Zach Lowe Needs to Watch More than Two NBA Players

I'm a fan of Zach Lowe. I think he is one of, if not the smartest writer of the NBA that is doing that job right now. He does his research, watches a ton of games and is knowledgeable on not just the game, but the players too. His podcast is the only primarily basketball podcast I listen to. I do listen to "The Flagrant Ones" as well, but they do way more jokes than "The Lowe Post" does. Zach Lowe's podcast is for basketball junkies, NBA junkies, such as myself.

I have found myself getting annoyed lately when I listen to him talk. He is still as informative and knowledgeable as ever, but he is constantly pumping up two players that I am not a fan of, Luka Doncic and Nikola Jokic. Now, before the internet weirdos come at me, I can acknowledge their ability, they are very good NBA offensive players and Jokic is a deserving champ and two time MVP. But, to hear Lowe talk about them lately, it is almost as if they never make mistakes and they are the only two NBA players worth mentioning and/or praising.

It has gotten so bad for me that I have found myself timing how long it takes before he mentions one or both players in any new episode. I watch some people on Instagram do the same thing, as a joke. But I want to see how long he can hold himself before he simply must bring them up. Even on episodes where he is not necessarily talking about the Mavericks or Nuggets, Lowe will find a way to shoehorn the two of them into a conversation. The longest it has taken before he has brought up one of the two guys in a recent episode was 23 minutes. This was an episode that was well over 90 minutes long. He only lasted less than a third of the run time before he had to let everyone listening know that he is a fan of these guys.

I get it. You like the way they play the game. You cannot find any criticism to give them. You want nothing but the best for them. You married a Croatian so you must feel some weird obligation to like European NBA players. These are your two favorite teams, and clearly your two favorite players. But, you are a journalist and analyst as well. That is supposed to be a non biased job. From what I was told at a young age when I was thinking journalism might be a good route for me, I wouldn’t have lasted too long because of my love for Michigan football. My folks let it be known that, if I were to pursue a career in journalism, that love could stay, but never be talked about openly amongst readers of whatever publication I may have ended up writing for, and that was a nonstarter for me. But the landscape has changed with major journalism it seems. You can be a fan and openly talk about that fandom. You can be a fanboy, a fanatic, a super fan and most people will just look the other way. Zach Lowe has taken this angle and run miles and miles and miles with it. I was listening to his most recent episode and David Thorpe brought up Shai Gilgeous Alexander as an MVP candidate, the top candidate in his eyes. This was after Lowe went on a rant about "Luka's last season push for MVP". Also, I despise that he calls this dude by his first name only. I can guarantee that Luka Doncic doesn't ever think twice about you Zach. So, after he went on his rant, Thorpe said why he thinks SGA is the frontrunner for MVP, Lowe's silence spoke volumes. Someone wasn't giving one of his guys the full on credit he thought he deserved. So instead of going into a nice debate, because Thorpe threw stats at Lowe, one of his favorite things to bring up when talking about Doncic or Jokic, he just sat there quietly with nothing to say. That stuck with me.

And lately, when speaking of Jokic, he will constantly say how he is the "greatest basketball player in the world" in one breath, then begrudge Giannis Antentekoumpo. I guess Zach Lowe may need to be reminded of some more stats. They both have two MVP's. They both have the same amount of titles, one. And Giannis is much, much, much better defender than Nikola could ever dream of being in his entire career. Oh, and the Greek Freak is a much more fun player to watch play the game for me. And why doesn't Lowe like the Harden/Doncic comparison I wonder. They are pretty much the same player. They are both volume shooters. They both get assists. They both stop the ball. They both need the ball to be effective. I don't get why he can't just accept the fact that they are basically the same player. Oh, and one more thing on Luka Doncic. Lowe is so quick to talk about Doncic's greatness in the playoffs. And again, he is a very, very good playoff basketball player. But at the same time he will go in hard on the two guys picked before him in the draft, Deandre Ayton and Trae Young. Make no mistake, Luka Doncic is a more skilled player than both of those guys, but he has gone just as far as Trae Young has in the playoffs. They have both been as far as the conference finals. As for Ayton, well, he has been to the NBA Finals, and played pretty well. So, I guess that means Ayton's playoff success is technically better, right? 

