Sorry Jordan, LeBron is Way Better than Kobe

This past week Michael Jordan has been talking a whole lot to the media. Over the last week, Jordan has talked to the media more than he did for the majority of his professional career. I've got to say, I love that he is finally being outspoken, especially when it comes to all things basketball. He is the GOAT, so his knowledge and criticism and "hot takes" on the game, I believe and agree with mostly.

For instance, that dumbass Lavar Ball being the typical blowhard that he is, claimed he could beat MJ in one on one. He has said this about other former players, most notable Charles Barkley, and of course he is extremely out of his lane. If he thinks he could score one single point against Jordan, he is clearly crazy. I love that Jordan came back and said that he could beat him one legged. I would go so far as to say that Jordan could beat him even if he had no use in his legs, had his right arm tied behind his back and he gave Ball a 10-0 advantage in a game to 11. Jordan would not only beat him, he would physically and emotionally hurt him. It would be a massacre. And for Ball to say that he and his son Lonzo could beat Jordan and one of his sons in 2 on 2, again I say, shut your god damn mouth. Jordan would again own the elder Ball, and because they are Michael Jordan's kids, they have that killer instinct, and while they may not be as talented as Lonzo, they would get in his and his father's head, and they would win easily. As Omar said, "you come at the king, you best not miss". Michael Jordan would own him, and I'm glad he let that be known to the world.

Jordan did say something else this week that I have to say, I disagree with him. This is a very rare thing for me, because, as I stated earlier, I agree with pretty much everything MJ does and says. He was asked in some interview earlier this week if he thought Kobe Bryant was a better player than LeBron James. He thought about it and said that he thinks Kobe is the better player because, "there is something about 5 rings compared to 3".

Now, right off the bat, I disagreed with him. If we are going strictly off championships, and I have been on record many, many times saying that I think Jordan is the greatest basketball player ever, and one of the greatest athletes ever, then that makes Bill Russell the best basketball player ever. He has 11 titles. No one is even close to that, including Jordan. Also, again going on rings, that would mean that Robert Horry is just as good as Jordan and Scottie Pippen. Now, I love Bill Russell, and he is maybe the 3rd or 4th greatest player ever, but he is nowhere near the player that Jordan was, and I think, if they played in the same era, Jordan would have smoked him. And with Robert Horry, come on. He is a great clutch shooter, the best in my opinion, but he is not even on Kobe or even guys like Russ, KD and Kawhi's level. But, he has those rings.

Looking at other sports too, does Jordan's comments mean that he thinks Eli Manning and Peyton Manning are better QB's because they have 2 Super Bowl rings as opposed to Aaron Rodgers one? Or, is Trent Dilfer a better QB than Dan Marino because he has a ring and Marino doesn't? Does this mean that Paul O'Neill is a better baseball player than Chipper Jones? Does this make David Freese better than Adrian Beltre? You cannot compare championships to how good a player is. I'd much rather have MJ than any other basketball player. I'll take Aaron Rodgers any day over any QB, including Tom Brady. Give me Chipper Jones and Adrian Beltre if I'm going to start a baseball team with those players in their primes.

Going back to the main reason for this blog, lets compare Bryant to James. For me, LeBron is the far superior player in every facet of the game. LeBron, while being uncoachable at times, and a hard guy to play with, when you gain his trust, he believes in you no matter what. This is a dude that will put his full faith in someone with championships on the line. He doesn't always have to be the reason the team is a winner. The same cannot be said about Bryant. It always had to be about him. The Lakers were only good when he was good if you ask him. Never mind how badly he crippled that team 3 years ago, he still felt that he was great, even though his game clearly deteriorated. As a distributor and "point guard" of the team and focal point of the offense, again, James by a landslide. He is so good at finding the open player, attacking the rim and running the offense. The only thing Kobe has on LeBron here is a jump shot, but I'd rather have a 6'9 280 lb force attacking the rim than a 6'6 200 lb pound jump shooter any day. The only players that I think "see" the game the way LeBron does is Jordan and Magic. As far as defense, LeBron is way, way, way better on that end of the floor. He is one of the better chase down shot blockers ever, and he usually guards the opponents best player, or at least their best offensive player. Kobe Bryant was a fake All Defense performer. They just put him on the team to pet his ego. He is, in my opinion, one of the most overrated defenders to ever play in the NBA. LeBron, when locked in, is one of the better defensive players in the NBA. Finally, when it comes to durability, LeBron wins this one again by a landslide. He NEVER gets hurt. It is amazing how healthy he has ben his whole career. He has never, ever had a horrible injury. Some say it may be PED's, I just think he keeps himself in tremendous shape. We all saw how Kobe Bryant's career ended. Two torn ACL's, and many ankle sprains and bruised ego's throughout his whole career.

When you really break it all down, LeBron James is far and away the better player between the 2. I think Jordan is the greatest ever, obviously. LeBron is somewhere in my top 5, possibly top 3. Bryant, he is outside my personal top 10. He is very far behind MJ, LeBron, and even guys like Tim Duncan and Kevin Garnett, Shaquille O'Neal and Hakeem Olajuwon. I also think guys like KD, Steph, Kawhi, Russ and even someone like Giannis Antentekoumpo are going to surpass him in the very near future. So while MJ is right on almost everything, he is wrong about the Kobe vs LeBron debate. LeBron is much, much better.

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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We Need to Continue and Celebrate Adrian Beltre's 3000th Hit

This one, plus 2999 more, makes for a lot of balls hit off Beltre's bats

This past week, Adrian Beltre got his 3,000 hit as a Major League Baseball player. There was some fanfare, he had a little coverage on ESPN and I think the MLB Network aired his 3,000th hit live. He got some TV time that night, and maybe a day or 2 afterward, but since then, not much else has been said about him. That is not right.

Let us not forget that 3,000 hits is an incredible milestone. Only 31 players, in the history of the MLB, have done this. Most of the names on the list are big time, Hall of Fame players. And the more recent players that have reached 3,000 hits, the coverage usually lasts for about a week. I remember when it was a big deal that Rafeal Palmiero got 3,000 hits. ESPN and the like were all over it. Then it was found out that he was/is a cheater, and everyone forgot. When Ichiro Suzuki got 3,000, after getting about 2,500 in Japan, ESPN covered it for what seemed like a month, which was well deserved. When most players do finally get to 3,000, they are covered so much more than Beltre was.

I have always been a fan of Adrian Beltre's. I'm not a big baseball fan, but something about Beltre has always made me like him. He is like a more lively Vlad Guerreo, and Vlad is one of my all time favorite players. Beltre had the same type of approach at the plate, and while he is not the hitter that Vlad was, he still can hold his own. I even remember when he first got into the majors, at 19 years old, and being shocked at how great he was, at such a young age, the moment he stepped on a baseball field. He was awesome while he was in LA. He won a Silver Slugger award and was the NL's homerun champ in 2004, his last year in LA. He left after 7 seasons, and signed a very big deal with Seattle. He was one of the many signings that was going to turn around Seattle. While Seattle was never great, Beltre was. He became an excellent defensive third baseman, winning 2 Gold Gloves while playing there. He was part of the All World Baseball Classic team in 2006. He was constantly in the top 10 or 20 in batting average, homeruns and RBI's each and every year. He then had a little sojourn in Boston before moving on to his current team, the Texas Rangers. He has been nothing short of exceptional since signing on with the Rangers. He's added 3 more Gold Glove awards. He's made the All Star team 4 times. He was the AL hits leader in 2013. And he's won 3 more Silver Slugger awards.

Beltre has been an all around excellent baseball player, yet no one brings his name up when talking about current greats. That is ridiculous to me. I remember in 2011, when the Cardinals faced the Rangers in the World Series, the one guy that made me nervous whenever he stepped to the plate was Beltre. He could always come away with a big hit, or even a soul crushing homerun. He has always been a threat at the plate, but to turn himself into an awesome third baseman, that is amazing. The fact that he had the hitting down, then focused on fielding, so much so that he became a multiple Gold Glove winner, shows me that he is the consummate professional. He would work on something until he had it down to perfection, and then he would work on some other holes in his game. That is the type of player I would take on my team any day. He was always trying to find a way to make himself better. He is also a hot tempered, passionate player. I love that. I love that he hates to have his head touched, and when players do touch his head, he loses his god damn mind. His mind and head are so into his profession, that if anyone even touches him, he loses his shit. I want a team full of players who are that obsessed with their craft.

The point is that Adrian Beltre is an amazing baseball player, who I think may be one of the most underrated players to ever play in the MLB. Like I already said, when people talk about all time greats, or current greats, his name never comes up. But, he has a career batting average of .286, has surpassed 3,000 hits, has 460 homeruns, 1,600 plus RBI's and over 100 stolen bases. If that doesn't scream first ballot Hall of Famer, I do not know what does. He has also been to a World Series and had multiple playoff runs. Adrian Beltre is remarkable and I am stoked that he got his 3,000th hit. It was well deserved for such a great baseball player, and I could not be happier for him. Hopefully he sticks around longer and gets near 3,500 hits, because, when I do watch baseball, he is the type of player I want to see. Congrats Adrian Beltre. Keep up the great work.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast. He recorded his 30,000 wiffle ball hit last weekend joining an elite list of 100,000 Midwest dads who have reached such a milestone.

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The Derrick Rose "Bidding War" is the Dumbest Story of the NBA Offseason

With the Kyrie Irving news last Friday, I wasn't able to comment on the supposed "bidding war" for Derrick Rose between the Cavs and Lakers. Well that changes today. I need to talk about this, and I want to talk about this.

The fact that people have said that there is a "bidding war" for Derrick Rose literally shocked me. Why on Earth would anyone want to fight over Derrick Rose? I'm not going to sugar coat it today. Derrick Rose is washed up. He is not the "great" player he once was. In fact, I never thought he was great, I thought he was a whirling diversh and a ton of fun to watch, but I never considered him great. I thought he was good, just not great. His MVP trophy was just so they didn't have to give it to LeBron once again, even though both he and Dwight Howard, yes that same Dwight Howard, had a much better season the year he won it. The Bulls just played way over their heads, and the voters figured they'd better give it to someone that was on a one seed. LeBron should have won it that year.

Also, while in Chicago, yes he was fine, but stories already started to come out about his attitude, his penchant for hogging the ball, his willingness to ice teammates out on the floor and he was seemingly becoming un coachable. He was like Russell Westbrook, except Russell Westbrook is a better player than Derrick Rose, by far. He also had much better teammates than Westbrook had last year. And in that MVP year, Rose and the Bulls got their asses kicked by LeBron, as we all expected.

Then the injuries started. The very next season Rose tore his ACL and missed the majority of the year. The next season he rushed himself back too soon and tore his other ACL. He was becoming incredibly injury prone due to his style of play. That is the thing with Rose. He was very good at getting to the rim, but he could never ever shoot and he is a horrific defender. Great rim attacker, but everything else, very mediocre.

While the injuries piled up in Chicago, everyone who watches basketball could see that he was either unhappy or uninterested in being in Chicago, or even playing basketball for that matter. He looked truly miserable. He was probably tired of being the face of the city, he is a Chicago kid. He does seem like the kind of player that is better suited at being a second or third option. I do not think he was ever comfortable being "the man" on an NBA team. He may have never said it, but that has always been the vibe I have gotten from Derrick Rose.

Then we had last year's offseason. Rose finally got moved. The Bulls decided to finally pull the plug, much to both theirs and Rose's delight. The Bulls traded him and his one year left on his monster contract to the New York Knicks. This was supposed to be one of Phil Jackson's best moves early on as a GM. When he was traded to the Knicks and then Joakim Noah signed there, I vividly remember many people, RD included, saying this Knicks team could go to the playoffs. Hell, Derrick Rose said in his introductory press conference that the Knicks and the Warriors were both "super teams". I didn't buy any of that. This team on paper looked truly awful to me. While the Knicks should have started the youth movement and build around Porzingis, they decided to sign 2 oft injured vets and let go of a true center in Robin Lopez.

Well, we all saw how the Knicks, and Derrick Rose, played last year. Sure, he averaged 18 ppg and about 4 or 5 rebounds a game. But, he was non existent on defense, and he seemed to be more of a ball hog than Carmelo Anthony. His fit was a total disaster. When he was on the court, he either bricked jumpers, iced out Porzingis and Carmelo and it seemed like if Carmelo did a good thing on offense, Rose felt he had to do something better. He rarely ever did something better.

Let us not forget that he also just disappeared in the middle of the year. He was just gone without any explanation. Everyone seems to have just forgotten this. That he just up and left the team without any notice. He was gone, and when he came back, he acted like he did nothing wrong. He acted like the media made up some stories about him. That whole situation was completely bizarre, and just reaffirmed that he is not a franchise player.

Rose also told reporters after his "leave of absence", that he expected a max contract this offseason. That shit was laughable. How god damn full of himself. He is nowhere near a max player. And what team is going to give an oft injured player that comes and goes as they please a max deal. Not even the Kings or 76ers would do some dumb shit like that.

And then we got the report last week of the "bidding war".First off, the most money the Cavs can offer him is 2 million a year, or the veteran minimum. They could clear a bit more space if they move Irving, but it is still not that much more. The Lakers can give him a lot more money, but they are clearly going youthful, and they are clearly handing the keys to the team to Lonzo Ball. Does Derrick Rose really want to go and be a rookie's backup? How in the hell would he handle something like that? Not very well I would imagine. Also, if he signs with Cleveland, and they keep Kyrie, he is going to most assuredly be the backup point guard there. How does he handle that? Will he be happy playing the Deron Williams role from this past season? He is a better player than Williams, but not that much better. Then there is the Kyrie Irving trade scenario. If the Cavs do find someone to trade for Irving, depending on the return, how will LeBron feel having Derrick Rose as his starting point guard as opposed to Irving? He may say he likes it better, but Rose is more of a ball hog than Irving will ever be. Rose will also want to take many more big shots than Irving did, and that LeBron should. I just don't like his fit with either team.

Rose still thinks he is a great player, I never thought he was, so he should go to a team that will give him the keys. The problem with Rose being "the guy", he would have to go to a team that has no future at all. Rose is at a turning point in his career. He needs to decide if he wants money or a chance at titles. If I had to guess, he will take the money because he thinks he is still great. He is not. If I were a GM of any team, I'd stay very, very far away from Derrick Rose. I'd rather have a player like Kay Felder or Vander Blue than Derrick Rose. That is how far Rose has fallen off.

