Basketball Intelligence for 10/16/24
The day's best NBA reporting and analysis
LEAGUE STORIES
2024-25 Eastern Conference Preview Haikus
Mike Shearer, Basketball Poetry
New York Knicks
That sweet new-star smell
Breathe it in, exhale, and smile
The bing-bongs aboundThis will be a potent offensive team that should be good enough defensively to make a lot of noise. I’m nervous about having the Knicks second [in the East], as they combine weak depth with injury-prone starters logging minute totals that look like speed limits, but we know they will be gunning for every win they can get.
NBA tanking rankings: Eight teams in best position to sag for Duke star Cooper Flagg
Sam Quinn, CBS Sports
Five player what-ifs from the preseason
David Thorpe,
The Top 100 Players In the NBA
Staff, The Ringer
How are NBA GMs and execs trying to build teams and compete in the parity era?
Jon Krawczynski, The Athletic
While it may be frustrating at the ground level, in many ways this is exactly what the league wanted when it negotiated the new deal with the players’ union. NBA commissioner Adam Silver has made instilling some sense of parity a real priority as the league evolves, trying to combat a long-held belief by fans in some markets that the deck is stacked against them. Now it is much harder for even the most well-heeled owners in the most glamorous markets to sidestep the barriers put in place to redistribute talent across the league.
Over and Underachievers
Justin Kubatko,
NBA Rank 2024-25: Player rankings from 50-11
Staff, ESPN
NBA predictions: A surprise team could challenge Celtics, Knicks, Sixers atop the East
John Hollinger, The Athletic
TEAM STORIES
ATL: Despite the Loss, Zaccharie Risacher Showed He Isn't A One-Off Story
Rohan Raman, Atlanta Hawks on SI