Reader senior writer Ben Joravsky riffs on the day’s stories with his celebrated humor, insight, and honesty, and interviews politicians, activists, journalists and other political know-it-alls. Presented by the Chicago Reader, the show is available by 4 p.m. Tuesdays through Fridays at chicagoreader.com/joravsky—or wherever you get your podcasts. Don’t miss Oh, What a Week!–the Friday feature in which Ben & producer Dennis (aka, Dr. D.) review the week’s top stories. Also, bonus interviews drop on Saturdays, Sundays and Mondays.
Chicago Reader podcasts are recorded on Shure microphones. Learn more at Shure.com.
With support from our sponsors
Chicago Reader senior writer Ben Joravsky discusses the day’s stories with his celebrated humor, insight, and honesty on The Ben Joravsky Show.
Reader senior writer Ben Joravsky riffs on the day’s stories with his celebrated humor, insight, and honesty, and interviews politicians, activists, journalists and other political know-it-alls. Presented by the Chicago Reader, the show is available by 4 p.m. Tuesdays through Fridays at chicagoreader.com/joravsky—or wherever you get your podcasts. Don’t miss Oh, What a Week!–the Friday feature in which Ben & producer Dennis (aka, Dr. D.) review the week’s top stories. Also, bonus interviews drop on Saturdays, Sundays and Mondays.
Chicago Reader podcasts are recorded on Shure microphones. Learn more at Shure.com.
With support from our sponsors
Chicago Reader senior writer Ben Joravsky discusses the day’s stories with his celebrated humor, insight, and honesty on The Ben Joravsky Show.
What will the 2022-23 NBA season be remembered for? Some teams will look very similar, but the landscape of the league is never exactly the same two years in a row.
An offseason full of big trades and a handful of star players returning from injury is bound to shake up the NBA standings.
Utah’s deals that sent Rudy Gobert to Minnesota and Donovan Mitchell to Cleveland will likely drop the Jazz out of the playoff race, while the Timberwolves and Cavaliers will seek to take another step toward serious contention.
The Nets will look to reestablish themselves as title contenders. Kyrie Irving‘s vaccination status won’t hold him out of any home games this season, and Brooklyn will see how Ben Simmons fits into the lineup for the first time since trading for him in February.
And all eyes will be on LeBron James and the Lakers in another storyline-filled season in Los Angeles. James is projected to break the NBA scoring record and, alongside Russell Westbrook, will try to help the Lakers bounce back from a disappointing campaign.
Here’s a look at every team’s outlook for the upcoming season, including the most important offseason moves, big questions and which players could be facing a make-or-break 2022-23.
Note: Rankings are based on where members of our panel (ESPN’s Kendra Andrews, Tim Bontemps, Jamal Collier, Nick Friedell, Andrew Lopez, Tim MacMahon, Dave McMenamin, Kevin Pelton and Ohm Youngmisuk) think teams belong heading into this season. Title odds and win totals for 2022-23 by Caesars Sportsbook.
Most impactful offseason “move”: Lonzo Ball’s knee surgery
Injuries derailed a promising first half for Chicago and are already threatening to jeopardize this season. Ball underwent arthroscopic surgery on his left knee at the start of training camp, his second since January, and neither he, nor the Bulls, have much clarity on when he’ll return.
Chicago was not the same team without Ball last year (27-13 before the injury; 19-23 after). The trio of Alex Caruso, Ayo Dosunmu and veteran Goran Dragic, whom the Bulls signed in free agency, will try to fill the playmaking void.
2022-23 is a make-or-break season for …
Nikola Vucevic. The Bulls’ move to acquire Vucevic from the Magic at the 2021 trade deadline has provided the jolt the franchise had envisioned. Chicago didn’t make the play-in tournament in 2020-21 — ceding the No. 8 overall pick to Orlando, which turned into breakout candidate Franz Wagner — and although they got back to the playoffs last year, Vucevic struggled as the third option alongside DeRozan and LaVine. Vucevic shot 47.3% from the field 31.4% from 3, his lowest totals since 2017-18.
The Bulls are counting on Vucevic to have a bounce-back season in the final year of his contract.
Quote that will define their season:
“Last year, we were not surprised we made the playoffs. A lot of people were surprised. Nor should we be surprised to make the playoffs this year, but what we want to see is improvement. Once you get to the playoffs and you have healthy bodies a lot of things can happen; we have to do better than last year.” — Bulls vice president Arturas Karnisovas
Despite some large question marks entering the season, especially surrounding Ball’s health, the Bulls have their sights set not just on getting to the postseason again, but advancing in the playoffs as well. It’s a natural progression to build on from last season, but also high internal expectations for a team with more than a few unknowns — at point guard, whether Vucevic will bounce back and the growth of young players such as Patrick Williams and Dosunmu. Chicago led the East for most of last season’s first half, but injuries to Ball, Caruso and LaVine kept the Bulls from playing at full strength down the stretch and in the postseason.