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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Where Should Kyrie Irving Play Next Season?

I was going to write about the supposed "bidding war" going on between the Cavs and Lakers for Derrick Rose today, but some bigger NBA news just showed up on my phone. Apparently Kyrie Irving is "displeased with his role on the Cavs", and "doesn't like playing with LeBron James".

This news may shock a lot of people, but for some odd reasons, I find it not shocking at all. Kyrie Irving is a ball dominant guard that wants to score 25-27 points per game. He cannot do that type of stuff when he is on the same team with the best player in the world. He also apparently said that he wants to "go to a team where he can be the focal point". I get this as well.

Irving is the type of player that should, and might be able to be, the alpha dog. I do not think that team would be a contender, but I think Irving would be a ton of fun to watch on a sub .500 team as the alpha. He had a chance, albeit very early in his career, to be the man in Cleveland. His first couple of years there, when LeBron was using his talents in South Beach, he was the new guy that the Cavs were going to build around. We all saw how that turned out. While he put up great stats offensively, the Cavs were atrocious. Sure, the roster was dreadful around him, but he was the leader, and if he wants to be a LeBron type leader, those Cavs teams would have at least been a lower seeded playoff team. They were lucky to win 30 games back then.

Then LeBron came back home, got Kevin Love to come there, and for all intents and purposes, LeBron was the GM and coach, as expected. Kyrie Irving should have known what he was getting into. Dwayne Wade and Chris Bosh molded and changed their games to fit around LeBron, so why now does Kyrie come out and complain and say he wants to be traded? He has been to 3 straight Finals. They won one on his shot and his tremendous efforts in games 4,5, 6 and 7 2 years ago. He was decent in the Finals last year. What is the problem?

Well, as I said earlier, he is sick of being second fiddle to LeBron. He is clearly the second guy, but that is not what Kyrie wants to be. He wants to be "the guy". Now, I just read on my phone that one of his preferred teams to go to is the Spurs. That would not work out for him like he wants it to. One, he does not seem like a Spurs type player. Those guys leave their egos at the door and play system basketball. Kyrie is not a system guy and he has no interest in playing defense. This would be almost exactly like LaMarcus Aldridge's time in San Antonio so far. Kyrie is more of a make something out of nothing player. The Spurs like to whip the ball around for the best possible shot. Also, the Spurs already have an alpha. Kawhi Leonard is clearly the new face of the Spurs. He is the perfect Spur and the perfect guy to be the face of that team for the next decade plus. If Kyrie were to go to San Antonio, it would be nearly the same as playing for the Cavs. Popppovich will not change his offense to tailor to Kyrie. I'm sure he is working on more stuff for Kawhi right now as I write this. He is moving forward with Kawhi as the focal point.

So about 20 minutes after hearing this story, and immediately eschewing the Spurs idea, I started to think of some teams he could go to that would benefit both him and the Cavs. Lets get this straight right off the bat, the Cavs will not give up Kyrie for a bag of beans, a la the Paul George to OKC trade. I first thought about some contenders. He wants out of Cleveland, Golden State is set, I already mentioned all the problems with the Spurs, the Rockets have Harden and Paul, the Celtics have Isaish Thomas and a great group of young players, the Raptors have Lowry and DeRozan and the Timberwolves have Butler and Jeff Teague. All those teams are off the table in my opinion.

I dug a little deeper. I thought about Miami. I think he would hate it there. They have a point guard in Goran Dragic, and they just gave Dion Waiters big time money. He has already played with Waiters and that was a train wreck. Memphis came to mind, but then I remembered they have an awesome point guard in Mike Conley Jr, and he just got a max contract. Philly popped into my mind, but I feel like he would be a disaster with that young roster, and I want them to build around Ben Simmons and Markelle Fultz.

We are now left with basically the bottom of the barrel. He can go to Chicago and be the guy, but that team is not going anywhere anytime soon. Brooklyn needs a point guard, but that team also needs a 2 guard, a couple of good forwards and a modern big man. They also need a bench. Phoenix was my next thought, but they are another one of the teams going to the youth movement. They don't need Kyrie. New Orleans was another team, but they would have to give up Boogie, and they just gave Jrue Holiday a ton of money.

When I sat down, right before writing this, the one team that I thought this would maybe work out best for is the Knicks. But, they would have to give up Porzingis for this to fully work. The Cavs would take that, and then Kyrie would definitely be the man in one of the biggest markets. The Knicks would still be atrocious, but Kyrie would get his wish, and ESPN and TNT would put them on all the time. It is almost too perfect because of how terrible it would be.

Kyrie should stay in Cleveland if he values titles. But, he has one already, and maybe he just wants to get his now. Maybe he doesn't care so much about being one of the greatest point guards ever. Maybe he just wants to get paid. Whatever in may be, the Cavs should grant him his wish as long as they get a proper return. LeBron may say that he is "blindsided" by this, but imagine how happy he would be if he got to play with Porzingis, or his lifetime buddy Carmelo. I'm pretty sure he'd get over it rather quick.

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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It is Time for the St. Louis Cardinals to Move on from the Mike Matheny Era

Time for the Cards to dust off the plate.

I've been sitting on today's topic for while, and I'm ready to put it out there. I think the time is right for the Cardinals to let Mike Matheny go.

Now don't get me wrong, he has been a very good to great coach for Saint Louis. He's been to the World Series, the playoffs and always seems to have this team in contention late into the season. But, the Cardinals have been, at least for them, pretty bad this year. They are a game below .500 right now, and if they lose to the Mets this afternoon, they will be even worse.

The current St. Louis baseball squad, while it doesn't have the star power of past Cardinals teams, does not have anyone that truly strikes fear into the heart of their opponents. They have names, Adam Wainwright, Yadier Molina and Dexter Fowler to name a few, but those guys are either washed up, Wainwright, old, Molina and have not lived up to the potential, Fowler. In my mind though, a lot of that has to do with coaching. I feel like the coaches, and mostly Matheny, have just thought that the big time players would continue to be big time players. But, father time always wins. I love Molina and Wainwright, but they are not the players they once were. That is a fact. Dexter Fowler is my new favorite baseball player, but he has had a very inconsistent year, and he's been hurt a lot. But that lineup, other than those guys, is littered with names like Matt Carpenter, Stephen Piscotty, Kolten Wong, hell, that is all I can think of. That is part front office, part manager putting together this team. Yes the front office hasn't done much, but I don't think Matheny has really pushed to add big time, good players. Josh Donaldson's name has popped up in trade rumors for the Cardinals, but I feel like it is just talk. I would bet a lot of money that Matheny still believes he can win with Matt Carpenter playing third base. They can't. I'd do much rather have Donaldson at third. He is a better hitter and fielder. He is just an all around better baseball player.

It doesn't stop with the current squad. The Cardinals have had chances to add David Price, keep Jason Heyward, trade for Chris Sale, keep Carlos Beltran, get good young up and coming players for older vets, but John Mozeliak, the GM, and Matheny have said no. They didn't want to pay for or give up young prospects for proven veterans. That is the "Cardinal way", but it is getting pretty tedious to keep believing in the "Cardinal way". So many wasted chances to add top players because they don't want to pay them is very, very frustrating.

I know this is a front office thing, but I would be willing to say that Matheny doesn't know how to deal with stars. He's never had anyone bigger to manage than Molina, to the best of my knowledge, and Molina is a very subdued super star. I don't think he thinks he can deal with a big ego, even if that ego would help them win. That is a big problem for me. Other than that, he is too forgiving to his pitching staff. It seems like Wainwright, Michael Wacha and Lance Lynn have been the core of the Cardinals rotation. Why in the hell did it take until this season to put Carlos Martinez in the starting rotation? Personally, I think that he is the best pitcher the Cardinals have. Sure he can be inconsistent, but he throws heat and has a very live arm. With young pitchers you should expect things like that. What I didn't expect was the amount of time in took for Matheny to finally put Martinez in the rotation. I'm sick of watching Wainwright get older and worse. Wacha had his moment, then fell apart against the Red Sox in the World Series and when I'm shocked to see Lance Lynn get a win, that is a big problem.

Beyond the pitching though, this team cannot hit and cannot score runs. They seem to get beat 3-2 or 2-1 or 3-0 all the time. I will look at the stats, I do not watch the game, and see that the Cardinals got 0 runs on 3 or 4 hits. That is atrocious. They either need to find a new hitting coach, or a whole new staff. Same thing for the pitching coaches staff.

Look, I am actually all in favor of trashing the whole coaching staff except for Jose Oquendo. He is the only coach I rely on, and he deserves his shot to be the head coach of the Cardinals. He has paid his dues, the current players love him and I think he would be a lot more willing and able to take chances with the lineups and on acquiring big time stars. If the front office were to fire Matheny and hire Oquendo, there would be no big hub bub. As I said, the players already love him, and I'd let him hire his own staff.

Mike Matheny has done all he could do with his time with the Cardinals. He is toast. Give Jose Oquendo the chance he rightfully deserves. Do the right thing Saint Louis.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast. He dreams of the days when Oquendo is the head man, and Willie McGee is the hitting coach. Could we somehow get Vince Coleman to come in and be the third base coach?

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LeBron and Carmelo are Once Again the Talk of the NBA Offseason, and it is Not Good

Today I want to talk about 2 NBA players. I know that Summer League is over, free agency is over and all the biggest trades have already happened, but for some reason, these 2 guys have kept my interest in the NBA offseason. I'm always interested in all things basketball, but this is usually a dead period. Well, Carmelo Anthony and LeBron James will not let it stay too quiet.

Lets first talk about LeBron. This seems to be the time of year, especially since he went back to the Cavs, when he perks up and complains about "the lack of moves" by the front office. I feel like this is just a way to keep his name at, or near, the top of the list when talking about NBA players. But, this constant whining has got to stop. First off, he constructed this team. I saw a bunch of people saying on Twitter and NBA message boards yesterday that he constructed this team, and it is true. What assets do they have that they can give up for a big time star? What young players do they have that they can throw into crucial games at crucial times so they get experience? No one, and I mean NO ONE, wants Kevin Love. So, I ask again, why is LeBron whining once again? He is currently the best player in the world, and if he stays in the East, he will go to the Finals again, and lose to the Warriors again. There is no way the Cavs could have signed any big time free agent. They gave a boat load of money to Love per James' request after winning the title last year. They are going to have to pay Kyrie if they want to continue to stay relevant. They inexplicably gave Kyle Korver a decent sized contract this offseason. They paid JR Smith a bundle after last year. The season before, they maxed out Tristan Thompson. They have also signed a few foreign players. So, what do they have that the Bulls would have wanted for Butler, or how much could they have given Gordon Hayward or how about KD or Steph who were both free agents? What could they have given Indiana for Paul George? There are too many questions with no real answers. I have read and heard that Love was in all these deals,  but no team wants him. He is now damaged goods. So for James to come out and complain about the front office, stop it. He constructed this team. He chose to have them trade for Korver. He wanted his buddy Thompson to get the max. He told the front office to pay Love after last year. He had them go out and sign Deron Williams, James Jones and Mike Dunleavy Jr. These are his buddies, but they are old and well past their prime. Also, no one wants those players for stars. They want assets or another star. And I'm sorry, but Love for Butler or George would have been almost as bad as what the Pacers got for George from OKC.

One final thought on James also, why does he care or feel the need to comment on this? Dan Gilbert gave him an out when he, out of nowhere, fired David Griffin. This was a terrible move by Gilbert, one of many, and now James can leave and not be the scapegoat. He won them a title, and Gilbert made a horrific front office choice. James can go anywhere next year and his jersey won't get burned and he won't get booed when he comes back to play in Cleveland. All his whining just needs to stop.

Lets look at Carmelo now. By all accounts, he wants to go to Houston. I hope this happens so I can snicker at how ridiculous that offense would look if he played there. I have already been on record saying that I think the Chris Paul-James Harden pairing is going to be a nightmare. Throw Carmelo into that mix, man it would be a disaster.  First off, both Carmelo and Mike D'Antoni have a mutual hatred of each other. D'Antoni went on a radio show 2 years ago and said as much. Do you really think that he wants to coach him again? Also, do you think that Carmelo really wants to play for D'Antoni? Carmelo likes to slow things down and go one on one. D'Antoni likes to run, run, run. This would also make their defense worse. Harden doesn't play any defense, neither does Carmelo. Ariza used to be a good defender, but he is not what he once was on that end of the floor. Eric Gordon and Ryan Anderson don't even try on defense. That is not why they are there. Chris Paul is the only good defender, and he got outplayed by George Hill in the playoffs last year, and he is older. They lost their best defender when they traded away Patrick Beverly for Paul. Carmelo to the Rockets is a terrible idea.

Carmelo to the Cavs, almost as bad. It would be a similar situation in Cleveland like Houston. There are already 2 ball dominant guys, Kyrie and LeBron, and while they play more half court offense, does Carmelo really do anything more, or different, than Kevin Love does for them? Love is just as bad on defense, but he is a much better rebounder and throws excellent outlet passes. Carmelo doesn't do either of those. Also, Cleveland is already dreadful on defense, so throwing Anthony in the mix only makes them worse. Portland has been the other team mentioned, and while I like that fit best, it doesn't really matter, they will be lucky to be the 7th or 8th seed in the West next year.

Look, I do like both these guys. I know I'm being hard on them, but LeBron is clearly the best player in the world, and I used to love watching Carmelo play when he was in Denver. But, all this recent news has gotten under my skin. LeBron continues to whine, even though he is forever playing basketball into late June, and Carmelo is toast as an elite player. I'm thankful for the summer NBA news, but I'm just bummed about the particular noise that is being made.

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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Let Me Explain Why Roger Federer is the Best Athlete of All Time

Time for some real talk about tennis

THESIS:  Roger Federer is the greatest athlete of ALL TIME in ANY SPORT anywhere.  I dare anyone to prove me wrong.

