Audio: Bernie Kosar goes scorched earth on Browns front office
December 16, 2014Johnny Manziel admits slacking some as backup
December 16, 2014Happy Tuesday WFNY!
Every year we celebrate Christmas with my mom’s side of the family on the Sunday before Christmas. So pretty much every year, rather than drive up there on that Sunday, then drive back to Columbus for a couple days of work, only to turn around and go back to my parents’ place on Christmas, I instead take those days off work and spend a few days hanging out back in my hometown with family.
This past weekend, I was talking to my mom on the phone, and she was asking me about my travel plans and whatnot. I told her I hadn’t really thought about it too much yet, thinking that I still had time. She said something along the lines of “Do you know if you’re coming up this Saturday?” I stopped for a second. ‘What is she talking about?,’ I thought to myself. So I replied, “No, it’s the next Saturday, isn’t it?” It was then that she informed me that this coming weekend is, indeed, the weekend before Christmas.
Where did 2014 go? Heck, where did the Christmas season go? When I was a kid, the period of time from Thanksgiving to Christmas felt like an eternity. Now, it feels like I just put my Christmas Tree up last week. I’m always amazed at how quickly time flies by the older you get. It’s hard to always remember to take a minute to appreciate the Holiday season and to reflect on what it means for you and your family.
Because this is a sports site, however, you might be wondering how any of this applies? Well, time doesn’t just fly by in life, it also flies by in sports as well. Listening to LeBron talk about his age Monday night, it kind of hit me. He’s been in the NBA a very long time. The guys I grew up watching like Michael Jordan, Charles Barkley, Karl Malone, Hakeem Olajuwon, etc? They are getting to be old men now. The guy who bridges that gap between MJ and LBJ, though, he’s still around.
Kobe Bryant is ridiculous. At 36 years old, in his 18th NBA season, coming off a lost season due to a terrible achilles injury, Kobe is 3rd in the NBA in scoring. Yeah, fine, he shoots an awful lot and he is converting a career low FG% this season. But he plays on a terrible team with not a lot of talent. Sure, that fact makes it easy for him to shoot as much as he wants, but my point is, why shouldn’t he? Kobe just passed Michael Jordan for 3rd place on the NBA’s All-Time scoring list. He’s won 5 Championships, he’s been an MVP, a scoring champ, an elite defender. He’s seen it all and he has done it all. And yet it feels like his career has flown by in the blink of an eye.
I’m not sure Kobe is properly appreciated by many fans. He has become something of a test case study of the way not to play basketball according to most modern metrics. Or, at least, how not to take efficient shots, anyway. And all of that is fine. But Kobe is an outlier and an example of sheer will and determination. I’m not saying people have to like Kobe, but I think people should respect his career. He is one of the NBA’s all time greats, and his career is coming to a close. As someone who still remembers when he was drafted, that’s crazy to think about.
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Get ready for the Hawks
On Wednesday the Cavaliers will play the Atlanta Hawks in what should be a great matchup of two Eastern Conference powers who are playing good basketball for the most part. Of course, the Hawks weren’t supposed to be a power. With the issue of Danny Ferry’s racist comments about Luol Deng (whether the thoughts were Ferry’s or not can be debated, but there’s no debating he said what he said), I think a lot of people overlooked the Hawks. Yet, here they sit as the #3 team in the East.
So what should we expect from this game? Thankfully, SB Nation’s Mike Prada wrote up a really great piece outlining five things everyone should know about the Hawks. Among them, he writes:
Budenholzer was Gregg Popovich’s long-time assistant in San Antonio, so this should come as no surprise. Atlanta’s motion offense, combined with an emphasis on playing good shooters, leads to lots of ball movement. Atlanta is seventh in the league in passes per game and only the Celtics generate more assist opportunities. Over 55 percent of Atlanta’s shot attempts come after zero dribbles, which leads the league. Only a handful of teams — Portland, Washington, New York — are even close.
As evidenced by that list, passing doesn’t necessarily equal great offense. The Hawks passed the ball a lot last year and still finished in the middle of the pack in offensive rating. But thanks to Teague’s rise and another year of continuity in the system, the Hawks are knocking on the door of the top 10.
If you squint hard enough, you see the outlines of Spurs East. There’s Teague running around in Tony Parker’s role, Kyle Korver’s shooting and off-ball movement tilting defenses like Manu Ginobili’s passing, Paul Millsap wiggling through defenders like Boris Diaw and Al Horford filling any remaining gaps like Tim Duncan in his twilight.
This is going to be a strong test for the rapidly improving Cleveland defense. If you recall, the Cavaliers lit up the Hawks back in November when they hit their first nine attempts from three. It was one of those games where everything was going in and the Hawks had no chance. It’s unlikely the Cavaliers will do that again this time. It will be fun to see how the Cavaliers perform in a game in which you know Atlanta is looking to wash the bad taste out of their mouth.
