Tag: ESPN

God I Love Watching the Lakers Implode Before My Very Eyes

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ESPN – Using the word “betrayal,” Magic Johnson made it clear that general manager Rob Pelinka was the one “backstabbing” him, telling people that he wasn’t working hard and wanting to take his job with the Los Angeles Lakers.

In an appearance on First Take on Monday morning, Johnson did not hold back, identifying Pelinka as the person he was alluding to when he mentioned that he was tired of the “backstabbing” and “the whispering” that was going on behind his back when he suddenly stepped down as Lakers president of basketball operations on April 9.

You know what they say about dirty laundry? Something about not airing it out in public? Yea, Magic doesn’t have time for your anecdotes about dirty clothes because he is here to firebomb the entire Lakers organization and all who have wronged him. And I am here for it.

“I start hearing, ‘Magic, you are not working hard enough. Magic’s not in the office,'” Johnson told First Take. “People around the Lakers office were telling me Rob was saying things, Rob Pelinka, and I didn’t like those things being said behind my back, that I wasn’t in the office enough.”

Johnson later added when asked who betrayed him in the Lakers organization: “If you are going to talk betrayal, it’s only with Rob.”

Is Rob Pelinka probably a snake behind the scenes? It would certainly seem so. Regardless of the situation it says more about you than it does anyone else if you’re going around the organization trying to play office politics and get your own boss fired like your Littlefinger. I guarantee you that Magic did not take his role as President of the Lakers seriously either though so its more of a pot meet kettle situation here. However, for Magic to just go out and dust everyone he worked with shows a laugh out loud lack of either self awareness or he just straight up doesn’t care.

The Lakers are a shit show and if you disagree just look at this quote from Magic about who is running what out in La La Land.

“[Tim Harris] is supposed to run Lakers business but he was trying to come over to our side,” Johnson said. “Have everybody who has a role with the Lakers, stay in that role. OK, Tim Harris, you’re the president of business, stay over there in business. Jesse and Joey [Buss], hey, you’re the general manager assistant to Rob. Joey, you run the G League team. Then do that and do it well. Once you show you can drive excellence, now maybe you can move to another department. But right now, everybody has a voice.”

Johnson said that Jeanie Buss is listening to those closest to her, including longtime friend and Lakers executive director/special projects Linda Rambis and former Lakers head coach and her ex-fiancé, Phil Jackson.

So we’ve got Jeanie Buss, Rob Pelinka, Tim Harris, Jesse Buss, Joey Buss, Linda Rambis, and Phil Jackson all giving their two cents on what the Lakers should be doing.

Fuck. That.

For as dumb as Magic sounds at times…

…I don’t blame him for quitting. He basically had become Peter in Office Space.

“Thats my only real motivation is not to be hassled. That and the fear of losing my job, but you know Bob, that’ll only make someone work just hard enough not to get fired.” – Peter Gibbons
-Magic Johnson

Johnson was asked to name his top free agent. He laughed that he doesn’t have to worry about tampering anymore and can say whatever he wants.

Be honest, does this look like a guy who should have ever been put in charge of one of the most valuable franchises in the world in the first place?

Skip to :24

 

PS – Lavar Ball continues to be the Three Eyed Raven of the NBA.

NBA Conference Finals Preview and Betting Lines

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Here we go guys, this is where the fun really starts. Two of these teams are just four W’s away from the NBA Finals and thank god we won’t be subjected to Golden State vs Cleveland V. No mas. Just look at Rocky as the best example of this. Rocky 1-4 were all awesome and exciting flicks with Rocky 5 being one of the worst movies I’ve ever seen. So I’m psyched for some fresh blood this year. But I digress, lets take a look at the Conference Finals matchups.

Golden State Warriors (1) vs Portland Trail Blazers (3)
(Game 1 – Tuesday at 9 pm)

In what ultimately made little difference for the Rockets, Kevin Durant will be out yet again for Game 1 of the Western Conference Finals on Tuesday night. Durant is one of the top 3 players in the entire league, but lets not forget just how stacked this Warriors team still is with Steph Curry, Klay Thompson, and Draymond Green. Thats a 2x MVP, a 5x All-Star, and a 3x All-Star/Defensive Player of the Year. Soo yea the Warriors are still in good shape.

