Tag: NBA

How Do Fans Expect to Have Any Obscure Throwback Jerseys If They Keep Burning Them?

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Listen I totally get why Cavs fans burned their jerseys the first time LeBron left Cleveland. Just an absolute tone-deaf, cruel, gut punch of a move from a homegrown player. But for fans burning jerseys of guys like Kristaps Porzingis, who has played a grand total of 186 games in New York, is just short sighted. You know what some of my favorite belongings are? Obscure sports jerseys. Whether it’s the bright red Priest Holmes Chiefs jersey I got in AJ Wright or the JR Redmond Patriots jersey or the Sergei Samsonov Bruins jersey I own; I wouldn’t have had those if I burned them every time a guy changed teams.

So keep your lighters in your pockets fellas, you’ll thank yourself when you’re rocking a Porzingis jersey by the pool at a bachelor party in Vegas 10 years from now and someone asks how much you paid for it on Mitchell and Ness.

Vintage is priceless.

Tampering LeBron Seems to Be Pissing Off Trade Partners, Knicks Shooting for the Moon With Porzingis Trade and Where Do the Celtics Stand?

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ESPN – New Orleans Pelicans general manager Dell Demps has yet to return a call from Lakers GM Rob Pelinka, league sources told ESPN. The sluggish response time is perhaps a message that New Orleans places some responsibility on the Lakers for Davis’ trade request…

Demps is picking up his phone and returning calls — just not from the Lakers, sources said. From Paul George to Leonard to Davis, the Lakers’ front office is growing accustomed to icy receptions from teams enduring All-Star trade demands with a full year left on their contracts.

What is usually a case of Magic Johnson and the Lakers just tampering with anyone and everyone and then pleading ignorance or brushing it off as players talking seems to finally be catching up to them. We saw it before the season even started as LeBron basically committed insider trading on his way to Los Angeles, as we discussed on The 300s Podcast last July.

Now we’re starting to see NBA executives getting fed up with teams just flaunting the rules, especially small market teams like New Orleans that depend on those rules. Now obviously if you think players aren’t talking and pitching each other during vacations and at All-Star games you’re glib, but when players are openly campaigning to play with other players under contract with different teams, that is beyond frustrating.

Especially when LeBron owns the company that employs the agent (Rich Paul) that your star player (Anthony Davis) now shares with LeBron himself. Robert Mueller couldn’t untangle that web of deception.

You can start to see the puppet strings from Rich Paul in recent reports that have come out. Such as the one suggesting that Kyrie wanted to reunite with LeBron and was likely to leave Boston after the season. Essentially just putting reports out there to try and destabilize the perception of Boston as a destination to help expedite a trade of Davis to LA.

The stance of Davis and his camp toward Boston is linked to their view of Kyrie Irving’s future, sources said. Davis and his camp no longer believe that Irving is a sure bet to re-sign with the Celtics this summer, and that’s the primary reason they insist on clumping Boston with a similar message to the 28 other teams: Buyer beware on a trade for Davis.

This is pure agent speak for I want my client in LA so I will float rumors that Boston’s best player is leaving after this season.

Simply put if we get past the next week and Anthony Davis is not traded, there is no way I can see that he doesn’t wind up with the Celtics. If the Pelicans truly are bullshit about the tampering consulting of Davis’ (and LeBron’s) agent to get him to LA, then they for sure won’t trade him before the deadline this year. That would bring us to the offseason when no team can really beat the Celtics’ potential package.

Whether Danny Ainge would ultimately give up Jayson Tatum in any package remains to be seen, but the Lakers don’t have too much that would entice me if I’m Dell Demps. Especially if they’re still pissed because theres no more powerful motivator in this world than spite.

So the big market Los Angeles Lakers are just going to punt on 2019-20 to hopefully sign Anthony Davis the FOLLOWING summer when LeBron will be in his age 35-36 season? Uhhh…

To sign Davis outright in 2020, the Lakers would have to maintain enough cap space for him — which could mean forfeiting the chance to add a star player this summer. The Lakers could sign that star free agent, and then sign-and-trade their young guys for Davis in the summer of 2020. Whatever the case, it’s a complicated path to Davis.

Not to mention if the Lakers want to gut their team to trade for Davis now it would put them in the same exact situation the Knicks were in when they acquired Carmelo Anthony back in 2011. Sure they got their guy, but the team around him after that was garbage.

What’s more, to deal all of their young assets for Davis now would complicate the Lakers’ path to a third star. With only Davis, LeBron and Luol Deng’s stretched salary on their books for 2019-20, the Lakers would have only about $30.5 million in cap space — not enough for a max free agent. They would either have to hope a star takes less than the max, or roll their space over to the summer of 2020 — when the cap will go up again.

