Tag: Phil Jackson

Marcus Smart Isn’t Going Anywhere and That’s a Good Thing

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As Phil Jackson once told Toni Kukoc when the Bulls were trying to sign the Euro amidst a lot of waffling and hesitation, “shit or get off the pot kid.” Reports recently surfaced that the Celtics had offered Marcus Smart a contract extension earlier this month and the team had not heard back from the point guard’s agent. I’m sure there were some hurt feelings with all of the trade speculation being thrown around, but this deal solidifies Smart as a part of the Celtics plan for the (at least immediate) future.

The Celtics have had a rocky past year with a gigantic missed opportunity in the NBA bubble playoffs, followed up by a .500 season and getting dusted in the first round by Brooklyn, then their biggest offseason move being a salary dump of their oft injured point guard, Kemba Walker. So the C’s needed some good news, or at least some sense of stability, and thats what the Marcus Smart signing is right now.

There have been tons of reports over the last couple of years that Smart rubs some of his teammates the wrong way or that he even butts head with former head coach turned GM Brad Stevens, but it would appear much of that was overblown. Sure the Celtics could be thinking a bird in the hand is better as their reasoning for re-signing Smart, but I cannot fathom Stevens with all of his intimate knowledge of the Celtics roster and team dynamics would bring Smart back if he was such a problem. His teammates seem to be happy about the deal too so there’s that.

Does he jack up too many shots he has no business taking? Yup. Does he think he’s just as important as future MVP Jayson Tatum? Probably. And is he an emotional roller coaster of a player? 100% But sometimes a team needs that fiery, get in your face type guy, especially on a team who’s best player in Tatum is just not an emotional leader. Enter, Marcus Smart.

The money might seem like a lot at first glance (4 years at $77 million), but when you see the stupid money getting thrown around the NBA then this deal is practically frugal in comparison. Especially if Smart makes the majority of starts at PG or even ends up splitting duties with Dennis Schroder (who in an all-time mental lapse turned down said stupid money in the form of an $80+ million offer from LA and is now playing for the C’s on a 1-year midlevel exception).

The average annual value of Smart’s extension will range from $17-$21 million over the 4 years of the deal, which this past season wouldn’t have even cracked the Top 50 highest paid players in the NBA. Smart averaged a career high in points at 13.1 per game with 5.7 assists and 3.5 rebounds last year, not to mention is a 2x All-Defensive first team selection as arguably the best defender in the game at times. So this deal is far from outrageous.

Are this the fireworks that fans were hoping for? No of course not, but it’s a…smart…move that also allows the Celtics to keep their financial flexibility heading into the big ticket summer of 2022.

That is if you buy into the hype of a superstar signing in Boston, which I am less than certain on. I’m a little tired of always looking ahead to *next* summer for the real monster moves the Celtics never make. Sure they signed Al Horford, Gordon Hayward, and Kemba Walker to max contracts in the last handful of years, but 2/3rds of those relationships had ignominious endings. Hopefully Brad taking over for Danny Ainge in the front office and Horford returning helps, at the minimum, improve the Celtics’ public perception problem around the league.

The 2021-22 Celtics may not be better on paper, but I think this is a situation where the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. You now have Smart, Tatum, and Jaylen Brown all signed long term for big money so in theory all should be comfortable in their roles. You have culture building locker room veterans in Horford and Enes Kanter, added scoring off the bench in Schroder, and brought in a new coach that seemingly will be better equipped to connect with players as a youngish black man in Ime Udoka with the credibility of being a former player and coming from the Gregg Popovich coaching tree (whom Tatum just played for at the Olympics). Could this team end up being nothing more than another likable, plucky, 7 seed based on talent alone? For sure. But if Tatum and Brown continue to improve and this team can actually have defined roles for guys with consistent scoring off the bench, then I think Celtics could surprise a lot of people next season.

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?

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

The Top 5 Moments from the 2008 Boston Celtics Documentary, Anything is Possible

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If you’d rather listen to The 300s than read it, just subscribe to The 300s Podcast on iTunes, Google Play, RadioPublic, or Anchor!