Point #1:  Roger Federer is the greatest tennis player of all time.  He is inarguably the greatest male tennis player of all time.  Now, people will argue for Serena Williams, and I will grant that they have a point (ed note: check out our podcast where I make that point).  However, my thoughts on Serena’s lack of quality competition are well documented, and I will not bore everyone by repeating them here.  During Fed’s record shattering run of 19 major titles, he has been challenged by two of the very best players to ever play the game (Nadal & Djokovic each have over 10 majors).  With due respect to Chris Evert, the only other candidates for best tennis player ever are Steffi Graf, and Martina Navratilova.  Graf retired at 29, and longevity has to count for something.  Martina had a long career, in both singles and doubles, but most people think that singles is where it counts, and Fed now has Martina beat by 1. 

Point #2:  Unlike bowling/poker/billiards/Nintendo, tennis is a real sport.  You can be an overweight smoker and still win at those other activities in the modern age.  Tennis requires peak physical conditioning to perform at the highest levels.

Point #3:  I’m ruling out athletes in sports like running and swimming.  In those sports, you are playing against the clock, not against your opponents.  If your opponent cannot DIRECTLY affect your performance, I’m not counting you in the greatest athlete race.

Point #4:  What about Tiger Woods?  He doesn’t have the longevity.  Also, see point #2: overweight smokers have won major golf titles. 

Point #5:  What about cycling?  See Ty’s piece on “Tour de Pharmacy.”  There has never been a whiff of cheating or PED’s with Federer.  I’ll retract this point if it’s ever proven with him.

Point #6:  Tennis is an individual sport with no coaching permitted during matches.  You only win if you, individually, are better than the guy across the net.  In other sports, you have teammates to help you carry the load.  As great as an individual basketball player is, there are 4 other guys on the court to help him, and he can talk to his coach.  A great quarterback needs a good offensive line and some other skill players.  Great pitchers aren’t getting you anywhere unless the other guys can field cleanly and score runs.  Federer, by contrast, has to switch from offense to defense and back, often during the same point.  He has to work through the strategy, keep himself mentally sharp and engaged, notice his opponent’s strategy, and adjust on the fly, all without talking to another person.  And he might have to do that for 4 hours or longer, seven matches in a row in order to win a major title.

Point #7:  Federer has been in the very top echelons of his sport for FIFTEEN YEARS.  He has played a full schedule for 14 of those years, and the tennis season is ridiculously long, going from early January to mid-November with a grueling travel schedule.  The fact that he has remained healthy for nearly that entire time is remarkable.  He took his first major injury layoff in 2016, after racking up 17 majors.

Point #8:  Show me an athlete in a non-judged sport that shows the supreme physical grace of Federer.  At his best, he never even looks like he’s running.  To quote our friends at Deadspin, “…Federer’s desperation looks a little better than the other people’s very best.”

Point #9:  What about Secretariat?  Uh, let’s restrict this conversation to bipeds.  Also, see point #3 above.

Point #10:  The guy is committed to getting better.  After 19 majors, so many weeks at number 1, gallons of ink spilled, thousands of inane questions from the sports press, and 4 kids, he STILL seems to be enjoying himself.  And after missing the last half of 2016, he came back with a new and improved backhand.

Bonus Point:  For all Fed’s arrogance, he’s never a huge ass to his opponents.  He doesn’t whine.  He doesn’t discredit.  He doesn’t stink of violence against women or animal cruelty or drunk driving or being a bigot.  In short, in addition to being a the greatest athlete ever, he is not a garbage person.

Game, set, match:  Federer.

Tina S

Tina is a sometime contributor to SeedSing and occasional guest on the X Millennial Man Podcast. She is unaware of the grueling toll it takes on a person's body to drink that much Mountain Dew and eat that many Doritos while competing in online video game competitions.

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Being a Star of the NBA Summer League Does Not Make One a Real NBA Star

I have been watching a ton of the NBA summer league because, as I have stated many times, I'm a hoops junky. I love seeing all the rookies, the high picks, the mid to late first rounders, the second rounders, the undrafted guys and the foreign prospects. I love watching all the guys that are still hanging on to their NBA dreams, hoping for a contract or a chance in the D League. I love that the assistants coach. Remember last year, Becky Hammond won one of the Summer League titles as the Spurs coach. But what it all really boils down to, I'm obsessed with basketball, and any chance to watch it, I'll grab it like a loose ball.

All this being said, the basketball is not great. There are many hangers on that just shoot and shoot and shoot again. The defense is abysmal. The shooting is wildly inconsistent. Some, most of the guys there in fact, need to stop chasing the dream. Most of the rookies, I'm looking at you "one and done" guys, are still teenagers, and they're still growing. This makes them sloppy.

Summer League is a mess, but that doesn't stop the commentators at ESPN telling us how stellar all the youngsters are. Every time Phoenix is on, Josh Jackson is the second coming of KG. When the Celtics play, Jayson Tatum is the best Celtic since Paul Pierce. I was watching the Bucks the other day and they were saying that DJ Wilson can take some minutes from Giannis. Dennis Smith Jr is the greatest point guard the Mavericks have had since Steve Nash. DeAaron Fox is going to turn around the Kings. Lonzo Ball is the second coming of Magic. Hell, even before Fultz got hurt, he was the key to the 76ers run to the playoffs this season. All this stuff sounds great, and it's wonderful to look ahead, but these commentators need to pump the brakes. After all, it's Summer League.

At the top of this I laid out the types of players that fill up Summer League rosters. You didn't notice names like KD, Klay, Draymond, Steph, LeBron, Kawhi, Giannis, Jimmy Butler, Karl Anthony Towns, Russ, Paul George, and so on and so forth. All the stars do not play in Summer League because they don't need to. So all the accolades being handed out, wait until these rookies have to face real NBA players. Wait to call Josh Jackson the next KG unless he explodes on a player like Klay or Kawhi. I like Jackson, but that's not happening for awhile. Before christening Tatum as the next Pierce, I want to see him hit clutch three after clutch three in a critical game against the Cavs and LeBron. Before claiming DJ Wilson will steal minutes from Giannis, remember that people are saying Giannis is a future MVP. Dennis Smith Jr could be great, but the Mavs are going to be mediocre next year, and he will have bumps along the way. He's also going to have a tough time in the West against the likes of Chris Paul and Russ. DeAaron Fox is lightening quick, but he needs to learn to shoot and the Kings stink. He will not, at least not right away, be the savior for that franchise. Lonzo Ball has great court vision, but his jumper is disgusting, he looks disinterested at times, especially on defense, and wait to give him top line status until he faces the same guys Dennis Smith Jr has to face. His dad is also an arrogant asshole. And Fultz, who knows. He has a sprained ankle, and while that's a 2 to 3 week healing process, the 76ers might make him sit all year. He may not be the greatest point guard to put on a Philly uniform since Allen Iverson. The commentators need to tamp it all way, way down.

I remember last year that D'Angelo Russell and Larry Nance were Summer League stars. How'd that work out for them? Ben Simmons didn't play in Summer League. Jaylen Brown was a non factor but dominated Summer League. People need to realize the level of basketball they are watching and wait to assess these guys until they play real meaningful NBA minutes and games. This is the Summer League, not real, important NBA games. Take the expectations WAY down.

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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Gordon Hayward Joining the Celtics Does Not Change A Thing in the NBA

Gordon Hayward officially signed with the Boston Celtics yesterday for 4 years and around 120 million dollars. This surprised me, as many of you may have already read, I thought he was going back to Utah, but I guess it shouldn't have. He was rumored to be going there all season, they had the most money outside of Utah to offer and his college coach, who he has known since 9th grade, is the coach of the Celtics now. And after a whole day of back and forth, it was nice to get a final decision from him before I went to bed.

As I watched some talking heads sports shows, many people were very happy with the signing and talked about how it made the Celtics so much better, and a real threat to the Cavs, or whatever team LeBron ends up on if he stays in the East. People also praised his decision to head out East since it seems all the good free agents signed with Western Conference teams. They claimed that playing for Boston will give him deeper playoff runs than anything he could have done had he stayed in Utah. No matter the fact that the Jazz were/are an up and coming team, he now, at least on paper, has a much easier path to a conference finals, and perhaps one day, the NBA Finals.

The initial reactions I heard and watched and read the more I disagreed with what most of what these people were saying. I was watching Summer League basketball because I'm a hoops junkie, and during halftime of a Jazz-Spurs game, the commentators were talking about the signing and how it shapes up going into next season for Boston. They continually showed their starting 5, with some key reserves. The 5 presumable starters were Isiah Thomas at guard, Avery Bradley at guard, Gordon Hayward and Jae Crowder as the 3 and 4, and Al Horford as their center. The key reserves were Marcus Smart, Jaylen Brown, Kelly Olynk and rookie Jayson Tatum. That was another thing people praised, Danny Ainge didn't have to give up any "assets" to acquire Hayward.

The more NBA TV showed this roster the more I just kind of shrugged. Sure, it looks okay, but they were still the one seed last year with Amir Johnson, Olynk and Brown in Hayward's place. Yes, Hayward does give them an additional threat alongside Thomas, but is that good enough to beat the true title contending teams? I don't think so. Hayward made the right choice, since he left, to go to a team filled with role players, but I just do not see this current Celtics roster as any real threat. I already mentioned how they were the one seed in the East this most recent playoffs, but that didn't matter. The Cavs still destroyed them in five games. You may read that and say, but they didn't have Thomas. Okay, add Hayward and maybe they win one more game. There is no way that they will beat the Cavs as long as LeBron and Kyrie are there.

Also, Thomas, who I love, is coming off of hip surgery, he is getting older and he is listed generously at 5'9. Adding Hayward may take some pressure off Thomas, as far as needing to go to the rim, but he is not the greatest outside shooter. He is a decent outside shooter, but he makes his living hitting floaters and going to the basket to either draw contact or make circus layups. Hayward is a better outside shooter, but not as much a threat as some sports media would have you believe. Outside of those 2 guys, the only other outside threat they have is Avery Bradley, and I say that very loosely. Marcus Smart can't shoot. Jaylen Brown could be good, but he seems more like an explosive player. I know people are fawning over Tatum's early summer league performances, but remember when D'Angelo Russell was the star of summer league last year? How'd that work out for him and the Lakers? He is also a 19 year old rookie. Teams won't take him seriously, at least not the important teams.

It is a nice story that Hayword is going back to play for his college coach, but I had heard that he and Quinn Snyder had gotten real close, so why leave him now, one season after winning 51 games? I don't deny that he wants to play for Brad Stevens due to knowing him since he was 15, but I think his decision was much more based on the competition level in the East compared to the West. The West got so much better this offseason, while the East, well, it is like the JV version of the NBA, with the Cavs being the lone exception. Hell, if everyone can stay healthy for 65 games, the 76ers could push for an 8 seed. The only real decent teams in the East not named the Cavs are, the Celtics, Wizards, Bucks and Raptors. Every other team is a toss up. That means that of the 11 teams left in the East, if they can win anywhere between 38-41 games, they could get into the playoffs. We will have some West teams with 45 or more wins that may not make the playoffs. So don't tell me the decision was almost solely based on playing for your college coach.

Anyway, I do not think this signing tips the scales in any meaningful way for the Celtics. They were already a playoff ready team, who made the East Finals last year. But I don't think Gordon Hayward is ever going to be the answer to who can you get to beat LeBron. And lets just say that they somehow beat the Cavs and the Celtics make the Finals. I'd still take the Warriors, obviously, but I'd also take the Rockets, Spurs and Thunder to beat them in 6 games or less. I believe in my NBA preseason preview for this most recent season I had the Celtics somewhere in the top ten, maybe 7th or 8th (ed note - it was 4th best in the league). I will not be putting them any higher when I do my preseason preview for this upcoming season. Just off the top of my head, I know the Cavs, Warriors and Spurs are better than them. I also think the Rockets, Thunder, Wizards and maybe even the Raptors might be better than them too, which puts them as my 8th best team right now.

I'm sure Celtics fans will call me a "hater" or something stupid like that, but Gordon Hayward does not move the needle like a Jimmy Butler or Paul George would have for this team. Those 2 guys are far superior players. We will have to wait and see.

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 Insane NBA Off-Season is Looking for it's Dramatic Gordon Hayward Conclusion

We are now firmly entrenched in NBA free agency, and it has been wild.

First off, more things happened before midnight eastern time on July 1st, the "official" start of free agency. In fact, most of the big stuff happened before free agency started. It all began on draft night when the Bulls inexplicably traded Jimmy Butler to the Timberwolves for nothing. The Bulls got fleeced, and I thought it wasn't going to get any crazier from there. And, for awhile, that was the case. Nothing too major happened prior to July 1st. Small things like Ricky Rubio being traded to the Jazz, which I think is a very good move by the Jazz, Rajon Rondo and Gerald Henderson being released, John Wall got offered a mega extension, he has yet to sign and Blake Griffin got the max from the Clippers after they traded Chris Paul, the other big move.

Then at about 8:30pm on June 30th my phone blew up. I thought the Chris Paul and Jimmy Butler trades were going to be the biggest deals, but the Thunder, you read that right, acquired Paul George for Victor Oladipo and Domantos Sabonis. I mean, WOW! The Thunder got Paul George for a second year player and a guy that hasn't lived up to the hype yet. They didn't even have to trade any future picks for Paul George! I don't care if it is just a one year thing, this is crazy.

I like this trade so much more than the Chris Paul to the Rockets trade. This is a much, much better pairing than Paul and Harden. Paul George is an excellent sidekick to Russell Westbrook. He plays excellent defense, can hit the open shot and he will take a ton of offensive pressure off Westbrook for one season. This could catapult the Thunder to the same level as the Spurs and Rockets. This doesn't make them a true threat to the Warriors, but no one in the NBA is a threat to them. I love this trade for the Thunder so very much. This makes them instantly better. I'm pretty sure it will only be for one season, I think that both George and Westbrook may bolt for LA next season, but for one year, they will make OKC almost as good as they were with KD. This trade shocked me. Especially for what Indiana got in return. They had to have had better offers, but they pulled the trigger on the trade to the Thunder. I'm sure Boston, Philadelphia or even the Rockets could have made a better offer, but we may never know. The fact that the Celtics, once again, did not do anything keeps me thinking that Danny Ainge is the boy who cried wolf, and he will continue to sit on assets forever. I'll get to more of that later.

