Michael Pina

senior staff writer, @Ringer.

[email protected]

[Michael Pina @MichaelVPina]

Nikola Jokic is the smartest basketball player I’ve ever seen, so I spent most of this season working on a story that tries to explain every reason why: https://t.co/ZXcXSn2744

[Brian Barrett @itsbrianbarrett]

New “Off The Pike” Pod!

@MichaelVPina

- Brad and Chisholm address the media
- How good will the celts be?
- Jaylen’s fit in Philly
- the celts betting on their player development
- Paul George’s fit

https://t.co/Jcm84YIQBs

[Michael Pina @MichaelVPina]

nba offseason winners and losers! https://t.co/JMIn1jBA4X

[Michael Pina @MichaelVPina]

ok he’s one of my favorite players now

[m✰ 🇪🇸🇳🇴 @rodriiola]

I can’t tell you how much joy this Haaland clip brings me 🥹

[Michael Pina @MichaelVPina]

@TM071496 they would not

[Michael Pina @MichaelVPina]

nba offseason winners and losers! https://t.co/JMIn1jBA4X

[Michael Pina @MichaelVPina]

@dougie_fresh055 lol doug go find me someone who thinks they did a good job

[The Ringer @ringer]

The NBA’s wildest offseason in years changed the league. @MichaelVPina breaks down the winners, the losers, and what it all means:

https://t.co/VB6EiayPz7

[FIBA Basketball World Cup 🏆 @FIBAWC]

A heartfelt ovation for home hero Nikola Vucevic following his National Team retirement 🥹🇲🇪

#FIBAWC x #StepItUp

[Michael Pina @MichaelVPina]

probably my favorite american

[WatchMojo @WatchMojo]

It's July 5th! On this day 51 years ago, Arthur Ashe won at Wimbledon

[Zach Lowe @ZachLowe_NBA]

MAHONEY WRITING ALERT. The Jaylen Brown trade, driving the discourse in all ways

[ArtButMakeItSports @ArtButSports]

Dance in the Country, by Pierre-Auguste Renoir, 1883 (flipped)

[Michael Pina @MichaelVPina]

still can’t believe someone decided to get married during cape verde-argentina

[Michael Pina @MichaelVPina]

yes. this is spot on and happy he wrote it.

[kuz @kylekuzma]

After sitting here watching NBA free agency this year and overall NBA movement over the past 2 years somebody has to say it....

The new CBA was sold as parity, but the first and second apron are starting to function like a hard cap on player value, team continuity, and player movement.

Teams are no longer making purely basketball decisions. They’re making fear-based apron decisions. That means good players get squeezed, homegrown cores get broken up, fan-favorite teams lose their identity, and the overall product loses some of the nostalgia and continuity that made people fall in love with the NBA in the first place.

This isn’t about players not understanding business. It’s the opposite. We understand that the NBA is a business. That’s why the @TheNBPA has to operate with elite business acumen, elite negotiating strategy, and real foresight.

The owners and the league walk into these meetings with killers that continue to run circles around us time and time again with elite lawyers, economists, cap experts, media strategists, and long term business operators. Players deserve a PA that is just as sharp, just as prepared, and just as aggressive about protecting our upside.

Too often, it feels like players are informed after the fact instead of being truly educated and empowered before decisions are made. That cannot continue.

The next CBA is a do or die moment for us as players. It's only going to get worse for us. We need transparency, accountability, and a serious re evaluation of who is representing us and how they are representing us.

This is not anti parity. This is pro player, fan, and product. The league is strongest when players are valued properly, great teams can stay together, and the people representing us are operating at the same level as the people sitting across the table.

[Bill Simmons @BillSimmons]

I agree!

[Michael Pina @MichaelVPina]

@SeanSherbs07 @iamrahstradamus

[Michael Pina @MichaelVPina]

@atbos62 i do. you might need glasses 😃

[Michael Pina @MichaelVPina]

lol the jaylen brown discourse has crossed the rubicon. he's an extremely talented albeit flawed and complicated player. nuance is okay. but if you solely use analytics—a word that means nothing—or the eye-test to determine his value, your assessment isn't worth anything to me

[Michael Pina @MichaelVPina]

jaylen brown's all-nba season was a psyop

[Bad Stevens @DeathbyCeltics]

@MichaelVPina Any basketball analytics staffer would’ve told you that at any time over the past 4 years the media guys just wouldn’t have printed it

[Michael Pina @MichaelVPina]

@goopslat77 what

[Michael Pina @MichaelVPina]

@bostonguysports what is happening. i am not talking about his contract. i am commenting on a gm anonymously saying he isn't one of the 50 best players in the league when he is in fact one of the 50 best players in the league.

[Michael Pina @MichaelVPina]

i would respect these quotes so much more if they were made two weeks after he won finals mvp

[NBACentral @TheDunkCentral]

An anonymous NBA general manager doesn’t view Jaylen Brown as a top-50 player, per @TheAthletic

“Though the idea of him being viewed as the seventh-best player on a given team was widely mocked, a recent report that one front-office member saw Brown in that way illuminated the reality that advanced analytics never shined too brightly on Brown’s game. Even more pointedly, a current general manager, speaking anonymously to comment on internal team discussions, told The Athletic in the wake of the trade that he doesn’t view Brown as a top-50 player in the NBA.”

(Via https://t.co/daGXVy7Ici)