It is fitting that the busiest off-season
in the history of the National Basketball Association (NBA) history would be
followed up by a regular season that will be even more crazy and them some. An
early glance of the most anticipated rookie in nearly two decades; renewed
rivalries; anticipated return games; a stellar Christmas Day and MLK Day slate
of games; a plethora of juicy storylines and all the drama that will surely
come with them are what can be expected for the 74th NBA season.
With the release of the 2019-20 NBA schedule on Monday, fans and all 30 teams
can plot their set their course on the most entertaining season, where fans thanks
to the league working with the teams will have a chance to catch all the action
with earlier starting times.
The league worked very closely with all 30
teams and its domestic partners of Turner Network Television (TNT), ESPN, the
American Broadcasting Company (ABC), NBA TV and ESPN Radio to schedule earlier
starting times for the back end of the four networks doubleheader broadcasts to
be viewed by those watching on the East Coast.
Of the 31 doubleheaders that will be
broadcasted on TNT this upcoming season, 12 of them will tip off at 7:30
p.m./10 p.m. eastern standard time or 7 p.m./9:30 p.m.
ESPN will have 22 of their 36 double dip
games tip off at 7:30 p.m./10 p.m. or 7 p.m./9:30 p.m. eastern standard time,
doing away with the 8 p.m./10:30 p.m. start times.
The 8 p.m./10:30 p.m. starts for the
doubleheaders on both networks have been cut from a combined 42 percent from
2018-19, going from 57 combined doubleheader nights last season to 33 for
2019-20. The NBA on TNT will only have two doubleheader nights for the upcoming
season, which will be down from this last one. The 12 Tuesday double dips for
2019-20, nine of them will tip off at 7:30 p.m./10 p.m., with just one at 7
p.m./9:30 p.m.
There will be no games beginning at 8
p.m./10:30 p.m. Wednesday nights on ESPN, where they had 18 such games that
started in those time slots a season ago. The 21 games that “The Worldwide
Leader in Sports” will broadcast a doubleheader on “Hump Day,” 15 of them will
tip off at 7:30 p.m./10 p.m., with one double dip tipping off at 7 p.m./9:30
p.m.
One of the biggest issues the league has
had to deal with the last couple of seasons is the term “Load Management,”
where healthy players, particularly stars sit out games to rest themselves,
especially the star players like four-time Kia MVP and three-time NBA Finals
MVP LeBron James of the Los Angeles Lakers, two-time NBA Finals MVP now of the
Los Angeles Clippers Kawhi Leonard, the now Brooklyn Nets All-Star guard Kyrie
Irving and many more.
To remedy that from consistently happening
for the upcoming season, the league has dropped those dreaded to an all-time
low of for a fifth consecutive season to an average of four each of the 30
teams. The average total of back-to-back to be played for the 2019-20 NBA
campaign will be 12.4. That is down from the 13.3 that teams played on average
in 2018-19.
To put that into context, the amount of
back-to-backs in the NBA has gone down 36 percent since the 2014-15 NBA
campaign, which equates to an average of 19.3 back-to-backs. That number went
down by seven percent from a season ago.
“It’s great that the schedule continues to
be more spread out. Fewer back-to-backs. No four-in-fives. No eight-in-twelves.
Fewer games in seven nights,” former Atlanta Hawks general manager from
2015-17, now NBATV analyst Wes Wilcox said on the NBATV 2019-20 Schedule
Release Show on Monday afternoon.
“And really the NBA has done this by a
shorter preseason, which was a number of years ago and a computerized schedule
process, which ultimately is good for the teams and the players, specifically
as we get to this whole ‘Load Management’ conversation.”
As NBATV’s Jared Greenberg pointed out on
Monday afternoon, up until a couple of years ago, the NBA game schedule was
done by hand.
For the third straight season, none of the
30 teams will playing four-games-in-5 days and for the second straight season
the NBA will not have its teams play eight games in 12 days.
Wilcox, who also served as Director of
Player Personnel for the Cleveland Cavaliers from 2008-10 pointed out that we
will still see players be rested strategically this upcoming season. When it
comes to “Load Management,” he pointed out that it is always easier for the “good
teams” to rest players.
“When you’re a young team, and you’re
trying to play your way in, we don’t have to deal with this ‘Load Management’
situation,” Wilcox said. “But ultimately the ‘Load Management’ thing it’s not
just about resting players and managing injury and managing careers. Teams like
to do it, specifically coaches because it’s a good way to manage the roster.
Give, you know everybody-the backup and the third string guy-get a chance to
play one level up as maybe a starter and a backup. And in the player
development process too. Help a young player get a chance to play and show it
on the court, what he’s been working on in practice.”
Also, ESPN, ABC, NBA TV, and TNT will also
present flexible scheduling during the regular season to provide the most
compelling matchups for the national audience to view.
The tip-off of the 74th NBA season,
presented by Kia begins on, Oct. 22, 2019 on TNT, presented by Autotrader with
the Zion Williamson era beginning as the New Orleans Pelicans take on the
defending NBA champion Toronto Raptors, who will get their championship rings
and raise their title banner to the roof of Scotiabank Arena.
Four of the first five games the Pelicans
will play to start this season will be on national television, where the entire
nation will get to see Williamson, the No. 1 overall pick in the 2019 NBA Draft
out of Duke University.
Of the teams that will play at least
20-plus total games on TNT ESPN, and ABC, the Lakers lead with 31 appearances
for this upcoming NBA season, followed by the Warriors with 27; Clippers and
Rockets tied with 26; Celtics with 25; 76ers and Bucks each with 24; and the
Trail Blazers and Pelicans with 20 each.
The teams with less than 20 games on
national television for the 2019-20 season consist of the Denver Nuggets with
17; the Utah Jazz with 16; the Dallas Mavericks with 13; the Brooklyn Nets with
12 and the defending NBA champion Toronto Raptors with just 11.
Last season with perennial All-Star
Anthony Davis on the roster, the Pelicans had a total of 11 of their games that
were national televised. That is the impact that Williamson has had on the
Hornets, who played just a few minutes during NBA Summer League last month, who
recently just signed a huge shoe contract with Nike.
“First of all, when you’re the No. 1 pick
there’s automatically gonna be built in pressure,” Hall of Famer and NBA on TNT
studio analyst Charles Barkley said on NBATV’s 2019-20 Schedule Release Show.
“He’s a great kid. I think he’s got great potential. I know Alvin Gentry gonna
do a fantastic job trying to shield him away, to relax and just play. But man,
he looks so exciting. I look forward to seeing him not on television, I wanna
go see him play in person.”
That will be followed by the first of four
battle for bragging rights and more in the battle of L.A. between the Lakers,
led by James and newest addition Anthony Davis taking on the co-tenants of Staples
Center the Los Angeles Clippers, and their new dynamic All-Star duo of Leonard
and perennial All-Star Paul George, who the Clippers acquired from the Oklahoma
City Thunder earlier this summer. George is still a question mark as he is
recovering from surgery on both shoulders earlier this off-season.
“I’m really looking forward to that game,”
Barkley said. “You know what would be even better? If they play each other in
the Western Conference Finals and we just have to stay in L.A. and wouldn’t
have to do any traveling. That would be my perfect scenario for the Western Conference
Finals, since we got that this year.”
ESPN coverage of the 2019-20 NBA regular
season begins one night later when the Boston Celtics and their newest addition
in All-Star Kemba Walker play at the Philadelphia 76ers and their one-two
All-Star punch of Joel Embiid and Ben Simmons at 7:30 p.m.
The backend of the doubleheader will
feature a rematch of last season’s Western Conference Semifinals with the
Denver Nuggets at the Western Conference runner-up the Portland Trail Blazers
at 10 p.m.
