baldelli said some players were shaken by the incident in Brooklyn Center.“We have some guys that I would put in the category of passionate,” Baldelli said, “and were really damaged and hurt by everything that was going on today.”The Twins and the Red Sox were scheduled to play four games through Thursday, and this is Boston’s only scheduled trip to Minnesota this season. The teams play a series in Boston in late August, but St. Peter said the Twins have not considered moving the series to Fenway Park.The N.B.A.’s announcement did not say when the Timberwolves and Nets would make up the lost game. The Wild’s game against the Blues has been rescheduled for May 12. More

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      N.B.A. Western Conference Preview: The Lakers Reloaded

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      AdvertisementContinue reading the main storySupported byContinue reading the main storyN.B.A. Western Conference Preview: The Lakers ReloadedTheir championship glow still strong, the Lakers are poised to make another run, even as the Warriors bounce back and the Suns ascend.The Los Angeles Lakers could be having a double-championship parade at the end of this season behind Anthony Davis and LeBron James.Credit…Kirby Lee/USA Today Sports, via ReutersDec. 21, 2020Updated 10:00 a.m. ETLeBron James was surprised, and a little annoyed, when the N.B.A. unveiled its schedule for the 2020-21 season. He had been hoping for a mid-January start for his title defense with the Los Angeles Lakers. It was wishful thinking.“I was like, ‘Wow!’” James said at a recent news conference.The Lakers, just 72 days removed from winning the franchise’s 17th championship, will return to the grind on Tuesday when they face the Clippers, another team with big goals, at Staples Center, the Los Angeles arena that both teams share.Here is a look at how the Western Conference shapes up after the shortest off-season in league history:The ContendersSomehow, the Lakers look even better this season than they did for last season’s championship run.Credit…Kevin C. Cox/Getty ImagesLos Angeles Lakers2019-20 record: 52-19 (No. 1 seed, N.B.A. champions)Key additions: Dennis Schröder, Marc Gasol, Montrezl Harrell, Wesley MatthewsKey subtractions: Danny Green, Rajon Rondo, Avery Bradley, Dwight HowardOutlook: The mere presence of James and Anthony Davis, both of whom recommitted to the freshly minted champions with new deals in recent weeks, would be enough for any team to contend for a title. But give the Lakers credit: They were anything but complacent over the league’s abridged off-season. In fact, the front office made upgrades by acquiring Schröder and Harrell, the league’s two top reserves last season. And Gasol and Matthews are crafty veterans who add depth. Add it all up, and the Lakers are even better positioned for a championship run than they were in the bubble.The Clippers have a new coach but the same two stars and threshold for success: winning a championship.Credit…Mark J. Terrill/Associated PressLos Angeles Clippers2019-20 record: 49-23 (No. 2 seed)Key additions: Serge Ibaka, Nicolas Batum, Luke KennardKey subtractions: Montrezl Harrell, Landry Shamet, JaMychal GreenOutlook: The Clippers would probably love to have a little more distance from their debacle in the bubble, a premature exit in the Western Conference semifinals that raised questions about the team’s chemistry and led to Coach Doc Rivers’s departure. (He landed on his feet with the Philadelphia 76ers.) But the bubble memories have surely lingered for Kawhi Leonard and Paul George, two stars who watched from home as the Lakers claimed the ultimate prize that both teams had been chasing. Now, under the direction of Tyronn Lue, the team’s new coach, the pressure will only mount on the Clippers to deliver.Michael Porter Jr. showed a lot of potential during the bubble over the summer, raising expectations for his play this season.Credit…Mark J. Terrill/Associated PressDenver Nuggets2019-20 record: 46-27 (No. 3 seed)Key additions: Facundo Campazzo, JaMychal GreenKey subtractions: Jerami Grant, Torrey Craig, Mason PlumleeOutlook: Coming off an enthralling run in the bubble in which they reached the Western Conference finals for the first time in 11 years, the Nuggets appear primed to build on that momentum. Nikola Jokic and Jamal Murray have established themselves as bona fide stars, and Michael Porter Jr. is an elastic-limbed talent with enormous potential. The off-season was a mixed bag — the losses of