After the shockwave of the Paul George trade, I did not know what to expect next. I woke up the next day and saw that Steph Curry got the super max from Golden State. This was well deserved and he is finally being paid like the super star that he is. The Warriors also got Shaun Livingston on a cheaper deal. David West resigned for the veterans minimum for his last season and after "flirting" with free agency, Andre Iguodala signed a three year deal to stay with the Warriors. The Warriors pretty much stayed put, as they should. They are the best team in all of basketball, and as soon as KD re signs, they are set.

I have a few thoughts on some "minor" moves. I was a little surprised to see Patty Mills re up with San Antonio, but then I saw the deal pays him almost 15 million a year for the next 4 years, and he will be a much bigger part of that team next season. Jeff Teague left Indiana after one disastrous season, and he is now a Timberwolf. The T'Wolves are making some really good moves, and I think they are preparing to be a playoff team next year. They also went out and got a veteran leader, who previously played for Thibodeau, in Taj Gibson. That is another solid signing. Taj Gibson was the only guy that helped Westbrook in the playoffs for the Thunder last year. He is not afraid of big time games. Some smaller named guys like Tony Snell, Cristiano Felicio, Nene and Kyle Korver all re signed with their current teams for average deals. Jrue Holiday signed an enormous deal to stay with the Pelicans, but I was not a fan of the move. The Pelicans need so much more help. I know they were much better with him on the floor last year, but is he really going to put this team over teams like the Spurs, Thunder, Rockets, Timberwolves and Warriors? No way. I don't even think this move makes them a lock playoff team. They are fringe at best, even with Holiday. Langston Galloway got overpaid by Detroit. They must have serious buyers remorse in the deal they gave Reggie Jackson last year, because of they are giving Galloway 7 million dollars a year to back him up, yeesh. That shows no faith in their point guard if you ask me. JJ Redick joined "The Process" on a 1 year 23 million dollar deal. That is an insane amount of money for one year for a guy that only shoots threes. I do not think JJ Redick puts the 76ers over the top. Sure, it will be nice for the young guys to have a vet around, but I'd rather have Taj Gibson than JJ Redick. Especially at the deal each was given. Amir Johnson also signed a one year deal with Philly. Ho hum. Michael Carter-Williams is on the move again. This dude can't seem to get it right after winning rookie of the year awhile back. He was a disaster in Milwaukee, and he was even worse in Chicago. He seems to be the 8th or 9th guy off the bench for Charlotte as long as he is there. Joe Ingles got overpaid by Utah, but they seem to keep doing anything they can to keep Gordon Hayward. Ingles had a decent playoff run, but almost 9 million a year is way too much money for him. Houston did get a good, tough vet to team up with Nene in the front court in PJ Tucker. I like what Tucker brings to this team as far as toughness goes, but I don't know how he will fit into their offensive scheme. He's a good rebounder and defender, but he may not have the skill set to run like the Rockets, and Harden, like to.

One of the biggest surprises, especially when I saw the deals, was when Serge Ibaka and Kyle Lowry both re upped with Toronto. Both signed three year deals, and the contracts seem to be easy to get rid of if it doesn't work out for Toronto. I thought that Lowry was going to go to Philly, but they drafted Fultz, so then I thought Minnesota was his next stop, but they signed Teague. No one else really needed a point guard, so he chose to stay. He got a great big contract, which was deserved, now lets see if he can help put the Raptors over the top. Ibaka got the same years but 35 million dollars less. I think the market was very thin for him and he took the best deal he got. This is perfect for him and the Raptors. He needs to be surrounded by great offensive guys, which he has in Lowry and DeRozan, and he can flourish. I watched him do it for about 4 years in OKC. Serge Ibaka will be just fine in Toronto.

A hidden gem of a move is the Ben McLemore deal. McLemore is finally out of the hell hole that is Sacramento, and he is now a member of the Grizzlies. I love this fit. He gives them much needed scoring from the perimeter, and it always seems when a high draft pick leaves Sacramento lately, they do much better on their new teams.

The biggest news of today, July 3rd, so far, is Paul Milsap signing with Denver for 90 million over 3 years, with a team option for the third year. That means, to the layman, that Denver can release him after the second year there if they don't like what they have seen out of him. This deal is great for both Milsap and Denver. Milsap and Nikola Jokic will make a very good front court, and Denver has basically nothing at stake. This is a win win.

The only big names really left on the market are Rondo, if you still think he is a big name, George Hill, who I hope goes to San Antonio and finally get to play for the team that drafted him, Leandro Barbosa, who is 35, and Gordon Hayward, the white whale. I personally think, and hope, that he will stay in Utah. That is a very good, up and coming team. They won a playoff series last year, they have a great young, modern NBA center in Rudy Gobert, they traded for a pass first point guard and they have a very good bench and a very good coach.

Take Utah out of the Hayward picture, there are only two other teams that seem like viable options. Does he go to Miami or Boston? If he goes to Miami, he will be "the man", and I don't think Hayward is ready for that. He is a good basketball player, but he doesn't seem like the kind of player you build around. Also, I like what the Heat are doing with youth, and taking on guys like Dion Waiters and letting them play as freely as they want. Gordon Hayward should not be the focal point of a team, and I do not think he will ever be the best player on a title contender. He needs to be part of a group of great players. He can't be THE player.

This brings up to Boston. The Celtics, and Danny Ainge, seem to think he is coming to them wrapped in a bow. His college coach is the coach there now. They have a good group of role players that are all very good at their specific set of skills. They have a good amount of money/assets to throw around. They were the one seed in the East in the most recent playoffs. Everything seems to be written in stone.

But, this is where I go back to Danny Ainge being the boy who cried wolf. Every year the Celtics are going to get some big time player. Every year they are just on the precipice of signing one of the hot free agents. Every year is the year they get guy or guys that will help them dethrone whatever team LeBron is on. And every year, they do nothing. I cannot take that team seriously anymore. This year they were going to get either Paul George, he is on the Thunder now, Jimmy Butler, he's a T'Wolve and Blake Griffin, who chose to stay in LA. So why now would they get Hayward? Nothing they have done the past three years proves to me that they can sign a big time free agent. I also think that Hayward would be better off staying put in Utah. I will believe it when I see it with Boston, but for now, I do not see Boston signing Hayward. They keep saying they are going to do things like this, they had "deals" for George, Butler and Griffin and nothing happened. They had deals in place for Kevin Love and others before him and nothing happened. So why would anything happen now?

Now that free agency has officially started,Gordon Hayward is the last big name left. Unfortunately for Boston and their fans, I think he will stay put in Utah. Now lets get a decision Mr. Hayward.

Oh, and keep on bringing the surprises NBA off-season.

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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Don't Believe the Chris Paul to the Rockets Hype

This still may not be enough balls for Harden and Paul.

Today I'm going to be talking NBA, but no I will not be talking about the mercy firing of Phil Jackson. That was a long time coming. He may have been worse than Isiah Thomas, minus the sexual assault stuff, and he will go down as one of the worst executives in NBA history. He was a great coach, but a horrific evaluator of players, and his decisions on players was awful. Good riddance.

Instead, I want to talk about the Chris Paul trade to the Rockets. On paper this looks great. On paper you need more than one star to win, or even compete, for titles. On paper this makes the Rockets the second best team in the West, and maybe in all of the NBA. On paper this could catapult the Rockets to a place they have not been since the early to mid nineties.

But, the games are not played on paper. In fact, I see this trade as one of the biggest paper tigers in all of pro sports. Now, to get it out of the way immediately, both Chris Paul and James Harden are 2 of the best players to play the game. Harden attacks and scores and gets to the free throw line like almost no other 2 guard I have seen. He also became an excellent facilitator in Mike D'Antoni's offense last year. And Chris Paul is one of the greatest point guards to ever step on a basketball court. He knows all the tricks, setting illegal screens, getting away with multiple fouls and running a team, and he is, maybe a better word is was, a great defender. So yes, these 2 guys are great basketball players. But, unless this team adds Paul George, I do not care one way or another about them getting Carmelo Anthony possibly, he is beyond useless now, I do not think this will work out for the Rockets and blowhard Daryl Morey.

I remember 2 years ago, when the Rockets signed Ty Lawson, I loved that move. I thought he would pair perfectly with Harden and Beverly in the back court. Well, that famously did not work out, and about halfway through that season, Lawson was let go, and now, he is a ghost. Chris Paul is much, much, much better than Ty Lawson, but, he is also more ball dominant. James Harden is also very ball dominant. We have seen this from both for the majority of their careers. Harden wasn't as ball dominant while in OKC, but since he was traded to Houston, he has needed the ball in his hands. He needs to run the offense. He wants to be the face of that team, and for the most part, it has worked for them. They haven't won, or even made a Finals appearance, but they did get to the conference finals a few years back, and they regularly win 50 plus games.

Chris Paul also needs the ball in his hands. He is the epitome of what a point guard is. He needs the ball in his hands to see the floor and run the offense. It has been like this for him, I'd feel safe to say, since he was in high school. He also ran the offense and always had the ball in his hands in his 2 years at Wake Forest. And since he has been in the NBA, at both of his stops, he has been giving the keys to the offense, thus putting the basketball in his hands and letting him dictate how the offense runs.

So, how will the fact that there is only one ball work for this team? I have heard people say that they will stagger minutes, these 2 guys won't be on the floor together all the time and maybe they will buy into what the Warriors do, and be happy sharing the ball. I don't think any of this will work. Why not have your 2 best players on the floor together as much as possible? Why stagger their minutes? Why is this okay with some sports writers when they lambasted the Thunder for doing this when they had KD and Westbrook? Your 2 best players need to be on the floor together whenever possible. That is how you win. Also, I don't see either Chris Paul or James Harden being okay with sharing the ball. These 2 guys have been the guy on their main teams, and they have made it well known that they want to be the one that their teams count on. I don't think they will be okay spreading the ball around like the Warriors. The Warriors, and mainly Steph, Klay and KD, did not care who was the guy to get the last shot or bring it up the court during crucial moments of important games. They all trusted each other, and they can all shoot and handle the ball. Harden can shoot and handle the ball, but he is quick to just hold the ball for 20 seconds of the shot clock and either jack up a three or try to get to the rim for a layup or floor. Chris Paul is a good mid range shooter, but he can't get to rim that well, he is not a great three point shooter, and the Rockets don't like shooting mid range shots.

I know that these guys played well on the Olympic team together, but the NBA is a whole different monster. One of these guys needs to be the guy to come up big in the playoffs. I ask, which one of these has had any big time moments in big time playoff games. Harden is the consummate choker. He may be the Dan Marino of the NBA. He has had ample opportunity and he has choked each and every opportunity away. Chris Paul, what has he done since college? I don't think Wake Forest ever got passed the Sweet Sixteen while he was there, and we all know about the lack of success with the Clippers. They never made it out of the second round with him running the team. So yeah, good luck Daryl Morey and Mike D'Antoni. You got 2 guys that have proven to be very unclutch in their NBA careers.

Also, how will Harden deal with Paul's aggressive approach to running a team? Harden seems like a very loose, laidback dude, and Chris Paul may be the most intense player in the NBA. Chris Paul is famous for his tirades against teammates. It is never his fault when his team doesn't make it passed the second round. It is always the ref, the coach or his teammates. He is never to blame. How will Harden handle that? I'd guess, not that well.

The one thing I do agree with Paul on with this trade is his relationship with Doc and Austin Rivers. I do think that Doc the GM is atrocious, and if he really held back a trade that would have made the Clippers better because his son was involved, that is real shitty.

I will say, the Clippers did get something in return for someone who seemed to be out the door in a few days. Free agency starts at 12:00 AM July 1st. The Clippers were able to sign and trade Paul for Patrick Beverly, Sam Dekker, Montrez Harrell and some picks. They did not walk away empty handed.

With all this being said, I do not like this trade at all. The Rockets got a great point guard, but they already had a great point guard that just happens to be a little too soft. Harden needs to be coddled, and Chris Paul will not coddle him. He will verbally abuse the shit out of him. And the Clippers, while realizing that they weren't going anywhere with their "Big 3" of Paul, Blake Griffin and DeAndre Jordan, unfortunately traded the most reliable one of the group. Now Griffin, who is always hurt, and might leave too, has no one to throw him alley oops or get him open jumpers, and what on Earth is Jordan going to do without a guy that consistently got him open lobs. I feel worst for him. He was locked in a house 2 years ago by Chris Paul, among others, to re up with the Clippers, and now, Paul has left him high and dry.

While this trade may look good on paper, I don't see it making a real difference. I actually think it will blow up in their faces. Also, I don't think adding Chris Paul really makes them a threat to the Warriors, but I also think the Spurs are still better, and whatever team LeBron James is on will beat them. This trade is not as great as some may have you believe. Prove me wrong Houston, but I'm just waiting for this to be a total disaster for them, and for Paul to leave in free agency after the 2017-18 season.

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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Some Thoughts on the Dumb NBA Awards Show, and the Awesome Big 3

The NBA finally handed out their regular season awards last night because who doesn't want to know who the MVP, Rookie of the Year, Coach of the Year, Sixth Man of the Year and Most Improved Player are a couple of weeks after the season has already ended. The whole ceremony was stupid and pointless, and I didn't watch a single second of it. Whenever an award was announced, my phone buzzed and told me who the winner was. I didn't have to sit through any monotonous Drake monologues or sketches to find out that Eric Gordon was going to win 6th man of the Year. In fact, the only thing I watched, which I watched this morning, was Russell Westbrook's MVP acceptance speech. That was the only good thing about the whole proceedings last night. Go watch his speech because it is remarkable.

But, as I said, the awards went as everyone thought. Of course Eric Gordon was going to win 6th man. He was great all year off the bench for Houston. Of course D'Antoni was going to win Coach of the Year. Sure, his team faltered in the playoffs, but these are regular season awards, and the Rockets were great inhe regular season. Giannis was definitely Most Improved. The dude has gotten better every season, and now, he is on the precipice of being an MVP caliber player. I could argue Kawhi over Draymond for Defensive Player of the Year, but honestly, Draymond was incredible on defense this year. He truly did guard all five positions, and at a very high rate.

The MVP, god damn right is was Russ. He deserved it more than anyone else that was up for the award. He had the least amount of talent around him, lost Serge Ibaka and KD, averaged a triple double and led a very undermanned team to 45 wins. He was far and away the best player, and the most fun, to watch this season.

