Don’t worry, we’ll have plenty of USMNT stuff, starting tonight with the roster announcement. It’s all we’ll do. Well, all I will do. I’m collecting Hacksaw Jim Duggan gifs, let me tell you. This is a space for all the others.

So, to England. The Big Bad of Group B. One of the favorites for the whole tournament, a label they wear with all the joy of Sisyphus. The English are never happy. When they’re not talked about, they bitch and moan about not being the center of attention. When they are the center of attention, they bemoan the assured failure to come. For all their “It’s coming home!” bluster, it’s all a cover. They don’t just fear the drop, they know it and expect it. They basically want it. They wouldn’t know what to do if they won. Exhibit A: The Lionesses not getting a full parade for their Euro 2022 triumph. They caught the whole country cold by actually winning, and beating the Germans to do it.

Here’s another thing about this World Cup. Someone dumb is going to win it, likely. The run-up is too short and too weird, no one’s going to have a full roster, and there won’t be time or availability to put together a comprehensive tactical plan. Which means any team that can get to something effective quickly, or has some special chemistry creating something ineffable, will probably win it. Which means, most likely, a team that can be defensive as all shit and never give up a goal and just find ways to nick one for themselves once a match very well might win the whole thing. Think Greece in 2004 or Portugal in 2016 in the Euros. It’s what we might be looking at in Qatar.

So yes, England manager Gareth Southgate does have an array of attacking talent that is the envy of everyone, save a few nations. Yes, in a vacuum, one should be able to find a way to combine Harry Kane, Phil Foden, Raheem Sterling, and Jude Bellingham into a terrifying force that rains fire upon anyone unfortunate enough to be scheduled to get in their way. Throw Luke Shaw (now that Ben Chilwell is out) and Trent Alexander-Arnold (now that Reece James is out) bombing up and down the flanks and whipping in crosses and through-balls and who cares if they might give up a goal or two? They should score 10!

Yes, had Southgate been just a little braver in July of 2021, England probably take home their first major trophy since Revolver came out. They took the lead against Italy. They had the Italians on the backfoot with their lightning counters. Italy couldn’t find Harry Kane when he dropped deep and was dishing out dimes for the first half hour. And then England retreated. And retreated. And retreated. Italy pulled their midfield back to give Jorginho and Verratti more space with the ball and they started orchestrating. England rarely saw the ball again. Had Southgate had that step-on-throat gene, England maybe get a second and it’s all over. Instead, he backed up and backed up.

Here’s the thing though. England never conceded a goal from open play. Denmark scored off a free kick. Italy off a corner. At this tournament, that method might be even more important. England can absolutely be that dumb team that wins it. The team that lifts the trophy and you can’t remember enjoying any of the games they played. Fuck, most of the world thinks England is dumb anyway, in whatever form.

The question may be “can England be that tight defensively again?” Their last “competitive” game saw them give up three to Germany at home, though neither team had anything to play for. They only kept one clean sheet throughout the six matches of the Nations League. Harry Maguire might still get on this fucking team, and if he doesn’t they’ll be counting on Eric Dier. That’s showing up to a gunfight with the kevlar vest on your head.

Still, Southgate will only have a week. It’ll be far easier to try and construct a defense than attack. He still has Declan Rice, one of the better shields for a defense from midfield that you can find (though he can do more). He has Bellingham, maybe the most exciting young midfielder in the game as well, who can do everything a midfielder can (though he can do more than shield a defense too). Seeing as how Southgate has never constructed a passionate attacking team, nor has he ever really tried, which way do you think he’s gonna go?

As for the rest of the group, we’ll lean into the USMNT heavy on its own. They could be anything, you know that. Wales and Iran are kind of similar in that we know exactly what they’ll be. Neither is going to be terribly attacking. This whole group might produce seven or eight goals. They’ll both sit back and then try to hit their one forward, be it Gareth Bale or Mehdi Taremi, respectively, with a sucker punch. They’ll be deep, and it won’t be a whole lot of fun. But these are teams with cohesive plans, ones they’ve enacted for years now. They can fall into it at a moment’s notice. For both England and the U.S., teams that are caught in between what they should be, that could be a real problem given the brevity of preparation and the tournament itself.

