Paul George displayed his scoring touch in his preseason debut for the Philadelphia 76ers last Friday night.  George made 8-for-15 and scored a 76ers-high 23 points in a 121-11 defeat to the Minnesota Timberwolves.  He logged 26 minutes, hit four 3-pointers and included six rebounds and two assists.  His exhibition debut features new faces in new positions during this year’s preseason, including Karl-Anthony Towns with the Knicks, Chris Paul in the Spurs, DeMar DeRozan in Kings, and Klay Thompson in Mavericks jersey.  The 76ers signed George to a four-year, $212 million deal as a free agent this summer, they are his fourth team, after he spent seven years with the Indianapolis Colts, two with Oklahoma City Thunder and last five with the Los Angeles Clippers. He won the All-Star nine times, is a six-time All-NBA selection and averages 20.8 points over his first 14 NBA seasons.  The match in Iowa was a homecoming for Philadelphia coach Nick Nurse. Nurse is an Iowa native, who coached Minnesota’s G League team when it was Iowa. He is the former head coach at NAIA member Grand View University situated in Des Moines. Nurse was the youngest college coach in the USA when he started the job at 23.

Danny Green announced his retirement from the NBA on Thursday. He was the sharpshooting point guard who won an NCAA championship at North Carolina before assisting three NBA teams in winning NBA championships.  Green won NBA titles with the San Antonio Spurs in 2014, Toronto in 2019, and the Los Angeles Lakers in 2020, and was a starter for all three teams. He averaged 8.7 points over 15 pro campaigns.  “I’m officially moving on from the game of basketball and the NBA,” Green said on his YouTube channel. “It’s been a great run. I’m very proud to be able to walk away from the game. I’m at peace with it. I wasn’t at first, but I think it’s one of those things — once I turned 37, the body started reacting a little differently.” Green is retiring with a record of 1,577 3-pointers, 43rd-most in NBA history. He is one of just 12 players to make that number of 3-pointers and shoot up to 40% from beyond the arc.  Danny is also ninth in postseason 3-pointers, 315 total.  “My body was letting me know. I was getting little calf strains here and there,” Green said. “But also, when you get older, teams aren’t calling as much. Unfortunately, my services weren’t as sought-after as they were when I was younger. It’s been a hell of a ride.” His career may be referred to as an unexpected ride.  Green is one of four players – Rashard Lewis, Kyle Korver, and Trevor Aziza Green is one of only four players to make as many 3-pointers as he did, joining the likes of  Kyle Korver, Rashard Lewis and Trevor Ariza. He was the 46th overall pick in the 2009 draft by the Cleveland Cavaliers, which waived him after one term.  The San Antonio Spurs then signed him and he became their starter for seven seasons, helping the team win a title in 2014. The Spurs traded him to the Toronto Raptors as part of the deal for Kawhi Leonard. He started for the Raptors squad that won a title in 2019 and was starter again on the Los Angeles Lakers club that won in 2020.  “People ask me, ‘How did you learn how to become a winner? How do you become a leader?’” Green said. “And it’s the people before me, the people that have taught me, my coaches. They prepared me to be successful because ultimately I’m just a normal kid. I had some height, but I was not freakishly athletic. I just worked very hard, and I had the good resources around me to learn how to be professional and do things the right way.” Green tore his ACL and LCL when Joel Embiid landed on him during the Philadelphia 76ers season-ending playoff loss to the Miami Heat in May 2022. In the next two campaigns, he played in only 17 more matches; four of them playoff matches. He said he is hoping to find a gig in the media and mentioned he has some opportunities waiting. “I’m excited for the next chapter, the next journey,” Green said.

