Tag: Stephon Marbury

If Zion Williamson Was Wearing Starburys This Injury Would Have Never Happened

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CNN – Nike is playing damage control after Duke basketball phenom Zion Williamson tore his sneaker in a game Wednesday evening. Nike’s (NKE) stock was down more than 1% on Thursday. Nike builds its reputation around creating premier shoes and clothes for athletes, but that image took a hit with Williamson’s sneaker snafu.

I’m pretty sure I could hear Phil Knight pounding his fist on his desk all the way in Oregon when this happened the other night. Obviously Zion is not your typical consumer, but having your shoes explode on national TV injuring the guy NBA teams are blatantly tanking just for a chance to draft is a bad look.

Nike’s stock has fallen after the paper mâché shoe fell apart in front of the country. Makes you wonder, whatever happened to good, quality basketball sneakers? I’m not talking about that low top bullshit that Kobe nearly broke his ankle in either. No I’m talking about the GOAT basketball shoe; the Starbury.

The greatest shoe of all time, made by one of the wildest dudes in the history of the NBA in Stephon Marbury. All for the low, low price of $14.98. As a broke as college kid I appreciated the Starburys. Unfortunately I could never find my size in AJ Wright. Sigh. Even eBay hates us 5’8″ dudes. Stephon my man, hook me up with a size 10! I respect what Steph was trying to do though. A revolutionary if you ask me. If only Zion had the same pair of kicks we wouldn’t be talking about a knee injury, we’d be talking about the most dominant college basketball player in the country in a pair of shoes cheaper than a 30 rack of Natty Lite.

Do People Realize Former Celtics Big Man Jared Sullinger is DOMINATING in China?

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So I saw an article the other day about how former Celtics first round pick Jared Sullinger is playing overseas in the hopes of making an NBA comeback. We all remember Sullinger as the guy who was always a little too large, especially for a dude with foot and back issues. Basically the definition of unfulfilled potential, and he readily admits it in the article.

But I would be remiss if I didn’t point out that the former C’s big man is absolutely DOMINATING over in China for the Shenzhen Leopards. I feel like this is something people need to be made aware of. Last year Sullinger AVERAGED 30.1 points per game. That is absurd. He is basically as effective in China as Michael Jordan was over the course of his career in the NBA. Not to mention Sullinger is also grabbing 16.6 boards per game.

The guy seems to have finally found his place in the basketball world, albeit backing down former NBA scrubs and Chinese guys he probably towers over, but still good to see. Sullinger went off in a few games specifically too, dropping 41, 46, and 55 in three individual games.

Whats more absurd is that Sullinger’s 30 PPG was only good for ninth in the league. The Chinese Basketball Association is like some wet dream envisioned by Mike “Seven Seconds or Less” D’Antoni with absolutely zero defense allowed.

Now China obviously isn’t the NBA, but it is where a lot of former NBA players go to rebuild their value, collect a paycheck, or in the case of Stephon Marbury build a fanatical following and a Chinese shoe empire.

I mean, as we’ve written about previously, even Jimmer Fredette is dominating over in China. The Beast from BYU averaged 36.9 points per game in the CBA last year, second in the league. Jimmer, like Starbury, is also building a Chinese shoe empire.

If nothing else, China represents an opportunity to watch read about on Twitter how former big name flameouts in the NBA are finding their way to success overseas.

I’ve now spent the better part of my afternoon scrolling through Chinese Basketball Association stats just to find gems like this: former No. 6 overall pick Yi Jianlian, better known as “The Chairman” as coined by Bill Simmons way back in the day, is even putting up 27 points a game. Soo I can feel your enthusiasm for Sullinger’s stats waning the longer you read this blog…Well, former Celtic Brandon Bass averages 21 points per game…..Tyler Hansborough averages 20.8…..even Starbury is putting up 14.9 at 41 years old…

OK so maybe the Nets want to rethink about bringing Jared Sullinger back stateside…

PS – Apparently the Yi Jianlian Chairman thing might have never actually happened? Whoops. Good thing he was in fact terrible and averaged less than 8 PPG in his NBA career, otherwise the guy might have a bone to pick with Bill Simmons.