DG178 - Part 1

You are forgiven if you are unable to remember the contents of the first ever dread gallery I did featuring basketball players. Hastily prepared and posted a couple of weeks (or so) before Christmas in 2008, DG#30 covered the first month of the 2008-09 College Basketball season, and all I can recall about it is that I had to look high and low and far and wide just to find enough players to make a dread gallery. Of the handful of players with dreads that I did find, most played for the so called mid-major and low-major teams that you rarely see on television. Dreads were few and far between in the big, power conferences. And the story was the same in the NBA. You had to look even far-er and wider to find dreads in the Association. So small was the roster of NBA players with dreads back then that it could be tallied with just the fingers on your two hands.

But things are different nowadays. Just a bit. I mean, it seems like every team - pro, college, or wherever - has at least one player with dreads. Many teams have more than one. Dreads have become so commonplace on the basketball court that it's unusual - and disappointing - to see a game without any. Rather than a look at all the dozens of players with dreads currently on basketball teams, dread gallery #178 will focus mostly on a small number of players from a select few games.

But first .....

 
You probably noticed that it's been a while since I last posted anything; and maybe you've been wondering why. Well, I'm glad you asked, because I'm going to tell you why ..... the short version, at least. It certainly is not because I don't want want to do this blog anymore. Dreads are so common and so normal and so many now that seeing them really isn't as special as it was during the early days of this blog. But even all these years since I began I still very much want to do stuff about athletes with dreads.

After I finished DG177 in April 2020, I decided my next DG would be on baseball, which I've hardly done anything on in years. But instead of doing a DG with just a few photos of all the players with dreads, I thought it would be better to include photos of all the seasons I haven't covered since I did DG150 back in 2014. So I started going through the photos I had saved and searching for even more photos just to make sure I didn't miss anything.

In the meantime .... on May 8 of last year I quit my job. It's not something I wanted to do. Actually I enjoyed the work (mostly) as well as the company of my co-workers. But it just wasn't paying enough, and in the middle of a pandemic that seemed wasn't going to end anytime soon I knew it was going to be impossible to get a raise. So after 35 years at the same job, I said goodbye and headed into the great unknown. And after about 3 weeks I was able to land a better-paying, part-time job. Which was OK because it gave me more time to go through the hundreds of baseball pictures I still needed to go through. But then about a month after that I landed another part-time job, and that really took a big bite out of my free time. All of a sudden I was actually working more than I wanted. I wasn't complaining about it, especially considering how many people the pandemic has put out of work; but at that point it meant that the House of Dread needed to go to the back burner.

As the summer went on and football season approached, I ceased searching for baseball photos (after getting about halfway finished) and started looking at football pictures. I wanted to do my annual house calls report, but all I had time for was my report card for the 2019 season the and 2020 preview. Then all through the 2020 season I hardly did anything blog related at all. A lot of Saturdays I had to work, and (of course) I spent Sundays watching football (all day). I often was so tired that I spent more of my free time sleeping, and on many nights I was on the computer for less than an hour. I'm working a little less now - and (thankfully) not on Saturdays anymore - so maybe I'll get some stuff posted more frequently (but don't hold your breath).  

You might find this hard to believe now but frequent posts were not an issue during this infancy of this blog. DG30 was the 30th dread gallery (duh) I did in my first 4 months. It included immortals such as Josh Hunter (Appalachian State), Kevin Thomas (Murray State), Lakendrick Allen (Mississippi Valley State), and Jasper Williams and Jeremy Saffore (both UT-Chattanooga). Remember them? There were photos of future NBA draft picks DeMarre Carroll and Kenneth Faried. And since at that point early in the season I hadn't yet heard of Courtney Fortson (Arkansas), the best dreads in DG30 were on the heads of Raymond Sykes (Clemson) and Justin Carter (Creighton).

Unfortunately DG30, along with most of the other stuff I did on the Yardbarker website during the first 4 years of the House of Dread, have apparently been forever lost to the far reaches of space. It's hard to believe that more than 12 years have passed since DG30. Time flies when you're having fun, I guess. Time flies .... and dreads change. Back in 2008 it was simple to tell the difference whether a player's hair was in dreads or in braids. But now, there are so many different styles of dreads; and I often have to look twice and think three times before deciding if I should welcome a player to the house.

Although I'm tempted, DG178 will not be a redo of DG30. A good chunk of it will feature the dreads and smiling face of Sacramento Kings F/C Richaun Holmes, which greeted you at the beginning of this post and again here (photo on left). Still unknown to me after being picked in the 2nd round of the 2015 NBA Draft and after the first two seasons of his career, Holmes has slowly but surely become one of my favorite players to watch. I didn't even notice he was with the Philadelphia 76ers until his 3rd season (2017-18), when he first put his hair into braids. Then the next season he was traded to Phoenix and switched his hair to dreads, and that's when I really started paying attention. Holmes is a 6-10, 235-pounder who has improved by leaps and bounds since signing with the Kings as a free agent during the summer of 2019. A defensive specialist averaging a career high 1.6 blocked shots per game so far this season, he also has become more of a factor on offense since coming to Sactown, averaging double figures in scoring and shooting better than 64% from the field in both of his seasons.