The NBA on TNT starts its Thursday
schedule with the Eastern Conference runners-up the Milwaukee Bucks, led by
reigning Kia MVP Giannis Antetokounmpo at the Houston Rockets, and their newest
backcourt tandem of James Harden and Russell Westbrook, who they acquired from
the Thunder in the middle of July.
If Westbrook gets a triple-double in Game
1 of the regular season, he will move into second place, all-time in NBA
history, passing Hall of Famer Earvin “Magic” Johnson for.
The backend of this twin-bill will feature
the anticipated grand opening of the new state of the art Chase Center in San
Francisco, CA as the Clippers visit the Warriors in San Francisco, CA.
ESPN kicks off their Friday night slate
with a doubleheader, beginning with the home debut of Williamson, the No. 1
overall pick in 2019 draft makes his home debut at Smoothie King Center as the
Pelicans host the Dallas Mavericks, with their reigning Kia Rookie of the Year
Luka Doncic and Kristaps Porzingis, who will be making his long awaited debut and the Dallas Mavericks on Friday, Oct. 22 at
8 p.m.
That will be followed by the Lakers
hosting back-to-back reigning Kia Defensive Player of the year Rudy Gobert and
new edition Mike Conley and the Utah Jazz, who were one of five NBA squads to
win at least 48 games for three straight seasons. That will be the first of 10
times the Jazz will be seen on ESPN this upcoming season.
“It’s exciting. I think all of us that are
a part of the Jazz organization, the city, we’re all excited,” Conley told ESPN’s
Rachel Nichols at the opening of the NBA Experience at Walt Disney World in
Orlando, FL Monday afternoon. “And we feel like we have a chance to do
something really special.”
“Have a great group of guys, great
coaching staff and the season for most teams feel like its wide open. And a lot
of teams have a chance to do something big. So, we feel like we’re one of those
teams.”
NBATV closes out Week 1 of the new season
with a triple-header on Oct. 26, beginning with the Miami Heat and their prize
free agent addition in four-time All-Star Jimmy Butler at the Bucks at 5 p.m.
The middle game will feature the Madison
Square Garden debut of No. 3 overall pick in the 2019 draft, presented by State
Farm RJ Barrett as the New York Knicks host the Celtics at 7:30 p.m.
The night cap will feature the Clippers at
the Phoenix Suns, and their new head coach Monty Williams.
The biggest day for the NBA season will
feature five matchups on Christmas Day, Wednesday Dec. 25, 2019.
The quintet of games will begin at 12 p.m.
on ESPN with the first Christmas Day contest for the Raptors as the defending
NBA champs will host the Celtics.
ABC will take the lead of the schedule
with a doubleheader, that starts with the first 76ers home game on Christmas
Day since 1988 as they host the Milwaukee Bucks at 2:30 p.m.
That will be followed by the only playoff
rematch from last spring between the five-time defending Western Conference
champion Golden State Warriors hosting the Rockets at 5 p.m. on ABC.
The fourth game of St. Nick’s day will
feature the second tilt between the Lakers and Clippers that will be simulcasted
on ESPN and ABC at 8 p.m. The 16-time NBA champion Lakers will be looking to
add to their NBA-record of 23 wins on Christmas Day. They will two more times following
that meeting Jan. 28, 2020 and Mar. 8, 2020.
The Christmas Day quintet concludes with
the first Christmas home game in a quarter century for the Nuggets versus the
Pelicans at 10:30 p.m. on ESPN.
The other marquee day on the NBA calendar
is Martin Luther King Day, Jr., which will begin with a matinee tilt on NBA TV,
followed by a TNT tripleheader on Jan. 20, 2020.
It all begins at 2:30 p.m. with as
five-time All-Star Kyle Lowry leads the defending NBA champions to State Farm
Arena to take on 2018-19 NBA All-Rookie First Team selection Trae Young and the
Atlanta Hawks.
TNT’s triple dip begins with the 17th
Annual MLK, Jr. Celebration Game from Memphis, TN between the Pelicans at the
Grizzlies in the first tilt between the top two draft picks in the 2019 NBA
Draft in Williamson and Ja Morant at 5 p.m.
The NBA’s biggest rivals renew
acquaintances at 7:30 p.m. as the 16-time NBA champion Lakers visit the 17-time
NBA champion Celtics on TNT. In their matchup at TD Garden last season on this
day, former Celtic Rajon Rondo hit a jumper at the buzzer that gave the Lakers
a 129-128 win against his former team.
The concluding game at 10 p.m. will
feature a Western Conference Finals rematch with the Warriors visiting the
Portland Trail Blazers. The Warriors swept the Trail Blazers 4-0 in the
Conference Finals last spring and have won 12 of the 13 times they have met in
the postseason in three of the last four seasons.
For the fifth straight season, the NBA
will take centerstage to close out the week with NBA Saturday Primetime beginning
Jan. 18, 2020 with the Week 13 contest of the Lakers at Rockets. There will be
nine games featured, with each scheduled to air at 8:30 p.m. Eastern, that will
conclude in Week 25 with the Warriors at Clippers on Apr. 11, 2020.
The NBA Sunday Showcase on ABC, where six
Sunday afternoon games will air, beginning on Feb. 2 with the Week 15 clash
between with the Pelicans visiting the Rockets at 2 p.m. and the Bucks versus
the Celtics wrapping up the slate at 3:30 p.m. in Week 24 on Apr. 5, 2020.
While opening night of “The Association;”
the Christmas Day quintet and the quartet of games on MLK, Jr. Day will be
grabbing our attention, the 1,230 scheduled games will also consist of some
notable return games that will feature some serious fireworks.
Leonard as previously mentioned helped
lead the Raptors to their first NBA title in their 24-year history after they
took down the defending champion Warriors 4-2 back in June. However, he left in
free agency to sign with the Clippers. He should receive a hero’s welcome from
Raptors nation when he makes his return to ‘The North’ on Dec. 11 at 7 p.m. on
ESPN.
Perennial All-Star Paul George spent two
seasons with the Oklahoma City Thunder before requesting a trade to team up
with Leonard and the Clippers earlier this summer. He will make his first of
two return visits to Chesapeake Arena as an opponent when the Clippers meet up
with the Thunder and nine-time All-Star lead guard Chris Paul on Dec. 22 at 7
p.m. on NBATV.
There is no question that Perhaps the
Westbrook will be given a vociferous ovation when the all-time leading scorer
in Thunder history returns on Jan. 9, 2020 at 9:30 p.m. when the Rockets visit
the Thunder on TNT.
The same can be expected in the “Queen
City” when three-time All-Star Kemba Walker, the all-time leader in points and
three-pointers made in Charlotte Hornets’ history returns to Spectrum Center
when the Hornets host the Celtics on Thursday, Nov. 7 at 8 p.m. on TNT.
Walker went to the Celtics via a
sign-and-trade for reserve guard Terry Rozier on a four-year, $141 million
deal.
Wilcox said of Walker’s career with the
Hornets, “One of the all-time great players for the organization, you know?”
“The expectation was he was going to
re-sign. It did not work out. Tough situation for the Charlotte Hornets with Kemba
making All-NBA. But he certainly ended up in a great spot in Boston.”
The exact opposite ovation will be given
to All-Star Kyrie Irving, who is expected to be booed vociferously when he and
the Brooklyn Nets visit the Celtics at TD Garden on Nov. 27 at 7 p.m. on ESPN.
“There’s going to be a lot of booing,”
Amin Elhassan said on Monday’s edition of “NBA: The Jump” on ESPN about the reception
Irving will get from Celtics’ nation. “There’s going to be a lot of booing
because of that promise. Because of the chemistry issues that happened through
the year. Then also the Celtics have done a great job of framing him as a villain.”
Fellow perennial All-Star Anthony Davis will
get the same treatment and maybe more plenty of boos from the faithful of “The
Big Easy” for the first time as a visitor when the Lakers visit the Pelicans Lonzo
Ball, Brandon Ingram and Josh Hart will be looking for revenge of their own
against their former team at 9:30 p.m. on ESPN. Ball, Ingram, and Hart were
what the Pelicans got in return for Davis earlier this summer.
