Basketball Intelligence for 7/13/23
Today's Best NBA Reporting and Analysis
LEAGUEWIDE STORIES
NBA free agency shenanigans: The eight nerdiest things that happened
John Hollinger, The Athletic
Memphis’s fascinating trade with Phoenix saw the Grizzlies swap two fairly big swings on possibly moving up in the 2024 and 2030 first rounds (via pick swap from the lesser of Washington’s or Phoenix’s picks) in return for the certainty of giving up three future second-round picks.
This amounts to the Grizzlies playing odds here, even without certainty that they’ll come out ahead. They’ve basically purchased a put option that could expire valueless. However, with the price of moving up even a few spots in the first round becoming increasingly expensive, the potential ROI on this transaction can end up in the black even if Memphis doesn’t land some crazy lottery jackpot.
Nonetheless, it’s an unusual trade because so many teams want relative certainty in traded pick outcomes. This one is uncertain with a capital U.
David Thorpe’s Summer League journal
David Thorpe, TrueHoop
Every NBA Team's Biggest Hole to Fill After Free Agency
Zach Buckley, Bleacher Report
'It Was My Attitude, My Character': Dion Waiters Gets Real About NBA Exit
Chris Haynes, Bleacher Report
“My 10-year-old son (Dion Waiters Jr.). He's Lil Philly Cheese Jr. He would ask every day, 'Dad, why you're not playing? You're better than a lot of those guys. You can help a team.'
Those were questions that were hard to listen to. I finally had to tell him the honest truth. I said, 'I'm not playing because of my attitude, my character, and not being a professional.'”
Summer Standouts: Hornets, Blazers' youth put on scintillating show
Staff, NBA.com
**SUBSCRIBE NOW TO UNLOCK THE REST OF THE NEWSLETTER**