Richaun is the feature attraction of dread gallery #178. He was one of 4 players with dreads in uniform in Detroit on the night of Feb. 26, when he had 19 points and a season high 17 rebounds and was a +19 in 33 minutes, helping the Kings end a 9-game losing streak with a 110-107 victory over the Pistons. Then, after looking at every single picture involving any players with dreads from that game (well, most of them), we'll check out a couple of other players I like whose dreads happen to be among the best in the league. 
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1. After F Harrison Barnes misses the Kings' first shot of the game, Richaun Holmes tips in the first 2 points of the game. It looked like C Mason Plumlee would get the rebound for the Pistons; but the ball stayed on the rim longer than he expected, causing him to mistime his jump and allowing Holmes to get the chance for the easy putback.

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2. F Jerami Grant, who had his dreads reduced for this game, looks to drive against Richaun Holmes from the right wing with 9:30 remaining in the 1st quarter. Instead he settled for a 17-foot jumper (the official game play-by-play calls it a 13-footer, but Grant was barely inside the 3-point line) and missed, keeping the Kings' lead at 9-3. 

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3. After driving into the lane, G Dennis Smith Jr. leaves his feet and decides to pass the ball rather than have his shot blocked by Richaun Holmes with 8:31 remaining in the 1st quarter. The pass went to Mason Plumlee, who then passed to G Wayne Ellington, who missed a wide open 3-pointer, with Holmes getting the rebound.

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4. With F Saddiq Bey on the floor (and out of the picture) under the basket after trying to draw an offensive foul, Richaun Holmes finds himself all alone in the middle of the lane and hits a hook shot to cap an 11-1 run and put the Kings ahead 16-4 less than 4 minutes into the game.

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5. Richaun Holmes picks up Jerami Grant on a defensive switch (above) ... and Grant drives right past him, gets to the basket, and hits the layup (on right) with 7:12 to play in the 1st quarter. Jerami's first 2 points of the night capped a 5-0 run that brought the Pistons to within 19-9 .....

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6. ..... Jerami Grant takes the Pistons' next shot 23 seconds (and two possessions) later. After getting open on a screen, Grant launches a 20-footer as Richaun Holmes comes out too late to challenge him. The shot was no good, and G Buddy Hield got the rebound for the Kings.

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7. After Richaun Holmes again switches to pick him up, Jerami Grant again tries to drive past Holmes; but this time Holmes denies him with 6:02 remaining in the 1st quarter. After Holmes got his hand on the ball on Grant's drive to prevent the shot, Grant falls backward and gives the photographer a great view of his dreads as he lets go of the ball so that he won't be called for traveling. While Grant ended up on his back out of bounds the Pistons recovered the loose ball .....

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8. ..... but the possession ends scoreless 8 seconds later, as rookie G Saben Lee takes his first shot of the game and misses this driving layup. 

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9. On Detroit's next possession G Josh Jackson gets to the basket against Buddy Hield (#24), but as he attempts his layup Richaun Holmes goes up and swats it away for his 1st blocked shot of the game. Just into the game seconds earlier and looking on is rookie F/C Isaiah Stewart (#28).
5 seconds later G De'Aaron Fox hit a fast break layup at the other end to up Sacramento's lead to 25-11.

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10. After the Kings took their biggest lead a little later at 17 points, Jerami Grant begins the Pistons' comeback, here driving past F Marvin Bagley III in the lane and finishing with an easy layup to make it 31-15 with 3:13 remaining in the 1st. All throughout his career, starting back when he was college at Duke in 2018, Bagley has had his hair like this, where it's on the brink of being dreads without really being dreads - and that's fine. To each his own (style). But sorry, I can't welcome him to the house looking like this.

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11. With his jump shot not working yet (0 for 3), Jerami Grant takes it to the hoop again on the Pistons' next possession. Rather than let Grant make the layup, G DaQuan Jeffries committed the foul. Grant hit both free throws to make it 31-17.

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12. On the Pistons' next possession Saben Lee makes it 0 for 2 on driving layups, as he is unable to hit this shot at the rim while De'Aaron Fox shows the "I didn't touch him" pose to the referees. Fortunately for Saben, Isaiah Stewart got the offensive rebound, and the possession ended with Josh Jackson making 2 free throws to make the score 31-19.

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13. The 1st quarter wasn't a total washout for Saben Lee. Here with 34 seconds remaining he drives against G Cory Joseph, as Coaches Casey (left) and Walton (right), both dressed in black, look on. This time he finished with success, hitting the layup over Marvin Bagley, who came over but couldn't block the shot. Lee's first 2 points of the night were the final 2 of the quarter .....

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14. ..... But before the quarter is over Lee misses another short shot, as this one to the left of the basket over Marvin Bagley is no good with 3 seconds to play. Saben actually had another chance to score; but after getting his own rebound, time ran out just before his attempted layup, and the quarter ended with the Kings leading 35-25.

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15. On this play early in the 2nd quarter the hand of Saben Lee reaches from behind but neither fouls nor distracts Marvin Bagley, and Bagley gets the 2-hand slam dunk to make the score 39-27 .....

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16. Saben Lee gets Bagley's two points back 15 seconds later, as he drives against G Kyle Guy and hits the short shot off the glass to make it 39-29.

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17. On Detroit's next possession Saben Lee was fouled by Cory Joseph twice in a span of 7 seconds. After the second of those fouls Lee here eyes the rim before shooting one of his 2 free throws with 9:20 on the clock. On his only trip to the line in the game Lee, not a good FT shooter at 67%, missed both shots, keeping the Kings' lead at 10.
Saben got his dreads started during his sophomore college season for Vanderbilt in 2018-19; but with his large number of locks being so short and so close together it was hard to see them. But now that they're in their 3rd year and getting longer, they're much more noticeable. 

