Tag: nba season preview

It’s time for everybody to give Ben Simmons a break

It’s time for everyone to get off of Ben Simmons’ case

Welcome to Layup Lines, our daily NBA newsletter where we’ll prep you for a tip-off of tonight’s action, from what to watch to bets to make. Subscribe here to get it delivered to your inbox every afternoon

What’s good, family? It’s Sykes, back again, with another issue of Layup Lines. A quick word on Ben Simmons.

Obviously, last season was a pretty big disaster for him. He didn’t play basketball at all. He also lost a ton of money that he apparently settled on the 76ers with in court. On top of that, a back injury stopped him from playing with the Brooklyn Nets in their disaster of a season.

Again, it wasn’t a good look. Nobody will tell you it was. But at what point do we stop roasting this man for, you know, just existing? It seems like every move Ben makes he’s getting torn into on the internet.

The latest example is the casual airball he tossed at the rim while at the Nets‘ outdoor practice. He clearly wasn’t being serious at all. But the internet took that and completely ran with it. They made it a thing when it really wasn’t.

ESPN’s Nick Fridell asked Simmons about it in an all-encompassing interview this week and it turned into a conversation about how he deals with trolls.

“It finds me all the time. And it doesn’t f—-ing stop. Sometimes I’m even sick of it, but then I’m like, ‘OK, I’m Ben Simmons,’ you know? Even the other day there was a clip of me air balling a shot at the park. Meanwhile, like 10 guys air balled multiple shots. So it’s like people will find one clip and try to make it that everything — like Ben can’t do [this or that]. You think I’m just air balling every shot? It’s not true. But you got to have tough skin and I realize that, but I can’t take everything personally. “

It seems like he’s just brushing it off at this point, but that has to be maddening. The dude hasn’t done anything. He’s just out there at practice and every little potential mistake he makes is under a microscope with folks just waiting to clown him.

That’s corny. Super corny. Especially considering that he went through real mental health struggles over the last two seasons. And that’s the big thing here — the mental health implications.

This is something the NBA community seems to want to take seriously. Players are being more open and vulnerable about it now. From DeMar DeRozan and Kevin Love to John Wall and even Simmons, they’re letting down the veil and being open about their struggles. And, hopefully, that can lead others to look for help in their struggle, too.

But if they’ve got people roasting them every step of the way in their journey of vulnerability, that won’t last long. It’ll only make folks retreat back into their shells and that’s not the ideal situation for anyone here.

So, please. Let’s all just chill on Ben Simmons. At least until the games get here.

The Tip-Off

Some NBA goodness from around the USA TODAY Sports network.

There’s a lot of great season preview content coming on our site over the next few days. And it’ll be an exciting season, too. Parity has never been more present in the league.

So I wrote a bit on the big question each team needs to answer coming into the new season.

“The parity the fans have been asking for for years is alive and well. It feels like well over half of the NBA’s teams are going to make a playoff push this season. They legitimately think they can compete and make some noise.

Of course, many of them will be wrong. That’s just how the NBA works. Not everyone can have a successful season — somebody has to fail.  And no team is perfect — there’s no “super team” out there ready to run through the league. There’s not a single team in the league that is without its warts. They all have questions.”

This year is going to be so much fun.

Shootaround

— Shai Gilgeous-Alexander remains one of the coolest dudes in the NBA.

— Here are the 10 rookies you should be looking at for Fantasy purposes next season

— Here are the leading candidates or MVP at the start of the season.

— The Lakers are smart to try and bring Russ off the bench.

Enjoy the weekend, y’all.

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The Velveeta Cheese Twitter account helped us preview the 2020-21 NBA season

Liquid gold has sports opinions, too.

NBA Twitter is an insanely weird space. People from all walks of life jump on the internet to talk — er, uh, mostly argue — about their favorite basketball teams and players with complete strangers.

Sometimes, though, you run into people who make really smart and compelling arguments about the NBA and the sport of basketball. And those are the people who are the best to interact with online.

It just so happens that one of those accounts is the Velveeta Cheese Twitter account. Yes, you read that correctly. Velveeta Cheese is an NBA nerd.

The account is filled with hot, but correct, basketball takes. Like the fact that the greatest of all-time conversation just doesn’t make a lot of sense.

Or that Mahmoud Abdul-Rauf is one of the most underrated NBA players of all-time despite having a bad +/-.

There are more takes like that the deeper you scroll into the tweets. A quick Google search reveals that Velveeta Cheese isn’t new to this — they are true to this. They made friends with the Oklahoma City Thunder fanbase and even did a Reddit Ask Me Anything earlier this year to talk all things Thunder.

It’s insanely cool and, also, insanely nerdy. We wanted to find out who the basketball nerd behind this Twitter account was, so we asked. Turns out it’s John Sabine — a Dallas native and a Bulls fan who is now also in love with the Oklahoma City Thunder’s fanbase.

He used to host Bulls Outsiders on NBC Sports Chicago. Now, he’s tweeting his nerdy basketball gems out to the people via a Twitter account for cheese dip. Below is our conversation about how all that works.

Michael Sykes:  You’re clearly an NBA Twitter head, just like the rest of us. Where does this passion come from? 

John Sabine: My childhood. I love the NBA. I grew up in Dallas and I moved to Chicago 11 years ago right when Derrick Rose got drafted. So, when that happened, I said “Alright, I’m in.” I’m kind of a fan polygamist when it comes to the NBA, I love a lot of teams. Velveeta, specifically, loves the Oklahoma City Thunder. That’s Velveeta’s team. OKC, spelled O-QUE-C, we love them. But, I personally love it all. 

