T.J. McConnell on Tyrese Haliburton not recognizing him, Indiana Pacers run to NBA Finals
McConnell wrote a story for The Players' Tribune recalling the Pacers' season, which ended with a Game 7 loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder in the NBA Finals.
He cleared the air about a post-Game 7 moment as he headed back to the locker room ("Not my mom") and wrote about the team's approach to rallying from late deficits.
He also had an anecdote about Haliburton's arrival in a trade with the Sacramento Kings in February 2022. COVID-19 protocols were still in place around the Pacers' practice facility.
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"Alright … so I'm a 6'1" white guy in his mid-30s. In other words, I'm not exactly stopping traffic as this NBA player people recognize. And that's just me on a normal day. You can imagine, on a day when I'm wearing a hat? I'm almost definitely not getting recognized. And during COVID, when you added a mask to the mix — nah, forget it. I was pretty much fully anonymous.
"And all that is to say: It's not Tyrese's fault. But on his first day in Indy after he got traded, as he was walking through the facility, he and I crossed paths. And I've got my hat on, my mask up … I'm chilling. I'm not even thinking about that, though. So of course I just go right up to him, real excited, and I'm like, 'Tyrese!!! What's up brother. How are you??? Bro, welcome to Indy.
"Yeah, Tyrese did not know who I was. He was very friendly, but 1000% thought I was some guy who works on the business side. Then a few awkward seconds passed, until eventually I realized what was going on. I took my hat off, pulled my mask down, and we started laughing so hard."
McConnell knows a lot of NBA fans think the Pacers are out of title contention for the 2025-26, considering Haliburton's injury and Myles Turner's departure to Milwaukee.
McConnell believes everyone should have learned from the season that just ended.
"Replacing Myles will be tough. Playing without Tyrese will be … whatever is tougher than tough. But you know that feeling we all started to have as the playoffs went on — how there's just something about this team? Man, I promise you: That feeling was real.
"And we're going to work like hell to feel it again soon."
Please read the full article here: It Was Awful, It Meant Everything by T.J. McConnell | The Players' Tribune
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Remember how Portland was supposed to have drafted his replacement in Scoot Henderson? Well, now it's Dame Time again! Lillard has a no-trade clause and is back in Portland to rehab for a year, make a comeback, then have the choice to re-enter free agency in 2027. The Blazers are going to be a chore to play against with their defense, but offensively, this projects to be a team that struggles to create advantages consistently. Last ranking: 23 Free agency: PG Monte Morris (unrestricted), PF Bol Bol (unrestricted), SF Damion Lee (unrestricted), PG Collin Gillespie (re-signed) Additions: C Khaman Maluach (draft), SG Jalen Green (trade), C Mark Williams (trade), PF Dillon Brooks (trade), PF Nigel Hayes-Davis Departures: PG Tyus Jones, C Mason Plumlee, PG Vasilije Micić (traded), SF Cody Martin (waived), SG Bradley Beal, PF Kevin Durant (trade) Midsummer summary: This team was in the NBA Finals four years ago and was the top seed in the West three years ago. The Suns traded for Durant and Beal about four months apart two years ago. It's all over now. Durant's traded, and they ate Beal's contract because that's what happens when you acquire a no-trade clause and slaughter a player's value afterward. The assist-turnover merchants whom Phoenix brought in last year, Jones and Morris, were not retained. Phoenix replaced one former Hornets center (Mason Plumlee) with another (Mark Williams), and the Suns decided Khaman Maluach played at Duke like Plumlee and Williams, so they drafted him too. (For those wondering, yes, former Hornets center Nick Richards is still here.) Brooks (not MarShon Brooks) replaces Durant at power forward, while Green essentially backfills Beal, bumping Devin Booker to point guard yet again. As it stands now, the promoted Gillespie is the only traditional point guard on the roster. Advertisement Last ranking: 27 Free agency: SG Brandon Boston Jr. (unrestricted), PF Jeremiah Robinson-Earl (unrestricted), PG Elfrid Payton (unrestricted) Additions: PG Jeremiah Fears (draft), PF Derik Queen (draft), C Kevon Looney, PG Jordan Poole (trade), SF Saddiq Bey (trade) Departures: SF Bruce Brown, SG Antonio Reeves (waived), CJ McCollum (trade), PF Kelly Olynyk (trade) Midsummer summary: It's already rough when you give up a potential 2026 lottery pick for the right to draft Queen, a talented big whom New Orleans likely sees as a power forward more than a center. Then Queen suffered a wrist injury that may delay the start of his rookie season. Such is the torture that is the Pelicans. Dejounte Murray won't begin the season while recovering from a torn Achilles tendon, which should allow lottery pick Fears to get plenty of minutes. Poole was acquired in place of McCollum, and Poole should probably start at point guard in a lineup that includes Zion Williamson, Trey Murphy III, Herbert Jones and Yves Missi. Looney left Golden State after a decade, and he should be the replacement for Robinson-Earl as a backup center. Queen replaces Olynyk, while Fears replaces Payton. Bey, who did not play last year in Washington while recovering from a torn