— Collier
When we last saw them … the Knicks failed to build on their surprising surge to fourth place in the East two seasons ago. Last year’s 11th-place finish was headlined by a steep regression from Julius Randle following his All-NBA performance in 2020-21.
The women of Automatic were born to be in an art-punk band, but they’re still finding their footing. Much of the Los Angeles group’s press coverage has treated them like they’re learning their craft in real time while growing an audience through social media and handshakes. While that may be true, they’ve also had more career and creative advantages than your average indie outfit. Drummer Lola Dompé is the daughter of Bauhaus drummer Kevin Haskins, and singer and synthesist Izzy Glaudini is the daughter of playwright Robert Glaudini and sister of Criminal Minds and Sopranos actor Lola Glaudini. Suffice to say they’ve had a leg up accessing artistic tools and professional guidance.
Still, Automatic aren’t aspiring to be arena rockers. Much of their charm comes from how they try to reconcile the inspiration they’ve found in DIY music scenes with their inheritances—not just a certain amount of industry access but also upbringings that included being exposed early to groundbreaking countercultural bands such as Suicide and Devo. On their 2019 debut album, Signals, they lean into an energetic, bass-heavy postpunk minimalism while halfheartedly brooding about how capitalism organizes everyday life. Their latest album, June’s Excess, embraces a poppier sensibility while wrestling with the social realities of the pandemic and climate change. It’s sometimes interesting, but it’s rarely adventurous—and it lacks the cohesion of Signals.
Their vision comes through better in their music videos, which borrow from Warholian poptimism (“Venus Hour”) while toying with a Cold War aesthetic of anxiety (“New Beginning”). Automatic’s videos are flirty and fun, and they demonstrate a studied understanding of the roots of their audio and visual aesthetics while trying to situate them in the “now.” In “New Beginning” they head to outer space to escape a world on fire, drawing a parallel between the nuclear arms race (where the video gets much of its visual language) and present-day global warming. The video also functions like a survey of counterculture ideas from the past 60 years, most overtly in its literary references, which include Soviet urban-planning magazines and Monica Sjöö and Barbara Mor’s book The Great Cosmic Mother: Rediscovering the Religion of the Earth. It questions to what extent money or technology can save us.
While Automatic are still maturing as a band, they’re consciously trying to make the most of their advantages while proving they have something to say. The group shows a lot of promise, and it’s worth your time to watch them come into their own.
Automatic The Mall opens. Sun 10/23, 8:30 PM, Empty Bottle, 1035 N. Western, $15, 21+
The women of Automatic were born to be in an art-punk band, but they’re still finding their footing. Much of the Los Angeles group’s press coverage has treated them like they’re learning their craft in real time while growing an audience through social media and handshakes. While that may be true, they’ve also had more career and creative advantages than your average indie outfit. Drummer Lola Dompé is the daughter of Bauhaus drummer Kevin Haskins, and singer and synthesist Izzy Glaudini is the daughter of playwright Robert Glaudini and sister of Criminal Minds and Sopranos actor Lola Glaudini. Suffice to say they’ve had a leg up accessing artistic tools and professional guidance.
Still, Automatic aren’t aspiring to be arena rockers. Much of their charm comes from how they try to reconcile the inspiration they’ve found in DIY music scenes with their inheritances—not just a certain amount of industry access but also upbringings that included being exposed early to groundbreaking countercultural bands such as Suicide and Devo. On their 2019 debut album, Signals, they lean into an energetic, bass-heavy postpunk minimalism while halfheartedly brooding about how capitalism organizes everyday life. Their latest album, June’s Excess, embraces a poppier sensibility while wrestling with the social realities of the pandemic and climate change. It’s sometimes interesting, but it’s rarely adventurous—and it lacks the cohesion of Signals.
Their vision comes through better in their music videos, which borrow from Warholian poptimism (“Venus Hour”) while toying with a Cold War aesthetic of anxiety (“New Beginning”). Automatic’s videos are flirty and fun, and they demonstrate a studied understanding of the roots of their audio and visual aesthetics while trying to situate them in the “now.” In “New Beginning” they head to outer space to escape a world on fire, drawing a parallel between the nuclear arms race (where the video gets much of its visual language) and present-day global warming. The video also functions like a survey of counterculture ideas from the past 60 years, most overtly in its literary references, which include Soviet urban-planning magazines and Monica Sjöö and Barbara Mor’s book The Great Cosmic Mother: Rediscovering the Religion of the Earth. It questions to what extent money or technology can save us.