The lesson, as always, is it’s important to know yourself.

Manager most likely to get red-carded: Has to be Iran’s Carlos Quieroz, as he just got sent off at last year’s AFCON. Should only take one penalty or VAR decision to break that Portuguese cool.

Easy narrative: If Maguire makes the England squad, he will almost certainly score in their first game against Iran.

For as much tanking and general thirst that the top three picks of the 2022 NBA Draft garnered, they haven’t merited that attention quite yet. In Chet Holmgren’s case, it’s impossible because he’s out for the season. Paolo Banchero is going to win Rookie of the Year, and little else on an Orlando Magic team that’s 2-9, but, hey, 23/8/3 in your debut season ain’t bad.

The Houston Rockets have the same record as the Magic and are playing a similar brand of developmental basketball. However, Jabari Smith Jr., their top three pick who I regrettably would’ve picked first overall, has yet to top the 20-point mark in any outing. It’s early, and he missed time recently due to the flu, but scoring 10 points on as many shots per game on 30 percent shooting while getting 30 minutes of run per night is alarming.

If any skill was supposed to translate from his lone/incredible year as an Auburn Tiger, it was his shooting. Smith made 42 percent of his five-plus 3 attempts while nabbing seven boards a night, and playing good to great defense. When you watched Auburn though, it felt like Smith had to rip the ball out of his inefficient, shot-happy guards’ hands to get a touch.

He probably still has PTSD from watching K.D. Johnson and Wendell Green jack up a combined 21 shots per contest while hitting just 37 percent of them. Fellow Tiger front-court mate Walker Kessler, who’s currently a cog of the upstart Utah Jazz’s success, had a 60 percent clip from the field, and he couldn’t get more than eight looks per game.

After Smith fell to the Rockets with the third pick, the “If he thought his guards hogged the ball too much in Montgomery, wait until he gets a load of Jalen Green and Kevin Porter Jr.” joke was a cliche on NBA Twitter. I laughed the first time, and maybe the second, but stopped after that because do people really not know that the exact same scenario awaited him in Houston?And how depressing that is?

The Rockets young backcourt up chucks a staggering 34 shots combined between the two of them. That’s two fewer than notable/good guard combos like the Splash Brothers, Damian Lillard and Anfernee Simons, or Donovan Mitchell and Darius Garland. I’ll let you guess which backcourt is hitting a measly 40 percent of their field goals while doling out the least amount of assists of those four duos.

I think I shouldn’t have to spell it out, but I will to avoid any confusion: It’s Green and Porter. I was being kind when I described Houston’s current style of play as developmental. That’s a nice way of saying shitty, and, honestly, they’re not developing anything other than bad habits and a sense of frustration for Smith.

The Rockets are bottom four in the league in point differential, and of their nine losses, only one game was within a score, with five Ls by double digits. Smith has one game over 50 percent from the floor, and his looks have consistently decreased as the year has progressed.

Yes, some of the poor numbers are due to the illness. That said, the NBA was supposed to be better-suited to his skill set. A 6-foot-10 power forward with a stroke lifted out of a shooting clinic should pop off the screen when you turn on a Houston game, not go unnoticed for long stretches.

If you want to sell me on Green’s potential, that’s fine. He also was a high pick and showed real flashes a year ago. I’m less worried about Porter or Alperen Şengün maximizing their talent. Şengün is nice but shouldn’t be as big of a priority as the team’s 2022 draft prize.

I feel bad for coach Stephen Silas. He appears to have less control over his group than Bruce Pearl did last year at Auburn. Be that as it may, someone has to stop practice, or a game, and reiterate that Smith is a member of the team.

If not that, bring in a traditional point guard so Jabari can at least understand what that position is supposed to do for him.

