Category: NBA

Real Talk: I’m Not Mad at Jamal Murray and Kyrie Needs to Relax

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Look, sometimes you just have to buck up and admit when you got got.

Last night, Denver Nuggets point guard Jamal Murray went off on the Celtics in his team’s 115-107 victory in the Mile High City last night, scoring 48 points on 63 percent shooting, including five triples.

He tried his damnedest, however, to break the 50-point mark by hoisting up a completely unnecessary three-point attempt at the buzzer – and that little move is what irked Kyrie Irving and a few other Celtics teammates so much on Monday night.

Seriously, with the way Kyrie acted – firing the ball into the stands after rebounding Murray’s missed last-second shot attempt – you would’ve thought Murray took a shit in the Celtics’ Gatorade cooler. Kyrie even doubled-down on his reaction after the game (h/t ESPN.com):

“I mean, what kind of competitor wouldn’t it bother? I understand if we fouled him, going to the free throw line. … I don’t want to make a big deal out of it…Obviously, I was pissed at the game, but it’s time to decompress and move on. Congratulations to him having 48 points. …But the ball deserves to go in the crowd after a bulls— move like that. So I threw it in the crowd.”

Honestly, dude, relax. Love ya. Mean it. But you’re acting like a third-grader who didn’t get one last push on the swing before recess was over even though the other kid got to go TWICE.

And to fire the ball into the stands over it? Really?

To be entirely honest, I’ve never been one to buy into the whole “running up the score” myth anyway. I cannot stand it when a team gets criticized for simply continuing to do what they are supposed to do – score points and win the game! – in ANY sport, at ANY time. I don’t care if you’re up three touchdowns with two minutes left in the fourth quarter, toss the hail mary and go for another score if you want! Up five goals at the end of the third period? Rip one from the blue line straight at the goalie’s chest and make him stop the damn puck.

If you’re a professional sports team and you can’t prevent the other team from scoring on you, that’s not their problem; it’s yours. Stop them next time.

Look, I’m not saying that sportsmanship isn’t important, and I’m not endorsing the idea of acting like a selfish douche out on the field of play. I’ll also note that, yes, in that situation most players would have simply let the clock run out and not have gone for another basket. The Celtics weren’t even trying to defend the shot, and they were caught off guard.

But I think the real anger had to do more with the fact that they let a career 13.6-point-per-game player drop more than three times that amount on them last night. Or maybe it was the fact that it was their second-straight loss to a team that they were expecting to beat. Or maybe it was the fact that loss gives them four already on the year in just 10 games.

Regardless, let’s stop vilifying a 21-year-old who just had the game of his life and maybe just got a little too caught up in the moment. Monday night was his night. Deal with it.

End rant.

Phoenix Suns Unveil Uninspired City Edition Uniform

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On Thursday we discussed the Minnesota Timberwolves Prince-inspired city edition uniform. It’s clear that considerable thought and effort were put into the design of that uniform. The result is a fresh look, and a clean finished product that includes just enough nods to the Minneapolis legend. It’s also clear that the Timberwolves are carefully crafting Prince theme nights for when they break out their city edition jerseys.

On the other end of the city edition spectrum is the Phoenix Suns city edition uniform. They could’ve just trotted out the Charles Barkley era uniform and every millennial sports fan would have raved about how great the Suns city edition uniform was.

Image result for charles barkley sunsInstead, the Suns city edition uniform looks like a middle school Spanish project that was hastily completed 12 hours before it was due.

I understand that they are going with “Los Suns” to pay homage to the Hispanic heritage of their community, but they couldn’t do better than just adding the Spanish word for “the” to their jerseys? The Milwaukee Brewers do heritage jerseys the best. When they hosted Cerveceros Day this past summer to honor the heritage and importance of Latin American culture to baseball, they wore jerseys that said Cerveceros. Cerveceros is literally brewer in Spanish.

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Why couldn’t the Suns go with “Soles?” They do realize these jerseys literally have the word “LOSS” on the front of them, right?

