Grind City Media’s Lang Whitaker and Kelcey Wright Johnson 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: Monday, December 21, 2020 10:14 AM
To: Kelcey Wright Johnson
Subject: IMHO
Kelcey:
Don’t look now, but as I sit down to email you, surrounded by Christmas music and twinkling lights, we are just over 24 hours from the start of a new NBA season. It’s been a year, man. But we made it! I think? Feels like we made it to some sort of milestone, and I’m excited to have some comfort back in the form of hoops. Even if arenas aren’t full yet, and even if we know there are still hurdles to be hurdled, the NBA is back! And that’s a holiday present I’m not going to turn my back on.
Kelcey, let’s say you were tasked with playing Santa Claus this year. Give me one NBA team that could use something nice, and let me know what you’d gift them.
From: Kelcey Wright Johnson
Sent: Monday, December 21, 2020 8:26 PM
To: Lang Whitaker
Subject: Re: IMHO
What’s up, Lang? Call me Kelcey Claus, let’s go!
It seems too easy to go with the Cavs or the Thunder (because I think they will be at the bottom of the barrel this year, in terms of wins) but I think I’m going to give a gift to the Detroit Pistons, who have been in a decade-or-so-long-rut. And the something nice I will put in their stocking this year is the gift of *direction*, and I have wrapped it up nicely with a pretty bow on top.
They have some decent pieces in Derrick Rose, Blake Griffin and Jerami Grant (and the drafting of Killian Hayes) but… I just don’t understand the direction this team is going with their pieces and their off-season moves. (I mean who am I to question a GM, but I just don’t get it.) It looks as though they’re going through a bit of a rebuilding with some young players—but are keeping their claws dug in both Rose and Griffin. Again, my question is, Why?
So, my gift is direction; I don’t know or care what direction they take (my best guess is they trade Rose and Griffin if they’re both healthy)… but then again, any direction is better than no direction.
If I’m playing Santa Claus, can you play the Grinch for our sake? Which grumpy team should be spending the year up on Mount Crumpit, and why?
From: Lang Whitaker
Sent: Tuesday, December 22, 2020 11:10 AM
To: Kelcey Wright Johnson
Subject: RE: IMHO
Wait, from what you’ve told me you’re already playing The Grinch IRL? But if it’s just a role, then I can pretend that I’m as cuddly as a cactus, that I’m as charming as an eel, that my heart is two sizes too small.
If I’m robbing a team in Whoville’s Christmas presents, it’s definitely going to be the Lakers. Look, they won a title like three weeks ago, and that was like their 20th title, or some wildly inappropriate number. Spread the wealth a little, would you? This is supposed to be a season of giving, and the Lakers have done nothing but take titles from the rest of the NBA. And now they’ve got LeBron and AD ensconced on the left coast, so it doesn’t look like they’re gonna fall from their perch anytime soon.
Other than the Lakers, I don’t know. One year ago, the Clippers would have been in this discussion, but they couldn’t get out of their own way in the postseason. The Nets stumbled upon a bounty of riches in free agency a year ago, but since then have had to deal with the injury bug. Even the Rockets have gone from having two max superstars to having an unhappy Harden. Seems like there’s a lot of teams out there that could use a little Christmas cheer.
Speaking of spreading cheer, Kelcey, in his annual preseason media availability, yesterday NBA commissioner Adam Silver said that expansion was something the league had considered. He didn’t say anything was imminent, he didn’t even say expansion would definitely happen, but he did say they’d looked at it as an option. With all that being said, give me two cities you think would be interesting additions to the NBA map.
(And Whoville doesn’t count!)
From: Kelcey Wright Johnson
Sent: Tuesday, December 22, 2020 9:17 PM
To: Lang Whitaker
Subject: Re: IMHO
I mean, Whoville could use an NBA team though—they must be bored. They’ve got nothing better to do than bully the poor, old Grinch. Oh no, I’m empathizing with the Grinch. Am I ok?
Anyway! The idea of the NBA expanding is exciting! Will it be Mexico City? Seattle? Vancouver? Vegas? (I have a strong stance in not having a team in Vegas, but that’s beside the point—although I bet James Harden would make a strong push to be traded there).
I do like the idea of bringing a team back to Seattle. I had a friend who played for the SuperSonics back in the day and he is still adamant that Seattle deserves a team. Another city that I think could have a successful fanbase is Kansas City. They’ve already got build sport fans in their collegiate sports, as well as the Royals and the Chiefs (and weren’t the Kings there prior to moving to Sacramento? I may be making that up—someone Google that?). Kansas City has a population of more than 500,000, which is still less than Memphis, but the surrounding areas have shown that they can support some pretty great teams.
So, Lang, let’s stick to the holiday theme here… I’ve recently learned that you guys don’t call it Boxing Day (the day after Christmas), but that’s a big holiday north of the border. It’s essentially just an extra day off work where we can go shop and return all the presents we didn’t like… If the NBA was going to celebrate Boxing Day this year, what team do you think has some unwanted gifts to return?
From: Lang Whitaker
Sent: Wednesday, December 23, 2020 9:22 AM
To: Kelcey Wright Johnson
Subject: RE: IMHO
Wait a second, in Canada you guys have the day after Christmas as, like, an official holiday? I have a lot of questions about this. We don’t waste one of our official holidays on that here in the USA—it’s just sort of known as an unofficial holiday. (Although you and I and the Grizzlies will be working on that day this year.) Anyway, why do you need to shop after Christmas? Are Canadians so bad at buying gifts that you need a whole day off to take gifts back? And why do you name the day after a sport where people beat each other up? This whole thing is almost as weird as ketchup-flavored potato chips.
ANYWAY, if I was an NBA team and needed to return some goods, I might be the Atlanta Hawks. I get it—they worked themselves to a place where they had a lot of cap space and the ability to sign a bunch of dudes, I still don’t really understand spending as much as they did on the players that they spent it on. They dropped over $130 million on just Bogdan Bogdanovic and Danilo Gallinari? And then this week they did not reach a contract extension with John Collins, one of the more dynamic young big men in the NBA.
But I get it, and I know that it’s all relative. I might open a present and not love what I received, while someone else might think it’s the best gift ever. What’s important, Kelcey, is that even with 2020 being an awful year, we made it to Christmas, and the start of another NBA season.
And I think we can all agree, that’s a gift that keeps on giving.