The Manual Buzzer Podcast: NBA Free Agency 2014

In this episode, Dan, Steve, and Joe are joined by Harry, for what is most definitely is first podcast (and first time with the Buzzer) to discuss NBA free agency. The main topic of discussion is Lebron's return to Northeast Ohio, where the four will touch on what this means for the Eastern Conference and how much Lebron will use his sway on personnel decisions with David Blatt taking on what is otherwise a very young roster. The gang also touch on other recent moves, including the Chris Bosh max deal, and whether Durant will end up a free agent next summer if OKC exits the playoffs early. Tune in to hear all this plus to see if Joe repeats and goes off the deep end in a discussion of free agency once again.

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A Response to "Time for the Hating to Stop"

I understand why Steve wrote what he did about Lebron. The difference in opinion was captured by the annual Q ratings that ESPN publishes. Steve and I went to the same high school and he is 100% right when it comes to the reaction. Loyalty is overvalued, especially by many NBA fans, but it shouldn't be. It's an economic business.

My issue with it is not race. I am clear, like Larry Bird, and anyone will say that it's still about race. It's about my disappointment with how competitive balance is disappearing from the League. Players like Lebron and Wade can carry teams by themselves, both economically and competitively. Lebron spurred an amazing revival for the Cavaliers. Who would've thought in the six years he spent in Cleveland minus his rookie year, the team had minimum yearly capacity of 94%? And he's a pretty damn good player too, averaging 27.7 PPG, 7.0 APG, and 7.7 RPG for his career. Those numbers are unreal, and they held up this year (26.7 PPG, 7.0 APG, 7.5 RPG). In the playoffs, he's grabbing 8.7 RPG, blocking 1.4 shots per game, and he is down by nearly one turnover to 2.8 per game. While the rule is 2 Hall of Famers or don't even think about seeing the Larry O'Brien trophy, Dwyane Wade absolutely dominated the 2006 Finals. Shaq shot 29% on free throws and only averaged 13.7 PPG in the series. Antoine Walker shot too damn much, and Wade shouldered the scoring load as everyone else focused on shutting down the Mavericks and hitting the open shots, which no one had to consistently do during that series.

But now they're playing together because they're friends. I don't think that Isiah and Jordan were friends (see: here and here). However, Jordan was friends with other NBA players, like Barkley (kind of playing into Jeff Van Gundy's mind games theory). But Jordan, like other players during the 1980's and early-to-mid 1990's, had a different perspective on collaboration: if you were the alpha, you ran by yourself and you ran your pack until, like Barkley, you realize that you aren't able to handle the responsibilities of providing stats. Sure, some alphas don't realize that they sometimes can't provide like they once did (see: Jordan in Washington). But they were willing to isolate themselves and prove themselves alone.

Lebron, who in no way lived a cushy life, has a different perspective on how this friendship should manifest. You can see it in More Than A Game, the documentary that followed Lebron and his St. Vincent-St. Mary teammates through high school. The title speaks volumes about Lebron: I bet he loves basketball, but he values what it has given him: his best friends from before he became famous. Hell, he always said if he'd decided to go to college, he would've gone to Akron because two of his high school teammates, Dru Joyce III and Romeo Travis, were playing there.

My problem with Lebron is that he embodies this change. He is a great team player. It is ridiculous how talented he is. The man has amazing touch from everywhere, he could average a double-double every game if he wanted to focus more on crashing the boards or became more pass-first in his approach.

But Lebron has changed a standard that made the NBA so great: the greatest player never banked on another star to help him get a ring until his prime ended (see: Oscar Robertson, Gary Payton). Now, Lebron has helped to decrease competitive balance within the League by making these partnerships more acceptable. This summer, if the Hornets get contracted, we will probably see Chris Paul end up with the Knicks to team with Amar'e and Carmelo. As Steve points out, it remains to be seen whether Melo and STAT will take the opportunity seriously and step up their defensive games. I mourn the time when stars went for it on their own or with one companion followed by a supporting cast. But I cannot fail to mention, I am extremely excited to see these teams gather great players and wage more classic battles like we've seen throughout these playoffs.

The Manual Buzzer 2011 Finals Preview Presented by a rerun of Comedy Central's Roast of David Hasselhoff

It is finally time to see the conflict play out: Will Dirk's magic be enough to overcome The Big 3. Sorry, Carlos Boozer, but I must go back on what I previously tweeted. Chris Bosh OWNED you that series. Maybe better strategic placement of your bag, which was probably from a huge Macy's sale, will help you get better momentum going into the playoffs.