“I can see a situation where they don’t
boo him,” Elhassan said. “If the Pelicans are playing well-this is about a
month or so into the season, I think everybody’s going to feel good like, ‘Hey
man, you moved on. We got better as a result. Everyone’s happy. If they are
struggling, then yeah, the boos are gonna come out.”
Back in 2015, the Knicks selected power
forward/center Kristaps Porzingis with the No. 4 overall pick in the draft.
While he earned his first All-Star selection in 2018, injuries have robbed him
of fully displaying his potential as the centerpiece in the “Big Apple,” as he
spent all of last season out due to a torn ACL sustained in his left knee two
seasons back.
He was traded last January to the Dallas
Mavericks along with Tim Hardaway, Jr. last season, and both will make their
returns to Madison Square Garden as visitors when the boys from “Big D” make
their only appearance at the Knicks on Thursday Nov. 14 at 8 p.m. on TNT.
Lead guard Mike Conley makes his return to
Fed EX Forum, also known as the “Grindhouse,” where he spent the first 12 years
of his NBA career, becoming the all-time leader in points, assists, steals and
games played, and the backbone of a team that was a playoff perennial in the
middle of the 2000s. His new team the Utah Jazz visit the Memphis Grizzlies
Friday, Nov. 15 at 8 p.m. on ESPN.
On Dec. 12, Al Horford, who declined the
last year of contract of close to $30 million with the Celtics earlier this
summer and signed with the 76ers will make his return to TD Garden when the
boys from the city of “Brotherly Love” play at the C’s at 8 p.m. on TNT.
Horford played three seasons in “Beantown,” where he served as the backbone on
both ends for a Celtics teams that reached the Eastern Conference Finals in the
springs of 2017 and 2018. It will be interesting to see how the Boston faithful
will react to him that night.
While he only played a total of 67
combined regular-season and playoff games for the 76ers this past season after
being acquired from the Minnesota Timberwolves in Nov. 2018, he is now with the
Miami Heat after a sign-and-trade earlier this summer.
He will make his return to Philadelphia
when the Heat come to town to take on the 76ers on Saturday night Nov. 23 at
the Wells Fargo Center.
It will be interesting to see how the
crowd on that night reacts to Butler’s return. Will they boo him, as they have
been famous of doing to visiting players as well as their own sometimes or not?
There is one serious under-radar-game on
Jan. 3, 2020 with the Hawks visiting the Celtics on Jan. 3, 2020. If the
recently re-signed Vince Carter has a dunk at any point in the new year, he
will become the first player in NBA history to dunk a basketball in four
different decades.
“He’s incredible,” Wilcox said of Carter,
the 20th all-time leading scorer in NBA history who will play in an
NBA record 22nd season when things tip off in late October. “It’s
great to see him too mentoring the younger kids here in Atlanta.”
The 2019-20 NBA campaign will also feature
three games outside the United States beginning with two contests at the Arena
Ciudad de Mexico in Mexico City, which will mark the first time four NBA squads
will play in Mexico in one regular-season, which began in 1992.
The fourth straight season of two
regular-season games being played in Mexico City will begin with a tilt between
the Dallas Mavericks and Detroit Pistons on Thursday, Dec. 12, followed by the
San Antonio Spurs and Phoenix Suns on Saturday, Dec. 14.
These will be the 29th and 30th
regular-season games held in Mexico City, the most held in any country outside
the U.S.A. and Canada.
The games will be broadcasted live on ESPN
Deportes, Televisa and Directv’s “NBA League Pass in Mexico, that will reach
fans in over 200 countries and territories.
“NBA Games in Mexico City are a core part
of our efforts to reach and engage basketball fans throughout Mexico and Latin
America,” NBA Commissioner Adam Silver said back in early June. “With a record
four NBA teams visiting Mexico City next season, we expect an unprecedented
level of interest and excitement around these games and our surrounding
community events.”
Zignia Live Director of Business
Development & Strategic Partnerships Ignacio Saenz added, “We have a great
partnership with the NBA and are proud of everything we have achieved
together.”
“The road has been very satisfying and filled
with many happy moments thanks to the effort of all the teams. Thanks to the
unconditional support of the fans, we can say that the best basketball in the
world will come once again to Mexico on December 12 and 14 as both Zignia and
the NBA will continue their commitment to grow the game in Mexico.”
The NBA will also be in Paris this season
for the NBA Paris Game 2020, presented by beIN SPORTS as the Hornets and Bucks
will square off in the league’s first regular-season contest in France on Jan.
24 at 3 p.m.
The first matchup between the league’s NBA
Finalists from this past June in the Warriors and Raptors will not take place
until March 5 when the two teams meet at the Chase Center on Mar. 5, 2020 on
TNT.
ESPN, TNT, and ABC will have you covered
in what is likely going to be the most anticipated NBA Playoff action starting on
April 18, 2020.
TNT will have exclusive coverage of the
2020 Eastern Conference Finals, while the Western Conference Finals will be
exclusively televised on TNT, which will also air nearly all the events for the
2020 NBA All-Star Weekend in Chicago, IL from Feb. 14-16, with the main event
the 69th NBA All-Star Game on Sunday, Feb. 16, 2020 from the United
Center.
Other important dates to focus on for the
2019-20 NBA season include the free agency trade date of Dec. 15, which means
any player that was signed during free agency would not be trade eligible until
this date, which is nearly 40 percent of “The Association.”
This date will be focused on more than
ever because there are some notable players that are rumored to be on the move
around this date like All-Star and NBA champion Kevin Love of the Cleveland
Cavaliers, who signed a four-year, $120 million contract extension on July 24,
2018.
Two-time All-Star Bradley Beal of the
Washington Wizards, who was offered a three-year, $111 million extension
earlier this summer. Beal has up until the day of the start of this upcoming
regular season to inform the Wizards that he will accept or decline that
extension.
Paul, who was dealt earlier this summer to
the Thunder from the Rockets for Westbrook, who the Thunder tried to move, but
could not because of the three years and nearly $124 million left on his
contract.
Phoenix Suns star guard Devin Booker, who
just signed a five-year, $158 million max contract extension on July 7, 2018.
The underachieving Andrew Wiggins of the
Minnesota Timberwolves, who also signed a contract extension two summers back.
Perhaps the one player who will be the
most sought after is three-time NBA champion with the Warriors is All-Star
Andre Iguodala, who is with the Grizzlies right now and who want to get some
asset(s) in return for him, and not just buy him out of what is left on his
contract.
The trade deadline will be on Feb. 6,
2020, which is eight days prior to the start of All-Star Weekend on Valentine’s
Day-Feb. 14, 2020.
Of those six names, Paul and Iguodala are available
on the trade market after Dec. 15, according to Wilcox. Booker and Wiggins are
more so down the road if the Suns or Timberwolves front office feel a serious
shakeup on their respective teams is necessary.
The two players to watch as the 2019-20
NBA season begins are Love and Beal.
The Cavaliers are clearly in the process
of a rebuild, which makes Love name one to keep a serious eye on, especially if
he starts this season strong right off the bat, and shows he is healthy.
In the case of Beal, it has been reported
as previously mentioned that the Wizards front office, led by Tommy Sheppard
reportedly offered the aforementioned two-time All-Star a three-year contract
extension.
If he says no to that extension, which he
has up until Monday Oct. 21 to inform the Wizards whether he will accept for
decline the extension.
Wilcox pointed out that the good news for the
Wizards is that they have one of the most respected and seasoned executives in “The
Association” running the show in their front office. He will need that and then
some to deal not just with the uncertainty of All-Star lead guard John Wall,
who is likely out for the entire 2019-20 season recovering from an Achilles
injury and that the four-year, $171 million max contract extension he signed in
July 2017 starts this upcoming season.