NBC Sports Boston has been teasing a documentary called Anything is Possible about the 2008 Boston Celtics and their championship season for months so I was pretty fired up for this 2 hour bonanza.

It was written and produced by Jim Aberdale and features interviews with players from the team including Paul Pierce, Rajon Rondo, Glen “Big Baby” Davis, Leon Powe, James Posey, Brian Scalabrine, PJ Brown, Sam Cassell, assistant coach Tom Thibodeau, and of course head coach Doc Rivers.

Thats aaaaalmost the entire roster, with two faces noticeably missing.

Unsurprisingly Ray Allen declined to be interviewed for this documentary, which was to be expected considering all his public drama with his former teammates. I was surprised however to see that Kevin Garnett declined to be interviewed for the doc as well. Theres more than enough clips over the years of KG to piece together some great interviews, but it would have been great to hear his take on everything today. I know he has plenty of tv work of his own with KG’s Area 21, but I can only assume he just wanted to avoid anymore questions about Ray Allen.

With all that being said, lets get into the Top 5 Moments from Anything is Possible:

1. The Kevin Garnett Arm Wrestling Story

Every Celtics fan knows how tapped Kevin Garnett is and how he would do almost anything to win. It turns out that isn’t reserved for just basketball. The team plane was full of competition whether it was dice, cards, or in this case arm wrestling and to hear Kendrick Perkins set the scene is a laugh out loud moment..

KG was challenging the entire team and even ended up beating Big Baby by sheer force of will, which is impressive considering Big Baby is listed at 289 pounds. Doc Rivers even called it the most athletic thing hes ever seen. KG tops it all off with a classic Garnett moment, screaming I’m the Alpha Male in this bitch. This guy is the most competitive person in the history of the world and I don’t think thats an exaggeration

2. Paul Pierce Recruiting PJ Brown on the Streets of New Orleans

A key role player on the 2008 Celtics, PJ Brown tells the story of how he came out of retirement to play for the C’s. Brown describes walking down the streets of New Orleans during All Star weekend and Paul Pierce’s car happens to spot him, pull up, and roll down the window. Pierce, having had a few cocktails gushes to Brown how the C’s could use him, but PJ writes it off as Paul just having a good time. Then Ray Allen sees Brown the next day and reiterates the Celtics interest in him joining the team. Pierce brings it up to Danny Ainge who signs Brown almost immediately

3. Big Baby Davis Being High as a Kite

Big Baby is clearly enjoying his time reminiscing over the 2008 Celtics and it is a sight to watch.

4. Kendrick Perkins’ Reaction to the Celtics Getting Ray Allen

Perk is the highlight of the entire documentary, especially this line describing his reaction to one of the biggest Celtics moves before the 08 season, saying

“I didn’t know what to think when we got Ray Allen, I just knew we got Jesus Shuttlesworth.” – Kendrick Perkins

5. Doc Rivers Response to Phil Jackson Mispronouncing Leon Powe’s Name

After a big game by Powe in the NBA Finals Phil Jackson complained in his press conference that Leon POW got more free throws than anyone on the Lakers. Michael Holley points out that if your getting in the zen masters head, you know you had the Lakers on the rope. Powe himself laughed it off saying he knew it was mind games by the LA coach, but the best reaction was from Celtics coach Doc Rivers: “I told our coaches I wanted to beat his ass.”

Thats it, the Top 5 moments from the Anything is Possible documentary, but don’t take my word for it. Go watch it right now, because that is two hours well worth your time.

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The NBA Offseason is the Offseason We Deserve

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The NBA Offseason is a goddamn rollercoaster of emotions and its the only thing keeping me entertained until football starts up again. We got Chris Paul to the Rockets, Paul George and Gordon Hayward possibly to the Celtics, Carmelo Anthony trying to get a buyout from the Knicks, the Porzingis trade rumors, the Celtics trading the No. 1 overall pick, the Lavar Big Baller Brand bullshit, and not to mention Phil Jackson getting shitcanned by the Knicks.

The NBA offseason is literally overflowing with storylines and gives us the juice we need. It beats the hell out of every other sport’s offseason where big moves are few and far between.

