Podcast 204: Ping Pong Balls, Hotcakes & Beelines to Hot Takes
2019-05-15Well… the Cavaliers weren’t able to pull off another NBA Lottery bonanza tonight… in fact, they fell all the way to fifth behind the Pelicans, Grizzlies, Knicks and Lakers. Whether you believe in karma or conspiracy theories, in the end it looks like New Orleans got a potential lifeline back to relevancy as the almost assured winner of the Zion Williamson sweepstakes. Yet, there may still be some sneaky good talent available in the five hole for newly minted head coach, John Beilein to impart wisdom to this summer.
To recap all of the Lottery shenanigans, as well as weigh in on the surprising and polarizing coaching hire, we jammed the podcast booth with three old men, your favorite millenial and his frisky, stereo-tipping canine. We fogged the glass for hours (we had a lot to cover), debating top five mock drafts, throwing down over the projections for Zion’s career, mixing it up over the coaching decision and much, much, much more. In a pod that easily went to four overtimes, EG relates his epic witnessing of Game 3 between the Blazers and Nuggets in Portland, Nate regales us with his own Pablo Torres story, Tom spins a massive yarn about his daughter’s confusingly overzealous softball coach, and David bodyslams us all with a pancake throwing wrestling metaphor… Seriously, you might be as old as Coach Beilein when you get to the end of this.
As always, check us out below, on Anchor.fm, Apple Podcasts, Google Play, Stitcher, Tunein, or Spotify.
New post up from JudeElysium…
Bwahahahaha! And the hits just keep on coming. Never enjoyed another franchise’s dysfunction so much. Also apparently Vogel is due to be introduced in a few hours. Assuming Pelinka will be there, so that press conference should be magical.
http://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/26787295/magic-lakers-gm-pelinka-was-backstabbing
What a shark show. Enjoy the circus, Laker fan.
Well, a couple thoughts.
1) Bickerstaff hiring is solid. We needed an NBA with experience. His chops are on defense and the Grizz were solid on that end. Should be adios Longo!
2) I LOVED the fact that Beilein says he has no idea what system he is giing to run yet. Said he had to watch more Cavs/NBA film to tailor it to his players.
This is the proper attitude. System coaches are too inflexible. Coach the roster you have, not the one you wish you had.
Ya, I don’t mind Bickerstaff one bit. Especially if it signals the end of Longobardi. That guy is the worst.
I would say that coaches who don’t adjust or change their system to adapt to personnel are too inflexible. But I would love to have a more coherent system instead of improv offense and whatever we try to do on d.
If this results in longo being gonezo, it is worth it alone.
An aside as a rant GOT ending. No plot, story, character, or any spoilers, but stop here if you want zero feelings or criticism before anyone watches. Yada, Yada, Yada, Yada, Yada, Yada, Yada, Yada, Yada, Yada, Yada, Yada, Yada, Yada, Yada, Yada, Yada, Yada, Yada, Yada, Yada, Yada, Yada, Yada, Yada, Yada, Yada, Yada, Yada, Yada, Yada, Yada, Yada, Yada, Yada, Yada, Yada, Yada, Yada, Yada, Yada, Yada, Yada, Yada, Yada, Yada, Yada, Yada, Yada, Yada, Yada, Yada, Yada, Yada, Yada, Yada, Yada, Yada, Yada, Yada, Yada, Yada, Yada, Yada, Yada, Yada, Yada, Yada, Yada, Yada, Yada, Yada, Yada,… Read more »
Also there are no spoilers, but I hope the limit on postings until you have to hit the read more button is the same for everyone in case people want zero feedback before watching.
I’m sorry you didn’t enjoy the finale John B. Especially if you invested the kind of time that many fans have in the show. Even if you only watched the series once through, that’s still an enormous investment. I decided a long time ago that I was going to ease up on my criticisms of shows and movies. It was starting to make me regret a lot of viewing. Since letting all of that go, I’ve been able to enjoy a lot of things other people didn’t; the last season of GoT, Star Wars: TLJ, many of the less acclaimed… Read more »
Dang JMay! You summed up my feelings on art in general pretty exactly! I actually thought this past GoT season was pretty good, especially from a filmmaking point of view. Really spectacular visually. That being said, did not enjoy the finale at all. I thought John B’s comparison to a CW show was apt. I agree the show runners had a difficult task tying up all the loose ends, but I’m not sure why they felt the need to make everything so tidy. The scene with John and Daenerys should have been towards the end of the show. The “Bran… Read more »
I mean I enjoyed the ride. Just a bizarre way to end this particular show. I actually thought the episode had great potential for the first half and really enjoyed it. Liked Dany and Snow’s arc. I was expecting different, but it was well shot and made sense. The end maybe should have been more stark. The sort of epilogue scenes I don’t really need. But then again I think most epilogues are unnecessary for tightly told stories. The LOTR Return of the King (book) where there is a whole other story about the take over of Hobbiton was one… Read more »
John B, why stop at movies and television–easing up on criticism of what you cannot control makes work, relationships, and life in general a lot better, I have found. I think I actually rediscovered the Serenity Prayer when LeBron left the first time.