The last act Derrick Rose performed as an NBA player was in the form of a letter to basketball, discussing the highs and lows he experienced over a 16-year pro career.  And with that, Rose declared his career has ended.  Rose announced his retirement on Thursday. He was the No. 1 overall pick in the 2008 NBA draft by the Chicago Bulls and the MVP in 2011. He was, and still is, the youngest player to win an MVP in NBA history, claiming the award when he was only 22.  “You believed in me through the highs and lows, my constant when everything else seemed uncertain,” Rose wrote as part of his letter to the game, serving as his retirement announcement. He posted the letter online, as well as taking out full-page newspaper advertisements in each of the cities where he played in his NBA years. “You told me it’s okay to say goodbye, reassuring me that you’ll always be a part of me, no matter where life takes me,” he wrote. Rose was the NBA’s rookie of the year in 2008-09 for Chicago, the MVP two seasons later and an All-Star selection in three of his first four seasons. He missed almost two seasons after he suffered a major knee injury, and thought about leaving the game several times due to other injury issues. But Rose always goes back on the court.  Bulls owner Jerry Reinsdorf said Rose “represents the grit, resilience, and heart” of Chicago. “He’s one of the toughest and most determined athletes I’ve ever been around, constantly fighting through adversity that would have broken most,” Reinsdorf said. “Watching him grow from a Chicago Public League star to becoming the youngest MVP in NBA history as a Bull has been nothing short of an honor.” Besides Chicago, Rose also played for the New York Knicks, Detroit Pistons, Minnesota Timberwolves, Cleveland Cavaliers, and Memphis Grizzlies. He spent last season with Memphis, returning to the city that was his home for his one season of college basketball. He played in 24 matches with the Grizzlies last year and when it ended, Rose gave a lengthy speech on what coming back to Memphis meant to him.  “It’s all full circle,” Rose said in April. “Coming back here, having my family here, my wife’s family is from here, being back in this arena, having some of the people that came to my college games actually come to my professional games here, it’s all love.” The Grizzlies in a statement on Thursday, where they congratulated Rose on his career said: “We are grateful for your meaningful contributions to this team and this city, and wish you all the best in this next chapter of life.” Rose battled multiple knee surgeries over the years, taking a break in the 2017-18 campaign to reconsider his future, while dealing with ankle issues. He was absent for almost two full seasons after the knee injury in 2012, in what was his prime.  Derrick averaged 17.4 points and 5.2 assists in 723 regular-season matches. He averaged 21 points per match before the ACL tear 12 years ago, and 15.1 per game in the campaigns that followed. “With D-Rose, it was never a question of his talent,” Basketball Hall of Famer Dwyane Wade, a former Rose teammate, said in 2018. “It was always about his health. And when he was healthy, everyone saw all the talent.” Rose still demonstrated that MVP-level talent many times over the years after his knee troubles. He scored a career-high 50 points for Timberwolves in a 128-125 victory over the Utah Jazz on October 31 2018. That game brought him to tears. He delivered a 12-assist match for the Pistons in a 115-107 victory over the Houston Rockets on December 14, 2019, his first such match in almost eight years.  “I know the person that he is, the character that he has,” Knicks coach Tom Thibodeau, who coached Rose in Chicago, Minnesota and New York, said in 2018 when he was leading the Timberwolves. “And it shines through.” Rose was a strong contender for the league’s sixth man of the year award in three straight campaigns – 2018-19, 2019-20 and 2020-21. He even got a first-place MVP vote again in that 2020-21 season, 10 years after winning that award. Derrick established himself as a star quickly, winning the NBA’s skills challenge as a rookie at All-Star weekend in 2009. He then won rookie of the year and scored 36 points in his playoff debut. It was a meteoric rise for someone who grew up amid poverty in a Chicago suburb, then saw basketball as an escape route and way to take care of his mother and family. In 2006, Derrick hit a shot to win an Illinois state high school championship. Just five years later, he was MVP of the NBA. “The kid from Englewood turned into a Chicago legend,” the Bulls posted on social media Thursday, along with a video of Rose’s highlights with the team.

