🏀 From "Potential" To "Contender"

Did you know that on this day, 15 years ago, the Miami Heat signed Yakhouba Diawara to a contract? God, would we kill for some news like that today. Also, if anyone uses that on Hoop Grids, we’d really appreciate a shout out.

Today’s Lineup

Time To Graduate: Who do you think will make a leap to “contender” in 2024? 🤔

W’s Best Battle In NY: Aces and Liberty face off with a combined 45-8 record 🤯

Would You Rather: Are you a risk taker? Your answer might determine that…

They Got Next Now

What’s the only thing better than being a team with a bright future? Being a team with a bright present. And maybe, like, free tacos for life.

And until we can get that second part figured out (Taco Bell, answer our emails please) we figured we’d talk about teams with a lot of young talent, so we asked who you, the Enjoy community, think will shed the “bright future” tag in favor of a “contender” tag next season.

Who does the EB community believe in most?

Utah will be one of the more intriguing teams to follow next season because nothing feels quite certain. Lauri Markkanen was sublime last season, but it was far and away the best season of his career, so some backsliding may be imminent. Taylor Hendricks’ versatile defensive talent and Keyonte George’s scoring feel like near-guarantees to be NBA-level skills, but rookies are seldom positive players for a whole season. John Collins posted the lowest FG% and second-lowest PPG of his career last season, so he’ll look for a bounce-back season with a new squad. The list of Utah’s possible outcomes for next season is longer than most other teams.

Orlando, for the most part, will trot out the same roster in 2023-24 that they did last season, so they’re relying mostly on their core making leaps on their own. And the center of that core is two 6’10 forwards who can create for themselves and score at an extremely high level. Modest improvements from Franz Wagner (notably on the glass) and Paolo Banchero (notably on the defensive end) could boost Orlando into a play-in spot. Considerable improvements from both of them could launch Orlando to even more surprising heights.

With Liberty And Buckets For All

Total. Decimation. That is what the NY Liberty brought down upon the Las Vegas Aces in a battle of teams with the two best records in the WNBA. It didn’t start out as a bloodbath—Sabrina Ionescu went crazy in the first half, but New York led by just five at the break—then a Breanna Stewart barrage (18 second-half points) and balanced scoring from the rest of the Liberty resulted in a 50-17 second-half. Yeah, no, seriously, that was the score in the second half.

The season series between these two is now tied at one apiece, with the rubber match coming next Thursday.

Frozen Moments

• We’ve watched this dunk 65 times and still don’t understand how…

• Just how the Storm drew it up…probably.

• Here’s a good thought experiment for you…

What We’re Enjoying

Hooping with You: Thank you to everyone who came out to our Enjoyers community run on Saturday! We didn’t realize that the EB community was full of bucket-getters…

We’re hoping for more community events like this down the line, so keep your 👀 peeled.

Signing Off

And just like that…they (we) disappeared. Until Wednesday, anyway. So barely disappearing at all, to be honest. Nevertheless, we’ll miss you for the next 48 hours. Sorry if that sounds clingy. Take a nap this week—you deserve some extra rest. Talk soon!

-Quinn Everts

Trivia Answer: The youngest player to be on a championship team? Darko Miličić, funny enough! He was just 18 when the Pistons won the 2004 Finals.

Before you go…

Whatever your answer, we want to know your thought process! Do you want one sure ‘chip, or have (potentially) the most promising young core…ever?