billwalton - Sports News, Headlines & Highlights

Dalton Knecht and Reed Sheppard could do something not seen since 1974This year’s NBA Draft has been dubbed the weakest since the Cleveland Cavaliers wasted the first overall pick on Anthony Bennett. There’s no consensus prize, or catchy tank phrase. Just the Detroit Pistons, San Antonio Spurs, Washington Wizards, and Portland Trail Blazers vying to see who can most e...

Blame Michael Jordan for Krause widow disgrace; Rudy Gobert trade finally paying off; Lakers need Zach LaVineMichael Jordan won a widow getting booed. My colleague Stephen Knox covered this yesterday, the booing of Jerry Krause’s widow Thelma during the Chicago Bulls’ Ring of Honor ceremony on Friday, and he isn’t wrong. It’s another “feather” in the “cap” of Jerry Reinsdorf, though he wouldn’t have been i...

Alperen Şengün has a chance to be as good as Nikola JokićEvery other generation, a player changes how his position is taught, scouted and played. For the current generation of players entering their prime years, that dude is Nikola Jokić. The “Joker” has taken the passing acumen of former bigs Vlade Divac, Yao Ming, Bill Walton and Arvydas Sabonis and com...

Chet Holmgren and Victor Wembanyama are finishing what Joel Embiid and Nikola Jokic started

If there’s anything the most recent NBA champions taught us, it’s that the center can still be the focal point of an offense. Sixty-six-million years ago, Michael Jordan’s arrival was a terraforming meteor that ended the age of the pivots and began the reign of guards. Prior to His Airness, NBA cham...

The Pac-12 is imploding spectacularly

There’s something cathartic about watching conference realignment. Dooms-dayers have been preaching that the end is near for a while, and as the Pac-12 folds, the ACC and Big 12 look on, praying to avoid a similar fate. Deep down, they know it’s over, and they, too, will be ravaged by the SEC and Bi...

We still can’t have normal conversations about Nikola Jokić

SBNation writer Mat Issa tweeted out an observation following Game 1 of the NBA Finals. He noticed that the Denver Nuggets were able to get a defensive stop because of something that Nikola Jokić did at the free-throw line....

Is Victor Wembanyama’s size a gift or a curse? Let's debate

The following conversation is based on real-life arguments and was conducted by two professionals. Please, don’t attempt to replicate any discussion as takes of these temperatures should be handled with gloves and safety glasses and under the care and supervision of adults. Today’s social experiment...

AI is all fun and games, until it’s not, which is part of why Hollywood has shut down

For those people who turned on The Tonight Show on Tuesday and the wacky game that Jimmy Fallon was playing with a guest looked familiar, that’s because it was a rerun. There will be no late-night television while the television and film scribes of the Writers Guild of America are on strike....