Grant and Craig could hurt the team on defense — and Coach Mike Malone has groused about the team’s focus in the preseason. But no team put more into the league’s restart last season, or came out of the experience better for it.The MaybesLuka Doncic could end Giannis Antetokounmpo’s reign as the league’s most valuable player this season.Credit…Jerome Miron/USA Today Sports, via ReutersDallas Mavericks2019-20 record: 43-32 (No. 7 seed)Key additions: Josh Richardson, James Johnson, Wesley IwunduKey subtractions: Seth CurryOutlook: Is this the season when the Mavericks — and Luka Doncic, a fashionable pick to win his first N.B.A. Most Valuable Player Award — break free from the middle of the Western Conference pack and make a deep playoff run? The team tried to address concerns about its porous defense by acquiring the likes of Richardson and Johnson, who add toughness. But there are lingering concerns, too, and Kristaps Porzingis finds himself at the center of them. Porzingis, who has struggled to stay healthy dating to his days with the Knicks, had surgery on his right knee in October.The Jazz signed Donovan Mitchell, left, and Jordan Clarkson, right, to big deals this off-season.Credit…David Zalubowski/Associated PressUtah Jazz2019-20 record: 44-28 (No. 6 seed)Key additions: Derrick FavorsKey subtractions: NoneOutlook: Since 2016, the Jazz have doing good job being relevant. Not extraordinary. Not dominant. Just relevant. Now, after their second straight first-round playoff exit, the Jazz are hoping that they can take another step with largely the same pieces. Over the off-season, they committed millions to Donovan Mitchell and Jordan Clarkson while doing little to remedy their issues defending perimeter scorers.Stephen Curry is back, but without Klay Thompson the Warriors are unlikely to contend for a championship.Credit…Kyle Terada/USA Today Sports, via ReutersGolden State Warriors2019-20 record: 15-50Key additions: James Wiseman, Kelly Oubre Jr., Kent BazemoreKey subtractions: Klay Thompson (again)Outlook: After making five straight appearances in the N.B.A. finals and coming away with three championships, the Warriors were essentially on hiatus last season. Their stars were injured. Coach Steve Kerr played a bunch of young guys, and things got glum in a hurry: Golden State finished with the worst record in the league. The good news is that Stephen Curry is back this season, and the Warriors bulked up their frontcourt by selecting Wiseman with the second pick in the draft. Now, the bad news: Thompson, after missing all of last season with a torn anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee, tore his right Achilles’ tendon in an off-season workout and will be sidelined for his second straight season. Without him, the Warriors cannot expect to vie for a title. But they should be back in the playoff hunt.Damian Lillard will have a little bit more help this season with Robert Covington and Derrick Jones Jr.Credit…Pool photo by Kevin C. CoxPortland Trail Blazers2019-20 record: 35-39 (No. 8 seed)Key additions: Robert Covington, Derrick Jones Jr., Enes Kanter, Harry GilesKey subtractions: Trevor Ariza, Hassan WhitesideOutlook: Credit the Blazers for addressing one of their weaknesses by acquiring Covington and Jones, versatile forwards who can defend and shoot. But all eyes are again on Damian Lillard, the All-Star point guard who is coming off his finest season for an underperforming team. He has repeatedly pledged his loyalty to Portland, and he has a long-term contract to prove it. He needs his supporting cast to come through.James Harden wants to be traded, but the Rockets don’t need to rush to oblige him.Credit…Mark J. Terrill/Associated PressHouston Rockets2019-20 record: 44-28 (No. 4 seed)Key additions: John Wall, DeMarcus Cousins, Christian WoodKey subtractions: Russell Westbrook, Robert CovingtonOutlook: In the wake of a tumultuous off-season in which the general manager (Daryl Morey) and the coach (Mike D’Antoni) both decamped for new roles, the team’s best player wants out, too. James Harden finally showed up late to training camp after partying in Atlanta and Las Vegas, and it is clear he wants to be traded. The front office can take its time with that request as the franchise acclimates itself to a new-look roster that includes Wall and Cousins, two big-name reclamation projects who are coming off serious injuries.The NoncontendersThe Suns haven’t made the playoffs in 10 seasons, but this could be the year they return.Credit…Rick Bowmer/Associated