I also used to have a job where I hosted a Bulls talk show on NBC Sports Chicago, so it was another part of my life. And Velveeta was gracious enough to let me reveal some of who I am through the brand. 

Sykes: How does that translate to the Twitter account? 

Sabine: When you watch sports, you sit around, you eat queso, it’s, like, very communal and fun. And I feel like NBA Twitter is that. It’s just such a fun atmosphere, the ecosystem of NBA Twitter. I truly love basketball and Velveeta has a strategy of bringing people to the party. And they let me jump this party because of how I personally love the NBA. It’s the best sport in the world. I love the league. 

Sykes: I realized you were a true NBA nerd when you were tweeting about VORP, or something like that, and I was shocked. How do people receive that from you? 

Sabine: It’s funny because you don’t expect it. We don’t want to be just random. I truly love analytics talk…I have a lot of basketball opinions. I once said steals are meaningless and I stand by that. I think they’re dumb, they’re stupid. We shouldn’t count them. By the way, we hope one day that the meaning changes to Velveeta over Replacement Product. 

But that’s really what I believe, truly. And I think people being able to talk in the vernacular of a community is important. And if NBA Twitter is gracious enough to let Velveeta in on their party, we want to be able to have a real conversation. We can tell you to eat queso in a second, but let’s talk about who is going to win Most Improved Player first. That’s more important right now. That’s what people care about. I care about that. Shared passions is rarely a bad thing. 

Wait, who is your team? 

Sykes: Unfortunately, I’m a Wizards fan. 

Sabine:  I am with you on this. This will be a good year, right? 

Sykes: I think it could be a good year. I’m excited about what Russ [Westbrook] can do, I think for such a young team it’s important to have a dude who has accomplished something in the league.

Sabine: Russell Eastbrook, let’s go. I’m excited. I’m all in on him in D.C. As a Bulls fan I was really bummed because it’s like “aw man, now they’re better than us.” We’re kind of fighting for 10th and now it’s like now they’re more talented. So, anyway. I hope Beal retires a Wizards. That would be cool. 

Sykes: That would be cool. I don’t think it’ll happen, but we’ll see. Since we’re here, though, what do you think about this season? Uh, let’s start here. Who do you have as DPOY? Is it Rudy Gobert again? 

Sabine: It’s going to be Lu Dort. It’s going to be Dort for everything. I love Dort. DPOY is going to be tough, though, seriously. Giannis will probably deserve it, but they’re not going to give it to him. I feel like Rudy just signed his extension, but I don’t know. It could be someone like Bam Adebayo, I think it probably should be Giannis, but I’m going to go with AD. 

Sykes: Rookie of the year, any picks? It’s OK with me if you pick Deni Avdija. 

Sabine: How good is he right now? But it’s [Troy] Haliburton. It’s Haliburton. He’s going to be rookie of the year. My beloved Dallas Mavericks were trying to trade up and get him, but the Kings finally did something right and they got him. I’ve got to respect that. I think he’s so fun. 

Sykes: He spent, like, three possessions this preseason locking up Steph Curry and I was sold. 

Sabine: YES. Everyone is always like “he’s going to coach” and for rookies that’s a good thing. They’re 19 — they mostly just want to play Nintendo Switch or something. And he’s just into basketball. 

Sykes: This is the one that I always struggle with. Who wins Most Improved? 

Sabine: It can’t be Dort, because he’s already perfect. I think it’s going to be Coby White aka Coby Gold. I love Coby White. I think he’s going to be so good because he didn’t play a lot last year. He only started one game and then the season ended. So, in comparison, I think he’ll surprise a lot of people. That’s also my pick because I live in Chicago, so. 

Sykes: Coach of the year pick? 

Sabine: I’m going to be completely irrational. Is that OK? 

Sykes: Absolutely. 

Sabine: I went to Santa Clara, which is a small school in Northern California. We have no NBA players, but there are two coaches who went there: Steve Nash and Lloyd Pierce. I’ve got to rep my Broncos. I think Nash will win because the Nets are going to be amazing. He’ll have the record and they always go by that, so. I’m going with him. 

Sykes: Who’s your MVP? 

Sabine: It should be Dort, but my actual picks are Luka [Doncic] or Steph [Curry]. Those are my two picks. I grew up in Dallas, so I know Luka fans can be a bit much. 

Sykes: He is that good, though. 

Sabine: I’m sorry. Like, I’m sorry. I think he’s amazing. The numbers are crazy. He’s my son and I love him dearly.

Sykes: You truly are just like the rest of us. 

Sabine: He is just the most important person in my life right now. 

Sykes: I’m surprised you didn’t go with LeBron, though. Everyone is picking LeBron. 

Sabine: He shouldn’t play that much. 

Sykes: You think age finally catches him? 

Sabine: No, absolutely not. Whatever Tom Brady has, he has. He just needs to take a load off. He’s so perfect he can eat shells and cheese the whole season and probably get you to the Western Conference Finals. I love LeBron. I can’t believe we watch him. When he retires we’ll be like “we got to live through 30 years of that.” Wow. 

Sykes: Yeah, man. It’s crazy. Who is your Champion? 

Sabine: The Thunder will win it next year after they crash for Cade in the Liquid Gold Thunder Dome. But, I think the WCF will be the Lakers vs. the Blazers. And I think the East will be Sixers vs. Bucks. And I think the Finals will be Lakers vs. Bucks. Giannis will get to the Finals, but I don’t think they’ll win. It’ll be purple and liquid gold again next year. But I do think Blazers will be in the WCF. They’re healthy, Dame is really good and in his prime. But how can you bet against LeBron James? 

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