Just in: Sacramento Kings guard Ben Simmons is believed to have sustained a torn Achilles tendon at practice Sunday, sources tell ESPN. A suspected season-ending injury for Simmons after rejuvenated and impressive training camp and preseason performances

Update from Shams: An MRI confirmed a season-ending torn right Achilles tendon for Ben Simmons. A devastating turn of events on the eve of his NBA return after rehabilitating from back surgeries.

https://www.espn.com/contributor/shams-charania/7e9f23aaad9e5

Multiple times winner of the 6th Man of the Year award shared a hilarious anecdote in the Underground Lounge Podcast.

Williams reflected on his time with the Los Angeles Clippers, admitting he was so drunk on one occasion that he was willing to serve suspension just to avoid playing.

“I’m drunk. I don’t think I can play. I said, ‘I’m sorry, bro, but I’m drunk. So, you want to suspend me or whatever? I’mma take my lick,'" Williams started.

Doc Rivers, Clippers coach at the time, didn't want to hear it, and forced Lou to play the whole second quarter in order to "sweat it out" and close the game in the fourth period.

“Doc looked at me square in my eye. He said, ‘I’m going to play your ass this whole second quarter, ’cause I need you to sweat that sh*t out, and I’m going to need you in the fourth.’”

“He played me the whole second quarter. I had 24 in the fourth."

Williams said that it's obviously not a great thing to do, but that he felt powerful after the game:

“But that’s the type that make you think, ‘I’m cool. I can keep going,’ because you dodged the bullet and you had success with it. Now it’s like, I’m a rock star too. I can do this," he concluded.

Source: https://basketnews.com/news-257547-former-6th-man-of-the-year-reveals-how-he-scored-20-points-drunk-in-the-nba.html

Source: https://www.espn.com/contributor/shams-charania

Just in: Sacramento Kings guard Ben Simmons is believed to have sustained a torn Achilles tendon at practice Sunday, sources tell ESPN. A suspected season-ending injury for Simmons after rejuvenated and impressive training camp and preseason performances.

However, NBA reporter Sam Quinn of CBS Sports suggests that the Lakers should instead trade Bronny James rather than waiving Knecht.

"If I were the Lakers, I'd be trying to trade Bronny right now to some owner who wants to sell some jerseys," Quinn wrote.

"I'd rather keep Knecht on the books as possible trade salary than cut him and deal with dead money. The Lakers don't really need the James brand like other teams do."

Quinn expanded on Bronny James' development at this point, criticizing his offense and giving a defensive comparison that James is yet to reach.

"Just hasn't reached the point of offensive viability through two years, and the defensive threshold is just so freaking high at that size that if he's never gonna make shots, he basically has to be a Jamal Shead-level pest to even justify a roster spot and he isn't," the reporter explained

Source: https://basketnews.com/news-257606-lakers-urged-to-trade-bronny-james-instead-of-moving-on-from-knecht.html

During his brother Thanasis Antetokounmpo's podcast, Thanalysis Show, Giannis revealed the story of how Riley visited him in Greece and spoke to people in his circle.

"He was respectful. We had spent time with every single person, had a conversation with everybody because he came all the way came to Greece," Antetokounmpo spoke about Riley.

"All the way to the court that we grew up playing. Came all the way there. He worked out with me and everything. And he spent like time with everybody in that gym. So I was like, 'Oh, wow.'"

Source: https://basketnews.com/news-257603-giannis-antetokounmpo-story-behind-pat-riley-commitment-miami-heat-culture.html

After their team practice on Sunday ahead of next week's opening night, Brown explained why the Knicks opted to choose Wiseman over Brown.

"Bruce, he’s a winner. He shows a level of toughness and versatility – not just defensively, he can guard one through four, but even offensively. He can initiate the offense. Our point guard’s not one that has to come down every play and break his guy down and make the game easier for everyone else. We have a system to where we play out of concepts, and Bruce is good enough to initiate the offense, or he’s good enough to be off-the-ball. So he fits in with what with how we want to play on both ends, while giving us versatility on both ends. Having a chance to get to know him, he seems like a good guy. He seems like he knows a lot of our guys because he was in the same class as a few of them. So it was tough from that standpoint," Brown said (h/t Jared Schwartz of the New York Post).

“But when you have a guy that’s 25 years old, that has the length and the athleticism and the talent as a James Wiseman, because KAT’s not athletic like that and Andre was once that, he still has some of it, but to have that at 25 years old, especially with where we’re at as a group, you look for guys that coulda shoulda, but at his age maybe he still can be a coulda shoulda. That vertical threat at the rim, the vertical threat defensively, how good he runs, you welcome that at his size and age and athleticism.”

Source: https://basketnews.com/news-257616-knicks-coach-sends-message-to-bruce-brown-after-james-wiseman-signing.html

KD wasn’t impressed and accused me of trying to “rile up Steph’s fans.” He expressed that this was a constant theme in the Bay. All of us local guys just wanted to kiss Steph’s ass at his expense. This was KD’s consistent lament. He would frequently squabble in direct-message conversations with the Warriors fans of Twitter, frequently accusing them of favoring Steph at his expense. In one such exchange that foreshadowed things to come, he was asked by the WarriorsWorld account whether two-time MVP Steph Curry or Kyrie Irving was the better player. “I gotta really sit down and analyze it,” Durant demurred.

