There's no better way to start a lazy August day than with some video of Jabari Parker assaulting rims, right? Check the video above for some fun pickup footage of Jabari hammering dunks at his recent basketball camp...and then dream of him doing that in games that count starting on October 26. In other news:
Dellavedova, Australia cruise past China | FIBA
Following up their competitive loss to the U.S. on Wednesday, Australia kept up their impressive string of Olympic performances by cruising past China to improve to 3-1 in Group A. Andrew Bogut rested and Matthew Dellavedova played just 20 minutes, compiling a tidy six points (3/4 fg), eight assists and no turnovers. Delly's numbers through four games remain impressive: 11.0 points, a tourney-high 10.5 assists, and just 1.2 turnovers per game on sizzling .654/.500/.875 shooting.
Best NBA Free Agent Deals | ESPN Insider
RPM masterminds Jeremias Engelmann and Steve Ilardi highlight a very Warrior-centric list of the best free agent deals of the summer, though the man with the highest estimated surplus value over the life of his contract ($18.7 million) is a very familiar (and for many unexpected) name: Matthew Dellavedova!
Dellavedova is kind of like a younger version of Dudley (if the latter were a point guard). For example, almost half of his shots last year were 3s and he made a superb 41 percent of them. His turnovers were also super-low, at least for a point guard, allowing him to post a stellar 3-1 assist-to-turnover ratio. And most of his other stats were underwhelming.
But Dellavedova also brings a lot to the table that doesn't show up on the stat sheet. In contrast to Irving -- whose effort on defense can be mediocre at best -- Dellavedova often wears down opposing point guards by hounding them over the length of the entire court. Delly's strong defensive RPM rating reflects his defensive impact.
Interestingly, that surplus value figure is actually the highest total of anyone on the list, though the obvious reason is its length. Kevin Durant, Zaza Pachulia and David West have higher per year surplus values, as does former Buck and new Suns signing Jared Dudley, but all of them are on shorter deals.
So how do players like Delly and Dudley -- hardly big time stats guys in a traditional sense -- come out looking so good? Fair question. Because Ilardi and Engelmann are using ESPN's Real Plus-Minus metric to estimate the effect a player will have on his team's winning, guys like Delly and Duds tend to look much better than they would by regular box score metrics.
Thon Maker signs with adidas | Pick and Roll
Nike's domination of Milwaukee Bucks' footwear finally took a hit this week.
The Vertical reports that Thon Maker has signed a multi-year deal with adidas, in the process becoming just the third Buck expected to wear something other than Nike this season. Miles Plumlee wore Chinese brand Peak last year Dellavedova is also expected to switch from Nike to his own Peak shoe this season. But every other Buck wore Nike last season.