Russell Westbrook remains an unsigned free agent and Rockets forward Kevin Durant wouldn’t mind a reunion with his former teammate, he said on the “Up & Adams” show (video link).
“Russ is a legend. He deserves to be in the NBA right now,” Durant said. “I think he deserves to walk out of the NBA on his terms. That would be dope.”
If Westbrook is signed in the short term, it won’t be with the Rockets. They’re hard-capped and can’t sign a veteran right now, even if it’s a minimum contract.
Here’s more from around the basketball world:
- There are five current openings for WNBA head coaches. Jake Fischer of The Stein Line (Substack link) hears that several of those teams are considering NBA assistant coaches with G League head coaching experience for those positions. Fischer notes that Nate Tibbets had that type of background and is the head coach of the Phoenix Mercury, who are currently in the WNBA Finals. Former Clippers assistant Natalie Nakase guided Golden State’s WNBA franchise to a winning record in the team’s inaugural season, earning Coach of the Year honors.
- Hapoel Tel Aviv’s Bruno Caboclo will miss several months of action after undergoing back surgery, Johnny Askounis of Eurohoops.net reports. The NBA veteran big man joined the Reds ahead of last season and appeared in 23 games, including three starts, averaging 7.4 points and 3.7 rebounds per contest. Caboclo, 30, appeared in 105 NBA games, mostly recently a six-game stint with Houston during the 2020/21 season.
- Longtime NBA forward Evan Fournier would like to finish his career with Olympiacos, he said in a recent TV interview as relayed by Askounis. “I feel very good here and I want to finish my career here,” he said, “I don’t know if that’s going to happen, but for me that’s the goal.” Fournier signed a three-year extension in July. Fournier appeared in 704 regular season games throughout his NBA career, making 504 starts and averaging 13.6 points, 2.7 rebounds and 2.5 assists in 27.7 minutes per night.
- ESPN’s Kevin Pelton has unveiled his win total projections for each NBA team, from the Thunder (59.2) at the top to the Wizards (14.2) at the bottom.
Pelton predicts 56 wins for GSW.
“Discuss”.
He’s out of his mind. ESPN over under 46.5 is more accurate in my opinion.
@GaryRSW
He’s using a combination of his model and “subjectively guessing” at the minutes per player, assuming “average minutes” (which one would think isn’t a wise assumption for this team, unless it’s the average per player.
“To project teams, I start with player ratings based on a combination of my SCHOENE stats-based projections and luck-adjusted regularized adjusted plus-minus (RAPM) provided by Krishna Narsu that covers the past three seasons. For each team, I project games played based on those missed to injury over the past three years and current absences then subjectively guess at the distribution of playing time.”
Here’s the link, in case you didn’t see it already:
link to espn.com
That’s so bizarre it almost seems like a misprint.
At what point can we officially call the WNBA a failure? You could get a seat for game 3 of the finals for $10.
If the girls want to be paid what they’re “worth,” and they truly believed what those T-shirts this summer suggested, they should all be looking forward to a PAY CUT !!
And yet unrivaled just had an incredibly successful first season, their players are being paid like 3x WNBA salaries and investors are tripping over themselves for a stake. Don’t buy the WNBA owners’ propaganda and dont let chauvinism rot your brain
I think unrivaled is profitable, no? Half court game a lot more fun to watch. No brain rot here thank you.
And still half capacity.
Is capacity the same as profitability? One is the ultimate goal of a business. Live sales aren’t the backbone of any sport in the US
Brother, if you can’t sell seats for the finals for 10 bucks a pop, who the hell do you think is sitting at home itching to watch the WNBA?
If people are not actually going are they spending money on merch? If I like something enough I will want to see it, still have to put butts in the seat. It cost to have arenas and to let an arena have a team play.
Movies still care and report box offices because they make money by having people show. They don’t make much from having people wait for stream.
The movies comparison is not it. Movies make a ton off streaming rights now.
And tbh have I ever watched a wnba game entirely? No. But just because it’s not my demographic doesn’t mean one doesn’t exist. The women’s ncaas recently and the unrivaled League suggest there’s an audience that’s unserved but can grow in women’s hoops
They have all the tv contracts…. They should concentrate on the product. Instead of expansion first.
@knickerbocker definitely. Losing a team or two prob makes more sense in terms of raising the talent level
If anyone here has the ESPN subscription, here’s the paywalled link to his last season’s predictions. It would be interesting to see how he did.
link to espn.com
I was given this, below is the summary for the top 10 per conf:
link to archive.is
OKC 53.7 vs 68-14
Grizzlies 51.1 vs 48-34
Mavs 49.7 vs 39-43
Kings 49,4 vs 40-42
Nuggets 47.4 vs 50-32
Suns 45.4 vs 36-46
GSW 44.8 vs 48-34
Wolves 42.7 vs 49-33
Pelicans 41.6 vs 21-61
Lakers 40.7 vs 50-32
Rockets 40.4 vs 52-30
Celtics 52.4 vs 61-21
Cavs, 50.6 vs 64-18
Bucks, 46.7 vs 48-34
Pacers, 46.7 vs 50-32
Knicks 45.4 vs 51-31
76ers 45.2 vs 24-58
Heat 44.9 vs 37-45
Magic 43.5 vs 41-41
Nets 36.9 vs 26-56
Raptors 33.9 vs 30-52
It’s pretty clear that his model doesn’t work.