Around the League: Drake Makes Presence Known, KD Beefs, Bulls Snubbed From All-NBA Rookie and Defense Teams, More

The NBA Finals will be decided in less than a week and that means there’s plenty of house-keeping duties going on around the league as the 2018-19 season nears its end. I’m sure the offseason will bring its own pile of crazy stories, but let’s remember to savor the last couple weeks of this wild season.

It’s time to take a look at what’s going on around the league!

  • The Toronto Raptors tied things up with the Milwaukee Bucks last night in game 4 of the Eastern Conference Finals. Kawhi Leonard and Co. have taken care of their home court opportunity, picking up two-straight wins in front of Drake. I swear, I feel like I saw more Drake on my tv screen last night than Giannis Antetokounmpo. After an even double-OT boxing match between these two teams on Monday, the Raptors went for the knock-out in the late stages of yesterday’s game, going on to win 120-102. Milwaukee can live and die by the three-ball at times, and this series the Raptors have managed to outperform them from behind the arc the past three-straight games. I still believe the Bucks are the more talented team, but the series is technically for the taking.
  • Also, back to Drake for a second, are we just fine with him rubbing Nick Nurse’s shoulder mid-game? I don’t know about you, but this just doesn’t feel right. On Wednesday, reporters asked Bucks head coach Mike Budenholzer about Drakes antics and he responded: “There’s certainly no place for fans – or whatever Drake is for the Raptors – on the court.” Right there with you Budenholzer!
  • By the way, in case you forgot, the Golden State Warriors are going to the Finals again. The Warriors will be appearing in their fifth-straight finals, which is the most since the Boston Celtics won eight championships during a ridiculous finals-streak that stretched from 1957-1966.
  • Off the court, one of the league’s most entertaining rivalries remains the one between Kevin Durant and reporter Chris Broussard:
  • And good luck getting a pulse on Durant’s future. Even his manager has no clue at this point:
  • The NBA announced its All-Rookie team yesterday and the 2018 draft class looks like it may turn out to be a pretty solid one. This is the first time since 1985 that the top-5 pick of the draft made up the entire all-rookie first team. Luka Doncic, Trae Young and Deandre Ayton easily took the first three spots, and then there appeared to be a little more debate over Jaren Jackson Jr. and Marvin Bagley. You can take a look at how the voting went below. My biggest question is who’s the one person that voted for Kevin Huerter for first-team and may I interview them immediately?
  • More massive comebacks = more NBA fun! Throughout this season there were 28 comebacks from 20-point-or-larger deficits. The increasing popularity of the three-ball, demonstrated well by James Harden putting up over 1,000 three-pointers this season, looks to be playing a role in teams’ ability to catch back up in games. Check out this article from ESPN to read some thoughts by NBA coaches and learn more about it. 
  • The NBA also announced all-defensive teams yesterday. The Twitterverse appears to be frustrated (when aren’t they?) with plenty of people claiming that the two teams should be reversed. I understand the bickering; however, it’s probably safe to say that we are dealing with some recency bias, especially when considering the playoff push of Draymond Green and Kawhi Leonard. Paul George is just one of the games most high-level defenders, and respect will always be put on his name. Not to mention, he was putting together an all-around MVP campaign for a while until he ran into some injury trouble and completely cooled off. Also, Giannis is probably going to actually be the MVP and was the best overall player this year, so I’m not mad about him making the first team.
  • The fans aren’t the only people questioning the all-defensive team decisions though, the Pacers Myles Turner feels betrayed. And he has himself a point too. The IndyStar helped prove that point by mentioning a good note: Turner is the first player to lead the league in blocks and not make an all-defensive team since Serge Ibaka in 2010-11. It is surprising that no Pacers ended up cracking the list. The team was No. 4 in defensive rating this season and each of the top-3 (Bucks, Raptors, Celtics) all had one player appear in at least one of the two teams. Coincidentally, even the five teams after that  (76ers, Rockets, Jazz, Thunder, Warriors) all had one player make a roster. So, yeah, this could definitely fall under the snubbing category.
  • The NBA Global Camp was shut down due to logistical issues, which is a bummer for a lot of reasons. Not only does this stink for the people who already booked their tickets to Monaco, but the top 40 global NBA prospects were expected to participate. An event like this can be a great opportunity to find some hidden talent and plenty of scouts/representatives were supposed to be on-hand to watch.
  • written by

    Elias Schuster is the Lead Chicago Bulls writer at Bleacher Nation. He started with BN full-time in 2019 immediately after graduating from the University of Illinois Urbana Champaign with a degree in Journalism (yes, he started with the Jim Boylen Era). Since joining, Elias has been the driving force behind Bulls and NBA content for both the site and social accounts. You can follow him on Twitter/X @Schuster_Elias.

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