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, May 17, 2021 2:22 PM
To: Kelcey Wright Johnson
Subject: IMHO
Kelcey, we are officially at the end of the NBA season, and by the time our emails get published, the play-in tournament will be well underway.
But before we get to the postseason, let’s wrap up the regular season. We’ve talked about awards and best players and worst players, and best teams and worst teams. Let’s wrap up the season with two topics: First, what was the most iconic play of the season? A block? A pass? A dunk?
And what was your favorite off-court moment of the NBA season? (Don’t get too wild on me here.)
From: Kelcey Wright Johnson
Sent: Monday, May 17, 2021 10:09 PM
To: Lang Whitaker
Subject: Re: IMHO
Not too wild?! Did you think I’d say Paul Pierce’s IG Lives? Come on!
I always feel like my favorites are relative because I have such a bad memory – the first things that come to mind both happened rather recently. My favorite off-court moment isn’t really a *moment* per say, but a storyline. Remember when a Trailblazers fan tweeted at Damian Lillard that he was going to lose his house if Portland didn’t win 42 games? And Dame said, “bet”. AND THEN HE CAME THROUGH?! WINNING 10 OF THEIR LAST 12 TO WIN EXACTLY 42 GAMES?
And what made it even better? Dame followed up with the guy after the regular season finished up.
As for my favorite on-court moment? (Make sure Yuta Watanabe isn’t reading)…The Anthony Edwards dunk. The rookie taking off and absolutely postering the defender. A real welcome to the NBA moment…Actually, while I’m on the topic; every single one of the Edwards’ interviews might be my favorite off-court moments. That guy is a straight-up comedian. Did you see this interview?
Most iconic moment though? Probably when Russell Westbrook broke the record for most triple-doubles in a career. As we’ve discussed, I don’t think that will ever be broken again and we got to witness that piece of history take place. I think that’s pretty amazing.
I hate to throw zero creativity back your way, but I’m curious what your favorites are too!
From: Lang Whitaker
Sent: Tuesday, May 18, 2021 11:18 AM
To: Kelcey Wright Johnson
Subject: RE: IMHO
Yeah, Yuta is my dude, but he got hammered on. I guess for the sake of variety, I’ll go with this Nets dunk from the other night, where they ran what looked like an All-Star lay-up line, started off by a no-look spin pass from Blake Griffin, and finished it off by having Kevin Durant catch an alley-oop off the backboard.
That play felt like the whole Nets experience wrapped up in a neat little highlight package. I think everyone expected the worst in Brooklyn, especially after the way things started with Kyrie, but things have settled down and I really think the Nets are the best team in the Eastern Conference heading into the postseason. What a world.
As for my favorite off-court moment this season, I mean, the Paul Pierce situation was pretty extra. I especially liked how blasé he was about the whole thing. I’ve also enjoyed the recent Kwame Brown livestream experiment, as he’s become one of the most vocal ex-NBA players, out of nowhere. But if I had to choose, I’d probably select Kyrie Irving burning sage, which actually seemed to work? Because the Nets flipped a switch and dominated down the stretch.
Meanwhile, the NBA season is now over for a bunch of teams. And according to multiple reports on the West Coast, Luke Walton will remain as coach of the Kings next year. There are other teams that weren’t great this season, but already swapped coaches, like Minnesota. So Kelcey, pick a team you think will head into next season with a new head coach.
From: Kelcey Wright Johnson
Sent: Thursday, May 20, 2021 6:32 AM
To: Lang Whitaker
Subject: Re: IMHO
Hey Lang,
Sorry it took so long to reply – I was seeing three computers and I aimed for the middle one, but I guess it wasn’t the right one (I’m so much funnier in my own mind).
The dramatics of the first-round of play-ins is behind us and they were *exciting*. Well, the Western Conference play-ins were at least. I say all that to say, Lang, I think that after Washington’s embarrassing loss in the play-in, their coach is on the chopping block.
Obviously not strictly because of that one loss, but the team ended the regular season with a 34-38 record and honestly, with two big stars on the squad, they should have been able to rack up a few more wins. Scott Brooks has been in Washington since 2016 (on a five-year deal), and I know he coached with Westbrook back in OKC so he may be somewhat of a players’ coach…but I truly think that after the big off-season moves, they need another move to help propel this team forward.
I think the next coach, whoever that may be, needs to be a player-development coach to start to build some talent around Bradley Beal and Russell Westbrook, as well as be able to manage those two superstars. It’s not an easy task, but surely there is someone who can make the Washington Wizards a playoff team.
Now that all four games of the first round of the play-in is behind us, do you have a favorite game? A favorite play? The most surprising outcome? I want to hear Lang’s takes on this historic time.
From: Lang Whitaker
Sent: Thursday, May 20, 2021 8:17 AM
To: Kelcey Wright Johnson
Subject: RE: IMHO
The moment Draymond hit LeBron with that hard foul, and LeBron rolled around like he might not be able to get up at all, several thoughts ran through my head. First, I thought about Draymond’s history, long ago as it was, with LeBron in the NBA Finals. Then I wondered if LeBron was OK, since he seemed down for the count. Then I wondered if LeBron was acting for the sake of trying to draw a flagrant against Draymond. Then I wondered if LeBron’s acting would be this obvious in the forthcoming Space Jam reboot.
And then, of course, LeBron hopped up, knocked down the free throws and hit a huge three to propel the Lake Show past the Warriors.
Out of all the Play-In Games that have been played so far, that will likely be the one that resonates the most, since there were superstars involved and the score was basically tight down the stretch. Boston’s win over Washington was pretty good, and Memphis beating the Spurs by 4 turned out to be much closer than it seemed it would be at the start. Nobody will remember the Pacers blowing out the Hornets, which leaves us with LeBron and AD versus Steph and Draymond.
The Lake Show is moving on. Now let’s see what happens when the Grizz are going (going) back (back) to Cali (Cali).