NBA

Kristaps Porzingis STILL Needs Carmelo Anthony….

Posted on by Bobby Broadway

Kristaps Porzingis STILL needs Carmelo Anthony…

Yup, I said it, and have always believed it and Porzingis aka “The Unicorn” believes it as well.

“I think it would make life harder for me on the court (if Anthony was traded),” Porzingis told the Daily News. “He makes stuff easier for me.”

When KP and the Knicks defeated the NJ Nets Wednesday night, Knicks’ fans who have booed Melo at MSG finally saw their vision come true; KP leading the Knicks without Melo (on the bench for the 4th quarter).

As a Knicks fan I am always happy when the Knicks win, but we have to be realistic. KP is 0-8 when Melo doesn’t play, and I realize it’s a small sample size but still relevant. KP will be a very good and possibly a great player but he still has a lot to learn and prove in the NBA.

“There’s still a lot more things I want to learn from Melo,” Porzingis told The News. “So I would love to have him around for a long time. I always love playing with Melo.”

So Knicks fans, while I agree that it maybe time for Melo to be traded, at the same time we have to be careful of a couple of things. We can’t afford to get rid of Melo and get trash in return, and the organization needs a plan moving forward to develop KP and have an identity for the Knicks.

One last thing… Maybe not today, maybe not tomorrow, but someday Knicks fans will miss Melo when he is gone!

 

As always….

If there is something to be said, “It’s On Broadway” to step up and say it!!

 

Credit: NY Daily News

 

Kristaps Porzingis #HotlineZing

Posted on by Bobby Broadway

Kristaps Porzingis has taken the NBA by storm in the first half of the season, so be prepared for Porzingis mentions during NBA All-Star weekend in Toronto. Having the 4th most sold jersey in the NBA will get you a lot of love from the media, and apparently it will also make you the feature of a song parody of Drake’s ‘Hotline Bling’….

As a Knicks fan I am cool with all this attention, just at the end of the day… Stay Focus my man, Stay Focus!!

As always….

If there is something to be said, “It’s On Broadway” to step up and say it!!

#THIS: Harvey Returns to New York

Posted on by Bobby Broadway

When Rob Manfred took over as the 10th commissioner of Major League Baseball he openly acknowledged that baseball needed to do a better job in leveraging social media to market the game.

I think social media is a space that we need to continue to work on. You know, our principle efforts with respect to the pure marketing of the game are going to be player-focused. We’re at an interesting spot from the generational perspective—the Derek Jeter generation has kind of moved on, and we’re going to be making a conscious effort to market the new stars of the game—the Mike Trouts, the Clayton Kershaws and Andrew McCutchens. Those folks are great players and great young people, and that’s going to be a principle focus of our marketing efforts. Social is important, obviously, particularly with younger players who kind of carry younger fans – Rob Manfred

Baseball has launched their new PR campaign to promote their stars, #THIS. And just in time for the Subway Series they have release #THIS: Harvey Returns to New York

LETS GO HAR-VEE, LETS GO HAR-VEE….

Ok baseball, I think this is a good first step for MLB. I mean it works for me as a Mets fan, but can baseball get this out to the causal fan? Baseball needs to think big, they should buy spots during the NBA Playoffs and NFL Draft; just bombard TV and all social media with this campaign. Hopefully Manfred and baseball can keep coming up with good ideas like this.

By the way, baseball’s Twitter account (@MLB) currently has 4.48 million followers, and that may seem a lot until you take a look at the NBA’s Twitter account (@NBA)…. 14 million followers!!!!

You can checkout more #THIS videos on MLB’s YouTube Channel

 

As always….

If there is something to be said, “It’s On Broadway” to step up and say it!!

#RIP Earl F. Lloyd, the 1st African-American to Play in the NBA

Posted on by Bobby Broadway

This week we lost a trail blazer in the NBA.

Earl F. Lloyd was the 1st African-American to play in the NBA. He entered the NBA during the 1950-51 season with Chuck Cooper, Nathaniel Clifton, and Hank DeZonie. Lloyd played from 1950-1960; in 1955 he won a NBA Championship with Syracuse.

After his playing career Lloyd coached the Detroit Pistons from 1971-1972.

It’s a shame that Lloyd is not talked about more for his accomplishments. I consider myself a sports fanatic and I can’t recall ever hearing about Earl Lloyd. Not even during Black History Month have I ever heard the NBA acknowledge Lloyd.

Baseball does a great job celebrating Jackie Robinson every year. It’s time for NBA Commissioner Adam Silver and the NBA to step up and do a better job celebrating heroes like Earl Lloyd!

 

As always….

If there is something to be said, “It’s On Broadway” to step up and say it!!

2014 NBA Draft, Who Will Go #1?

Posted on by Bobby Broadway

Who will be the #1 draft pick in the NBA?

Jabari Parker, Andrew Wiggins, or maybe Dante Exum…

My homie @JBMallin put me on to Exum and his skillz

mallin1

Mallin2

The 6-6 point guard out of Melbourne, Australia has shot up draft boards with his athleticism. Exum is a pure point guard, like many young players he needs to improve on his outside jumper. Would the Cavs take him with Kyrie Irving still in the mix?