The way Lowe speaks of these two guys is almost erotic and kind of gross. He will never begrudge them, but he is quick to point out flaws of other superstars. He will give them all the glory for team success, but blame other players for holding teams back. He has become what I feared he might be, and that is a knock off Bill Simmons, who is one of the most loathsome journalists on the planet. I hope he fixes this fascination with these two guys, but it doesn't seem likely. I wonder how they would react if they knew about his love for them. I'd have to guess they don't know and most likely don't care. But I would be creeped the hell out if someone I had little to no interaction with talked about me the way Lowe talks about these two guys. It feels odd. 

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing, the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast, and the greatest basketball writer on the internet.

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The White Problem in NBA Journalism

NBA award season is upon us. They have already given out Defensive Player of the Year, Marcus Smart, and more are to come. I have my choices for who I want to win, and who I think should win. And I have been very vocal about my want for Joel Embiid to win the MVP. He led the league in scoring, kept the 76ers afloat with Ben Simmons being a selfish child, kept doing his thing after the trade for James Harden and has been a defensive force all season long. He has also been a killer in the first two games of round one of the playoffs. He should be the clear favorite.

But he is not.

The NBA nerds and journalists and podcasters and bloggers all want their new hero Nikola Jokic to win the award for a second straight season. They have sung his praises up and down the floor. I was listening to "The Lowe Post" earlier today and Zach Lowe made every single excuse he could for Jokic playing poorly in the playoffs right now. So have all the other white NBA nerds on the internet. They have pointed out his VORP, his plus minus, his shot chart, his passes that lead to assists, and how he has become a "serviceable" defender. Again, nerd shit. What they are failing to point out, well it is actually a few things, is that Jokic is a dirty hotheaded player, and the exact same journalists and podcasters and bloggers and talking heads all slammed Russell Westbrook when he was the MVP favorite the year he averaged a triple double and won it.

I want to touch on the hotheadedness and dirtiness first. We have seen him implode in the playoffs so far. The Warriors, namely Draymond Green, are so inside his head. It is affecting his play. It is affecting his team. And instead of being a leader and showing MVP leadership, he got himself ejected and tried to chase Gary Payton Jr when he tapped him on the backside on his way off the floor. But he did stuff like this all year. He gets away with trips and elbows and griping all the time because the nerds love him. He injured Markieff Morris. He shoved him when his back was turned. He cheap shot him. Some, again the white journalists, have made excuses for Jokic. But what he did was childish and shows how easy it is to get under his skin. He is the classic "can dish it out but cannot take it". He thinks it is funny when he pulls his nonsense, but when someone fights back, he gets angry and dirty. Morris missed a ton of time, but people just let it go. They talked about it for a day and then it was gone, forgotten. That's nuts.

What irks me the most, why I wanted to write this piece, is the Russ comparison. When Russ won the MVP the Thunder went 47-35 and were the 6 seed in the West. Some of Russ' teammates, this was the season KD left for Golden State, included a very young and inexperienced Steven Adams, an oft injured Victor Oladipo, Domantas Sabonis as a rookie, Alex Abrines, Norris Cole, Taj Gibson, Kyle Singler and Cam Payne, to name a few. The names may pop off, but this was before Adams was the dude he is now, before Sabonis was an all star, Oladipo didn't fit, Norris Cole was on his last leg, this was a team that Russ had to carry. He did all the things he did because his coach told him to. He had to carry the load. If he didn't, that team would have been a lottery team. And after he did his thing, and rightfully won the MVP, he had the Thunder playing tough, but the Rockets were a much better team that ousted them in five games. But people called Russ "selfish", a "stat hog", a "rebound seeker". They said people that voted for him were "basketball perverts", that we "didn't understand the game". They bad-mouthed fans that rooted for him and wanted him to win the MVP. We were all wrong and the white journalists and nerds were supposedly right.

Well, let's look at Mr Jokic this year. His teammates include Aaron Gordon, Bones Hyland, Jeff Green, Will Barton, Bryn Forbes, Boogie Cousins and Monte Morris. It is true that Michael Porter Jr and Jamal Murray have missed significant time. But the same nerds that love Jokic like guys like Hyland and Morris. I hear all the time that Will Barton can heat up at any moment. I see how athletic and versatile Gordon is when I watch him play. The teammates are similar, but I honestly think, even with the injuries, that this Nuggets team has more talent surrounding their star than that Thunder team did. And when you look at the record, the Nuggets are 48-34. That is one game better than the 16-17 Thunder. They are also the 6 seed. They are also being demolished right now by the Warriors. The parallels are insanely familiar, but no one is calling the nerds and journalists "perverts", saying they are "dumb" and "stupid". They find excuses for Jokic where they found flaws with Russ.

