Having signed to play for a team in France, Boris Diaw explains in a YouTube video (French, with English subtitles) why he made the decision to join Levallois Metropolitans for the 2017/18 season after 14 years in the NBA.
“This decision wasn’t about the money,” Diaw said. “It was about joining a club that could benefit from my presence, where I could help guide and teach the younger players. It was about bringing them my experience, my advice. It was also about staying fit. It provided me with an opportunity to play at a high level and stay physically fit while waiting for a potential offer from an NBA team that might need me during the season.”
As we wait to see if Diaw makes his way back to the NBA at some point in 2017/18, let’s round up a few more odds and ends from around the basketball world…
- While commissioner Adam Silver hoped NBA owners could reach on gentlemen’s agreement on policing the rest of healthy players, team owners – led by Robert Sarver of the Suns – encouraged Silver to institute concrete rules and potential punishments in order to curb the issue, writes ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski. Wojnarowski’s piece examines Silver’s role in addressing the DNP-Rest problem, and looks at the commissioner’s push for lottery reform.
- In a piece for HoopsHype, Bryan Kalbrosky identifies a number of players who may end up exceeding expectations in contract years. Of course, many of the players on Kalbrosky’s list – including Gary Harris, Rodney Hood, and Jusuf Nurkic – are eligible for extensions until opening night, so 2017/18 may not end up being a contract year for some of them.
- Sasa Doncic, the father of young Real Madrid star Luka Doncic, called his son a unique talent who “plays in a magical way,” but acknowledged that he’d like to see him improve his shot a little (link via AS.com; translation via Emiliano Carchia of Sportando). Doncic is expected to be one of the first players to come off the board in the 2018 draft.
“Sarver of the Suns encouraged Silver to institute concrete rules and potential punishments in order to curb the issue”. This from the guy whose team “rested” a healthy Devin Booker in the LAST game of the season.
Not to mention Eric Bledsoe for the last month.
I guess when your team is as bad as the Suns are right now, you have to make sure that every LBJ, Steph, KD, etc. comes through the building to keep the fans invested.