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18. After a pass by DaQuan Jeffries was deflected by Josh Jackson, Saben Lee beats Harrison Barnes to the loose ball with 8:48 to play in the 2nd. Jackson got credit for the steal on the Kings' 3rd turnover of the game, but the Pistons turned the ball right back over 6 seconds later.

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19. After taking a pass from Wayne Ellington while cutting to the basket, Isaiah Stewart displays excellent agility for a 250-pounder, as he hits this double-clutch layup in front of Buddy Hield to bring the Pistons to within 8 at 39-31. These were Isaiah's first 2 points of the game on a night he shot 3 for 3 from the field. Although you'd never know it from this game, Hield actually is in his 1st season with dreads. He had his hair in dreads for every game this season until untwisting them before the Kings' game at Brooklyn 3 days earlier. After playing that game, the game at New York the next night, and then this one, Buddy brought the dreads right back for the next game after the Kings returned home from their road trip ..... and he's had them for every game since.

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20. Richaun Holmes' dreads go vertical as he grabs this offensive rebound against Wayne Ellington after a missed shot by De'Aaron Fox with 7:17 remaining in the 2nd. This photo is a bit of an optical illusion, because it looks like Isaiah Stewart is in on the action too. But if you notice Stewart's feet, they're right by the dotted line in the lane, while Holmes and Ellington are next to the basket .....  

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21. ..... A couple of seconds later and Isaiah Stewart is in on the action now. After coming down with his 9th rebound of the game and gathering himself, Richaun Holmes goes back up for the shot between Stewart and Wayne Ellington. He missed, but Ellington was called for a foul. Richaun hit both FT to make the score 41-31.

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22. On the Kings' next possession De'Aaron Fox, after backing Saben Lee from the sideline down into the low post, turns and shoots a short fadeaway jumper over Lee ... and misses, with Isaiah Stewart getting the rebound, his 4th of the game.

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23. After taking a pass from Dennis Smith to the left of the lane (thanks to a poor defensive switch by the Kings), Jerami Grant goes to the basket and scores against Richaun Holmes to cut the Kings' lead to 46-38 with 4:43 remaining until halftime. It looked like Holmes at first tried to get into position to draw an offensive foul; and when he realized he was too late to do that, he tried to challenge Grant's shot, and he was too late to do that too. He's lucky he wasn't called for a foul.

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24. Richaun Holmes and Isaiah Stewart have a close encounter late in the 2nd quarter. As they both go up to rebound a missed 3-pointer by Buddy Hield, they get tangled, and Holmes appears to have no chance as the ball caroms off the rim closer to Stewart .....

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25. ..... Stewart wins the battle for the ball; but instead of getting credit for his 5th rebound, he's called for his 2nd foul. To say the least it was a questionable call. Holmes gladly accepted the gift, hitting both FT to up the Kings' lead to 53-46 with 1:40 remaining.

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26. Richaun Holmes howls in frustration and disgust as he runs back down the floor after being called for goaltending on the Pistons' next possession. Holmes swatted away a 4-foot left-handed hook shot by Isaiah Stewart above the rim; but the officials ruled the ball was on its way down. Another questionable call, this one not going in Richaun's favor. Stewart's 6th (and last) point of the game made it 53-48. 

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27. Isaiah Stewart nearly gets a taste of Harrison Barnes' elbow on the Kings' next possession, as Barnes tries to get control of the ball near the basket after a pass intended for him near the FT line was deflected by Dennis Smith. Barnes eventually lost the ball out of bounds, but Stewart was called for his 3rd foul, a call that had him, several of his teammates, and Coach Casey in disbelief .....

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28. ..... After Barnes makes his first FT to make the score 54-48, he misses the second, and Stewart, still in the game despite his 3 fouls, gets the uncontested rebound. This photo is unusual in that it shows all 10 players on the court in the same shot, with Richaun Holmes by himself way back at the other end.

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29. On the Pistons' next possession 10 seconds later Dennis Smith adds another one to his highlight reel. After driving past De'Aaron Fox (thanks in part to a screen set by Jerami Grant), Smith lifts off in the middle of the lane, soars to the rim, and slams it home between Richaun Holmes and Marvin Bagley to cut Detroit's deficit to 4 with 1:07 remaining. Holmes put his arm up to contest the shot but then pulled it back, otherwise it might have ended up in the basket along with the ball. Here is the video of the dunk: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GW4YQXNhV7I

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30. On the Pistons' next possession penetration by Dennis Smith causes the Kings' defense to break down and leave Jerami Grant wide open, and Richaun Holmes can only watch helplessly as Grant launches his 3-point attempt with 32 seconds to play. The shot missed, but Saddiq Bey tipped in the rebound to cut the Kings' lead to 54-52, their smallest since the score was 5-3.

Another Harrison Barnes 1 for 2 trip at the FT line on the Kings' next possession made it 55-52 at the half. Jerami Grant led all scorers with 15 points in the 1st half. Richaun Holmes topped everyone with 12 rebounds and 2 blocked shots. Isaiah Stewart led the Pistons with 7 rebounds.

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31. Before we move to 2nd half action, here are a couple of photos of Jerami Grant from the game. The captions don't indicate at which points of the game they were taken, as he tries to box out Harrison Barnes (left) and bends over to catch his breath (right). Grant, who was drafted in the 2nd round by the 76ers in 2014 (a year earlier than Richaun Holmes) first put his hair into baby dreads at the beginning of his 3rd season (2016-17). But I didn't know that then. Then, after he was traded to the Oklahoma City Thunder early that season, I never welcomed him to the house during his 3 seasons with the team while he alternated between dreads, braids, and natural hair. Last season though, after he was traded to Denver Nuggets, he switched to dreads with the two strand twist locks at the start of the season, and they been growing longer ever since.

