Rasheed Wallace takes high school coaching job (Jordan High School)
Turned down multiple offers for jobs on NBA staffs
“I’m very happy for him. He’s a great teacher, great mind of the game and he really enjoys being around kids. We know he’s very vocal” – Pippen
“Don’t talk back to Mr. Wallace. He said he wanted to be in player development. He wants to help guys grow up and become responsible young men” – Elhassan
Today’s Panel:
Guests:
Jaylen Brown (Boston Celtics) – Second Half Only
NBA VP of officiating, Monty McCutchen – Second Half Only
First Half
Monologue: Blazers might be more resilient than you think
If you don’t know the story of how he started playing basketball, it is tremendous:
But it was still a rock star outing:
Season would be success for Blazers if ________________?
“Homecourt advantage in the first round. Judging from last season, they still have a little bitter taste in their mouth being a 3rd seed and still getting swept. It has to change in terms of them getting better. They have to make some personnel changes. But they didn’t do anything this year to try to get better and try to move up in the standings” – Pippen
“Make the conference finals. We get it: You’ve made the playoffs, you’ve had homecourt, you’ve won a playoff series before. At this point, they’re just another team in the West” – Elhassan
Any concern over Lakers cutting LeBron’s minutes? (Via Dave McMenamin/ESPN)
May have a 32-minute limit, but LeBron will have the leeway to play longer to finish out a competitive game, should he deem fit rather than be controlled by a hard cap (Via Chris Haynes/Yahoo! Sports)
“They’ve been struggling for the last decade. This is a great move for them. It’s really time to shut him completely down” – Pippen
“I don’t like that they said he has the leeway to play. That’s not a good look for the Lakers as a team” – Elhassan
Where are Lakers on the Cancun meter?
Answer:
March 8, 1993 – Toni Kukoc with the no-look pass to Horace Grant who slams it home vs the Hawks!
Ingenuity; Will “Litty Committee” nickname ever be topped?
Sacramento’s bench mob by all the thirds on the team: Marvin Bagley III, Frank Mason III, Harry Giles III
Splash Mountain; Is Brook Lopez a shooting guard in a center’s body?
“He’s a PG in a big man’s body for sure. He’s giving Giannis all the spacing he needs” – Pippen
Grip; Think Bogdanovic does yoga?
Fun; Will Vince Carter ever retire?
Says he wants to play another year (again), per PTI (Pardon The Interruption)
“He doesn’t look like a dude who’s at the end of his road” – Elhassan
Moving on…
Bledsoe on Giannis’ tech last night: “I like it”
Only his 3rd tech of his career
“Sometimes, getting on the officials and getting the tech, those things rally your troops. It’s good that he’s showing more of a verbal leadership and not just leading by example all the time” – Pippen
“Brogdon and Middleton both said [when they were on the show] that he’s a crazy, crazy competitor. It reminded me of Steve Nash in the sense that Steve would sometimes will get so upset and he was a nice guy that he would get a tech and the team would get fired up” – Elhassan
Giannis have right mindset on earning MVP?
“He’s right. Your play determines it” – Elhassan
“He’s truly right in a sense that let your play speak for itself” – Pippen
Stephen Curry celebrates International Women’s Day!
Curry and Under Armour hosted Riley Morrison, the young lady who wrote a letter to Curry after being unable to find his signature shoes in girls’ sizes. He brought her in to announce the “Icon Curry 6 United We Win Color Way” that features a personal design touch from Riley herself
Second Half
Motivation to join NBPA executive committee?
Youngest player to ever hold that type of position
“I just want to be a part of that change. The league has been in very good hands the last 10-20 years” – Brown
Comfortable with role on Celtics?
“Everybody is happy when you win. As along as we win, I’m fine with everything. I don’t make the decisions. I come out and try to play hard and add to winning and being a good teammate” – Brown
“Part of this business is being mature and handling it the right way. Being professional and stuff like that. It’s actually made me a lot better as a basketball player and as a person than I expected” – Brown
West coast trip improve Celtics chemistry?
“Were definitely excited. The West coast trip has been a success for us so far. We want to keep adding to it” – Brown
Celtics not scared of Warriors?
“We look forward to it. Our system is great and Brad Stevens has a great system that can defend the Warriors really well” – Brown
Support Kyrie’s outspokenness?
“You just keep going. Everybody is a leader. It’s not just on one person” – Brown
“Al Horford. He is one of those guys that everybody leans on just because of his demeanor” – Brown on who he turns to when the team is going through trials and tribulations
Brown’s question to Scottie: What does it take to win a championship?
“When you have as much talent as you guys have, you have to have guys that are willing to sacrifice and play their role. It’s just really about you guys accepting and playing the right role” – Pippen
“Shoutout to Kris. He’s going to have a great year next year” – Brown
On Horford’s flinching at the free throw line:
“The media has started catching on to it and you just start rolling with it. I think he’s doing it on purpose” – Brown
Correct no-call on PG-13 last night?
“No. That should have been an offensive foul. He’s fighting through some tight traffic, his hand comes off the ball and catches Jusuf in the face. I don’t think it’s flagrant myself. Our officials are really honest about this” – McCutchen
Nurkic deserve ejection last night?
“You have to become an excellent discerner in that way” – McCutchen
“We’re accountable to our actions. We try to be excellent. We know we’re going to be imperfect at times, you know. And this is one of those times” – McCutchen
“This is the time of the year that’s the best time of the year, for our players our coaches — our passion is high. Our job as referees is to allow that passion up to the standards that we have, and then we have to adjudicate the game. Because it is important that we adjudicate the game the same this time of the year as we did in November so that our players and our coaches have the proper tools to know what to expect at this time of the year” – McCutchen
Does officiating change come playoff time?
“No we don’t. But the play changes during the playoffs” – McCutchen
“Our job is to uphold the standards. The competition committee this year made it really clear to us that they want the playoffs called the same and want the 48-minute called the same” – McCutchen
Should a 4th official be added?
“We tried it in the G-League as an experiment for a month last season. The accuracy rates were about similar to 3-person. The key to good officiating is a mechanics system. We’d have to create a mechanics system that adds a benefit to that fourth official, opposed to just ‘Oh, four means better'” – McCutchen
On referees having a better relationship with the players:
“I hope so because were trying to. We do have that growth of the league. It has brought a scrutiny to our league” – McCutchen
“NBA referees miss calls. Were excellent in our work” – McCutchen
So did Brad Beal travel or not?
Beal got a nickname out of this: “The Walking Bucket”
“It’s a travel” – McCutchen
McCutchen on his clothing style and how it developed:
“We should take our work seriously. I enjoy style. It was way to say there are different sides to us” – McCutchen
March 8, 2008 – Nate Robinson with the sick crossover, while breaking Steve Blake’s ankles as he goes to the hole to finish the layup vs the Blazers!
Steve Kerr: “We want home court” | Do Warriors need home-court advantage?
“I really do. They’re not the team they were in years past. They’ve shown this season that they’re a little fragile. When Steve speaks, he’s speaking the truth. He’s speaking from experience” – Pippen
“The Warriors have that feeling [to get home court]. Steve wants them to play better and he’s giving them a goal so they can start getting those habits again” – Elhassan
Luke Walton says Lonzo Ball could be out for season (Ankle)
Cancun Meter:
“What’s more than the banana boat?” – Elhassan