Questionable call on the Freak to foul out and no call on Kwahi double dribble, hmmmm? A lot of money is made each playoff game, sweeps are good for pocket books.
Aren’t good for pocket books that is
I’m a Giannis fan, believe me, and I have no problem saying Giannis is getting away with a lot of carrying the ball and traveling, and the NBA needs to address it.
Lol. There is a euro-step, and then there is a euro-foursteps.
I’m thinking we should grant talented Euros multiple gathers…why not…
Up until 2009 it was, “The rulebook says one step, and vocal fans have long insisted it stay that way — in keeping with every other level of the game. Yet for as long as anyone can remember, NBA referees have operated with the direction to allow players to take two steps after picking up a dribble, or catching the ball on the run.” http://www.espn.com/blog/truehoop/post/_/id/6035/nba-traveling-we-really-don-t-reference-the-rulebook Watching games from the 50s-2009, it is clear ignoring the two steps became exponentially more blatant, to the point three steps were standard. https://www.nba.com/2009/news/10/23/traveling.rule.ap/ http://www.espn.com/blog/truehoop/post/_/id/7097/the-two-step But essentially this amounted to standardizing three steps and allowing… Read more »
This is/has always been aggravating to me. Even when I was a teenager. Granted that is how I played, and how I was taught, but it is dumb.
The thing about Giannis that hets to me is that he gets away with little one foot hops on many of his steps while the refs are only looking at his lead foot.
Yeah. I do wonder if the mystique around a guy like that plays into it. As in I wonder if the refs are affected by the whole idea that he is so long, and his strides are so big at full stride, full being the key, that he just must never be traveling even while covering impossible distances at less than full speed. But I sort of think the nba needs to look at traveling again asa league wide issue. Giannis certainly isn’t the only culprit. There have been some egregious examples by Harden and Curry this season I have… Read more »
That breakaway dunk where it looked like Kawhi tweeked his leg/ whatever legit reminded me of Jordan. He looks like he’s 7’6″ on plays like that…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AB_qIM7zQHY
WTF !!?? greek freak with 12 in 45 min.. i guess he is human, but that is very surprising to me.. glad TOR got a win at home.. the series is over, imho, but hopefully TOR can perhaps win another game to make it somewhat respectable
why didn’t we get this george hill last year? although he did miss a FT tonight..
Hill was pretty good until the Finals FT miss. Or am I misremembering?
He was good, got an injury, then not quite as good. I had no issue with his performance.
Kawhi playing like a man tonight…
Willed his team to victory. Jordan-esque again
What a playoffs.
Replace Van Vleet with freaking Jordan Clarkson and it’d be a massive upgrade…
Disagree. He runs an offense and knows where to be on d. He’s cold right now and he’s not tall but JC is just not a guy you can trust to win basketball games in a pressure situation
He’s ok defensively but he’s small…a dude like that can’t go 1-10…
Kawhi ferocious and quick on the break, but looked like the knee/ something was bothering him after he landed…
Also double dribbled!
Hurt it earlier in the game… I think he sprained his knee.
Bledsoe lucky he signed that contract extension. He’s trash this game.
My bet is torn to relaxes here and 5he bucks take it.
Toronto
Jesus that’s a charge.
Giannis fouled out…wow…
Double super secret overtime.
This is nuts.
Shades of 2018.
Hill looking so good with the Bucks after looking meh for the Cavs is no credit to Lue, or Lebron for that matter. . You could argue the same for Hood, although he’s so inconsistent it’s hard to say.
Hill didn’t care this season. Which is fine. Hard to care for a veteran on a rebuilding team.
At least when you are used to winning/moderate to deep playoff runs. He also didn’t care in Sac Town so you could see that coming.
The mistake was starting Hill with LeBron. They should’ve started Clarkson and had Hood and Hill come off the bench IMO. LeBron was the PG after all.
But he is also a better shooter from three.
GEORGE HILL!!!
God Webber is a dope.
Kawhi looks very unhappy with that shot by siakam.
OT. Jebus. With 2 Raptors players out and Gasol with 5. Having to play a zero like Van Vleet…
2oe
Thay was awful look for the raps.