Yesterday, after failing to find a trade partner, the Las Vegas Raiders cut former first-round safety Johnathan Abram. According to reports, the Raiders were shopping both Abram and fellow 2019 first-round selection Clelin Ferrell, but, after being unable to find trade partners, Vegas opted to cut ties with the former No. 27 overall pick Abram, while keeping Ferrell on the roster.

Abram wasn’t bad, and after being cut he was promptly claimed by the Green Bay Packers, but he wasn’t good enough to warrant the Raiders keeping him around. Through three-and-a-half seasons in the NFL, Abram played in 36 games (started in 34), recorded three interceptions, and 255 total tackles.

Abram’s release puts a cap on the latest of a surprisingly long line of Raiders first-round busts. Between 2019 and 2021, the Raiders had six first-round draft selections. Currently, there are only two that are still on the Vegas roster, and only one — Josh Jacobs (2019) — is actually seeing considerable playing time. The other, Ferrell (2019), has seen only 221 snaps throughout all of 2022. For perspective, teammate and fellow edge rusher Maxx Crosby has played 501 defensive snaps this year.

This stretch of dreck is obviously devastating to the Raiders, but where there is misery, there is also opportunity. You see, last season the Los Angeles Rams showcased a strategy for success, namely, trading all of your picks in order to obtain players who can help you win right now. The Rams haven’t had a first-round draft pick since taking Jared Goff No. 1 overall in 2016. They also haven’t drafted well. Tutu Atwell has one career catch. He was their first draft pick in 2021 (taken in the second round). Cam Akers was their first pick in 2020. He’s practically disappeared in the Rams’ offense. The most talked about Rams draft pick from the 2022 is running back Kyren Williams. He hasn’t been talked about because he’s good, but because he might be the lead back when he returns from the IR. The only impactful draft picks the Rams have made since 2017 are maybe Joe Noteboom, maybe Taylor Rapp, maybe Jordan Fuller, and maybe Van Jefferson. Yet, prior to their massive falloff this season, the Rams were perennial Super Bowl contenders.

Maybe this is what the Raiders need to do.

First-round picks have tremendous value. For that price, we saw the Eagles secure WR A.J. Brown. We saw the Cardinals grab Marquise Brown. We saw the Colts acquire DeForest Buckner. Amari Cooper was traded for a first as well. That’s a lot of receivers, but it shows the value that first-round picks have. Trading those away won’t solve all of the Raiders’ problems. They need too much help on the offensive line and defense for first-round picks to fix, but you know what’s better than whiffing on a first-rounder? Getting a proven vet.

The Raiders have two options after this season (unless they turn things around in a drastic manner): they can either blow everything up — let go of Derek Carr, sell Davante Adams, Denzel Perryman, and Darren Waller — or they can go all-in to compete with the Chiefs and Chargers. Three first-rounders could get a great D-lineman, a top-tier corner, maybe a safety. That goes a long way. Couple that with the remainder of your draft picks and free agency, and there’s a chance the Raiders could compete as early as next year. They just need to pull the trigger.

Position: Midfielder

Club: Borussia Dortmund

Likely Role: Health concerns keep him from being an automatic starter…but he should be an automatic starter.

Best Case: The training wheels come off, and Reyna is no longer protected by Berhalter as he has been and starts all three games. And he starts all three games as the third midfielder ahead of McKennie, leaving the US to get more of Aaronson, Pulisic, and Weah on the field at the same time. His greater passing and dribbling skill when compared to McKennie makes the US more dynamic and unpredictable and opens up more chances than they normally would get. One mazy run like this one results in a goal, sets Twitter alight, becomes the talk of the tournament for a couple of days, forces a nine-figure move away from Dortmund to save Barcelona, who are forced to pull every lever they have left, and probably bankrupts the club. Ends up at Newcastle as they make their assault on the summit thanks to their blood money.

Worst Case: His health only allows him to start one group game and to be a supersub in the rest. Deployed out wide, and gets isolated from the midfield. Breaks down again. Or tries too hard, tries too much, and loses possession a lot trying to make things happen, in what looks like a pretty solid Pulisic-on-the-national-team impression.