I also did not care about any of the new awards. That was a lame attempt at making this stupid awards show 2 hours long. Who cares about best dunk game winner or fashion moment? It was a complete waste of time. So, no, the NBA awards show is not what I want to talk about today.

I was getting my daughter ready for bed last night and RD texted me to ask if I was watching the Big 3. I had totally spaced out and forgot that it was on. So after my daughter had her PJ's on and her teeth brushed, I immediately turned it to Fox Sports 1 and watched the Big 3. It was sloppy. The guys looked winded. No one was trying the 4 point shot. Most of the players looked their age. They looked gassed playing only half court. And Jason Williams, AKA "white Chocolate", might be done playing basketball forever after his gruesome injury.

All that being said, I loved every second that I watched. It was so awesome to see former NBA players playing 3 on 3 basketball like I do almost every week. I wrote a couple weeks back about how excited I am for the 2020 Olympics because they will have 3 on 3 basketball. Last night was a glimpse into the future for me, and I have to say, it was tremendous. Yeah it was sloppy, but, when the guys did make a play, it brought me back to what made them so much fun to watch when they were in the NBA. White Chocolate, before his injury, had this great hesitation move to beat a bigger man to the hoop and I was flooded with memories of him doing that to great defensive NBA guys in his heyday. Kwame Brown, never a star but had a decent career, could barely get above the rim, but he was grabbing rebounds and swatting smaller guys shots with ease. Rashard Lewis looked best of the early games I saw. He was creating shots, making jumpers and playing some decent defense. He looked like he could still be a bench player for someone in the NBA. It was also oddly comforting to see a guy like Ricky Davis shoot 4 of 14. He was always a spotty shooter but kept shooting, and last night was no different. Mike Bibby looked a bit bigger than I remember, but he was fighting for rebounds and dropping some dimes here and there. Hell, even DeShawn Stevenson hit a game winner, and I was excited to see that outcome. I know Allen Iverson didn't play much in his first game, but it was still fantastic to see AI playing basketball with 15,000 people watching him. He was still rocking the cornrows, the shooting sleeve and the headband. Yeah he wasn't driving to the hoop as much, but he was making jumpers. I can't wait to see Kenyon Martin when I get the chance to watch this again. There are so many other players I want to watch.

The game I got to see the most of was the team that had White Chocolate and Rashard Lewis playing the Ricky David "led" team. And I will say it again, it was a total blast. I didn't see too many 4 point shot attempts, but as the season goes on, I'm sure more guys will start to try it. I also loved that they play to 60, counting by 2's, 3's and sometimes a 4 pointer here and there, and that halftime is when one of the teams gets to 30. The Big 3 has potential to be enormous. The stadium, for what the event was, was packed. I know that RD and I were watching, but I also know that a lot of people I play basketball with and coach with were watching too. I'm sure a lot of other people tuned in out of pure curiosity. We also got Michael Rappaport as the sideline reporter and Gus Johnson as the play by play guy.

Look everything started out wonderfully. I just hope it keeps up because I want the Big 3 to stay. This is the perfect thing to fill that sports void for me right now. Baseball is boring, I don't watch tennis or soccer, the NBA is done, Summer League is right around the corner though, and football is still a few months away. The Big 3 filled that need for watching sports that I had last night. I hope the Big 3 continues to grow and continues to get better. This could be the next big thing.

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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Are the Chicago Bulls Incompetent, or Just Plain Stupid?

The Bulls front office plans for next season

Around this same time last year I was praising the Bulls for offloading Derrick Rose and letting Joakim Noah leave in free agency. These were tough moves, but they needed to be done. Rose was well past his best playing days, and Noah, well he cannot stay healthy at all. That was all proven last season. Well, I'm here today, almost one year to the date, to eviscerate the Bulls.

What the Bulls did last night, with their draft day moves, was some the dumbest front office decisions I have ever witnessed. Bill Simmons said it on his podcast this morning, an I will reiterate it right now. Everyone involved with the Bulls needs to be let go. The moves they made last night made absolutely no sense whatsoever. They looked even worse than the Kings, who had a decent draft, and, dare I say, the Knicks. The draft itself went pretty much as expected. The top 5 guys were the top five guys, and other than what the Bulls did, every team stayed pat.

When my phone buzzed and said that the Timberwolves were trying to make a move to acquire Jimmy Butler, I thought it was just going to be talk. Then, I shit you not, 2 minutes later the trade was announced that the Bulls traded away Jimmy Butler and the 16th pick to the Timberwolves for Zach Lavine, Kriss Dunn and the 7th overall pick.

I was floored.

This move made absolutely no sense to me at all. I love it for the Timberwolves, as many of you might remember, I became a T'Wolves fan the moment KD signed with the Warriors. So, to see my new team get one of the top 15 NBA players to pair up with Karl Anthony Towns and Andrew Wiggins, that made me ecstatic. I kept saying to my wife, "I can't believe the T'Wolves got Butler for basically nothing". I said it so much she told me that I needed to chill out on the NBA draft talk. She doesn't care about this stuff like I do.

So, while still in awe of what the T'Wolves had done, and getting excited that they will most likely be a playoff team next year, and a tough out at that, I started to think about it from the Bulls perspective. Why would they do this deal? Was there not a better offer out there? Are the front office people morons? Why give up on Jimmy Butler so soon? Did they just want him out of the East? I had a lot of questions.

I already answered the one about the front office. They are either trying to tear this team about and rebuild from the bottom up, or they are stupid and think a guy coming off one of the worst rookie years ever and the other guy coming off a torn ACL were good enough replacements for Butler. That is patently false. I thought the Bulls might make up for it by taking someone like Malik Monk or Donovan Mitchell or even Justin Jackson, but nope. They used the 7th overall pick on Lauri god damn Markkenan. What a waste. I was hyper critical of him in my mock draft yesterday. He is way too soft. He is not a big time rebounder or rim protector. He can barely even finish at the rim, even though he is 7 feet tall. All he can do is hit the open three. This dude is destined to be a bench player, maybe the 9th or 10th guy off the bench, and the Bulls took him in the lottery.

To once again answer the question about the front office in Chicago, it seems to be filled with incompetent morons. What a stupid, stupid draft and an even worse pick. As far as why would they do this deal, I still have no idea. It still makes no sense, from the Bulls point of view. They got nothing near equal value for Butler, and they also gave away a first round pick. Both of those gone to acquire Kris Dunn, Zach Lavine and a lottery pick? It is mind boggling.

This leads me to my next question I asked. Where there not better deals? I'm sure Boston could have sent a much better package to get Butler. I know Cleveland wanted him, so why not trade Love for Butler straight up. That is much better than what Minnesota gave them. Or maybe gauge what kind of young talent they could've gotten from the Lakers or the Suns if they really wanted a lottery pick. there had to be better deals on the table, I just think they jumped on the first offer so they could offload a disgruntled player.

As far as giving up on him, I don't think they did that, I just think his time in Chicago was up, and they knew that, so they traded him away. It was a poor offer, but they pulled the trigger anyway. And with getting him out of the East, I do not think that was taken into account at all. No team in the East is going to beat Cleveland, even if they don't acquire Paul George at some point, because LeBron is still going to be there at least one more season. Like I've said time and time again, I just think they jumped on one of the first offers they were given.

Finally, just when I didn't think their night could get any worse, they made another very bad choice in the second round. It was announced that they had drafted Jordan Bell from Oregon, and I thought, okay, at least they will get something decent out of this draft. Then, inexplicably, they traded him away to the Warriors for cash. That is such a terrible, horrible, atrocious deal. Bell is the perfect player for the Warriors, who did not have pick in this draft, and the Bulls gift wrapped him for cash. What the hell! Again, I was shocked at the stupidity I was witnessing. They had a great second round value pick, to make up for the awful trade from round one, and they gave him away for nothing.

The Bulls are going to be so dreadful next year. They're going to be trotting out a starting five of Dwayne Wade, Robin Lopez, Rajon Rondo and 2 dudes that no one has ever heard of. They will be lucky to win 30 games next season. Fred Hoiberg will, and should, be gone mid season. Wade will probably demand a trade. I'm sure Rondo will become annoyed and want out as well. The Bulls will be a Knicks level joke, but at least the Knicks have Porzingis, for now, and drafted the big and gifted point guard from France. The Bulls might be as bad as the Nets next year due to what they did last night. This was a horrific decision, and it will haunt them as much as when Jordan and Pippen left the team and they were winning 20 to 25 games a year for about 5 straight seasons. The Bulls, by far, had the worst draft night that I have seen since the Grizzlies took Hasheem Tabheet with the second overall pick years ago. This was a train wreck.

To end it on a happy note though, good job by the T'Wolves. This instantly makes them a playoff team, and I think putting Butler in the back court with Ricky Rubio and Andrew Wiggins is going to go over swimmingly. I love this move for Minnesota.

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. 

Follow Ty on instagram and twitter.

SeedSing is funded by a group of awesome people. Join them by donating to SeedSing.

The SeedSing 2017 NBA Mock Draft

As I did with the NFL draft this year, I'm going to do a mock draft for the NBA draft tonight. I've waited so long because there has been a ton of movement prior to the draft and I wanted to make sure nothing else happened before I went about picking players. This is a loaded draft and I'm going on what the draft order looks like today. If stuff changes before tonight, a lot may change, but, we will have to wait and see. For the record, I think there is going to be some more crazy stuff that happens during the draft tonight, but that will not affect my mock today. Enough with the preamble, lets get to it.

1. 76ers-Markelle Fultz. This was written in stone the moment the Celtics and 76ers swapped picks. This is the best thing that the 76ers could've wished for, and it seems like, if all the guys stay healthy, a big, big if, this could be a fringe playoff team in 3 or 4 years. They will be a ton of fun to watch, especially when they add Fultz.

2. Lakers-Lonzo Ball. I've been on record saying all the talk is just talk and the Lakers, especially after trading Russell this week, are taking Ball. He has great court vision and is an exceptional passer, but I do think he will be a bust. I do not have the faith in him that other do. He is a bench player at best. 

3. Celtics-Jayson Tatum. Here is another guy that I do not think is going to be as great as some other scouts do. Yes he can create and score, but, he is a ball hog that ices out teammates. That will not mesh well with this Celtics team. He is also a very average defender. He also could not lead Duke like some thought he could. I have almost as many doubts about him as I do with Lonzo Ball. But, the Celtics seem pretty set on picking this kid.

4. Suns-DeAaron Fox. The Suns are going to snatch the top point guard, in my opinion, in the draft. Eric Bledsoe is going to be moved, and the Suns are going towards a youth movement, especially with Kentucky players. They already have Devin Booker, Tyler Ullis and Bledsoe, but Fox will take his place. He is super fast, a great defender and will learn to shoot. Fox is probably my favorite player in this draft, and if the Suns are smart, they will snap him up at 4.

5. Kings-Johnathan Issac. The Kings will miss out on the guy they wanted in Fox, so they will panic and take the long and athletic forward. They already have a lot of these guys, but that hasn't stopped them in prior drafts. I do like Issac's game though. He is a good stretch 4 that just needs to gain some weight. I think he will be a very, very poor man's KD when he is in the league. If that happens with the Kings, only time will tell. But, they will panic pick Issac a few spots too early for him.

6. Magic-Malik Monk. Monk is probably the best shooter in this draft and the Magic need shooters. They have some pieces, I like Aaron Gordon, but they don't have many good outside shooters. Monk scored 40 plus in a college game, and while he may not be an elite NBA scorer, I see a lot of Dion Waiters in him. He is the type of scorer that can go off at any time. He will be a great heat check type shooter in the league.

7. Timberwolves-Josh Jackson. This will be the guy that "falls" in the lottery. He has made some questionable decisions leading up to the draft, and I think that will make him drop 3 or 4 spots. But, I actually feel like this will be a great spot for hi. He's already a great defender, and that is what the T'Wolves need. He can become an offensive threat in the league, but he won't need to be that guy on this time right away. They already have Towns and Wiggins for that. So Jackson can be plugged in to play defense and eventually he will become some kind of offensive threat.

8. Knicks-Frank Ntilikina. Ntilikina is the big time foreign prospect in this draft. He is a tall and athletic point guard. I do not know a whole bunch about him, but I feel like this is exactly what the Knicks will do. They do need a guard, but who knows with this guy. Also, if they inexplicably trade Porzingis, I will immediately feel bad for this kid because he will have no one to play with. This kid could be good to great, but time will tell. I hope if he is taken here that he comes to the NBA right away instead of staying in France for another year or two.

9. Mavericks-Dennis Smith Jr. I really like Smith Jr. This dude is built like a linebacker and he is an all around good point guard. He can really do a lot of things, and I love the fit with the Mavs. He can become the first of any young guys that Cuban and Carlisle can build around. He plays with a tenacity like no other prospect and the guy just wants to win. I am higher on Smith Jr than others, and I think he is going to be great. This is the second best fit, behind only Fultz, in the lottery. I really, really like Smith Jr.

10. Kings-Donovan Mitchell. After missing out on Fox and panic picking Issac, the Kings will finally do something right and grab their future point guard at 10 with Mitchell. I watched this guy very closely in the tournament when Michigan faced Louisville in round 2 of the tournament. He didn't have the best game ever, but he controlled the Louisville offense, and when he was hot in the first half, he was a scoring machine. The Kings really need a point guard, and I think they will get a steal at 10 with Mitchell. He will be a long time starter in the NBA.

11. Hornets-Lauri Markkenan. This is a reach of epic proportions in my opinion. Markkenan keeps getting compared to Porzingis, and that is so unfair to Porzingis. Markkenan is not near the level that Porzingis was at this point in his career. Markkenan is soft and will get battered in the low post. Again, I watched him in the tournament, and yes, he can shoot from outside, but he was a poor rebounder, and like I said, he looked soft. He is young, so he can get tougher, but he just doesn't look to be as great as some think. He is a very poor man's Kevin Love, minus the rebounding and outlet passing prowess. I do not like Markkenan, but Michael Jordan has made poor draft choices in the past, and I thin he will do that tonight.

