Maintaining consistency is easier said than done but John Collins has sorted a couple of things: he's sure that Hawks brass has faith in him, and he's properly introduced himself to the rest of us. Read more »

To be fair to Domantas Sabonis, he's 25 and ascendant, coming off career highs in points and assists per game. Nobody should be telling him what is and isn't possible. He'll gun for an All-NBA spot, and at least get close. Read more »

Bam Adebayo's instinct not to emerge from the edit booth without a final cut, leaves you wondering what else he's pretty good at that he isn't willing to show us yet, until he's mastered it. Read more »

Devin Booker had been the guy he was in 20-21 for at least two seasons, and his trajectory toward that plateau was as steady as it gets. Read more »

If Draymond Green isn't going to approach the all-around brilliance he displayed in his mid-20s, he's still a really useful player, provided you give him something to care about. Read more »

Julius Randle is clearly somebody who likes and cares about the whole New York Knicks Thing, which can't be taken for granted in 2021. Read more »

The selfish stance of Kyrie Irving and Andrew Wiggins on the vaccine issue speaks to one of the biggest problems of our age: that we are far too deep in our own stuff, wholly unable to help each other. Read more »

One of the perks of coming out a champ is that you are no longer in dialogue with any arguments against you, extant or nascent or merely hinted at. You've settled things completely. Whatever we've asked of Khris Middleton, whatever he's asked of himself, the answer is yes. Read more »

C.J. McCollum doesn't get to do whatever he wants; he posts his 20-whatever in the negative space Dame Lillard leaves in his wake. It's a peculiar rhythm you have to strike, not being The Guy but playing as if you were, however intermittently. Read more »

As hard as this summer has been on his shaken teammate, Joel Embiid has surely been struggling too. Struggling to keep his thoughts to himself, to put in the work knowing that his fate will be decided by forces beyond his own commitment. It's an existential bother, a fittingly big mannish problem. Read more »

DeAndre Jordan may wish he could create a better set of options, be 27 again. Or maybe this is a fine time to get out. Read more »

J.R. Smith going back to school and joining its golf team is a fine story for late August, which shouldn't contain much NBA news. Especially coming off a year-and-a-half jammed with more basketball than even the professionals who play it could handle. Read more »

The only option on the table right now for Lauri Markkanen is to accept the Bulls' qualifying offer and hope he has a healthy and productive 21-22, featuring for a team that hardly values him. Read more »

If Summer League has a utility, it's the taste of the extreme strangeness the NBA regular season doesn't quite brook. Janis Timma is too perfect and most likely not nearly talented enough for this world. Read more »

The Bulls are all in trying to win 50 games this year, and DeMar DeRozan will help considerably. There is a rung right below greatness, where some swell players hang out, but you can lose track of them. Read more »

We are going to realize, in time, that this gaggle of young guys provide new paths toward winning, that they have or will develop skills that we are not now properly considering the value of. That's what the draft is about, on the broadest possible level. Read more »

The United States have become complacent again with a roster of abundant ability but not much synergy. Read more »

One team wins it all and they are the happiest group of guys who ever lived, they are invincible and immortal and beautiful and exhausted. They vacation, extravagantly. And then we reset and go again. Read more »

Three-point shooting seems muscular now. Except, you know what is actually muscular? Taking it to the goddamn rack. Giannis is awesome at this. Read more »

It would be a stretch to say the Bucks need to perfect, or suggest that they could be. They need to be at the top of their good-good game, because that's where the Suns are, that's the register at which we're operating in these Finals. Read more »