But now we are left with a rematch of the 2006 Finals with the Heat coming out of the East and the Mavs coming out of the West, relatively easily, over inexperienced teams in five game series. Both the Bulls and Thunder will take inventory into their assets and what they will do this offseason to recover from massive disappointments, but it mostly comes down to what both Finals participants have going for them: multiple weapons that have been there before.

Both teams will try to protect their primary scorers on the defensive end. Dirk is probably going to end up having to prevent Joel Anthony gathering garbage points like Charlie Kelly or setting picks that get him switched onto Wade or Lebron, which in the best interest of the Mavericks, will require Dirk to play some matador defense and let the effective help system take over.

Dirk presents a similar quandary to the Heat, but the emergence of Udonis Haslem in Game 2 makes it a much easier puzzle for Spoelestra. If Haslem had been playing the whole regular season, or more than 13 games, no one would be dwelling on the Heat's losing streaks and struggle against the League's elite. But now he provides exactly what Miami needs opposite Bosh. While he struggled in Games 4 and 5, and only saw garbage time in Game 1, Haslem showed himself ready to defend whatever scoring big man would be thrown at him. However, I just doubt that Haslem, at 6'8", has the discipline and athleticism to guard Dirk mano e mano. He will probably effectively provide fouls, but that is about it. Therefore, it falls to Bosh, and possibly Juwan Howard providing fouls off the bench, to make Dirk earn it from the line, which is a foolish proposition following his inhuman 59-61 performance from the stripe against the Thunder. Even if the great David Hasselhoff is invoked again.

A lot is being made of Scottie Pippen's foolish comments about Lebron being better than Jordan, but I think one scenario will be the icing on the cake: if Lebron has to guard Dirk late in the game like he did with Derrick Rose in the Conference Finals and manages to shut him down. I hate to say it, but for how good of a defender Jordan was, he did it mostly on help defense. His most famous defensive play in what I consider his true final game, Game 6 of the 1998 Finals (The Wizards never happened, OKAY?!), came when he helped off of Jeff Hornacek. It was Scottie's job to guard the best offensive backcourt player on the other team, which is probably why he felt spiteful enough to say what he did about Jordan. And when he did get stuck on the other team's best offensive player? Check this video out:

I know this is only one play and near the end of MJ's career, but even then, you have to play smarter and not be made a fool by a young bull like that.

Back to the Finals with the prediction: I think Kevin McHale is right; the Mavs have turned a corner defensively with Tyson Chandler and Brendan Haywood providing the best 1-2 punch at the position in the League. The defensive matchups will be difficult for the Mavs, but as Jason Kidd showed in the Conference Semifinals, he can guard the best because of the support system he has behind him. It will be especially helpful to have DeShawn Stevenson, a man who appreciates Abraham Lincoln's presidency quite a bit, to help out with the defensive burden. Whoever the Heat throw at Dirk will not have the patience to guard him, so I expect him to see the line a lot. Unless the Heat double him, in which case Dirk is smart enough to dish it out to the other three 3-point shooters available to him.

But again, Lebron is Lebron, and Wade is Wade, and for how terrible people think Bosh is, I don't think there is a better third-best player in the League right now. Miami will give them fits with a spread floor with Mike Miller and Mike Bibby, or as I like to call them, "Weird-Lookin' Mikes," spotted up from three. In desperation, James Jones might be added to the rotation, but Haslem's ability to defend, and Jones' complete lack of it, probably means he gets no time.

I have to go with the team that is on fire and has more weapons it can utilize. I just feel like Lebron and Wade will start isolating, which will make them much less effective and lead to the Heat's downfall. Mavs in 7.

NBA Playoffs First Round Podcast, Part 1

Ladies and gentlemen, click this link that says THIS LINK to listen to a podcast featuring myself, MacIntosh, Steve, and Client 9. We discuss the Grizzlies, Z-Bounds and Marc Gasol's pronounciation of the term, Andre Agassi's wigs and other minutiae.

THIS LINK Click to listen in your browser, or right-click (Mac: ctrl+click) to download

The song is our own Client 9's "Can't Touch Me." Check him out here: http://www.myspace.com/client9music

LeBron James: A Reputation in Shambles

Merry Christmas, everyone (it's Christmas, gotta say that over Happy Holidays), and thank heavens for the NBA's five-game slate today, because the NFL is too stupid to have a game today. Remember, the NFL can schedule a game whenever they want to and someone would watch it. It happened Thursday, it will happen when the Yankees or the Red Sox play the Phillies in the World Series in October 2011, it would probably be the biggest ratings boom in the middle of July. But I digress.

