Thunder big man Chet Holmgren worked out with Suns superstar Kevin Durant in California during the summer. Holmgren said he absorbed plenty from the 13-time All-Star, according to Jordan Davis of The Oklahoman.
“I was just trying to learn the game from him,” Holmgren said. “I had some Thunder staff with me out there this summer and he knows a lot of people in the building. He’s great. He’s always spreading the love and it’s all love coming from him.”
We have more from the Northwest Division:
- Christian Braun won’t fulfill all of the duties that Bruce Brown performed for the Nuggets last season but the second-year guard will get plenty of playing time, general manager Calvin Booth told the Denver Post’s Bennett Durando. “When you’re talking about apples-to-apples replacement (of Brown), you’re talking about Christian Braun,” Booth said. “And Christian, I think, has improved his ball-handling a ton, but he won’t be playing any backup point guard. … Christian Braun is going to bring a lot of the same things Bruce brought, but Bruce played on the ball more.”
- Beyond Braun, the Nuggets’ reserves will have to battle for playing time, Durando writes in a separate story. “I’m not giving any minutes away,” coach Michael Malone said. “Nothing’s going to be given to anybody. … If anybody out there, players, think that they’re automatically going to be given minutes as a backup, they’re mistaken. They’re going to have to earn that. I’m not giving anything away.”
- The Jazz began training camp in Hawaii. Coach Will Hardy is breaking camp into two segments, according to Sarah Todd of the Deseret News. “We’ve got this chunk before our first two preseason games, which come quickly,” Hardy said. “But then we get back to Salt Lake and we have a nice four-day period where we can really dig in at that point. And we’ll have enough film — having seen two games, having a nice chunk of practices — to sort of make some adjustments and tweaks. That’s sort of phase two of training camp.”
Eastern Conference gonna have a hard time in the Finals if it is anybody other than Milwaukee.
1. Milwaukee
2. New York
3. Miami
4. Boston
5. Cleveland
6. Philly
7. Chicago
8. Toronto
Brooklyn
Atlanta
Indiana
Orlando
Washington
Charlotte
Boston swapped a trio of Derrick White, Marcus Smart and Malcolm Brogdon for their new trio of Derrick White, Jrue Holiday and Payton Pritchard. Perimeter defense just got worse.
Swapping Robert Williams, your best frontcourt defender and rim protector for Kristaps Porzingis is also a defensive downgrade.
You sure must have not watch Jrue win first team d and white second team d. Boston is the betting favorite to win the NBA championship.
Trae Young and Dejounte Murray together scares nobody. It’s tough to build a winner around a star who is arguably the biggest defensive liability in the NBA.
They should scare the sixers. The main reason they made the ECF was that they were a bad matchup for Embiid defensively.
Its the same way the GSW dont want the Lakers because the splash brothers shoot crap from 3 in Staples with the stupid Laker lighting, and Denver wants to dodge GSW since Steph pulls Joker way further out than he can operate defensively and plays him straight up with either Loon or Dray making him beat them instead of the others, while also playing punishing defensive min.
Kyle Kuzma and Jordan Poole are going to make Fantasy Basketball owners very happy.
Toronto lacks depth, chemistry and has unsettled contract situations with both OG and Siakam. Both know they are gonna get paid regardless. Both must decide if they want to be in Toronto long term. Let’s see how they like their roles under a new coach.
Detroit Pistons are the worst team in the Eastern Conference, and probably the NBA.
I say Raptors blow it up at trade deadline. It would be dumb for them to stick to this same roster. Magic make play in.
Milwaukee is head and shoulders above everybody else. Giannis and Bobby Portis inside with Lillard and Middleton on the perimeter. Will have to overcome Lillard’s defensive shortcomings. It will only matter in the NBA Finals.