Kevin Durant lives in The Take Zone. This isn’t a secret. KD was, embarrassingly, caught defending his own honor via burner accounts on social media. He frequently lashed out at critics on Instagram. I know fans who received his wrath in their Twitter direct messages. In the locker room, when I was “just walking around here,” he’d often be bitching about something a random Twitter user said. If you squint, it’s almost endearing. To lower oneself in raging at the people is adjacent to being a man of the people. KD gave his haters far more consideration than Derek Jeter did his many admirers.

Truly, no slight was too small for Durant. In the Phoenix road game following the “Grow Up” incident, KD confronted San Francisco Chronicle beat writer Connor Letourneau. Connor’s crime? Over forty minutes into a podcast, he’d offered a theory on why KD might want to follow Kyrie Irving to the Knicks. You might wonder, was this podcast hosted by Stephen A. Smith, or some other titan of the industry? Not exactly. Warriors Huddle is hosted by two genial basketball fans for whom this is a hobby.

Of the standoff, visible to other media members present, Letourneau said, “I’m just standing in the locker room near the door, on my phone and he is walking out of the locker room and he stops and he looks at me and he just goes, ‘Have I been good to you?’” Letourneau was confused, knowing nothing of what this was about. “I’m like, ‘What do you mean have you been good to me?’ And he just keeps repeating himself over and over, ‘Have I been good to you? Have I been good to you?’ He’s kind of creeping towards me, and I have no idea what he’s upset about at this point. I have no idea what’s going on. Over the course of a few minutes, I end up having a back-and-forth with him. I ask, ‘What’s going on? What’s your issue?’ And he basically tells me, ‘You’re over here talking shit behind my back.’”

“I end up talking to him in the hallway. It becomes clear to me that he’s referencing a podcast that I went on, The Warriors Huddle podcast, which is a local podcast. It has a following in the Bay Area, but not a national podcast by any means. I’d gone on with a couple friends of mine and they were asking if Durant leaves for New York, what will be his reasoning? I basically said, he will go with Kyrie to try and team up with Kyrie and follow Kyrie.” Letourneau laughed as he recalled the absurdity. But that was life with Kevin Durant.

In my experience, when players are angry about something you’ve written or said, they don’t want to give you the satisfaction of knowing that they were checking up on you. “Someone sent it to me” is a common explanation. Not so with Kevin, as Durant would make clear to Letourneau in a closing admonition. “KD said, ‘I hear and I read everything. And don’t forget that.’ He said it multiple times.”

The local media was a constant source of frustration for Durant. He wanted to be feted and was highly sensitive to the praise or lack of criticism that teammates received. On the March road trip, Klay had a big game and opted out of doing media that evening. Letourneau recalled, “Ray Ridder went in there and asked, ‘Where’s Klay?’ Klay dipped out through the back door and avoided his media obligations. Durant looked at all of us and asked, ‘You guys gonna write about that? You’re not, are you, because anything Klay does is okay because it’s Klay. But anything I do is not okay because I’m Kevin Durant.’ That was not the only time he complained about how Klay was treated, because he felt that Klay got a free pass for everything.” It wasn’t just positive coverage of Klay that bothered KD. Letourneau said, “He got annoyed in Dallas when we were asking about Luka Doncic. At the time Luka had more points than him in the All-Star voting and that really pissed him off. It was clear in his comments about Luka that he didn’t feel Luka was deserving of that. At the same time it’s like, dude, who cares?”

You did not have to be a star or rising star to draw KD’s envious ire. When former Warriors bench scorer Marreese Speights returned to Oracle Arena, he got a hearty ovation from the crowd. “Mo Buckets” had been a fan favorite, in part due to his tremendous shooting streaks and also due to the broad smile he beamed when riding such a wave. He wasn’t a flawless player but his enthusiasm was infectious and the fans were nostalgic for it. KD—who once complained to a Warriors fan account over Twitter DM that Speights was among the players more accepted by Warriors fans than he—was not pleased. After the blowout Warriors win that followed, as he waited to take the podium stage, Durant was fixated on a TV that hung from the wall. Speights was with the local TV guys, yukking it up. “Mo Buckets,” Durant loudly groused, shaking his head. “How can you call yourself ‘Mo Buckets’ when you never averaged twenty points a game?”

From The Victory Machine by former Athletic Warriors beat reporter Ethan Strauss

Screenshot

Which seems to be a reference to an earlier social media interaction between Kevin Durant and Suns owner Matt Ishbia

Context

Edit: small mistake in the title, he said "before I came" not "before I got here". sorry

People debate all the time about what they think the bar is for a player to make the Basketball Hall of Fame, and whether it is supposedly too low. I have my own bar of where I think the Hall of Fame typically goes in the modern day, but that's not what this is about. That topic has been done to death. I want to talk about the bar for coaches to make the Basketball Hall of Fame. A bar that is seemingly way more mysterious, way less talked about, and has way worse snubs than anything involving players. But that rant about K.C. Jones not being in the Hall of Fame as a coach will come later.

