The Weekside: Missing Darryl Dawkins

Words With Friends

Five must-read articles about the NBA. Excerpts here — click through to read the full piece.

1. NBA players are telling you to watch terrible movies
by James Dator, SB Nation

"There are so many amazing things NBA players can do. On the court they thrill us with their moves, they do great work in the community off it — but there’s one thing they don’t do well: Give us movie advice. We took a random sampling of NBA player’s movie suggestions and the results are shocking."

2. Rookies To Watch
by Adam Spinella, BBall Breakdown

"Here’s some quick trivia: who led the Detroit Pistons in field goal attempts last season? If you guessed Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, you’re probably a Pistons fan and you’re definitely depressed. Well fear not, Pistons fans! A reworked frontcourt rotation and the addition of rookie Stanley Johnson will provide a spark to keep the team moving in the right direction. The opening is there for Johnson to grab the starting small forward role out of the gates, providing minutes and opportunities for the versatile two-way player to thrive in the Pistons’ spread pick and roll offense."

3. Once stars, Rajon Rondo and Josh Smith now on edge of irrelevance
by Matt Moore, CBS Sports

"Something that will blow your mind if you’re a basketball fan: Josh Smith has yet to cross his 30th birthday. He should be entering his prime. Instead, if he’s not on the edge of being without contract in the NBA, he’s at least facing the very real possibility of being irrelevant. In most regards, Smith has become a punchline about what happens when a player believes too much in his jumper, and doesn’t take advantage of mixing wisdom with skill and ability."

4. Meet the NBA Players’ Association’s new sports science guru
by Jon Krawczynski, Associated Press

"I think it’s still too early to say this is why these injuries are happening. But we are doing our due diligence. There are so many variables that are involved with injuries. So being able to look at all the different variables and not just one thing is very important. And keeping an open mind is very important."

5. The rise of Allen Iverson and Reebok Basketball: An oral history
by Nick DePaula, Nice Kicks

"As a company, Reebok had been going through a down period, to put it lightly. A decade earlier, during the height of the fitness boom in 1987, Reebok was enjoying a 30% share of the athletic footwear market, notably ahead of Nike’s 18% share. That was of course the year that a young designer at the Swoosh named Tinker Hatfield created the Air Max 1, Air Trainer 1 and Air Jordan III all in sequence, changing the fortunes at Nike for good. The innovation and advanced designs coming out of Beaverton, Oregon also severely hurt Reebok, as they looked to catch up on the product side in not one, but three categories. By 1996, Nike had a 43% market share in footwear, while Reebok’s had dwindled to just 16% … The league’s top rookie Allen Iverson was — yes — clearly the answer that the brand needed."

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