Are We...Dancing?

Dylan Mckneely • April 3, 2024

Hello Brooklyn

It's a partly cloudy 72-degree night in Brooklyn, New York, a City synonymous with being the birthplace of what some consider the greatest rapper of all time, Jay Z, the greatest basketball player of all time, Michael Jordan, and the most imposing boxer of all time in Mike Tyson. On this night, there's a teenager laced in an off-white shawl-collar tuxedo paired with a corresponding white tuxedo shirt and a gold Rolex Day Date watch on his left wrist, a timepiece adored by many celebrities and athletes, that has the attention not only of the City but of the World. Unbeknownst to him, there Is a gathering in a City 1,314.6 miles away known as the birthplace of Lil Wayne, Football's royal family, the Mannings, and OF JAZZ(You hear that, Utah!), New Orleans, Louisiana.


This teenager isn't a typical teenager; this College Kid is coming off of a freshman season in which he has taken the World by storm with mindboggling speed, athleticism, and skill packed into a frame that some might consider best utilized on a football field. This teenager is none other than Zion Williamson. 


This night would be the night that Zion would cross the threshold from college phenom to NBA pro. A profession that would be less forgiving of his flaws and demand that this teenager become a man overnight. Zion sits at a table surrounded by family with the ever-present man in all black hoisting a camera in his face, prepares to hear NBA Commissioner Adam Silver recite a phrase that every human that has ever played the game of basketball dreams of hearing, "With the first overall pick in the 2019 NBA Draft, the New Orleans Pelicans select Zion Williamson from Duke University."

A Roar can be heard from Fulton Alley in downtown New Orleans by the Pelicans' fanbase. This pick wasn't just any pick; this pick was a life jacket to what seemed to be a franchise sinking fast after the trade demand of perennial Superstar Anthony Davis and the changing of the front office regime. This pick was a stabilizer in a storm. New Orleans' a City known for football, had scored the most marketable and talented prospect since Lebron James.


After taking his routine pictures with Mr.Silver holding his number one jersey and wearing a smile that could be seen across the Brooklyn Bridge, Zion makes his way to his first interview as a pro. With tears running down his face, thinking of all his Mother Sharonda Sampson had endured to get him to this point. Zion then looks into the camera and says a phrase that took the City of New Orleans and the Gulf Coast by storm, "Let's Dance." This turned the roar initially heard in New Orleans when Mr. Silver announced the pick into complete mayhem. Not only did New Orleans get Zion, but Zion chose New Orleans then. 

Breaking Point

As legendary NFL quarterback Drew Brees stated, "If you love New Orleans, it will love you back." Zion was experiencing that firsthand. This was the moment in which New Orleans would become a basketball City… Or so we thought—due to a myriad of injuries, the dance that Zion had asked the City to take part in resembled that of a couple stumbling through a performance, stepping on each other's toes left and right.


Zion had given the City moments of excitement(see Zion's debut against the San Antonio Spurs) and moments of confusion, leaving many to ask, does Zion genuinely love New Orleans, and is it safe to love him back?


There's an old saying, "Sometimes, hitting rock bottom is the solid foundation on which you can rebuild your life." Zion had hit that point. The roar once heard in New Orleans in celebration of his arrival had turned to scoffs at the mention of his name. Being a City of authenticity, New Orleans didn't take too kindly to Zion's Stepdad, Lee Anderson, often taking center stage to answer questions and release statements on his behalf. This was a matter that the fanbase wanted to hear the voice of Zion, and Zion only.

Little did we know that this teenager thrusted not only into becoming a man but the family breadwinner and face of an organization, was crumbling beneath not the scrutiny but the elementary-like jokes of local and national media pundits. Experiencing his first taste of not being the beloved charming teenage kid that can do extraterrestrial like things with a basketball. This is where most young athletes give up, take their proverbial ball, and go home.


Not Zion.