So if your the Pelicans, whats the rush?

The Pelicans believe the Lakers will offer the same deal in June and July as they can offer now, which is one more reason to wait on the Celtics.

But it wouldn’t be ESPN if they didn’t end the article without shitting in the cereal bowl of Boston fans with this doomsday scenario:

Still, there are scenarios that concern Boston. For instance, the Celtics could disappoint in the postseason. The Knicks could win the draft lottery and enter the offseason with the one trade asset that tops Tatum: the NBA draft’s No. 1 pick, and the chance to select Duke’s Zion Williamson.

If that isn’t enough, the Knicks could add Kevin Knox to their offer and hope that acquiring Davis would entice a second star free agent to join him. Irving would be on their short list of such players, and the Knicks, armed with Davis and enough cap room for Irving, stand as one the only Irving threats that would unnerve Boston.

The tinfoil hat donning Celtics fans are already starting to freak out about this exact scenario after the Porzingis Woj bomb that dropped out of the sky this afternoon.

The Knicks are essentially hoarding assets and clearing out more cap space for a potential Anthony Davis trade to then turn around and team him up with….a freshly signed max contract Kyrie Irving. It takes some mental gymnastics to get there, but it is a scary thought.

I have more faith in the Browns making the Super Bowl than I do in the Knicks suddenly getting their circus together enough to facilitate one of the great coups in NBA history.

There Are Reports That Kyrie is “Genuinely Interested in Reuniting With LeBron.” Not Good!

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LeBron, you tampering son of a bitch. It all started with Kyrie Irving publicly and pretty blatantly complaining about the young guys surrounding him on the Celtics.

THEN by his own admission Kyrie called LeBron James for advice  and to apologize for their falling out.

LeBron, the guy that Kyrie hated so bad that he forced his way out of Cleveland, is who Kyrie is turning to for advice. Odd flex, but OK.

Credit where its due, but Felger pointed out on 98.5 today that LeBron, who loves to opine about his role as a veteran mentor, was radio silent on the matter. Seriously, there was not a single quote from LeBron about the exchange he had with Kyrie, which as Felger said is just suspicious. It may even point to a guy in LeBron who is being cautious of potential tampering charges should Kyrie sign with LA this summer.

THEN we get the Instagram Story from LeBorn legitimately singing about lost love and publicly tagging Kyrie. At that point I was officially concerned.

THEN there was also a story that flew under the radar a bit this week about how Kyrie is planning to produce and star in a movie about a haunted hotel in Oklahoma City.

I mean they film most movies in LA, but plenty of bangers have been shot in Boston. The Departed, The Town, Fever Pitch, I could go on and on, but the point has been made.

THEN as we get to the most deeply of buried leads, comes the report from Ric Bucher:

NOW, before I get my blood pressure up I want to acknowledge that this is a report from a “source close to the team.” While thats never ideal, it’s still just a whisper of a rumor. With that being said, this would be one of the softest moves in the history of a league filled with soft dough boys. You  just cannot do this as a man if you have even a *shred* of pride. Fed up with being treated as the little brother and overshadowed by LeBron, Kyrie forced a bitter split from a team that was coming off an NBA Finals appearance into a trade with their biggest rival. Now, he’s moved onto Boston and after trying to carry his own team for a grand total of TWO seasons he’s going to give up and go running back to big bro? I’m sorry, but I would crush him worse than I crushed Kevin Durant and thats a promise.

So lets just hope this is all a bunch of malarkey or this is a behind the scenes leverage play by Kyrie perhaps. Maybe he is just trying to ensure that Celtics ownership doesn’t take his presence for granted and Danny really goes after Anthony Davis hard this offseason. That way we can go back to being good friends and I can watch my guy Kyrie hit daggers in OT against the Raptors.

THEN we had the long expected trade request from Anthony Davis coming out of New Orleans, which due to the timing gives the Los Angeles Lakers the immediate leg up on acquiring him. All this just a few months after AD signed on with one Rich Paul…the same agent as LeBron James.

LeBron…you tampering son of a bitch.

What the Hell Does LeBron Think He’s Doing Sending My Man Videos?

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LeBron was on his IG stories singing some Fetty Wap song about lost love and tagging my man Kyrie Irving. Just look at these lyrics:

I know you’re with him now but soon you will be mine
If I could bring it back, I’ll probably press rewind

What the fuck man? This would have been odd a few weeks ago, but after Kyrie went out of his way to tell the word he called LeBron to 1.) apologize for past behavior and 2.) publicly bitch about the young guys on his own team, I am not liking this one bit.

