Liberty Links: Timothe Luwawu-Cabarrot makes initial French national team roster

As Sixers swingman Timothe Luwawu-Cabarrot wrapped up what turned out to be a fine rookie season, he told FIBA.com that he would love to have a chance to play for the France national team. It looks like he’ll be getting his wish.

Here’s what happened in the news on Wednesday:

Timothe Luwawu-Cabarrot joins French national squad

The French Basketball Federation announced its initial 37-man list for their new Team France Basket squad, and Luwawu-Cabarrot is a part of it. Luwawu-Cabarrot joins Nicolas Batum, Rudy Gobert and draft prospect Frank Ntilikina amongst the group of players who have committed to France during their three upcoming tournaments. Team France Basket will be participating in this summer’s FIBA EuroBasket tournament, as well as the FIBA Basketball World Cup in 2019 in hopes of qualifying for the 2020 Olympics.

Of course, this doesn’t guarantee TLC will have a spot on the final roster spot, but it’s nice to see him considered amongst France’s elite already.

ESPN lays off long list of talent

ESPN finally announced the mass cuts to their on-air talent that many have been anticipating for some time, but some of the names included on there were quite stunning. MLB writer Jayson Stark, NFL reporter Ed Werder, college basketball reporter Dana O’Neil and NBA writer Ethan Strauss were among some of the most talented people in the industry. To think that a billion dollar corporation doesn’t believe they’re worth their paycheck but a talking head like Stephen A. Smith is is disheartening, and a very dark day for people who do what we do. Strauss started out like one of us, a blogger who became the national voice for one of the best NBA teams of all time.

What ESPN needs more of is thoughtful experts who have a thorough understanding of their respective as opposed to mindless debating between hotheads, but they seem to feel the need to appeal to the lowest common denominator in order to improve their subscriber base.

Again, it’s a sad day.

Is Furkan Korkmaz ready to make the jump to the NBA?

Our Sixers overseas correspondent Wesley Share put together an in-depth scouting report on the 19-year-old prospect currently playing over in Turkey. All signs point to him having some impact at the NBA level. It’s just a matter of when.

Timothe Luwawu-Cabarrot is on the right track

By April, the Sixers offense was a one-man French band, and frankly, it was glorious. Luwawu-Cabarrot averaged 18.3 points, 3.3 rebounds and 2.3 assists over the final six games of the year while shooting 44.9 percent from the field and 35.9 percent from three. The Sixers likely would’ve never put him in that situation if not for the slew of injuries that ravaged the team, but watching Luwawu-Cabarrot progress into legitimate contributing factor is a sign of great things to come for him.

The Wizards take a 3-2 lead

The Atlanta Hawks will head back to Phillips Arena with their backs against the wall. Despite another impressive shooting performance from Dennis Schroeder (29 points on 10-18 FG), they simply didn’t have enough firepower to match John Wall and Bradley Beal. This series has been much more competitive than originally anticipated, and you can tell there’s some bad blood between these two teams. I imagine we’ll get a Game 7 out of this.

Today’s NBA slate:

• Toronto Raptors vs. Milwaukee Bucks - 7:00 p.m. (TNT)
• San Antonio Spurs vs. Memphis Grizzlies - 9:30 p.m. (TNT)