Basketball On The Internet.

BOB'S CORNER: Our man on the ground in the US, BOB CRAVEN, has the latest NBA news on the futures of Joe Ingles, Patty Mills and Jock Landale, while also updating us on the newest in WNBA developments, especially at his beloved Seattle Storm, current home of Ezi Magbegor and Steph Talbot, and LJ's former digs.

BOOMER Bronze Medallist Joe Ingles is on the move, signing a one-year contract with the Milwaukee Bucks, coach Tim Legler allegedly pretty high on what he brings to the table.

Ingles was runner-up for the NBA Sixth Man of the Year Award in 2020-2021 and a vital part of the Utah Jazz for eight seasons. 

Until injured this past season, he averaged about 7 ½ points, 3 rebounds, and 3½ assists in 25 minutes per game.  He’s also a postseason veteran, playing in 45 playoff games with the Jazz over the past five seasons.

A very popular player with his teammates and in the local community, he’s known best for his quick-release 3-point shot, and he’s good at putting the ball on the floor to attack closeouts.  He’s also known for creating good looks for teammates with his passing.

In another deal involving a player on the Boomers’ roster, big man Jock Landale was included by the Spurs in their deal sending local Seattle boy and All-Star guard DeJounte Murray to the Atlanta Hawks.

And Patty Mills, the hero of the Boomers' medal run at the Tokyo Olympics, has signed a new two-year $US14.5million deal to stay with Brooklyn Nets.

Mills played last season for the Nets after playing the previous 10 years with Coach Pop (Gregg Popovich) in San Antonio. 

He stepped up for the Nets when starter Joe Harris went down injured, starting in 48 games.  He came off the bench for them in their first-round playoff loss to the Boston Celtics, playing about 18 minutes per game.

Mills had a strong season shooting the ball, canning 40% of his 3-pointers.  Despite never playing starter-level minutes, Mills made more 1,000 three-balls over the past six seasons, including a career-high 227 last season. 

He is the only player in the NBA to hit that many threes while playing under 30 minutes per game each season during that span.

IN the WNBA Wednesday night, the Seattle Storm, sitting in second place in the Western Conference, defeated the Las Vegas Aces, the Conference leader, 88-78, and closed the gap between the two teams to two games. 

With that win, Seattle’s Sue Bird became the WNBA’s career leader in wins with 324, passing former Minnesota star guard, Lindsay Whelan.

Bird announced earlier that this year would be her final WNBA season, and she and Whelan are the only two players in league history to surpass 300 wins.  Rebekhah Brunson and Swin Cash are tied for third with 294. 

Bird has played her entire career for the Storm, while the others split their careers among multiple teams.  Bird, therefore, has an even bigger lead over Diana Taurasi of the Phoenix Mercury (279) for most wins with a single franchise.

Her accomplishment overshadowed the Storm debut of former WNBA MVP Tina Charles, who signed with Seattle after reaching a contract buyout with the Mercury and came off the bench for the first time in her career. 

Storm fans didn’t have to wait long for her first appearance, as starting centre Ezi Magbegor picked up her second personal foul less than four minutes into the game.  Charles finished with four points, five rebounds, an assist, and a steal in 16 minutes.

Seattle was led by Jewell Loyd with 24, while Steph Talbot added 15.  Las Vegas was led by last season’s league MVP, A’ja Wilson, with 17 points and 16 rebounds. 

Wilson had a double-double by halftime, helping the Aces to a three-point lead at that point.  The game featured seven former #1 overall draft picks in Bird, Charles, Loyd, and Breanna Stewart of the Storm, and Wilson, Kelsey Plum and Jackie Young of the Aces.

Magbegor has been playing and scoring well, and is the league’s leading shot-blocker, so that extra energy and production off the bench will hopefully energize the second unit—something that’s been missing most of the season so far. 

What Charles' move to the Storm means for the rest of the WNBA is that Seattle, already one of the upper echelon teams in the league, is going to be even more difficult to beat going forward.

Meanwhile, Moriah Jefferson of the Minnesota Lynx posted the franchise’s first ever triple-double in leading the Lynx to a 92-64 win over the Dallas Wings. 

Ironically, Jefferson previously had been with the Wings, but had been waived last month.  She collected 13 points, 10 rebounds, and had a career-high 10 assists.  She collected her 10th rebound with five seconds to play to become the 10th player in league history to record a triple double.

IN THE NBA, Boston Celtics assistant, Will Hardy, has been named as the next coach of the Utah Jazz. He will be a first-time NBA head coach. 

At 34, he will also be the youngest head coach in the league.  He was in Boston just one year, but the previous 11 seasons were in various roles with the San Antonio Spurs, including being an assistant coach on Gregg Popovich’s staff. 

The Jazz are one of three teams to make the playoffs in each of the last six seasons. Meanwhile Brett Brown, formerly head coach at Philadelphia 76ers, is back on Popovich's bench as an assistant and looking likely as his heir apparent.

Both Kyrie Irving and Russell Westbrook have exercised very large player options to play next season—Irving will return to the Nets and Westbrook to the Lakers. But the hot goss now is of a trade.