It doesn’t sound like Durant is particularly close to returning either though and if he misses multiple games in this series then it starts to become a legitimate threat to the Warriors’ NBA Finals streak.

Unless you’re watching a ton of NBA games, I don’t think many casual fans realized just how good the Portland Trail Blazers are. Everyone knows how good Damian Lillard is 25.8/4.6/6.9 with a ridiculous 28.4 in the playoffs, but his shot just was not falling in Game 7 (13 pts).

Enter CJ McCollum, who is a bad, bad man. After averaging “just” 21 points per game in the regular season, McCollum has jacked that up to 25.6 in the playoffs, including 37 points in a ridiculous Game 7 performance against Denver.

Don’t forget about the brother on brother battle we’ll see with Steph Curry vs Seth Curry. Okay so maybe its not that big of a matchup with Seth only averaging 7.9 ppg to Steph’s 27.3 in the regular season but hey it’s still pretty cool to see two brothers playing against each other in the Western Conference Finals. Man, genetics are a trip.

While I can’t pick against the defending champs until I see them stumble, I really really like this Portland team. I just don’t know if they’ll be able to defend all of the Warriors elite shooters. If Durant misses a couple of games and Lillard and McCollum can keep scoring in the 25-30 points range each night, then I think they’ve got a real shot to dethrone the Warriors.

 

Milwaukee Bucks (1) vs Toronto Raptors (2)
(Game 1 – Wednesday at 8:30 pm)

The Kings in the North now turn their gaze towards conquering the East, which won’t be easy if you saw Giannis Antetokounmpo dropping 30 and 40 point games on the Celtics in the second round. There’s a reason the Bucks were the No. 1 seed in the East and why Giannis was my pick for MVP.

Kawhi Leonard is what Kyrie Irving wants to be when he grows up. Kawhi has singlehandedly willed this Toronto team from an annual playoff disappointment into one on the brink of the NBA Finals. He also produced the biggest shot in Raptors history with the immediately iconic Game 7 buzzer beater three over Joel Embiid.

After being acquired by the Raptors in a risky one year rental he’s proving exactly why it was worth the risk for Toronto. He’s averaging 31.8 points per game in the playoffs, up from 26.6 in the regular season, while also leading the team in rebounds per game at 8.5. This guy is getting it done all over the court.

He literally made Joel Embiid cry for christs sake. And I love Embiid so thats not a knock, but do you know how badly you have to rip a guy’s heart out to make him cry on the court?

Giannis showed just how borderline unstoppable he can be though after personally breaking the Celtics’ will to live. Now do I think the Celtics played garbage defense and failed to adjust to Giannis (and his goddamn spin move)? Yes. Does that mean I think any less of Giannis’ dominance? Hell no.

The Bucks destroyed the Celtics in games 2-5 in a gentleman’s sweep, but had huge performances from guys that aren’t exactly household names like George Hill, Pat Connaughton (did you know he’s from Massachusetts?!), and Ersan Ilyasova. Thats not exactly a second unit I would bet my mortgage on, but the Bucks moved like a well oiled machine with everyone playing a specific role, so what do I know? They were the No. 1 seed after all.

We’ll also get more of Mallory Edens on national TV too and thats never a bad thing.

Ultimately, the 2019 Finals could very well be the long-predicted battle between the Warriors and Bucks, who are -550 and -300 favorites to oust the Trail Blazers (+375) and Raptors (+250), respectively. Any bettors out there looking for a great mobile betting experience prior to betting should check out this site. In terms of valued odds, you could definitely do a lot worse than Portland at +275 to win Game 1 vs Golden State. The Blazers have been road warriors in the playoffs and won’t be at a size disadvantage with Kevin Durant out. Golden State is susceptible when opponents beat them on the offensive glass, and Portland is the third-best offensive rebounding team in the league (regular season and playoffs).