It is maddening that, in 2022, the NBA still has ignorant racists voting on these awards. It has never been more blatant than that this season. Joel Embiid should win this award. It should not even be a conversation. But when they announce Jokic as the winner, I am almost certain they will, the journalists and nerds, all of them white, will rejoice and still be quietly racist. It is frustrating. I feel for Joel Embiid. He is so much more deserving of this award. He is the clear MVP. But it is not up to him or me. Unfortunately it is up to the white journalists, a lot of which live in Boston. And that stinks.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing, the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast, and the greatest basketball writer on the internet.

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Cloves and Fedoras: Ramona Shelburne Tells a Tale Worthy of Hollywood with "The Sterling Affairs" Podcast

Cloves and Fedoras is Seed Sings reviews for little known pieces of pop culture. Feel free to contact us with your own submissions of undiscovered gems that must be known.

Zach Lowe finally returned from his annual summer vacation the other day, and released the latest "Lowe Post" podcast. I'm a big time fan of that show, I usually listen to it before I listen to anything else, and I like it so much that even when he has Brian Windhorst on, who I cannot stand, I still listen because Lowe is such a great basketball writer.

Yesterday I was thrilled when I saw that Ramona Shelburne was the guest. She is right up there with Lowe, for me, as far as the best writers in basketball today. I have a very short list, Lowe, Shelburne, Jackie McMullan, hell, that might be it. So, whenever Shelburne is on the pod, it becomes even more of a must listen to for me. She was on to promote her new "30 For 30" podcast called "The Sterling Affairs". Pretty much every, if not all, NBA fans know the story of him being forced to sell the Clippers. Sterling is a total scumbag, racist asshole who deserves all the horrible things in life to happen to him. And that is very straight forward on this 5 part podcast series. But what Shelburne does with this, how deep she dives into his past and present, is truly wonderful. Also, not only do we see how awful Sterling is, but we see that his wife Shelly is not much better. And how V Stiviano was the only person who was willing to put him on blast, but how it had to be an absolute last ditch effort type thing. We also get to hear from lawyers, former players and coaches, announcers and TV personalities. It is so cool, and kind of sad and creepy.

I am three and a half episodes in, I had to clean my house while my kids were at school, the perfect time for me to binge podcasts, and I am totally invested and riveted and disgusted and blown away at what I am hearing. I cannot recommend this enough. Only 3 episodes in, and I find myself yelling at my phone and gasping and being completely shocked, but not surprised at all the goings on from Sterling's early life to when the tapes that Stiviano was recording for almost 2 years released. Sterling has always, and will always, be a racist asshole who only surrounds himself with yes men and women. He is a womanizer as well, a curmudgeon and a cheap skate. Hearing from former players, guys like Olden Poliyence, Ryan Hollins and Blake Griffin, at how uncomfortable and how he treated his players like property is appalling and revealing. The stories of the infamous "white parties" that the Sterling's would throw before the season sound so awful and uncomfortable and sad. Hearing Doc Rivers, who played and coached under Sterling, talk about how awful he was behind the scenes was eye opening. Listening to his wife, who is still with him, makes me angry at her and feel zero sympathy. She tries to come off as all innocent and clueless, but she is complicit in everything he did, does and will do. She is just as bad. Like I said earlier, Stiviano was the one who really brought his horrible behavior to light, but she is not a great person either. She was a star chaser and would be with anyone if they had money. Listening to Matt Barnes talk about her was hilarious because he truly hates her. Apparently she really tried to insert herself into the players lives, and they weren't having it.

What I think I like most about it though is how this story has everything that a big time Hollywood movie would want. It has many bad guys that take advantage of people, guys who were too afraid to tell the main villain to stop, intrigue, disgusting affairs and the main bad guy, finally, getting what he deserves. I cannot wait to finish the last episode and a half. I'm going to workout later, and I will most definitely finish it then.

This is a real homerun. I know that I am super hard on ESPN, but every once in awhile, they do something like this, and it totally works. Check this 5 part podcast series out. It is very well done, and it is a great, yet horrifying story. Know going into it that there is some truly awful language, and some horrible, horrible things are said. But man is this so, so good. I cannot wait to finish listening. Check it out.