“If he does not sign the extension, I
would think they would look at it very, very seriously at the trade deadline,”
Wilcox said about the possibly of the Wizards trading Beal.
The 2020 NBA Finals presented by YouTube
TV will be televised exclusively on ABC for the 18th consecutive
season.
It has been a crazy summer of drastic
change in the National Basketball Association, where a number of teams will
come into the 2019-20 season with hopes of winning the Larry O’Brien trophy. With
the schedule out for the upcoming NBA season, the anticipation has been raised
in a major way. It all gets underway on Oct. 22 on TNT.
Information and quotations are courtesy of
7/25/19 https://www.nbcsports.com/washington
story, “John Wall’s New Contract with Wizards, By The Numbers,” by Chase Hughes;
8/12/19 3 p.m. edition of “NBA: The Jump”
on ESPN with Rachel Nichols and Amin Elhassan; 8/12/19 3 p.m. NBATV’s “2019-20
Schedule Release Show,” with Jared Greenberg and Wes Wilcox; 8/12/19 www.nba.com story, “NBA Unveils
2019-20 Game and National Television Schedules; https://hoopshype.com/player/chris-paul/salary;
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kevin_Love#2018-19_season;
and https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Devin_Booker#2018-19_season.
Three seasons back the Cleveland Cavaliers
overcame a 3-1 deficit against the then defending NBA champion Golden State
Warriors to win Game 7 in their gym and capture not just their first Larry
O’Brien trophy in franchise history but won the city of Cleveland’s first major
sports title in 52 years. While the end result was something to celebrate,
behind the curtain things were very uneasy and at times difficult in “The
Land,” which their former general manager talked about at the start of this
month.
At the start of this month, the New
Orleans Pelicans’ Executive Vice President of Basketball Operations David
Griffin went on the record with “Sports Illustrated” about his relationship
with four-time league MVP and former Cleveland Cavalier LeBron James, his tenure with the Cleveland Cavaliers, first as
Vice President of Basketball Operations in 2010, and his final three seasons
with the organization as their General Manager, and his beginning in the New
Orleans front office that began on Apr. 17, 2019.
The Phoenix, AZ native shed light on his
time with the Cavaliers saying that they won their 2016 title despite their
culture, specifically saying, “Everything we did was so inorganic and
unsustainable. I was miserable. Literally the moment we won the championship I
knew I was gonna leave. There was no way I was gonna stay for any amount of
money.”
To put into perspective how miserable
Griffin was at that time, as the team was popping champagne bottles in the
locker room of Oracle Arena after the Game 7 victory, Griffin privately wept in
a broom closet.
The 45-year-old Griffin had basically
removed everything that happened that night except for delivering the city’s
aforementioned first title in a little over five decades from his
consciousness.
“I didn’t watch the league, and I didn’t
love the game anymore,” Griffin said. “I was so fixated on outcome that I just
totally lost my joy.”
These comments were particularly stunning
to James, who according to then Cavaliers beat reporter for ESPN Dave McMenamin
who maintained a very positive relationship in the years that followed after
Griffin’s departure from the Cavaliers.
Recently James went on his Twitter account
and shouted out Griffin’s wife Meredith Hale and a charity even she was working
with that she created to his more than 43 million followers. The best kind of
free promotion that one can ever receive as a sign of goodwill.
ESPN’s Ramona Shelburne pointed out on the
Aug.1 edition of “NBA: The Jump” on ESPN that Griffin’s frustration that came
out in this article were more with Cavaliers Owner Dan Gilbert than they were
necessarily with James and his agent of “Klutch Sports” Rich Paul and the inner
circle around James.
“But sometimes you say things later,” She
said about what came out from Griffin. Now, he has the experience of really
running his own franchise, where Gayle Benson [Pelicans owner] has empowered
him to just, ‘You’re in charge Grif. You do things you’re way.’
In an appearance on Friday’s edition of
“NBA: The Jump” on ESPN, Griffin elaborated on his point of being miserable and
uncomfortable it came from his inability take on the media scrutiny that came
with a LeBron James led squad.
“It wasn’t the man himself,” Griffin said.
“It was everything that came with a team led by LeBron James. It had nothing to
do with being miserable with LeBron. We had and have very positive
relationship.”
Another underlining factor of this whole
situation is the struggles that Griffin and his wife Meredith with creating a
family of her own as she suffered two miscarriages, and had a battle with
testicular cancer, which led to the removal of the affected organ. Mrs. Griffin
also faced two more bouts of testicular cancer in 2011 and 2017, which made the
dream of having kids was not going to be easy.
It was through Griffin’s time in the front
offices first with the Phoenix Suns and then the Cavaliers where the Griffin’s
to fill this void in their lives. During their time in Cleveland, Mrs. Griffin
was the one behind the Cavs’ Better Halves program, where viewing parties were
organized and shopping trips with the wives of the players and baking events
for the kids. The program went so well that the entire team referred to Mrs.
Griffin as “BossLady.”
While Meredith took care of that, her
husband was trying to guide a young front office as if they were his own
family. The pressures of trying to continuously build a roster around James
that could contend year-after-year for the Larry O’Brien trophy began to mount,
especially when James returned to Cleveland when he told the Cavs nation and
the rest of the world he was coming back to the Cavaliers in ironically enough
in a story in “Sports Illustrated” five summers ago.
Jorge Sedano, radio host for ESPN LA said
on Thursday that when James wrote that piece about his return Griffin
celebrated and then immediately collapsed to the floor of his office, shedding
tears because of the pressure that would follow.
Mr. Gilbert also played a role in this
because he opened up his wallet recognizing that a 52-year championship drought
was hanging over his head that he was trying to erase. Also, you had a great
player in James who came back to you after leaving for the Miami Heat in the
summer of 2010 and leading them to four straight NBA Finals appearances and two
straight titles in 2012 and 2013 to bring that elusive title back to “The
Land.” Also, James would sign basically two-year deals, with a player option
for the second year to keep that pressure of building a title contending team
up at all times.
“We won despite our culture to a huge
degree. And I knew it. I knew what we weren’t doing,” Griffin said. “There was
so many things during that period of time that I wanted to do differently. If
you make everything about, ‘It’s a destination. Dame the torpedoes, I gotta get
there,’ that might be the only time you get there.”
Even with all that, Griffin said in the
article that James approval of Griffin as the decision maker in the Cavaliers
front office was a big reason they were able to have a steady dialogue, though
he also said that he and LBJ had very difficult conversations, which was a
major reason the two had a great working relationship. He was willing to tell
the Michael Jordan of today what he might not like to hear but he respected the
fact that it was coming from a place of reason.
That said, Griffin said in the article
about James after the team won the title in 2016 about the team falling to the
Warriors the next two times in The Finals in 2017 and 2018, “There wasn’t a lot
else for him. I don’t think he’s the same animal anymore about winning.”
He added about why a lot of players in the
league feel pressure playing along James, like now Brooklyn Net Kevin Durant,
“LeBron is getting all the credit and none of the blame. And that’s not fun for
people. They don’t like being part of that world.”
James added fuel to that fire by saying to
Joe Vardon of “The Athletic” during the 2017 NBA Playoffs saying, “That I have
nothing left to prove.”
While James said that, it does not mean he
does not care about winning. If that were the case, he would not have gone to
the franchise last summer that eats that word for breakfast, lunch, and dinner.
Griffin said on Friday when asked about
this by ESPN Lakers beat writer Dave McMenamin about James’ desire to win
before winning that 2016 title, it was a conversation that was a reflection on
the team’s failings and the lessons from those setbacks that were going to be
applied now with the Pelicans. One of those things Griffin took ownership of
was the fact he “failed miserably” in getting everyone in the Cavaliers’
organization to the precise sense of urgency following the title in 2016.
