September/October 2019

Slam

Your Source For The Best In Basketball

Slam2 min read
The Sixth Man
I am writing this on June 27, 2019, likely a few weeks before you’re reading it. A couple weeks ago, the Toronto Raptors (shockingly) won the NBA Finals, and exactly a week ago the New Orleans Pelicans (not shockingly) selected Zion Williamson with t
Slam3 min read
Trash Talk
Y’all got rid of NOYZ? Guess you’re just gonna spread the smack talk throughout the entire issue now. @everydamnslam, Torrance, CA Nah, nah. There’s no NOYZ in the Future Issue because there’s no formal sections in the Future Issue. It’s back now tho
Slam2 min read
The Opening Tip
WOW. I thought for sure James Harden was going to win this year’s NBA Most Valuable Player Award. Or maybe Kawhi Leonard or Kevin Durant. Or even Stephen Curry. But the honor went to the Milwaukee Bucks Giannis Antetokounmpo, aka the Greek Freak. And
Slam2 min read
Sophie Cunningham
SOPHIE CUNNINGHAM, Missouri basketball icon turned versatile rookie for the Phoenix Mercury, understands how lucky she is to receive daily basketball wisdom from her teammate Diana Taurasi. But Taurasi’s best advice so far for the 6-1 wing centered l
Slam3 min read
Short Circuit
If you’ve been injecting NBA propaganda into your eyes and ears for the last few months (which I have, because it makes me feel good), you’ve probably heard the League’s newest, most escape room-like catchphrase: The NBA is now a year-round league. T
Slam10 min read
The Best In The World
BY 2 P.M., more than seven hours before tip-off of Game 1 of the Finals, the line for Jurassic Park went around the block. Fans sat on foldout chairs and held bags full of snacks. Some were draped in Canadian or “WE THE NORTH” flags, others wore blac
Slam7 min readBasketball
Chasing Chips
WHEN THE LAS VEGAS ACES acquired All-WNBA center Liz Cambage in a mid-May trade, A’ja Wilson couldn’t help but think about championships. And why not? Wilson, the reigning Rookie of the Year, and Cambage, last season’s MVP runner-up, are impossible t
Slam9 min read
Boom In Out
LOU WILLIAMS is somehow both underappreciated and respected. He’s arrogant and humble. He’s young and old. He’s super laid-back and he’s an assassin. He lives in a quiet town and throws parties so big they inspire hit rap songs. He makes his own musi
Slam5 min read
Never In Doubt
HE SCROLLED through his phone and made it a priority to get screenshots of as many of them as possible—tweet after tweet. He wanted a record of all the doubts that existed regarding him and his game. His phone soon was inundated with photos of social
Slam4 min read
West Side Story
RICO HINES compares player development to boxing. When a fighter is preparing for a bout, he believes the training regimen should include sparring in order to get a feel for opponents and sharpen the skills needed. Same rules apply in basketball. No
Slam4 min read
Up To Something
“I WAS ACTUALLY just at home in Canada,” New York Liberty guard Kia Nurse remembers. She’s sitting on the basketball court at Nike’s New York headquarters, decked out in head-to-toe Jordan Brand gear all the way down to a pair of Air Jordan XXXIIIs o
Slam3 min read
Surgical Summer
SKIM HIS INSTAGRAM account and you’ll know everything you need to know about Stanley Remy’s place in the game today. There he is in Miami with Dwyane Wade, helping the future Hall of Famer extend his NBA career. There he is with Duke freshman-to-be V
Slam3 min readBasketball
Kid Hometown
LUBBOCK, TEXAS, isn’t particularly close to anywhere—the nearest major city is Dallas, about a fivehour drive east. Point being, as Jarrett Culver begins his professional basketball career, he’ll be living and hooping somewhere other than home for th
Slam3 min read
Overseas Drip
THE BEST ADVICE RJ Hampton ever got came via DM, courtesy of Kyrie Irving. The NBA All-Star followed the high school All-American on Instagram a while back, and once they got to talking, Kyrie dropped a gem. As Hampton remembers, “He basically said,
Slam3 min read
Airplane Mode
GREG BROWN II was a standout safety at the University of Texas before stints playing in the NFL and arena league. As such, he views competitive sports primarily through the lens of his experience on the football field. Now, as the father of a son who
Slam5 min read
THE CITY Game
Across from each other sat the directors for some of the top summer tournaments in New York City. The room was filled with skepticism after a proposal was presented to them that—for better or worse—would change the landscape of hoops throughout the b
Slam3 min read
Uptown VIBES
Jim Couch has been one of the most trusted and respected figures in New York City basketball since the 1960s. And yet, when Couch and former All-City forward Marian Moorer set out to start an NYC summer league for girls in 2002, they faced mostly rej

Slam

More Issues From Slam