🏀 Did You Know He Went to JUCO?

Isn’t it crazy that it’s been two years since we saw this basketball-playing robot at the Tokyo Olympics? With how fast technology is progressing, who KNOWS what sort of upgrades they’ve given it by now! Are they going to release this thing on the NBA one day and have it cross up LeBron on national television? Are we the only ones thinking about this?

Sorry, we got off track. Anyways, we wanna give y’all a HUGE thank you for all the support on the Enthusiast Snapback. Seriously, it was the fastest we’ve ever sold out of an item, and we’re so grateful to have a community of Enjoyers who love our stuff. Stay tuned! 💙🏀

Today’s Lineup

Would You Rather?: How would you want your NBA career to turn out? 🤔

Journey > Destination: Two JUCO legends who defied the odds… 🙏

Best of the Best: Crina breaks down the best teams in the WNBA. 🥇🏀

But first, you already know we’re hitting you up with some trivia!

JUCO Legends

In the era of AAU, EYBL, and Overtime Elite, it can be hard to remember that some hoopers’ journeys aren’t all sunshine and rainbows. Haters might look down on JUCO basketball these days, but there’s no denying that it’s allowed some incredible talents to shine when they might not have been given the chance elsewhere. Today, we’ll be talking about a couple JUCO legends who persevered to make their mark on the NBA.

Jimmy Butler

Long before he was putting the entire Miami metro area on his back and launching multi-million dollar coffee businesses, Jimmy Butler was a teenager in Houston struggling to find a place to sleep every night.

Kicked out of the house at 13 by his mom, Butler spent the rest of his high school years staying at various friends’ houses, including with future NFL wide receiver Jordan Leslie. During those tough times, Jimmy turned to basketball, but it wasn’t enough to land him a college scholarship.

Rather than give up on his dream, Butler traveled 200 miles up the road to play for Tyler Community College, where he averaged 18.1 points, 7.7 rebounds, and 3.1 assists. His performance was enough to get the attention of Marquette University, and the rest is history.

PS: if you haven’t checked out Jimmy Buckets’ vlog channel, you absolutely should. He even did a video where he returned to his own JUCO stomping grounds!

Steve Francis

Would you believe that a man who went second overall in the NBA draft played only two games of high school basketball?

By every definition of the word, Steve Francis’ childhood was rough. Growing up in a suburb of Washington, DC while his father was serving jail time, Francis attended six different high schools and lived in a three-bedroom apartment with 18 people. Needless to say, he never had the chance to showcase his basketball talents outside of some AAU and pickup games.

After his mother died when he was 18, Francis dropped out of school and got in with a bad crowd. But when a coach at San Jacinto College saw Francis play at an AAU tournament, he knew the kid was special. So Francis earned his GED, got $400 from his grandma for the flight from Washington to Houston, and started on one of the most unlikely journeys in basketball history.

Francis played for two different junior colleges in two years, leading both to the national tournament. From there, he transferred to Maryland and immediately became a second-team All-American. And just four years after he was a high school dropout on the streets of D.C., Francis went second overall in the 1999 NBA Draft.

What a story. What a player. And what a highlight tape:

Refer Enjoy Basketball, Get Rewards.

Remember when Lance Stephenson and LeBron James had a hilarious exchange during Game 5 of the 2014 ECF? Well, here’s what ACTUALLY happened…

Lance: Aye Bron, did you know less than 1% of Enjoy Basketball readers have referred the newsletter to their friends?

LeBron: What was that breeze? Did you just blow in my ear?

Lance: I had to get your attention, man. After all, we are talking about the number one newsletter you need to keep up with NBA news.

LeBron: Did you say 1%? We gotta change that ASAP. Man, if the newsletter was around in 2010 I would have announced The Decision there.

Lance: Appreciate you King! When you share your link, you'll get some free swag too. I’ll even throw in a personal serenade on my air guitar. Ready for some "Lance-a-licious" tunes?

Lance is right! All you have to do is share the custom link at the bottom of your email with someone who would Enjoy it, and you’ll get rewarded! Track your progress by signing into your account and navigating to “Referrals”—it’s really that simple.

Would You Rather?

This is a question we’ve seen get posted a lot around NBA circles, and we just had to get your opinion on it.

Would you rather be the definition of clutch and have seven rings as a role player, or be a legendary scorer and superstar who never won a playoff series? We’ll discuss the results in a future newsletter, so let us know what you think… 🤔

Around the W With Crina

It’s crunch time in the WNBA season! Let’s look at some of the top teams in the league this weekend and see what they’re up to:

1. Las Vegas Aces (24-2)

The Aces are having a HISTORIC season. A’ja Wilson may very well go back-to-back on MVP/DPOY honors, Chelsea Gray remains the greatest POINT GAWD on the planet, and Jackie Young has taken big strides to help the team put up never-before-seen numbers.

With a 24-2 record, the Aces have solidified their spot in the playoffs. This weekend, they face a team right behind them in the standings: the New York Liberty. Catch the much-anticipated matchup on Sunday, August 6, at 3 p.m. ET on ABC.

2. Connecticut Sun (19-7)

Another day, another Alyssa Thomas triple-double. AT is now up to EIGHT in her career, doing something no other player has ever done in WNBA history. The Connecticut Sun remain a possible contender as the playoffs come closer.

Catch the Sun take on the Indiana Fever on Friday, August 4, at 7 p.m. ET on ion TV.

3. Dallas Wings (15-11)

The Dallas Wings are the talk of the town lately, and rightly so! As I wrote about last week, the Wings are fourth in the league and are playing better and better every game. No team will want to face them in the playoffs, that’s for sure! Watch them take on the Chicago Sky on Friday, August 4, at 8 p.m. ET on ion TV. (I won’t make any Wings in the Sky puns this time, I promise)

Which team do you think is going to make it the furthest in the playoffs? Let us know by replying to this email or on social media. Enjoy the games!

Frozen Moments

• Tim Duncan is making catching waves this offseason 🏄‍♂️

• MarJon Beauchamp is putting up Wilt numbers 🤯🤯

• The league’s newest stretch five… Rudy Gobert? 👀

What We’re Enjoying

Dribble Game: Quick! Name a player who’s been teammates with George Mikan and Jalen Green! We seriously can’t get enough of these daily NBA trivia challenges, and Dribble Game might be the best one yet. You have six guesses to link two players through shared teammates. And we’re loving the all-new speed game mode as well, where you have 24 seconds to connect two players.

Signing Off

That’s all the time the basketball gods have given us for today! We hope you have an incredible weekend, and if you’re in the NYC area, maybe we can even be a part of it! We’re having our Enjoy Basketball Community Hoops Run tomorrow in West Village. Come through to get some runs in, talk ball, and meet people who love hoops as much as us. RSVP here if you can make it!

Until next time,

-Spencer Poole

Trivia Answer: The answer to today’s trivia is Paul Pierce! The Truth hit a buzzer beater in the 2010 First Round against the Heat, and who can forget his legendary ‘called bank’ shot for the Wizards in 2015.

Happy birthday to Enjoyers Joe, Sahil, Ty and John! And to the rest of you, if you want a birthday shoutout of your own, take this survey to help us improve the newsletter!