12. Pistons-Zach Collins. This kid should have stayed in school, but since the NBA is obsessed with "one and done" players, Collins will be taken in the late lottery. He did play well in the tournament, but he needed some more time to refine his game. The Pistons do have a center, Andre Drummond, but Collins bring that floor spacing to that offense. He is still a bit too thin, but can, and will, gain weight. He is an okay rebounder, and if he isn't pushed into early playing time, he could turn out to be a decent rotational player.

13. Nuggets-OG Anuouby. Anuouby is coming off a bad injury and may miss a lot of the year, but he is talented and the Nuggets will take a chance on him. When healthy, he is super athletic and can play some defense. The Nuggets are continuing with the youth movement, and Anuouby adds to that. There is no in between with him. He is either going to be great or going to be a journeyman. I hope he is great because he is from Missouri.

14. Heat-Luke Kennard. The Heat don't really need much, so they will draft a floor spacing guard. Kennard isn't great, but he isn't terrible. He can shoot, plays hard and will be just fine as the 8th or 9th guy off the bench. He was the best player on Duke last year, but that isn't saying much. I don't think he will be any kind of starter in the NBA, but he can shoot, and teams want guys that can shoot.

15. Trailblazers-Jarret Allen. The Trailblazers need a real center for the modern NBA, and Allen is immediately better than Meyers Leonard and Noah Vonleh. Allen can run the floor, can rebound and protect the rim. Sure, Texas wasn't that good last year, but Allen was. He can become a better Andre Drummond in my opinion. He is a bit faster and will fit in better in the modern game. He's young too, and pairing him with McCollum and Lillard could be great.

16. Bulls-Terrance Ferguson. Young, athletic and played professionally in Australia instead of wasting 6 months in college. He has already played with grown men and he did okay. The Bulls need to get some guys that can replace Jimmy Butler, I'm almost certain he will be traded, and Ferguson can come in and try to be the scorer and playmaker they will need. He is a fine young player and I do like the fact that he played professionally overseas. Brandon Jennings and Emmanuel Mudiay did the same thing, and while they are not great, they have solid pro careers. I see the same with Ferguson.

17. Bucks-Justin Jackson. The Bucks need a legit point guard, but since most are gone, they will settle for another long and athletic, defensive minded 2 guard. Jackson guarded the best layer on the other team every tournament game, and he did great. He also proved that he can create his own shot and hit the open three. He made the right choice coming back for his junior year, and he will reap the benefits by going to a very good, very young team.

18. Pacers-Justin Patton. The Pacers are about to get blown up, Paul George is all but gone, and they will rebuild around 2 young and athletic big men. They already have Myles Turner and Patton will be the next piece. He is young, athletic, can stretch the floor and rebound. They will have a good, young front court, the it will be time to rebuild their back court. Patton is raw, but so was Turner and Turner is only getting better. This pick might not make sense right now, but in a year or 2, it will look good.

19. Hawks-John Collins. Now that they have traded away Dwight Howard, and seem to be blowing it up, the Hawks will take a good, young center. Collins got so much better from his freshman to sophomore years at Wake Forest, and I see him as a day one starter with the Hawks. They are going the youth movement like a lot of other teams, and Collins is going to be very good. I love his game and I am glad he went back for another season to get better in college. He's going to be a good pro.

20. Trailblazers-TJ Leaf. Again, they need guys in the front court to get better, and just like their earlier pick of Jarret Allen, they will add another big man in TJ Leaf. He doesn't have the rebounding ability like Allen does, and Allen is a better defender, but Leaf can shoot. He was a decent knock down shooter at UCLA, and maybe that will translate to the NBA. I don't like that he left UCLA after one year, but that is what the NBA and college basketball is now. He could have gotten bigger and better, but he will still be a first round pick. These guys that get picked later in the first round are specialist that will be bench guys, and Leaf will be a big three point shooter off the bench.

21. Thunder-Ike Anigobu. The Thunder, and Russell Westbrook for that matter, need scoring everywhere, and picking this late, they will grab Anigobu. He is a power forward that can score in the post and outside, and he could possibly help out Westbrook. He can run and shoot and Westbrook needs all the help he can get, especially in the post. Steven Adams is the only viable low post option, and he is not the runner that Anigobu already is.

22. Nets-Tyler Lydon. The Nets don't matter, and neither do their picks. Lydon didn't really do much at Syracuse, but he is a big guy that can shoot, so the Nets will take a shot. They are so bad, it doesn't matter who they pick. This might be the most pointless pick of the first round, and the Nets will make it even more pointless by taking a random big.

23. Raptors-Semi Ojeleye. Ojeleye will be a younger PJ Tucker replacement. He is big, strong, a good defender, rebounder and a very good scorer. He is very underrated in my opinion, and I think he will be a great fit in Toronto. He was the man at SMU, and I think he fits in great with the Raptors. They won't be able to retain Tucker, he is going to get overpaid by someone, so Ojeleye, to me, seems like the perfect replacement.

24. Jazz-Jawun Evans. The Jazz will probably need a new point guard, so they will take Evans from Oklahoma State. He may be short, but he is a great creator and can shoot from outside. This is another guy I watched closely in the tournament, they were Michigan's first round opponent, and he was incredible. He's so fast, yet plays under control. He can step in right away and start from day one, especially if they lose George Hill.

25. Magic-Bam Adebayo. The Magic need a lot, and after taking Monk in the lottery, they will draft his college teammate late first round. Adebayo is a great, modern big man. He is a decent pick and roll player and a decent rim protector. He can rebound and he doesn't need the ball in his hands all the time. He is big and strong too. I think he will turn out to be a good, low post big man in the NBA. The Magic will bet a steal late in the first round.

26. Trailblazers-Isaish Hartenstein. Hartenstein is the big man from Germany, and the Blazers will draft and stash him. This will be their third big man, but this guy will go back to play professionally in Germany for a year or 2 before the Blazers bring him back to the NBA. He is big, but needs to develop his game. The Blazers will take a flier on him because of potential, but like I said, we won't see him for a couple years in the NBA.

27. Nets-Harry Giles. Giles needed to stay in college for one more year, at least. He may have been the top high school player last year, but he was either injured or inconsistent in his one season at Duke. He will get picked based on potential, but he is very, very raw. almost too raw. The Nets don't matter, like I said, so neither does this pick. But, Giles needs time to develop, so don't count on him to be any kind of big time player in the NBA, maybe ever.

28. Lakers-Ivan Rabb. Continuing the youth movement, the Lakers will take the other local kid, Rabb, late in the first round. He is a decent power forward that is coachable. He will hustle and try hard every night. He could have been a higher pick if he left last year, but he went back to Cal and built some muscle and added to his game. He is a very decent player and I think he can become a bench guy in years to come. He should have an okay NBA career.

29. Spurs-Caleb Swanigan. This is my favorite pick of the first round. Swaningan is a great player that tries hard and works ta his game. There is no better team than San Antonio for him. He will get the best coaching and get to learn behind some great players. He won't have to start right away and he will be put in the best NBA system. This kid deserves the best, and I love, love, love the fit with the Spurs.

30. Jazz-DJ Wilson. With the last pick, the Jazz will take the big man from Michigan. He is a bit too skinny right now, but he can rebound and shoot the three. He had a great tournament and that will be why he is taken as the last pick of the first round. He will have to sit for awhile, but in his limited minutes, he will score, run and rebound. It may take some years, but he could be the 7th or 8th guy off the bench for 10 plus years in the NBA.

There you have it, my first NBA mock draft. Like I said there will probably be some movement, but this is how I see the first round if nothing changes. This will be a fun draft and I can' wait to see where a lot of these good players end up. Enjoy the draft.

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. He also spent one semester at a D 1 college like most of the players in the first round. When will his name be called?

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There are Only Winners in the Celtics - 76ers Draft Pick Swap

I know I said last week was NBA week for me, but there was a big trade this weekend, that will become official today, and I have some thoughts.

As most of you know by now, the Celtics traded the number pick in this Thursday's draft to the 76ers for the 3rd pick in this draft, and a first rounder in 2018 and 2019. On paper, and when I first heard about it, I was not moved either way. I know that a lot of Celtics fans were up in arms. They were furious is more like it. People all over the internet were talking about how, "the Celtics got fleeced", "what did they get in return of any value", "has Danny Ainge finally lost his mind", "why do this now". Basically, it was all doom and gloom.

I wish that Celtics fans would remember that they were just in the Eastern Conference Finals this year, and they already have a very good team. Getting the number one overall pick was just icing on the cake after they fleeced the Nets so many years ago. This is a team that doesn't truly need to build through the draft, they just need a true star. And I love Isaiah Thomas, but he is not a superstar that can be the guy on a title contending team.

That being said, with a real superstar, they could compete with whatever team LeBron is on in the East. They need a Jimmy Butler, Paul George or Anthony Davis, and they instantly become a threat. I don't necessarily think that Markelle Fultz, who I think is going to be really good, is the player to put the Celtics over the top. He would have helped, but they can get an almost equal value player at number 3. It's not like they completely traded out of the first round to acquire Jahlil Okafor or Robert Covington. They got a lottery pick, and more than likely, they got 2 more over the next 2 drafts.

Now, I do think that Danny Ainge's stock piling of picks is getting a little to Sam Hinkie-ish for my taste. But maybe he is finally, actually going to try and trade for that superstar I mentioned earlier. Maybe they are going to package all these picks to go after an Anthony Davis, Boogie Cousins, Jimmy Butler or Paul George. Also, they have a real shot at signing Gordon Hayward this offseason. If they add Hayward, then trade these picks for any of the guys I just mentioned, or even Blake Griffin, they would instantly become the best team in the East. Yes, all of that would make them better than the Cavs to me. Sure, they might lose an Avery Bradley, Marcus Smart or Jae Crowder, but to replace them with Gordon Hayward and an Anthony Davis or Jimmy Butler, that is an absolute homerun. Also, like I said earlier, they can get a pretty good player at number 3 if they choose to keep the pick.

The 76ers are going to take Fultz with the number one pick. They have already made it well known. Hell, Joel Embiid put a picture out there of him and Dario Saric in the 76ers locker room next to an empty locker with Fultz's name on it. That means, if the Celtics don't trade the pick, the Lakers are going to take Lonzo Ball second. That leaves guys like Josh Jackson, DeAron Fox, Johnathan Issac, Jayson Tatum, Dennis Smith Jr, any of the big time foreign prospects. The Celtics options are endless. If they want length and athleticism, they could grab Jackson or Issac. If they want a pass first point guard to pair with Thomas, Fox is right there. If they want a bull dogesque point guard that can score and distribute, Dennis Smith Jr is flying up draft boards. If they want a younger Carmelo Anthony, Tatum is there. They will be just fine if they keep the pick. I'm not all up in arms is what I'm trying to get at, like some Celtics fans I have seen on social media. They seem to have a plan, and they have a lot of second and third and even fourth options if their first plan falls through. The Celtics will be just fine.

Now, the 76ers. They struck up a hell of a deal. I feel like, even though I just laid out why I think the Celtics will be fine, the 76ers definitely won this trade because of how they are building their team. They want youth and to build around that youth. This is what "trusting the process" is all about. Yes, they got rid of Nerlens Noel last year, but they have Okafor, and if he can stay healthy for 75 percent of the season, Joel Embiid is going to be a star. He is so god damn good at basketball, he just needs to stay on the court. Ben Simmons will be at full strength next year, and he looks to have great court vision, he is a very good passer and he can get to the rim. He has no jump shot, but he can learn to shoot. Russell Westbrook didn't have a jump shot, and he should be getting the MVP here in a week or so. Same thing with Kawhi. He didn't have a jump shot, but he had everything else, then learned how to shoot a proper jump shot. These guys are professionals, and their job is to get better at basketball. Ben Simmons can, at least, become a halfway decent threat from outside. And the role players they have, guys like Covington, Nik Stauskas, Dario Saric, even TJ McConnell are good enough bench players to be in the NBA. Add Markelle Fultz to this bunch and they will be a fun team to watch this season, and in a year or two, or maybe three, they could become a fringe playoff team. They have coveted Fultz all along, and they did what they had to do to get the player that is looked at as, not only the best player in this draft, but the surest thing in the draft.

Something else not many people are saying is that Fultz will be a good NBA player. He was very good on a very poorly coached Washington Huskies team last year. Yes, they only won 9 games, but every team game planned simply for him, and he still scored 20 plus a game, handed out assists and did what he had to do on that awful, awful team. I really like Fultz's game, and I like him on the 76ers more than on the Celtics or Lakers or Mavericks or any other team picking in the lottery. He fits in so perfectly with the core players on the 76ers.

So, while some see the sky falling, Bill Simmons, and others think this is the greatest thing ever, Stephen A Smith, I think both teams come out of this trade just fine. Each team is going to get what they want, or try to, and both teams will be just fine. And, in the 76ers case, this could turn out to be the best thing that has happened to them since they drafted Allen Iverson. I like this trade for both teams.

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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A Very Early Preview of the 2020 Olympics 3 on 3 Basketball Contest

The playground game is getting the gold, and silver, and bronze, medal treatment

It was announced about a week or so ago that the 2020 Summer Olympics were going to add 3 on 3 basketball. I love love love this idea. I'm so fully on board. I'm beyond giddy that the prospect of this.

3 on 3 is what I play every week when I go play pickup basketball with my friends. Sometimes it may be 4 on 4, if we get 7 or 8 dudes, but usually there is only 6 of us, and we play some good 3 on 3. I hope they do it the same way me and my friends have always done it as well. We play to 11 by 1's and 2's, everything beyond the three point line is worth 2, anything else is 1, we call our own fouls and other stuff, we don't call charges or blocks or anything small like that and you have to win by 2. We also play outside sometimes, and I think it would be cool if they adopt the street ball aspect of 3 on 3, but I'm assuming they will play it indoors on the same floor as they play the 5 on 5 full on basketball in the Olympics.

Now, before I really dig deep into the teams, and who I think will win the gold, silver and bronze, a few ground rules. One, I am assuming that this will be filled with professional basketball players. I'd love if they do it with college players, or even street ball legends, but I'm going to go ahead and just imagine it with the super stars of the current NBA. Second, I'm going to do a USA vs the World type situation, kind of like what they do in the rookies vs sophomores game during the NBA's All Star game festivities. Third, I'm going to try as hard as I can to make these teams fair and try to find some country that could win a medal outside of the US. I'm not saying that the US has the only good players, but they have the most quality players when I was doing research. Some of the best players in the game right now are foreign players, but their countries don't have many other guys that could fill out an entire 3 on 3 team that could truly compete. Finally, lots of players from bordering countries will be lumped together. For example, New Zealand and Australia is just going to be one team. Hence my USA vs the World thing I was talking about. Now, let's get to it.

