Instead Ujiri had networked his way up through the NBA to earn management control of the roster in Denver. It was an amazing story. Rival team executives were hoping to fleece the rookie GM from Nigeria. Some of them expressed condescending pity for him, telling reporters how sorry they were to see Ujiri’s new career being sabotaged by one of the NBA’s best young players. Ujiri expressed nothing but gratitude for their sympathy. He had a young face, an easy smile and a native rhythmical accent that extended his vowels, and if his peers were patronizing then he would take no offense. He did not mind being underestimated.
Instead Ujiri had networked his way up through the NBA …
September 19, 2018 | 3:38 am EDT Update
If McCaw doesn’t show up, maybe the Warriors will just stage an open competition and see if one of those younger options seizes the opportunity. But the most likely result remains McCaw’s eventual concession. A similar situation happened with center Alex Len in Phoenix last summer. He didn’t love his $4.2 million qualifying offer. He dragged the process deep into the summer. He finally accepted it on Sept. 21, right before camp.
Wade, 36, waited until the end of the video before revealing his choice. He began by stating the reasons he considered walking away. The red-eye flights, nightly ice baths and hours on the training table were all factors but nothing made retirement look more appealing than spending more time with family. “Is it selfish of me wanting to continue being away from family,” Wade said. “Can I miss my son’s games? Can I miss my son? Can I not be there in moments that they need me? Can I not read to my kids as much as I want. Can I not be there to support my wife? It’s all these things.”
Before entering the league in 2003, Wade always thought time was forever on his side. He was quickly corrected by veteran teammates. Sixteen years later, the warnings proved true. “When you first come in the league, the vets tell you, they say, `Young fella, it’s going to go by fast,’” Wade said in the video. “You think at that time, `I’m just getting started.’ … I’m here to tell you it goes by fast. It’s been a tough summer. This has been a summer for me that not a lot of athletes want to see this time come, where you have to decide if you want to continue to play the game that you love.”’
One day after the statements of Greek federation president, Giorgos Vasilakopoulos, about Giannis Antetokounmpo and his possible participation with the Greek national team in the upcoming FIBA World Cup, Giannis’ agent Giorgos Panou revealed that there’s a gap in the relationship between the Greek freak and the federation. Vasilakopoulos said that “Giannis’ agents will decide if he will play in the World Cup. It’s a parasitic profession“. Panou, who was among the targets of this attack, answered while speaking to “Sport FM radio“: “I have to say that I speak for myself and not on behalf of Giannis. I know Giannis since he was 14 years old and I have to clarify some things about him because he never gave the right to anyone to present him as a marionette or a pawn. Mister Vasilakopoulos once more insults one of the top Greek players and presents him having no free will. The truth is the exact opposite. Last year the Federation attacked the Bucks, this year the problem is the agents. However two years ago Vasilakopoulos called without shame Giannis and his brother Thanasis to their faces “leashed bears” who were parading around Greece in the events that they organized themselves. That morning Giannis decided to stay silent, respecting the age and the mantle of the president. However, two people with such different perception of reality can’t co-exist. That’s why Giannis decided to announce himself that he was not able to play in Eurobasket 2017 due to his knee injury”.
That’s not so much the case with Popovich, whose playcalling archives are on a Library of Alexandria level. “Pop might call a play and I’ll go through my notes and see that the last time he called it was eight years ago,” says a West scout. “But it will be the same term, same hand signal, same play.” The notoriously clandestine Popovich would likely never reveal its contents, but his playbook must contain thousands of well-archived designs, accumulated through over two decades of Spurs stewardship.
Popovich is also known for having used one of the more ridiculous looking hand signals for a play called “Shake.” When signaling the call, Pop looked like he was pantomiming an onanistic act. Then again, that’s up for interpretation. “You could say he was shaking up some dice with that hand,” an East scout mused.
It’s that skill — the ability to probe, report and understand the biggest personalities around the league, as well as his first-rate connections — that led the Clippers to pursue Jenkins. “I ask all the time when I’m working on a story: ‘Who is he? Who is he? Who is he?’ ” Jenkins told The Washington Post in an interview Tuesday. “We run around with that question in our head, and it’s a worthwhile question for sports teams to ask about players.” Jenkins will not report on the Clippers, nor will he help craft presentations for free agents — the kinds of things a communications job might entail. “He’s not writing for the website, he’s not in human resources, he’s not a marketer,” Frank told The Post. “This is about a guy who has relentless curiosity, and we are going to use those skills.”
Instead, Jenkins will be intimately involved with player evaluation — both free agents and draft prospects. The idea, Jenkins explained, is that in the modern NBA the decision-making process for personnel is both collaborative and diverse. The Clippers, for example, have former basketball players to judge talent and an astrophysicist to crunch numbers already involved. “The reality is someone who’s been in basketball versus a journalist will attack a problem from different perspectives,” Frank said. “If you want different thoughts and want to avoid an echo chamber and avoid group-think, you have to have people come from different perspectives.”
