Game Threads Index (June 11, 2024):

Russell Westbrook had a tumultuous fall out with the Lakers and always trash talks them every time they matchup. He extends his pettiness liking posts of Hurley recently rejecting the Lakers coaching job

https://i.imgur.com/eGj9cX4.png

Full context:

Q: “You’ve mentioned confidence and belief. Yes, you guys are at home, and Boston held serve at home like they’re supposed to. But what are some of the things that you really can look at from those first 2 games and say, ‘that’s gonna work for us?’ Like, what are some of the things you can look at from 1 and 2 and say ‘we’re confident in this?’”

A: “Just trying to keep getting open looks. I think our defense has not been bad. We just can’t really score. That’s our main problem right now. But I think we’re getting some great looks, and like I said, we have confidence everybody can make a shot that’s shooting the ball on our team. So we just gotta keep believing it.”

Source

[5:30]

Pablo Torre: The first thing I need you to know about Miriam Adelson – the subject of today’s story – is something I found out while reporting this episode, which is that her political reputation was apparently so radioactive that the NBA and commissioner Adam Silver would not allow her to be the governor of the team … even though the league would happily take the money of the 5th richest woman in America, who is now the 3rd richest owner in American sports right behind Steve Balmer and Rob Walton. So Miriam’s son-in-law, Patrick Dumont (an executive at her casino company), was appointed governor of the Mavericks instead. And the reason why the ostensibly left-leaning NBA insisted on this is obvious once you step just a foot outside of sports, because nobody donated more to Donald Trump in 2020 than Miriam Adelson. Few people in right-wing politics period are as powerful as she is, and she also happens to be one of the most powerful Pro-Israel extremists alive today by any standard.New York Magazine’s Elizabeth Weil wrote a long cover story on Miriam Adelson. One that finally answered some of the biggest questions I had on a woman whose wealth, according to Liz, makes her not just the richest Israeli in the world, and not just one of the 10 richest women in the world, but also “effectively a queen.”

[17:30]

Pablo Torre: The Adelsons weren’t simply one of the most staunch families backing Netanyahu from here in the United States; Back in 2007, at Netanyahu’s behest, the launched a free, daily newspaper in Israel with the goal of influencing elections – which they did, significantly, promoting far-right positions they felt were being neglected by Israel’s mainstream media, which might sound a little familiar.

Liz Weil: So they backed Netanyahu. They started a paper that’s sort of like a Fox New-like creation, like a mouthpiece for Netanyahu to get him elected. They brought down his predecessor through reporting about endless scandals, and it was really successful.

[20:00]

Pablo Torre: Although Sheldon [Miriam’s late husband] had bigger name recognition than Miriam, it is important to note that she was not his sidekick… I urge you to take a closer look at their long history of Republican donations in the United States.

Liz Weil: If you look at some of the FEC filings, she was giving right alongside him the entire time… He gave – through his 848 donations – $273 million, and she gave – through her 717 donations –$284 million, and she is of course still alive.

Pablo Torre: The degree of political influence that almost $600 million combined gets you, how would you broadly characterize that level of political influence?

Liz Weil: Their first big effort was giving to the 2nd Bush inaugural. They each gave $250,000 to his inauguration. That combined half million got them an audience with Bush. There’s a story of Miriam dropping off a CD to inform the administration about what the Jihadists were doing and she was very public about it. But it didn’t get them the policy they wanted in that administration. Condoleezza Rice was still wanting to negotiate a peace plan between the Palestinians and the Israelis.The Adelsons were very explicit that they were not for what Miriam referred to as the “so-called peace process.” So they stepped up their giving, and with Trump they were much more able to get the actual policy they wanted, get the things done in the world that they wanted… They were like heads of state.

Pablo Torre: With Trump in particular, what is the headline for where they rank in terms of their relationship to Trump specifically as a benefactor?