“And my belief at that time was there’s no
way anyone can be born in Akron, OH, deliver the first championship in 52 years
to Cleveland, OH and be the same human being. It’s not possible. You’re a
person. You’re a human being. And my fear at that time was he [James] would not
have that same animal-like desire to win, and what we’ve seen he’s gone to
multiple Finals since.”
That is why he posted on his Twitter
account @KingJames on Friday afternoon, “Alright alright. Enough is enough. The
throne has been played with to much and I ain’t for horseplay. Ether coming
soon! [smile emoji] followed by [nine fire emojis] and an [emoji crown] #JamesGang
[fist emoji].
Also, James in what would be his last
season with the Cavaliers in 2017-18, he played in all 82 games for the first
time in his career and followed that up with his finest postseason ever with
averages of 34.0 points, 9.1 rebounds, nine assists on 53.9 percent from the
field.
He continues even at age 34 to test the
limits of his body heading into year No. 17 for the “Purple and Gold.”
You put up with some of his antics, which
on the surface are really not much because when playoff time comes, he is ready
and has more often than not delivered.
Last season with the Lakers, things as we
saw did not go right. Whether it was the team around him, that consisted of
youngsters Lonzo Ball, Kyle Kuzma and Brandon Ingram, who got a taste of what
it means to be in the spotlight for the first time. That led to James missing
the playoffs for the first time since his second year in the NBA in 2005 and
the Lakers sixth straight season with no playoffs.
“You know, that dude’s ready,” Kuzma said
to ESPN’s Cari Champion at the “Call of Duty: Modern Warfare Multi-Player”
reveal in L.A. on Thursday about how LeBron is preparing for the upcoming
season. “He’s ready, you know?”
“I think this year, this offseason, you
know, you just see people, you know, slandering his name, and saying this about
him, saying that. But you know, he’s been super motivated this offseason, you
know? Working between, you know shooting movies, he’s in the gym early, night
whatever. So, you know, just being locked in, you know? That’s the biggest thing
being talked about. Being ready for it all.”
Three years ago, the city of Cleveland celebrated its greatest moments since the NFL’s Cleveland Browns won it all in 1964. As the “Sports
Illustrated” article pointed out though it was not all peaches and cream with
how that moment came to fruition.
No matter what side you are of whether you
think David Griffin did on giving us a peak behind the curtain, he made the
choice to say how he felt and if it makes him a better NBA executive with this
chance as the leader in the front office of the New Orleans Pelicans, then the
city of New Orleans, LA with Zion Williamson, Lonzo Ball, Brandon Ingram, Josh
Hart and the rest of that cast have a bright future.
As for the Lakers, led by LeBron James,
they hope their future consist of them ending the longest playoff drought in
franchise history in the spring of 2020 and hopefully the 17th title
in franchise history to boot.
Information, statistics, and quotations
are courtesy of 8/1/19 www.si.com
article, “How David Griffin Rebuilt The Pelicans and His World,” by Jake
Fischer; 8/1/19 and 8/2/19 3 p.m. edition of “NBA: The Jump” on ESPN with Jorge
Sedano, Ramona Shelburne, and Dave McMenamin; https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Griffin_(basketball);
and https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/LeBron_James#Playoffs.
Two years ago, he scoffed at the idea of
coming off the bench when asked that in his first and only training camp with
the Oklahoma City Thunder. In what would be his first and only season with the
Houston Rockets, this perennial All-Star, and future Hall of Famer to that
secondary role. That experiment as well as his time with “Clutch City” was even
shorter. Still without a team and the prospects of his career possibly ending
not on his terms but without a ring, the No. 3 overall pick in the 2003 draft sat
down for an interview with ESPN to explain in his own words how last season
went completely south.
After accepting a Sixth Man role with the
Houston Rockets at the start of the 2018-19 NBA season, 10-time All-Star
Carmelo Anthony seemed poised and ready to help perennial All-Stars James
Harden and Chris Paul, his close friend dethrone the eventual five-time Western
Conference champion and two-time defending NBA champion Golden State Warriors.
That experiment lasted just 10 games, with
the Rockets going just 4-6 and while Anthony scored 20-plus on four of those 10
occasions, General Manager Daryl Morey through a statement said that Anthony
and the Rockets would be “parting ways.”
This short partnership, where Anthony
averaged 13.4 points and 5.4 rebounds on just 40.5 percent shooting concluded
when the Rockets traded the three-time Olympic Gold Medalist and 2013 NBA
scoring leader on Jan 22nd to the Chicago Bulls, who waived him on
Feb. 1.
The former Denver Nugget, New York Knick
and Rocket still has not been signed by a team this off-season and in an
hour-long sit-down interview with Stephen A. Smith on ESPN’s “First Take” from
Los Angeles on Friday morning revealed that he “felt fired after making a major
effort to make the most of his reduced role with the Rockets a season ago.
“I was surprised by it big time,” Anthony
said to Smith about basically being told to go home, right on the heels of a
28-point performance at the Brooklyn Nets back in Nov. 2018. “It went from, ‘Oh
this is a piece that we want. This is the piece that we need.’”
“Mind you, we’ve been talking for three
years, four years they was trying to get me to come to the Houston Rockets, and
I finally went there. They finally said, ‘Okay, this is the piece that we
need.’”
Anthony went on to say that he finally
gets to “Clutch City” he is doing everything he needs to do from practicing and
being very professional to everyone in the organization from the top on down
and all of a sudden, the Rockets pull the plug on the whole situation.
He would go on to say that he tried to
reach out to GM Morey on how to resolve the situation. What could Anthony do to
fix the situation?
“But then he had in mind that he wanted to
come talk to me too about releasing me and letting me go. I did not like how
that went down,” Anthony said.
In the blink of an eye, the Rockets said
goodbye to a 10-time All-Star, six-time All-NBA selection and according to
Smith, Anthony played a game in that 10-game stretch against his former team
the Thunder on Nov. 8, 2018 (98-80) on TNT, traveled with the Rockets to San
Antonio, TX for the next game at the Spurs two nights later where he played
that night in the team’s 96-89 loss.
Anthony said to Smith as he was in his
hotel room getting ready for the contest at the Spurs where he was supposed to
speak to Morey that night, as he reached out to find out what he could do to
help the team.
When the two eventually met, Anthony said
that Morey told him that he was no longer going to be a part of the Rockets.
Anthony said that he had accepted his role
of coming off the bench, something that was very hard for him to do.
“I’ve already starting to accept the fact
that I gotta come off the bench, which was very hard for me,” Anthony said when
he met with GM Morey. “I accepted that, and I moved on from that, right? But
you’re telling me that I can’t make a nine, 10-man rotation on this team. It’s
deeper than basketball.”
Anthony told Smith that he reached out to
Paul and Harden right after that conversation to find out if they knew anything
about this or not. Both said they had no clue either about the Rockets not
wanting Anthony on the team anymore.
Anthony and Paul had a serious
heart-to-heart conversation in his hotel room at 1 a.m. early that morning
where Paul looked his close friend right in his eyes and said that he would
never blindside him like that.
The conversation Anthony told Smith that
he and Paul had was very emotional one where Anthony felt like crap when GM
Morey told that one of the greatest scorers on the hardwood of this generation
could not be part of a nine-man rotation of a championship caliber squad.
“To sit there across from the GM of the
team and him tell you, ‘Listen, your services are no longer needed,’” Anthony
said of what Morey told him in his hotel room in San Antonio, TX that night in
the middle of November 2018
“That was an ego hit. That was a pride
hit. Like I felt like, I started questioning myself after that. Damn, can I
still do this? What did I do?”
Literally, Anthony asked that to GM Morey,
who said that it was nothing he did not do. It is just that the situation was
not working out from his perspective and that in that instant he was as he said
“fired” from a job he has done for a long time, play basketball.