There was a time when the Memphis Grizzlies were the NBA’s ‘Next Big Thing.’ While it feels like a decade ago, it’s only been a few years. A lot of things happened with the team. Ja Morant got out of line, subsequently costing the Grizzlies their place in the line.  Morant and the team were that connected, as these sorts of combinations often go, and Memphis fell as hard as their star player did.  But let us assume that his 2023 suspensions are behind him, including the injuries that piled up to ruin him and the Grizzlies too. Which brings the questions: Is Memphis a 50-win team again? A top-two team in the West once again? Or a title contender once again? Can the Grizzlies regain all that was lost, after a 27-win bridge year? Maybe.  Morant is a spectacular player just reaching his prime, a unique talent that can carry a squad. Jaren Jackson Jr. is a top defender. Desmond Bane averaged over 20 points in a match last season. Marcus Smart was the NBA’s Kia Defensive Player of the Year in 2022 just before he arrived in Memphis and got wounded, missed much of the campaign, but is now itchy.  The Grizzlies have depth: Brandon Clarke, is terrific at rebounding, also recovering from injury. GG Jackson is still wounded but should come back in three months after foot surgery; he and Vince Williams were answered prayers last term. Zach Edey, if he learns fast, can move in the middle like Steven Adams once did.  So, yes, Memphis has the resources to reintegrate into the West conversation. But the next climb is sloppy. Because of their suspension-and-injury-induced absence from the big stage, other clubs took their spot: Oklahoma City Thunder, Dallas Mavericks, and Minnesota Timberwolves.  The Grizzlies are somewhere in the mix, along with other teams (Nuggets, Suns). Mostly, Memphis are eager to remind everyone about a 202 Western Conference semifinal trip and 107 regular season wins over a two-year span, determined to prove that last year was a pause.  Morant and Memphis on A Mission. That could be their 2024-25 slogan. The Grizzlies are the wildest when it comes to wild cards. Write them in for 50 victories again. But not for Western Conference title. 

Jayson Tatum came back for training camp with a new back tattoo, another gold medal and a chip on his shoulder. He was accompanied by trusty colleague Jaylen Brown.  Tatum appeared for his eighth NBA season on Tuesday after helping the Boston Celtics win an 18th championship and joining the U.S team for its victory at the Paris Olympics. He did all that to become a supporting character and got benched for two matches in the middle of the tournament.  “In real time, it was tough,” Tatum said at the Celtics Media Day, acknowledging “I guess you could say that” it would motivate him when the Celtics try to repeat as NBA champions. “Did I need any extra motivation coming into the season? No,” said Tatum, whose new ink is a picture of himself cradling the championship trophy. “It was a unique circumstance — something I haven’t experienced before in my playing career. But I’m a believer that everything happens for a reason.” Boston return to practice on Wednesday, and the biggest threat to a repeat championship may be how complacent they could be after winning the first one. That is why Tatum’s Olympic disgrace might just be what Joe Mazzulla needs to keep his star player on track.  He was also overlooked for Finals MVP in favor of his teammate Jaylen Brown, who due to coming into the league a year earlier, was the highest-paid player in the NBA.  “Joe was probably the happiest person in the world that I didn’t win Finals MVP, and I didn’t play in two of the games of the Olympics,” Tatum said. “So that was odd. But if you know Joe, that makes sense.” Also smarting from a wounded ego is Brown, who was not chosen to join the Olympic squad and used social media to complain about being snubbed. Reporters wasted no time in asking him about it.  “Damn. Question No. 1,” Brown said with a laugh. “Don’t I get to warm up a little?” “The past is the past,” he said. “I’m extremely motivated, for obvious reasons. I’m ready to get after it.” The Celtics had the shortest offense in the NBA, defeating the Dallas Mavericks in the Finals on June 17. They then go back to practice a week earlier than most of the league because they open the preseason in Abu Dhabi on October 4th. Three of them did not get the summer off: Tatum, Jrue Holiday, and Derrick White all competed for the United States at France.  Holiday said the break was enough. “I love this game, so basketball isn’t like a hassle to me or anything,” he said. “I guess I love this job that I have. I had some great experiences this summer, so I wouldn’t trade that for anything.” Boston is back with the exact roster that won it all: Fifteen players return from last year’s team, including their top 11 scorers. The last NBA team to win back-to-back titles was the Golden State Warriors, who won three in four seasons from 2015-18. “It was never about trying to just win one,” Tatum said. “All the guys I looked up to growing up won at least one championship. Now it’s just a conversation of  how great are you trying to be?”

