ًJu

I like basketball. Hoops, Habs and Ravens.

[ًJu @currypiston]

First Words in a while… just in time for post-All-Star reading.

Tariq Abdul-Wahad: The Secret All-Defensive Wing, a detailed scouting report on what made him special.

⬇️⬇️⬇️

[Ben Stiller @BenStiller]

@TownsMuse @iHateShaun Another angle:

[Tyler @tylerbritton_]

Stephon Castle finally got one. That was one of the most vicious posters I've ever seen.

[ًJu @currypiston]

@The_Bizness22 “the alien that was promised” lol never change

[Josh Lewenberg @JLew1050]

Back-to-back 🇨🇦 MVPs, 20 years apart

[The Players’ Tribune @PlayersTribune]

Keldon Johnson on his role with the @spurs: “I remember a couple years ago, I had a hard conversation with Pop. One morning, we were getting ready to play Dallas, and he pulled me to the side and told me that he thought it would be best for the team if I started coming off the bench. I said, ‘Yeah, of course. Whatever’s best for the team, I’ll do it.’ And I truly meant that, too.

But I’m also just human, man. And I was like 24 years old. If I said that I fully bought into this role from the jump, I’d be lying. I had averaged 22 points in the NBA. I’d won a gold medal with Team USA at the Olympics. So I just didn’t understand. I couldn’t wrap my head around it. And ultimately, I didn’t take it well. I sulked. I let the outside noise affect my play. I didn’t present the best version of myself as I was coming off the bench for the rest of that season. And I knew that I was much better than that.

I’ve been reflecting on that part of my journey a lot lately, with the position we’re in right now.

To backtrack a little bit…. When I was drafted in 2019, that was probably one of the most stressful nights of my life. I’d had a great year at Kentucky, and I thought I was going 9 or 10. In my mind, my floor was 15 to Detroit. The crazy thing is, I didn’t even work out for San Antonio. We talked a little bit on FaceTime, but I honestly didn’t think I’d still be on the board at 19 when the Spurs picked. Definitely not at 29, where I ended up going. I don’t know why I slipped so much, but thank God I did, because I landed at a proven organization with vets who could mold me.

That situation could have gone one of two ways. Thankfully, it went the good way.

Dejounte was young, too, but he knew the ropes better than me, and he made sure that I did everything the right way. I can’t thank him enough to this day for how much he’s helped my career. Same thing with DeMar DeRozan. Those guys really embraced me and took me under their wing as a young guy, and showed me how it was done. I feel like I had such a great group of vets, whether it was LaMarcus Aldridge, Patty Mills, Rudy Gay — all those guys went out their way to make sure I was solid. I feel like they knew how good I could be before I even knew how good I could be. They didn’t let me skip any steps, which was huge for my career early on.

And yeah, fast-forward to summer 2024, and I got to thinking back on my first couple years here in San Antonio, and how I could get that spark back, get back to being me. That’s when I started to see the bigger picture. We had picks. There were all these signs that we were building something that was gonna be special, all these bright green flags.

But there was this one red flag.

Me.

In that moment, I had to take a hard look in the mirror. And man, I just got embarrassed. I hated that feeling — the feeling that I had let my vets down, and especially let my younger teammates down.

This organization believed in me since day one, when Pop and our GM at the time R.C. Buford took a leap of faith on a player who was sliding in the draft and didn’t even have a workout at their facility. They had a plan, and I was a big piece of that plan. I just needed to get out of my own way. Period.

I knew that I could either be the person who tries to fight the change, who makes it about them and their ego, and tries to do everything their way (which never really works). Or, I could trust the process. And the Spurs never gave me a reason not to trust it. So I bought into my role, and I put my best foot forward each and every night. Whatever I had to do to be the best version of myself, I did it. And I feel like this season has been a testament to that.

I’m just really at home here. I think that’s probably obvious, right? The cowboy hat isn’t a gimmick. San Antonio is all me. Being a country boy, that’s just a part of who I am. From Huntington Prep to Oak Hill Academy to Kentucky, I feel like I just carried that country boy vibe with me everywhere I went.” https://t.co/WnVP4cXPll

[Between Two Beers Podcast @BeersBetween]

Steven Adams' genius approach to rebounding at the free throw line! 🤯

[lilac sky @womenofthehours]

shooting luck discourse is especially reductive because it often implies variance is independent of all other aspects of the game

[𝐹𝑟𝑎𝑛𝑐𝑖𝑠𝑡𝑒𝑛 @francistennn]

bradley was like the purest idea of poa defense as hand to hand combat where sometimes his aggression paid off and other times he was getting haymakered

it’s like arturo gatti defense that accepts punishment as a price of setting the tone of a certain game-state

[ًJu @currypiston]

cavs can’t contain the raps big 3

[Travonne Edwards @Travonne]

most underrated handles in the league , never in the best handle conversations but quick to shake the shadow of your favs

[ًJu @currypiston]

@JonesOnTheNBA peak gordon hayward++

[Mike Jagacki @Mike_Jagacki]

11 years of studying defense in 11 minutes...

[New Orleans Pelicans @PelicansNBA]

Jordan Poole. for the people

[ًJu @currypiston]

@tylerbritton_ lou and monta setting up PNRs tho

[Revering RJ Barrett's right hand @JBBHoops1]

What a clinic from JLin man

[ًJu @currypiston]

@bluelemxnade truly do not know how you counter that reach+touch combo in any era once he filled out that lower body. the post seals, shoulder fakes and genuine ambidexterity were just cherries on top.

[NBA @NBA]

ARE YOU SERIOUS, STEPHON CASTLE??

Just RIDICULOUS handles 🤯

[ًJu @currypiston]

@The_Bizness22 nah man i like bam but i have not seen basketball played in this 4th quarter lmao

[ًJu @currypiston]

this entire quarter has not been basketball

[ًJu @currypiston]

what am i watching dude