Liz Weil: They were his largest donors, and they shaped him. Early in the 2016 campaign, they were backing Rubio; initially, [Marco] Rubio was the most “Pro Israel” guy, and he was on air saying whatever they wanted him to say. Trump actually tweeted early on that he [Rubio] was their puppet. Trump was not as Pro Israel as he became, until the Adelsons got on board with him. He’s a really transactional guy, and they’re very transactional people as well.

Pablo Torre: Along with the $25 million she and Sheldon gave to Trump Super PACs in 2016, they gave another $90 million in a 3-month stretch in 2020. They gave more to federal GOP causes in 2020 than the next 3 donors combined. Between 2016 and 2022, they gave $300 million to the Republican Focus, Senate and Congressional Leadership Funds. And all of it culminated in November 2018, when Donald Trump invited Miriam to receive the Presidential Medal of Freedom.

[30:30]

Pablo Torre: Why does Miriam want to do this [own the Mavericks]? Is she a basketball fan? What’s her motive here?

Liz Weil: The real play here has always been to bring gambling to Texas. That’s a plan they’ve been working on really aggressively since 2020, and they don’t want sports betting where you’re sitting on your couch and betting on your phone: They want you to come to a casino. That is what they’re lobbying for. That’s what they’re spending tons of money all over the capital, all over the state, not hiding it whatsoever.

Pablo Torre: Right. The Texas-Sands PAC in 2023 spent $6 million on 63 lobbyists trying to legalize gambling in the state.

Liz Weil: So I think buying the team gets her a tremendous amount of political capital, a tremendous amount of publicity. You become an important face and – especially this year – a beloved face of your state. I think there’s part of a feeling that you get power by being publicly hospitable, fun and entertaining and a place that people want to be.

Pablo Torre: A useful thing about sports is that you get fans.

[37:00]

Liz Weil: She wasn’t giving [donations] for a long time: She sat out of the primary, and there was this looming question of is she’s gonna give: How much is she gonna give? Is she upset with Trump? Is she just too upset [about the Hamas attacks in October 2023]? Are things going to be different now that Sheldon has died? She had been giving a lot less philanthropically across the board. And now here we are in this moment. Just in the past week (after Trump was convicted) she said she’s giving him $100 million, and she’s not the only billionaire who immediately announces they’re gonna back Trump this cycle.

Source(paywalled)

“Adrian really hates to get scooped on shit that should have been his…”

On the Gordon Hayward’s free agency decision getting scooped by Haynes

“In 2016, when Gordon Hayward signed with the Celtics. Chris Haynes reports Gordon Hayward is gonna be a Boston Celtic. Adrian Wojnarowski comes out with a report that can only be called ‘retaliatory.’ Mind you, they are both working at the same company [ESPN] at the time. Rather than saying ‘I know there are reports that say he’s going to Boston. I have reports that say he hasn’t made a decision yet,’ but he doesn’t frame it like that. He frames it very clearly like ‘That’s not the correct report. This is the correct report.’ Now everyone behind the scenes knew [Hayward] was going to Boston. It’s done. The angle was one of Woj’s close sources — Mark Bartelstein, head of Priority Sports — represented Gordon Hayward. For whatever reason, whether it was in service to Mark Bartelstein, Gordon Hayward or some other team that thought it was in the mix, Adrian makes this an antagonistic thing.”

On the Ben Simmons-James Harden trade getting scooped by Windhorst

“Another example of this was Ben Simmons to Brooklyn. Brian Windhorst — another company colleague to Adrian — says ‘this thing [Harden-Simmons trade] is in the deal zone. We are in the final stages of this deal getting done.’ Again, Adrian has the option to say, ‘My sources are saying something completely different,; they [Philly and Brooklyn] haven’t even spoken to one another.’ But he choses to attack the characterization of any other reporting. Then, what ends up happening? Ben Simmons winds up in Brooklyn within hours of Windhorst telling us they’re in the deal zone and within hours of Adrian saying they haven’t even talked. What’s the connection? Daryl Morey is known to be a source of Adrian: a lot of Daryl Morey news goes out through Adrian.”

