The Second Arrangement

Gregg Popovich took over the San Antonio Spurs at about this point in the season in 1996, replacing Bob Hill as head coach. The firing was a surprise, many expected Hill ousted after San Antonio’s unappealing playoff exit the spring before, stringing him along for 18 extra ( David Robinson -less) games the next season felt a little off. The Spurs lost a lot, drafted Tim Duncan , and 25 years on Po...

( Never Too Much podcast: 2000-01 NBA League Pass, Monday’s games, soothing rain, occasional guitar.) Whingeing over “points of emphasis” in the NBA’s first weeks is an annual tradition. One year the emphasis was on upsetting Rasheed Wallace and it went wonderfully. Lots of points. The NBA cracks down on baited contact this year, they swear. You can’t feint into a cushion at the free throw line, c...

( Never Too Much podcast: Brooklyn and the best of Kyrie , Pau Gasol retires, Kelly brags about being flown to Orlando.) If you’re a Sixers fan, fine. Continue gnawing on your elbow. The rest of us? I think we’re supposed to leave Ben Simmons and those Sixers alone until they actually do something. Each side dropped its hand last month, thinking it would be enough to pull the pot and end the eveni...

( Never Too Much podcast: what it was like to be a big ol’ fan of Norm MacDonald in 1996, why Tuesday was the only good day Twitter ever had, click ‘Listen in podcast app’ to subscribe.) You got the feeling that Norm MacDonald ’s favorite space on camera were the times he got to impersonate David Letterman on ‘Saturday Night Live,’ the show he wasn’t great at, performed live from the workplace Mac...

( Never Too Much podcast: Reasons why you should subscribe to an NBA newsletter in summer, something nice about every team, click ‘Listen in podcast app’ to give us a spin!) Remember last summer when the bubble started and life was chaotic and ridden with anxiety and you weren’t sure if you felt up to get back into NBA basketball again and then acknowledged Irishman Michael Malone sent out this li...

( Never Too Much podcast: Sam Smith then and now , Cleveland cowers for Love , 2021 free agent primer, click ‘Listen in podcast app’ to subscribe!) Races for crummy playoff seeds always existed. More importantly, very good basketball teams are often in races for crummy playoff seeds, either due to injury, intrigue, or repeated denied applications for entry into the Eastern Conference. Limping defe...

( Never Too Much podcast: Hawks fire Pierce , 77 All-Stars, throw away that gold and silver, click ‘Listen in podcast app’ to hear me on your phone!) Brooklyn 124, San Antonio 113 (overtime) The Nets, silly Butterfingers in Saturday’s defeat, turned the ball over five times all Monday, 53 minutes, five slipups, five-three, five. This is a brand new team that’s never trained at a camp together and...

( Never Too Much podcast: also a Pacific Division preview, probably a subscription pitch, click ‘Listen in podcast app’ to give it a spin!) PREVIOUSLY : NORTHWEST , CENTRAL , ATLANTIC GOLDEN STATE WARRIORS This cursed franchise somehow snuffed three seasons in a year and a half, between Klay Thompson ’s two severe leg injuries and the dual shock of Kevin Durant ’s Achilles tear and flight to Brook...

( Never Too Much podcast: NBA media day blurbs you can believe, click ‘Listen in podcast app’ to subscribe!) You were right, all of you. The 2019-20 regular season, pre-bubble, ran without charm. There was no reason to watch. The season felt like it began only weeks after the last one ended. After Houston bled into Golden State which bled into Toronto’s championship which bled into the draft which...

( Never Too Much podcast: fun in 2001 , Boston and Miami, freezer storage suggestions, hope for Denver, click ‘Listen in podcast app’ to subscribe!) The roughest part is that it’s still a little too easy to see why the Knicks traded Patrick Ewing on this date, 20 years ago. He asked for a deal, and it was never sensible to say “no” to what a client of David Falk requests, especially if you’re in t...

( Never Too Much podcast: Defending Jerry Krause , October of 1997, talkin’ 1990s hoops with Maddy, click ‘Listen in podcast app’ to subscribe!) NOVEMBER WAS BLEAK Scottie Pippen hurt his foot in the 1997 Eastern finals but played through it, averaging 20 points, 8.3 rebounds and 3.5 combined steals/blocks in the 1997 NBA Finals. He was set to enter 1997-98 as the NBA’s 122nd-highest paid player,...

( Never Too Much podcast: watching Jordan drop 55 on the Knicks in 1995, who was Biggie talking about, tanning tips and tricks, click ‘Listen in podcast app’ to subscribe!) If you were in the arena when Michael scored, from 1984 through 1998, you’re eligible for this list. 55. Buck Williams — refused to shave his head for the 1997 playoffs and his teammates agreed with the decision: Chris Childs s...

( Never Too Much podcast: Knicks vs. Spike Lee , the Andre Iguodala Game, click ‘Listen on podcast app’ to subscribe!) That the Knicks will celebrate the franchise’s 40th anniversary of New York’s 1970 NBA championship is no surprise, that Knick team was legendary, and the Knicks don’t have many title-winners. They won again, in 1973, and that’s been about it for the NBA’s hometown franchise. The...