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32. The captions for these photos at least indicated which quarters they were taken. On the left Richaun Holmes sets to shoot a free throw in the 2nd quarter - either with 7:15 or 1:40 remaining. He hit both FT on both trips and finished the game 7 for 7. On the right Jerami Grant eyes the basket before shooting one of his 5 FT in the 3rd quarter - either with 11:11, 5:20, or 1:57 on the clock. Jerami hit all 5 and was 14 for 15 on the night.

Now, just for fun .....

Here are what Richaun Holmes and Jerami Grant looked liked in 2016 during their only season as teammates with the 76ers, defending the drive of Celtics G Isaiah Thomas on Jan. 24 (above) and the shot of Blazers G Damian Lillard on Mar. 26 (on right). The two are proof - and there have been many other examples in the past, of course - that you can star in the NBA even if you're not a 1st round draft pick. Holmes, as mentioned earlier, is having a career year; and so to is Grant, who after never averaging more than 13 points per game before this season, is averaging 22 so far in his first season with Detroit. And both seem to still be getting better.

Now back to the game.

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33. The 3rd quarter starts off on the wrong foot for Richaun Holmes, as he gets whacked in the face on the Pistons' first possession. After Holmes tried to stop his drive to the basket, Jerami Grant stumbled off balance and hit Holmes in the face first with the ball and then with his left hand. The officials checked replay for a possible flagrant foul on Grant, but none was called. Adding insult to injury, Holmes was called for a blocking foul on the play. Richaun was OK though and stayed in the game.

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34. Having already been called for 2 fouls in the quarter, Richaun Holmes decides not to challenge this shot by Mason Plumlee but still manages to bump him a little bit with 9:50 remaining. It looked like Plumlee would attempt a short hook shot but then held onto the ball and moved closer and took a layup instead - and missed .....

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35. Plumlee tries to get his own rebound, but Marvin Bagley beats him - and Holmes - to it. 15 seconds later a dunk by Bagley upped the Kings' lead to 62-56.

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36. After a 3-pointer by Jerami Grant made it 62-59, the Kings get those 3 points back on their next possession. After faking to the right against Mason Plumlee in the lane, Richaun Holmes goes up and under to the left and hits this short shot with his left hand while being fouled by Plumlee. The ensuing FT upped Holmes' total for the game to 15 points .....

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37. ..... But 13 seconds later Richaun Holmes' participation in the 3rd quarter comes to a premature end, as he is called for his 3rd foul in a span of 2 minutes 53 seconds on this shot in the lane by Mason Plumlee. Richaun was hopping in anger and disbelief after the call, probably because he made no more contact with Plumlee than he did than on the earlier play in photo #34 on which he wasn't called for a foul. After Plumlee missed his first FT, Holmes, now with 4 fouls in the game, headed to the bench for the rest of the quarter. The Kings would not fare well without him. At the lower right in the photo and seated in front of the scorer's table waiting to enter the game is Isaiah Stewart. But with the player he was subbing in for, Plumlee, shooting free throws, Stewart had to remain on the sideline until the next break in play, which didn't come until the 7:27 mark.

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38. With 7:00 remaining in the 3rd, Jerami Grant rejects this layup by Harrison Barnes. But instead of getting credit for a blocked shot, all Grant did was prevent a 3-point play - because before Grant went up, Dennis Smith, hidden behind Barnes in the photo, reached in and was called for a foul. Barnes made both FT, and the Kings led 67-60.

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39. After switching over to cover the drive by De'Aaron Fox, Isaiah Stewart can't get back in time after Fox dishes the ball to Marvin Bagley, and Bagley dunks for the second straight possession to give the Kings a 71-65 lead with 5:37 remaining in the 3rd. In the photo on the left you can see that Stewart illegally reaches from inside the rim trying to block the shot. There was no whistle by the officials. I wonder what would have happened if Bagley had missed the dunk. 

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40. After catching the pass at the FT line, Marvin Bagley gets to the middle of the lane after two dribbles, then turns and hits this short shot against Isaiah Stewart with 3:31 to play in the 3rd. The shot brought to an end an 8-0 run by the Pistons and tied the game at 73.

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41. None of the Pistons' men with dreads, neither Jerami Grant nor Isaiah Stewart nor Saben Lee (halfway in the photo at lower left) can deny Harrison Barnes as he drives from the 3-point line to the basket and hits a reverse layup with 31 seconds to play in the 3rd. The shot brought to an end a 7-0 run by the Pistons and brought the Kings to within 5 at 80-75.

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42. On the Pistons' next possession Saben Lee dribbles in the center circle as he waits for his teammates to get into position to run a play. A couples of seconds later Lee hit Isaiah Stewart with a pass on a pick and roll but Stewart, after dribbling the ball, lost control of it, and it ended up being a jump ball.

There was no further scoring in the 3rd, and the quarter ended with the Pistons on an 18-6 run to give them the lead 80-75. 

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43. Richaun Holmes re-entered the game at the start of the 4th quarter, and here with 9:59 to play, despite his best effort, Mason Plumlee scores against him on a short shot to up the Pistons' lead to 87-79.