ACL, replaces Brown. There is plenty of size here, but the defense will be a concern, and so will the offense when Williamson starts to miss time. Last ranking: 28 Free agency: SG Seth Curry (unrestricted), PF Taj Gibson (unrestricted), PG Tre Mann (re-signed) Additions: SF Kon Knueppel, SF Liam McNeeley, SG Pat Connaughton (trade), C Mason Plumlee, PG Spencer Dinwiddie, SG Collin Sexton (trade) Departures: C Mark Williams (trade), C Jusuf Nurkić (trade), SG Josh Okogie Midsummer summary: The summer league champions! The most important addition to the team is fourth pick Knueppel, who replaces Okogie and could have a pathway to starting considering Josh Green's shoulder surgery. It should be between Knueppel and Sexton, who was acquired in a trade that sent Nurkić to Utah. Sexton replaces Curry, while Plumlee replaces Nurkić. Charlotte acquired first-round rookie McNeeley in a draft-day deal that sent center Williams to Phoenix, while signing Dinwiddie, who takes Gibson's vacated roster spot. Charlotte also acquired Connaughton and re-signed Mann, so something has to give. There are way too many guards on this team, like Nick Smith Jr. It remains to be seen how DaQuan Jeffries and Moussa Diabaté remain with the Hornets considering their non-guaranteed contracts and the excess contracts on the team, even before they consider what to do with their second-round picks. Last ranking: 30 Free agency: TBD Additions: SF Ace Bailey (draft), PG Walter Clayton Jr. (draft), PF Kyle Anderson (trade), C Kevin Love (trade), C Jusuf Nurkić (trade) Departures: PF John Collins (trade), SG Johnny Juzang (waived), SG Jordan Clarkson, SG Collin Sexton (trade) Midsummer summary: The Jazz went with the high-ceiling player in the draft, selecting Bailey fifth. Bailey basically replaces Clarkson on the roster. Later in the first round, Utah went with national champion Clayton, who takes Sexton's vacated roster spot. Sexton was traded to Charlotte for Nurkić, the appetizer to a three-team trade that sent Collins to LA and Kyle Anderson to Utah. There must have been a UCLA quota on the roster, because Johnny Juzang has been waived and Kevin Love is not expected to play in Utah. Taylor Hendricks is still recovering from his gruesome leg injury suffered early last season. Utah is somehow even bigger than last season's team, but how much better the Jazz can expect to be will come down to the progression of their growing developmental corps. Nine of Utah's top 13 players were in the last four drafts. Last ranking: 29 Free agency: PF Khris Middleton (option exercised), PG Malcolm Brogdon (unrestricted) Additions: PG Tre Johnson (draft), SF Will Riley (draft), C Marvin Bagley III, SF Cam Whitmore (trade), SG CJ McCollum (trade), SF Dillon Jones (trade), SG Malaki Branham (trade) Departures: SG Colby Jones (trade), PG Anthony Gill (waived), C Richaun Holmes (waived), SG Marcus Smart (waived), PG Jordan Poole (trade), SF Saddiq Bey (trade) Advertisement Midsummer summary: How's this for a youth movement: 10 of Washington's 15 standard contracts are occupied by first-round picks from the last four drafts. The exceptions are Middleton, who opted in to the final year of his contract; McCollum, who was traded by New Orleans to Washington for Poole; Corey Kispert, who finally has a shooting friend on this roster in the form of sixth pick Johnson; Justin Champagnie, who has a non-guaranteed contract; and Bagley, who replaces Holmes and is the only true big on a standard contract besides Alex Sarr. Johnson and Riley replace Brogdon and Smart, while 2023 Rockets first-round pick Whitmore and 2024 Thunder first-round pick Jones replace Gill and Jones. A top training camp battle will be determining who should start next to McCollum between Johnson and Carrington. Last ranking: 26 Free agency: SG Cam Thomas (restricted), SF Jalen Wilson (option exercised), SG Keon Johnson (option exercised), C Day'Ron Sharpe (re-signed), PG Tyrese Martin (option exercised), SF Maxwell Lewis (waived), C Drew Timme (option exercised), SG De'Anthony Melton (unrestricted) Additions: PG Egor Demin (draft), PG Nolan Traoré (draft), SG Drake Powell (draft), PG Ben Saraf (draft), PF Danny Wolf (draft), PF Michael Porter Jr. (trade), SF Terance Mann (trade) Departures: PG D'Angelo Russell, SF Cameron Johnson, PF Trendon Watford Midsummer summary: This team used five first-round picks in June, all on players who are highly unlikely to be efficient offensive players throughout most of the 2025-26 season. Denim, Traoré and Saraf are all point guards. Denim is tall, Traoré is fast and Saraf is left-handed. There will be a quiz in the afternoon. Wolf would be a point guard if he had never grown. Powell will never be a point guard; he is here because he has elite physical attributes for a perimeter defender. As far as the serious 'veteran' affairs: Thomas is a restricted free agent. I'm not going to comment on his passing ability, but I will point out that if he is back with the Nets, he is going to score a lot of points if he can stay on the floor; Thomas played in only 25 games last season. Brooklyn traded Johnson to Denver for Porter, who might be the only other player on the team who averages more than 10 shots per game. The Brooklyn-born Mann is also here now. This team is built to tank aggressively, especially if it finds minutes for all of the ballhandling rookies. (Top photo of Mike Brown: Ishika Samant / Getty Images)
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Detroit's fallen stadiums: What happened to Cobo Arena?
