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 31, 2021 12:56 PM
To: Kelcey Wright Johnson
Subject: IMHO
I don’t know about you, but it felt pretty great last weekend to be inside FedExForum for the first time in almost a year, in front of a crowded house of fans who were all yelling and screaming. And while the Grizzlies didn’t win Game 3, there were a few moments where it felt like pre-pandemic times, when, even just for a second, we could let go of the stress from the last year and yell and scream and chant “Whoop That Trick” and feel good about ourselves.
But it seems like fans in other places haven’t been as well-behaved as our fellow Memphians. Some fans in Salt Lake City apparently welcomed Ja Morant’s family to Utah with several racist remarks. A fan in New York spit on Hawks guard Trae Young. A fan in Philadelphia dumped a bucket of popcorn atop an injured Russell Westbrook. A fan in Boston was arrested after throwing a bottle of water at Kyrie Irving.
One incident might be a mistake, but after the third or fourth time? Now we’re talking about a pattern. Kelcey, what in the world do you think is happening? Are fans going wild after being mostly quarantined at home for the last year? Or is there some other explanation for the fans going wild to start this postseason?
From: Kelcey Wright Johnson
Sent: Wednesday, June 2, 2021 11:42 AM
To: Lang Whitaker
Subject: Re: IMHO
Hey Lang,
Yeah – this first week-or-so of playoffs has felt so great. The atmosphere, the camaraderie, the joy of everyone cheering for the same thing…and then there’s the outliers. The ones who take their ‘fandom’ too far. Since you wrote me this email, there’s also been a fan who ran onto the court during the Sixers game.
Honestly, I look down at Twitter when I get the notifications about these occurrences and think to myself, “What in the actual heck is happening?”
Have people been cooped up too long in their homes that they forget how to act out in public? Have they always been like this but now there are less fans in the arenas, so we notice them more? Have people legitimately lost their marbles? There is fandom and cheering, and then there’s crossing lines, and it is obvious that these lines are being crossed. We heard Ja Morant‘s dad speak on a radio show here in Memphis talking about his experience in Utah, and he is right: It’s fine to cheer for your team, or against his son and have it be about basketball. That’s normal behavior, it’s still respectful. But the minute people make it personal, racist, sexist, anything that attacks a human being? That is absolutely not ok, and warrants further punishment by NBA teams and arenas. As we’ve now heard from multiple players around the league, there is no room for that in the NBA. In any sport, for that matter.
In fact, the NBA just added some new measures to try and combat these types of activities, including asking teams to develop processes for pursuing law violations in additions to banning fans from the arenas. We saw that in Boston, where the 21-year-old man who threw the bottle at Kyrie is facing legal prosecution. The NBA is also now going to be reading the code of conduct three times throughout the game, rather than just before the game, and there will be additional security at games moving forward.
I really am praying that this type of activity stops. It is disgusting behavior, absolutely sickening the way some players (and their families) have been treated, like they’re not human beings, and if filing legal proceedings is what is going to make people treat people like people, then so be it. These actions ruin what is supposed to be fun… for the players, for the teams, for the fans, for everyone.
Can I take a sharp left turn for a second though because breaking news just came across my phone? Boston’s Danny Ainge is gone-zo, Brad Stevens is moving into his role, and the Celtics are looking for a new head coach the day after Brooklyn eliminated them from playoffs?
WHAT?! Give me your opinion on this move, Lang? Are they going to find a better coach than Brad Stevens?! What’s next for Ainge? My mind is spinning.
From: Lang Whitaker
Sent: Wednesday, June 2, 2021 1:43 PM
To: Kelcey Wright Johnson
Subject: RE: IMHO
My initial reaction to Stevens stepping away from coaching was that I wasn’t surprised. The NBA is such a grind, and it’s really just unrelenting. Stevens coached 215 games at Butler over five seasons, and in eight seasons in Boston he coached 636 regular season games. Which doesn’t even account for all the travel and practices and all that crap. For a relatively young guy with young kids, that’s a lot of home time you’re missing out on.
I’ll never forget a friend telling me that the morning after the 2017 All-Star Game, he caught a flight out of New Orleans and Eastern Conference coach Brad Stevens and his family were on the same plane. Stevens gave up his first class seat to one of his kids, and instead Stevens wedged himself into a coach seat and sat there watching game film on a laptop, getting ready for Boston’s game in a few days.
Being a GM is presumably just as much work as being a coach, but it’s a different kind of work, analyzing budgets and bottom lines as well as players and prospects. It should allow a better home/life balance, but I don’t know how Stevens is as a talent evaluator, or how he’ll do accumulating assets and making big moves. My guess is it won’t be demonstrably worse than Ainge. For all the draft picks and everything else Ainge put together over the years, and for all the hoopla around Stevens as a coach, it’s worth noting the Celtics never made it back to the Finals after KG and Doc Rivers left.