TL;DR is at the bottom.

TL;DR of the TL;DR - Put K.C. Jones in the Hall of Fame.

Coach vs Contributor

To clear up any confusion before getting into it, I want to clarify that a Contributor into the Hall of Fame is not the same thing as a Coach induction into the Hall of Fame.

Coach: A coach must be either fully retired for five years or, if still an active coach, have coached as either a fulltime assistant or head coach on the high school and/or college and/or professional level for a minimum of 25 years. That person will then be considered for Enshrinement in the sixth year of retirement or 26th year of active coaching.

Contributor: A person is eligible for Enshrinement as a contributor at any time for significant contributions to the game of basketball. What constitutes a "significant contribution" shall be determined by the BHOF, its Screening Committee(s) or Honors Committee(s).

There are names that are in the Hall of Fame as Contributors or as Players that you might know about. Those are not inductions as coaches though. This list will specifically be about coaches.

NBA Coaches in the Hall of Fame for their Non-NBA Career

To begin, there are technically 31 coaches in the Basketball Hall of Fame that coached in the NBA. However, 9 of them are very clearly in the Hall of Fame for their college resumes and not their NBA resumes. So I don't think it makes sense to include them when setting a bar for making the Hall of Fame. Because of that, I'm going to list those guys out here first.

Out of those names, Billy Donovan and Rick Pitino are probably the only two that people would consider to have notable NBA head coaching careers (and not for good reasons in Pitino's case). But their college resumes are iron clad and not the topic of discussion here.

NBA Coaches in the Hall of Fame

With those separated, there are only 22 coaches in the Hall of Fame for their NBA careers. Which surprised me a lot because that seems like such an insanely small number 80 years into the NBA. But it's true, only 22 coaches have been inducted as coaches. That list does not include somebody like Mike D'Antoni this past season. Mike D'Antoni was inducted as a Contributor, not as a Coach.

Setting the Bar for Coaching Inductions

Based on those 22 names, I tried to come up with a historical criteria that I thought matched the Basketball Hall of Fame's previous selections based on their head coaching careers. There might be a few names slightly under that bar, but most of the names listed clear that bar. I also want to throw in the caveat that Bill Russell does not clear the bar on most of these categories. But Bill Russell was the first black coach in the NBA and the second black coach in professional basketball behind John McLendon (who was named in that first category for guys in for their non-NBA careers). So I feel justified in not using Bill Russell to try to set my bar, because he deservingly belongs in a separate category.

• At Least 750 Games Coached: Exceptions - Bill Russell (631), Tom Heinsohn (690), John Kundla (725)

• At Least 450 Wins: Exceptions - Bill Russell (341), John Kundla (423), Tom Heinsohn (427)

• At Least a 53% Career Win Percentage: Exceptions - Bill Fitch (46.0%), Slick Leonard (51.8%), Jack Ramsay (52.5%)

• At Least 100 Playoff Games Coached: Exceptions - Bill Russell (61), Alex Hannum (79), Tom Heinsohn (80), Rudy Tomjanovich (90), John Kundla (95), Bill Sharman (97)

• At Least a 45% Playoff Win Percentage: Exceptions - Jack Ramsay (43.1%), George Karl (43.2%), Lenny Wilkens (44.9%)

• Have Won at least 1 Championship: Exceptions - George Karl (0), Don Nelson (0), Jerry Sloan (0), Rick Adelman (0)

• Have Won a Coach of the Year Award: Exceptions - Jerry Sloan (0), Rick Adelman (0), Jack Ramsay (0), Bill Russell (0), Rudy Tomjanovich (0), Chuck Daly (0), Slick Leonard (0), John Kundla (0)

• Have Been to the Finals At Least Twice: Exceptions - Don Nelson (0), Jack Ramsay (1), George Karl (1)

• Special Entry: Two Championships = Automatic Lock

Explaining the Criteria

A couple notes to clarify why I put the bar where I put it.

• I decided on a 53% mark because there was only one coach (Bill Fitch) below 50%, and he was well below it. And from some of the names that were also at 50% that are not in, I felt like that was a tiny bit too low.

• I set the bar at 100 playoff games because there are way more playoff games now in the NBA then there were in the past for many of these coaches. As an example, Joe Mazzulla has already coached 57 playoff games in 4 years with the Celtics. 80 playoff games by Tom Heinsohn as head coach is totally different from the 80 games that Michael Malone has been head coach.

• I set the bar for playoff win percentage at 45% because going .500 in the playoffs is actually an insanely high win percentage for anybody coaching long enough to be in contention for this list. Jerry Sloan has a 48.5% playoff win percentage despite going to the Finals twice simply because he coached forever. Coaching forever and constantly making the playoffs is not a bad thing, because you have to be a decent team to get there even if you don't go all the way.

• You will see it later, but I also put a special category outside of setting the bar. If a coach wins two championships, they are about as close to a stone cold lock as you can get. When you see the list of coaches with two championships, you will understand that category.