Best case scenario? Kyrie has buried the hatchet with every Celtics fan’s blood rival so they can play grab ass on social media. Worst case scenario? These two are boys now that Kyrie understands the burden of leadership and LeBron is using that as a recruiting ploy for this summer.

Color me concerned.

REAL TALK: OK, So Maybe the Celtics Aren’t Fine

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Image result for kyrie irving orlando upset

No, but really: What the hell is going on with this Celtics team?

For team that was supposed to dominate the East this season, it’s really disappointing to see them sitting fifth in the conference at 26-18, a measly eight games above .500 and behind teams like Indiana and Philly.

I know just 10 days ago I said this team was doing just fine and that soon they’d hit their stride. And they did indeed beat the best team in the conference just two nights ago. But that win was coming off a 2-3 stretch – during which they lost to Miami, Brooklyn, and freakin’ Orlando – and after multiple instances of bitch-assness from a few players throughout the roster.

First, there was Marcus Morris shoving a completely unengaged Jaylen Brown against Miami on January 10:

Then, Kyrie Irving threw a hissy fit on the court after Jayson Tatum’s missed last-second shot attempt just two days later in Orlando, which ultimately led him to call everyone out after the game. To be honest, I’m not even mad about the postgame comments; a leader should step up and call out the young guys when they’re slacking, and I applaud him for doing so. I also think Jaylen Brown acted like a whiny child when he said Kyrie shouldn’t have been “pointing fingers” because it will make some on the team “go into their shells.” (Kyrie actually ended up apologizing for what he said, but Brown’s response was soft.)

BUT NOW, we get the news – compliments of Kyrie himself – that after those postgame comments he made down in Orlando, he called “old friend” LeBron James (catching the sarcasm there?) to apologize to him for being so difficult and not recognizing what a leader he was during their time together in Cleveland. Kyrie said he, too, used to do the very same things that he’s currently accusing the Celtics’ younger guys of doing, and that LeBron was simply trying to teach everyone how to win, much like he’s trying to do in Boston right now.

Wow, Kyrie.

No, seriously, though. A leader doesn’t to try and grandstand his entire team by calling the self-proclaimed “G.O.A.T.” to talk about what could have been and then go out of his way to tell the whole world about it. You’re acting like a manipulative girlfriend who brings up her ex whenever she’s mad at you. What you did was a complete bitch-ass move, Kyrie. It was a textbook LOSER move all around, and I wouldn’t blame the rest of the guys in the locker room for shutting you out for a bit because of it. That was just plain WEAK.

But how about what’s been happening on the court? Well, they did just beat the No. 1 seed Toronto Raptors on Wednesday night – yes, led by Kyrie’s 27 points – but that was after losing to Brooklyn on Monday night, in a game during which they were down by 30 at certain points.

So, while there’s no doubt the roster is still loaded with talent, the inconsistency is what is killing the team right now. This team has flipped flopped between piping hot and ice cold throughout the entire season. Need proof? Here’s a snapshot of how things have gone since Thanksgiving:

  • Won eight straight
  • Lost three in a row
  • 3-2 stretch
  • Won four straight
  • Lost three in a row
  • Win

And what’s even crazier is that, according to the numbers, the team should be one of the top squads in the entire league right now, let alone the Eastern Conference. They’re 11th in terms of offensive rating (112.2) and they’re fifth in defensive rating (106.1). Though they’re technically 14th in points per game (111.8), the stats say they should be able to make up for it with their play on the other side of the ball.

But again, inconsistency has been the killer. While Kyrie – as pissed as I am at him right now – has remained hot for pretty much the whole year, others haven’t been so reliable. For example, Al Horford, who came up huge with 24 points against Toronto on Wednesday, put up totals of 8, 10, 2, 6, and 12 in the five games prior. Gordon Hayward, who was heating up just two weeks ago, put up a total of just 17 points during the team’s three-game losing streak before scoring 18 on Wednesday night at the Garden. Even Jaylen Brown, who is finally starting to pick it up, has seen his totals fluctuate wildly over the past two weeks as well.

Image result for gordon hayward

It’s seriously tough to predict how the book on the Gordon Hayward era in Boston is going to be written when it’s all said and done.

Marcus Morris and Jayson Tatum have been pretty reliable, with each consistently contributing 15-16 points a night. But even their once vaunted group of role guys like Terry Rozier and Marcus Smart have not been able to cement their purpose in the rotation; yes, they’re all still playing, but not as cohesively as hoped.

The problem is that there are just too many cooks in the kitchen right now, and it’s hard for anyone to start to simmer. This has also caused some serious issues in the locker room – some of which we still might not even know about – and that old “Ubuntu” mentality, championed by Celtics teams of old, seems to be a thing of the past.

