Tag: Shaq

This is Why the NBA On TNT Guys Are the Best

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I understand most athletes don’t want to talk to the media and I get that Kevin Durant probably hates Charles Barkley, especially for saying things like the reason Durant left Golden State is because he was a bus rider, not a bus driver on a championship team and he wouldn’t be a “made man” until he was the No. 1 guy on a championship team. I get that. But to act like a mopey 16-year-old with a handful of one word answers when the TNT guys are asking him pure softball questions is just silly. Especially when you’re a guy who LOVES to talk and had his own documentary about himself and has his own podcast. Especially after Kyrie just had his own shit storm and refused to talk to the media until the fines piled up and he relented (and Barkley bashed Kyrie’s meandering explanation behind that).

So it’s well within Durant’s rights to fulfill his media obligations and say nothing (I’ve watched Belichick do it for 20 years), but I also love the NBA on TNT guys just absolutely roasting KD for it. Can you imagine any other pre-game/post-game crew in any other sport doing this? No shot. The NFL, MLB, and the NHL are pretty straight laced at best and at worst are just playing grab ass with all the players. It’s the reason why this is one of the few pre-game broadcasts that I actually will tune into. When the Patriots are on I put the game on just in time for kickoff and not a minute earlier. It helps that TNT give these guys the leeway to screw around and speak their minds, but it also helps that guys like Barkley do not give a single shit about being friends with these players.

Has Kobe Bryant Gone Soft? Says Team USA Will “Win Some, Lose Some and Thats Just How It Goes.”

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ESPN – Kobe Bryant thinks Team USA might have to get used to a new reality of losing in major events…”It’s not a matter of the rest of the world catching up to the U.S., it’s that the rest of the world has been caught up for quite some time,” Bryant said at the Wukesong Sports Center. “And it’s to the point now where us in the U.S. are going to win some, we’re going lose some. And that’s just how it goes.“

When I first read that my initial reaction was straight out of Kobe’s old commercial with Kanye:

You win some, you lose some? This is the Black Mamba for christ’s sake. The guy who still has a blood feud with Shaq nearly 20 years later because he’s so psychotically competitive he couldn’t get along with his own teammate, despite being in the midst of a three-peat.

THAT guy is the one telling everyone in the United States that “eh shit happens, the rest of the world is also pretty good so you might win, you might lose.” Has Kobe gone soft? Or is Kobe just trying to pump the collective tires of every other country he may do business with in the future? Maybe sell a few more Mambas in China if he makes it sound like he believes China can win Gold at Tokyo? Or maybe he’s just trying to Inception LeBron and Anthony Davis to get off their ass and *want* to win Gold. That would be some diabolical subterfuge that only the Black Mamba could pull off.

I spent years coming around on you Kobe so don’t you go soft on me now. I respect the assassin attitude so I refuse to accept this at face value. When we roll out the new Dream Team at the Olympics I will be the first one to give Kobe credit for planting the seed of doubt in everyone’s brain.

LeBron is Now King of the Ashes in Los Angeles

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First off its a long read, but if you haven’t already go read Baxter Holmes’ excellent story on the Lakers utter dysfunction. Its nothing short of bizarre that a billion dollar business is run this way. With Magic stepping down as Lakers President, his sniping back and forth with current Lakers GM Rob Pelinka through the media, the owner of the team Jeanie Buss appearing completely checked out, and all other sorts of nonsense, LeBron has essentially become King of the ashes in LA.

Lets start with Magic. After suddenly and bizarrely resigning via a rambling impromptu press conference, more and more details have started to come out. He is described throughout Holmes’ story as having a “striking duality to his personality.” When he was even in the office that is. Some days he would grab ass and work his charm, other days he would blow up on a staffer for booking the wrong rental car.

What. A. Prick. This is a prime example of a boss thats in way over his head, blowing up on employees to make themselves feel like they’re in charge.

This story also drops in on familiar face Rich Paul (LeBron’s agent) who is no stranger to dysfunction and maintains a prominent role in LA. Just as he did in Cleveland, Paul and much of the Klutch team meddled in the affairs of the team on behalf of LeBron to bitch about the coach, the management, the roster and everything else the King didn’t like. And shocker, it sunk the team’s chemistry or at the very least any chance the Lakers ever had at a professional work environment.

