Jae Crowder and Bobby Portis have been through some memorable battles over the years, including the 2021 NBA Finals, but they’ve put any animosity behind them since becoming teammates, writes Lori Nickel of The Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel.
After Crowder was traded to the Bucks, he called Portis to invite him to work out together during the All-Star break. They joined teammate Joe Ingles for several days of training in Miami.
“Good guy, great guy, got nothing bad to say about him,” Portis said when asked about Crowder. “Sometimes you don’t know with guys because you play against guys all the time – and me and Jae always been the type of guys that kind of got into it. We always kind of bumped heads, but we bumped heads in a good way. We’re kind of similar; we brought intensity to the game, bring a chip on our shoulders.”
There’s more from the Central Division:
- Meyers Leonard is grateful to be back in the NBA after an absence that lasted nearly two years, per Jim Owczarski of The Journal-Sentinel. After signing a 10-day contract with the Bucks this week, Leonard met with the media to talk about the lessons he learned after being suspended for making an antisemitic comment in 2021. “It’s a mixed bag of emotions, for sure,” he said. “It’s certainly the hardest two-year stretch I’ve ever had in my life, as an adult, as a man. The truth is – let’s just cut to it – I made a really big mistake, the biggest mistake of my life. And it was an extremely difficult time because, first of all, just let me say to anybody who’s listening, I’m incredibly sorry. It was an ignorant mistake.”
- R.J. Hampton played nearly five minutes Saturday afternoon in his debut with the Pistons, even though he hasn’t practiced with the team yet. Hampton signed with Detroit on Thursday after clearing waivers following his buyout with Orlando. “He’s a good defender, but most of all his athleticism and his size at the two guard is something we want to look at,” coach Dwane Casey told Omari Sankofa II of The Detroit Free Press (Twitter link).
- Pacers coach Rick Carlisle talked to Scott Agness of Fieldhouse Files about the contributions of Jim Boylen, who has been serving as a consultant with the team in addition to his coaching duties with USA Basketball.
Hm Boylen must be the ‘Toughness Coach’ for Indy.
IMO
only 3 teams are huge overachieved this year.
Kings
Knicks
Bucks (Middleton is not in shape)
I pick the Bucks to win the East
Celtics GM is not good enough.
Bench guys
Portis
Crowder
Connaughton
Allen 3pt 41%
Carter 3pt 41%
Starters
Holiday 3pt 38%
Lopez 3pt 38%
Middleton needs to be in 70% condition
Stevens is a better GM than Milwaukee’s. He Mortgaged the farm. We shall see who hears the most rings.
Lmao, dude has zero rings and Horst has one. He’s done more with less, and Stevens inherited basically his whole core from Ainge.
I’m not going to say Stevens is a better GM than Horst but will say he’s made some bold moves in his first two seasons as GM. The Horford and Brogdon trades look good on paper but both could become negatives if Horford regresses and/or Brogdon can’t stay healthy.
Another bold move was trading for White. They gave up a 1st and pick swap which could be quite valuable if the Celtics aren’t able to keep Tatum and Brown surrounded with a solid supporting cast.
My prediction West
3 of the top 4 seeds will be knocked out in the first round playoffs if
5-8 seeds are
Mavs
Clippers
Warriors
Lakers
Celtics aren’t in the central