"First of all, I want to thank my family, my mother, my brother, my father, my team, my coaches.  I still don't believe this is happening.  I can't describe how excited I feel to get drafted in the first round by the Milwaukee Bucks.  It's a dream come true.  But this is not the end.  It's only the beginning, you know, to a very long road that maybe someday will give me the opportunity to make my NBA team successful.

But I know I'm not ready, but I have a lot of work ahead of me.  But I'm not afraid.  I will give everything in the court, in the gym.  And I will prove to the Milwaukee Bucks that they made the right choice.  And then I want to thank my agent for the work a lot for all of this, for the draft, for everything.  Thank you." - Giannis Antetokounmpo on Draft Night, June 27th, 2013 after being picked 15th overall.

“I'll never leave the team and the city of Milwaukee till we build the team to a championship level team.” - Giannis on July 16th, 2014 on Twitter.

“It’s easy to go somewhere and go win a championship with somebody else. It’s easy. I could go to a superteam, and just do my part to win a championship. But this is the hard way to do it, and we did it.” - Giannis Antetokounmpo on the night he scored 50 points, grabbed 14 rebounds, and blocked 5 shots while shooting 17-19 from the foul line (55.6 FT% in the playoffs coming in) to lead Milwaukee to its first title in 50 years.  

And with that we have one of the best sports stories of this early decade.  Giannis is exactly the face you want for the NBA. He’s the anti-LeBron, the anti-Durant, a small market superstar who chose to stick with a promising team even with an unpromising future. He is the dream for fans. A guy drafted as a bit of an unknown who grows into a league MVP and leads the team to a title while being destined to spend his entire career there. Think Kobe, Dirk, Steph.  And such an undeniably likable guy off the court with his service to the community and the hope he inspires.

Milwaukee winning gave hope to fan bases throughout the league. It was now possible for their team to draft and keep a potential superstar and eventually add the pieces to win that ever so coveted title.  And with that hope every summer the NBA off season is perhaps the highlight of the year for many teams’ fans.  Either starting the process with a lottery pick or signing the finishing touches for a contender, teams staked their claims to the future.  Here’s a look at what happened this year.

The NBA Draft is Phase 1 for any team with a dream. This is the easiest place to find a superstar. It’s just not always easy to. This year’s draft has been considered a historically special one for the perceived depth of elite talent. Any of the top 3 players picked could have been an overall Number 1 in recent years.  

The first pick, Oklahoma State Cowboy Cade Cunningham, now of the Detroit Pistons can really play.  He’s a LeBron prototype (for as much as anyone can be compared to that guy):  A tall forward who’s best running point with an excellent all around game.  The second pick, Houston Rocket Jalen Green forewent college to play in the NBA’s G League and brings obscene athleticism and the swaggy self confidence of exciting scorers like Tracy McGrady and Ja Morant.  It’ll be as exciting to watch him play as I was when I found out “forewent” was actually a real word.

 The Cavs may have drafted the player with the highest ceiling in 7 footer Evan Mobley from USC.  He’ll be Cleveland’s best player within a couple years (sorry Dylan Windler) and really is Kevin Garnett’s spiritual heir.  He’s the current trend in basketball, one that has been brewing ever since Kevin Garnett showed guard skills in a 6’11 frame.  You’re gonna see a lot more really tall, skinny guys that prefer to play facing the basket and making the plays for their teammates, extending what KG may have started.  

Length is king and teams also seem to be noticing that ball handling and playmaking might be as important as shooting.  The ensuing draft picks bore that observation out with picks like Scottie Barnes, Jalen Suggs, Josh Giddey, Davion Mitchell, and James Bouknight being selected.  Many of these teams already had point guards in place but versatility and depth seem to be goals in an increasingly positionless league.  Former Ohio State star Duane Washington went undrafted but may have found a home one state over in Indiana.

Most of the teams that had a chance to greatly improve via the draft were in a position to do so simply because they were not very good.  Championship contention is usually still a few years down the road in these cases. The teams that found themselves just out of title contention have to strike gold in free agency or via trade.  Enter the couple days in mid-summer when the NBA gets more coverage than at any other time of the year, the opening of free agency.

Before all that happened though, there was a blockbuster trade on the day of the draft that turned the NBA on its ear again.  The Lakers traded Kyle Kuzma, Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, and Montrezl Harrell (plus a 2021 first round pick) to Washington for Russell Westbrook.  This gave the Lakers a coveted 3rd superstar but opened a lot of questions of however could they fill out the rest of the roster with only a fraction of salary cap left*? The news also came as reports had begun circulating that L.A. was close to trading some of those same players for shooter extraordinaire Buddy Hield.

*The answer: Splendidly!