Again, as I said the other week, I do believe this team can still get hot. But we’re now officially over halfway through the season, and things have actually been trending downward lately, as opposed to getting any better. Maybe Danny Ainge should think about blowing things up a bit (e.g. trading Rozier), allowing for guys to actually be a bit more selfish and solidify their respective roles a bit more. Or maybe some guys can get over themselves a bit and try to be a better teammate.

Either way, something’s gotta give, for better or worse, and something needs to be done sooner rather than later.

The Thunder Are Retiring Nick Collison’s Number….Huh?

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NBA.com – The Oklahoma City Thunder announced today that the team will retire Nick Collison’s No. 4 on Wednesday, March 20 when the Thunder hosts the Toronto Raptors at Chesapeake Energy Arena.

Six points, five rebounds, one block. If you use round numbers, those are Nick Collison’s career averages. And on the back of that historic, never before seen stat-line, the Thunder are going to retire his number.

In terms of publicity stunts and good will gestures, this has to be one of the more absurd things I’ve heard of a franchise doing. I mean, this is technically the same franchise that Gary Payton and Shawn Kemp played for. But Nick Collison’s number is going to hang from the rafters? Oooook.

And I get he played that he played his whole, fifteen year career there. I get he probably did stuff like “gave back to the community” and was most likely “a consummate pro”. But do you see the Celtics retiring Leon Powe’s jersey? No you do not. And no Powe did not play for the Celtics for 15 years but he arguably contributed more to, ya know, their actual success than Collison did for the Thunder.

The only reason this is blogable is because of the question of “where is the bar?” Much like the Colts putting up a banner every time they win a game outside of the calendar year that the season began in, are NBA teams just going to start retiring number for no discernible reason? It kind of takes the wind out of the sales of these kinds of things when it is done for players who, ya know, actually deserve it.

Last thing, you know when this news went out, this conversation was had:

Brian Scalabrine: Hey you think maybe…
Mike Gorman: No.

-Joey B.

Enes Kanter is My Kind of Guy, Eats Seven Cheeseburgers On His Cheat Day, Leaves Practice with Illness the Next Day

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Yahoo – New York Knicks center Enes Kanter is both a large man and an athlete. In order to keep himself in playing shape, Kanter requires more carbs than a normal person could dream up. Normally, his diet likely consists of healthy items. Lean proteins like chicken and starches like potatoes. Occasionally, though, he indulges himself in a cheat day.

Wednesday just so happened to be one of those days for Kanter. The 26-year-old made sure to show off his spread on Twitter. It was excessive. Kanter’s binging session doesn’t come with a happy ending, however. A day after eating all that food, Kanter left Knicks practice due to an illness, according to Newsday’s Steve Popper.

My dude Enes Kanter can EAT and he knows how to do a cheat day right. Three TRIPLE patty burgers with eggs on top, and then four more burgers with a tray full of fries on the side.

When you have a cheat day you want to eat so much greasy, fatty food that you are straight up sick the following day so you never want to eat unhealthy as long as you live. Well that is exactly what happened to Kanter. He literally made himself physically ill. Guy will probably eat like a monk for the next year. Savvy veteran.

Enes Kanter probably knows all about the Cheeseburger Picnic.

The Time Lord Returns and Celtics Win Third Straight

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Image result for celtics nets

After being out the past six games with a groin injury, the Celts’ beloved rookie did not make much too much noise in his return the court against the Brooklyn Nets on Monday night, finishing with just two points in a little over four minutes of play.

Those two points, though? They came on this showstopper:

Again: this kid can ball! The dunk was impressive enough, but his steal also set up the fast break that allowed it to happen in the first place. That steal was also his third in his past four games. Over that time, he’s also compiled a total of eight blocks, including his second five-block performance of the year against Phoenix just before Christmas.

Sadly, we didn’t get to see what he could do against Joel Embiid and the Sixers on Christmas Day, as both Williams and Aron Baynes had been out nursing injuries since that game (and even beforehand in Baynes’s case). Therefore, for about the past three or four weeks, the Celtics have been rolling with Daniel Theis, a still-not-fully-healed Al Horford, and an extremely underwhelming Guerschon Yabusele as the team’s only bigs.

Along with Williams’s return last night, Celtics fans also got some good news yesterday about Baynes, who has been out since December 19 with a broken finger. Both he and Coach Stevens seemed pretty positive about his healing progression when speaking to the media yesterday, and the 32-year-old Aussie could return to the C’s lineup as early as next week.