This is why people around here have bashed LeBron for years. Not because he isn’t a great player. He is incredible and I watch him play every chance he’s on national TV. But, the guy rocks the boat everywhere he goes and when things go south he cops out with quotes like “I’m not the GM.” It’s why he left Miami. He wanted the all-access pass for his boys (who were on the payroll as official team employees in Cleveland and in LA) and Pat Riley told him to take a fucking hike.

Then theres GM Rob Pelinka who at best is just a space case filling air time with whatever pops into his head. At worst he’s the snake that Magic *buried* on First Take and a guy who lies just to lie. Like this story about the time that Kobe saw The Dark Knight and became infatuated with Heath Ledger. So much so that Pelinka says he arranged a dinner with Kobe and Ledger, except for the fact that Ledger was in fact already deceased at this point in time.

Then theres the blatant lies he tells his own employees. Lies that are very, very easily debunked so you’d have to be a sociopath to just freewheel with stuff like this.

It sounds like Magic and Pelinka deserve each other.

And then theres the Queen Bee Jeanie Buss who sounds like she is running this team like a second semester senior in college. Paying less attention to whats happening in the organization that I would in NBA2K.

Good luck Lakers fans because it sounds like you’re in for some dark days. That is unless another NBA mega star decides they just want to play in Southern Cali and bail the Lakers out of completely mismanaging their team which happens again (Shaq) and again (Derek Fisher) and again (LeBron James).

Either way, dumpster fire was a compliment compared to what this team really is; an unmitigated disaster.

 

Paul Pierce Says the Celtics Would Have Won 70 Games With a Healthy KG in 2009

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CelticsWire – One of the great questions about the KG-Paul Pierce-Ray Allen Big Three era is what would’ve happened if they weren’t beset by injuries. They were the league’s hottest team in 2009 after winning the title, before Kevin Garnett went down with a leg injury. In 2010, they made it to Game 7 of the NBA Finals against the Lakers, but lost without Kendrick Perkins who suffered a torn ACL in Game 6. They were hot again the next season before Shaq’s career came to an early end due to lingering calf injuries, falling to the Heat in five games in the conference semis.

I mean, he’s not wrong. The Celtics were absolutely dominant right out of the gate in 2007 on the way to a 66-16 record and the Larry O’Brien trophy. Paul Pierce, Kevin Garnett, and Ray Allen had played a grand total of 0 games together before rolling to a 20-2 start. That is insane. KG was Defensive Player of the Year, Paul Pierce was NBA Finals MVP, and Danny Ainge was Executive of the Year.

All of that was in Year 1. Imagine how good they would have been in Year 2 with a fully healthy team?

“I say it all the time, I thought we could have three-peated,” Pierce said. “Because if you look, we won I think 62 games the second year after we won it. Kevin got hurt after 30 games, so we played 40 games and the playoffs without Kevin and still won 60 games. I believe we were somewhere around 29-2. Everybody was talking about us winning 70.

“If Kevin was healthy, we probably would have won 70 games. 2010 we coasted. We only won 50 games and when the playoffs come, we turned it up and got to the Finals.”

One of the most dominant teams of the century was rounding into form in Year 2 with 3 hungry Hall of Famers before a KG injury shot that all to hell. In more recent interviews you hear about how Garnett was never really the same again after that injury. Sure they made the Finals the following year when he came back, but after 2010 they became the old, wily veterans just getting by on grit and balls. That narrative produced my favorite Celtics commercial of all-time by the way.

But the days of winning 70 games and NBA titles had passed.

Something I say all the time when people chirp Boston fans is that you will never care about your teams more than we do. Even after all the winning. Boston has had an incredible run of success going back to 2001 with all 4 major teams, BUT we also have experienced some of the most heartbreaking losses, which only helps to fuel that fire. I won’t list them all here because I don’t want to smash my laptop at work, but the 2010 NBA Finals Game  7 will forever have a spot on that list. Going for their second title in three years against the Lakers in LA. Perk had blown out his knee the game before and the Celtics were relying on bum ass Rasheed Wallace who was sucking air from the tip. It was a slow bleed too. You could feel the game slipping away and the Celtics just couldn’t put it away.

The Big Three Celtics will be forever remembered as the ones that raised Banner 17 and how they completely changed the culture of the Celtics. We’ll always say what if though. What if KG was healthy, what if Danny didn’t trade Perk for Jeff Fucking Green, what if LeBron didn’t go Super Saiyan and drop 45 and 15 on us in Game 6.

Now I need to cheer myself up, so enjoy this trip down memory lane.

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.