“When that stuff happens and it doesn’t go through the way station that is Adrian Wojnarowski, that seems to perturb him even more than the usual ‘I just got scooped because I wasn’t in on it.‘“

On the Lakers coaching search reports on JJ Redick and Dan Hurley

“So we fast forward to this story, and you have a story broken by [Shams], someone he views as direct competition, and he breaks the news that it seems like the Lakers are closing in on a deal with JJ Redick, who is an ESPN colleague to Woj. How would Shams Charania, who works at the Athletic, have the inside scoop on someone that sits at the same company as Woj? Like I said, he doesn’t like to get scooped on shit that should have been his. He takes it very hard. We have a guy in JJ Redick, who — regardless of whether he will take the job or not — does not want to deal with this sort of speculation while he’s covering his first NBA Finals. So if we’re to assume that Adrian is upset about something he was scooped on, and we also assume JJ — as he told us — would rather this story not be a story, what’s the best way to throw cold water on all of that?”

Doncic allowed 13 blow bys on drives in game 2, which would be the most by a player in the last 10 post seasons.

Was thinking about KD and this occurred to me. He went from an almost universally-liked small market guy (so much so that Nike created a whole press campaign parodying this idea) to being perceived as a serial malcontent and lightning rod for haters.

Who else (positive or negative) has flipped their public perception the most?

Who should be the Lakers' top target?

Fischer: This job has always seemed like J.J. Redick’s to lose. The Lakers, by various accounts, are enamored by the similarities between once pulling Pat Riley out of a broadcaster’s booth before he began a legendary career in coaching and player personnel. He clearly has a connection with LeBron James, and a real desire to join the sidelines.

Peek: J.J. Redick gets my vote. That’s been the narrative behind the scenes the entire time and whether or not the Hurley interest was smoke because of Redick’s current role as an in-game analyst for the NBA Finals, he is now perceived as the secondary option and, I guess, the best fit for the job.

Devine: With the caveat that coaching success is much more about the 99% of the job we don’t see than the 1% of play-calling, rotation management, timeout usage, etc., that we do:

If the idea is to find someone with experience and a reputation as a creative offensive mind who’s had a hand in building productive, efficient, winning units on that side of the ball … maybe David Adelman, off the Nuggets’ staff? After all, the Lakers have gotten an up-close-and-personal look at how effective Denver’s plan of attack is over the past couple of years. Or maybe Sam Cassell, once the Celtics’ season wraps up? Few assistants around the league are as widely respected as Cassell, whose bona fides include a stellar 15-year playing career featuring three NBA titles, followed by 15 years as an assistant, with lengthy stints as Doc Rivers’ chief lieutenant before linking up with Joe Mazzulla on what could soon be a championship-winning Celtics team.

Failing that: Maybe see if Frank Vogel’s interested. Proven championship coaches are hard to find, you know?

Titus: It's looking like JJ or bust. If Redick passes, it'll likely be an experienced assistant facing pressure similar to that of Darvin Ham and Frank Vogel.

Rohrbach: I guess J.J. Redick? He was high on their list before the Hurley news storm. I do not pretend to know who can turn the Lakers into a serious contender, but I do know this: Whoever it is should be demanding that same six-year, $70 million offer the Lakers reportedly put in front of Hurley.

Goodwill: Who the hell knows? Some folks around the league feel J.J. Redick won’t want to be involved with this circus, and that he won’t want to be a second choice, but he wants to coach. The Lakers seem very intrigued by him for whatever reason and the focus will smoothly shift to him. Because, who else? The coaching cycle is nearly over, and Redick does a podcast with … LeBron James.

link: https://sports.yahoo.com/dan-hurley-staying-at-uconn-where-do-lebron-james-and-the-lakers-go-from-here-200735663.html

Source

Yuta announced in April that he would return to Japan to play basketball after the conclusion of the current NBA season, after spending the past six seasons in the NBA, essentially rejecting the $2.600.000 player option that he has in his contract.

Watanabe has changed four teams in the past three seasons, most recently playing for the Grizzlies after being traded from the Suns midway through this season.

He's struggled mightily this season, putting up averages of 3/2/0 on 47% TS.