Such a lucky bounce for Brogdon.
Brogdon with a very nice layup.
Lopez! Get out!
Van Vleet is such an incredible liability, especially against a long team like the Bucks. He doesn’t bring anything but just a guy dribbling.
Bickerstaff official as one of leagues highest paid assistants. Sounds like heir apparent/associate head coach type deal.
http://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/26782312/jb-bickerstaff-cavs-assistant
Rashad Phillips compares Jarrett Culver to Paul Pierce.
https://twitter.com/MikeGoldFool/status/1129965792643076097?s=19
CALL ME WHATEVER YOU WANT AFTER POSTING THIS _________________1)–I THOUGHT IT WAS A LEAGUE RULE THAT THE LEAGUE WAS NOTIFIED OF ANY PLAYERS INJURY _______________2)–IF NOT A LEAGUE RULE WHY IS IT WE DON’T FIND OUT ABOUT THESE INJURIES UNTIL “AFTER ” A PLAYER HAS PLAYED POORLY FOR 2–3 COSECUTIVE GAMES ________________JUST THROWING IT OUT THERE FOR THOUGHT / COMMENTS
I think they only have to be notified if the player is going to be held out. Why would the league need to know otherwise? It doesn’t handle medical evaluations or press releases for teams. Often I think teams and players figure some injuries are so minor that it won’t affect their play at all with a days rest. Then maybe it does or it doesn’t and they have a terrible game. The injury becomes an excuse whether it was the cause of their bad game or not. Lessens pressure on the players/teams. After all I feel like you rarely… Read more »
That being said, no idea whether it is or not, but separated ribs sounds painful. Though Lillard was being shut down before the injury in game one anyway.
Also…
1. I wanna say something clever about playing through injury and Steph Curry always grabbing at his finger in the 4th quarters, against the backdrop of all the campaigns in which Steph didn’t quite reach the stratosphere only because he was close to hospitalisation. Too tired though.
2. I don’t mind Shams reporting in general, he reports fairly straight down the line without much spin. However, how do you in one post go from saying “this guy has a significant injury” to “his opponents are beating him through their own hard work”?
I mean Lillard got utterly shut down last year from hard traps in p and r against NO. He doesn’t handle that type of d well. Warriors blitzing him. Switching and trapping has nullified any driving lanes he gets unless he splits which he can’t do very often. I think there was a goldsberry article about the types of shots he was taking through 2 games. Almost no shots in paint. Lots of threes with an average distance of like 29 feet.
Shaq would’ve put curry on the injured list. Ridiculous the way they let him waltz into the paint.
Does Mike Brown deserve the credit for the Warriors good defense on Lillard?
I’m sure he deserves some. It really seems in part like a replay of the Pels trapping Dame last year with him unable to punish them.
That is what it seems to me. Book is out on him. Of course he could use some more help, but the guy’s handle is probably to stiff to split a ton of traps.
Too stiff
Dame out of control and not hitting shooters in these drives. Predictably blocked.
while i would prefer POR to prevail, alas, it is not to be.. blazers require McLillard to be far more productive than they have managed to be tonight (at home no less).. they lose tonight, and are put out of their misery in game 4 or 5..
steph & klay.. the 7/11 twins (my name for them).. gotta tip your hat to GS.. the fools gave them the gifts, and they happily accepted
wasn’t POR ahead by 14 or 15 a while back? me thinks the blazers know they are no match and are just giving up..
curry going into hyper-drive.. it is ovah..
Jordan Bell is a clown.
That Leonard foul on Curry is so cheap…it gets called because Curry falls down every time his shot is defended. It was a hand slap after the ball was released. Again, the NBA needs to find some balance the way way interior and perimeter fould are called. It’s mostly a farce as it is.
That is why I’d get a extra shot in on him every time. Hit his arm so hard he pulls back instinctively. Sharpen your shins and forearms like a Thai bo fighter.
I may have seen too many van dam movies.
If they’re gonna call that garbage then hurt him.
Someone take a charge on bray.
Please, Portland, give Bray a few more of those driving layups…so enjoyable…
Welcome to your poster, Bray…
If the Blazers blow a big lead in the 3-4 minutes before the half, I’m gonna get stabby…
Turner a definite possibility to be a Cav next year in a salary dump.
Be still my heart…
Another non-three point shooting wing sized player. Cool.
Missed Seth wide open. Turnover. Five point swing.
Even Turner corner three, found money…
All Star flop attempt there, Jerebko…one of my least favorite bigs in the NBA…
Blazers at the line constantly, but have to hit those FTs…not good enough so far against a team like this…
Man I hate Steph throwing himself into bigs and getting calls.