Where do they go from here? I’m guessing Stevens hires one of his assistants, someone he trusts and feels indebted toward. I think the loudest thing Stevens will say is when he gets around to making personnel moves—it’ll be interesting to see which players Stevens keeps and who he moves on from.
Were you, like me, up late last night watching Damian Lillard torch the Nuggets? The game went double-OT, and Dame was simply magnificent, finishing with 55 points and 10 assists. The real problem, however, is that the Blazers finished with an L. The Blazers are now on the verge of getting knocked out of the postseason, again, Dame just turned 30 years old, and it’s been 30 years since they made an NBA Finals appearance.
Life comes at you fast. If you’re the Blazers, what do you do?
From: Kelcey Wright Johnson
Sent: Thursday, June 3, 2021 12:01 AM
To: Lang Whitaker
Subject: Re: IMHO
You fight like hell to not lose another game. The Nuggets have the 3-2 lead, so it’s a must-win situation now for Damian Lamonte Ollie “I Never Miss a Big Shot” Lillard Sr., and the rest of the Trailblazers now.
I want it so bad for Dame. But on the other hand, I want it so bad for Jokic and the crew too. This is one series where I am completely torn. Usually, I can make swift decisions on which teams I like and dislike in series. Lakers/Suns? Easy, Suns. Mavs/Clippers? Simple, Mavs. There’s really very little rhyme or reason to these decisions for me, but for some reason, I really want the Blazers and the Nuggets to move to the next round. Who do I need to talk to for that to happen?!
To answer your question more literally… a double-overtime game, you really start to look at how even the stats were the entire 58 minutes. I’d say limiting turnovers, defending without fouling and finding SOME WAY to get the ball out of (who I think deserves the MVP this year) Jokic’s hands. But none of those things are groundbreaking and I’m sure the Blazers weren’t trying to throw the ball away, foul and let Jokic do whatever he wanted.
I’m talking in circles, Lang. I’m just so invested in the NBA Playoffs, I could chat for hours and hours with you about June basketball. Speaking of, the Grizzlies just had their playoff run cut short by the top team in the league. Can you look back at this year and tell me the one thing that surprised you the most about this team? What’d you like the most? What’s one memory you’ll take with you forever?
From: Lang Whitaker
Sent: Thursday, June 3, 2021 9:20 AM
To: Kelcey Wright Johnson
Subject: RE: IMHO
I can’t say I was surprised that the Jazz beat the Grizzlies. The Jazz are a veteran team, well-coached and poised, a team that dominated the NBA’s regular season. The Grizzlies are one of the youngest teams in the NBA, a bunch of kids trying to realize their identity and their style. And that gap between the two teams in this series was evident, particularly in the fourth quarters of games, when the Grizzlies would have to scratch and claw to get a good look, while the Jazz would use clock, run a play and get an open shot. There was a reason the Jazz won every close game by executing down the stretch. The Jazz are a really good team who are going to do well in the postseason. Will they win a title? I don’t think so, but they have had a great regular season.
As for the Grizzlies’ season, it reminds me a lot of what I’ve gone through the last year with my own son. I’ve always tried my best to not force basketball on him. I’m watching it constantly, sure, but I’ve never made him sit and watch a game with me. I’ve always told him if he wants me to go shoot baskets with him, I’m glad to do it any time he asks. But I’ll never force him to go shoot hoops. So, I’ve been patient, and while I’ve always secretly hoped he would one day love basketball as much as I do, I knew it was going to have to be a place that he got to on his own.
And this year, it happened. One day I walked in and saw him on his iPad, but instead of YouTube Kids he was watching Ja Morant dunks. He started asking me to stay up and watch games, asking me to get him every piece of Grizz clothing I could find, and daily asking me to go outside and shoot hoops and teach him dribble moves. (And yes, he’s a member in good standing in the Grizz Kidz Club!)
I don’t know where all this goes from here—maybe my son wakes up one day and decides he hates basketball, which is fine—but it’s been so much fun to watch him embrace and enjoy something I that I love, especially knowing that he got here on his own.
His journey reminds me in many ways of these Grizzlies. It felt so rewarding this season to see them figure things out, to see them learn and grow and fight through adversity. They never got calls, they hardly got attention from the media writ large, but they just kept playing, night after night. We got to see them grow up, right before our eyes.
I don’t know where things go from here, but it was rather incredible seeing a team that wasn’t supposed to do much overachieve and make some noise. And the best part about it all? It’s only going to grow from here.