Minnesota Timberwolves Unveil Prince City Edition Jersey

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ESPN – When Prince died in April 2016, Nike pitched the Wolves an alternate “city edition” jersey for the 2017-18 season that would honor him. The Wolves concluded it was too soon. They were already finalizing their 2017-18 jerseys, which would kick off a full-on rebrand — new jerseys, new logo, new court, tweaked color scheme.

But they decided then to prioritize a Prince jersey for this season. They set aside some of Nike’s other proposed Minnesota-centric motifs: jerseys paying homage to Bob Dylan, the Mississippi River (which runs through Minneapolis), and the original Minneapolis Lakers, Johnson says. (You might see some of those ideas down the road.)

In case you haven’t heard, Prince is a big deal in Minnesota. A really big deal. When I lived in Boston, I hardly ever heard Prince on the radio. Living in Minneapolis, though, I can’t go a day without hearing him on the radio. And that’s not a bad thing. As I wrote on Prince Day last year, I was wrong about Prince. Prince is definitely an acquired taste, but he had an incredible list of hits and I wish I had paid more attention to him and his work while he was alive. He was an incredible musician and performer.

It can be nauseating to see some of the half-assed Prince promotions the teams in Minnesota run. Giving out purple hats and playing Purple Rain during the 7th inning stretch is the definition of a half-assed promotion. Thankfully, it looks like the Timberwolves are going above and beyond.

First, they made the right choice of which direction to go in for their city edition jersey. Minneapolis Lakers inspired jerseys? Really? Can you imagine the Baltimore Ravens wearing Baltimore Colts throwbacks? There’d be a revolt in the stands, and understandably so. Second, the jersey itself looks very well done.

If the script font looks familiar, here’s why:

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A very nice touch.

And third, the Timberwolves will do much, much more than most teams to actually make their Prince nights a special experience. From Zach Lowe on ESPN:

The Wolves will wear the jerseys eight times this season, five at home. The in-arena trappings at those home games — giveaway shirts, signage, lighting — will turn purple. Tom Thibodeau, the team’s coach and general manager, even let team officials take the players for a separate day of shooting to prepare a special Prince- and purple-themed pregame video that will run on the scoreboard — not a small concession if you know Thibodeau. The team thought about producing a purple court, but opted against it, officials say.

As yet unannounced halftime performers will pay tribute to Prince, and the broader Minneapolis music scene, team officials say. The team will present donations to some of Prince’s favorite charities.

The Timberwolves Twitter feed offers a good look at the special photo day Lowe mentions:

Also, it’s nice to see some restraint from a Nike production like this. No clutter on the jersey and a wise move to skip the purple court. Overall, this looks to be some A+ promotional work from a team that could use some good press. Maybe now the classic rock stations in Minnesota can stop cutting out the best part of Purple Rain on the radio.

John Karalis and I Previewed the 2018-19 Boston Celtics Season on The 300s Podcast

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The Boston Celtics 2018-19 season FINALLY kicks off tonight as they host the Philadelphia 76ers. John Karalis of Reds Army recently joined me on The 300s Podcast and we discussed the Celtics, how they got to where they are today (the infamous Brooklyn Nets trade), how they’re setup for the future, and what we expect to see from them this season.

We’ve got Gordon Hayward healthy and ready to rock after only playing 5 minutes in the green last year. Kyrie Irving is back after late season knee surgery and by all reports seems to be at full strength. Al Horford will set the table for everyone and then of course we have 2nd and third year jumps coming from guys like Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum. All flanked by one of the best benches in the league led by Marcus Smart and Terry Rozier.

Vegas has the over/under for the Celtics season win total at anywhere from 58.5 to 59.5. Can this Celtics team win 60 games? I don’t know just because this starting core has so rarely played together with all of the injuries, but if they can click early on then it’s entirely possible. They’re also currently coming in at 6/1 odds to win it all.

This season is going to be fun as hell.