( Never Too Much podcast: LeBron’s travel, subscribe to these beautiful emails!) Ron Harper is my favorite basketball player, his style of selflessness is my ideal. A 6-6 non-shooter coming off two knee surgeries is not the prototype for Michael Jordan’s ideal triangle offense backcourt mate, yet Harper used his wits and clear and winsome love for the game to find daylight. He’s a mensch, Ron is....

WHAT THEY TRIED IN 2018-19 To win an NBA championship behind a preening, near-prime LeBron James and his palm-selected cast of journeyman. WHAT HAPPENED IN 2018-19 37-45, tenth in the Western Conference LeBron turned 34 on Christmas Eve, and it all turned to s**t. An impressive victory over Golden State the next afternoon left the Lakers at 24-14 (No. 4 in the West), yet James sat 17 of the next 1...

WHAT THEY TRIED IN 2018-19 Make the playoffs, picture Dwyane Wade performing to a primetime audience one final time. Basic cable. WHAT HAPPENED IN 2018-19 39-43, ninth in the Eastern Conference Wade (15 points per game in 26 minutes a Miami Nite, two starts) came to ball. The 37-year old propped up the Heat in dynamic ways that rang well beyond his occasional last-second theatrics. The rest of the...

WHAT THEY TRIED IN 2018-19 To deliver on Fred Hoiberg’s promise as an NBA head coach, shuttling spacey prospects around until the rest of the league couldn’t catch up with whatever the Bulls already executed. Establish Jabari Parker as a superstar Chicago could call “home.” WHAT HAPPENED IN 2018-19 22-60, thirteenth in the Eastern Conference Parker sucked, Hoiberg couldn’t survive a 5-19 start to...

( Never Too Much podcast: Three years! And we appreciate the Knicks! We often fear them.) The Chicago Bulls wrapped up a home win over the New York Knicks in Game 2 of the 1996 Eastern semis on a Tuesday, May 7. A boon for Chicago, as the NBA didn’t schedule Game 3 until Saturday. The Bulls, up 2-0 following two bouts with Knickerbocker bruisers, were in pain. “The wear and tear of playing close t...

Kawhi Leonard got what he wanted. All he had to do first was win a championship for the entire country of Canada ahead of settling in on the dismantling of a team from Oklahoma City. From there, Kawhi signed with the Los Angeles Clippers. Four years and $141 million to play for what looks like the best collection of talent in the NBA at the moment. Thunder star Paul George will join Leonard as Cal...

The note that began, can also destroy. “Lowry on floor.” After that jot, a bunch of scratches about passwork, trust on offense, the nonsense I usually stick the word “alacrity” into later. Quick decisions! Room for alternate reads! More basketball s**t, then, again: “Lowry diving.” Notes about transition defense, baskets being taken away, baskets becoming earned, and then the first repeated note o...

Up until ESPN took over, the NBA’s lottery took place on a weekend. Up until 2002, when the Rockets won the right to draft Yao Ming midway through a Boston Celtics/New Jersey Nets Eastern finals tilt , the drawing was shoved within the sort of space that suited it — 15 minutes of draft gab in between actual basketball. Honest-to-greatness NBA playoff games saw their halftime spaces interrupted by...

One versus three, season series tied at 2-2. TUE, THU, SAT, MON, WED, FRI, SUN Warriors in six. WARRIORS STARTERS C :  Andrew f*****g Bogut  — this s**t again. PF :  Draymond Green  — Huge work down the KD-less stretch of Game 5 plus 13.2 points, 10.7 rebounds and 8.2 assists per (Houston) game, your Dray is crucial. SF :  Andre Iguodala  — Hit 20-29 two-pointers vs. Houston. If Andre slides towar...

Never Too Much podcast : Game 3 previews, subscription pitch, loads of funn! May 6 1990 : New York beats Boston 121-114 in Game 5 to win series, 3-2 The Knicks hadn’t won in 26 tries at the Boston Garden entering Game 5, over six years’ worth of losses on the Celtics’ home floor. The C’s were older but Boston wasn’t getting any lousier. Larry Bird averaged 24 a game in 1990-91, 75 contests and 7.5...

GOOD MORNING PEOPLE!! Portland 97, Denver 90 (series tied 1-1) Nikola Jokic relayed late on Wednesday that Trail Blazers “didn’t even play that good” in Portland’s Game 2 victory, and he wasn’t incorrect. “They can play better than that,” Jokic qualified, kindly. There was no malice or Westbrook-sized skunk to the Nugget center’s scouting report , he was correct in his estimation that Damian Lilla...

The Pistons’ problem is that Detroit knows its basketball. Your Detroit Pistons were in the top-10 in attendance every year in the 1990s and it ranked either first or second in Butts Seated from 2002 through 2009. People get out to watch the Pistons when the effort is warranted. The Pistons have a new arena, I been there and it’s awesome, downtown Detroit is beautiful and the rest of the clubs in...