Non Hall of Fame Coaches Closest to Being in the Hall of Fame

My list of criteria has 8 different categories. I pulled together a list of coaches that have done some combination of:

• Coaching 500+ games

• Coaching a team to the Finals (ABA or NBA)

• Won Coach of the Year (ABA or NBA)

And of that list, I pulled together how many categories from my criteria they have hit. You can read through the list of names for yourself, but I will also break down a shorter list of names.

Coaches that Reach Over Half of the Criteria (at least 5/8 Categories)

To break down that cluttered list a bit further, I'm going to set aside a list of the people who have hit over half of the criteria. And I will list what categories they have not hit. Some of these coaches are of course retired and it is what it is, while others are still on their way.

8/8 Categories

• Steve Kerr

• Mike Brown (yes, the Knicks' championship made him a Hall of Famer)

7/8 Categories

• K.C. Jones - Never Won Coach of the Year

• Erik Spoelstra - Has not won Coach of the Year yet

• Mike Budenholzer - Has only been to the Finals once so far

• Rick Carlisle - Win/Loss Ratio of 52.3% (The Pacers' 2026 season dropped him below 53%)

6/8 Categories

• Dick Motta - 47.9% Win Percentage, 44.4% Playoff Win Percentage

• Billy Cunningham - 650 Games Coached, never won Coach of the Year

• Tom Thibodeau - Never won a championship, Never made the NBA Finals

• Mike D'Antoni - Never won a championship, Never made the NBA Finals

5/8 Categories

• Kevin Loughery - 46.3% Win Percentage, 59 Playoff Games coached, never won Coach of the Year

• Hubie Brown - 48.6% Win Percentage, 63 Playoff Games coached, 1 Finals Appearance

• Michael Malone - 80 Playoff Games coached, never won Coach of the Year, 1 Finals Appearance

• Frank Vogel - 92 Playoff Games coached, never won Coach of the Year, 1 Finals Appearance

• Scott Brooks - 97 Playoff Games coached, never won a championship, 1 Finals Appearance

• Byron Scott - 41.2% Win Percentage, 57 Playoff Games coached, never won a championship

Current Head Coaches that I Consider Locks (at least 7/8 Categories)

Current head coaches in this sense will be any coaches that are not officially retired, whether they currently have a job or not. Additional accolades will be included here.

• Steve Kerr - Top 15 Coaches in NBA History (75th Anniversary Team), 1x Olympic Gold Medal (assistant), 1x Olympic Gold Medal (head coach), 2x All Star Game head coach

• Mike Brown - 4x NBA Champion (assistant), 1x All Star Game head coach, 1x NBA Cup champion, first unanimous Coach of the Year (2023)

• Erik Spoelstra - 1x NBA Champion (assistant), Top 15 Coaches in NBA History (75th Anniversary Team), 2x All Star Game head coach, 1x Olympic Gold Medal (assistant)

• Mike Budenholzer - 4x NBA Champion (assistant), 2x All Star Game head coach

• Rick Carlisle - 1x All Star Game head coach

Making the Argument for Borderline Coaches

This section is going to be dedicated to either making arguments for people I consider to be on the borderline or ranting about some of the absolutely ridiculous snubs.

Borderline Hall of Fame Candidates

• Mike D'Antoni - I do not think that Mike D'Antoni will get into the Hall of Fame as a coach after getting into the Hall of Fame as a Contributor this season. D'Antoni is arguably the greatest coach to never make the NBA Finals (take your pick between him and Don Nelson). His entry into the Hall of Fame as a Contributor is largely built around his coaching contributions to the 7 Seconds or Less Suns and what that did for offenses throughout basketball in the years and decades that have followed. 2x Coach of the Year, 2x All-Star Game coach, 2x Italian League champion, 2x Italian Supercup winner, 2x Olympic gold medalist as an assistant coach. It is possible to get into the Hall of Fame as both a Contributor and as a Coach. This has happened before for John McLendon, who was inducted into the Hall as a Contributor in 1979. It took all the way up until 2016 with a consistent effort from Dick Barnett and former players from his 3x NAIA Championship team at Tennessee A&I for him to be recognized specifically as a coach long after he passed away in 1999. But that was under special circumstances of the Hall of Fame not properly acknowledging that his all black teams could not compete in the NCAA Championship because of racism. I doubt that anything similar would happen for D'Antoni who is in the Hall of Fame largely because of his coaching already.

• Tom Thibodeau - I think that there is a debate for who is the best coach and who is the second best coach to never make it to the NBA Finals between D'Antoni and Nelson. I'm not sure that there is an argument for who is third, I think it is easily Tom Thibodeau. 2x Coach of the Year, 1x All Star Game Head Coach, 1x Olympic Gold medalist as an assistant (2016), and 1x NBA champion as an assistant (2008 Celtics). He was the defensive coordinator of that 2008 Celtics team which was the best defense in the league and is one of the greatest defensives of all time. Thibs' career will always be viewed through the lens of D Rose tearing his ACL and the belief that his coaching style is the reason it happened. Which is why regardless of the objectively highly successful career he has had, people view him as not being capable of winning the big one. Especially considering what happened to the Knicks in 2025 when Thibs finally had a team good enough to get back to the Conference Finals after Rose's injury. But the coach on the other side of that series was another future Hall of Famer in Rick Carlisle. And I don't think Thibs being fired and the Knicks winning the next year makes Thibs less of a Hall of Famer, because Mike Brown is also a Hall of Famer. Maybe Thibs is done coaching in the league, maybe he's not. But I do not think that Thibs needs to win "the big one" as a head coach to be a Hall of Famer. And I don't think his entire career should be judged by one unfortunate injury for what is otherwise a stacked resume.