Many felt Hield would have been the perfect addition to a LeBron and AD led team as one of the best shooters in the NBA whereas Westbrook would create problems with his lack of credible outside shooting.  But Westbrook was the right choice.  He’s an unselfish and dynamic playmaker that can carry the team if/when LeBron and AD are out.  But he also brings the energy and intensity that can help the Lakers match up with any team in the playoffs.  While the Nets Big 3 may not have any deficiencies on offense, each of the Lakers new Big 3 are capable of playing elite defense.  And when you’ve received high praise from the likes of Kobe Bryant, Allen Iverson, and Michael Jordan, it means you’re one of the most respected players in the league. And a big reason so many took less money to join L.A.  

The next biggest moves happened once free agency opened with Kyle Lowry signing with the Miami Heat and the Chicago Bulls throwing their hats in the ring for Eastern Conference contention.   Lowry is old for a small guard (35) and his best years are behind him but his toughness, leadership, veteran savvy, and clutch play makes him exactly the kind of player that fits Pat Riley’s system and he’ll be teaming up with good friend Jimmy Butler.  I’m not too sold that he’s going to take Miami back to the cusp of the title but the Heat should be a lot closer this year.  

The Bulls were the anti-Cubs and spent a lot to bring in some major talent that should make their team exciting in the years to come.  They have a new backcourt with the ever improving Lonzo Ball and mid range stud DeMar DeRozan to complement Zach LaVine, who’s on the cusp of reaching the next level of stardom.  The Bulls should be fun to watch but it remains to be  seen how quickly they’ll progress to legit contender.  The Knicks, who are now run by some well reputed and savvy long time insiders, signed their own guys like Julius Randle and Derrick Rose, and added a couple playmaking guards in Evan Fournier and local favorite Kemba Walker.  They got better but they won’t get to where they want to be as long as Julius Randle is their best player. The Knicks will be making big plays for superstars in the years to come.

But as with any season full of changes and new hopes, much of the buzz is about the things that never changed.  Westbrook was the only true superstar to change teams so far this summer which meant rumored moves involving the likes of Ben Simmons and Damian Lillard never happened.  Any team in the league would be crazy to not want one of these guys.  In Lillard’s case, rest assured Blazers fan, Lillard isn’t going anywhere this year.  He always seemed to be a real one and I trust taking him at his word. The Blazers didn’t make any exciting moves outside of resigning Norman Powell but that will not be enough to even promise them the playoffs next year.  The next two seasons will be crucial in determining if Lillard stays or should he go.  Portland has not put the best team around him and that will need to change or they risk losing perhaps the best player in franchise history, Kevin Duckworth be damned.

Simmons is on the other end of the spectrum (and shooting range). I think it’s very unlikely he plays with Philadelphia this year.  I think he’s got the “yips” which I learned by watching Major League.  If Simmons can develop a consistent outside shot, he automatically enters the argument for best player in the world. As it stands now, he doesn’t need to be able to shoot to have a tremendous impact and I see a team like the Warriors who just had 2 lottery picks in the draft make the moves to bring in a high impact, playmaking, defensive stalwart.  In fact, if Golden State trades for Simmons, they may become the most formidable team in the league.  

What is Cleveland going to do with Kevin Love? His career’s seemed to have gone downhill faster than Mike Love’s.  He signed a 4 year, $120 million contract with Cleveland in 2018, a huge get for the Cavs to keep a star from the west coast and then proceeded to play in 103 games over the next 3 years.  He’s set to make $31 million this year and the Cavs would love to find a trade partner to get rid of what’s become a blight on the culture there.  But absent a costly buyout, I don’t see much of an appetite for his diminishing skills until next season when his expiring contract can make him an asset for the right team.

Speaking of Love, he was last in the news being unceremoniously dismissed from the Olympic team (injury).  For all the troubles the USA National Team encountered this summer, Kevin Love never seemed to be the solution for any of it.  Exhibition losses to Nigeria and Australia in July were a little shocking and led to concerns that became well founded with an opening game loss to France in the Olympics.  Fingers were pointed at coaches, the lack of practice and “getting to know you” time, the different international rules, and of course the age old “players not caring”.  Some even wanted to go back to bringing in younger players, even from the collegiate level (hint: this would not work better).  

The emergence of strong competition from other countries, especially from within Africa is a grand and welcome testament to the fast growth of basketball across the world.  But having said that, it’s still America, dawg.  There will never be good reason to think the US Men’s (or Women’s) team should ever lose a Gold Medal let alone any international competition.  And that again proved correct this year after the US took revenge against France in the gold medal game. But the gap is getting closer and USA Basketball will need to figure out what it must do to avoid these possible calamities in the future.