Marcus Morris Chirps Tristan Thompson and Continues Preseason Rampage

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Look, I know it’s only the preseason, but Marcus Morris is really getting me amped up with his strong showing over the past week – both on and off the court.

For those who missed it, Cavalier’s big man Tristan Thompson told the media last Thursday that Cleveland is still the team to beat in the East, even with the King now in L.A.:

Yeah, I LAWLed pretty hard at that one, too, as the kids say, and Marcus Morris made sure to let Thompson know what was really good almost immediately afterward:

Apparently their trash-talking days date back over a decade, as Morris and his brother Markieff, who plays for the Washington Wizards, used to face off against Thompson on the circuit in high school. The three also participated in two tough collegiate battles back in 2011 while playing in the Big 12, with the Morris twins’ Kansas Jayhawks beating Thompson’s Texas Longhorns in the conference championship that year.

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These two have quite the history.

Thompson has definitely had the upper hand on both of the Morris brothers since entering the NBA, and his Cavaliers did indeed beat the Celtics 102-95 at the TD Garden on Tuesday night. However, Morris continued to back up his big mouth with 14 points in 21 minutes on 50 percent shooting. He also added a block and two rebounds to boot.

Again, does last night’s performance really mean anything? Not really. But it does further demonstrate just how ready Morris seems to be and just how serious he is about the fact that this is both he and the Celtics’ year. Morris is quickly becoming one of my favorite guys on the roster, and I can’t wait to see wait to see the havoc that he and the rest of BWA are going to wreak on the NBA this season.

Though we’re still two weeks away from the real deal, the Celtics play their final preseason game this Saturday night on the road against Cleveland.

Space Jam 2 is on the Way and Looks Promising

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CBS NEWS – There’s a new wrinkle in the LeBron-Jordan debate: Who will be the more beloved Tune Squad star? On Wednesday, James and his production company, SpringHill Entertainment, announced a sequel to 1996’s “Space Jam,” one that boasts an all-star team: Ryan Coogler of “Black Panther” is set to produce the film, James will star and Terence Nance of “Random Acts of Flyness” will serve as director. 

It’s James’ first starring role in a film. The Lakers superstar had a well-liked part playing himself in “Trainwreck” opposite Amy Schumer. He told the Hollywood Reporter that he “loved [Coogler’s] vision” for “Black Panther” and believes the director will bring the same magic to “Space Jam.

The original Space Jam wasn’t nominated for any Academy Awards, but it is the highest grossing basketball film of all time. It was a solid kids movie and is fondly remembered by people who saw it when they were kids. I’ll stop to watch a few scenes whenever I see it pop up on cable, and I know I have the Space Jam soundtrack CD somewhere at my parents’ house. Even more than 20 years after its theatrical release, I still see Tune Squad jerseys at college basketball games from time to time.

With Ryan Coogler on board for the reboot, though, the next Space Jam will aspire to be more than just a commercially-viable kids basketball movie. Coogler is on fire right now, and although he’ll be producing rather than directing Space Jam, the last three films he directed were all huge critical successes. Fruitvale Station, Creed and Black Panther are all incredible movies.

Space Jam 2 will also feature LeBron James in his first starring role. James isn’t an actor or a singer, but he’s still one of the biggest stars in the world. He was really likable in Trainwreck and it’s hard to imagine anyone, outside of maybe a few Celtics fans, who will question that he’s the right person for this role. It’d be great to see Michael Jordan come back one way or another and settle the GOAT debate with James, even if just in jest, but there’s probably a better chance of Michael B. Jordan showing up.

It sounds like Space Jam 2 will follow a similar formula as the original, but don’t be surprised if it’s a little less slapstick and aimed at adults as much as it is at kids. At least as much as Bugs Bunny cartoon can be aimed at adults.

John Karalis of Reds Army Joins The 300s Podcast to Talk Celtics

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We had a huge guest this week as the co-founder of Reds Army, John Karalis, joined The 300s Podcast to discuss everything Boston Celtics, his entrepreneurial background, the state of digital media in 2018, and we even break down some of the best craft beers to enjoy during a game.

