SH Blog: Heat looking for wing help; who is Michele Roberts?

The eyes of the basketball world were on Chicago tonight, as Team USA beat Brazil in a friendly that featured Derrick Rose in action in the United Center for the first time in months, and perhaps at his full MVP level for the first time since the 2012 playoffs.

Another Chicago native stole the show, however, with Anthony Davis putting up 20 points and anchoring the middle of an American team whose biggest concern was their inside presence. He also got the biggest reaction out of the crowd when he dove into the seats for a loose ball. And James Harden added 18, Steph Curry showed why he’s the best shooter in the world (and also why he’s playing off the ball for the US), Kenneth Faried out-hustled everybody on the offensive end, and yes, Rose showed the elite quickness and playmaking ability that we’ve all missed for the last couple years.

All in all, it was a good night for Team USA. Next up are a couple friendlies against Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic, which, on paper at least, should be easier games. Chris Sheridan has plenty more for you on the USA-Brazil friendly, but for now, let’s get to the latest news from around the NBA:

MICHELE ROBERTS SET TO BECOME FIRST WOMAN TO LEAD MAJOR PLAYERS’ ASSOCIATION

Ever since Curt Flood and Marvin Miller revolutionized not just baseball, but all of pro sports, every players’ union has been looking for their own Miller. Billy Hunter, by many accounts, certainly wasn’t that for the NBPA, and the search for his replacement was clumsy at best, as Danny Schayes has chronicled at length on this site.

Now Michele Roberts is ready to assume the role, and while time will tell if she’s going to follow in the Miller tradition, this quote, from a piece by the New York Times’ Andrew Keh, is pretty nice:

…As the private meeting went on, she sensed an unspoken question hovering over the proceedings. Keeping with her style, she confronted it head-on.

“I bet you can tell I’m a woman,” she said, “and I suspect the rest of the world can, too.”

She said she was all too aware that if she was selected, she would represent several hundred male athletes in the N.B.A.; she would deal with league officials and agents who were nearly all men; she would negotiate with team owners who were almost all men; and she would stand before reporters who were predominantly men.

She did not flinch. “My past,” she told the room, “is littered with the bones of men who were foolish enough to think I was someone they could sleep on.”

Hours later, Roberts drew 32 of 34 votes cast and was named the first female leader of a major North American professional sports union, ending a long and contentious search. “I don’t live my life saying, ‘What ceiling am I going to crack tomorrow?’ ” she said. “What I have done, and what I tell my nieces to do, is not to worry about whether you’re the only one, but worry about whether you’re the best one.”

HEAT COULD TARGET ADDITIONAL WING SCORERS

Ira Winderman of the South Florida Sun-Sentinel explains why:

Q: Ira, I saw you said they gave Michael Beasley’s No. 8 to Shawne Williams. So I guess they’re not going to retire Bease’s number? (OK, so it means he’s not coming back?) — Henrique.

A: An adjustment still could be made if Beasley is brought back, but that is an increasing longshot. But it’s also not as if the Heat are mass producing Shawne Williams jerseys at this stage, either. While Beasley appears to be in the rearview mirror, the Heat still seems to be lacking on the wing, where the current options are Dwyane Wade, Luol Deng, Danny Granger, Reggie Williams, James Ennis and Tyler Johnson. There simply is not a lot of one-on-one creativity there, no one, really, other that Wade who can score off the dribble.

CURRY TALKS NEW COACH

This interview, with Beckley Mason of the New York Times, is pretty light fare but it’s still worth a read. Curry also talks about training with teams vs. training individually, adjusting to newfound stardom, and the Warriors’ team defense. Here’s what he said about the switch from Mark Jackson to Steve Kerr:

Q.You’ve seen a ton of roster and coaching turnover since you came into the league with the Warriors. Now you have Steve Kerr replacing Mark Jackson. How is this situation different from previous coaching changes?

A. This is one that I haven’t gone through before. This is my fourth coach going into my sixth year. Last three coaching changes, we were a bad team trying to become competitive. Now we have a lot of talent. Won 51 games last year. Pretty much the same team back, with some additions, but a new coach.

It’s a different experience. The expectations are already high, and we have to deal with that. Thinking about it, it will kind of be similar to last year. People thought we were a 50-win team, and we accomplished that, but it still didn’t feel like we accomplished as much as we should have. That’s basically the theme I have in my head thinking about what’s going to happen next year. Just in training camp, in that locker room, that adjustment with Coach Kerr and setting his system up. I think we’re going to be able to adjust well.

SHOULD PLAYERS GET A SHARE OF TEAM SALE PROFITS?

This is an interesting idea, from SB Nation’s Tom Ziller. In the wake of Donald Sterling selling the Clippers for a couple billion dollars, the question should be asked: why don’t the players, who are responsible for Sterling getting that massive payday, get any of it for themselves?

Team sales don’t figure into basketball-related income because the folks netting the dough are leaving the league, so the players so responsible for the increasing value of all NBA franchises don’t share in the profits when a franchise gets sold. The other NBA owners don’t directly either, but rising sale prices boost the value of the their franchises.

This is a cudgel players should wield more heavily in 2017 labor negotiations. The Ballmer purchase blows all others out of the water and into the front of mind. That round, fat number just can’t be avoided. If owners want further reduction of players’ share of revenue, players should point to the Sterlings’ take with their index fingers and throw up their middle fingers for good measure.

One league retort to this issue I heard from officials in 2011 is that owners, not players, carry the risk of financing a team and thus should be afforded the profits when a franchise changes hands. But at this point, there is no risk to owning an NBA team. The Maloofs ran a team into the ground, crossed the NBA and still made off with a record sale price. Donald Sterling was stupid and horrible enough a person to get banned from the NBA for life and still made a 10-figure profit. A 10-figure profit.

Risk? What risk?