Time To Rebuild

Coming off of another chaotic offseason, Zion steps into the 2023-2024 NBA season with the least attention he ever had. Zion is the first of the social media athlete sensations to make it this far. Who would've thought a kid from Salisbury, South Carolina, known for dunking on private school kids, would become a five-year NBA veteran? Yet here we find Zion, playing in his first game since missing all of the 22-23 season, and boy, oh boy, did it start clunky. Zion, still regaining his feel for live speed in-game action, was often relegated to a back-to-the-basket scoring threat at the start, which may seem like a great idea to some, it lets Zion ease his way back into the game flow and not risk something catastrophic. Zion also didn't play in any back-to-backs (as expected by some) to preserve his 6'6 bulky frame from overuse too early in his return. This plan benefited Zion, statistically averaging 24 points, 4.9 assists, and 5.9 rebounds per game over his first fifteen games. Still, it lacked the necessary win-loss record(9-6 in games Zion played) to shift the narrative that had developed around the once golden child of New Orleans. There had to be more to this… Oh, there was, and the World was getting ready to see it, not for the first time, but for a while this time.

Zanos Is Here.

In December, Coach Willie Green, with the assistance of Offensive Coordinator James Borrego, decided to put the ball in Zion's Hands and let him facilitate the offense, and like a rocket blasting off into outer space, so did the game of Zion Williamson. Running down the court with the speed of a Cheetah and the size of a Rhyno, Zion began to initiate the offense, making defenses pay if they helped off of shooters and punishing them with brute strength and finesse touch around the rim if they didn't. While all of Zion's stats are down except for assist(5.0 assists per game), the stat that means most to Zion and every Pelicans fan is up, and that is his games played, with a career-high 64 games played. Zion not only has the Pelicans in position to finally get over the play-in game hump(currently the 6th seed in the west) and into the playoffs, but he's also making a solid case for an All NBA Team bid. If Zion can keep up his stellar level of play and lead the Pelicans to the playoffs without a play-in appearance for the first time since 2018, his case may be too strong to be denied by the voters. When Zion is available, winning at a high level is usually the result. When Zion is not available, the ceiling shrinks by a large margin. The key to Zion's success and the Pelicans' success isn't found in points, assists, or rebounds; it's found in the presence of Zion. 


The clunky dance between a nineteen-year-old kid and a City known for having a good party 24/7 may not resemble that of world-renowned dance duo Denys and Antonina. Still, it's starting to resemble that of another world-renowned duo, the Les Twins. The two look similar in that Zion has been counted out because of his trials and tribulations, and like the City of New Orleans, he shows perseverance and a won't quit attitude. Both are aware of their weaknesses and live unashamed of them. While the dance doesn't resemble the straightforwardness of Ballroom dancing, its imperfections and missteps are turned into new moves to be celebrated by the World, like the latest hip-hop dance. Zion and New Orleans are ready to take the big stage, so without further ado… "Let's Dance." 

Written By: Dylan Mckneely

A quick share helps us a lot!