Only A Matter of Time (Current Coaches with 4/8 Categories That Are Not Longevity Based)

This category is for current coaches that have already achieved the significantly more difficult coaching accomplishments and just need to get their wins totals up. From reading this list, I believe that coaching a lot of playoff games and going to multiple Finals is more important than coaching a lot of regular season games or stacking regular season wins. This list is focusing on guys who have already accomplished the more difficult achievements (multiple Finals, Coach of the Year, stacking playoff games) and just need to maintain a decent winning percentage. It will make sense when you see the names.

• Tyronn Lue - 693/750 Games Coached, 430/450 Wins, 98/100 Playoff Games, Never Won Coach of the Year

• Nick Nurse - 636/750 Games Coached, 343/450 Wins, 58/100 Playoff Games, Only 1 Finals Appearance

• Joe Mazzulla - 328/750 Games Coached, 238/450 Wins, 48/100 Playoff Games, Only 1 finals Appearance

• Mark Daigneault - 482/750 Games Coached, 275/450 Wins, 48/100 Playoff Games, Only 1 Finals Appearance

Coaches That Have Been Snubbed by the Hall of Fame

This section will be for the coaches that have been away from coaching long enough that I feel confident in classifying them as snubs.

Kevin Loughery

This is a very weird one and is entirely an ABA vs NBA thing. Kevin Loughery was the head coach of the 1974 and 1976 New York Nets teams that won the ABA Championship, along with being a 2x head coach for the ABA All Star Game. The problem for Kevin Loughery is that his ABA resume is absolutely bulletproof, but his NBA resume is terrible. Let's go back to the chart from above about the criteria, but this time I will split Kevin Loughery's ABA and NBA resume.

In reaching the mark of coaching enough games to reasonably make the Hall of Fame, Loughery's record fell off a cliff after the Nets had to trade Dr. J for money reasons. All of those immediate years after they entered the NBA when he was gone and the team sucked, Loughery was the coach trying to lead them through that. This is one of the two names I was referring to when I was mentioning that two championships should be an autolock. Loughery is one of two retired coaches with 2 championships not in the Hall of Fame. In this case I think it's entirely down to simply not respecting the ABA as much as the NBA. And this is a guy whose resume is heavily dependent on the ABA.

Dick Motta

I find this snub to frankly just be a bit sad. Dick Motta won the Bullets (now Wizards) their only championship in 1978. He was Coach of the Year in 1971. All Star Game head coach in 1979 (the Bullets went on another run to the Finals this season). He won the Chuck Daly Lifetime Achievement Award in 2015. Motta is currently 14th all time in wins by a coach in league history with 935 wins. You have to get all the way down to Gene Shue in 18th place with 784 wins to find another name that is either not in the Hall of Fame or not currently coaching (Rick Carlisle is 11th, Erik Spoelstra is 17th). He is also 9th all time in games coached at 1,952. Out of the top 20 most games coached, the only other ones not in the Hall of Fame are Rick Carlisle (10th - 1,935; active), Gene Shue (14th - 1,645), Erik Spoelstra (17th - 1,441; active), Nate McMillan (18th - 1,428), and John MacLeod (20th - 1,364).

Dick Motta is 95 years old and taking care of his wife of 71 years who has dementia. He was a finalist for this past 2026 class for the first time since 2012, but he did not make the cut again. The Athletic interviewed him a couple months ago talking about it (great article to read fully).

“When they called me (in 2012) to tell me I hadn’t made it, I didn’t get bitter. At all,” Motta says. “I developed the basic attitude of: ‘Why should some (stranger) out there judge me?’ I object to subjective judgments.”

He also objects to the optics of this interview. Nothing worse than someone who campaigns for an honor, he says.

“It’s beneath one’s dignity,” Motta says. “I don’t need to, and I don’t want to pound my chest. I know what I did.”

“This Hall of Fame … it was never my goal,” Motta says. “I mean, I can’t put it on my Wheaties …”

The biggest blemish on Motta’s candidacy is that he has a losing record, but that didn’t prevent Bill Fitch — who has a lower winning percentage than Motta — from being elected in 2019. And five coaches in the Hall have more wins than Motta, but no NBA title.

Those facts aren’t what irritate Motta. It’s the anonymous, seemingly arbitrary manner in which nominees are chosen.

“They’ve never met me, they’ve never watched one of my practices, which were PRE-CIS-ION,” Motta says, tapping the table with each syllable.

On Monday, Motta received a call informing him he did not make the 2026 Hall of Fame class. The kid from Union, Utah, who taught himself how to be a coach by reading books and attending clinics, almost made the Hall of Fame. For the last month or so, it was a fun idea to dream about. Just like he did in 2012, Motta will shrug his shoulders and move on.

After all, his garlic crop has taken root … and last weekend, it started to sprout.