The reason I decided to get back on this soapbox is LeBron. Oh, how I loathe that narcissistic turd, but there is something behind this whole contraction opinion he recently shared with the media. Look more closlier:

"Hopefully the league can figure out one way where it can go back to the '80s where you had three or four All-Stars, three or four superstars, three or four Hall of Famers on the same team," James said. "The league was great. It wasn't as watered down as it is [now]."

I hope I'm not the only one that is reading into this at length, but think about it: LeBron wants there to be three or four superstars on every team. Now, I know there is definitely one team in the NBA that arguably has to deal with that situation, and that is the Heat. The Celtics are the only other team to fall under this classification, as Pierce, Allen, and KG continue to maintain such a high level of play. The Lakers have maybe three if you count Odom with Kobe and Gasol, but seriously, LeBron arranged to sign with two other superstars in Miami and now he's complaining that the league is watered down. Look at the team he left: Cleveland is watered down because LeBron isn't there, and they're probably headed to the top of the lottery this year because there's no incentive to play there anymore outside of a decent contract offer.

And other teams are not exactly struggling with less than three superstars. The Knicks are holding their own against the League with only Amar'e having made any All-Star appearances, but Gallinari and Felton could find themselves in the mix for the Mid-Winter Classic. Orlando looks to be in the hunt with the shells of former superstars Agent Zero and VC joining the supporting cast of Dwight Howard.

If LeBron wants to scapegoat the rest of the League for being unwilling to shell out for three max contracts, the guise of contraction is not one he should don. Things were great because of great teams in the '80's, not friends who decided to band together to destroy the system. If only every player had this option. Sorry everyone can't band together to rely on others' talents like you.

LeBron James can never be in consideration for best player of all time.

A few things about the presentation of this decision that was the obvious product of focus groups that proved Cleveland easily discomforts people.

First off, Bing. Why would anyone use Bing now? That has to look like the crappiest place to plug such a crappy site. He'll end up like that Mexican landowner and lose his wife and mistress to somebody like Kirk Hinrich. That hypothetical situation is of course the inspiration for the above Microsoft Paint job. I probably could have found a better moustache, but this shit just makes me happy. Anyways, guess where I found the above picture pre-terrible editing? You guessed it, Alta Vista...yeah, it was Google.

And why Jim Gray for these sensitive situations? Are we still forgetting when Jim Gray made an ass of himself in asking Pete Rose at the 1999 All-Star Game. Let us revisit:

How fun is that? He doesn't want to talk about it, his CAREER IS BEING CELEBRATED!!!! But sure let's just KEEP ASKING HIM. Jim Gray, the most illogical choice for interviewer since...ever. I also like when Rose accidentally says he is getting "a great Asian" from the crowd.

I hope that LeBron reconsiders making his off-season home in Ohio. He did bring some great years to the Cavs, but Craig Ehlo and Brad Daugherty did too. He may have made his name for himself as the best high school player ever, but who cares? It means nothing when you get to the NBA. Remember DeAngelo Collins? Not sure where he was watching this, but I'm betting it wasn't in a McMansion. LeBron is just another NBA player now. He may be popular, but by no means is he a leader. And I just don't buy that these guys can share the ball and get a title the way the Celtics did in 2008. Wade and LeBron are just too ball dominant, and Bosh was only an All-Star because he repped Canada hard. I just can't stomach this team winning on common sense.

The Clippers could have been his opportunity to showcase himself in a global market and play on a damn competent team where he would be first fiddle, with him at the 3 and surrounded by Baron Davis at the 1, Eric Gordon at the 2, a hopefully healthy Blake Griffin at the 4, and Chris Kaman aka Albino Zombie aka "DEY NO NASSING, LE-BAH-SKEE" at the 5. Alas, one of the other teams in contention for LeBron, the Bulls recently fired the coach the Clippers just chose, Vinny Del Negro, who proved himself to have very little ability last season. Way to fuck up, Donald Sterling. One day, you'll learn to care. Nevermind, that will never happen.

And what of New York? Carmelo could still be available next summer, and Amar'e will be most likely going it alone until then since no one else will be available. Denver hasn't been exactly active this summer in pursuing a big gun. But Melo could be out for vengeance this year, as his Olympic buddies have left him out.

Anthony Randolph will be joining the Knicks as David Lee leaves for The Bay to inflate his stats even more under Don Nelson. This could be time for Randolph to come into his own, just as Chris Webber needed Nellie's yolk removed before he could rise to near MVP heights as he did in the late 1990's.

Anyways, I am finally inspired to hate a team as much as I hated the Spurs whenever the won a title. If you play the Heat this season, I'm cheering for you. LeBron, I hope you never win a title. And that your new stepfather is named Delonte West.