By David Rainey July 19, 2025
It’s that time of year again. The excitement of All-Star weekend and the Homerun Derby are behind us, and it’s on to the second half of the MLB season. This is the time where the great teams separate themselves from the good teams. It’s the time for teams to show whether they should be considered contenders or pretenders. And with this time of the year, of course, comes the MLB trade deadline. Arguably the most intriguing trade deadline of all the major sports. Fringe teams will have to decide whether to be buyers or sellers, and the great teams will mortgage their futures for one player they believe will take them to the promise land. Now, as out of left-field as the ending to this year’s All-Star weekend was (raise your hand if you also weren’t aware that swing offs were a thing), the MLB trade deadline features something much more curious. The Player to Be Named Later. You see, as most of us know, it’s extremely common in Major League Baseball for a team like the Padres, for example, to sell off a handful of their top prospects at the trade deadline for a lefty reliever they hope will help them navigate the difficult waters that is the postseason. But what some people aren’t aware of (outside of us baseball nerds of course) is the use of something, or someone more specifically, called the “Player to Be Named Later (PTBNL)” in these trade scenarios. For those of you who don’t know, here’s a quick explanation of what exactly the phrase “Player to Be Named Later” means. In baseball, when a team isn’t sure exactly which prospect they want in return or when they are trying to finesse the roster management rules, they will accept a “Player to Be Named Later” in return in a trade. This gives that team the opportunity to further evaluate players and choose who they want in return at a later date. This doesn’t mean that the team will just be able to choose a superstar down the road, there are limitations placed on who can be chosen, and most of the time the player ends up being just another player lost in baseball lore. However, sometimes these PTBNL turn out to be more than just a journeyman or even lead to oddities that only baseball can provide. So, what are the most famous cases of Players to Be Named Later? Well, I’m glad you asked. Let’s start with the not so unexpected scenario that actually led to the PTBNL rules to be changed. Trea Turner Before 2015, there was a rule in place in the MLB in which prevented players from being traded for a year after being drafted. Trea Turner was drafted by the San Diego Padres in the first round of the 2014 Draft which meant, you guessed it, he wasn’t eligible to be traded until the following year. However, in December of 2014 the Padres, Nationals, and Rays agreed to mega-deal that involved 11 players AND a Player to Be Named Later. So, what does this have to do with Turner? Well, everyone was aware of who that PTBNL would be. Trea Turner. But as I mentioned before, he wasn’t allowed to be traded yet. So Turner had to spend the beginning of the next season playing for the Padres who had already traded him. This led to a rule change in MLB before the next draft to avoid this situation ever playing out again. But where is Trea Turner now? He’s certainly no journeyman. He had an incredible start to his career with the Nationals, before being traded (again) to the Dodgers with Max Scherzer in 2021. He eventually signed a $300 million deal with the Phillies where he still plays and remains one of the best players in Major League Baseball. But is he the best PTBNL of all time? Not quite. David Ortiz Big Papi. Ever heard of him? Sure you have. But did you know he wasn’t always the mashing lefty for the Red Sox that we know and love? That’s right. Early on in David Ortiz’s career he actually struggled to find a place in the league; and at one point, was even a Player to Be Named Later in a trade. He actually started his career with the Seattle Mariners, but he doesn’t mean much to the Mariners franchise outside of being a PTBNL in a trade in 1996 with the Minnesota Twins for Dave Hollins. As a matter of fact, not only was Ortiz not the player we know on the field, he wasn’t even David Ortiz on paper. At the time, he was actually known as David Arias. You might be thinking, “Wow. The Mariners really traded BIG PAPI.” Trust me when I tell that the Twins feel even worse. Ortiz would play a handful of seasons for the Twins from 1997-2002; however, even after a solid season in 2002 with the Twins, they would go on to RELEASE Ortiz. That’s right. Even one of the greatest players to ever step foot on a baseball diamond was not only traded as PTBNL but was also outright released. Of course in 2003, David Ortiz would go on to join the Boston Red Sox. Ten All-Star games, 3 World Series Championships, a World Series MVP, and a Hall of Fame selection later, David Ortiz would go down in baseball history as one of the most feared batters of all time, and the legend we know him as today Big Papi. What is the oddest Player to Be Named Later situation? There is a rare, but always delightfully bizarre situation in which a player is traded for himself as a Player to Be Named Later. This hilariously absurd scenario is so rare that it has only happened four times in the history of Major League Baseball. Harry Chiti – traded from the then Cleveland Indians to the Mets in 1962 for a PTBNL. However, he was so bad that the Mets decided trade him back to Cleveland as the PTBNL Brad Gulden – traded (with $100,000) from the Yankees to the Mariners for Larry Milbourne and a PTBNL in 1980. Once again, he performed so poorly that the Mariners traded him back to New York as the PTBNL in the original trade. Are you sensing a theme? Dickie Noles – In 1987 the Cubs traded him to the Tigers for a Player to Be Named Later. Sadly, he didn’t do enough during the Tigers playoff run that year for them to want to keep him around. So, they shipped back to the Windy City to complete the trade as the PTBNL. John McDonald – The most recent example. He was acquired by Detroit, who clearly didn’t learn anything in 1987, from the Blue Jays in 2005 for, that’s right, a PTBNL. Later that year, he was sent back to Canada for cash considerations. There you go. Next time you’re hanging out with your buddies on the back porch naming random athletes from your pass, feel free to drop in a “Dickie Noles” reference and explain the wonderful scenario of him being traded for himself. Baseball is such a beautiful sport in so many ways. For many of us, it’s the first sport we play as children, or the sport we remember watching with our grandparents on the living room floor. It has such an iconic and rich history. It’s known as “America’s past time” for a reason. But throughout that history, there are so many things that have happened that can only be described as strange and uniquely baseball. And that’s why we love it. So, when you’re scrolling social media or watching ESPN this trade deadline season and see that stud middle reliever traded for nothing but a Player to Be Named Later, maybe you won’t just brush it off this time around. Maybe you’ll wait to see who that player becomes, and maybe they’ll end up being another great piece of baseball trivia.
July 14, 2025
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