Welcome to Layup Lines, For the Win’s basketball newsletter. Subscribe here to get it delivered to your inbox every Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Have feedback for the Layup Lines Crew? Leave your questions, comments and concerns through this brief reader survey. Now, here’s Mike Sykes
Happy Friday, folks! Welcome back to Layup Lines. Thanks so much for reading today.
Want to know the cool thing about Twitter — or, uh, X? It’s the fact that we still get the rawest thoughts from some of the luminaries that we’d never have access to otherwise for better or worse.
It’s definitely for worse in the case of Damian Lillard today. But it’s still pretty good for the rest of us, though.
Twitter did its thing and dug up this old tweet from Lillard complaining about a Miami Heat superteam back in 2011 when LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh linked up. The irony here is delicious.
I am a heat fan lol but im not a fan of everyone trying to make their own big 3 lol. Not good for the league
— Damian Lillard (@Dame_Lillard) December 10, 2011
The tweet reads:
“I am a heat fan lol but I’m not a fan of everyone trying to make their own big 3 lol. Not good for the league.”
Boy, oh boy. If only the Dame from 12 years ago could see himself today. That’d be something, huh?
Obviously, the dude has railed hard against super teams in the past. It’s the whole “running from the grind” schtick, right? It’s a whole meme at this point. He’s literally called out other stars for orchestrating superpowered team-ups. Surely, that would never backfire. El. Oh. El.
The shoe is on the other foot today. Lillard is about to be traded and it’ll probably be to the Miami Heat — a team he personally requested. This ain’t just running from the grind, y’all. He’s Sonic the Hedgehog style sprinting from it into the arms of a team that made the NBA Finals last year. This trade would have Damian Lillard turn into everything he’s complained about over the years.
I mean that literally, by the way. He’s now the superstar he used to hate. Again, that irony. It’s delicious.
Look — I’m not here to shame Lillard or anything. People can change their minds! It happens. We all do it. Shoot, I probably do it 200 times per day. But, man. Seeing this shift happen in 4k? *chef’s kiss*.
There’s a lesson for us all to take in here with this one. No, I’m not talking about the lesson you think I am. It’s not to never judge people for their actions or anything virtuous like that. It’s not that serious.
The true lesson here is to never tweet. Ever. The end.
The NBA’s flop rules explained
The NBA has new penalties for players who flop (yes, we’re doing this again) and the league sent Monty McCutchen around to explain how it works a bit, according to The Athletic.
We’ve known the league’s new flopping policy was coming for a few months now — Prince Grimes actually wrote about it here a few months back. But now we have new details on how officials will be calling things and what they’ll be looking for thanks to McCutchen’s explanation.
What to watch for: In the corniest — but maybe most effective? — move possible, officials have come up with an acronym to define what they’re looking for in determining if a play is a flop.
The acronym is S.T.E.M. No, not the educational discipline. This is something different.
— S means secondary: These are movements that come after initial contact has been made.
— T means theatrical: These are the moments when a player exaggerates contact. Basically, they’re doing way too much to sell the contact that has happened.
— E means exaggerated: It’s almost the same thing as theatrical, but it’s the instances we’ve seen with excessive flailing or traveling long distances after contact.
— M means movements: And we know what movements are.
That’s pretty broad, honestly. This is definitely something that’ll be debated about all season long. What is a flop? What isn’t a flop? We’ll find out this year. Can’t wait to watch.
One to Watch
We still don’t know who the WNBA’s MVP is yet but the Defensive Player of the Year award is wrapped up.
Once again, it’s A’ja Wilson. The Aces’ star won her second straight DPOY trophy this season after leading the W in block percentage (6.0 percent) and blocks (2.23 per game).
It’s time to start thinking more about Wilson in the discussion of GOAT in the W. Yes, I know. It’s still early — she’s just 27 years old. But the resume speaks for itself:
— She’s got one title, two league MVPs and, now, two DPOY trophies.
— She’s one of five players in league history to win a DPOY trophy and an MVP in the same season.
—She’s also one of eight players to win two DPOY trophies.
That’s all-time great stuff and we’re just entering into her prime. I don’t know what that looks like, but I’m incredibly excited to watch it all happen unfold.
Shootaround
—Bryan Kalbrosky has eight potential trade destinations for Buddy Hield, who is on the trading block.
— If you missed Layup Lines on Wednesday, Prince Grimes outlined why other teams should think about trading for Damian Lillard. Kawhi Leonard is the blueprint.
— Taylor Swift somehow sparked our staff into debating Michael Jordan. No, I don’t know how this happened. I just know I was right.