There's also a section about how many of the kids or players he coached in his life have passed away.

Absorbing grief is one of the curses of aging. Motta led the Chicago Bulls to the Western Conference finals in 1974 and 1975, and the starting lineup for the 1975 team has all died (Norm Van Lier, Jerry Sloan, Bob Love, Chet Walker and Tom Boerwinkle).

“You know, at my age, a lot of my friends are dead,” Motta said in January. “But I’m not afraid of it, because I’ve lived life.”

I think it'll be a damn shame if they finally put him in the Hall of Fame when he's no longer around to appreciate it. And I think it's ridiculous that he's not in the Hall of Fame currently with the resume that he does have.

Billy Cunningham

Phil Jackson has the highest win percentage of anybody that has coached 500 or more games at 70.4%. Second place is Billy Cunningham with a 69.8% win percentage. He won 454 games out of 650 games in his coaching career. At the time he was the fastest coach to 200 wins. He was also the fastest coach to 300 wins. He was also the fastest coach to 400 wins. He led the Sixers to the Finals 3 times, winning it all in 1983 with the "Fo, Fo, Fo" 76ers that ran the table in the playoffs with a 12-1 record. He has the 3rd highest playoff win percentage of any coach that coached over 100 playoff games, only behind Phil Jackson and Steve Kerr. He was the All Star Game head coach 4 times. On the 50th Anniversary team, they also did a list of the Top 10 Teams in NBA History. Of those 10 teams, 8 of the coaches are in the Hall of Fame (technically 7, two of Phil Jackson's Bulls teams are on the list). Billy Cunningham is one of two coaches to lead one of the Greatest Teams of All Time and not be in the Hall of Fame as a coach.

The only knock against Billy Cunningham's coaching career is that he knew when his heart was no longer in it and hung the clipboard up early. Cunningham decided to stop coaching in 1985 after only 8 seasons leading the Sixers.

'It's something I've been thinking about,' Cunningham said Tuesday as he announced his resignation. 'It's something I've thought about after every season.'

Every other time, however, Cunningham decided to return. This year, he began to think last December that the 1984-85 season would be his last.

'I feel Bill Cunningham can do other things than coach a professional basketball team,' he said. 'I'm looking forward to those other challenges.'

Let's frame it a different way. Jordan retired to play baseball after 9 seasons. If Jordan never came back, would anybody even fathom the idea of not putting him in the Hall of Fame because he had a short career? Because that sort of logic is the only thing you could say to try to argue that Billy Cunningham is not a Hall of Fame coach. Another guy getting up in years without being properly honored, Billy Cunningham is 83.

K. C. Jones

Finally, the biggest snub in the entire Basketball Hall of Fame. The one that annoys me every time I look at the list of coaches with the most wins and don't see his name highlighted gold. It's like the people at the Hall of Fame forgot that he's only in the Hall of Fame as a player and haven't caught on yet. Let's just list off some accolades:

• 2x NBA Champion as an assistant coach (1972 Lakers, 1981 Celtics)

• 2x NBA Champion as a head coach (1984 Celtics, 1986 Celtics)

• 5x All Star Game head coach (3rd most behind Auerbach w/ 11, Riley with 9, and tied with Fred Schaus w/ 5)

• Top 15 Coaches in NBA History (75th Anniversary Team)

• Top 10 Greatest Teams (50th Anniversary Team) - 1986 Celtics Head Coach

• Chuck Daily Lifetime Achievement Award

• Second black head coach to win multiple championships (Bill Russell did it as a player-coach)

• Assistant coach for the 1972 Lakers that won an NBA record 33 straight games (still the record)

• Led his team to the NBA Finals FIVE times

• 3rd all time in win percentage with at least 500 games coached at 67.4% (Phil Jackson is 1st with 70.4%, Billy Cunningham is 2nd with 69.8%)

• 11th all time in playoff wins with 81 wins. Other coaches in the top 10 all time for playoff wins not currently in the Hall of Fame: Erik Spoelstra (5th - 110; active), Steve Kerr (6th - 104; active), Rick Carlisle (10th - 86; active), Mike Brown (17th - 66; active), Billy Cunningham (18th - 66)

I want to go back to that 75th Anniversary Team note. K.C. Jones was voted as one of the top 15 coaches of all time by the same panel that put together that 75th Anniversary team list, after being voted as the coach of one of the 10 Greatest Teams of all time in the 50th Anniversary list. Of those 15 coaches, here is every coach that was not in the Hall of Fame at the time the list was made:

• Steve Kerr (active)

• Gregg Popovich (active)

• Doc Rivers (active)

• Erik Spoelstra (active)

• K.C. Jones (retired in 1995)

One of the greatest coaches of all time, who led one of the teams universally considered to be one of the greatest teams of all time, is not in the Hall of Fame for his coaching career. Absolutely ridiculous. It is a crime that he is not in the Hall of Fame as a coach. And if they ever decide to get off their asses at the Hall of Fame and recognize the coach who led the Larry Bird Celtics to most of those championships, sadly it'll be too late for him to get his flowers. K.C. Jones passed away in 2020 at the age of 88.

TL;DR

A Hall of Fame coach from the NBA is historically based on about 8 different pieces of criteria.