While I’m bummed the Celtics bowed out like absolute dogs, we’ve got some awesome storylines to keep an eye on in the Conference Finals regardless. Who ya got? Tweet me @The300sBoston and let me hear it.

The AAF is Once Again in Danger of Going Out of Business

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Update: They finally did go out of business. 

 

ESPN – The majority owner of the Alliance of American Football told USA Today Sports that league is in danger of folding without help from the National Football League Players Association. Tom Dundon, who became the AAF’s chairman last month, told USA Today Sports in a recent interview that the NFLPA is not cooperating with the AAF by refusing to allow the first-year league to use young NFL players.

“If the players union is not going to give us young players, we can’t be a development league,” Dundon told USA Today Sports. “We are looking at our options, one of which is discontinuing the league.”

Dundon said he expects to make a decision about the league’s future over the next two days…The eight-team AAF, billed as a development league, kicked off the weekend following the Super Bowl. The league is seven games into its 10-game regular season.

What kind of business model pumps its own tires as much as the AAF did prior to launching only to make it barely 2 months before nearly going out of business TWICE? In case you forgot, they almost couldn’t make payroll in Week 2 of the first season. Who is running these leagues? Obviously we’ve seen football leagues come and go over the past 20 years as the NFL has maintained its stranglehold on consumers’ attention without even lifting a finger. Most of these leagues fail because its just morons running the business side of things it would seem.

In marketing they say the average person needs to see an ad or a brand message seven times before it sticks. Now apply that to the AAF. How many AAF games do you think the average sports fan has watched? One? Maybe two? The AAF *had* to be prepared for slow adoption, otherwise it was a stupid business venture.

First off, if the AAF’s thinly veiled expectation was for the NFL to welcome them with open arms and create yet another item on their budget sheet then they were sorely mistaken. Sure the NFL needs a minor league system….but they already have one.

It’s college College Football.

Does College Football’s love of wishbone offenses, pistol offenses, air raid offenses, shotgun only offenses, and run pass option offenses prepare players for the NFL? Well five years ago I would have said no, but now…um yea it kind of does. So many coaches are taking College Football offensive plays, concepts, and entire schemes and running them as is in the NFL now. Belichick does it, so does Andy Reid, Matt Nagy, Doug Pederson and Sean Payton.

So if the AAF was hoping to be a way of preparing young players for the standard operating procedure in the NFL, well then they’re fucked because the market has shifted.

To just expect this league full of no name players would be a mega hit from Day 1 is so shortsighted it’s almost funny. Did anyone in that league go to business school? Isn’t Bill Polian supposed to be one of the smartest football execs ever? Yet somehow they don’t have a plan to make it through even one full season without fears of going out of business?

I was texting back and forth with Mattes about this story and he summarized his opinion succinctly, if not spitefully, after getting roasted by AAF Reddit for somehow not believing in this league:

“As Dashboard Confessional once said: I AM VINDICATED.” – Mattes

Real talk though, this is not a good turn of events for my guy Johnny Manziel. After flaming out in two different football leagues, it would be some shit luck for the third one to just straight go out of business. Looks like it’s XFL or bust baby.

 

Will the Patriots Draft Bran Stark errr Hunter Renfrow After His Prophetic Vision?

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I loved Renfrow in college. While he might not be a household name, if you’re even somewhat of a college football fan you’ve seen him make huge plays for Clemson in national championship after national championship.

Renfrow gets in and out of his cuts and through traffic in a way Patriots fans have become so accustomed to over the past 12 years with Julian Edelman and Wes Welker. Plus he’s got the scrappy attitude that Bill Belichick loves as a walk on at Clemson who was a 5th year senior that became a team captain. The guy might not have the pure God given talent like other receivers that’ll get drafted before him do, but hey Chad Jackson was a physical specimen and he flamed out pretty quick. Our best receiver was a goddamn quarterback at Kent State so if anyone will take a flyer on him its the Pats. Doesn’t hurt that they currently only have two wide receivers with any real experience on the roster too.