When Smith asked if head coach Mike
D’Antoni, who Anthony at times butted heads with during their time with the New
York Knicks earlier this decade, Anthony said that he felt this decision was
strictly the choice of GM Morey.
Perhaps another reason why Anthony remains
unsigned is something that his former teammate with the Nuggets in current ESPN
NBA analyst Chauncey Billups, who was the team’s starting lead guard the only
time Anthony made it to the Conference Finals in 2009, where they Nuggets fell
to the eventual NBA champion Los Angeles Lakers in six games.
Billups in speaking on Sirius XM radio
back in July was very complimentary of Anthony’s work ethic in practice, but
also said that scoring 30 was more important to Anthony than winning games.
If he had a great night scoring the ball,
but the team lost Anthony would in the locker room speaking and giving words of
encouragement to his teammates. If he scored less than 30, even if the team won
the game his mood was not good.
Smith spoke with Billups before his
interview with Anthony and said that he was not trying to call Anthony out with
what he said because he was referring to a younger version of Anthony who was
around 24 years old at the time.
Anthony said that determination to make
baskets earlier in his career was part of mentality that he developed from high
school to his one season at Syracuse University, where he led the Orangemen to
the NCAA title in 2003.
“I had a different mentality. It was kill
or be killed,” Anthony said of his younger self. “Like, I had to go eat. I had
to eat, and whatever I had to do for us to be able to win or put ourselves in a
situation to win I was willing to do that. I was doing that, so to his
[Billups] it wasn’t 30, it was 40, it was 50. If I didn’t score those points, I
felt like I didn’t do my job, because that was my mentality. It was to go all
out at that point in time.”
Anthony said when Billups came, he made
him realize there is more to winning a basketball game then just scoring
30-plus. To the comments Billups made earlier this summer, Anthony said he took
it as a “learning tool.” But added, “My only issue was the timing of his
comments.”
“Because of everything that’s surrounded
me and these talks, and these conversations, and this narrative around Carmelo.
I don’t think that was the right time for him to say, ‘Oh, he likes scoring 30
in the loss. But he don’t like scoring 20 in the win.’ Like I just think that
narrative. That conversation was a bad time.”
It is those comments by Billups and
anything that has been said by other people instead what comes out of his own
mouth Anthony feels has kept him from getting signed with a team in free agency
with the summer almost over.
That was a major reason why he sat down
with Mr. Smith to do a one-on-one interview to speak about things in his own
words.
Mr. Smith put himself out there as well
when he said that the biggest mistake that Anthony made was the five-year, $80
million deal to remain with the Nuggets 13 years ago.
Around that time, Anthony came on Mr.
Smith’s talk show “Quite Frankly” and said he was not willing to walk away from
that kind of money, especially from how he grew up in Baltimore, MD where he
did not have much.
The issue with that five-year deal is that
there was no player option or team option in the fifth year of the deal, which
he could have fought for.
Back then when the Heat super team of
Chris Bosh, Dwyane Wade and LeBron James formed in the summer of 2010,
originally it was supposed to be Anthony teaming up with the dynamic duo of
Wade and James.
They both said to him to take the
three-year deal and see what takes place, where he said that he was so naive
and he had an “immaturity” for not seeing the bigger picture of having the fate
of his future in his own hands and keeping the pressure on management to have a
team around him every year that was in line to compete for the Larry O’Brien
trophy.
He also added that he did not understand
from the business perspective of the seismic shift that was about to take place
of players going for shorter deals, which took place after the new Collective
Bargaining Agreement was signed late in lockout shortened 2011-12 season.
“I loved Denver. I wanted to be in
Denver,” Anthony said. “I wasn’t ready to leave Denver, right? All of this
happened with me getting out of Denver my last season with the Denver Nuggets.”
On top of that, Anthony is from the old
school to where he was not about joining some of the best in the game to reach
the mountain top of the league. He wanted to take down the likes of James, Wade,
and others.
It was there time during the Olympics of
2008 where Anthony, James and Wade talked about possibly teaming up. They did
not know that could come to fruition or how they would make it happen.
“At that point in time when they brought
that to me, it was just an idea,” Anthony said.
It was then that Anthony saw the ugly side
of the business of basketball where certain players were not going to get
re-signed. How other players were leaving to join other teams.
Here Anthony realized quickly that he
needed to position himself to move on from the Nuggets, which happened.
The other thing from the outside looking
in about where Anthony is at this point in his career, he had a few
opportunities to sign with a team that had a serious chance of winning that
championship, which is the only thing missing from his career resume. He
instead decided to like in the summer of 2014 re-sign with the Knicks, who
offered him the most money.
To that Anthony said like him signing with
the Heat, which was speculated last off-season was “just an idea.”
Him re-signing with the Knicks, he was
going to sign with the Chicago Bulls and team up at that time with 2011 Kia MVP
Derrick Rose, Joakim Noah, Luol Deng and head coach Tom Thibodeau.
Amongst the teams that Anthony met with,
he learned behind the scenes that certain players that he wanted to play with
were not going to be there. That the situation on certain teams from the top on
down were not in concert with one another.
The last team he met with was the Knicks
because he said that he was ready to move on and start fresh elsewhere.
When Anthony met with the Knicks, he asked
them what was there plan to get them to a championship competing level?
“There were a lot of things that was
promised. A lot of things that was said. And I said, ‘You know what, because I
belong in New York I’m gonna role with you. I’m gonna role with you.”
As noble and wonderful that was Anthony
did then, re-signing on a reported five-year, $120 million deal in July 2014,
the flipside to that is people will look at that and say for a guy that has
played in “The Association” for 16 seasons, you have been to just one
Conference Finals, never playing in the NBA Finals. His good friend in James
has been in The Finals nine times winning three titles. His other good friend
in Wade has been in The Finals five times winning three rings.
Anthony said to that to Smith, “As a
competitor it makes me feel like, ‘Damn, why not me? Like, what’s going on?’”
“But on the flipside of that, I’ve never
been put in those situations before. I’ve never had the teams that LeBron James
has had. I’ve never had the teams D-Wade has had. I’ve never had the teams that
a lot of these stars out there has had. It’s always been me.”
Anthony also said of the Knicks situation
he believed in what management was selling to him so much that he did not care
about anything else.
He said that there was a comfort level in
being in the “Big Apple.” He was home where he was born. Also, this was
something that he wanted. He wanted to be in New York when no one else did and
still does not to this day because how thing are run, led by owner James Dolan.
“I wanted to do something that was special
in New York,” Anthony said. “I was putting the chips on everybody else and
saying, ‘Yo, give me somebody. Get me some people here. Put something around
me, and then let’s give me a fair chance to see what’s going on?’”
The Knicks did get someone when Amar’e
Stoudemire signed a five-year, $100 million deal to come to the “Big Apple” and
Anthony was acquired on Feb. 22, 2011.
Aside from the Knicks making the playoffs
in back-to-back seasons in the springs of 2012 and 2013, with the 2013
postseason appearance had them in the Semifinals for the first time since 2000,
the next four years saw Anthony and the Knicks miss the playoffs, compiling a
record of 117-211 in those last four seasons.
At this moment in time Carmelo Anthony, is
an unrestricted free agent. He has a career resume and a skill set of scoring
the basketball, which is how he became the No. 19 all-time scorer in NBA
history with 25,551 points that would be helpful right now to any team in the
National Basketball Association.
With everything that has happened to in his last three stops with the Knicks, Thunder and Rockets, it is
hard to see him possible catching on with another team, at least not until late
in the 2019-20 season if not at all. Even with the fact the likes of
LeBron James and Dwyane Wade and even All-Star guard Damian Lillard of the
Portland Trail Blazers that have the kind of clout to have Anthony on a roster
at this moment.
Whether the interview that Anthony did
with Stephen A. Smith on ESPN’s “First Take” from Los Angeles, CA did anything
to move the needle on him signing with a roster this upcoming season remains to
be scene, he at least got to tell his side of things.