Ty

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast. Ty never thought much about the Clippers until this whole Sterling thing blew up. Now the team cleaned up their ownership nicely, yet they make Ty take notice of the team a but more.

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The Winners and Losers Stay the Same After the NBA Trade Deadline

Everyone kept the hands they were dealt

The NBA trade deadline has come and gone in the last week. I know that other writers write an immediate winners and losers article only minutes after the deadline happens. Me personally, I need time to think about what happened and all the player movement. I don't think you can honestly say who won or lost a trade the moment after it happens unless it's something huge. For example, when Carmelo Anthony and Chauncey Billups were traded to New York for basically nothing, the Knicks were clear winners, although they've only won one playoff series since Carmelo has been in New York. I agree more with a writer like Zach Lowe, my favorite NBA writer, that you need almost a full year or even two before you can really pick any winners or losers from the trade deadline. But, for the sake of argument, I will do my best to pick some teams that "won" the deadline, and who "lost" the deadline.

First of all, there were none of the big name moves that I and a lot of other sports writers thought would happen. I was certain that Al Horford was going to be a Celtic, I thought Jeff Teague would be gone, I was almost 100 percent certain that Dwight Howard would be anywhere but Houston and I figured LeBron would get his way and the Cavs would dump Kevin Love. None of those guys moved. I was even pretty sure that the Clippers would deal Blake Griffin because they are playing so well without him and he is a locker room problem, but no movement for Griffin. With that being said, the big names usually don't move at the trade deadline. Very rarely do we see superstars change teams with less than 30 games to go in the regular season. Why change chemistry now with so little time left in the season? By this point, we pretty much know who is going to be in the playoffs and who is going to be in the lottery. The big name guys get dealt in the offseason, right after the free agency dust settles. I do fully expect guys like Horford, Howard, Teague and Griffin to be on new teams starting next season. Hell, if the Knicks don't get any better, I wouldn't be shocked to see Carmelo get traded to a contender, The Knicks are going to go to a youth movement led by Kristaps Porzingis, and Carmelo will be 33 going into next season. the Knicks are no longer his team. And, depending on how the Cavs do, I think they will get swept in the Finals, or even beaten by Toronto in the Eastern Finals, Kevin Love could have a new team next year, if LeBron the GM gets his way.

This trade deadline featured no real superstars or team changing players. The best players that got traded were Tobias Harris to Detroit and Jeff Green to the Clippers. Those are not guys to build a team around. In Jeff Green's case, he is a good player that has a ton of upside, but he has also been traded four times in his short career. That's not a look that a player should strive for. He started his career in OKC and didn't get the minutes he needed and couldn't grow as a player. He was traded to Boston, were he would look like an all star one night and look like a 12th man the next night. He was then shipped to Memphis, were he played his best basketball, but that's not saying much. Sure, he was a decent slasher, but he missed more open jumpers than he made and he was wildly inconsistent on defense. Now, he is on the Clippers, where he is expected to take on the load until Blake Griffin comes back. I know LA fans and LA sports writers think this is a good trade, but I disagree. Green, while being a great talent, has never lived up to his high praise when he was a rookie. He is wildly inconsistent and he is not the game changer that fans and sports writers in LA think he can be. The only good that came from this trade was the Clippers unloading Lance Stephenson. The Clippers are the 4 seed right now, and they will stay there, Jeff Green will not help them leap frog the Thunder or the Spurs and no one is going to catch the Warriors. The Pistons getting Tobias Harris was a pretty good move for them. I like this trade a hell of a lot more than the Jeff Green move. Tobias Harris wasn't being used properly in Orlando and I think, with a coach like Stan Van Gundy, he will thrive alongside Andre Drummond and Reggie Jackson. I don't like that they had to give up Brandon Jennings, who I really, really like, but he is coming off a torn ACL and the Pistons gave Reggie Jackson a lot of money this offseason. They have moved on from Brandon Jennings. This move will firmly put the Pistons in a good playoff position, especially in the East, and Harris could help them make some early round noise.