Roll the tape!

We Were THIS Close to Getting JP “Just Perfect” Losman Back in Our Lives

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Old quarterbacks are hot in the streets right now thanks to Tom Brady winning an MVP at 40 years old and another Super Bowl at 41. It turns out that an anonymous team was trying to pry JP “Just Perfect” Losman out of the cold grips of retirement at 38-years-old because he looked good throwing the ball in gym shorts at a college Pro Day. And we wonder why some teams are just never good? The guy literally hasn’t played in EIGHT years. Lets take a stroll through memory lane shall we?

The 22nd overall pick in 2004 never threw 20 touchdowns in a season, in fact he only threw double digit touchdowns once in his seven year career. Not good.

It’s really impressive that our resident Bills fan Papa Giorgio hasn’t just sworn off the sport all together.

Never forget the greatness of JP Losman, even if a team couldn’t convince him to come out of a retirement thats lasted longer than his initial career.

Does Kyrie Realize He’s Only 26 Years Old?

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ESPN – “It’s been a trying year for us,” Irving told Nichols. “We basically have a bunch of young men in our locker room who feel like they’re capable of doing a lot more than they’re doing. And that’s OK, but there’s a maturing that you have to have. There’s a professionalism that you have to showcase every single day, and that’s what the great ones do.

“I initially didn’t play the minutes I wanted to play. I’m 26 years old, heading into my prime, like, why do I have to wait for anybody? [Terry Rozier] played in the playoffs. He did extremely well. Coming back, that’s a natural competition that me and him have.

“It is what it is. No one wants to say it, but I will. You know, [Jaylen Brown, Jayson Tatum], all these guys, it’s part of their growth. When you have winning in mind, you’ve gotta understand that. You gotta do what it takes, but you gotta understand your teammates.”

I fully understand I’m probably just listening to too much talk radio, but the quotes that have come out of this Kyrie Rachel Nichols interview where he’s constantly referring to the “young men” on the Celtics is becoming a bit much for me.

Kyrie is 26.

He’d be on the same high school varsity team with a lot of these dudes. Terry Rozier is 24, Jaylen Brown is 22. Tatum is a bit younger at 20, but the point remains. I was a moron at 26 and I cringe at the idea of talking down to slightly younger co-workers. Maybe its because as a millennial I am hyper aware of that disrespect from older bosses and baby boomers who can’t open a PDF.

I think Kyrie just needs to practice a bit more self awareness. You’re not that much older than these “young guys” that you are constantly shitting on in interviews. Jaylen Brown was just named the Vice President of the NBA Players Association for crying out loud. Maybe its not a maturity issue with the slightly younger players on the Celtics roster?

NBA Commissioner Adam Silver is Part Steve Jobs, Part Wizard

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This digital jersey witchcraft comes just a couple of days after ESPN reported how badly the NFL has been trying to convince him to sack Roger Goodell and become commissioner of the NFL.

Just look at the growth of the NBA under Silver:

“League revenues have increased from $4.8 billion to a projected $9.1 billion in Silver’s five years.”

and the growth of individual teams as well:

“Team valuations have increased by 267 percent, from an average of $509 million in 2013 to $1.9 billion in the latest Forbes Magazine valuations.”

The NBA has become the most popular sport in the world for anyone under the age of 25 and its not even close. The NBA and Fortnite are what kids care about and not necessarily in that order. I went to a youth basketball game last night and the effect is real:

A lot of that credit has to go to Adam Silver. Sure players not having to wear helmets that hide their face helps, but he’s made the NBA the most marketing friendly sport we’ve ever seen. It routinely embraces cultural trends, technology, and social media, and he’s had the NBA at the head of the line for two of the biggest opportunities in America: esports and legalized gambling.

I’m calling it right now. As the most progressive league in professional sports, the NBA will be the one to partner with the first national marketing campaign for recreational cannabis. Oh the NFL banned a marijuana commercial? Well Adam Silver will use that opportunity to make anyone even associated with the league even more money.

