Vol. 1 No. 9 — October 23rd, 2019

Welcome to the ninth edition of the Rathbun Roundball Report, Subscriber First Name!

Let’s get to the basketball news!
 

Happy New Year!

Last night, the 2019-20 NBA season got underway with the Raptors-Pelicans and the Lakers-Clippers.

In Toronto, the defending champion Raptors received their rings, and then held off New Orleans in overtime, 130-122. Fred VanVleet scored a career-high 34 for the Raptors.

In Los Angeles, the newest Clipper and former Raptor Kawhi Leonard hit seven straight shots at one point, scored 30 in all, leading his new team to a 112-102 win over the Lakers.

Thursday night, the Atlanta Hawks will open their season in Detroit against the Pistons.

When he steps on the floor, the Hawks’ Vince Carter will make history, becoming the first player in league history to play in 22 seasons. Remarkable!

Carter, 42, is the last active player drafted in the 1990s (No. 5 pick in 1998) and potentially the first player to play in four decades (if he appears in a game in 2020). He is also close to joining the rare 1,500-game club.
 

The Man they call ‘Pop’

Gregg Popovich will coach the San Antonio Spurs for the 24th straight season, breaking a tie with Jerry Sloan for the longest tenure in NBA history. Sloan led the Utah Jazz for 23 seasons in a row.

Since Popovich took over as Spurs head coach on Dec. 10, 1996, the number of head coaches used by other NBA teams is 270. (That total includes head coaches who were hired in the 2019 off-season). Every team has had at least three coaches and as many as 14 in the Popovich era.

Popovich has led the Spurs to the playoffs in all 22 of his full seasons on the job.

With 22 straight postseason appearances, San Antonio is tied with the Syracuse Nationals/Philadelphia 76ers for the longest streak in NBA history. The Spurs last missed the playoffs in 1996-97, the season before the arrival of Tim Duncan, who is now back with them as an assistant coach.

Interesting nugget: Can you name the Spurs starting power forward in that 96-97 season? It was none other than Hall of Famer Dominique Wilkins, who was forced to play PF on an injury-riddled Spurs team!

That’s also the last season that the Hawks won in The Alamo City!
 

Power Couples

The new ‘thing’ in the NBA is to form your own Dynamic Duo, combining two superstars on one team. It’s not uncommon in NBA history.

Russell Westbrook and James Harden won the KIA NBA Most Valuable Player Award in the 2016-17 and 2017-18 seasons, respectively. With Westbrook joining Harden in Houston for their second stint as teammates, the Rockets become the fourth franchise to have two players who each won an MVP in the last three seasons.

All records courtesy of the NBA.
 

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