That said, this Finals is for the non-casuals. It brims with non-stop hustle, exquisite teamwork and precious little star power. It is a series for the purists and will dazzle on NBA-TV 15-20 years from now.

This is the best Finals since at least the 2015-16 Cavs comeback against the Warriors, and even that classic was marred by too many blowouts early on.

Re the Durant deal: Good trade for both clubs. Fair, realistic value for Durant. Not sure how much of the Wolves talk was real, but think they dodged a bullet here.

Any day you acquire Jrue Holiday is a great day for your basketball team. Congratulations to Portland for exploiting the Celts ' needed fire sale to add just the right piece for genuine respectability in 2025-26.

Hey! Kelly Olynyk is changing teams!

Latest Wolves: Ferreting for another French big. How Connelly's due diligence and long-term perspective reassures against the bygone world of free spending and pretend superteams minnpost.com/sports/2025/06…

Living Colour back on stage is a tonic for the spirit. Saw Vernon Reid at the Detroit Jazz Festival last year and was impressed with his maturity without backing up an inch.

Appreciate the mutual respect Naz Reid and the Timberwolves have shown each other throughout his career. He was the first announced signing of 3 free agents and got premium $ and length given this brutal market under new CBA. He won't rock boat on starter vs bench. Just hoop.

Feels to me like Tim Connelly had an excellent week. He's banking on continuity and maturation for immediate improvement while stockpiling the raw materials that forestall a plunge into the lottery when the salary crunch inevitably hits.

GOP politicians from Trump on down smearing the Dem nominee for Mayor of New York--threatening to deport him, just because!--are elevating his podium at their own risk. Zohran is young, smart, compassionate, well-spoken--everything they are not.

If the Wolves stand pat from here on out, I don't think it is a mistake. The improvement should come, and has to come, from continuity and maturation, in many forms. Ant and Dillingham may be the two biggest x factors in that regard, but it is really about group synergy.

Hard to read something about player salaries as it relates to the new CBA that is both original and accessible to those who are not cap nerds. This checks those boxes. nytimes.com/athletic/64630…

For those who think fascism is too extreme a way to characterize who Trump is and what he wants to do, explain this please.

I imagine the folks who forgave the Nazi salute are busy accommodating themselves to the Nazi AI.

Whew, Beringer aces his first half of NBA action. Using his size and youth to block shots, run the floor, play free, alert and yet fairly disciplined all at the same time at age 18.

This is a pretty sharp early comp.

If there is one thing I've learned covering the NBA for decades now, it is that increasingly dynamic changes make even "short term" thinking look foolish. I mean, there are few surer bets than OKC remaining a force, but folks fixating Wolves future on how to beat them is myopic.

Best way to construct a team is simply to build the most comprehensive blend of strength and versatility circumstances will allow and hope your best prevails against what other organizations have been able to amass.

What Israel is doing to the Palestinians in Gaza, with the aid of US $, is a stain that this nation will never be able to erase. Literally starving a population--and killing them during the inadequately few times food is said to be made available--is heinous, beyond politics.

As scandals inevitably dribble out, going to be fascinating watching all the major team sports leagues try to figure out how they can reap the ginorous profits from gambling without being tainted by it.