Mere hours before a nationally televised matchup against the New York Knicks, the Brooklyn Nets opted for a semblance of stability, or at least a stable shoulder to lean on, when they removed the interim tag from assistant coach Jacque Vaughn’s title.

Whoever is interviewing for the Nets open P.R. coordinator position just released a sigh of relief that they won’t have to answer for the Ime Udoka hire that seemed imminent a week ago.

The moxie it would have taken to stroll Ime Udoka through the doors to face the ravenous New York media and expect the focus to be on basketball would have required some Simone Biles-grade gymnastics. Udoka’s negotiations with the Nets may have reached an impasse when cooler heads began convincing owner Joseph Tsai to avoid the artificial drama and just stick with Vaughn.

Promoting Udoka in 2020 or early 2021, when he was on the Nets staff, would have been a good look. Hiring a controversy magnet who was Eric Benet-ing his way out of the Celtics job merely two months after he was suspended for the season by Boston’s Human Resources Department was terrible optics.

In 2022, Udoka was too much for this team to shoulder. Every press conference in the first few weeks would be a game of 21 questions about his improper relationship with a Celtics staff member. In Vaughn, the Nets have a head coach who, like Udoka, worked his way from NBA journeyman to assistant. If anything, Vaughn’s hiring earns them the positive press they badly need. Not only did the franchise fire the NBA’s last white North American superstar in Steve Nash, to consider replacing him with a Black coach engulfed in scandal, but they thought better of it, and promoted a deserving, scandal-free minority coach.

And Vaughn knows a little something about rebounding from rough starts. In 2001, he started the regular season missing an NBA record 22 consecutive shots and had the TNT crew of Charles Barkley, Ernie Johnson, and Kenny Smith praying for his shot to finally fall. He wound up shooting a career-high 47 percent from the field that season.

Vaughn will need that sort of resilience to steer Brooklyn back from the jagged rocks they’ve been speeding toward during their 2-5 start. His course correction has been a short-term success, and the Nets’ downward spiral has seemingly slowed since his promotion. Which is all the more reason to keep those good vibes going.

Vaughn’s ability to navigate through failure is emblematic of why superstars rarely make good coaches. As an active player, Vaughn was a no-frills, heady backup point guard. He’ll need that background and his familiarity in the locker room as a Nets assistant since 2016 to connect with Kyrie Irving in ways that Steve Nash never could. Despite Nash being the coach that Durant signed off on after getting to know him while Nash was the Warriors’ player development consultant, he then turned him into a scapegoat over the summer.

Ultimately, Irving’s insubordination was the last straw. According to what an anonymous advance scout said he witnessed during Nash’s final loss, a contest against the Indiana Pacers on Oct. 29, Irving ignored Nash’s play calls nearly a dozen times. Coupled with reports that Irving would run practices after Nash left the facility last season, it’s obvious that Vaughn’s prior experience amid NBA struggles will be sorely needed. On a superstar-laden roster, Vaughn is the scrappy professional who has crawled through the muck just to get this opportunity.

Like Udoka, Vaughn can also claim an advanced coaching degree from the School of Gregg Popovich after spending two seasons on the Spurs staff before accepting the Orlando Magic’s head coaching job. His first NBA head coaching opportunity was a death trap. After three seasons, he was relieved of his duties, but nobody has won in Orlando since.

The Nets needed a serious coach who can moonlight as their sherpa through tempestuous weather instead of anchoring them in the eye of a hurricane and they got one in Vaughn.

Pete Carroll still gets it.

The way the NFL works. How to win. What his team needs and doesn’t need to compete with the best teams in the league.

The longtime Seahawks has somehow rejuvenated a team everyone predicted would finish last in the NFC West and finish the season with a top-five draft pick. Well, the Seahawks are leading their division by a game and a half through nine games. Nobody saw that coming.

But it looks different this time around for Seattle. Carroll, a defensive coach by trade, known for the “Legion of Boom” defenses of the early-mid 2010s, is doing it with an explosive offense. The Seahawks had productive offenses under Russell Wilson for a few years after the Legion of Boom phase, but none of this was expected with Geno Smith under center.