You’ve seen and heard John on FOX 5, 98.5 the Sports Hub, Boston.com, as well as the Locked On Celtics podcast. As one of the hardest working guys covering the NBA today, you can find John on twitter @RedsArmy_John as well as http://www.thesportsdaily.com/reds-army/ and his latest endeavor with Patreon at http://www.patreon.com/JohnKaralis

Subscribe, rate, and review The 300s Podcast on iTunes, Google Play, and Spotify!

Hey at Least the Celtics Start Training Camp Tomorrow!

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Welp. That was a rough one for the Pats on Sunday night.

Perhaps we’ll take the time to review the game. Perhaps we’ll simply try to move on and repress the memory entirely.

Or maybe we can change gears altogether and focus on the Boston sports team with arguably the best chance to win a title within the next calendar year. I’m talking, of course, about our Boys in Green.

The Celtics are set to open training camp on Tuesday, September 25, which is something that probably snuck up on many fans considering the team was still playing meaningful ball less than four months ago.

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Fortunately, there aren’t many questions for this team heading into 2018 besides maybe how Brad will dish out enough minutes to the team’s loaded group of deserving players and keep everyone happy at the same time. It’s really not a bad “problem” to have – as long as egos and personal aspirations don’t get in the way, of course.

And Brad will need to figure things out quickly, as the first preseason game is actually this upcoming Friday night against the Charlotte Hornets. The first regular season contest doesn’t follow too far behind either, with the Celtics set to tip the year off against the Sixers at home on October 16.

Since many of us – myself included – are still in Sox and Pats mode at the moment, here’s a quick little Celtics primer to whet your appetite before the team gets back after it tomorrow in Brighton:

Is Everyone Healthy?

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YES. It seems like everyone is pretty much ready to go without reservation.

Considering the Celtics were without not only two of the best players on their roster, but also two of the very best players in the league, in Kyrie Irving and Gordon Hayward for most of last season (at least in Hayward’s case), this is fantastic news.

Daniel Theis, a solid but very unappreciated bench piece last season, is also expected to be ready to go after suffering a season-ending knee injury in March.

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I don’t think I really need to go into how good Kyrie and Hayward are or what their presence could do for team that was mere minutes away from going to the NBA Finals last season. Just think: We’re adding two top-20 players to a squad that just months ago almost (and probably should have) defeated LeBron before he reached the Finals, which is something that hasn’t happened in EIGHT years.

If that doesn’t getting the juice flowing for ya, then I don’t know what will.

And if there’s still any doubt in your mind about how Hayward will readjust after almost a full-year layoff, here’s what a usually pretty tight-lipped Brad Stevens had to say just last week (h/t Boston Herald):

“He’s been really diligent all the way through his rehab. I watched him go through the steps of working out to one-on-one to 2-on-2 to 3-on-3 and 5-on-5 in some of the open gyms the guys are having. Like anything, there’s always going to be a period of adjustment. From my eye and anybody else who has watched, he looks like he looked before.”

For a guy who usually like to play things close to the vest and temper expectations whenever possible, he doesn’t seem to be mincing words whatsoever when it comes to his confidence in Gordon this season.

Theis will also only add to an already loaded bench, and as far as we know the rest of the roster looks to be in tip-top shape as well.

This team is ready to rock n’ roll.

What Will Robert Williams’s Role Be?

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Besides the potential overall minutes distribution challenge, the biggest question in terms of their role on the team this year is with rookie Robert Williams, to whom we at The 300s affectionately refer as “Bob.”

Bob has had a bit of a rough start to his Celtics career after being taken with the 27th pick in this past June’s NBA draft. From missing conference calls to missing entire friggin’ flights across the country, the soon-to-be 21-year-old saw a rather embarrassing string of events cloud the excitement Celtics Nation initially had after grabbing such a freakish talent at the end of the first round.