Lets look at the US first. While doing research, I was thinking of players off the top of my head from the US that could make up a 3 on 3 team. The first players that popped into my head were LeBron, KD, Klay, Steph, Draymond and Kyrie Irving. Yes, I just finished watching the Finals, so of course the players from the 2 teams were filling my brain. Then, I started to think a bit more about some other players that would make up a bunch of Team USA 3 on 3 teams. Guys like Russell Westbrook, James Harden, Anthony Davis, Kawhi Leonard, Damian Lillard, Kyle Lowry, DeMar DeRozan, Paul George, Boogie, Gordon Hayward, Chris Paul, Mike Conley, Jimmy Butler, John Wall, Brad Beal and Hassan Whiteside, just to name a few. My next mission was breaking these teams up into 3 man tandems.

My "first" squad for Team USA is KD, Steph and Kawhi. They would be the perfect 3 on 3 team. KD is 7 feet tall, so he has length to defend bigger guys, and he can space the court. Steph is a wizard with the ball, a good passer and the greatest shooter ever. And Kawhi, he is one of the best all around players in the league, and he is the best defender in all of basketball. This is my gold standard team. Now I had to break up the other guys to make more 3 on 3 teams.

Next up I have to have LeBron, and he'd team up with Paul George and Anthony Davis. This is a great, scary good 3 on 3 team. They don't have the shooters my first team has, but they have some big dudes that play defense and can score at the rim with ease. They'd be a tough out, possibly a gold medal winner with ease.

The next USA team I'd put out there has Kyrie, Klay and Draymond. I like to lump the Warriors guys together obviously. This team would be very good. Draymond can guard everyone, Kyrie can score at the rim at will and Klay is almost on Kawhi's level with defense and he's a better shooter. 

Another USA team would have Harden, Boogie and DeRozan. This team isn't on the level of the other teams, but Harden is a great shooter and passer, DeRozan is a great mid range shooter and Boogie is the best center in the game right now. They would be tough and physical and get into other teams heads.

I have to put Westbrook on a team, so I'd pair him with Hassan Whiteside, for the defense and rebounding, and Gordon Hayward, because he can hit the open shot when given the opportunity. Westbrook needs to be on a team where he controls the ball, and I feel like this is the perfect squad for him.

My final 3 man squad for the US is small, but feisty. I'd put Chris Paul, a natural leader and a tough guy with Jimmy Butler, great defender and great creator and John Wall, who might be the most explosive, and definitely fastest player in the NBA. This is a smaller team but they'd put up a fight.

See what I'm saying about USA and all these 3 man squads. I left a lot of guys out, and this is still a completely loaded group of players. These are the best of the best. Before I get into medals though, let's look at the teams the World could put out there.

First off, let's look at Team USA's biggest competition the past few Olympics, Spain. They have some good, great players, but they are getting older. You'd have to pair up the Gasol brothers, then you could put Serge Ibaka and Ricky Rubio on this team. It's a good squad, I just don't think it is medal worthy. Pau is old, Marc is great, but not as great as say a Anthony Davis or Boogie Cousins, Ibaka looks to be past his prime and Rubio is great with the ball, but he cannot shoot.

Then I thought maybe we could pair up Argentina with the Dominican and they could compete. These 2 places give us guys like Manu Ginobli, Luis Scola, Al Horford, Karl Anthony-Towns, Carlos Delfino and Charlie Villanueva. Towns and Horford are awesome, and I love Ginobli, but there is no way these guys are beating any of the top three USA squads. They'd fight, and Towns could win a game himself, but I just don't see the Argentine-Dominican team having a shot at a medal.

Then we get to Brazil. They have some players. Guys like Nene, Anderson Varajeo, Leandro Barbosa, Tiago Splitter and Lucas Nogueira. These are some good guys, but they have no ball handlers and no real shooters. Barbosa would be the point guard, and he can sometimes get his own shot, but he is so much better as a role player than the focal point. Every other player is a big man, and they would be easily neutralized in a 3 on 3 tournament.

Team Italy has Danillo Gallinari, but he would team up with one of the biggest busts ever in Andrea Bargnani, and journey man Marco Bellinelli. They have shooting, and guys that can get to the rim, but they have no ball handler, so they are screwed from the start.

Next up, I'm going to glomb together Slovenia, Serbia, Latvia, Turkey and Russia, a neo athletic Eastern Bloc. These 4 countries provide us with some good players. The powers that be would have a pool of guys to choose from like, Timofey Mozgov, Alex Len, Enes Kanter, Zaza Pachulia, Ersan Illiyasova, Nikola Jokic, Goran Dragic and Kristaps Porzingis. First off, they need to build this team around Porzingis. He has the length and the shot to make it tough for other teams. Then, I'd take Nikola Jokic, great passer, rebounder and scorer and Goran Dragic, perfect point guard. This team could cause some problems, but in the long run, I think they would place 5th, at best.

Team Germany could be good. You have Dirk, Dennis Schroder, but then you have to pick between Paul Zipser and Chris Kaman. Those are not all timers that can cause problems for other teams. Also, Dirk is getting older and older. Schroder could cause problems, but he is not on the level of some of the other point guards I have mentioned.

Lithuania, Team USA's old rival, is not near the level of a lot of other teams. Sure, you have Jonas Valenciunas, Donatas Montejunas, Linas Kleiza and Domantos Sabonis. No ball handlers and no shooters. They'd be dead in the water.

Unfortunately for Greece, the only guy they have is Giannis Antetekoumpo, and while he is incredibly awesome, and the possible face of the NBA in the future, he would get no help from his country.

The final three teams I have, I think could possibly medal, if put in the right situation.

First we have France. They have a point guard in Tony Parker, thy have length in Rudy Gobert, they have passing in Boris Diaw and they have guys that can create in Nic Batum and Evan Fournier. They'd have to have Gobert and Parker as their main guys, then I'd probably put Batum out there. This is a decent team that could medal. Unfortunately for France, Tony Parker is old and coming off injury. He'd get exposed on defense.

Team Canada can field a very good, pretty young team as well. They have guys like Andrew Wiggins, Nik Stauskas, Tristan Thompson, Jamal Murray, Corey Joseph and Trey Lyles. These are some good guys that can form a pretty good 3 on 3 team. Wiggins is the center piece, then I'd put Tristan Thompson and Corey Joseph out there. Wiggins is an explosive athlete who's jump shot is only getting better. Tristan Thompson is the perfect "dirty work" player and Corey Joseph learned in the Spurs system, so he is a very decent, smart basketball player. They could cause a lot of problems.

Finally, I think the combination of Australia and New Zealand would have the best chance to medal of all the other countries not name USA. They could put Andrew Bogut, Patty Mills, Matthew Dellavedova, Ben Simmons, Dante Exum and Steven Adams. Those are some good players, if healthy. Bogut has the rim protection, so does Adams. Ben Simmons is an excellent passer and attacks the rim with ease. Patty Mils is a great outside shooter. Dante Exum is a tall point guard that is only getting better. Dellavedova is the only guy that doesn't bear mentioning. If I were in charge of this team, I'd put Simmons, Steven Adams and Patty Mills out there. They give them the best shot at a medal.

With all this being said, I still think, no matter how much I tried, that the US would win all three medals. I laid out the best case for Canada, France and New Zealand/Australia, but they just don't have the star power that the US teams have. The other countries I mentioned, they have no shot, not even the 4 country grouping I had that had Porzingis as the main guy. So, my Bronze medal would go to the squad of Kyrie, Klay and Draymond. The silver I'd give to LeBron, Anthony Davis and Paul George. Yes LeBron is the runner-up once again. And the Gold, that goes to Steph, KD and Kawhi. They are just too good everywhere to get beaten.

I am so excited to watch this in 3 years, and hopefully they go with NBA players. This 3 on 3 tournament is going to be loads of fun, and I cannot wait to see how it turns out.

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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Some Final Thoughts on the 2016-2017 Golden State Warriors

These are the only rings left for teams that are not called the Warriors

During my week of NBA talk, I have been pretty hard on the Cavs, and LeBron. It is deserving, but I've kind of ripped them apart as much as I feel necessary. I'm also researching a very big basketball story that I will put out tomorrow. Today I'm going to turn my views over to the Warriors. I have some quick thoughts on this super team.

First off, they are a super, super team. They have 3 of the best 5 five shooters to ever play the game. They have length all over the back court. They spread teams out like no one I have ever seen. They have 2 recent MVP winners. They have the most versatile defender I have ever watched. They have a great coach.

The Warriors literally have it all. Their role players and bench leave a bit to be desired, but they have Steph, KD, Klay and Draymond, so their role players don't change the outcome too much. Yes, Iguodala has been great, but he is 32 and he looks older. Shaun Livingston is great, and has come back from brutal injuries, but now that he has 2 titles, I think he might bolt for a bigger contract, and the opportunity to be a starter. Ian Clark and Patrick McCaw are so young, but they look to be developing within the Warriors system, so maybe they are the heir apparent to Shaun Livingston and Andre Iguoldala for this team. Other than that, it is very mediocre. David West has his title and I would not be surprised if he retires. He doesn't seem to fit in the new NBA. I love David West, his toughness is unparalleled, but he is playing a style of basketball that doesn't fit in the modern game. Javale McGee brings a ton of energy, but he gets a little to hyped up at times, and unless he is in the right system, like the Warriors, he is more of a headache that a spark plug. Ask any Wizards or 76ers fans their thoughts on Javale McGee. That being said, I thought he was great for this particular team. Zaza Pachulia, who is their starting center, is trash. This dude just fouls and misses layups and sets moving screens all the time. When he was in the game, the Warriors always seemed to lose big leads due to him fouling a Cav or missing a wide open layup. He is a liability and I'm pretty sure he will not be heard from much anymore in the NBA. This series proved that he is a waste of a roster space. Other than that, the Warriors have guys like James Michael McAdoo, Matt Barnes, Kevon Looney and Damian Jones. I'm pretty sure McAdoo is more known for his lineage than his game. Matt Barnes is better known as the dude that beat the shit out of Derek Fisher than any contribution he made to the Warriors this year. I'm pretty sure Kevon Looney is in the D League. And as far as Damian Jones, I didn't even know he was an NBA player until I looked it up a second ago. All this being said, I don't think it matters with this Warriors team. As long as they keep their core four together, you could plug in me and my buddies that I play pick up with and they'd still win 60 plus games and the Finals every year. This team is that good.

Another thing I have read recently about this team is their hesitancy to visit the current White House. I hope that none of them go. This would set a great precedent for title winning teams in the near future. This team, and Steve Kerr, have been very outspoken as far as their political leanings, and if they skip that trip, I would be so happy. That would piss off this whiny, childish "administration" so much, and I would just love it. Steph came out recently, or it was reported, that he said he would probably not visit the White House. KD and Klay are quieter dudes, but I don't think they'd go. Draymond isn't going to go. He doesn't have to say anything, I just know he won't go. And their coach, Steve Kerr, while he has said that they haven't made a decision yet, I'd bet a lot of money that he will not visit those monsters. I'm not a Warriors fan, but they are incredibly forward thinking in all matters, and if they skip the White House visit, which I think they will, I will have so much respect for them. That would be so awesome, and a big slap in the face to the douchebags that work in DC right now. If they do visit, I hope they only go see senators like Kamala Harris, Elizabeth Warren and the like. To go there and only see Democratic senators would be such a baller move, and the Warriors have the guys that would do that. The only thing that would make it better is if they went and visited the Clinton's instead. That would be incredible. Anything to make the current "government" more unhappy is alright with me.

Finally, all of what I've written about this team, minus the possible visit, doesn't matter as long as they stay together. I've already said this, but it bares repeating. They are video game cheat code good, and no one, no matter who LeBron tries to get to replace Kevin Love, will beat them if they are fully healthy. The Warriors will lose guys like David West, Matt Barnes and possibly Shaun Livingston, but they will just replace them with some other ring chasers. I've heard that Zach Randolph has an interest in signing with them. I wouldn't be shocked if someone like Al Jefferson or even a Paul Milsap replace guys like Zaza and West and McGee. And, they have Ian Clark and Patrick McCaw, who looked decent in their small minutes in the Finals. This team is poised to be the champs for, at least, the next 3 years.

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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LeBron James is Saying Super Dumb Stuff about Super Teams

What in the hell did he just say?

In my NBA Finals recap yesterday I forgot to mention one thing that has really been eating at me since I first heard it last night while listening to the Ringer's "NBA Show" podcast. That is why this did not make my piece yesterday because I was not made aware of LeBron James asinine comment that "he has never played on a super team". This threw me for a loop. I literally yelled out loud in disgust in my car on the way to play basketball last night.

As I'm sure a lot of people did, I turned the game off after it was over Monday night. I knew who the MVP was going to be, I knew what all the interviews would be like, I knew what everyone was going to say, so I felt there was no need for me to watch all the post game stuff. Well, apparently during his final presser, LeBron was asked what it was like to face a super team, or something along those lines, and that was when he gave this dumbass response. Hell, it was only a few weeks ago that KD himself said that LeBron was the one guy that made forming super teams possible when he bolted Cleveland for Miami to team up with Dwayne Wade and Chris Bosh. So, for LeBron to be this sore of a loser and this arrogant took be by surprise.

LeBron James is a guy that has always said and done the right things ever since he has been in the spotlight, which has been pretty much his whole life. He has never really come off this ridiculous, at least not to me, before. He has always won like a champ, and taken defeat like a champ. He has always been the good guy. Even when he left Cleveland the first time, I never viewed him as a villain, I viewed him as a ring chaser, much like I do with KD now. But for him to be this holier than thou because his team, that he formed, got their ass beat by a far, far superior team, I mean, come on man. He played great. He was virtually unstoppable on offense throughout all five games, but it wasn't enough. Maybe that is why he gave such a moronic answer to this very reasonable, and truthful question.