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More thoughts on fans and the tragic loss of one of the NBA’s biggest ones
In Monday’s While We’re Waiting, WFNY’s Scott Sargent talked a bit about what being a real fan is. Specifically, he went at those would call themselves a “fan” out of one side of their mouth while rooting against their team’s players just for the sake of being “right” out of the other.
It sparked some good conversation on the nature of “fandom”. So I was pleasantly surprised when I stumbled on this piece by Tom Lorenzo that looks deeper into the nature of being a fan. This one goes more into the questions of what makes one a die hard fan? And is it ok for a fan to be also love a sport as a whole and to enjoy watching other teams and players?
Unfortunately, the trigger for this piece was the tragic loss of one of the Nets most famous fans, Jeffrey Gamblero. To do the incident justice, I encourage everyone to read not just Lorenzo’s piece, but any of the countless other articles out there about what happened to Gamblero at Madison Square Garden. I’m not going to sit here and say that his ejection from MSG contributed to his death because I don’t know. I didn’t know him, I don’t know exactly what happened when he was forcibly removed from the arena, and I don’t know what other issues were going on in his life.
What I do know is that this whole story makes me sad. And I think in times like these, asking questions is always important. And that’s what I liked about Lorenzo’s piece. It was not just a reflection of Gamblero, but it was a reflection of the nature of being a fan and the impact words can have on others:
I won’t say he was a friend of mine, it was more that we were friendly with each other. He always, always said “hello” to me when he saw me at Barclays and would ask first and foremost how I was, with a big smile on his face and full daps, then ask me whether I thought the Nets would “get the win tonight.” Always.
See, I knew who Gamblero was, much like the rest of us did. Likewise, he knew who I was — which I still, to this day, three seasons later, never get tired of when someone stops me at a game and says “hello” — because he was a part of our NetsDaily community.
Gamblero read our work and he read the comments. Your comments. And while it wasn’t even close to being “all of you,” he read the one percent of you who actually comment on the site who questioned his fandom and his credentials as a “super fan.” He was one of ours, as a fan and a member of our community, but he was rarely given the same amount of respect that we ask you to give to each other, and on more than one occasion he told members of our staff that he had seen these comments. It certainly wasn’t easy on him to read and it wasn’t fair that we had to defend our community on behalf of a vocal few.
Anyway, I hope everyone gets a chance to read the piece and to reflect on what it means to be this thing we call “fans”. There’s far too much drama, anger, and hostility in being a fan. Why can’t we just enjoy the games and the players and have fun within our community of fans without being so aggressive toward those we might disagree with?
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That’s been my time, folks. Enjoy the rest of your week!
16 Comments
Andrew, great viewpoint on time moving faster as we get older. As I’m fast approaching 36 myself, I’m struggling to comprehend that Kobe has spent half of my life (and his as well) playing in the NBA. It’s truly staggering, and I hadn’t really given it much thought until I read this today.
Great stuff, Rock. Especially the stuff on the Nets fan. Tragic.
When I was looking at the Eastern Conference teams before the season started, I picked the Hawks as my team to finish 3rd behind the Bulls and Cavs. I have to hand it to Danny Ferry, I am a huge fan of their roster and their head coach. Most of the players on their roster who see significant minutes can shoot the ball well, and the few who can’t are excellent defenders. It’s funny that Budenholzer is a former Pop assistant because the Hawks are the Spurs Lite. Horford plays similar to Duncan, Millsap similar to Diaw, Carroll similar to Leonard, Korver similar to Green, Teague similar to Parker, etc. There isn’t really a good comparison for Manu, but if Lou Williams was still there, it would be eerie.
Agreed. On the “superfan” thing, we see it with our own guys too. Big Dawg, Dawgpound Mike, and Mobile Dawg (among others) were often chastized for wanting the popularity of being a fan as if it made them less of a fan. It’s crazy how our society has grown to think that any amount of celebrity means that it is okay to tear that person down especially when protected by the anonymity of the internet.
Yeah, you thought the Hawks while I thought the Raptors. So far, we’re both correct. I still think the Hawks are built for the regular season and don’t have any true eliteness to them when it gets to the playoffs and it will be their undoing. The same might be said for Toronto, but I really like their athleticism now that they are learning how to use it together. If Jonas develops more inside, then they will be a force.