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44. 9 seconds later Richaun Holmes congratulates De'Aaron Fox after Fox scored on a driving layup and was fouled by Saben Lee. Fox missed the FT, however, keeping the score at 87-81. Fox would finish the night leading the Kings with 27 points.

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45. 10 seconds after play resumed following a Pistons timeout, Saben Lee drives past De'Aaron Fox and into the lane and catches Richaun Holmes retreating as he lofts a shot from about 7 feet away. Lee made the shot for his only 2 points of the 2nd half, giving Detroit a 91-85 lead with 7:42 to play. Saben finished the game with 8 points (4-9 FG), 4 rebounds, 0 assists, and 2 turnovers in 21 minutes. 

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46. About a minute later Saben Lee again drives to the left of the lane; but this time he can't get past De'Aaron Fox, and the possession ended with him glaring at an official after a foul was not called against Fox while he missed a tough 5-foot shot and Fox got the rebound.

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47. Although this might look like a shot of Richaun Holmes blocking a shot by Jerami Grant, that's not it at all. Holmes and Grant actually are on the way down here and end up with their hands on the ball simultaneously after Holmes a second earlier knocked the ball out of Grant's hand on a drive to the basket. Holmes was called for his 5th foul, prompting a reaction so strong that he could have been called for a technical foul too. Coach Walton challenged the play; but the call stood, as Holmes ever so slightly bumped into Grant and jarred the ball loose. Grant hit both FT, and the Pistons led 96-93 with 5:15 to play.

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48. After penetration by Saddiq Bey (#41) causes Richaun Holmes to come over and cover him, all Holmes can do is watch helplessly as Bey dishes to Mason Plumlee for an easy dunk, putting the Pistons back in front 98-97 with 3:37 to play.

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49. Playing with 5 fouls, Richaun Holmes chooses not to challenge the shot in the lane by Jerami Grant with 1:32 to play; and he gets lucky, as Grant misses the 5-footer. Dennis Smith got the rebound but had his shot blocked by De'Aaron Fox and the game remained tied at 101.

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50. One last questionable call has Jerami Grant holding his head and the rest of his teammates also in disbelief with 11.3 seconds remaining. With the Pistons down 2, Josh Jackson, after missing his first FT, intentionally missed the second. Then after F Nemanja Bjelica got the rebound for Sacramento, Jackson stole the ball from him; but instead of it being Pistons ball, Jackson was called for a foul, which apparently brought a great pain to Grant's head. The play was in the middle of a wild and hectic final 13 seconds, at the end of which Grant shot an air ball on a 3-point attempt that would have tied the game with 1.4 seconds left. The Kings won 110-107. Grant led all scorers with 30 points (7-17 FG, 14-15 FT) and had 7 rebounds in 39 minutes. Isaiah Stewart finished with 6 points (3-3 FG) and 11 rebounds and tied Richaun Holmes for a game-best +19 in 21 minutes. Holmes had 19 points (6-8 FG, 7-7 FT) and 17 rebounds in 33 minutes and managed to not foul out. In snapping their 9-game losing streak the Kings improved to 13-20, while the Pistons dropped to 9-24.

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Remember the time the great (well, maybe he wasn't so great) Josh Smith said, "I don't respond to nobody with dreadlocks who plays basketball"? After the 2014-15 season opener between the Pistons and Denver Nuggets was over, Kenneth Faried noted rather harshly that Smith's propensity to frequently take - and miss - outside shots was the main reason the Pistons lost to the Nuggets 89-79 that evening. And then Smith took out his anger on Faried's dreads, as if having dreads disqualifies you from being able to play. Among other things Smith said, "He's a clown, quote me on that." If that was his way of not responding, I wonder what would have come out of his mouth if he actually would have responded. 

Anyway I also wonder what ol' Josh has to say about all the dreads in the NBA today. I suppose there'd be a whole not of not responding going on. Even with his own teammates. I mean, if Smith - who last appeared in an NBA game in 2017 - had still been with the Pistons at the start of this season, he wouldn't have been to talk to half of his teammates. That's right, in their 2020-21 season opener the Pistons could have started a lineup consisting entirely of players with dreads. Along with Jerami Grant, Isaiah Stewart, and Saben Lee, also on the team were G Derrick Rose, and C Jahlil Okafor ..... and ...

51. ..... Let's not forget about Sekou Doumbouya, the 6-8, 2nd year forward from France (that is, he moved to France as an infant after being born in the African nation of Guinea) who often - but not always - has his hair in short dreads. In the Pistons' 4th game of the season on Dec. 29 Doumbouya drives between F Eric Paschall and G Damion Lee (left photo) late in the 1st quarter at Detroit. At the ready is Isaiah Stewart (far right in photo), just in case Doumbouya is thinking about passing the ball (he wasn't). A foul was called against Paschall, and Sekou made both FT to up the Pistons' lead to 25-21. He finished with 9 points and 2 rebounds in 10 minutes. In a game the Pistons lost by 10 Stewart was a +10, finishing with 6 points, 7 rebounds, and 2 blocked shots in 23 minutes. Lee had 8 points and 3 rebounds in 19 minutes to help the Warriors defeat the Pistons 116-106. 3 weeks later on Jan. 23 (right photo) Doumbouya tries to dunk on 76ers C Joel Embiid during the 2nd quarter at Detroit .... and fails miserably. But it's the thought that counts, right? He knew he had to go to the basket strong against Embiid. The dreads hiding behind Embiid in the photo belong to rookie G Tyrese Maxey, who got the rebound after Doumbouya's dunk attempt went straight ahead instead of down and caromed off the glass and back out to the free throw circle. Maxey finished the game with 2 points, 2 rebounds, and 2 steals in 13 minutes. Doumbouya took 10 shots (second most on his team) in 19 minutes and had 13 points and 4 rebounds as the Pistons dropped to 3-13, losing to the 76ers 114-110.