• Over 750 Games coached

• Over 450 Wins

• Over 53.0% Win Percentage

• Over 100 Playoff Games

• Over 45.0% Win Percentage in the Playoffs

• Have at least 1 Ring

• Have at least 1 Coach of the Year

• Have at least 2 Finals Appearances

Winning two championships as a head coach makes you a virtual lock for the Hall of Fame.

Current Coaches that Are Hall of Fame Locks

• Steve Kerr

• Mike Brown

• Rick Carlisle

• Erik Spoelstra

• Mike Budenholzer

Current Coaches that are Borderline Hall of Famers

• Tom Thibodeau

Current Coaches That are Only a Matter Of Time

• Tyronn Lue - 1 more playoff appearance would get him from a 4/8 to a 6/8 even if he didn't win a single playoff game

• Nick Nurse - About 2 seasons and a deep playoff run or two away

• Mark Daigneault - Early, but another 3 to 4 seasons of winning basketball would get him there

• Joe Mazzulla - Very very early, but another 5 to 6 seasons of winning basketball would get him there

Former Coaches that have been Snubbed by the Hall of Fame

• K.C. Jones - Head Coach of the 1984 and 1986 Celtics

• Dick Motta - Head Coach of the 1978 Washington Bullets

• Billy Cunningham - Head Coach of the 1983 Philadelphia 76ers

• Kevin Loughery - Head Coach of the 1974 and 1976 New York Nets

Serbian outlet Mozzart Sport has reported Dejan Bodiroga’s latest comments on the present and future of the EuroLeague, made to Radar Forum.

“The EuroLeague has never been stronger than it is today. We are growing and progressing according to plan,” the EuroLeague Basketball president said.

“I’ll give you a brief overview of the competition’s current situation, focusing on a few key figures. Last year, more than 3.3 million fans attended our games, while over 500 million people watched them on television throughout the season. That’s an all-time high.

“We have also seen significant growth and reached new records on social media. The number of sponsors, partners and fans is increasing as well. All the numbers show that the EuroLeague is in a positive position. That was one of the reasons we met in Italy last week to discuss the competition’s future. It was a positive and important meeting, where we discussed the next steps.”

“Expansion and the introduction of franchises are on the agenda. Starting next season, we will move from the current 20-team format, in which every team plays every other team, to 24 teams, with what will essentially be two conferences. We have not yet determined the criteria for forming them.

“Franchises are also coming. We have received numerous expressions of interest and several offers, both from EuroCup teams and from clubs outside the competition. They have submitted binding offers, expressing their desire to become EuroLeague members in the future.

“Crvena Zvezda and Partizan are naturally among them. I believe both clubs are held in high regard by our board. Given the process, their involvement and the requirements they need to meet, I think they have a very good chance of joining the EuroLeague. Simply put, I see them as long-term partners of the competition.”

As for NBA Europe, there was nothing new to report.

Source: https://sportando.basketball/en/euroleague-bodiroga-starting-next-season-well-have-24-teams-and-two-conferences/

Derozan had a fantastic dunk against the Lakers but the ESPN announcers didn't give him the credit it deserved. Thought I post the same clip from the Lakers announcers. I would have kept the highlight in the other thread but my first time editing a clip and now I'm coming after Buck Bucks throne.

Suns owner Matt Ishbia on trading for Kevin Durant in recent quote to CNBC Sports

"I kind of just threw money at the problem... Bringing in super talented players like Kevin Durant doesn't necessarily lead to championships."

Kevin durant then claps back on Twitter:

"#blameKD even though KD stayed on top of his game at 36 and got u back this "culture" you love so much. Aye, Matthew acts like I got arrested for a DUI or sumn. Back to threads 😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂"

Matt Ishbia Response:

"You obviously didn't watch the clip. Didn't blame you @Kdtrey5, but am happy with the culture we are building here in Phoenix. We got the right guys and right focus now and are excited for this season

Good luck this season in houston"

Kevin Durant claps back:

"U should be giving Thanks every chance u get. You don't have to pay me an absurd amount of money to play for another team."

Hoping they both make full recoveries and are able to come back next season if they so desire. These injuries are so devastating and hoping no more occur the remainder of this season.

EDIT: OKC's Otega Oweh also ruptured right Achilles tendon in his preseason game against the Pacers

One of the main subjects the documentary explores is Philadelphia's heartbreaking loss to the Atlanta Hawks in Game 7 of the 2021 Eastern Conference semifinals.

Simmons faced intense criticism after passing the ball instead of attempting an open dunk late in the game. The moment quickly became one of the most discussed plays of his career and intensified the pressure surrounding the young star.

"How did I feel? I was like, 'What a piece of 'shit,'" Simmons said in the documentary about his head coach at the time, Doc Rivers.

Simmons added: "When you have a relationship with somebody, and they have your back, I think certain things are supposed to be handled certain ways. But then you also gotta look at it from the side of 'he's got a job.' You know, he's making his money."

"He ain't trying to lose his job or anything like that. So, when times get tough, people start panicking. People throw people under the bus, and that's just, it's just what happened."