Carmelo Anthony will be in the Hall of
Fame when he decides to say goodbye to the game. Getting a last opportunity to
play in the league, to possibly win a title will likely not be up to him, which
really has made him really think about everything that has transpired where he
went from one of the best players in the league for 10-plus seasons and now
there is a notion he is finished, as he said he is in the gym every day staying
ready.
“It strikes me that I’m not on a roster,
along with due to my talent first, right? Due to my skill, knowing what I can
still bring to this game,” Anthony said.
“You mean to tell me there’s 30 teams in
the NBA, I can’t make a 15-man roster out of 30 teams in the NBA. That’s why I
start to think about this a lot more. Thirty teams, I can’t make a 15-man
roster in this NBA.”
Information, statistics, and quotations courtesy
of 7/9/2014 www.si.com
article, “Carmelo Anthony Re-Signs with Knicks,” by Ben Golliver; 8/2/19 10
a.m. edition of ESPN’s “First Take,” with Molly Qerim Rose, Stephen A. Smith
and Max Kellerman; 8/2/19 3 p.m. edition “NBA: The Jump” on ESPN with Jorge
Sedano, Ramona Shelburne, and Dave McMenamin; https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_New_York_Knicks_seasons;
and https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carmelo_Anthony.
There have been many sports league that
have been created and hoped to have the staying power, like the four major ones
in North America in the National Basketball Association (NBA), National Hockey
League (NHL), the National Football League (NFL) and Major League Baseball
(MLB). Three years ago, one of the most recognizable faces in entertainment,
first in the musical genre “Rap” to an actor on the silver and small screen
co-founded a league that replicates the joys of playing half-court basketball
that features now a dozen teams made up of former stars from all walks of life
that is defying the skeptics and beating countless odds.
In 1988, award winning rapper, actor and
entrepreneur O’Shea Jackson, Sr., better known as Ice Cube, launched more than
a creative revolution he established a business plan.
That business plan consisted of the 50-year-old father of four taking
his own experiences growing up as an African American in the rough inner city
of Compton, CA, package it for mainstream America to hear and sell it for
millions of dollars.
That plan first began with him conquering
the music world, where he introduced a new genre called “gangsta rap” and
“political hip hop.” He then took the challenge of conquering the entertainment
worlds of movies and television that displayed the comic and tragic parts about
the community he grew up in. First on the silver screen with pictures like
1991’s “Boyz N the Hood; “1195’s Friday;” 2000’s “Next Friday; 2002’s “Friday
After Next;” 2010’s “Lottery Ticket” and many more.
He was able to bring two successful movie
franchises he was a part of in the “Barbershop” and “Are We There Yet?” from
the silver screen to the small screen in “Barbershop: The Series,” which lasted
for one season on “Showtime” in 2005 and a three-season (2010-2013) sitcom arc
of “Are We There Yet?” on the Turner Broadcasting System (TBS) network.
In 2017, Ice Cube tested his patent
formula in all regards the toughest arena yet, the sporting arena when he
launched the BIG3 the world’s first pro sports league based on a sport from the
so-called “hood,” which is better known as three-on-three pickup hoops.
“We drew this from the neighborhood,” Mr.
Jackson said to “HBO Real Sports” Andrea Kramer. “We taking that spirit and
saying, ‘Why leave it on the streets? Why leave rap music on the streets? Why
leave our movie ideas as such ideas?’ Let’s elevate that spirit to the
professional level.”
This sports league is the latest thing Mr.
Jackson has taken from his upbringing and brought it to life for all to see.
The idea behind the league like each of
first two challenges Ice Cube has conquered and became great in is simply
based.
You cut a basketball court from 94 feet
into 47 feet. Pit three guys on one team against three others, just like what
takes place on every street corner in the U.S.A. each spring, summer and fall
day after school on a school playground, an indoor gymnasium, or a recreational
park.
The main difference is the players are
former professionals that played in the NBA or overseas that aged out or had to
retire because no one wanted their services any longer, that are not ready to
hang up their high tops.
“Some people just want to get fat. They
don’t want to play anymore. That’s fine,” Cube said. “You can come sit by me.
But if you want to play, we got a place for you.”
When the BIG3 was unveiled three summers
ago, skeptics came out of the woodwork saying that this idea has no chance.
Doubtful that there would be a place to watch in person or on television
greybeards play a slower and lower brand of basketball.
Since it’s beginning those slow greybeards
that take the hardwood in the “Big 3” have nothing but a competitive swagger,
confidence, joy and will to want to play and win.
Cube said to Kramer that what he has seen
the players on the floor still got the goods in a half court setting.
“These guys are ballers, and we should
celebrate that,” he said.
The other role that has allowed the BIG3
to be in position to have sustained success is Ice Cube’s relentless support in
this latest venture of his. When it is time to advertise the league, the
co-founder and co-chief executive officer (co-CEO) provides it himself, from
dressing in short sleeve shirts with the “Big 3” logo 24 hours a day, seven
days a week. If the crowd in the arena on gameday needs some extra
entertainment, Cube will grab the mic right on the spot and bring the necessary
energy needed to get the crowd involved.
Ice Cube even travels from city to city
along with the players of the league. Being right there in the audience always
in the front row right alongside his wife Kimberly to manage every detail of
every event.
A mogul worth an estimated $160 million
travels the country for the BIG3 on a tour bus night after night.
Cube said to Kramer that one night during
one of the first three seasons of the BIG3 he and his wife of 27 years Kimberly Woodruff watched basketball
all night, slept for a little bit, got on the bus the next morning at about 3
a.m. His wife he added is as much into the league as her husband is saying with
a smile, “She’s an owner too.”
It is that kind of hustle and grit that
makes Ice Cube feel that he can make this venture a long lasting one, even
though he has no experience in this field and where many as he said think he is
still a “rapper.”
“I feel like that’s what a lot of people
who are skeptics on this idea are saying. You know, that I shouldn’t be here.”
Cube told Kramer that he should be here
because he had a great idea, the knowledge to bring into existence and the
connections to players that formerly played pro basketball that wanted to be
part of something that either gave them a chance to continue playing the game
that they love or be involved in it in some capacity.
The idea for the BIG3 came to Mr. Jackson,
Sr. decades ago as a young man, who played pickup basketball and famously
rapped about it in the song “It Was a Good Day,” that he put together with the
help of Chris Jasper, Ernest Isley, Marvin Isley, Ronald Isley and Rudolph
Bernard Isley.
The idea for the BIG3 really kicked into
high gear for Ice Cube when he watched his favorite pro team, his hometown Los
Angeles Lakers on the night of Apr. 13, 2016.
This was the night where future Hall of
Famer Kobe Bryant scored 60 point on 22 for 50 from the field, that included
six made threes (6 for 21 3-Pt.) and 10 for 12 from the free throw line in 42
minutes in the last game of his 20-year NBA career, a 101-96 win versus the
Utah Jazz on ESPN.
“I’m watching Kobe Bryant score 60 points
in his last game, and he’s retiring. This is his last time we can pay to see
him play.” Cube said. “Something’s wrong with the universe when we can’t watch
our favorite athletes play when we know they still got game.”
Ice Cube took that anger and
disappointment and with the help of his business partner for more than 20 years
Jeffrey Kwatinetz built a league for recently retired NBA stars.
To bring to the forefront of how confident
both men felt that this idea would work, Kwatinetz asked Cube that if he was
ready to “burn the ships and go for it” when they announced this new venture on
Jan. 11, 2017 at the Sheraton Times Square Hotel in New York, NY, Cube’s answer
to that question was, “Let’s burn the ships.”
Cube told Kramer that “burn the ships”
means that they have landed into this new territory of pro sports and there
will be no turning back.
“To make sure we don’t go back, we burn
the ships,” Cube said.
