Basketball Intelligence for 8/3/2023
The Day's Best NBA Reporting and Analysis
INTERNATIONAL BASKETBALL
Canada’s Shai Gilgeous-Alexander is “the guy bringing the group together” ahead of FIBA World Cup
Doug Smith, Toronto Star
All the players who said they would show up showed up for one of the few times in recent Canadian senior men’s history. No last-minute withdrawals, no one saying, “I’ll catch up with you later after the hard work of training camp is over.” There were 10 NBA players, including [Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and] newly-minted champion Jamal Murray and eight others who vowed to commit to the program and honoured that commitment. It should foster a measure of togetherness the team will need.
How Team USA can draw inspiration from the 2010 World Cup squad's success
Tim Bontemps, ESPN
Who should start for Team USA at the 2023 FIBA Basketball World Cup? Breaking down toughest roster decisions
Kyle Irving, The Sporting News
TEAM-SPECIFIC STORIES
BOS: Celtics Winners and Losers from 2023 NBA Free Agency
Zach Buckley, Bleacher Report
BOS: Can Jaylen Brown go left? How the Celtics star can solve his turnover problem
Jared Weiss, The Athletic
Incredibly, 25 of his 66 turnovers [in the playoffs] were from him losing his left-hand dribble…
There tend to be three instances when Brown turns it over dribbling with his left hand. The first is when he tries a hard right-to-left crossover and misses the connection. The second is when he is dribbling with a defender trailing him and they swipe from behind. The third, and perhaps easiest to fix, is when he is backing a guard down and they poke it out with ease.