PressPhoenix Suns2019-20 record: 34-39Key additions: Chris Paul, Jae Crowder, Abdel NaderKey subtractions: Kelly Oubre Jr., Ricky RubioOutlook: The Suns, led by Devin Booker, made an impression by closing out last season with an eight-game winning streak in the bubble. Then they made an even bigger splash in the off-season by engineering a trade with the Oklahoma City Thunder to acquire Paul, the veteran point guard. Don’t overlook the addition of Crowder, either. There are plenty of reasons to be optimistic about the future of the Suns, who could find themselves back in the playoffs after a 10-year absence.The Grizzlies may not win a championship, but they should be fun to watch.Credit…Mike Ehrmann/Getty ImagesMemphis Grizzlies2019-20 record: 34-39Key additions: NoneKey subtractions: NoneOutlook: Led by Ja Morant, the N.B.A.’s rookie of the year, the Grizzlies were among the league’s fun surprises last season. They are young and talented, and this figures to be another growing season — especially after they welcome back Jaren Jackson Jr., their starting center, from a knee injury he sustained in August.The Pelicans lost Jrue Holiday, but Zion Williamson should make a major leap in his second season.Credit…Jasen Vinlove/USA Today Sports, via ReutersNew Orleans Pelicans2019-20 record: 30-42Key additions: Eric Bledsoe, Steven AdamsKey subtractions: Jrue Holiday, Derrick Favors, E’Twaun Moore, Frank JacksonOutlook: The Pelicans are going to be preaching patience after trading Holiday to the Bucks for a gleaming collection of future first-round picks. They also re-signed Brandon Ingram to a long-term deal. And Zion Williamson should take another step in his development if he can stay on the court. But this figures to be a building year under Stan Van Gundy, who has returned to coaching after a foray as a broadcaster.Last season was rocky for the Timberwolves, but their core of D’Angelo Russell, left, and Karl-Anthony Towns, right, should be better this season.Credit…Hannah Foslien/Getty ImagesMinnesota Timberwolves2019-20 record: 19-45Key additions: Anthony Edwards, Ricky RubioKey subtractions: James JohnsonOutlook: The Timberwolves are coming off a disappointing, injury-marred season. But they presumably have their core in place, after adding Edwards, a shooting guard and the top overall pick in November’s N.B.A. draft, to a roster headlined by Karl-Anthony Towns and D’Angelo Russell. There will be growing pains, of course, and it would be surprising to see the Timberwolves in the thick of the playoffs. But they should show improvement.The Spurs had made the playoffs for 22 straight years before missing them last season. A return is not guaranteed this season, either.Credit…Soobum Im/USA Today Sports, via ReutersSan Antonio Spurs2019-20 record: 32-39Key additions: Devin VassellKey subtractions: Bryn ForbesOutlook: The Spurs had made 22 straight playoff appearances before they fell short last season. It could be another challenging season for Coach Gregg Popovich after a quiet couple of months for the front office. The Spurs still employ DeMar DeRozan and LaMarcus Aldridge, which means they will have a fighting chance to make the playoffs. But in a power-packed conference, it will be a steep climb.The Thunder are firmly in rebuilding mode.Credit…Sue Ogrocki/Associated PressOklahoma City Thunder2019-20 record: 44-28 (No. 5 seed)Key additions: Al Horford, George Hill, Trevor ArizaKey subtractions: Chris Paul, Dennis Schröder, Steven Adams, Danilo GallinariOutlook: The Thunder have amassed an incredible collection of future first-round picks by trading players like Paul, a veteran who had been instrumental in leading the team last season. But General Manager Sam Presti has chosen to take the long view as the Thunder seek to build through the draft. In the short term, that means they could be facing a lean few months.De’Aaron Fox is a promising player for the Kings, but overall team success doesn’t appear likely in the short run.Credit…Kyle Terada/USA Today Sports, via ReutersSacramento Kings2019-20 record: 31-41Key additions: Tyrese Haliburton, Hassan WhitesideKey subtractions: Bogdan Bogdanovic, Kent Bazemore, Harry GilesOutlook: It seems a safe bet to add another season to the league’s longest playoff drought. The Kings opted not to match the Atlanta Hawks’ contract offer to Bogdanovic, a restricted free agent, as they look toward the future with De’Aaron Fox, Marvin Bagley III and Haliburton, a first-year shooting guard.AdvertisementContinue reading the main story More