Shaq Defends Daryl Morey on China

The NBA-China controversy has enveloped the league and its player for the last week and a half, all starting with Rockets GM Daryl Morey's Twitter post about supporting the Hong Kong protestors. What happened afterward immediately caught the attention of the league and China and could have big financial ramifications for the NBA. Or will it?

One guy is coming to the rescue of Daryl Morey and that is Hall of Famer Shaquille O'Neal.

O'Neal embraced free speech on Tuesday during TNT's pre-game show, a week after Lakers star LeBron James called Daryl Morey "not educated" on the situation, saying about the situation, "Daryl Morey was right...And they know and understand our values and we understand their values. And one of our best values in America is free speech. We're allowed to say what we want to say and we're allowed to speak up on injustices, and that's just how it goes." This is a perfect quote from O'Neal and one that LeBron probably should've made years ago before he balked at this issue with a quote that seemed to defy business in China more than America's right to free speech.

O'Neal further went on to say, "Whenever you see something going on wrong anywhere in the world, you should have the right to say, 'That's not right,' and that's what he did."

O'Neal did not mention LeBron by name in his comments. However, his comments were clear and crystal and made perfect sense and he wasn't being a hypocrite. It is in stark contrast to LeBron, who seemed to sidestep and not stand up for America's right to free speech, as well as insult Daryl Morey. Did he happen to know Daryl Morey does business in China and understands the issues?

O'Neal's comments will probably not change anything that's already happened, though it could cost him dearly in China, where O'Neal does have business. He's not worried about that, though, so I applaud him for standing up for America's values.

Back on Oct. 4, Morey sent out a seven-word tweet that said, "Fight For Freedom. Stand for Hong Kong." It created a severe controversy that seemed to put the NBA on defense against China and it's clear how there will be severe financial consequences as a result of the tweet. It probably doesn't really matter now, anyway.

As far as the O'Neal comment goes, they are crystal clear. We have rights in this country to free speech and to stand up to something that we feel is not right. In this case, we feel that the injustices done to Hong Kong by China is not right. Hong Kong has obviously had enough of China and its communist ways and Morey is standing up for their right to free speech and protest and democracy. He has the right to do that as an American. We have values, they have values, and we respect and understand our values, and we will do that no matter what.

I applaud and stand with O'Neal. Free speech is the foundation of our democracy and we will continue to hold it dear to our hearts.

Buddy Hield Signs Four-Year Extension With Kings

The Sacramento Kings and Buddy Hield have agreed on a four-year extension that is worth $86MM in guaranteed money, reports Sam Amick of The Athletic (link). The deal will feature another $20MM in incentives. Today was the deadline for the Kings to sign Hield to an extension and it looks like they finally met it.

The four-year deal is worth $94MM that can go all the way to $106MM, including that guaranteed money. We have yet to receive full details on the incentives that come with that deal.

Hield's incentives are likely to be both team and player-based, with such things as All-Star appearances, NBA Finals appearances and many other accolades he receives that can maximize his earnings. There would also be incentives related to his three-point shooting.

Hield's salaries will descend gradually. Much like the one with Harrison Barnes' new four-year deal with the Kings, it will start in the $24MM range and decline to $18MM by the fourth year. That descent will allow the Kings to have some cap flexibility in the later, when they would have to sign new deals with De'Aaron Fox and Marvin Bagley, when their new deals could be more pricey.

There are no options in his extension, according to Chris Haynes of Yahoo Sports (link).

Zach Parise Scores Winner, Wild Beat Canadiens

Early on in the season, the Minnesota Wild were off to a dismal start. It was so bad that they had a players-only meeting before the game against the Canadiens game today. Looks like that meeting seemed to have worked.

Zach Parise scored the go-ahead goal midway through the third period and the Wild won their second game of the season, beating the Montreal Canadiens 4-3 on Sunday afternoon.

Wild head coach Bruce Boudreau said about the rough start, "It's been a tough start for everybody...I love seeing the emotion on the faces, especially when it's good emotion."

Jason Zucker, Marcus Foligno, and Brad Hunt also scored goals for Minnesota. So far this season, these four goals are the highest goal total through eight games this season. They also scored four goals in a 7-4 loss at home to Pittsburgh, which was not their best night.

Devan Dubnyk got his first win of the season, making 29 saves.