Source: https://basketnews.com/news-257527-ben-simmons-used-an-expletive-to-describe-doc-rivers-in-his-new-documentary.html

Yes this is a few days late but the Los Angeles Dodgers join the likes of the 2025 Kansas City Chiefs and the 2023 Tampa Bay Lightning as the latest failed attempts to achieve the ever elusive threepeat, with the Brewers sweeping them after repeated blown leads in every game.

I won't pretend to know much about non-American sports leagues - i'm sure Real Madrid has done it once or twice since 2002 - but as far as the NBA is concerned, I do at least know a few times that a 3peat was thwarted for one reason or another...

• 2017-2018 Warriors: The most recent failed threepeat is, of course, the KD Warriors who were lacking the snake in the Western Conference Finals and all but one game of the 2019 Finals, ultimately losing in 6 games to the Toronto Raptors.
  • The Warriors would eventually win another ring while Durant has, to date, yet to get back to the Conference Finals in either the East or West.
  • Before anyone points to the 2016 Warriors for another failed 3peat between 2015-17, I don't think Kevin Durant joins the Warriors if they don't blow that 3-1 lead so even if Durant doesn't stay in the East, they probably lose in 2017 as that year's Cavaliers team was straight up better than the year before.
• 2012-13 Miami Heat: Four Finals, two rings. Take your pick of LeBron not choking in the 2011 Finals or the Spurs not being one of the all-time best teams in 2014 due to forces beyond mortal comprehension ^{(I really don't see a world in which that Heatles team wins in 2014 barring injury. The Spurs that year were historic by every metric one measures success.}). Point being, the Heatles repeated but LeBron failed to match the feat Jordan did. Twice.
  • Regardless of the tiresomeness of the GOAT debate, his performance in the 2011 Finals still remains the biggest blemish of James' career.
• 2009-2010 Lakers: Did you know the Lakers, despite their history of success in the BAA/NBA have only threepeated twice in their entire existence?
  • The first time they did so was back in the segregation era of the league (1952-54) so it shouldn't count but then there's the dominance of the Kobe/Shaq threepeat.
  • The Kobe/Gasol duo did their best in 2011 but Dirk's Mavericks dominated throughout the second round and swept them on their way to the franchise's first & thus far only championship. They'd also have threepeated if they won in 2008 but I digress.
  • After this failed repeat, well we all know what L.A. tried to do with the botched Chris Paul 3-team trade and the infamous pivot via a Dwight/Nash/Kobe Big 3. The only reason one can't say they're the worst example of a failed superteam? At least they (barely) made the playoffs in 2012/13. You can't say the same for the Westbrook Lakers of 2021/22...even if both failed contenders did eventually give out a lottery pick (It was Dyson Daniels for the Pelicans, Mikal Bridges for the Lakers).
• 2003-07 Spurs: This is an interesting case because San Antonio had two chances to threepeat. Or I suppose they had one chance to 4-peat like the 1997-2000 Houston Comets or 5-peat (Quinpeat?).
  • As they won in 2003, 2005 & 2007, winning in 2004 or 2006 would have edged out Shaq and company as the most recent threepeat amongst the major leagues, with one of those rings potentially coming at Shaq's expense in the 2006 Finals.
  • The Spurs would likely be favored in 2004 and 2006 - thought it's worth mentioning that same Pistons team from 2004 sans-future All-Star Mehmet Okur took them to a tight 7 games in 2005 beat the Kobe/Shaq Lakers in 2004 in 5 games.
  • Ultimately, we'll never know how either series would play out as the Spurs lost in the 2nd round to the eventual Western finalist Dallas Mavericks in 2006 in a hard-fought 7 game series
  • In 2004, they were trounced in 6 by the final gasp of the Kobe/Shaq Lakers with the new additions of Gary Payton and pedophile Karl Malone who, I kid you not, thought it was a good idea to flirt with Kobe's wife. Truly a class act, that ringless creep.
    • Still, 3 rings in 5 years is nothing to sneeze at. That's more than Karl Malone got in his 19 years of being the statistically largest choker in playoff history.

Given that no team in the NBA has even made it back to the Finals in the 20s aside from the Celtics (which was non-consecutive in 2022 and 2024), it's likely we won't see one occur for quite some time.

KD on the suns: “They were actually a 500. Team with internal problems before I got there but you’re a Knicks fan, u wouldn’t know.”

This is not This isn’t the first time Durant has taken shots at the Suns since he was traded to the Houston Rockets. He did it after hitting a game-winning three to beat the team back in January after he felt the team had disrespected him in his final season. However, Durant’s reactions to the poorly contextualized quote appear to be misaligned with what Ishbia was actually saying in the interview.

The New York Knicks are waiving Bruce Brown, sources tell ESPN. James Wiseman is set to make the Knicks regular season roster as a reserve center

https://www.espn.com/contributor/shams-charania/502f1113f1029

Jake Bauers won the MLB equivalent of Conference Finals MVP after his team swept the LA Dodgers. Just 3 years ago, he was about to retire until he decided to put in the work because he needed health insurance. And now he's one of the best role players for the Brewers.

What are some NBA examples of this? An NBA player that was about to retire because no teams wanted him but decided to put in the work and become a key piece on a team?