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52. When Derrick Rose first came into the NBA in 2008, he hardly had any hair at all, and back then I never would have thought he would look like this a decade later. But times change, and here he is now in his 4th season with dreads. After beginning the season a teammate of Jerami Grant, Rose has these close encounters against Grant in the Knicks' game vs. the Pistons on Feb. 28. After playing the first 7 years of his career for the Bulls in his hometown of Chicago, Rose has been with the Knicks, Cavaliers, Timberwolves, Pistons, and the Knicks again after being traded to them for Dennis Smith (who's guarding him in the photo above) on Feb. 8. In his first game against the Pistons since the trade Derrick was one of three players with dreads that started for New York, and he had 14 points and 5 assists in the Knicks' 109-90 road victory.

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53. It was two nights before Christmas when the Pistons opened their season in Minneapolis against the Timberwolves. And although centers Jahlil Okafor and Naz Reid didn't play much, they saw a lot of each other during their time on the court. Reid misses a shot to the left of the basket (left photo) after being fouled by Okafor late in the 1st quarter. Naz (short for Nazreon) made both FT to cut the Pistons' lead to 27-23. Then early in the 4th quarter - at almost the exact same spot on the floor - Okafor gets past Reid along the baseline (right photo) before finishing with a layup to up Detroit's lead to 87-83. Okafor, in his 6th NBA season and his 2nd with dreads, had 8 points and 7 rebounds in 15 minutes in his first game in a Pistons uniform. Reid, in his 2nd season, had 8 points, 5 rebounds, and 3 blocked shots in 18 minutes. After increasing their lead to 91-83, the Pistons were outscored 28-10 in the final 9 minutes as the Timberwolves came back to win 111-101.   

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54. Montrezl Harrell, the 6-7, 240-pound C in his 6th NBA season and his first season with the L.A. Lakers, was just getting his dreads started when he was last mentioned in this blog in DG159 during 2015, when he was a junior in college at Louisville. Now look at them. They are in the running for the longest dreads in the NBA. And they were almost completely unleashed when the Lakers hosted the 76ers on Mar. 25. With 2:34 remaining in the 3rd quarter Harrell tries to shake G Shake Milton (right photo) as he goes to the basket, but the play was interrupted by a whistle, and the 76ers were hit with a technical foul for illegal defense. Then about a minute later Harrell is denied a dunk by F Ben Simmons (left photo) but catches a break as Simmons is called for a foul. Harrell went 1 for 2 at the line to cut Philadelphia's lead to 84-70. The Lakers went on to lose 109-101, with Harrell finishing with 20 points and 8 rebounds in 33 minutes.

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55. No doubt Montrezl Harrell has had many close encounters with players with dreads on opposing teams. These two with Richaun Holmes came late in the game at Sacramento on Mar. 3. Montrezl takes and hits a short shot off the glass over Holmes (left photo) to tie his season high with his 26th point and tie the game at 115 with 2:05 to play. Notice the dreads of Buddy Hield as he looks on from under the basket. Then Holmes tries to give the Kings the lead back 20 seconds later; but as he goes up for the shot his right elbow smacks Harrell on the chin, and he's called for an offensive foul (right photo). Montrezl was down all all fours for a minute as he regained his senses. The officials checked replay for a potential flagrant foul on Holmes, but none was called. Neither Harrell, Holmes, or Hield scored in the final 1:43. Harrell had a great chance to give the Lakers the lead but rushed - and missed - a layup after getting an offensive rebounds with 5 seconds remaining. The Kings held on to win 123-120. Montrezl finished with 26 points and 12 rebounds in 33 minutes. Holmes had 16 points and 9 rebounds in 30 minutes. And Hield, who hit 7 for 11 from 3-point range, had a game high 29 points, 6 rebounds, and 6 assists in 42 minutes.

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56. Montrezl Harrell has some serious competition for the ball but somehow catches a pass from G Alex Caruso between Warriors defenders Damion Lee and Eric Paschall early in the 2nd quarter at LA on Feb. 28. Montrezl then missed the layup, keeping the Lakers' lead at 20. Maybe it was because the Lakers led by 30 or more points for the entire 2nd half, but Harrell did not play at all in the 2nd half. He finished with 6 points, 3 rebounds, and 2 steals in 11 minutes. Lee (0-4 FG) had 1 point in 22 minutes. The Lakers won 117-91. Lee, similar to Harrell, had very short dreads during his time in college at Louisville. They were never teammates though, as Lee transferred there for his senior year in 2016, which was Harrell's rookie year in the NBA. Another thing about Lee, something you rarely see in sports: one of his teammates is his brother-in-law, as he is married to the sister of superstar G Stephen Curry.