Along with “burning the ships” a lot of
money has been burnt as well. Both Cube and Kwatinetz have invested millions of
their own money into the BIG3.
“It wasn’t about a sports league. It was a
great idea,” Kwatinetz said to Kramer, adding, “We’re not making money, but
we’re not supposed to make money. I mean, the UFC lost money for 9-to-10 years.
I, mean the WNBA still loses money.”
It is those reasons that many in both Cube
and Kwatinetz close circle that told them to not take this challenge on. They
even as Kwatinetz said many begged them not to form the BIG3 saying that they
were “crazy” to try.
They built the BIG3 anyway and indeed some
of the greats looking for that last moment in the spotlight or are not ready to
walk away from the game. Greats that have played or are playing in the “Big 3”
this season like 2001 Kia MVP and Hall of Famer Allen Iverson, Stephen Jackson,
Mahmoud Abdul-Rauf, Dahntay Jones, Rashard Lewis, former No. 1 overall pick in
2007 draft Greg Oden, Josh Smith, Gilbert Arenas, Mike Bibby, Cuttino Mobley,
Carlos Boozer, Jason Terry, Al Jefferson and many more.
When Kramer asked Arenas former Golden
State Warrior, Washington Wizard, Orlando Magic, and Memphis Grizzlies why he
is in the BIG3 he said because he is a fan of Ice Cube and that he just “wanted
to play against his old friends again, and old competitors.”
Arenas, who plays for the “Enemies” added
that about how competitive it is out there that it is the same players and
while they are a little bit older and are a step slower that competitive spirt
and will to win a game is still there.
For other players like former Phoenix Sun,
New York Knick, Dallas Maverick and Miami Heat forward/center Amar’e Stoudemire
are using the BIG3 to claw their way back into the NBA.
“I love to compete,” Stoudemire said to
Kramer. “So, it keeps me in shape in the summertime. It allows the world to
still see we can still play.”
“For guys like myself who are looking to
make an NBA return, it’s great to compete at a high level.”
As the BIG3 pushed forward hopefully for
the next decade, Ice Cube hopes to recruit his dream list of 20 players to join
the “Big 3” like Bryant, Kevin Garnett, Vince Carter-when he decides to retire
from the NBA.
When Kramer asked if he could sell those
greats on joining, he said that it is not about him selling them. That the BIG3
sells itself.
“Some of these guys will play for free.
They already got money. A lot of them don’t have championships, and you can get
one in the BIG3,” Cube said.
She also asked if a “Big 3” title matters
to these guys? He answered, “Ask Kenyon Martin?”
The former No. 1 overall pick in 2000, who
played 15 seasons for the then New Jersey Nets, now Brooklyn Nets, Denver
Nuggets, Los Angeles Clippers, New York Knicks and Milwaukee Bucks, played in
back-to-back NBA Finals for the Nets in 2002 and 2003, losing in a four-game
sweep to Bryant and Hall of Famer Shaquille O’Neal and the Lakers and then to
future Hall of Famer Tim Duncan and fellow Hall of Famer David Robinson and the
San Antonio Spurs in six games.
When Martin’s squad Trilogy defeated the 3
Headed Monsters 51-46 in the inaugural BIG3 Championship Game, he cried.
Other former NBA greats have found a
second career in the “Big 3.” Not as players but management.
The BIG3’s Commissioner is NBA champion
and Hall of Famer Clyde “The Glide” Drexler, who played 15 seasons in “The
Association” with the Portland Trail Blazers and Houston Rockets.
The Coaches of the now 12-team league
include fellow Hall of Famers Julius “Dr. J.” Erving of Tri-State; George
“Iceman” Gervin of Ghost Ballers; Rick Barry of the Ball Hogs; Nate “Tiny”
Archibald of the Aliens; and Gary “The Glove” Payton-who during 17-year career
with the then Seattle Supersonics, Milwaukee Bucks, Los Angeles Lakers, Boston
Celtics and Miami Heat was known played with a chip on his shoulder, and how he
talked trashed with his opponent, which Drexler saw up close. Payton has
brought that to the “Big 3” as the coach of the 3 Headed Monsters, where one of
his players is his former teammate with the Supersonics for five seasons
(1998-2003) Rashard Lewis.
“People want to see roughness. They want
to see realness. They want to see guys out there talking crazy to each other,
talking trash,” Payton, who played for the Supersonics from 1990-2003 said to
Kramer. “And that’s what they want to see here.
The BIG3 also consists of two of the great
women to ever grace the hardwood in Hall of Famers in three-time WNBA MVP,
eight-time WNBA All-Star and four-time Olympic Gold Medalist Lisa Leslie, coach
of the Triplets and Nancy Lieberman, coach of the reigning “Big 3” champions
Power.
“I actually came last year and sat with
Ice Cube, and I loved it,” Leslie said to Kramer about joining the BIG3 this
season. “I just fell in love watching it.”
“For me to have the opportunity to coach
it’s been great.”
Leslie added that by her and Lieberman
being a part of the BIG3 says that no matter what your gender, if you can have
an impact and make a team better you should have an opportunity to show your
skills either on the hardwood or on the sidelines.
To put the growth of the BIG3 into clearer
context this season, the league has grown from eight teams the first two
seasons to 12 in its third season. Its tour has grown from 10 cities to 18 and
it has gone from being broadcast once a week on FOX Sports 1 to now Saturdays
and Sundays on CBS Sports Network and on CBS, with an average per game
viewership of three-quarters of a million people. The ticket sales at arenas
continue to rise, with the actual attendance according to Kwatinetz being at
about 10,000 per game.
Kwatinetz said to Kramer that the numbers
the BIG3 is pulling in for games are more than most NBA teams do. He also said
that the BIG3 is outdrawing attendance in WNBA arenas both live and on
television and that they are outdrawing Major League Soccer (MLS).
The idea for the BIG3 first began when Ice
Cube saw one of the best players to ever play on the NBA hardwood in Kobe
Bryant retire when he still had some gas left in his tank in terms of playing.
He took that emotion, coupled it with how he played basketball growing up in
Compton, CA and with the help of his longtime business Jeffrey Kwatinetz made
it a reality, that has seen steady success.
They want to be around for its continuous
rise, which is why they turned down an offer to sell the BIG3 which was 10
times the initial valuation of the league.
“If it works, our grandkids are going to
look at us can call us dummies for the rest of our lives,” Cube said to Kramer
about not selling what he co-created.
In 1989, O’Shea Jackson, Sr. took what he
witnessed during his upbringing in Compton, CA, the good, the bad, and the ugly
and put it on display first in music, and then in movies and television to the
masses. That formula has worked very well for him and made him wealthy, and
successful, and committed to bringing others along from the ride. So much so,
that the cheapest ticket to attend a BIG3 event is $12. That means an entire
family can see pro basketball played live, something that is not always the
case with the NBA, especially today.
His latest venture in pro sports with the BIG3
continues to grow, with the expectation of a profit to be turned in Year 4,
according to Kwatinetz. That means Ice Cube, the guy who his skeptics say he is
just a rapper, now a Hollywood great could add the title of sports mogul to his
resume. For him it comes down to simply seeing everyone involved happy and
fulfilled.
“Players happy. Fans happy. Network happy.
Sponsors happy. Viewers watching on TV happy. BIG3 is the happiest place on
Earth,” Cube said.
Information, statistics,
and quotations are courtesy of 7/30/19 edition of HBO’s “Real Sports with
Bryant Gumbel,” with report from Andrea Kramer; The rap song, “It Was a Good
Day,” by Ice Cube from www.google.com; https://www.basketball-reference.com/boxscore/201604130LAL.html; https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greg_Oden; https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rashard_Lewis; https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gary_Payton; https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kenyon_Martin; https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amar%27e_Stoudemire; https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lisa_Leslie; https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ice_Cube; and https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big3#teams.