I don’t really care to get into every team in the NBA’s salary cap situation because that is a goddamn rabbit hole. So I know half these teams either don’t have the cap space or the assets to bring in max guys, but now we got teams like the Rockets reportedly trying to bring in Paul George. Ya know, the same Paul George that the Celtics are trying to trade for and pair with Hayward, IT, and Horford.

Basically all the reports are saying that the Celtics need to wait until the start of free agency to sign Gordon Hayward before they can (or would even want to) trade for George. So I guess I’ll just sit here with my dick in my hand until July 1st.

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Phil Jackson Shown the Door Before Being Able to Burn the Place Down

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BASKET-US-KNICKSNew York Times – A little more than three years after being brought in as the savior of the Knicks, Phil Jackson is out as team president. Jackson was informed of the team’s decision on Tuesday.

Jackson, 71, who won 11 N.B.A. championships as coach of the Chicago Bulls and the Los Angeles Lakers, never came close to even approaching that type of success with the Knicks. In fact, in their three full seasons under Jackson, the Knicks had a combined record of 80-166, which was among the worst in the league for that period.

Jackson had two years and $24 million remaining on his contract.

Let me get this straight. A 71-year-old man who already has Eleven Rings™, and who attempted to trade the Knicks’ best player purely out of spite, doesn’t have the patience for a complete and total rebuild?

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If the Knicks were a bar on Bar Rescue, Jon Taffer would have walked out by now. The boss is living in the past, has no real strategy going forward and only comes in to work to annoy and harass his employees. Not a winning formula.

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There’s a lot of talk in baseball about free agents getting paid for past performance. That’s why Albert Pujols will be making $30 million in 2021 and why Pablo Sandoval might get paid more than $40 million from the Red Sox just to GTFO. Past performance is exactly why Phil Jackson got a five-year, $60 million deal from the Knicks in 2014.

While some coaches make bad teams good (see Brown, Larry), Jackson was never one of them. Jackson made good teams great. You can’t argue with Eleven Rings™, but don’t tell me he wasn’t in the right places at the right times, with three of the twenty best players of all time as center pieces of his championship teams. The Knicks team Jackson took over might not have had three of the top twenty players in the league at that time, never mind all time. Everyone should have seen this train wreck coming from miles away.

So take your money, Phil, and go home and play with your triangles. Maybe LeBron will give you a call the next time he fires a coach.

newage-george

The 300s Drive Time

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Don’t have time for a full podcast? Then we’ve got some bite size content for you in the first episode of Drive Time. Are the Knicks really gonna trade Porzingis? Is Danny gonna sell the farm or trade *down* again? Why is the entire NBA losing its collective mind right now? Tune in, its good for you.

We Are On Porzingis Watch High Alert!

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Whether its early onset dementia or Phil Jackson just hates Kristaps Porzingis with a fiery fucking passion for blowing off his end of season meeting with the Zen Master, either way Phil just went nuclear.

There is absolutely no good reason for a GM to go on TV and trash his fucking franchise player unless he’s already decided Porzingis is gone.

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So I don’t know why he’s doing it, but as everyone has said every offseason for 3 years – the Celtics have enough assets to make any trade they want as long as a player is available. Anthony Davis ain’t available so we’re not gonna pretend we’ll trade 7 first round picks to New Orleans like its 2K. Porzingis is available though, so make it happen. Don’t sell the farm, but get it done.

There’s so much smoke and disinformation out there that nobody knows what the hell is gonna happen. But I am on full alert.

Are the Celtics in on a Trade for Kristaps Porzingis?

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So just about an hour ago, Adrian Wojnarowski tweeted out this bombshell about the Knicks and Kristaps Porzingis.

Confirming what every Knicks fan wakes up in a cold sweat worrying about every night; Phil Jackson might actually trade Porzingis. The only bright spot for that dumpster fire of a franchise is coincidentally the only good move the Zen Master has made since taking over the Knicks. And now Woj puts it out there that the Knicks aren’t ruling out dealing him. Man, if I’m a Knicks I’m probably just putting on my Carmelo Jersey and jumping off the fucking George Washington Bridge.

