Kobe: Titles no longer automatic for Team USA

New York Knicks point guard Jalen Brunson has been out since March 6 due to a sprained ankle. Brunson is now starting to ramp up towards a return this season.

Brunson told the media on Sunday that he’s “feeling better”, but that there isn’t a timeline for him to return to playing. The veteran guard added that he’s been cleared for basketball activities.

Brunson also said that he hopes to play before the regular season ends in two weeks on April 13. However, Brunson was clear that his goal is to be healthy when the playoffs start in three weeks.

The Knicks have gone 6-5 in the 11 games Brunson has missed this month. New York can climb no higher than the third seed in the Eastern Conference and has clinched a top-six seed and automatic playoff spot.

Philadelphia 76ers star Joel Embiid touched on a lot of subjects in a wide-ranging interview with Shams Charania of The Athletic. Embiid said this is the best he’s ever felt this late in a season, that his foot feels better and, of course, he talked about the MVP race.

Embiid said he no longer cares about winning MVP as much as he once did. For him, the goal is different now.

“What matters – it’s just about winning, winning, winning. I’ve been focused on that. We’ve been doing that. Whatever happens, happens. If I win MVP, good. If I don’t, it’s fine with me,” Embiid said.

The Sixers center also said he agrees with Giannis Antetokounmpo that the criteria to be MVP seemingly changes from year to year.

“The criteria does change. If we want to talk about the last three years since I’ve been in the running for it, the first year it was that I didn’t play enough games. Last year, I came back, I played enough games, I led the league in scoring, and obviously, Nikola deserved it and he won it. But then again, he won as a sixth seed in the West. And then this year, I’m leading the league in scoring, I’m doing all of these things defensively … I should be making an All-Defensive team too,” Embiid said.

“I don’t care, but every year it’s something. And when you add analytics into it, which don’t make sense. You can talk about analytics all you want. When you got some guys in the league, the eye test tells you that they’re not good defensively, but analytics tell you they’re the best defenders. That’s when analytics don’t make sense at all. I don’t make the rules, I don’t choose whatever criteria that they use, so it’s really about whatever people’s preferences are.”