Just patently absurd how good this man is at his job and he ain’t resting. I still hate the advertising patches on jerseys and expect it to only get more distracting, but hey money talks.

Brian Hoyer Seems to Have Singlehandedly Won the Super Bowl for the Patriots

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Yahoo – Patriots backup quarterback Brian Hoyer used one of the projects [Peyton] Manning is currently involved with to help him prepare his teammates on defense for the Super Bowl…He bounced around a bit, but got a chance to be a starter in 2013-14 with the Cleveland Browns. In Cleveland, Hoyer played under offensive coordinator Kyle Shanahan — and a young coach named Sean McVay, who was then tight ends coach.

Via Albert Breer of The MMQB, Hoyer (who also played for Shanahan in San Francisco) believed he’d have institutional knowledge of the offense McVay now runs with the Rams because of his time in Shanahan’s system.

So in the days before the Super Bowl he watched Manning’s “Detail” on ESPN+, the episode centered around Rams quarterback Jared Goff, and quickly realized the offense is the same one he worked in.

Hoyer watched film of the Rams, saw an interview in which Goff and McVay discussed McVay being in Goff’s ear right up until the 15-second cutoff during games, and for good measure, he watched the Amazon series “All or Nothing” which focused primarily on the last days of Jeff Fisher’s tenure with the organization but included McVay’s first organized team activities from his first months with the Rams.

The language was the same.

Armed with all of that, Hoyer was able to do a great job impersonating Goff during practice, preparing his teammates for how to play Los Angeles’ young quarterback.

I mean this was bound to happen sooner or later was it not? You have one of the best, most analytical quarterbacks of all-time in Peyton Manning just breaking down game footage for anyone with $4.99 in their pocket to see. Surely someone was going to watch that and use it to their advantage. Especially the Patriots if their opponent in the Rams appeared on said show. Especially if those MORONS didn’t even bother to change anything in the last 5 fucking years.

The key excerpt is just that. Brian Hoyer, from his time playing under Kyle Shanahan, and a young Sean McVay, on two different teams knew the type of system they like to run on offense. Except it wasn’t just the system that was the same.

“The language was the same.”

How is that even possible? For a league that treats the smallest of details like Soviet Bloc state secrets this is laughable. Now a lot of coaches rehash the same ideologies and styles of play over the years (i.e. Andy Reid, Wade Phillips), but to just re-use the same system without even changing a word here or there? Come on Sean, you learn this in every 9th grade homeroom across America when you need to copy off of your buddy’s homework.

 This was why it took two full years for the “A Football Life” documentary on Bill Belichick to come out. Released in 2011, the doc featured behind the scenes footage of the 2009 Patriots season, the one made famous for Bill predicting how easily the Pats would be stopped in the playoffs:

and him commiserating with Tom Brady on the sidelines during a blowout to the Saints

That was legendary, behind the scenes, insightful footage that I never thought would see the light of day. But it literally took two years after the season ended to come out. When half the players featured were no longer even on the team.  Not a couple of weeks after a game in real time so anyone with an ESPN+ subscription can watch behind the scenes Rams footage to go along with Rams game tape as well as a Hall of Fame quarterback breaking it down so even idiots like me can follow along.

Well hats off to Brian Hoyer for doing his goddamn job.

Hoyer had done such a good job preparing his teammates that when the Patriots were practicing in Atlanta, he felt frustrated.

“They had everything covered,” Hoyer said. “I was like, ‘Either these guys know what all our plays are, or they’re gonna ball out in the game.’ You could see it. They were playing so fast, they were so on top of it. And you get to the game, and they go and have the best defensive performance I’ve ever witnessed.”

The rest, as they say, is history.

Is Danny Amendola Destined to Rejoin the Patriots?