But that brings me back to the Celtics, who have been stockpiling assets for years, basically just waiting for a young stud to become available.

And after Danny traded the No. 1 overall pick the other night (whether you agree with the logic or not), everyone in the media seemed to agree that this looked like the first step in a series of moves Danny would make. There’s a sense of waiting for the other shoe to drop.

Is Porzingis that other shoe? Talk about a great fit for the Celtics if its true. The C’s need size. Porzingis is 7’3″. The guy is a goddamn giraffe. They also need big men who can shoot to really thrive in Brad Steven’s system. Last year KP averaged 18.1 points per game, shot 45% from the field, and 35.7% from behind the arc. Check, check and check.

Honestly, who the fuck knows what Trader Danny is ever really thinking. Does anyone doubt Danny Ainge could pull one over on this guy though?

But, I do know one thing. I am anxiously awaiting a Woj Bomb dropping. Notifications. On.

Could Trader Danny Help Get Carmelo to the Clippers in Exchange for JJ Redick and Paul Pierce?

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meloclipprs

CBS Boston – The Knicks desperately seem to want to move [Carmelo Anthony] and the Clippers are reportedly interested. The problem? The Clippers don’t really have the valuable assets necessary in order to make a deal happen. That’s where the Celtics come in, according to the Boston Globe...Well, there haven’t been any reports of specific players rumored to be involved, but CBS Sports.com’s Matt Moore has a breakdown of a trade the could work for everybody involved using ESPN’s Trade Machine. In Moore’s trade, the Celtics would get: Guard JJ Redick, small forward Paul Pierce, and forward Luc-Richard Mbah Moute. The Knicks receive: Forward Amir Johnson, forward Jonas Jerebko, and guard Austin Rivers. The Clippers receive: Forward Carmelo Anthony

Soo the Celtics can, in theory, give up Amir Johnson and Jonas Jerebko to get JJ Redick, Paul Pierce and Luc-Richard Mbah Moute?

celticstrade_buttonmeme

JJ Redick would be *deadly* on this Celtics team. Isaiah driving to the hoop and dishing out to a legitimate 3-point specialist? Buckets. And Paul Pierce would get to retire a Celtic. Granted I don’t know much about Moute, but I love that trade. Always been a huge Redick fan and all we have to give up is Amir and Jerebko? Best of luck guys. All just to help facilitate the Carmelo to LA for another first round playoff exit? Sure, sign me up.

Trader Danny is always lying in the weeds just waiting for shit like this. Oh you NEED to move a disgruntled, overpaid player? How can I be of assistance? Melo to the Clippers, lock it up. Draft Pick Danny doesn’t even have to give up any coveted second rounders!

ainge-hoarder

 

Phil Jackson Snaps When Called Out for Shitty Triangle Offense

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philjackson_rings

ESPN – “The Knicks, though, have struggled the past two seasons, losing a total of 115 games. Some have attributed those struggles to the complexity of the offense; others have pointed to a lack of talent. Asked about the critics of the offense, Jackson said, “Who are these people? Why would they even say that? Do they have 11 championships to show you when they talk about that? They got a lot of excuses. That’s the way it is.”

Pretty legitimate question after losing 115 games in two years if you ask me. Don’t get me wrong no one expected Phil to walk in Year 1 and have the Knicks knocking off the Cavs and going to the NBA Finals. But another year missing the playoffs and the (legitimate) grumblings of Carmelo start becoming more vocal…and I think Phil is starting to feel the heat a little bit. Not in the sense that he actually cares if the NYC media rips him, but the fact that his end all-be all Triangle Offense isn’t getting it done. This is regarded by some as the holy grail of NBA offenses and the fact is that either A. Phil can’t get the right personnel to run it or B. the NBA has just evolved past it. Complicated, confusing, I don’t know, I certainly don’t understand it.

For Jackson to snap on this reporter though with the Big Time response about how many rings he’s won is hilarious. Yea you won a bunch of titles running the Triangle Offense….featuring Michael Jordan, Scottie Pippen, Kobe and Shaq. No shit, you guys were pretty good? I probably could have won a few titles with that crew just standing next to the bench in a cheap suit.