These Seahawks are led by an offense that ranks fourth in scoring averaging 26.8 points per game. Seattle is seventh in total rushing yards and ninth in passing yards. Smith had been written off as a bust following stints with both New York teams and the Chargers. The former West Virginia Mountaineer finally looks like a capable starting NFL quarterback. It only took close to a decade to find his place, and a coach who believed in him.

After Smith’s final year at West Virginia, big things were expected when the Jets selected him 39th overall in the 2013 draft. His first two years in New York can be summarized as mediocre at best, and that’s stating it nicely. During year three’s training camp is where things took an even worse turn for Smith after he was punched in by teammate IK Enemkpali. Smith suffered a fractured jaw that forced him to miss half the year. After a couple more years on the bench, Geno bounced around to the Giants and Chargers before landing on the Seahawks’ bench in 2020. And that clearly was the best thing to happen for his career.

Thanks to Carroll and second-year offensive coordinator Shane Waldron, Smith looks like a dark horse MVP candidate halfway through the season. But let’s not give the coaching staff all the credit for Geno’s success. He’s playing better than most thought imaginable.

Smith is having the best year of his career, completing 73 percent of his passes while posting a 107.2 passer rating and a QBR of 68. He’s thrown for nearly 245 yards per game and has 15 touchdowns to just four interceptions. The 15 TDs tie Smith for fifth in the NFL with Tua Tagovailoa, and his 2,199 passing yards ranks sixth in the league. Winning MVP could prove out of reach, but Comeback Player of the Year seems well within reach.

Coach Carroll could also find himself vying for honorary hardware in the form of Coach of the Year. If the Seahawks win 12 or 13 games this year after nobody expected them to win more than six, Carroll would be a top contender for the award. Believe it or not, Carroll’s never been named COY in the NFL. With every week that passes, his Seahawks are making believers out of the doubters, showing it’s never too late for an old coach to adopt a new approach to the game.

Following last season’s disappointing journey and final destination, the Atlanta Hawks are off to a blazing start to this season. They are 7-3 and not only look like the clear best team in the Southeast division, but also like one of the better squads in the Eastern Conference.

They have played the best team in the East — the Milwaukee Bucks — twice. On the road, they fought the Bucks hard but ended up losing by eight. Monday, without Trae Young in the lineup, the Hawks handed Milwaukee its first L of the season with a 19-point victory at home.

Atlanta made one the bigger moves of the offseason by trading the San Antonio Spurs three first-round picks, a swap, and Danilo Gallinari — currently on the Boston Celtics and out for the season with an ACL injury — for Dejounte Murray. It was a big swing that didn’t get much love.

Many NBA analysts thought the move was a positive, but it wouldn’t make much of a difference for the Hawks in a loaded Eastern Conference, outside of possibly keeping them out of the play-in tournament. There were questions as to how much Murray would help a defense that was the fifth-worst in the NBA last season, and how Young would adjust to another ball-dominant player in the backcourt who also isn’t very tall by NBA standards.

The offense is still a work in progress for the Hawks. Young has been a less efficient scorer with both his field goal and 3-point percentage down, and they are no longer the second-best offense in the league. All that being said, their offense is still sixth-best in the NBA. Young is on pace for a career-low in turnovers while still having a high usage rate, and Murray is having the best offensive season of his career. He’s averaging 22.3 points per game and 8.4 assists on 45.7/35.9/87 shooting splits.

On the defensive end, Murray is making a world of difference for the Hawks. True, he gambles and sometimes gets burned, but he is proving to be worthy of being selected as a second-team All-Defensive player last season. The Hawks are currently the 11th-best defensive team in the NBA, and the on/off numbers with Murray are eye-popping. When he’s on the floor for the Hawks their defensive rating is 21.4 points per 100 possessions better than when he is sitting down. They’ve only played 10 games, so that number will likely come down a bit, but it is clear that Murray’s quickness and long arms are providing the Hawks with a second-strong perimeter defender that they sorely needed to complement De’Andre Hunter.