Other than those two guys, the next biggest name to move was Markieff Morris, who was traded from Phoenix to Washington. I don't really know where he fits in DC and this felt like a desperate move by a very desperate team. Morris is a very good basketball player, but he is also a whiner and can be a malcontent. Look at all the stuff he did in Phoenix after they traded his brother. The front office in Phoenix definitely deserves blame for being shady and trading his brother after they both took discounts to play together, but the NBA is a business and shady stuff happens in business all the time. I don't see Markieff Morris making the Wizards a legit threat. John Wall deserves better help than that. Other than these three, guys like Randy Foye, who is having one of his worst statistical years, got traded from Denver to OKC for DJ Augustin. I don't think either team really gained or lost anything from this trade. The Cavs acquired Channing Frye, but he will not push them over the edge. He will not stretch the Warriors or Spurs as much as people may think. And the Bulls shipped Kirk Hinrich over to Atlanta. This trade would have been good about 6 or 7 years ago, now, who cares.

If I were to pick a "winner" from this trade deadline, I think it is pretty clear that it's the Detroit Pistons. They got a proven scorer in Harris and, if he is willing to be coached up a bit, he can turn himself into a pretty good all around NBA player. Harris next to Drummond is a pretty good and formidable front court. Phoenix, while a total disaster in every other aspect of an NBA team, at least got rid of an unhappy player that was causing problems and they got a first round pick out of him, so they may be a slight winner, and that's the only time they will be called winners this year.

As far as "losers" go, no real team did anything that will help or hurt them with player acquistions, so the only "losers" I can find are, we, the fans. Now, we should know by now that the big names get moved in the offseason, but I expected at least one big time star to get traded. Why didn't the Rockets dump Dwight Howard? Was the asking price too high, or did no one want him? I know he's a free agent this summer, but why not rent him for 30 games? All credit to Bill Simmons, why didn't the Trailblazers try and get him to help them in their playoff run? He could have helped them, and he always seems to show up and play good basketball in the playoffs and they would only have to deal with him for 30 games and they could let him walk this offseason, no problem. Or, why didn't the Celtics do something? I have read they tried, but they couldn't pull anything off. They have the most assets and Danny Ainge has been chasing a star for three years now. I thought they could have gotten Horford, Love or Blake Griffin, but they got none of them. Where we sit now, they are a three seed in the East, but with their rag tag roster, they will not beat Cleveland or Toronto. Had they added a star, I wouldn't say the same thing. And, the Knicks were quiet, but they have no assets and it would have taken them moving a big name to get another big name. Phil Jackson wasn't going to do that and had they tried to trade Carmelo, he has a no trade clause and he could have voided any trade he wanted.

This was a very uneventful and very quiet trade deadline, but they have been for the last four years. There a no real winners and losers because we just don't know how these things will pan out. Look for this summer time to be very busy with lots of big named guys finding new homes. Summer is where the action will take place.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man podcast. He is practicing being all excited for the trade deadline as a basketball writer, and then being disappointed as a fan. Ty is on twitter, go follow him @tykulik.

We Need To Stop Making Excuses For Violent Athletes

Violent people belong behind a fence with razor wire, not in our arenas and stadiums.

With the news coming out last week that Blake Griffin will miss the majority of the regular season after punching the Clippers equipment manager, repeatedly, and breaking his shooting hand, I ask everyone today, why do we let athletes get away with heinous acts like this? Why did Blake Griffin feel the need to punch this guy so many times, in the face, to the point of injuring himself? And why are their people out their defending him? I heard Charles Barkley, my all time favorite basketball player, on Bill Simmons podcast recently say that "this stuff happens all the time" and that we "shouldn't overreact to this news". That's insane! If any regular Joe did this at their job, they'd be fired immediately, no questions asked. But, we as a society, feel like it's okay to give professional athletes a pass and that is very disturbing.

In the last two years, we've had far too many incidents involving violent behavior coming from pro athletes. And yes, football is the main culprit, but it's spilling over into other pro sports. The athletes that are involved in these incidents are pretty famous too. Kids are supposed to look up to these people. I've written about how terrible Hope Solo, Adrian Peterson and Ray Rice are on the site before, but lets not forget about Aroldis Chapman's domestic violence charge that was recently dropped. A trade was voided because the Dodgers didn't want that PR mess. He was basically a sitting duck until the New York Yankees traded for him and the whole story went away. Or what about all the off season, in season and now post season stuff that's coming out about Greg Hardy? He abuses multiple women, still gets a contract from the Dallas Cowboys, has multiple fights with multiple teammates during the season and now, in the offseason, he can't seem to stop partying. Why does he still get a free pass from the morons over at ESPN? Also, in the college ranks, look at former Missouri QB Matty Mauk. He had to get suspended four times before they kicked him off the team and they only kicked him off when a video of him doing cocaine surfaced. He's not some hot shot QB that's going to help Missouri win many games, but he was a division one caliber QB so he got way more chances than any other non student athlete at Missouri gets because he's good at sports. Why the double standard? It's not fair to the 95 percent of students that don't play sports. They slip up once, they're expelled. But, if you're competent at football, you get way too many chances. That doesn't seem fair.

