<h1><center>Kyrie Irving Deep Dive with a Splash of Spongebob - Swish Weekly - January 5th</center></h1>

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**Swish Squad!**

It's the first official week of 2018 and the NBA season is really heating up.  Here at Swish Weekly, we are working tirelessly to find you the best NBA content of the week and this week's edition is no exception.  There are some great pieces of deep dives including one of the better NBA pieces of recent memory by ESPN's Jackie MacMullen, but we also have a fun piece about a special uniform choice by one G-League affiliate that you'll have to see to believe.  We really hope you enjoy this week's Swish Weekly newsletter and would love if you could invite a friend to join the Swisher Squad.  Signing up is easy: https://mailchi.mp/dfef9429318a/swish-weekly-signup

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https://www.theringer.com/nba/2018/1/2/16840598/nba-western-conference-post-christmas-questions

**The 10 Biggest Post-Christmas Questions in the Western Conference - The Ringer - Justin Verrier**

The calendar has flipped and that means that the NBA season is about to really ratchet up.  We already have a pretty good idea of who the legitimate title contenders are at this point in the season, but that doesn't mean there aren't teams out West that have questions to ask themselves.  This piece by the Ringer's Justin Verrier brings those questions to the surface.

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http://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/21941260/nba-playing-lebron-winning-nba-title-kyrie-irving-decided-move-question-why

**Behind Kyrie Irving's controversial departure from Cleveland -- and what he hopes to find in Boston - ESPN - Jackie MacMullan**

This past NBA offseason was dominated by opinions on the Kyrie Irving to Boston trade.  In this fantastic piece, ESPN's Jackie MacMullan stories Kyrie's career from Montclair Kimberly Academy, to Duke, to Cleveland, and finally to Boston, where he is leading a championship contender.  As you'll see from the piece, everything is about challenging himself for Irving, and winning in Boston will be his biggest one yet.

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http://www.slamonline.com/nba/gregg-popovich-becomes-5th-winningest-coach-in-nba-history/#mCLvG4AYyDOFppAu.97

**Gregg Poppovich Becomes 5th Winningest Coach in NBA History - SLAMOnline - Marcel Mutoni**

It's no surprise that Gregg Poppovich, whom many think may be the greatest coach ever, has found himself near the top of the NBA victories ladder.  With his win over the Knicks on Tuesday, Pop broke his tie for fifth with George Karl.  Poppovich would need 159 more wins to match legendary Don Nelson for most wins by an NBA coach.

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https://www.theringer.com/nba/2018/1/3/16843410/buy-sell-trade-deadline

**Buy or Sell: NBA Trade Deadline - The Ringer - Haley O'Shaughnessy and Paolo Uggetti**

Another week, another NBA trade deadline article.  This iteration goes through each team and where they should be buying, selling, or holding while we move towards February's trade deadline.  While a lot of the recommendations seem like no-brainers, there are a couple teams that might not be able to follow their recommendation.  Regardless, I think there will be a big move before the deadline, it's just a matter of who will be involved.

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https://www.sbnation.com/nba/2018/1/2/16843022/spongebob-night-nickelodeon-sixers-87ers

**The Sixers G-League team is wearing Spongebob uniforms for Nickelodeon night - SB Nation - Matt Ellentuck**

This piece makes the list for one reason and one reason only: the pics!  Seeing former number 2 overall pick Emeka Okafor dressed like Spongebob Squarepants is absolutely hilarious.  The jerseys were signed and then auctioned off with all proceeds being donated to charity.  Don't miss the picture of the Warriors as Spongebob characters as well.  Klay Thompson makes a surprisingly convincing Patrick.

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http://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/21961715/zach-lowe-10-things-like-including-lebron-james-kevin-love-nba

**Ten Things I like and don't like, including a LeBron-Love dance - ESPN - Zach Lowe**

I'm personally a huge fan of Zach Lowe's weekly 10 things column because he always seems to find nuances in individual player's games that most analysts overlook.  Lowe's first edition of 2018 is no exception as he dives deeply into Lou Williams' resurgence, the deadly LeBron James-Kevin Love pick and roll, and Portland's stagnant offense.  Reader beware, Lowe does talk about the Mavericks jerseys, but at least there are no Spongebob's in the actual NBA.

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We hope you liked this week's newsletter.  We are always looking to expand our NBA content library, so if you have any suggestions, please do not hesitate to email us or contact us on FaceBook, Twitter, or Instagram (we're @SwishWeekly everywhere).  Our New Years resolution for 2018 is to really expand Swish Weekly and get it out to as many people as possible.  Each person counts so if you could just tell one NBA fan about Swish Weekly, that would help tremendously.

**Have an awesome weekend,
Swish Weekly Team**