What the Hawks also needed was someone who can create on offense besides Young. As great as they were on offense last season, the Miami Heat bullied the Hawks off of the floor in five games. Young played some of his worst basketball since early in his rookie season because the Heat swarmed him all series. Without Young creating havoc in the paint off of the pick and roll, and the nickname “Ice” better describing his jump shot than his demeanor, that great offense played one good quarter of basketball in that series.

It’s no longer 2001. The Atlanta Hawks can’t operate like the Philadelphia 76ers did with one small ball-dominant guard and the rest of the team fitting in around him. Not to mention, that 76ers team had the Defensive Player of the Year — Dikembe Mutombo — while the Hawks were one of the worst teams in the league on that end of the floor last season.

In order to prevent that surprising 2021 playoff run that ended in a defeat in the Eastern Conference Finals from becoming a fluke, major change was necessary. The Hawks regressed in a major way last season. In order to hold onto the little bit of national spotlight that they have garnered, another all-star was necessary. Murray not only looks like he’s on his way to his second all-star selection, but also might be the best addition of the offseason.

Here we go again.

Another big-name free agent on the open market and the Dallas Cowboys are among the first teams mentioned where “interest” is concerned. Odell Beckham Jr. is on track to make his return from an ACL injury suffered in the Super Bowl in February. The only thing missing for OBJ is a team to play with. Cowboys owner Jerry Jones, during his weekly radio spot on 105.3 The Fan in Dallas on Tuesday, sold fans another bill of goods, talking about how good Beckham would look with the star on his helmet.

“Odell is someone that we have all the appreciation in the world for what he is as a competitor. I know the Cowboys star on that helmet when he puts it on could look pretty good.” Jones explained.

Why Jerry?

Why does Jones do this to his faithful fanbase? There have been too many times in the recent past where we’ve seen free agents who want to sign with Dallas and even publicly stated their wish to play for the Cowboys, only to wind up signing elsewhere. During the offseason, Bobby Wagner and Von Miller expressed an interest in wearing the star. Neither player was signed by Jones.

Now Jones has another opportunity to bring a big attraction to Big D, and anyone who’s followed this team for a considerable amount of time knows it probably won’t happen. Twenty years ago, maybe, but today it isn’t likely. Jerry would prefer to talk about winning at all costs, then when it’s time to take action, we hear crickets.

Don’t believe the hype.

What it comes down to is Jones loving the hype machine. He’d be the ultimate hype man like Flavor Flav back in the day. Jerry Jer? But when it comes to actually get big-time free agents in the building, Jones has failed recently. Jones has relied more on the draft than anything in the past decade or so. That’s great, but when you’re constantly speaking about doing whatever it takes to win, fans want to see more walking and less talking.

No one is saying Jerry isn’t wise in being cautious, especially when it comes to a player like Beckham, who is coming off another ACL injury. (Detroit Lions WR Jameson Williams tore his ACL a month before Beckham and is poised to return in December.) But the Cowboys could use another weapon at wide receiver — do you trust anyone beyond CeeDee Lamb and Michael Gallup? — and they wouldn’t have to pay much for OBJ’s services over the last two months of the season. It’s a low-risk, high-reward proposition. The Rams are consistently figuring out ways to get around salary cap restrictions to bring in players that will help them win. They did it with OBJ and Miller last year, and it paid off.

If Jones really wants to win as badly as he claims, we need to see more go and less show. Stop telling the media what you want to do or who would look good in your uniform and go get ‘em. Then tell us what they’ll do or how good they look with the Cowboys star on their helmet. Everybody knows you can run your mouth with the best of ‘em, Jerry. Cowboys fans want to see their team make it past the divisional round of the playoffs. If there’s a realistic chance that Beckham can help, you need to get him to Big D.

Otherwise, Jones needs to stop commenting so strongly on players he has no intention of signing.

Basketball fans always wondered why the pre-Kevin Durant Golden State Warriors didn’t start its vaunted Death Lineup but instead opted to begin games with Andrew Bogut at center. The combination of Steph Curry, Klay Thompson, Andre Iguodala, Harrison Barnes, and Draymond Green finished the 73-win season plus-45 in 177 minutes of action.