Now, there's this new story about Johnny Manziel physically assaulting his ex girlfriend that ESPN and Jerry Jones will certainly try to cover up. How many chances does this punk get? He has made mistake after mistake since his sophomore year of college, but everyone seems to write it off. He can showboat and anchors think it's him getting in opponents head, not him being a selfish asshole. Then he slips in the draft because of "character issues", but that's not his fault either. When he does get on the field in the NFL, he looks lost and slow, but it's never his fault, it's coaching and system. When he goes to rehab, but then is spotted 6 months later drinking on the bye week, it's said that he's a young kid and young kids make mistakes. And now we have the second time that he's been brought up on physical abuse charges. People seem to have already forgotten that he was charged with pushing his ex girlfriend's head into the car window before the season started and now there is this new story of him assaulting her at, you guessed it, a bar. Why does this born with a silver spoon, spoiled punk keep getting second, third and fourth chances. He's not a good pro and he's an even worse person. He needs to be in a real rehab, getting real help. I don't need to hear Tony Kornheiser and Ron Jaworski make anymore excuses for Johnny Manziel. I'm fed up with it.

Which brings me to Blake Griffin. The stuff I've heard, from people I really respect, people like Charles Barkley, Bill Simmons, Zach Lowe and Kevin Pelton, just to name a few, is downright absurd and kind of disturbing. Like I said with Barkley earlier, he claims this happens all the time. That doesn't make it right. That is not a viable excuse for someone to physically attack someone smaller than them. The only repercussion that Simmons, Lowe and Pelton can seem to find is to trade him to a different team. Oh yeah, go let him beat up some other team's equipment manager, that will solve his anger problem. These same guys will say, "he apologized, it's over", are dead wrong. You know how many times physical abusers apologize, then do the same exact thing a month later? The vast majority of them. My mom works in a battered women and children's center and she's told me some of the guys have apologized upwards of 10 to 15 times, only to abuse again and again. In fact, and I'll give Tony Kornheiser and Mike Wilbon credit here, they are the only two sports anchors I've heard say that Blake Griffin needs to be suspended immediately for at least, the rest of the season. I agree, except they should have added, suspended without pay. It's like I said earlier, anyone that works a regular job, if they physically attacked someone, they'd get fired that instance, without hesitation. But, there's that double standard with pro sports. I've also heard some of the people that are pro Blake Griffin say that they've been mad enough at a friend to hit them, but they never say that they actually hit them. This is no real friendship if Blake Griffin thinks it's okay to punch this guy until he breaks his hand. This is a sickening act done by a disturbed man child.

I wish we as a society made these abusive athletes responsible for their heinous actions. Instead, we sweep it under the rug and forget about. and therein lies the problem. Everyone needs to be held accountable by the horrible things they do, pro athlete or not.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture Editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man podcast. He was once so mad at the head editor that Ty beat him by 80 on NCAA Football 2006. No hitting, just humiliation. Follow Ty on twitter @tykulik.

Do Not Change the Rules for Bad Free Throw Shooters

Plenty of open hoops to practice some free throws

So, I was reading one of my favorite websites this morning, Deadspin, and I read an article entitled, "NBA Teams Have Found Creative New Ways to Intentionally Foul " about the intentional fouling that is going on in the NBA right now to put poor free throw shooters at the line. This isn't the first I've heard about people wanting this rule changed. This is probably the one hundredth time I've heard people griping about the "hack a whoever" strategy that teams are employing. Like I said, Deadspin did a whole piece on it today, it's a great read, and I've heard sports writers and journalists I really admire like Zach Lowe and Bill Simmons also complaining about this strategy.