These are the facts, when LeBron left Cleveland 7 years ago, he formed the first of this new era of "super teams". Some may say the Celtics did in 2008, but they traded for Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen. The Heat signed both Bosh and LeBron to pair up with Wade, thus forming the first real super team of the 21st century. I remember when he had that stupid little television special, then a concert to announce his decision. Those days were the first time I ever really heard the term "super team" used. And, it was true. To pair him up with Bosh and Wade was deemed unfair at the time, and it started to take the parity away in the NBA, at least in the East. These were 3 All Stars in their prime coming together to try and win a title. This was, and always will be, the first super team that I remember being pissed off about because it started to water down the competition.

Since his decision to "take his talents to South Beach", all anyone wants to do now is form "super teams". After LeBron signed on in Miami and they had their run to 4 straight Finals appearances, winning 2, other players started to join forces to try and dethrone the Heat. The Lakers tried by acquiring Dwight Howard and Steve Nash. That didn't work. The Rockets then tried, after they acquired Howard to pair up with Harden. They made the conference Finals, but that was it. The Mavericks tried to do this by offering DeAndre Jordan a contract. He decided to return to LA instead. Hell, even the Spurs tried when they signed LaMarcus Aldridge 2 years ago when he was the prize free agent. It hasn't worked for them either. Even LeBron formed a second super team when he returned to Cleveland and all but demanded they trade away Wiggins and Bennett for Kevin Love.  

LeBron needs to get the hell out of here with a quote or comment like that. He is far too good a player to have to say some stupid shit like this. He is, and always will be, the godfather of forming a super team. He had to in order for him to win a title. There was no way he was going to win a title in his first go round with Cleveland, and he knew that, and he knew that teaming up with a couple other All Stars was his only chance, thus creating the "super team".

Make no mistake, LeBron is an all time great. He is the type of player kids should strive to be, he is a total class act and seems like a good guy. But, this comment, I don't know if it was made out of frustration, anger or if he actually believes it, was one of his biggest oversights, if not his biggest, that he has ever made. He needs to take this loss like he took his 4 other losses in the Finals. I didn't hear anyone on the Warriors last year say they weren't a super team after Cleveland won the title. LeBron shouldn't have, and more importantly, didn't need to say this the other night. It was way out of his context and character.

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 Warriors are Exactly Who We Thought They Were

To the surprise of no one, the Warriors won the NBA title last night. This game felt more like a formality than an actual competitive game. Sure, the Cavs had a lead at halftime, they led by 8 points at one time, the refs missed a big call on KD that could have upped the lead to 9, but did any of us really think that the Warriors, with KD and Draymond, were going to lose another game 5 at home? I don't even think LeBron James believed his team was going to win last night.

Credit due to the Cavs for coming out strong, but they made the same mistake they made all series, and that was trying to run with the Warriors. The Cavs are not built that way, and when you try and run with a historically great offense, you are going to get burned. This was a terrible decision by LeBron, or to people who have no clue and think he is the coach, Ty Lue. To think that you can outscore a great offense, that plays great defense as well, is insane. There was no way the Cavs were going to win more than one game playing like they did. Those guys are not in that type of basketball shape. Sure, LeBron, Kyrie, Kevin Love and Tristan Thompson, who was dreadful in the Finals, may have looked like they could keep pace for a half, but, by the second half, they all had their hands on their head or hips, they were huffing and puffing, tugging on their shorts and neglected to play defense, figuring they'd save their energy for offense.

LeBron looked so gassed, he basically treated defense as an option. This was the worst defense I have ever seen him play. Sure, he put up great offensive numbers, averaging a triple double, but he was getting torched all series long by KD, Steph and even Andre Iguodala. He looked James Harden bad on defense this series. But, did the announcers ever say anything bad about his effort? Of course not. They kept talking about how he was carrying the Cavs and how he "has the heart of a champion". That is so god damn ridiculous. I love LeBron. I think he is probably the second or third best player to ever play the game. He is like no one I have ever watched. But man did he looked just terrible on defense. And, every time he got beat by a back door cut or got beat by a jumper or got beat to the hoop, he never took the blame, instead, always glaring at teammates, or just straight up committing a foul. He was just as bad on defense as he was good on offense.

As for the other Cavs stars, Kyrie was electric in games 3 and 4, but last night he looked hobbled, slower than normal and just as bad as he always does on defense. He's a great ball handler and awesome at getting to the hoop, but he is a ball hog and his jumper is mediocre. Kyrie has a long way to go before he is considered an all timer. Kevin Love played okay, but not great, and last night, he stunk. He came and went throughout the Finals. He would rebound a lot one game, but shoot horribly. Then the next game, it was the other way around. He has become way too inconsistent. I would be surprised if he was still a Cav next year. Tristan Thompson was awful. JR Smith had a good game last night, but he was horrific on defense and a no show for the first three games. Iman Shumpert was dreadful everywhere. Kyle Korver couldn't hit the ocean, and was a total liability on defense. And then we have Deron Williams. Let us please have a moment of silence for Deron Williams, as it seems his career is now over. In fact, the only Cav that looked legitimately interested in winning was Richard Jefferson. That is not the guy you want to hang your hat on. The Cavs were outmatched.

The Warriors are a legit "super team". They got rid of Harrison Barnes, who they won a title with 2 years ago, and got KD in return. That is just not fair. I'm sure there are a thousand pieces today either condemning or congratulating the Warriors on what they did this offseason. I think it just waters down the game that much more. I was looking at Twitter after the game, and a lot of people were saying things that I have been thinking about all throughout these playoffs. These 2 teams, and more importantly, the Warriors, get to play teams like the Magic, 76ers, Lakers and Nets, among many others. Those teams do not belong in the same league as the Cavs, and definitely not the Warriors. It is fact. The Warriors have 3 of the best 5 shooters in the game right now. They have one of the best defenders in all of basketball. They have a great coach that has surrounded himself with other great coaches. They have it all.

The Warriors, at least to me, are what the Yankees were in the 90's. They bought this title. Sure, they earned it on the floor, and I know that 3 of their main guys they drafted, but they got KD. I have no problem with this either. I have sat and thought about it all year. I thought it was a cowards way to a title, and I still do, but he definitely earned that Finals MVP. He was awesome. I just wish he stuck it out in OKC one more year because I think he could have won with Russ. But, he wanted out, and he went to a team that won 73 games a year ago. Like I said, this is just like when the Yankees acquired Alex Rodriguez. They didn't need him, but they wanted him, and they got what they wanted because they had the means to do it. I know this may sound like sour grapes, but it is not meant that way. But, just as I HATED the Yankees, and still do, I do not like the Warriors. In fact, I'd venture to say that the majority of the country, outside of the Bay Area, actively roots against them now. They didn't need KD, but they got him, and they reaped those benefits last night, and all throughout the Finals. KD was awesome. I don't think the title is tainted, but I do not look at this like I did when the Spurs beat up on the Heat a few years ago, or when the Mavericks won, or even back when the Bulls were winning multiple titles in the 90's.

This Warriors title was a forgone conclusion on July 4th 2016. Yes, KD was great. So was Steph. Draymond was everywhere on the floor. Shaun Livingston and Patrick McCaw played great in their limited roles. David West brought a toughness this team needed. Klay's shot may have been off, but he played some of the best defense I have ever witnessed in the Finals. Javale McGee brought energy. In fact, the only liability for the Warriors that I saw was Zaza Pachulia. He was just awful. He is so bad at setting screens. He grabs and fouls on every play. People thought Steven Adams was dirty, but Zaza makes him look like a soft player. Zaza is terrible. The Warriors went out and bought this title in the offseason, and it all came to fruition last night.

The Finals, and the whole playoffs for that matter, left me with a hollow feeling. After the game last night all I thought was, "okay, 4 months until the Warriors start their repeat". That is how I, and a lot of other people, are going to feel for the next 4 or 5 seasons too, as long as the Warriors keep this nucleus in tact. They are all young and in their primes. I do not see anyone beating them.

I don't know who LeBron thinks he can go out and get to, lets face it, someone, Kevin Love, is going to be traded this offseason, try and help the Cavs return and compete with the Warriors. He may try Dwayne Wade or Carmelo Anthony or Boogie Cousins, but I do not see any of those three being able to play with the Warriors. Boogie, who I love, is too slow and more fit for a half court offense. Carmelo is old, his shot is worse and he plays no defense. And Dwayne Wade, see Carmelo Anthony, but shorter.

The NBA is going to be owned by the Warriors for a long time now, so get used to it. The regular seasons and the first 3 rounds of the playoffs will not matter anymore. The only thing that will matter is how many games it will take the Warriors to beat whatever East team LeBron is on. No one is going to challenge either of these teams, and that is the upsetting thing to me as a rabid NBA fan. There is no suspense, and suspense is what makes sports so great.

Well, I guess, congratulations Golden State. You signed a former MVP in his prime and beat an out of shape, careless defensive team to win your third title in 2 years. Hooray. (I'm being sarcastic if you can't tell by my tone) Maybe next season you guys will win 75 plus games and go undefeated in the playoffs. That would sure be a lot of fun. (Again, sarcasm) There is no parity in the NBA anymore. At least not for the next 4 or 5 years. Get used to the Warriors winning non Warriors fans. That's what's going to happen every year until Klay or KD or Steph retire or leave in free agency. That is the only way the Warriors dynasty will end.  

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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Like the Lakers, I am not Very High on Lonzo Ball

I've got a bunch of basketball stuff lined up for this week, and today, I'm going to start off with my take on the whole Lonzo Ball work out for the Lakers, and what has come out since then. Side note, I'll do a mock draft like I did for the NFL as we get closer to the NBA draft. First let's talk about Lonzo.  

About a week or so ago, Lonzo Ball had his solo workout for the Lakers. This has been very much talked about leading up to the draft in a few weeks. Apparently, the Lakers are the only team the Ball family said he would work out for. In fact, the ever annoying Lavar Ball has come out recently and said he wants all of his sons to go to UCLA for one year, leave and get drafted by the Lakers. This dude is out of his god damn mind. All three kids will not be that good. It's the law of averages. Anyway, there was some talk that Ball may work out for the 76ers, but that died pretty quickly the closer we got to the Lakers workout.

Lonzo had his workout, and at first, all seemed well. He went by himself, no Lavar around, to his workout, dinner and interview. I don't remember who exactly it was, either Uproxx Sports or the AV Club, possibly maybe even Deadspin, but they headlined this news by comparing Lonzo Ball to a sixth grader who says stuff like, "I did this all by myself". I found that very funny. But, as I dug a little deeper on these stories, I found out some interesting news.

First off, the Lakers and Luke Walton said that they did not want Lavar Ball anywhere near his workout and the Lakers facility. This was the exact right decision the powers that be made. Lavar Ball is a cancer, and his son is going into the adult world of professional basketball, and he should not be allowed anywhere near his possible future employer. My father never came by the lab I worked in and talked about my greatness as a dental lab technician. This I am very grateful for.

By all accounts the dinner went well. How could it not? This is a dinner where the prospective prospect talks about how great they are and tells the franchise that is taking him out how much he wants to play for that team. These dinners and interviews are designed to be easy and fun for all parties involved. It helps the franchise get to know the prospect, and the prospect gets to know the franchise. It is all good. But, it had to be stated again by everyone involved that Lavar Ball was not allowed to be a part of this.

The fact that everyone has to keep saying that Lavar is not welcome is a big red flag for me. It's like when someone keeps saying that everything is great, but nothing is really great. These people have to keep saying Lavar is not around, but maybe he is there some way, some how. Maybe he is texting his son constantly throughout the whole meal and interview, telling him what to demand and what to say. Lavar Ball is trying every possible way to stay involved because he does not look at his son as his child, but as a money maker. That is pretty awful.

Then, this weekend and today, news came out that the Lakers were "not blown away" by Ball's workout. First off, this is nonsense. The Lakers are going to draft Ball, unless the Celtics, or whoever gets the first pick, passes on Markelle Fultz, then the Lakers will take him. That won't happen, and I'd be willing to bet a lot of money that Ball is going second to the Lakers unless something really crazy happens prior to, or on draft night. Whenever a team talks about a prospect while they are still in college, and it is made known that they want to draft that position, they will take that kid, unless they get hurt. It happens 99.9 percent of the time.

So no, I do not buy the talk coming from everyone in Laker land saying that they weren't blown away. It is all a smoke screen to see if someone gives them a crazy offer for the second pick that immediately makes the Lakers relevant again. I do not see that happening. I don't think any of the teams in the lottery will do that. I think Ball would be a great fit in Phoenix, but they do not have anyone that will immediately turn the Lakers into a playoff team. The 76ers already have a point guard. The Kings want DeAaron Fox, who completely outplayed Ball in the tournament. The Celtics are either taking Fultz or trading the pick for an established star. Everyone else in the lottery seems set with where they are. so no, I do not see the Lakers pulling off some big time deal, and passing up on Ball.

Then today, or maybe yesterday, dumbass Lavar Ball had to open his mouth again and say that "the Lakers are starving for a leader". I do not think Lonzo Ball is any type of leader. He is still a teenager for one. Second, I already mentioned him getting outplayed by Fox in a big time game. Ball quit halfway through the second half of that game. That is not a leader. Third, his shot is trash. There is no way he can take over a game if he has to be the primary scorer. Fourth, the Lakers have players like D'Angelo Russell, Julius Randle and Jordan Clarkson that have been there for at least 2 years, so they know the system and they know the players on the team. Fifth, no rookie since LeBron has come in and been the leader immediately. Lonzo Ball is no LeBron. Not in a million years.

I think Ball is going to be a bust. I think his ceiling is being the 7th or 8th guy off the bench for a fringe playoff team. All this talk recently, the way he finished his college season and his "poor" workout have me very skeptical of him being a good professional basketball player. He does have good court vision, and he is a tall point guard, but when he has to go against the Russell Westbrook's, Kawhi Leonard's, Kyrie Irving's, Steph Curry's and Chris Paul's of the world, he is going to get torched. Lonzo Ball is going to be a Ryan Leaf level bust in the pros, and it will make me so happy to see Lavar Ball fade into his much needed obscurity after that happens. That is my prediction on Lonzo Ball's NBA career.

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. 

Follow Ty on instagram and twitter.

SeedSing is funded by a group of awesome people. Join them by donating to SeedSing.