Here’s how we picture it: President Obama is in the Situation Room in July, hanging out by himself in a quiet moment. Instead of using all the ridiculous technology for politics, he uses his downtime to call up Kyrie Irving‘s equally ridiculous first-day highlights from the Team USA scrimmage in Las Vegas. Just the ROY on repeat, doing that full-court sprint past James Harden, Kobe and Kevin Durant. We bring it up because the Leader of the Free World spent some time talking about how much he enjoys Irving’s game on a radio interview in Cleveland recently. Instead of talking politics the interview was all about sports, and 44 made sure to drop off his mash note for Irving in the process:”He showed what he could do last year, and despite occasional injuries, he’s just a solid player that doesn’t make a lot of rookie mistakes, has a shot, good off the dribble, knows how to find the open man, it’s a lot of talent at the point guard position, [the Cavs] just need to round it out.” There’s no debating that, Barack. … Dwyane Wade now can spill about the worst secret in the world now that he’s joined Li-Ning after being with the Nike Family for nine years. He gets unlimited control with the Chinese company, which is hoping to be a giant at home first before entering the U.S. market. So Wade picks the endorsers, what he wants out of his own line, even the kind of leathers he puts on his sneakers. Check out what it means for him to be a partner with Li-Ning in the Dime interview our guy Sean Sweeney did with Wade today. It’s heavy on the details about sneakers for anyone who loves them. … Al Jefferson is a big guy but he went out and bought a bed the size of the paint on a court. Some people are worked up about the $23,000 crash spot’s price, but we’re not worried about that so much as the size. What “Anchorman” said about eating a wheel of cheese we’ll adapt for Big Al’s bed: we’re not even mad, just impressed. … From the Dept. of Way Out of Left Field, Chris Douglas-Roberts got a Q-and-A today in ESPN LA and his best answer wasn’t even about the Lakers team he’s trying to make. When he was asked about his year in Italy, he filled us in on how some Euro ball isn’t very glamorous, especially in the locker rooms. In detail. “There was mold everywhere. … Guys were getting staph infections. It was basically back to when I was growing up in Detroit.” Detroit, are you just going to take that? … Read on to hear about all of Thursday’s games …
We weren’t the only ones to pick up on this, but when Jason Kidd guarded Bradley Beal in Thursday’s Knicks-Wizards preseason game, it was a showdown between a guy in his 19th year in the NBA against a guy in his 19th year on Earth. We knew this Knicks team was old but that blew us away. The Wizards ripped off a 22-0 run to take the lead before halftime in this one but New York held on 108-101. Tyson Chandler had a nasty putback slam in the third quarter but Steve Novak was the man for the NYK, hitting all 21 of his points on threes without a miss from behind the arc. It was funny to hear the Wizards’ broadcast team get a little more agitated as he loaded to shoot behind the arc. Putting in a dude who’s money from range anyway in a game with zero significance is the perfect recipe for Novak to pull up given any opening. … Speaking of J-Kidd, check out the Air Flight 95‘s he showed off … The Heat beat the Clippers, 94-90, in Beijing with a truly disturbingly ridiculous putback by LeBron coming during the action. He rose up off a Norris Cole missed floater, turned his back in midair and flushed it reverse. And the whole time he looked like he was as excited as someone in the DMV, like he barely tried. … If you didn’t know, Big Baby Davis dropped a single to be his own hype music in the arena in Orlando called “Big Baby Gon’ Turn It Up.” We’re not sure if this is to the level of turnin’ it up, but he had 16 points and 12 boards in the Magic’s 102-95 loss to Philly. Jrue Holiday knew he was fire early and kept shooting in his 19 minutes, getting 27 on 12-of-14 shooting. … The Bobcats might have another rough year. In their 90-87 loss to New Orleans on Thursday they had just 10 turnovers, 11 fewer than the Hornets, and they still lost. Then again, it’s probably because once they got the ball they couldn’t break 40 percent from the field or 23 percent from three. No. 1 pick Anthony Davis looked like someone threw a rod into his gears or something because he was having a hard time scoring against the Bobcats front line in the first quarter. He only made two buckets, missed a gimme, and even tried two 17-footers. He recovered, though, for 12 points and 9 boards and he only played three quarters. He even got a jumper to go beyond the free-throw line later. … The Warriors held off Maccabi Haifa, 108-100 at home and two things stood out about Golden State: Festus Ezeli could get a lot of dunks this season, and Steph Curry wasn’t babying his ankle and still looked good. By good, we mean comfortable enough to break a defender or two down from the arc and penetrate into the key. That’s not a play you make if you’re feeling iffy about your ankle. Carl Landry went for 24 to lead the W’s. … We’re out like dead-eye Steve Novak.
Follow Dime Magazine on Twitter
Become a fan of Dime Magazine on Facebook
