Good morning! As a fan of The Rolling Stones, I felt like I had to write some sort of tribute to the late Charlie Watts.
Nerlens Noel is filing a lawsuit against his ex-agent Rich Paul, and J.R. Smith is officially playing college golf. Also, I’m starting a new series where I highlight different Knicks/NBA Twitter people who I think are doing great work.
And I recommend yet another TV show.
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🥁 RIP Charlie Watts 🥁
Legendary drummer of The Rolling Stones Charlie Watts passed away Tuesday. He was 80 years old.
The Stones are the greatest rock band of all time. Their legacy has spanned nearly six decades, and none of that would’ve been possible without Charlie. He was part of the original lineup along with Mick Jagger and Keith Richards.
My memories of The Rolling Stones are all based around my dad. He is a huge Stones fan, so I kinda became one by default. The first thing I did when I saw Charlie died was tell my dad.
We went to see them in concert when I was ten years old at Giants Stadium, and we saw their concert movie “Shine A Light” in an Imax theater.
I wrote a clumsy short story in college that used lyrics from Sympathy for the Devil. Man, I was proud of that story - until the professor read it.
Charlie Watts was always regarded as the engine and backbone of the band who preferred to remain out of the spotlight. He was married for 57 years to his wife, Shirley.
Legendary artists paid tribute to Charlie on social media. He was beloved.
The most important names of course were Mick and Keith. Mick simply posted a photo of Charlie smiling at the drums and Keith posted a drum set with a closed sign hanging over it.
The famous story from Keith Richard’s autobiography of Charlie punching Mick in the face was making the rounds on Twitter yesterday. Make sure to check that one out if you need a laugh.
My dad and I disagree on a lot of things, but one thing we do agree on is that Charlie Watts is a legend.
“Charlie's good tonight, isn't he?”
RIP.
📺 What To Watch 📺
📹 Great News 📹
Genre: Sitcom
Subgenre: Workplace comedy
Names you’ll recognize: Tina Fey (season 2), Nicole Richie, a bunch of SNL people
Where to stream: Netflix
Original run: 2 seasons, 23 episodes on NBC (2017-18)
Cliffhanger ending: No
You’ll like this if you like: Other Tina Fey things
Synopsis
Katie Wendelson (Briga Heelan) is a TV news producer struggling to find ways to move up at her job. It doesn’t help things when her overbearing mom Carol (Andrea Martin), decides to take a job alongside her as an intern.
Katie has a will they or won’t they thing going with her boss Greg (Adam Campbell) throughout the series. He can be kind of a tool.
The scene stealers are the anchors, Chuck and Portia, played by John Michael Higgins and Nicole Richie. Yes, that Nicole Richie.
Why You Should Watch
Tina Fey’s Name Is On It
By general rule, I pretty just give everything Tina Fey is involved with a chance, and she’s an executive producer on Great News. If you liked 30 Rock and/or Kimmy Schmidt, you’re going to like this show.
There are a lot of similarities to 30 Rock on Great News. Both are obviously workplace comedies, but Katie is very similar to Liz Lemon, and Chuck is the equivalent of Jack Donaghy.
It’s not surprising that the two shows are similar. Tracy Wigfield, the creator of the show, was also a writer on 30 Rock.
Nicole Richie & John Michael Higgins
I was surprised that Nicole Richie was even on a scripted sitcom because I didn’t watch this show when it was on NBC. But she is so fucking funny on this show. Portia is young and cool - the complete opposite of her co-anchor Chuck.
Higgins’ Chuck is an arrogant, pissed-off, semi-washed, former news legend. Portia and Chuck have nothing in common, and neither of them has any interest in learning about the other.
💵 Nerlens Noel vs. Rich Paul 💵


Before there was Dennis Schroder and the Lakers, there was Nerlens Noel and the Mavericks.
Nerlens was goofed on for years about turning down a four-year, $70 million contract, but according to a new lawsuit1, he was just following some terrible advice.
The lawsuit claims super agent Rich Paul told Noel to reject a massive deal from the Mavs and accept the qualifying offer instead. Noel lost $58 million in potential salary when Paul represented him from 2017-20.
After Noel signed a $4.1 million qualifying offer, he had an injury-plagued season, and he claims that no one from Klutch presented any ideas for pursuing long-term contracts.
Noel also claims that Rich Paul had nothing to do with him signing in Oklahoma City, but he was recruited by Russell Westbrook and Paul George instead.
Paul represents LeBron James and is a close friend of the Space Jam 2 star. He’s known for representing some of the league’s biggest stars, but Noel claims that’s part of the problem.
Klutch Sports is catering to their star clients while ignoring clients like Nerlens Noel. It will be interesting to see how this one turns out.
⛳ The Legend Is A College Golfer ⛳
J.R. Smith is officially a student athlete. The NCAA ruled Smith eligible to play golf at North Carolina A&T. I couldn’t be happier for one of my favorite all-time players.
The two-time champ did an exclusive must-read interview with The Undefeated about finally achieving his dream of getting a college in liberal arts.
I wrote about how important it was for the NCAA to let J.R. Smith play here. He went straight from high school to the NBA and deserves a shot at the full college experience.
🏀 Knicks Twitter Shoutout 🏀
I realize that probably 100% of the people who read this newsletter come from Knicks Twitter. The least I can do is give someone a plug every once in a while.
Ariel Pacheco (@APachecoNBA)

Check out Ariel’s Twitter for great Knicks threads on players like Mitchell Robinson and Frank Ntilikina.
Reported by Darren Heitner of SportsAgentBlog.com