Good morning and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: Major purchase agreement in race for Covid-19 vaccine, compelling documentary on Billy TK Jr, and small town teens speak out about difficulty of getting drivers license. The first Covid-19 vaccine purchase agreement has been made by the government. Radio NZ reports the agreement is for 1.5 million … Read more
Good morning and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: Christchurch mosque shooter sentenced to life without parole, hundreds of millions set aside for Covid-19 vaccine, and the diverging inequalities of the economic recovery. The Christchurch mosque shooter will never leave prison for the rest of his natural life. Yesterday afternoon, a sentence of life without … Read more
Good morning and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: March 15 memorial service to go ahead, more travel restrictions likely to be announced, and moves against migrant exploitation in spotlight. Unless there is a last minute cancellation, commemorations of the March 15 mosque attacks will be going ahead this weekend. Stuff reports that because of a … Read more
Several major events across the US have also been postponed or cancelled, including the NBA season after a player tests positive. What’s happening? In a televised address from the Oval Office, President Donald Trump has announced that all travel by foreigners from Europe to the United States would be suspended from midnight Friday for the … Read more
Five New Zealanders from across cultural spaces explain what it is they love about basketball. Historically, basketball has always held a relatively small but special in Aotearoa’s sporting landscape. The NBL was established in 1981, giving provinces the chance to duke it out for national supremacy. In 2002 the Tall Blacks shocked the basketball world … Read more
Good morning, and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: Pressure mounts over NZ First Foundation, range of changes made to overseas investment office, and accusations of bottom trawling destroying coral. The allegations swirling around the NZ First Foundation are serious enough to warrant going back to again today. Party leader Winston Peters has angrily denied … Read more
Good morning, and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: Major milestone reached in Pike River story, report paints damning picture of parliamentary bullying, and Alfred Ngaro builds profile with abortion comments. For the families of those men killed in the Pike River mine explosion, yesterday was a culmination of years of hard work. Almost nine years … Read more
Guy and Paul Williams are brothers, comedians, and lifelong ballers; they love basketball so much they’ve dedicated a weekly podcast to it. They spoke to each other about their obsession with basketball. This story originally ran in Barker’s 1972 magazine. Paul: Growing up, Guy and I used to play in the backyard a lot. And because … Read more
Every year the NBA holds an All-Star game, showcasing the best players in the league, as voted in by players, league officials, and fans. It’s time for New Zealand to make Steven Adams an All-Star. Here’s how. When was the last time you felt pure, unadulterated patriotism? Now when was the last time you put … Read more
Spinoff writer Madeleine Chapman co-wrote basketball star Steven Adams’ autobiography. She tells how she wrote the book alongside an athlete she’s known since they were both teenagers. Warning: contains a lot of food. This post was originally published 24 July 2018. I knew of Steven Adams before I met him. A common situation now but … Read more
Veteran sports hack Joseph Romanos reviews My Life, My Fight by Steven Adams with Madeleine Chapman. Disclaimer: Madeleine Chapman is a staff writer at The Spinoff. This review was commissioned independently by our books editor, Steve Braunias. To judge by his autobiography, Steven Adams must be about the most down-to-earth, unprepossessing 25-year-old multi-millionaire on Earth. … Read more
In this edited extract from the new book by Steven Adams, he tells how as a rookie he got NBA veterans ejected, and it wasn’t that hard. The moment I was drafted someone tweeted WELP STEVEN ADAMS TO OKC and Kevin Durant apparently replied “smh”. He deleted the tweet and replaced it with “Welcome Steven Adams”. … Read more
Spinoff writer Madeleine Chapman co-wrote basketball star Steven Adams’ autobiography, in shops next week. She tells how she wrote the book alongside an athlete she’s known since they were both teenagers. Warning: contains a lot of food. I knew of Steven Adams before I met him. A common situation now but not so much in … Read more
Craig Cliff finds the narrative elements within the latest installment of the popular 2K franchise don’t work, unless you resort to a radical reading of DJ’s story. I’ve never played Dungeons and Dragons or Zelda or anything normally associated with role-playing or fantasy. Y’know, things you might expect a novelist-in-training might wallow in while waiting … Read more
We normally review the entire country and culture of New Zealand, one thing at a time etc. But today an anonymous Spinoff writer was in Denver, witnessing NBA history. Russell Westbrook has been tied with Oscar Robertson for most triple-doubles in a regular season at 41 apiece since the Thunder wasted the Bucks at home on … Read more
American college super-coach John Calipari talks to Ben Stanley about the progress and NBA prospects of Kentucky’s new Kiwi basketball recruit Tai Wynyard. He has coached four No. 1 overall NBA Draft picks, led two different schools to three NCAA Division I Championship Finals in the last eight years, and last year he was inducted into … Read more
It’s been fun going crazy for any Steven Adams news over the last couple of weeks but the time has come to bid farewell to our national NBA team, the Oklahoma City Thunder, who will definitely lose Game 7 of the NBA’s Western Conference finals today. This Oklahoma City Thunder season has been a hell … Read more
After Sunday’s devastating defeat to the Golden State Warriors, can the Oklahoma City Thunder come back to claim Game 7 in the NBA Western Conference finals? The outcome, writes Madeleine Chapman, may already have been spelled out in the final of the Scripps National Spelling Bee. While anyone who has ever gotten angry during a … Read more
Steven Adams was considered a risky choice when the Oklahoma City Thunder selected him with the 12th pick of the 2013 NBA draft. Now he’s a pivotal player in their ongoing Western Conference finals series against the Golden State Warriors. Ben Stanley drove seven hours for five minutes with New Zealand’s rising basketball superstar. “Raindrop!” … Read more
With the NBA playoffs well underway, our very own Steven Adams is taking the world by storm with a potent mixture of talent and loveliness and, writes Katie Parker, he’s not the only one. Things are going so very well for Steven Adams. In just this past week he was deemed the third best player … Read more
Kiwi basketball legend Sean Marks has taken charge of a terrible NBA team with virtually no assets, and somehow has to find a way to avoid getting fired. Mate Vella delivers a few suggestions. The Brooklyn Nets are going through a sour patch, and their outlook is only looking worse. Over the past few years, … Read more
Should you watch the Warriors’ try to capture the all-time NBA wins record, or see Kobe wheeze out the last breaths of his storied NBA career? Andrew Mulligan makes the call. There are two history-making NBA games on today. Both have historical significance and both are completely different. On ESPN2, the Golden State Warriors have … Read more
The Golden State Warriors are gunning for the all-time NBA wins record, but they’ve already sewn up the title for best facial hair ever. Joseph Harper gazes upon the squad and decides ‘who warri-ore it best’. The Golden State Warriors have a chance to make history as the winningest basketball team of all time. Watching Warriors games … Read more
Josh Davis has assessed every one of the NBA’s 30 teams, so you can a pick a franchise to ride from here to eternity. It’s happened again. The NBA season has once again caught you by surprise. Every year you promise yourself you’ll pick a team, sign up to League Pass and waste away otherwise … Read more
Duncan Greive talks to Tall Blacks guard Corey Webster, in New Orleans attending training camp with the Pelicans, about his journey from NBL exile to being on the verge of playing in the NBA. A few years ago Corey Webster was a cautionary tale, the perfect example of a talented kid who lacked the application … Read more