Mikel Brown Jr., Brooklyn (2 national games)

The 2026 NBA Draft class was full of point guards with promise. Brown is one to watch. He has a teammate on the wing who can score (Michael Porter Jr.) and a former All-Star at power forward (Julius Randle) to work with as he learns the NBA. The Nets are bringing Brown along slowly, sitting him out for the second half of back-to-back games on Sunday as he eases into the league after some injuries.

There are going to be ups and downs with a young point guard, particularly as he tries to find his footing next to the Nets’ guard-heavy class from a year ago, led by the promising Egor Dëmin. Expectations aren’t high, but Brown’s ceiling could be if he reaches his potential. The Nets have a lot of first-round picks and need Brown to stand out and give hope to a team that has never been in a bigger shadow after the Knicks’ championship.

Tyler Herro, Milwaukee (2 national games)

Herro had an interesting offseason. There was the incident when Bam Adebayo punched him in Las Vegas. He said earlier this month Bucks’ practices were just as intense, if not more intense, than those of the Miami Heat, a subtle jab at “Heat Culture.”

Herro was the key player acquired from Miami in the Giannis Antetokounmpo trade. He’s a confident Milwaukee native who has the opportunity to be the focal point of a rebuilding team looking to surprise.

Ty Jerome, Memphis (2 national games)

Memphis’ Ja Morant era ended when he was traded to Portland, and the Grizzlies handed their offense to Jerome, who is in his eighth season. After stops in Phoenix, Oklahoma City, Golden State and Cleveland, Jerome is off to a great start in Memphis, dropping a career-high 45 points in the season opener against Utah. He will be the engine of the Memphis offense. The Grizzlies are off to a 4-0 start, and Jerome has scored at least 28 points in three of four games.

Find out the rest of the list here: https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/7708427/2026/10/27/nba-league-pass-top-players-watch/?unlocked_article_code=1.L1E.WA42.OhLcCfieAQ6t&source=emp_shared_article&smid=url-share-ta

Sorry for probably being the 100th person to post a thread like this.

My wife "volunteered" me to coach my daughter's 4th grade basketball team. I have a lot of coaching experience in other sports, but zero of it is basketball. Can someone point me to some good resources so I can have some idea of how to build practice plans? I went on YouTube, but I don't know enough about this to know what's good and what's not. I coach lacrosse and a lot of the stuff on there isn't actually good for developing the kids, so I don't want to unknowingly fall into that trap with basketball.

Any help is appreciated.

For those of you that carry book bags or duffle bags, what do you keep in there? I was just curious thinking about upgrading to a duffle from a backpack