There shouldn’t be any doubt about his talent, however. Not only does he possess great size at 6’10”, but he can also move like a wing player and has the ability to jump through the roof. While it may take a while for his scoring prowess to develop in the NBA, he can be the athletic, rim-runner/protector that the Celtics have lacked for quite some time. Sure, guys like Aaron Baynes and Al Horford were very effective defenders in the post last season, but Williams has Defensive-Player-of-the-Year-level potential. He could be an answer to the Draymond Greens and Clint Capelas of the world that the Celtics had no answer for previously.

Especially with an already overloaded roster, we may need to be patient with Bob, but the eventual payoff could be worth the wait.

Who’s Gonna Be THE Guy Behind Kyrie?

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I think by now everyone gets the point that the Celtics have a pretty sick roster. And while this technically could change by season’s end, I don’t think there are many out there who would argue that Kyrie isn’t still the team’s crown jewel. Horford also knows his role, as does Baynes and the rest of the reserves.

But when it comes to definitive roles for the Celtics’ insanely good trio of wing players – Hayward, Jayson Tatum, and Jaylen Brown – things get a bit murkier.

Of the three, Hayward has the best resume, and until Tatum truly takes off into superstardom (which he ABSOLUTELY will) Hayward has to be considered the leader of the pack and the one who should be expected to get the most minutes right away.

And no disrespect to Brown, who simply annihilated everyone’s expectations last season, but I’m unsure if he’s quite on the same level as Hayward and where I expect Tatum to be to start the year.

But if I’m being entirely honest, I think Tatum has the ability to be the top dog in the group by season’s end, if not much sooner. Red pointed out last week the fact that ESPN already has him ranked as a top-25 player in the league, and if you’ve followed us at all over the past year you know that neither of us are even remotely shy when it comes to expressing our love for Tatum.

I think some may still be sleeping on him due to the fact he’s not even legally allowed to drink a beer yet, but the guy is ridiculously skilled and already plays with the confidence of a 10-year veteran. If given enough minutes, he will be an All-Star this season, and nobody should be surprised if he ends up being the Celtics’ No. 2 guy this year.

Again, no disrespect to Hayward or Brown, but Tatum is going to be the face of the franchise going forward – whether Kyrie stays here or not.

So there you have it! The first official piece of the 2018 Celtics season. Stay tuned to The 300s throughout the entire season for all your Celtics news and more. Let’s goooooo!!!

ESPN Ranks Jayson Tatum as the 23rd Best Player in the NBA and I Feel Some Sort of Way

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So the Celtics have been getting a lot of love on ESPN’s Top 100 Players ranking they’ve been slowly releasing over the past couple of weeks with 6 (and counting) players cracking the list. But, what has me all jazzed up is the hype around my boy Jayson Tatum. After an excellent rookie season, Tatum looks ready to take the next leap into superstardom and ESPN seems to agree.

A quick explanation of how ESPN ranks these players:

“NBArank is a prediction for the coming season. Dozens of panelists from across ESPN, The Undefeated and FiveThirtyEight — TV analysts, reporters, editors, producers and researchers — voted to forecast which players would be best in 2018-19, taking into account both the quality and the quantity of their contributions.”

Before we get to Tatum, lets take a look at the full breakdown of every Celtics players that made the list. (ESPN has yet to release the Top 20 players yet so obviously Kyrie Irving is in there somewhere.)