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57. Montrezl Harrell and rookie F Precious Achiuwa take turns missing shots against each other during the 1st half of the Lakers' home game vs. the Miami Heat on Feb. 20. On his driving layup over Achiuwa late in the 1st quarter (left photo) Harrell's shot rims out, keeping Miami's lead at 28-19. Then with 3:16 remaining in the 2nd quarter (right photo) Achiuwa settles for a fadeaway 17-footer over Harrell and shoots an air ball, keeping Miami's lead at 53-42. Achiuwa, with his dreads reduced for this game, finished with 4 points and 4 rebounds in 13 minutes. Harrell had 18 points and 10 rebounds in just 24 minutes. The Heat, who led almost the entire game, held on to win 96-94. Achuiwa, who was drafted by the Heat in the 1st round (20th overall) last year, has been brought along slowly and has mostly been a minor contributor as a rookie, averaging about 5 points and 3 rebounds in 11 minutes per game.

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58. The obvious reason Montrezl Harrell has shot higher than 61% from the field for his career (and never less than 58% in a season) is that almost all of his shot attempts are close to the basket. And he had a dunk party in the Lakers' 128-97 romp over the Warriors on Mar. 15 at San Francisco. After F Draymond Green leaves him to stop the penetration of G Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, Harrell takes the pass and soars to the hoop for an easy slam (left photo) to put the Lakers ahead 50-42 in the 2nd quarter. Then early in the 4th quarter after missing a shot in the lane a couple of seconds earlier, Montrezl doesn't miss this time (right photo), slamming home his 5th dunk of the night after taking a pass from F Kyle Kuzma to put the Lakers up 98-76. This was Harrell's last shot of the game. He finished 11 for 14 from the field and scored a season high 27 points in 25 minutes.

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59. If you don't know by now, shame on you, but when you pronounce Montrezl Harrell's first name, you have to pretend that the "L" at the end isn't there, because it is silent. Not surprisingly Montrez - oops, I mean Montrezl - is in the top 10 in the NBA in dunks made this season. Against the Cavaliers on Mar. 26 he hangs on the rim (left photo) after finishing a fast break with his 1st dunk of the game to give the Lakers a 20-18 lead late in the 1st quarter. Then with 4:51 remaining in the 3rd quarter Harrell, after catching a long pass from G Dennis Schroder, dunks one on his dreads (right photo) to give LA an 8-point lead at 61-53. Montrezl finished with a game high 24 points and 10 rebounds in 30 minutes in the Lakers' 100-86 home win. Here are his highlights from the game, including all 7 of his dunks: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VVUnysbdFRg

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60. Nicolas Claxton was the first pick of the 2019 NBA Draft - uh, the first pick of the 2nd round, that is. And after splitting his rookie season between the Brooklyn Nets, Long Island Nets (G-League), and the injured list, he decided to change things up for this season, dyeing his dreads entirely blond. But those dreads weren't seen on the court until here in the Nets' home game against the Kings on Feb. 23, after he had missed the first 32 games of the season while recovering from a knee injury. In the two photos on the right Claxton and Richaun Holmes go the floor in pursuit of the loose ball after Holmes, noticing that Claxton was dribbling the ball nonchalantly, poked it away from him. De'Aaron Fox recovered the ball and went in for a layup to cut the Nets' lead to 52-46 in the 2nd quarter and cause Coach Nash to call timeout. Holmes was credited with a steal and Claxton picked up his 1st turnover of the season. Early in the 4th quarter (left photo) Claxton finds himself dribbling the ball between the center circle and the free throw circle, looking to get the ball to a teammate, as Marvin Bagley defends. The possession ended with G Tyler Johnson hitting a 3-pointer 5 seconds later to up Brooklyn's lead to 106-100. Claxton finished his 2021 debut with 5 points, 1 rebound, 1 assist, and 1 blocked shot in 14 minutes. Holmes had 18 points and 11 rebounds as the Kings lost their 8th in a row, 127-118.    

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61. Nicolas Claxton tries and fails to block the shot (left photo) on a drive to the basket by G John Wall midway through the 2nd quarter at Houston on Mar. 3. Tyler Johnson was called for a foul on the play, and Wall hit 1 of 2 at the line to cut the Nets' lead to 50-40. Claxton had no blocks in the game but had arguably his best performance of the season, finishing with 16  points (7-8 FG) and 8 rebounds in 16 minutes in the Nets' 132-114 win over the Rockets. Early in the 2nd quarter on Mar. 13 (right photo) neither Claxton nor F Jeff Green can block a shot in the lane by Jerami Grant, but they do cause him to miss - but Grant got the rebound and hit a layup a couple of seconds later to cut the Nets' lead to 28-26. Grant led the Pistons with 22 points. Claxton had 8 points, 3 rebounds, 2 assists, and 2 blocked shots in the Nets' 100-95 home win.

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62. This time Nicolas Claxton successfully gets the blocked shot on a drive by Saben Lee early in the 2nd quarter at Detroit on Mar. 26 - and I have to apologize for Lee's hand partially obscuring Claxton's dreads. The ball landed out of bounds, and the Pistons kept possession. It was the only block of the game for Claxton, who also had 3 points and 7 rebounds as the Nets won 113-111. Very agile at 6-11 at 215 pounds, Nicolas averaged 1.2 blocked shots per game during the regular season, which is outstanding considering he played less than 20 minutes per game.

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63. Early in the 4th quarter in front of the crowd of fake fans at Portland on Mar. 23 no foul is called on F Carmelo Anthony despite his two handed shove as Nicolas Claxton flips up an off-balance shot in the lane. The shot missed, but Claxton tipped in the rebound to increase Brooklyn's lead to 98-93.
There were a bunch of great photos of Claxton from this game. Here are a couple more .....