For a frame of reference, the best five from the 2013-14 San Antonio Spurs that blew out everybody, including the Heatles, were Tim Duncan, Tony Parker, Kawhi Leonard, Boris Diaw, and Danny Green. They logged 103 minutes together to finish plus-29 for the year. That also wasn’t their starting five as the group with Thiago Splitter in lieu of Diaw played the most minutes.

This is a long way of saying that as great as small ball is, it’s physically taxing. It’s perfectly reasonable to ask a guy who seems like the perfect center for today’s space and pace era to play the five when he’s been a four most of his career. That said, it has to be done judiciously, which brings me to Anthony Davis.

While he wasn’t Cal Ripken in New Orleans, Davis never played fewer than 56 games and surpassed the 60-game mark every other year. He’s only appeared in more than 60 contests once as a Laker — his first year with the team, the one that won the Bubble title.

The most used lineup that year by now-former coach Frank Vogel was the one that had Javale McGee next to AD. Since then, it’s been the corpse of Marc Gasol or 21 games of Andre Drummond in 2020-21, no center/Carmelo Anthony last year, and much the same this season.

Whoever convinced Davis to bulk up and lose the agility and springiness that made him one of the best basketball players on the planet needs to be fired immediately. As should the GM who has failed to bring in one of the many centers that other teams seem to find off the street to fill a rim-protecting role. Rob Pelinka, call Dwight Howard right now before he gets to Taiwan.

Think about Duncan. He probably could’ve played his entire career as a center. His prime wouldn’t have lasted as long, and the Spurs-issance most likely doesn’t happen, but he could’ve done it.

Duncan didn’t have to though, and he was able to extend his effectiveness well beyond the lifespan of his knees because San Antonio paired him with a big man to ostensibly take the bulk of the punishment. Also, if you remember, the greatest power forward of all time cut — not gained — weight as he aged.

This notion that James should be passing the torch to Davis has been beaten into the brains of Lakers fans because it’s fucking true. The Brow averaged 26, 9, and 3 with two blocks and a little over a steal in his first season in purple and gold. He’s attempted the same amount of shots per game (17) in the subsequent seasons, and can’t break the 23 ppgPPG barrier while leading the league in grimaces.

The natural reaction, as is always the case, is to point to LeBron as the reason AD is at the 5. He’s a point forward in every sense of the term, and thou shall not put the King on a team that’s not specifically tailored to him. Yet, the decision by L.A.’s front office to appease James now overthinkingover thinking about AD’s future was the choice they made.

Many even agreed. The most effective way to maximize those two players is to let them run pick and roll surrounded by shooters. That’s basically how the Warriors did it with their Death Lineup, and, look, it still worked last season with the Curry, Green, Thompson, Jordan Poole, and Andrew Wiggins combo.

Oh wait, what’s that? The Dubs’ most-used and best plus-minus five in the 2022 playoffs was the one featuring Kevon Looney in place of Poole? The original Death Lineup actually had a negative point differential in the playoffs? And the bubble title Lakers’ best/most-used five during their title run was the lineup that featured McGee and Davis?.

People rightfully questioned whether Draymond could still play his game after returning from injury last playoffs. He had some peaks and valleys for sure, but in the closeout game put up 12, 12, 8, 2, and 2 in 41 minutes of action. Now in his 11th season, he’ll turn 33 in March, and while his future is uncertain in the Bay Area, it’s not because he’s washed or injury-proneinjury prone.

Steve Kerr doesn’t stick Green at center all 82 games for the same reason that Gregg Popovich always kept a Thiago Splitter or a Fabricio Oberto next to Duncan. And that’s because playing up a position is a capital G Grind.

Davis will turn 30 a week after Green celebrates his Larry Bird birthday, and the Lakers need to take a hint from their Northern California rivals on how to prolong the prime of a power forward. So, for the love of god, sign a center to alleviate the burden that’s rapidly eroding AD’s health and prime.