Kendrick Perkins discussing the three best leaders he played with in the NBA:

Nick Collison — “Best teammate I ever had.

When you talk about losing yourself in the team, he was the true definition of that. The best thing about Nick was that he never switched up.

A lot of guys would change throughout the course of the season. When the team was doing well but you weren’t doing well individually, you caught a lot of guys, including myself, with an attitude. That was never Nick. Whether he was getting 20 minutes or zero minutes, he never changed.

Always positive. Always hardworking. Always looking out for the betterment of the team.

And when he did hold you accountable, it wasn’t in an aggressive manner. It was just like: “Hey, man, we need you, but you’ve got to do better here. I’ve got your back 1,000 percent.”

“My bad, Nick, I’ve got you. I apologize.”

“No, no, no. No need to be sorry. We’re in this together.”

He would run through a wall for you. After I got traded to Oklahoma City in 2011, we matched up against the Lakers in the playoffs in 2012.

My points weren’t there in game five, but I think I had 13 or 14 rebounds. I remember after the game Nick said: “You won that damn game for us. Those rebounds didn’t go unnoticed. You played your f—ing ass off, boy. Proud of you.”

I was somewhat the leader of that squad with Nick, but right then he didn’t even know what that did for me. I was like: Dang, Nick just gave me props. That felt good coming from Nick.”

@mayjay as a lawyer for many years, I concur. The stories about the assistant AD and DP’s “advisors”, assuming they are accurate and thus evidence, allow for different interpretations. In this case, we (I include myself) tend to prefer an interpretation that supports our gut feeling that something is off. This is a form of confirmation bias, even if we turn out to be correct. I am really looking forward to finding out exactly what’s going on. I expect it may not be until after the season, if ever.

BTW, my favorite DP moment so far was after the TTech game during the presser. DP called Flory out for being too modest and said Flory was the best defender in the league/nation. That was a sweet moment between the two of them and raised my opinion of DP as a player and a leader.

From The Ringer, “Trade Machine Deep Cuts Who Can Actually Swing a Playoff Game”:

Svi Mykhailiuk, Utah Jazz: good enough to be removed from Will Hardy’s rotation because he was helping the Jazz win too many games.

Buddy from KU lives in NC and was at the game. He sent the following text after Melvin made his third 3: “Council. Missed his first 3. Guy next to me says there's a reason he's open. So I repeated that a lot“.

And then 6-7 times after that. What a performance!

SA Smith was particularly harsh, especially in cautioning NBA execs re drafting DP. One possibility is that the issue is basically overly cautious load management, I wonder if this specific angle of media pressure this week will alter DP’s and his team’s calculus in favor of playing through cramps, discomfort, etc. a bit more.

@BShark agree. +17 with only 4 points is amazing

I’m happy we got him. However the season turns out next year, it will be interesting and entertaining, possibly maddening as well. If you want to feel a bit better about our situation check out Rupp Rafters

@nuleafjhawk or Hunter’s ability to jump. Which is a lot funnier this year than it was last year, or the year before.

Yes. I’m fully aware of who SA Smith is and how the sports industrial combine churns to increase revenue. Smith’s status as a blow hard (A Howard Cosell for the 21st century) is not relevant. A bunch of commentators (including Smith), are saying the same thing as regards those who might draft DP first: in essence, if DP can’t play full games in college, how will he last in the much longer NBA season? My point is that this might have the effect of encouraging DP to play more, which would be great, unless he’s actually injured, in which case I want him to save his minutes for the tourney. I personally have no idea whether he’s being overly cautious, but reading HCBS’s reaction Wednesday night …

I’m back.
Thanks so much for doing this!
I really appreciate it.

That was ugly. We looked disjointed. Maybe looking ahead to Monday. I also wonder if the DP press from the past week had an impact.

@wissox83 that seems to be the Ringer’s take. I love the idea that he was winning too many games for them. Svi for 3!

Nice use of frisky. Don’t see that word enough.

@ROCKCHALK2025

Sorry to hear about the knees. I’ve had one knee replaced (so far). Definitely changed my life for the better. Comically painful rehab, but I’m guessing you have some experience regaining flexion.

He hasn’t won a Championship, but he’s won an mvp and just won a series against the hated (by Philly) Celtics. They’ve built a good team around him. Now his body has to hold up. Which I doubt it will, but we’ll see. I watched a good part of the 3-3, next game decides series game against the Celtics. I figured they ought to be playing hard to win that one. I wasn’t disappointed. Great game. And Embiid played well.

@wissox83
South side of Chicago?

I’m very unhappy with the fact that I agree with Cal.

@Kcmatt7 how about Diggy? Odd example I think, but he killed it at UMD. Not at the level of KU, but impressive.

KenPom has us winning by 7. I just want a win and no injuries.

@nuleafjhawk yup. Exactly. Or teachers and journalists (real ones)