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Baynes and his man bun will soon be back on the court.

But what about the rest of the team? How have they been doing since the jolly ole fat man came down the chimney a few weeks ago?

Since beating Philly on December 25, the Celtics are 4-2, with those two losses coming against San Antonio and a scorching-hot Houston Hardens squad – oops, sorry, I meant Houston “Rockets” – respectively. And since Thanksgiving, they are a very respectable 15-6. Three of those losses, however, have come with either Williams and/or Baynes out of the lineup, so this team could be ready to roll once everyone is finally healthy once again. Don’t be so worried about that fifth-place spot in the East right now, as disappointing as it may seem.

Speaking of people who are healing up, Gordon Hayward may finally be showing signs of being the All-Star he was out in Utah. Taking away an absolute clunker against the Spurs last week, Hayward has otherwise averaged 17.2 points per game since the Philly contest, including a 35-point outburst against Minnesota. He’s also shot 54 percent from the field in those five games and over 42 percent from deep.

Image result for celtics nets

Look who’s finally coming alive!

Kyrie Irving and Marcus Morris have also continued to roll, and both should receive serious All-Star consideration this year. Jayson Tatum has not taken quite the leap that everyone expected and hoped for this year, but he’s certainly not playing poorly, by any stretch of the imagination. And Marcus Smart is showing signs of rounding out his game, shooting over 40 percent from deep in six-of-his-last-11 games. The team is still playing top-five defense as well.

If there’s one noteworthy issue with this team, it’s in the rebounding department, especially on the offensive end. Again, though, with both Williams and Baynes back (or soon to be back) in the rotation, hopefully we see some signs of improvement there in short order.

So, at just about the midway point of the season, I’d say I’m feeling OK about this Celtics squad. Yes, I do believe they’re underperforming a bit relative to expectations, but the East is also the best it’s been in years (collectively, at least), and this team still has time to get hot.

Don’t believe all the negative rhetoric flooding the sports talk airwaves right now. The Time Lord is back! And this team is still doing just fine.

Time Lord Robert Williams Doesn’t Know What Day It is Because Time is Just a Social Construct

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Yahoo –  Boston Celtics rookie Robert Williams, sidelined the past five games with a groin injury, offered a refreshingly honest admission about the early days of NBA life.

“This might sound funny but I literally don’t know the days of the week,” Williams said after practice on (take note, Rob!) Sunday. “I promise, I couldn’t tell you what today is. I forget the days of the week. And with the traveling, mix up the hotel room numbers from the previous [night] – it’s a lot man. It’s a lot. It’s worth it though.”

Williams isn’t revealing anything that most rookies haven’t already experienced. The grind of NBA life, particularly with the heavy travel, makes it tough to keep the calendar straight. But in admitting it, Williams probably only strengthened the chances that his “Time Lord” nickname will stick.

Robert Williams doesn’t live in the same timeline of reality as normal human beings like you and me so he doesn’t know, nor need, the days of the week. Thats just how a Time Lord operates. So to that I say, forget these social constructs like “Monday” and just go out there and block some shots into the rafters, Robert.

Now go buy a Time Lord shirt!

Or better yet, a Time Lord clock…

LeBron Does Know He Lost to the Warriors 3 Out of 4 Times in the NBA Finals Right? Right??

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I give LeBron credit for winning the NBA Finals in 2016 because the current era Golden State Warriors are one of the best teams of all time. But with that being said it took a Draymond Green suspension and one of the most cold blooded dagger threes of all-time from Kyrie Irving to get him there. He also lost to that same Warriors team in 2015, 2017, and 2018. So maybe releasing footage of yourself harping on how the Warriors fuck up all the time is not the best look. Self awareness has never been LeBron’s strong suit though.

This all comes just a couple of days after footage came out of LeBron crowning himself the greatest of all-time for winning the ’16 finals. Despite losing to that same team 3 out of 4 times.

I don’t want to always harp on LeBron, I really don’t, but he just sets himself up for it. Listen, LeBron has done a lot of great things:

He brought the city of Cleveland its first title in 50 years.

He was excellent in Trainwreck.

And he is one of the best players of all time, but despite an impressive 8 straight appearances in the championship round he is still 3-6 in the NBA Finals. So maybe, just maybe, one pretty impressive comeback against a really good team doesn’t propel you to GOAT status. If that were the case then Ray Allen could say the same thing for his Game 6 dagger 3 against the Spurs.

Come to think of it, if it weren’t for ice cold blood in the veins of Jesus Shuttlesworth and Kyrie, LeBron James would be 1-8 in the NBA Finals.

Unrelated note: Stumbled upon this incredible LeBron impersonation…