Timberwolves/NBA

The 2015-16 NBA regular season resumes this week after its week-long All-Star break. Minnesota plays at Memphis Friday night.

Prior to last weekend’s events, ESPN NBA Analysts Chauncey Billups and P.J. Carlesimo talked to reporters, including the MSR, in a media conference call. Both took questions on the season’s remaining schedule, which is almost three-fourths completed.

ESPN NBA Analysts Chauncey Billups and P.J. Carlesimo both are involved in the network’s coverage of several events during NBA All-Star 2016 this weekend in Toronto.

No cliché intended here, but what a difference a year makes for Adreian Payne. This time last year he was a rookie member of the Atlanta Hawks, then was traded last February to the Minnesota Timberwolves for a conditional 2017 draft pick.

Allina Starr sat out the mandatory NCAA transfer time. She played one season at Auburn before transferring to the school just a few miles from where she grew up and graduated from high school.

It’s too often said that an NBA season is a marathon. “I think the season is a work in progress all throughout the year,” states Detroit Pistons television analyst Greg Kelser. “Most people [think] the quarter-point gives you an idea of what a team might be about.”

Minnesota Timberwolves Interim Head Coach Sam Mitchell, while recently reflecting on his mostly young team, sounded like an old James Brown tune with a new twist.

Almost as soon as the final buzzer went off and they were handed the championship trophy back in June, Golden State’s 2015 NBA crown has been oft-questioned. Jamaal Wilkes, a key member of the Warriors’ 1975 title-winning squad, sees similarities between how Golden State’s victory was viewed then, 40 years ago, and now.

Phil “Flip” Saunders, president, part owner and coach of the Minnesota Timberwolves, has passed away at age 60. Saunders was diagnosed with Hodgkin’s lymphoma in August; he was hospitalized following a setback in September.

Prior to the announcement of Saunders death, the MSR spoke with Mitchell, players, and Wolves GM Milt Newton regarding Mitchell’s coaching style. “Sam has his own style of doing things,” said Newton. “He has a certain way of running things and we will give him the leeway to do that.”

Tamika Catchings is the first U.S. player to be officially credited with a quintuple double (points, rebounds, assists, steals and blocks) while in high school in Texas in 1997. Catchings, the daughter of an NBA player, later posted an All-American college career at Tennessee, and as a freshman, played on the 1998 Lady Vols’ undefeated national championship team.

Wilt Chamberlain’s (1936-1999) best sport was track and field, but basketball became his fame. He was six feet tall at age 10 and grew to 7-foot-1, dominated the NBA for 15 seasons and forced several rule changes, including widening the lane. But it wasn’t until last year that the Hall of Fame center finally was “posterized” on a U.S. stamp, a campaign that was initiated by the Black Press.

“It all started with a column in 2008,” explained Donald Hunt of the Philadelphia Tribune in a recent MSR phone interview.

Cleveland superstar LeBron James said before the NBA Finals began that he had nothing to lose. He sure is not playing like it.

I have made a career out of covering championships, Super Bowls, World Series, Final Fours, Stanley Cups, NBA Finals and other championships. As the games become more global, it seems the little guy gets pushed to the side. Here I go again this week with the NBA Finals.