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64. On his 1st shot of the game (left photo) Claxton can't score against the defense of C Enes Kanter with a minute remaining in the 1st quarter, but he tips in the rebound to cut the Blazers' lead to 35-32. Nicolas missed only 2 shots in the game, but got the offensive rebound and scored after both of them. Claxton sets to slam home the final points of the 3rd quarter (right photo) after catching an alley-oop pass from G Hames Harden (#13), as Damian Lillard goes down in vain trying to draw a charging foul on Harden. Claxton's 3rd dunk of the game came with 4.1 seconds remaining and gave Brooklyn a 92-91 lead after 3 quarters.

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65. Nicolas Claxton and G Gary Trent are featured in the best hair-raising shot of Part 1 of DG178. Although you can't see the ball, this actually is a photo of Claxton tipping in his miss of the shot seen in photo #64, as Trent reaches from behind too late to prevent it. Trent finished with 11 points. Claxton had great numbers with 16 points and 9 rebounds in 21 minutes, helping the Nets defeat the Blazers 116-112.

When I heard that Claxton is the son of a former NBA player, at first it didn't make any sense - because the only Claxton I knew of was Craig "Speedy" Claxton, who played in the NBA from 2001 to 2010; and since he was 5-foot-11, how did his son get to be 6-11? Then after doing some simple investigating, I discovered that Speedy Claxton isn't Nicolas' father. Instead it's Charles Claxton, a 7-footer, who is Nicolas' dad, a player whose NBA career lasted for all of 3 games, with the Boston Celtics in November 1995. No wonder I had never heard of him. But even if Speedy, who averaged 9 points and 4 assists during his career, isn't his dad, Nicolas is already well on his way to surpassing him as the greatest Claxton ever to play in the NBA. 

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66. In case you were wondering what happened to Johnathan Motley ..... here's a shot of the 6-8 forward from Apr. 1 (no joke), slamming home two in the KBL. After spending the last three seasons splitting time between the NBA and G-League on two-way contracts, Motley was released by Phoenix before the start of this season. At the end of February he began his overseas career and has been hanging out in Incheon, South Korea, playing for the team called the ET Land Elephants. These were 2 of his 30 points - he also had 14 rebounds - in a 99-85 home win over Busan KT Sonicboom. Not surprisingly Johnathan dominated in the KBL, leading the team at 20.7 PPG and 8.9 RPG in the Elephants' final 24 games of the season. They were eliminated in the semifinals of the playoffs. Here's hoping we see Motley back in the NBA next season. But for now, here's how he did (not so great) in his debut on Feb. 26: 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yrd1jiVKEO8

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZOsOsr9ulfI

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 67. I mentioned at the top of this post that it's not unusual anymore for teams to have more than one player with dreads. Well, here are the three that are on the roster of the New Orleans Pelicans. 6-6 F Wesley Iwundu, who played his first 3 NBA seasons with the Orlando Magic after being drafted by them in the 2nd round in 2017, is about to score his first career points against the Magic (upper left photo), as he finishes a baseline drive with a reverse layup and is fouled by C Mo Bamba (#5) early in the 2nd quarter at New Orleans on Apr. 1. The 3-point play put the Pelicans in front 31-29. Iwundu finished with 7 points, 4 rebounds, and 2 steals in 20 minutes but suffered his first career loss to the Magic 110-105 (Note: Iwundu began this season with the Dallas Mavericks before being traded to the Pelicans; and the Mavericks defeated the Magic twice before the trade; but he didn't score in the first game and didn't play in the second one). On the same floor one night later 6-3 rookie G Kira Lewis, the Pelicans' 1st round draft pick (13th overall and maybe that's why he wears jersey #13) drives past C Onyeka Okongwu (right photo) and beats the clock, scoring on a layup with 0.5 seconds remaining in the 3rd quarter to cut the Pelicans' deficit to 94-79 against the Atlanta Hawks. Earlier in the game in the 2nd quarter (lower left photo) F Wenyen Gabriel, after running from the middle of the lane out to the 3-point line and jumping right past G Bogdan Bogdanovic, reaches back to try to challenge the shot, but Bogdanovic isn't bothered and hits the 3-pointer to put the Hawks in front 41-40 with 7:32 remaining until halftime. Gabriel, a 6-9, 205-pounder who was not picked in the 2018 NBA Draft, played his rookie season in the G-League and has played very little in his two NBA seasons since then. In this game, which was only his 7th appearance of the season, he played 12 minutes, which at that point was his season high. He finished with 3 rebounds and 3 assists but no points. Lewis scored a season high 21 points; and Iwundu had 10 points, his first game of the season scoring in double figures. But the Pelicans, outscored 71-49 in the 2nd half, fell to the Hawks 126-103.  

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68. If Gob Gabriel is planning on joining his brother in the NBA some day, he has a whole lot of improving to do. Even skinnier than Wenyen at 6-7, 175, Gob has not started a single game in his first two seasons for the Monmouth Hawks, who play in the mid-major MAAC. And although he plays almost every game, he averaged just 1.6 PPG as a freshman in 2020 and 3.2 PPG during his 2021 sophomore season. Come on, Gob, if you're going to wear jersey #1, you have to do better than that. He is shown in all three photos here from the Hawks' game at Siena on Jan. 3, handling the ball (upper left), hitting a floater in the lane in the 2nd half (lower left), and watching F Manny Camper finish a fast break with a layup in the 1st half (right). Those are braids that Camper has, by the way, not dreads. Gabriel scored a season high 8 points in this one in 15 minutes, but Monmouth lost to Siena 78-77.

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And now for many more photos of college action from 2021, please go to Part 2 of dread gallery #178.