#starting-center

#starting-center

"We try to put ourselves in situations every day in practice where we're facing adversity, where we're being pushed to our edge, and that's where you're forced to grow and feel forced to make decisions."

In basketball, rudeness is a two-pronged trait: It's being good enough to make a hard game look easy, but more than that, it's being good enough to make your opponent's hard work seem like a waste. It's strutting into a department store, knocking over a stack of neatly folded sweaters, and heading home. What you feel when you watch a defender stay in front of Booker, only for her to rise up and nail a midrange jumper over their head, is overwhelming pity.

Last season, Haugh was a key reserve for the Florida team that cut down the nets in San Antonio. This season, he is a bona fide All-America candidate and first-round NBA draft prospect who could lead the Gators to their second back-to-back national title reign in program history. His scoring average has increased from 9.8 to 16.9 points while maintaining a similar impact on the glass with 6.0 rebounds per game.

The Detroit Pistons are 8-2 in their last 10 games and now boast a 34-11 record - six games ahead of the 29-18 New York Knicks and Boston Celtics, the conference's respective Nos. 2 and 3 seeds. They're running away with the Eastern Conference, despite one big weakness: shooting. That's where Chicago Bulls combo guard Coby White could come in. Evan Sidery of Forbes reports that the Pistons, who currently have a $14.3 million trade exception, are contemplating a potential deal for White.

The NBA are introducing a new America versus the World format for the 2026 All-Star Game as part of its latest attempt to revive excitement around the traditional weekend of games. The league has repeatedly altered the structure of the All-Star Game in recent years, including captain-led drafts and target-score endings, but have yet to find a solution to retaining a large audience. Officials are hoping that framing the contest around national pride will encourage a more competitive edge and finally solve their issues.