Well, I'm here today to tell everyone that I side with Jalen Rose on this topic. He was on some kind of NBA countdown show on ESPN and he said something along the lines that these guys are pro athletes and they should learn how to shoot free throws. He doesn't mind the "hack a whoever" strategy and neither do I. I 100 percent agree with Rose's assessment. These guys get paid millions upon millions of dollars and they can't make more than 40 percent of a shot that is about 13 feet from the rim and zero defense on them. It's a "free throw", defense is not allowed. I coach 9, 10 and 11 year olds that are better free throw shooters than these guys that get paid real money to play basketball, that's a shame. It's upsetting that such an easy shot has become so hard for particular big men, I'll get to some of them in a minute, that it literally slows this fast paced game to a halt. NBA games should take no more than 2 to 2 1/2 hours, but with this big men unable to shoot free throws, the games are stretching to 3 plus hours sometimes. That's ridiculous.

Let's look at three particular poor free throw shooting big men. First, I want to point out Shaquille O'Neal. The reason Shaq is first, no one made a stink when teams were "hack-a-shaqing" throughout his Lakers run. It was deemed "smart coaching" and a "good strategy" at the time. What's baffling about Shaq, he was a decent free throw shooter in college and his first couple of pro seasons. Then, he put more muscle on his body and he just stopped working on free throws in practice. It got so bad for him, he was literally shot putting the ball to the hoop. Still, he was about a 50 percent free throw shooter, even at his worst. It was bad, but not as bad as some current players. Shaq was also bigger than anyone playing at the time, so most of his attempts at the free throw line came on "and one" plays. He'd make his shot, usually a dunk, and only have to shoot one free throw. I mentioned Shaq first because of the double standard that is coming up with the next two players I'm going to mention.

Like I said before, when people were intentionally fouling Shaq, it wasn't that big of a deal. I don't recall anyone saying they needed to change the rule. Now, we have two of the absolute worst free throw shooters I've seen in my 20 plus years of watching NBA basketball, DeAndre Jordan and Andre Drummond. When these two step to the line, look away because you'll see something very ugly. The kids I coach are told to not watch the two of them play because of how poorly they shoot the ball. Now, I don't like DeAndre Jordan, that's been well chronicled on the site, but I think Andre Drummond has potential to be a game changing type of player. He has perennial all star potential and he puts up huge rebound numbers. But, his free throw shooting is so atrocious and that's holding him back from being a big time player. Just go back a couple of weeks and look at his free throw stat. He was 13 for 36. That is downright terrible. His team still won the game, but man, that's a bad, horrendous stat line. Just awful. DeAndre Jordan, he's so bad at free throw shooting, he's been pulled in critical moments of critical playoff games because his coach doesn't trust his free throw shooting. He has decent form, but the shot always goes wide, either left or right, doesn't matter, it's ALWAYS wide. I mean, he has even air balled multiple free throws in a single game multiple times. You are getting paid huge money DeAndre Jordan to play basketball, so you should never, ever air ball a free throw. Never. That is awful. How does an almost seven footer air ball a free throw? It's just appalling.

Now, these guys that want the rule changed think it's unfair to the other players on the court and it's unfair to the fan. I say, practice your god damn free throws. It's the second easiest shot in basketball, behind the layup/dunk. There's no one guarding you. You get 10 seconds to shoot the ball. All you have to deal with is some dumbass fans yelling stupid shit at you. I know you guys can dunk and rebound. I sure as hell hope you'd be good at that. Andre Drummond and DeAndre Jordan are both close to seven feet tall, they should be able to dunk and rebound with ease. When you're a pro, your game should be well rounded. I mean, at least Shaq made 50 percent of his free throws. Drummond and Jordan both shoot in the low 40's and I believe Drummond dipped into the mid 30's after his 23 missed free throws the other night. I'd suggest, instead of working on your next alley oop, or outlet pass off a rebound, which they both excel at, spend all of your practice time on free throws. Also, go into the gym on off days and work on your free throw shooting. You guys are pro athletes. Your only job is to make your game better.

This is why I agree with Jalen Rose. Everything I said above, he's said multiple times on multiple sports shows. The NBA shouldn't have to change their rules so these pathetic free throw shooters gain another advantage. These guys should work on their free throw shooting, or they should get used to sitting on the bench in crunch time. It's as simple as that. I really like you, everyone at Deadspin, Zach Lowe and Bill Simmons, but to suggest changing the rule is asinine. I am 100 percent on Jalen Rose's side. Learn how to shoot a god damn free throw.

That's your job.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture Editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man podcast. In 1998 he hit one hundred percent of his free throws, 2 for 2. Follow Ty on twitter @tykulik.