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I wasn’t sure if I even wanted to blog this because this scoop is coming from a twitter user that does not have the end all be all blue check mark, but you’re all smart people so take this with a grain of salt. According to our guy here, the Dolphins are already feeling some buyers remorse on the big contract they gave Danny Amendola just one year ago and may move on from him this offseason. I think we all can agree that Amendola was at his best, like most offensive players, with Tom Brady and was unlikely to match that level of production elsewhere, especially with a bum like Ryan Tannehill throwing him the ball. Amendola did have 59 receptions last year, but only 1 touchdown so its understandable for a team about to bring in a new coach and offensive coordinator (albeit former Patriots coaches) wanting to start fresh.

Couple that with this “Bold Prediction” from ESPN today saying they expect the Patriots to load up at the receiver position as they so famously did back in 2007.

Similar to 2007, when they traded for Randy Moss and Wes Welker, New England will bring in a few receivers following a season in which they were limited at the position. Whether that’s early in the draft, in free agency or via trade, the cupboard will be well-stocked.- Mike Reiss

I don’t know if I would categorize bringing back Amendola as loading up, but wouldn’t you love to have him as the 3rd or 4th receiver next year? Especially if and when Chris Hogan leaves in free agency? He was set to make $6 million in Miami this year so if he does get cut he obviously won’t be making close to that in New England, which could present a problem for a guy who famously took a bunch of pay cuts to stay with the Pats. And he didn’t exactly hide his frustration with Bill on his way out the door so this reunion may not be as automatic as some fans would like to think. I would welcome it with open arms though.

Matthew Slater and Julian Edelman Used to Be Roommates and the Modern Day Odd Couple

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ESPN – Edelman was so worried about saving money early in his career that he and teammate Matthew Slater rented a house in Foxborough together and lived like college kids, sharing expenses and household chores. “He was a terrible roommate,” Slater joked Sunday night. “Didn’t take the trash out, always leaving dishes around.”

But Slater didn’t mind, in the long run, because of the conversations they often ended up having late into the night, sharing their doubts and fears about living on the margins of an NFL roster. In 2011, when the Patriots asked Edelman and Slater to shift to the defensive side of the ball, they figured it was a bad sign for their career prospects.

“That was a pretty low point,” Slater said. “We just kept telling each to keep working hard, keep believing we can do this, and maybe one day it will work out for us. … To see us go from a couple of California kids living together to try and save a buck to him being the Super Bowl MVP is pretty special.”

Edelman liked living with Slater so much that, after four years, when Slater got married and decided to move out, Edelman told him to ask his wife if he could have a room in their new place.

“My wife was like, ‘No way are we living with Julian,'” Slater said. “And Julian was like, ‘No, tell her we can make this work.’ But seriously, I love him like a brother, man. My wife loves him. My kids love him. He’s been there for so many big moments in my life. I’m so appreciative for our friendship.”

I don’t know how I never knew this, but the visual of Julian Edelman and Matthew Slater living together in a Foxboro apartment is laugh out loud funny.

Can you imagine these two living together? They just seem like polar opposites, especially earlier in their careers. Slater has always seemed to be like the dad of the group, even as a young guy. Just a really nice, clean cut, wholesome, professional, polite, do your job kind of guy.

Whereas Edelman has always been the bearded bad boy, packing lips on the sidelines:

Laughing in the face of (probable) concussions

And let us never forget the Fabio situation Edelman had going on with some wicked lettuce.

I know the two are absolute gluttons for anything football so they probably stayed up late talking about game tape every night, but I’m just picturing Slater trying to make a nice quiche while Jules has empty Skoal cans laying all around the apartment. Does not seem like a match made in heaven, but hey its what makes us different that makes us great.

Roommate bonds are forever though. For better or for worse. After living with another dude it’s like you went to war together. War on exorbitant rent prices, hellacious commutes, getting too drunk on a school night, all those experiences are the ties that bind us. Just look at Slater when he learns his former roomie in Jules is going to be the Super Bowl MVP.

Odd Couple? Most definitely, but still just a couple of best buds that have reached the pinnacle of their profession winning three Lombardy trophies together.

PS – Years later, I still refuse to believe this Hannibal Burress GIF isn’t actually Matthew Slater on a bye week.