Grind City Media’s Lang Whitaker and Michael Wallace have been covering the NBA
since shorts were short and socks were long, but their opinions about the League
don’t always mesh. #IMHO is their weekly chance to weigh in on the most
pertinent news from around the NBA. What’s lit? What’s lame? Find out each week
right here.
From: Lang Whitaker Sent: Tuesday, November 06, 2018 10:54 AM To: Michael
Wallace Subject: #IMHO
So Monday night in Denver, Jamal Murray dropped 48 points, which is undoubtedly
a tremendous achievement for such a young player (he’s still just 21 years
old!). But the real interesting stuff happened later. When Murray fired up a
shot at the buzzer to try and top things off at 50 points, Celtics guard Kyrie
Irving grabbed the rebound and eventually fired the ball into the crowd. Why?
Well, according to Kyrie, “Obviously, I was pissed at the game, but it’s time to
decompress and move on. Congratulations to him having 48 points. He did it in a
great fashion against us. Our defense has to be better, especially against a
player like that in the pick-and-roll. He was the primary concern tonight and he
made us pay in certain instances of making some tough shots and some tough
layups… But the ball deserves to go in the crowd after a bulls— move like
that. So I threw it in the crowd.”
Mike, I totally understand Kyrie’s frustration, especially in the waning moments
of a loss. But do you feel like Murray was trying to show up the Celtics? Or is
this just a case of Kyrie overreacting in the heat of battle?
From: Michael Wallace Sent: Tuesday, November 6, 2018 12:55 PM To: Lang
Whitaker Subject: RE: #IMHO
First off, credit to Jamal for dropping 48 against one of the better teams in
the league. That said, kudos to Kyrie for making a statement that there was
indeed a BS element to what Jamal did. The game was already in hand in the final
seconds. There was no need to take that shot. The fact that he did take the shot
convinces me that there was a Ricky Davis quality to pursuing that milestone.
Remember when Ricky intentionally missed a shot at the wrong basket to get the
rebound that would have secured a triple-double? I get what the potential moment
meant to Jamal, as the Nuggets serve notice to the league that they’re a legit
threat. Just like I get why Steve Kerr allowed Klay Thompson to keep chucking
threes in a blowout until he set the league record. But I’m glad Kyrie didn’t
like it, and essentially said, “You want 50? Well, go 50 rows up to get your
ball back!”
Meanwhile, the Jimmy Butler experience just keeps rolling – or careening – on in
Minnesota. The disgruntled guard was in Los Angeles this week for games against
the Clippers and Lakers, with both franchises being potential destinations for
his services via trade or free agency. I respect Butler the player, but I’m just
tired and ready for the drama with him and the team to end. Lang, how long can
the sub-.500 and sinking Timberwolves afford to allow this saga to potentially
derail the season?
From: Lang Whitaker Sent: Tuesday, November 06, 2018 1:10 PM To: Michael
Wallace Subject: #IMHO
First of all, someone sound the Ricky Davis Alert siren!
Since we’re dabbling in recent nostalgia, do you recall like a decade ago now
when there were all those rumors about Carmelo wanting to get traded from Denver
to the Knicks, and it went on and on for what felt like forever? I feel like
we’re in a similar situation with Jimmy, except we don’t know how far down the
road we’ve gone. Will this last another month? Two months? A year? Say this for
Tom Thibodeau: After everything he went through in Chicago, Thibs must be fairly
used to distractions like this. Last season the T-Wolves nearly won 50 games and
they still just barely made the postseason. They don’t have that much of a
margin of error here.
I’m guessing you, like me, watched the Warriors/Grizz game the other night, when
the Grizz kept it close for the first 24 minutes before Golden State suddenly
started raining buckets. When/if they get Boogie Cousins back and healthy they
will likely have the best starting lineup of all-time. But do you think they
have enough depth to win another title? I know it’s early in the season and
Iguodala and Livingston were out, but they sure seemed heavily reliant on a
bunch of guys with not so much experience.
From: Michael Wallace Sent: Tuesday, November 6, 2018 6:22 PM To: Lang
Whitaker Subject: #IMHO
Hold up, man! I’m not ready to anoint the Warriors the best starting five of all
time once Boogie Cousins joins the lineup. The Bill Russell-and-Bob Cousy
Celtics might need a word with you. The
Chamberlain-West-Goodrich-Hairston-McMillian Lakers from the early 1970s request
a seat at that table, as do Magic-and-Kareem’s Showtime Lakers from the
following decade. Then there’s the ’83 Sixers, ’86 Celtics and ’96 Bulls. Don’t
be a prisoner of the social media moment, Lang.
But depth isn’t the Warriors’ biggest threat. Complacency and boredom are. Are
these players ready for a new challenge individually? Will all the games and
postseason runs over the course of the past five years finally catch up to the
Warriors physically? Those are legit questions and concerns. No outside opponent
will beat these Warriors. Their biggest threat will come from within.
OK, we’ll wrap up on this. With October behind us, who are your NBA opening
month coach of the year, MVP and rookie of the year? I’ve got Denver’s Mike
Malone, Milwaukee’s Giannis Antetokounmpo and Atlanta’s Trae Young pushing from
the gate as my early frontrunners. Lang, who ya got?
From: Lang Whitaker Sent: November 7, 2018 7:37 AM To: Michael Wallace
Subject: #IMHO
So I guess I know what we’ll be debating in this week’s video segment. Will you
actually tell me to get off your lawn, or will that part just be implied?
As far as the first month, I’ll go with Toronto’s Nick Nurse for coach of the
month. I know he’s got a couple of All-Stars on his roster, but making the jump
to being a head coach in the NBA is really, really hard, and Nurse has made it
look pretty darn easy thus far. For MVP, I’ll ride with Giannis as well; as
brilliant as Steph Curry has been once again this season, he’s got so many
amazing players around him that it’s hard to single out any one of them. And
I’ll go with Luka Doncic (20.3 ppg) as my rookie pick, although I should also
note that Deandre Ayton is averaging a double-double and has been better than I
expected early on. Of course, the real test will be seeing how these guys hold
up over a grueling 82-game season, and with his professional experience in
Europe, I suspect Doncic is best-prepared for that task.
The contents of this page have not been reviewed or endorsed by the Memphis
Grizzlies. All opinions expressed by Lang Whitaker are solely his own and do not
reflect the opinions of the Memphis Grizzlies or its Basketball Operations
staff, owners, parent companies, partners or sponsors. His sources are not known
to the Memphis Grizzlies and he has no special access to information beyond the
access and privileges that go along with being an NBA accredited member of the
media.
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