This is Part 3 of a six-part series looking back at the arenas and stadiums that housed some of Detroit's greatest teams over the past century. Come back to every day this week for more historic Detroit sports site memories. Cobo Arena stood on some of the most historic land in Detroit and only added to that history. Allegedly built on the spot where the first French settler of the city, Antoine de la Mothe Cadillac, claimed the land for King Louis XIV in 1701, Cobo was constructed by the city in 1960. It was named after deceased Detroit Mayor Albert E. Cobo, who pushed for the construction of the arena as well as the convention hall attached to it. Detroit Pistons owner Fred Zollner moved his NBA franchise – newly arrived from Fort Wayne, Indiana, in 1957 – from Olympia Stadium, on Grand River to the newly constructed Cobo Arena at the corner of Jefferson and Washington along the Detroit River for the beginning of the 1961-62 NBA season. The Pistons were a franchise constantly struggling to remain afloat, but Cobo wasn't the issue. In 1990, Sports Illustrated writer Jack McCallum wrote, 'There was something special about Cobo, an intimacy, a connection with the essence of the game (Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, no fan of fans, once called those in Cobo the most knowledgeable in the league) and, above all, a kind of bad-dude charm.' The Pistons played at Cobo for 17 seasons – winning just two playoff series in nine tries – but they left after the 1977-78 when new owner Bill Davidson decided the team needed to move to the suburbs in order to draw crowds. Pistons games were regularly underattended at Cobo; in an arena that could seat 12,000, the highest average annual attendance was 7,492 in 1974-75, and wealthy suburbanites were wary to come downtown. So, the team moved to the gargantuan Pontiac Silverdome, already home to the NFL's Detroit Lions. Of the first game at the Silverdome, The Michigan Daily's Ernie Dunbar wrote, '[T]he crowd at last night's Piston game was predominantly white. … This is exactly what the Pistons hoped for when they announced their move-the financial support of the suburbs. The argument for not supporting the Pistons at Cobo was that Detroit is not safe at night. Well, now the more generally affluent suburbanites must feel that Pontiac is safe, as they turned out in record numbers to the tune of 13,688." Cobo couldn't beat numbers like that. When Davidson's widow, Karen, sold the team to Platinum Equity chairman Tom Gores in 2011, the team stayed in the suburbs. It was only in 2017 that Gores reached an agreement with Olympia Entertainment to bring the Pistons back downtown, but he wasn't bringing them back to Cobo. Cobo survived for as long as it did because of the versatility of the building. An arena attached to a convention center, Cobo could host any sort of event. The horseshoe shape of the arena and its acoustics made it perfect for concerts. Black Sabbath, Jimi Hendrix, KISS and the Rolling Stones were just some of the names that performed there over the years. The current convention center still hosts the Detroit Auto Show each year, as it has since 1965. The arena might be most well-known for being the site of the 'Whack Heard 'Round the World,' figure skater Tonya Harding's attack on rival Nancy Kerrigan at the 1994 U.S. Figure Skating Championships. The event was held next door at Joe Lous Arena, but practices were held at Cobo Arena. While leaving Cobo after practice on Jan. 6, 1994 Kerrigan was hit on the right thigh with a baton by Shane Stant, an associate of Harding. The aftermath of the attack, with Kerrigan crying, 'Why? Why? Why?' was recorded by a local television crew. Stant went through the glass of one of Cobo's doors as an exit route. Harding won the U.S. title, and a spot in the 1994 Olympics, two days later while Kerrigan watched from the press box. Eventually, Cobo became less popular as a venue as downtown added sites such as Little Caesars Arena and Ford Field. In 2015, the arena was deconstructed internally and renovated to become more convention space. Today, following the sale of sponsorship rights following a review of Cobo's tenure as mayor, and a few bank mergers, it stands as Huntington Place – a testament to Detroit's appeal to tourists, if not to championship sports teams. Contact Matthew Auchincloss at mauchincloss@ The series Come back all week for our series on Detroit's fallen stadiums: July 21: Tiger Stadium. July 22: The Palace of Auburn Hills. July 23: Cobo Arena. July 24: Joe Louis Arena. July 25: Pontiac Silverdome. July 26: Olympia Stadium. This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Detroit's fallen stadiums: Cobo Arena