  • Terry Rozier – No. 82
    • Rozier went from fans complaining Danny Ainge wouldn’t throw him into trades for rentals like Serge Ibaka to a lethal scorer off the bench that even spawned an iconic nickname in Scary Terry.
  • Marcus Smart – No. 55
    • Smart is the ultimate enigma as a player that is an average to awful shooter who doesn’t put up big scoring numbers, but is a defensive savant and is the energy guy to end all energy guys. It’s tough to rate a player that makes all the little plays, but the Celtics sorely missed him when he was out last year.
  • Gordon Hayward – No. 40
    • This is a 20 spot drop for Hayward, which seems like a bit much, but thats almost entirely due to uncertainty after missing all of last season. How will Hayward mesh with the Celtics was an interesting question last year and that was before the emergence of Tatum and Jaylen Brown. A good problem to have indeed.
  • Jaylen Brown – No. 37
    • A HUGE jump for Jaylen as he wasn’t even on the list last year. With a career best 39.5% from 3-pt range, 18 PPG in the playoffs, all while becoming an elite defender, Brown will be a huge factor for the C’s this season. He just may need to adjust to less playing time with the explosion of Tatum and the return of Hayward.
  • Al Horford – No. 34
    • Say it louder for the people in the back, ESPN. “Average” Al is the 34th best player in the league according to this survey. Horford may thrive this year as he’ll be asked less than he already is to be a leading scorer, which should allow him to facilitate until the cows come home.
  • Jayson Tatum – N0. 24
    • Obviously last year was Tatum’s rookie season so he wasn’t on this list before because he was still playing at DUKE. To go from playing for Coach K to being ranked the 24th best player in the NBA at the age of 20 is unreal. This truly has me feeling some kind of way. As I said over and over again last year, Jayson Tatum is a future 1st Team All-NBA player and he only got better as the season went along.

Here’s what ESPN had to say about Tatum as we gear up for his sophomore season.

“Tatum evolved from role-playing starter into playoff closer, calmly averaging 18.5 PPG in 19 postseason games, looking like a longtime star in the process. With Kyrie Irving and Gordon Hayward back, it will be interesting to see if Tatum is asked to take a backseat.

Given Brad Stevens’ willingness to put his five best players on the floor regardless of position, I wouldn’t expect Tatum’s minutes to decline. He can play some small-ball 4 and has proved he can remain efficient without volume. With that said, it wouldn’t be surprising to see him get fewer opportunities given Boston’s multitude of weapons”

Now before we all crown the Celtics champions lets remember it’s still September so anything can happen. Guys can take a step back, players can shatter their ankles, or another Super Team could rise out of the ground, but this Celtics team looks special. Not only are they chock full of talent, but they are so, so flexible that its scary. Just about every guy in their starting 5 can switch onto almost any position on defense. Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum could probably stand next to each other and cover the entire width of the basketball court. Or just give them the ball and get out of the way as we saw in the playoffs last year. Horford is the ultimate facilitator and we haven’t even seen this team play with Gordon Hayward yet.

ESPN’s Zach Lowe is even more hyped about this team‘s potential than I am:

“This quintet is the most exciting group since Golden State stumbled into the Death Lineup: Kyrie Irving, Jaylen Brown, Jayson Tatum, Gordon Hayward and Al Horford.”

Them fighting words. The Death Lineup is essentially the most efficient lineup in NBA history by most metrics. The Death Lineup is just lethal from any position as it features a starting 5 of Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson, Kevin Durant, Andre Iguodala, and Draymond Green. So to be compared to that?

Still not enough Celtics love for you? Alright lets pump their tires even more with these excerpts. Anddd go!

Brian Windhorst: “I’m bullish on Jayson Tatum’s future. (I know, join the club.) I think he has an outside shot to be a top-10 player next season.. I think the guy is an absolute stud in the making…I think he’s still ranked too low. I see him and the Celtics as having huge seasons.”

Kevin Pelton: “Tatum is nearly [a top 20 player] at age 20, making him a safe bet to reach the top 10.

Not to mention Tatum has been studying and practicing with some guy named Kobe Bryant so that may help him improve even further. Kobe has embraced the mentor role much better than I thought he would in retirement and thats a game changer for Tatum who has essentially modeled his entire game around the Hall of Famer.

Just a quick reminder that the Celtics are back on the court and playing organized basketball once again in just seven days. Then the regular season, and the sky high expectations that go along with it, kicks off October 16th at home as the 76ers come to town.