The revelation of this NBL Showdown thing has been the spotlight it’s given to that second and third tier of kiwi basketballers. Fellas who aren’t quite on that Aussie NBL level or who are perhaps are trying to make a claim to get to that level.
Of all the lengths that various sporting leagues are going to around the world in order to finish what they started before the world was struck with a global pandemic, the NBA is going the furthest.
This was one of those unique circumstances where sacrifices and tough decisions were necessary so forget about the dramas because there’s only one way this NBL Showdown can be judged: the basketball itself.
The NBL is happening. And say what you will about how it’s happening but you have to admire the sheer determination of GM Justin Nelson and company to make it happen.
The last Breakers season was weird. For half a season they felt like a complete shambles and then for half a season they were sneakily excellent.
Near the very end of The Last Dance, among the final moments of the final episode of the docuseries, Michael Jordan stares down the camera and tells us how much it tears him up inside that his Chicago Bulls never got the chance to go for championship number seven.
The next time he takes the field will be the first time in Cam Newton’s NFL career that he won’t be kitting up for the Carolina Panthers. After nine seasons with the franchise, including taking them to a Super Bowl and winning an MVP, he’s now a free agent with rather slim options.
In the pantheon of great NBA Draft classes... nobody is ever going to talk about 2013. More likely they’ll be waxing lyrical about the jewels of 2003. They’ll be singing the praises of what 1984 had to offer. They’ll be glowing with love for 1996 crew. But 2013 is probably way down at the other end of the spectrum.
“Due to unforeseen circumstances the game has been postponed.” - That was the line from the PA announcer at Chesapeake Energy Arena, roughly half an hour after the Oklahoma City Thunder were supposed to have tipped off against the Utah Jazz.
The Brooklyn Nets began this strange old season in a strange new transition, caught between the positive battler team-culture vibes of their recent past and the all-in superstar vibes of their future.
See, all it took was a bit of rest. No sooner had Steven Adams come back from eight days off during the All Star break, apparently largely spent training his new dog, than he’d ripped back into it for the Thunder at the level we’d been hoping to see from him all season.
So... the Tall Blacks played over the weekend. There wasn’t much of a deal made about it, in fact you’d be forgiven for not even realising those games were happening, but they did. The second one was a bit of a sitter against Guam which in which they eventually eased to a 19-point victory but the first one... mate.
It started amidst the dark and stormy clouds of chaos and it finished with warm beams of hopeful sunlight peeking through as the Breakers entered the final round of the season still in with a chance of making the semis. The Breakers lingered at 4-10 with little sign that it was gonna get any better. But it did. Substantially.
And here we are. A week after the trade deadline passed with the Oklahoma City Thunder choosing to sit comfortably back in their seats with no knockout offers forthcoming, they now roll into the great big period of rest and recalibration that is the All Star Break.
The RJ Hampton experience is no longer. With only a couple games remaining and the American prodigy still dealing with a lingering hip injury it’s been decided that the best course of action is for RJH to return to the USA to get himself healthy and prepare for the 2020 NBA Draft.
Well folks, the time has come and gone. The NBA Trade Deadline passed at 9am on Friday in Aotearoa time and as of that moment Steven Adams was effectively confirmed as an Oklahoma City Thunder player for the remainder of the season.
Patrick Mahomes, that is all.
The Brooklyn Nets were undercover darlings of NBA culture by the end of last season. With no relevant draft picks and only a couple of players with any real trade value when Sean Marks took over as GM, the Nets somehow managed to go from rock bottom to the playoffs within four years and they did it through all the things that the basketball zeitgeist loves to see…
This Thunder season has been a pretty fascinating one. It wasn’t supposed to be, they were meant to be a tame if competitive losing team that could beat a playoff team if they dropped their game but otherwise would live in the lottery with all their hoarded future draft picks. Except that everything’s kinda clicked into place instead.
Alright, it’s time to get back on the Steven Adams beat for real now. It’s been a strange old couple months as the Oklahoma City Thunder franchise adjusted to life without Russell Westbrook for the first time ever and adjusting to losing a guy who’d had such a record usage rate was always going to require some time.