The Golden State Warriors are the latest franchise to reveal a new uniform for the 2024-25 season. The team unveiled their Classic Edition uniform for the new season. The team will honour the Philadelphia Warriors era with this campaign’s Classic Edition uniform. The stripes and colours of the uniform pay homage to the original uniforms worn by the team in 1946.  Fans can find more information on the new kit, including when it will be ready for purchase, can be found here. Golden State also unveiled new Statement Edition uniforms and a secondary logo earlier in the offseason. 

Miami Heat announced today that their 2024 Training Camp, presented by Baptist Health, will hold at Baha Mar in the Bahamas. It will last Tuesday, October 1 through Saturday, October 5, 2024. After Media Day on Monday, September 30, at Kaseya Center, the HEAT will travel to the Bahamas. There they will conduct two-a-day practice sessions Tuesday through Friday at the award-winning luxury resort’s Convention, Arts and Entertainment Center. Additionally, Miami will conclude training camp on Saturday. There will also be a practice session open to invited guests before returning to Miami on Saturday evening.  Media availability will follow the first daily practice session only, with a viewing time updated every day. A media workroom will be set up within the Baha Mar Convention Center in the Baha Mar Grand Ballroom. Media should enter through the resort side entrance of the convention centre. The training camp will not be open for public viewing.  Established by Grand Hyatt, the Baha Mar Convention Center is one of the largest event venues in the Caribbean. It is the ultimate event destination. The 200,000-square-foot indoor and outdoor convention facility features state-of-the-art courts for players. It also has elevated seating experiences for viewers, and leading technology for film and broadcast training.  “We are thrilled to welcome The Miami HEAT back to Baha Mar as they gear up for an exciting 2024-25 NBA season,” Graeme Davis, President of Baha Mar said. “As the leading luxury resort in The Bahamas, we look forward to providing an exceptional training camp experience that exceeds their expectations.”

Al Attles, a Hall of Famer who coached the 1975 NBA champion Golden State Warriors dies at 87. Attes spent over six decades with the franchise as a player, general manager, and team ambassador.  The Warriors announced last Wednesday that Attles passed away in his East Bay home on Tuesday surrounded by family.  Nicknamed “The Destroyer’’for his style of play, he loved the Warriors and stayed only with the team after they selected him in the fifth round of the 1960 draft. Attles’ time at the team is the longest a player has spent in a single franchise in NBA history.  Attles, who was one of the first Black head coaches in the league, oversaw some of the greatest matches spanning different eras. He played in Wilt Chamberlain’s 100-point game for the Philadelphia Warriors in Hershey, Pennsylvania, on March 2, 1962. Attles also made all eight of his field-goal tries for 17 points.  He coached Hall of Famer Rick Barry the day Barry scored 64 against Portland on March 26. 1974. Attles watched Klay Thompson drop 60 points over three quarters in December 2016 too.  “My heart is heavy today with the loss of my mentor and friend. Al was my roommate during my rookie season in the league. He taught me valuable lessons on being a professional that couldn’t be learned on the court,” Barry said in a statement released by the Warriors. “Later, as our coach during the 1975 championship season, he exemplified leadership, togetherness and a keen strategic ability that enabled us to succeed at the highest level.” This is another devastating loss for the Bay Area sports community after Giants baseball Hall of Famers Willie Mays and Orlando Cepeda recently died.  Attles coached Golden State to their first championship since moving West in 1975, then the Warriors won again 40 years later in 2015. His 557 coaching victories are most in franchise history.  He never compared all the great performances he cherished seeing up close. Different basketball times, different challenges. Attles said there were many special milestones to celebrate and appreciate. “I’ve seen a 100-point game,” Attles said from his seat during a late timeout on Thompson’s big night. “Rick was such a great player and he cared about winning. In order to score the number of points he scored you have to have help from your teammates. I try to look at them individually because once you start comparing, someone is always going to be No. 2. Let’s give him his credit.”