I can’t argue with this, and honestly if the Raptors still had a healthy DeRozan, I would anticipate them to finish third (and they might anyway). They are getting great play from virtually all of their players. Some reasons why I like the Hawks more down the stretch: 1) Paul Millsap has been their “star”, but it should be Al Horford. He hasn’t looked good yet coming back from injury, but I think he will get to that point soon. 2) I just think the Raptors’ power forwards are playing over their heads right now. Amir Johnson is shooting 41% from the 3-point line. Patrick Patterson is a good 3-point shooter, but not 46%. Lou Williams is averaging 1.36 points per shot, as if he were a post player. I’m expecting some of those guys to come down from Cloud 9 at some point.
I get annoyed at some “superfans,” particularly those 4 creepy old guys at every Ohio State game that have become the unfortunate face of Buckeye fans, in all of their individual shtick weirdness. (How do they have front row seats to every game? And why won’t the cameras leave them alone? I suppose the answer to the first question provides the answer to the second.) Having said that, I will never question their loyalty to the team, even if it is a little odd. Good for them, even if I wish they weren’t the public face of my alma mater.
those guys are like the old guys on the Muppets. they have been apart for so long at this point that I couldn’t imagine a telecast without them 🙂
there is no doubt that some of these guys are playing better than they will by the end of the year. and, what they have been doing without DeRozan is pretty unsustainable.
but, Lowry and DeRozan (or LouisW now) makes an absolutely devastating dribble-drive motion offense. It’s a weird combination, but it’s basically what they are doing right now. Lowry or Louis initiates with a dribble-drive, but then they have sets with the other guys moving from elbow to post to corner in some fashion. Almost all of their shots seem to end up being 3pters or in the paint (they also have traditional post-sets to take advantage of their size against certain teams). Casey is just doing a phenomenal job there and they have been building this thing for awhile.
the Hawks have been really more impressive on the other side of the ball. they definitely don’t make things easy for opponents and have really gone all out to go and acquire guys who fit their defensive identity (Millsap and Sefolosha in particular).
I hope that we get to see them matchup in the playoffs. It could be an incredible series.
That’d be really fun, I do hope we get to see that matchup in the playoffs. I love/hate Paul Millsap. He and Kyle Lowry are two players who piss me off to no end because they will their team to victory. They make shots that they have no business making and keep fighting even when their team looks beaten. I love that attitude, but I hate when it keeps my team from winning. I don’t understand how the rest of the teams in the league left free agent Paul Millsap out on the doorstep as if he were a flaming sack of poop. I’m sure Danny Ferry was more than happy to pay him way less than he’s worth.
There were some other things that I purposefully left out because they didn’t help my point, but Greivis Vasquez has been playing awful on offense, and that won’t be the case by the end of the season. He’s not a “good” shooter, but he’s not this bad. I like what Casey is doing there and I never would have thought I would be saying that a year ago (basically prior to the Rudy Gay trade). Valanciunas continues to improve and his stats are better than Tristan Thompson’s, but I like that we can still compare them to decide which one is more valuable. I feel like the Cavs have 3 wins this season that they probably don’t have otherwise if Tristan Thompson doesn’t go nuts on the offensive boards in the 4th quarter to secure extra shooting chances.
the Millsap FA was one of the stranger signings in recent memory. teams almost always overpay for a good big guy and he was virtually ignored. who didn’t love Millsap’s play in Utah? NBA GMs I guess.
you also left out Korver’s 3pt shooting, but maybe you think he’s actually a 55% 3pt shooter? 😉
really, the Atlanta v. Toronto debate comes down to what you like more in a basketball team. is it more important to have an elite offense and okay enough defense or an elite defense and okay enough offense. I think that it’s easier to take out a defensive team that doesn’t have the offense to match. ultimately, whichever team improves the most on their weaker side is going to be the team that poses the biggest challenge in the East (unless the Wiz are to be believed, but I’m not worried about the Wiz).
Hey, there’s a first time for everything! Korver is just licking his chops at that 55% mark.
I think NBA GMs, even though they have all of the cool metrics to look at, are still overvaluing post players’ size. There… I said it. I think Millsap was passed over because he’s a 6’8″ power forward (and he is actually at least an inch shorter than that). Nobody will give a near-max contract to a short power forward, even in today’s game.
let’s hope that’s what Thompson’s agent thinks too.
Oh, on a random aside, are you psyched about the chance that Logan Thomas might start a NFL playoff game in his rookie year? Sure, Arizona chose Lindley for Sunday, but Logan is a couple bad Lindley games away from his shot.
Haha, to be honest I was never high on him as a QB prospect. I wanted to see what he could do at tight end in the NFL. If Bruce Arians can get a good performance out of him in the next 3 years, he is truly the QB whisperer.
What annoys me about the superfans is when they attempt to speak for the fanbase.
You’re still just a fan, you didn’t win some election that means your thoughts about the Browns = Cleveland Fans’ thoughts about the Browns.