While Automatic are still maturing as a band, they’re consciously trying to make the most of their advantages while proving they have something to say. The group shows a lot of promise, and it’s worth your time to watch them come into their own.
Automatic The Mall opens. Sun 10/23, 8:30 PM, Empty Bottle, 1035 N. Western, $15, 21+
GREEN BAY, WISCONSIN – OCTOBER 16: Aaron Rodgers #12 of the Green Bay Packers looks to pass in the fourth quarter of a game against the New York Jets at Lambeau Field on October 16, 2022 in Green Bay, Wisconsin. (Photo by John Fisher/Getty Images)
The Chicago Bears played thier Week Six game on Thursday Night Football against the Washington Commanders. It was a tight low scoring game that ended with a whimper for the Bears as they came up about an inch short of getting the win.
They dropped to 2-4 after the loss. There were a lot of reasons for this final result but the inability to execute on the final play of the game for Justin Fields and the offense was the biggest.
A lot happened in this game for the Bears to feel good about and they must learn from it going forward. If they can do that, they might look better and better as the season goes along.
On Sunday, the Bears naturally didn’t have a game so everyone was able to sit back and observe the rest of the league. Now, it appears as if the NFC North Division is going in a wildly different direction than what people are used to.
The Detroit Lions had a bye week so they will take their 1-4 record into week seven. However, the Minnesota Vikings and Green Bay Packers are the two teams that are going to be fighting for the division this season.
The Chicago Bears are playing in an NFC North division that is changing.
Minnesota came into their game against the Miami Dolphins at 4-1. They ended up beating them by a score of 24-16 to push their record to 5-1. It was a nice game for Kirk Cousins and his team as they continue to win close games which was a problem for them in 2021.
Green Bay is back from London looking to bounce back from a loss with a record of 3-2. Unfortunately for them, they were defeated by the New York Jets and now have a record of 3-3. Aaron Rodgers was hit a lot and the offense wasn’t able to get much going at all.
The Packers’ defense was also mostly ineffective against the Jets when it mattered the most. As a result, they lost the game by a final score of 27-10. They now trail the Vikings in the division by two games. Based on the last couple of years, that is very different from what NFL fans are used to.
It might not be the year for the Chicago Bears but with Green Bay falling off, continuing the rebuild might be the right move so that they are ready to take over the NFC North for a long time. Watching this division for the rest of the season is certainly going to be exciting.
SAN JOSE, CALIFORNIA – OCTOBER 15: Jonathan Toews #19 of the ChicagoBlackhawks celebrates after scoring a goal against the San Jose Sharks in the second period of an NHLHockey game at SAP Center on October 15, 2022 in San Jose, California. (Photo by Thearon W. Henderson/Getty Images)
The Chicago Blackhawks are not a very good hockey team in the year 2022. They are at the very beginning of a rebuild which the team expects to take a long time. It is going to be a very long year for this team as they work on building for the future.
Things didn’t get off to a hot start for Chicago in 2022-23 as they opened with two elite teams in the Colorado Avalanche and Vegas Golden Knights. As expected, they were beaten in both and only scored two goals in those six periods of play.
After going down 2-0, it was Jonathan Toews who started the rally by scoring a big goal. That was his second goal of the season (he has yet to collect any assists yet). In a contract year for Toews that might lead to him ending up on another team, he is off to a fast start.
The Chicago Blackhawks need Jonathan Toews to be the best version of himself.
Going into the year, a lot of people wondered how Toews would play this season. He hasn’t been the best version of himself in a couple of years which makes people assume that he is hard to trade if the Blackhawks wanted to. Well, this big start might be attractive for other teams.
Toews has clearly bought into Richardson’s systems and what they are trying to do. He isn’t the same player that he was in 2014 but he can still be very valuable to a team. For now, his most important role with the Blackhawks is being a leader both on and off the ice.
He is going to see a lot of this young organization up and down from Rockford this year and it is up to him to show them the way. He has been one of the best captains in the league for his entire career and now isn’t the time to stop.
If he does put up good offensive numbers, there could be another run at the Stanley Cup coming his way with a different team. The Hawks would be wise to consider making big moves like that to help improve their chances at a brighter future.
As long as he is with the Blackhawks, however, it is nice to see him playing well because it sets a tone. There was worry that he wasn’t all in on this team and the decisions that they were making but his play suggests otherwise. The rest of his 2022-23 season will certainly be interesting.