Parise's go-ahead goal happened thanks to a perfect pass from Zucker through traffic and sent a shot that beat the Canadiens and give them a 4-3 lead. This came four minutes after Hunt had tied the game on a power play.

This was the second meeting in a four-day span for both of these teams. The Canadiens won the previous meeting 4-0.

It was a much-needed win after a mess to start this season. I don't know if that players-only meeting was necessary right now, but considering that they thought they would be in a good position to start the season, they had to do whatever they needed to create some energy and re-ignite that passion. As for Zach Parise, one of my favorite Wild players to watch, I'm hoping this goal will help him going forward this season. He hasn't been the same players of years past and I think it has really hurt the Wild.

Good win for the Wild and they get their second win of the season. Next up is the Oilers at home on Tuesday night.

Lakers' Kyle Kuzma To Miss Season Opener

Los Angeles Lakers forward Kyle Kuzma has been ruled out of the season against the Los Angeles Clippers, head coach Frank Vogel said on Sunday.

Right now, it is unknown how much of the start to the regular season Kuzma will miss. He was cleared for non-contact practice last week after suffering a stress reaction in his left foot during USA Basketball training camp in August.

Vogel said at the practice, "Right now, we're just talking about ramping up his activity, and we're not going to look past two days from now...We're going to try to increase his workload and activities this week, and we'll see where we're at." One prime example of that increased workload is that Kuzma stayed late for extra work with an assistant coach.

Kuzma told ESPN he was a "little more optimistic" about his injury after being able to get back on the court this past week. He said, "I haven't really been doing too much, really, for the last two months, so just being able to shoot jump shots and being around the team a little bit more, it's optimistic, for sure."

Kuzma has been in the pool doing workouts to running on an altered-gravity treadmill for the last few weeks, and it looks like he'll get more time on the court for the next week or so. I can't expect him to play anytime this coming week.

Kuzma averaged 18.7 points, 5.5 rebounds, and 2.5 assists last season, his second year in the NBA. He is most likely going to be the third-best player now, with both Anthony Davis and LeBron James in the lineup.

Antonio Brown Will Probably Never Learn

Antonio Brown has been in the news way too much lately. It's never for the right reasons and eventually, it'll say something about his personality, how he thinks, and why he could be at the end of his career, assuming this keeps going.

USA Today columnist Christine Brennan wrote a great piece on Antonio Brown and why NFL teams need to start listening to the NFL and heeding their warnings. You can read the piece here before I get into mine.

Now, Brown has just been released by the New England Patriots, obviously a clear sign that they were tired of all the drama surrounding him and the latest bit of news. In the past week and a half, Brown has faced multiple allegations, including a former trainer accusing him of rape, sexual harassment and sexual assault in a civil lawsuit. Another accusation was back in 2017 when an artist accused Brown of not just making an unwanted sexual advance, but also threatening her in a group text chain this week. It's this last accusation that probably forced the Patriots to finally concede that Brown was no longer worth the distraction. I couldn't agree more because the last one is awful to hear and if true, they were justified.

Now these are just accusations so we don't know exactly how this will all play out in court or in the lawsuit, but the Patriots are finally understanding the situation that Brown has put himself into and they finally said enough. They have thrown him out the door and had to put out a press release, saying it was time to go in a different direction. Better late than never, I guess.

Christine Brennan is absolutely right on one thing: Antonio Brown can no longer get away with this, and he still believes he can. This is not consulting social media advisors to figure out a way to get released from this team. This is full-blown mental breakdown, and it may get worse before it gets better. He's a guy who most likely cannot co-exist in a rapidly changing world where the #MeToo is now everywhere. I don't blame his agent, Drew Rosenhaus, and I don't blame the NFL for any of this. This is all on Antonio Brown and this may be a guy who may not be able to learn his lesson.

Antonio Brown is no doubt a tremendous talent, but he's not worth it if he's constantly angry or threatening people or doing whatever to cause a racket. This is not what works in America anymore. You can't get away with it, no matter what. The culture is changing so rapidly and when you change with the rapid culture, you succeed better. Brown is not going to be better in the long run if he doesn't do a better job of understanding that.

The Patriots did the right thing, even if it took them a while to get there. Whether or not teams listen, we will learn soon enough. But I hope the message is clear to anyone out there: You can't get away with this stuff anymore and you must change with the rapid culture. Antonio Brown is a talent but if he doesn't change, he won't be able to use it. My only problem with it is he may never learn that and eventually it may be too late.