Goran Dragic, one of international basketball history’s underrated successes, retired from the sport with a charity match that featured legends and teammates who were close to him. The “Night of the Dragon,’’ which was held on Saturday in his home country Slovenia, was headlined by a match placing Dragic and few teammates against Slovenian star Luka Donic. Other players present were Steve Nash, Chris Bosh, Dirk Nowitzki, and Nikola Jokic. They honored Dragic’s last high-profile appearance on the basketball court.  Proceeds from the charity game and adjacent contests were donated to the Botrstvo v sportu program of the Friends of Youth Foundation Ljubljana Moste-Polje and the Goran Dragic Foundation.  Dragic also played against his brother, Zoran, whom he was briefly teammates with on the Phoenix Suns and Miami Heat in 2014-15. The evening closed with a mini-soccer match and on-court moments with family, including his son, father, and nephew.  The Suns traded for Dragic’s rights after he was chosen 45th overall in the 2008 Draft. He shone as a substitute point guard behind Nash, before he was traded to Houston. His time at Houston was marked by a 23-point fourth quarter in Game 3 of the 2010 Western Conference semifinals against the San Antonio Spurs.  He returned to Phoenix in 2012 through free agency, where he became the lead guard and won the award for 2013-14 Most Improved Player and All-NBA Third Team honors.  Dragic took another step forward in his career when he joined the Miami Heat in 2015. The 6-foot-3 lefty led Slovenia to an unexpected and unprecedented championship at EuroBasket 2017. He was named an Eastern Conference All-Star the following season. Dragic also played a significant role in the Heat reaching the 2020 NBA Finals. He averaged between 16 and 21 points per match in five different seasons while playing 946 games. His 4,405 career assists place 97th all-time. The Slovenian basketball team retired Dragic’s No.3.

Frank Selvy, an All-America guard at Furman who scored an NCAA Division-I record 100 points in a match, died on Tuesday at 91. Selvy also played nine NBA seasons.  Selvy’s family announced that he passed away at his home in Simpsonville. The Furham athletic department released the news. The school’s vice president of intercollegiate athletics, Jason Donnelly, called Selvy “Furman’s all-time greatest athlete.’’ However, a cause of death was not revealed. Selvy, who was 6-foot-3, was born in Corbin, Kentucky. He played for Furman from 1952 54 and led the NCAA twice in scoring, averaging 41.7 points as a senior. That year, he made history by scoring 100 points (41 field goals, 18 free throws) in a 145-95 victory over Newberry on February 13, 1954 in Greenville.  Selvy scored 40 points or higher 22 times in 79 collegiate games.  Frank was named Southern Conference player of the year in 1962-53 and 1953-54 and was a three-time All-America selection.  He was the No.1 overall draft pick in 1954 by the Baltimore Bullets, and a two-time All-Star during his nine-year NBA career. He played for five NBA franchises. Selvy spent his last 4 ½ seasons with the Lakers, relocating with them from Minneapolis to Los Angeles in 1960. He came back to Furman after he retired from his playing career and coached the Paladins for four seasons.  Frank is survived by his wife of 65 years, Barbara; two children, Valerie S. Miros and Mike Selvy; 11 grandchildren; and seven great-grandchildren.