Adrian Wojnarowski announced his retirement last week. Does that matter?

As usual, I’m not trying to be overly flippant in asking the question. Everything around sports media and coverage lies somewhere in a halfway house of imagination and unreality. There are real-world consequences about what happens on a court, but the most consequential happenings occur far above the scope of what Woj and his ilk cover. Arena financing, TV deals, the fate of regional sports networks, franchise relocation and/or expansion, etc. only make it into the news cycle when the powers that be feel it appropriate.

Woj, then, functioned as a key cog in the frontline morass of the player storylines. By the end his brand of “journalism” had fallen fully into the segment that exists solely on access. He was the intermediary for powerful interests and the public whose attention grants them that very power. That he became the witting tool of the spin doctors known as agents and players was inevitable.

And maybe that wouldn’t have been all that bad if the rest of “sports journalism” wasn’t also well on its way to dying a pathetic death. Newspapers not named the New York Times have had to slash staff across the board and have bled sports rooms dry (even The Athletic has begun to feel this). Networks who pay leagues millions for the right to show the games are inherently uninterested in doing much critical oversight of their partners. Even online-only shops like The Ringer have some heft and knowhow, but are also increasingly pushed aside with the careening devaluation of the written word — Brew Hoop is in a similar spot in our own small niche.

That left the field open to Woj and his rival/replacement Shams Charania. They promptly filled a niche that had particular appeal to the direction the NBA figured it had to go in: Ever further into an instantaneous digital ecosystem. The most clippable/personable/memeable/dramatized sport seemed to find its niche on social media, and Woj was there to capitalize and push it ever further.

What did we really get out of it, though? I mean, the Bucks saw their Bogdan Bogdanovic deal blown up thanks to Woj, but has there been lasting benefit for basketball? Basketball fans? We seem more beholden to actors that have very little interest in things that improve the sport itself on the court. Storytelling has been isolated to pregame graphics with mediocre voiceovers. The dichotomy between the ever-increasing pool of “max” players and the have-nots makes understanding talent evaluation a confusing mess. The NBA Draft has been mostly ruined as a live shared event.

On the plus-side, we’re “closer” to players than we ever have been. News does travel the instant it becomes official. The rumor mill continues apace. It isn’t all bad, I guess.

And maybe we’d have ended up at this state of affairs no matter what. There is far less conflict between league and players than at almost any time in its history. Everyone wins if everyone cooperates to tell a united story. When enough are in lockstep, there isn’t much to report, and critiques read more like sour grapes than serious analysis. Woj was just at the vanguard for good or for ill.

Thank God we won that title.

Let’s roundup!

Milwaukee Bucks Links

Giannis Antetokounmpo, Bucks lean on continuity after a quiet offseason (ESPN)

While it is the opposite of sexy analysis, there really isn’t a ton to say about the Bucks coming off the offseason that doesn’t boil down to hoping togetherness is an overwhelming asset. The possibility of it being a value-add is made much greater with a veteran coach like Doc Rivers coordinating efforts. It’ll come down to the syncing of preparations in a way that was never doable a year ago.

The NBA’s Summer of Mellow Drama (The Ringer)

Obviously disagree with the contention that Milwaukee’s situation is “volatile”. It is ripe for disappointment, yes, but the semi-realistic optimist in me continues to think outside observers don’t have much of a clue about Giannis or his camp of advisers. Barring Dame detonating the team mid-season (seems unlikely) the worst-case scenario looks like more potential unmet before the team moves in yet another new direction.

NBA Top 100 players, ranked & Ranking every NBA coach for 2024-25 season (CBS Sports)

Four players making CBS’s top 100? Consider me impressed! Now, three of the four suffered from drops in their ranking compared to a season ago so it isn’t unvarnished good news. Can Brook Lopez hang on for another year or another Buck make a jump to maintain or increase the Milwaukee contingent here?

I guess the balance comes in the fact that Doc Rivers was placed in tier 8 of NBA coaches. For those who don’t want to bother reading, that group is entitled “I wouldn’t be enthused”. Exciting!

How NBA’s new, restrictive CBA is shaping the league (CBS Sports)

A long article but a worthwhile one for those curious in evaluating what the changes in the CBA mean in practical terms for NBA front offices. I wonder how new massive increases in the cap from recently-signed media deals may offset some of these changes, although the facts of the restrictive tools available to GMs won’t really change either. The upside is that it should prevent the rich from getting overly richer too quickly to be kept pace with.

NBA Star Giannis Antetokounmpo Just Bought Two Vacation Homes in His Native Greece (Robb Report)

Very exciting and it looks like the exact kind of place that would appeal to Giannis. Essentially a complex of interconnected homes where he can have his extended family stay during the summers. Of course, if he feels like inviting members of a basketblog to visit, I’m willing to make the trip.

Know Your Enemy – Offseason Edition – Philadelphia 76ers

2024–25 Record & Result: 47-35, 116.9 ORTG (14th), 113.8 DRTG (11th), seventh seed, lost in round one to Knicks

Departures: Tobias Harris, Nicolas Batum, Mo Bamba, Buddy Hield, De’Anthony Melton, Cam Payne, Paul Reed

Additions: Paul George, Andre Drummond, Eric Gordon, Reggie Jackson, Caleb Martin, Guerschon Yabusele, Jared McCain (draft), Adem Bona (draft)

Projected Starters: Tyrese Maxey, Kyle Lowry, Kelly Oubre Jr., Paul George, Joel Embiid

So at what point can we quit pretending that the Sixers under the tutelage of Joel Embiid and GM Daryl Morey are anything more than paper tigers? Don’t get me wrong, adding Paul George via free agency was probably a change of pace that the franchise desperately needed — former-Buck Tobias Harris was about as stale as stale gets as the main wing with that group. But the Sixers core formula hasn’t changed one iota. Either Joel Embiid can get from October to June in one piece, or he breaks down and the whole operation goes to hell (I’m aware that Milwaukee can relate).

Your level of respect and/or fear of the Sixers is almost certainly tied directly to how likely you think it Embiid can manage a whole campaign. Tyrese Maxey was a godsend of the sort that’d be pretty handy for the Bucks, but he can only extend Joel’s title window rather than reorient the window around himself entirely. Paul George brings a wide-ranging skillset to the floor while also moving ever further away from his defensive heights of yesteryear. Can he, at age 34, manage to add the dynamism Harris lacked to get the whole over the finish line.

Oubre Jr. has rejuvenated his career, Kyle Lowry will be part of an outgoing trade by late December, and otherwise the roster is a who’s who of guys you’ve read about before or have never heard of.

So long as Embiid takes the floor Philly will be a force to be reckoned with. Unfortunately for him, he took the floor for just 39 games last season. It’ll take more than that if a title is in the offing.

The Social Media Section

It is like something out of a theater of the absurd

My guy was just trying to hit the local taverna

Hala Ibaka

Courts for the kids

Congrats again!

Completely fascinated by whatever sequence of events had Khris Middleton and Liam frickin’ Robbins end up as the only Bucks at the Packer game together

Many of these fits are certifiably insane

His stoicism in photograph is noteworthy

This guy is yoked up. And he was rocking Bucks gear weeks back. Lock in.

We have a very special edition of Deer Diaries (A Milwaukee Bucks Podcast!) in the production booth now with a debut scheduled for this Tuesday. For those interested in taking the temperature of basketball in general, you’re in for a treat!

Happy Monday!