While a backcourt of Irving and Exum could be interesting, Exum with his passing ability would need to be point. Not sure if Irving would excel playing off the ball.

Whoever takes Exum will have a very talented player with raw skills that can be developed as he is still only a teenager. As @JBMallin noted he’s coachable and that is something GMs look for in young talented players like Exum.

In the meantime, while you get ready for the draft checkout Draft Express Preseason Scouting Report (2013) and a lil highlight video of Exum

 

 

 

As always….

If there is something to be said, “It’s On Broadway” to step up and say it!!

Takeover Thursdays – Lin, “Now I’m definitely relieved”

Posted on by Bobby Broadway

I’m trying to move on from all this Jeremy Lin craziness, but I was intrigued by Ian Begley’s interview with Lin the day after the Knicks decided not to match Houston’s offer.

What I expected was the usual talk when a beloved athlete leaves, “I love the fans” and “I wanted to play here for the rest of my career”…  Except, what I read made me look differently at what Lin might have been thinking as talks started to heated up.

One particular comment from Lin that caught my…

“Honestly, I preferred New York,” Lin told Sports Illustrated. “But my main goal in free agency was to go to a team that had plans for me and wanted me. I wanted to have fun playing basketball. … Now I’m definitely relieved.”

2 things stand out with what Lin said; “my main goal in free agency was to go to a team that had plans for me and wanted me”.

Lin told SI that he met with Mike Woodson in late June and said that Woodson talked about Lin being the starter and being a big part of the team.  Lin also stated that Dolan told him before Game 5 versus the Miami Heat,

“I have plans for you in the future,”

“This is a long-term investment. Don’t rush back (referring to Lin returning from knee injury).” – James Dolan

Now that to me sounds like the Knicks met Lin’s “main goal in free agency”

So what happened?

In my opinion the last sentence of Lin’s quote says it all…

“I wanted to have fun playing basketball. … Now I’m definitely relieved.”

All Lin talks about is how he loved the NY fans and that he preferred playing in NYC, so if you’re not playing in the preferred city you wanted to play in…  What exactly is he so relieved about?

After all the Linsanity and winning an Espy, could it be that Lin was feeling the pressure?  I mean at the end of the day this is still NYC, and the media here builds you up just so they can knock you down.  And with the Knicks fan base resting all their hopes and dreams on the shoulders of Lin, may be just may be basketball would not be as fun as he thought he could be.  Yes the Knicks have Amare and Melo, but it was Lin who had the Garden rocking like no other time during that EPIC 8 game winning streak.

There was no question Lin was going to sign with someone, so I just don’t get the relief he felt.  Of course I could be over analyzing this, smh.

How many more days until NFL Kickoff???

As always….

If there is something to be said, “It’s On Broadway” to step up and say it!!

WTF/WTH Wednesdays – Knicks do not match offer sheet for Jeremy Lin

Posted on by Bobby Broadway

Jeremy Lin

After an amazing 26 game stretch that was covered by both the national and international media; the era of Linsanity in NYC is officially over.

Even though Linsanity may be over in NYC, the debate  on whether the Knicks should have matched Houston’s offer for Lin is farrrrrr from over.  Knicks fans were torn between keeping Lin or letting him walk; for the record I was for letting him walk.  Don’t get me wrong, Lin did what was best financially for him.  In no way do I as a Knick fan begrudge him for getting the best deal possible but at the same time I agreed with most sports columnist and Carmelo Anthony…

The contract Houston offered was “Ridiculous”.

Like every other Knicks’ fan I enjoyed Linsanity, it was one of the highlights of last season.  But during those 26 games there were also troubling signs, no defense, and turnovers.  The pace of Linsanity slowed and many will blame the return of Melo but at the same time the NBA was figuring out Lin.  Then there is also Lin electing not to play in the playoffs when he stated he was at 85%. The Knicks were desperate for point guard help after Shumpert and Baron Davis were injured, some would say if Lin wanted the Knicks to take a chance on by matching the $25 million dollar contract… May be he should have when he decided to sit out the playoffs.

As I stated earlier this is far from over, I would not be surprised if one of the major NYC papers run a weekly comparison of what Lin is doing versus what the Knicks are doing when the season starts.

Dear God I hope that doesn’t happen….

We may not know at this point if Lin will succeed in Houston or if the Knicks will be a winning team next season, but one this is for sure.  Lin’s 1st game back at the Garden will be an EVENT!!!

As always….

If there is something to be said, “It’s On Broadway” to step up and say it!!

F-A-Natic Fridays – Glen Rice Nalin Palin???

Posted on by Bobby Broadway

Sarah Palin and Glen Rice

Out of ALL the things I could imagine about Sarah Palin, the last thing I could have ever imagined was that Palin would have dabbled in dealing with brothers.  Yup that’s right, Palin had a little fun back in 1987 and tested the interracial waters.

This week it was revealed in Joe McGinnis‘ upcoming book The Rogue: Searching For The Real Sarah Palin, that she once had some kind of relations with former NBA star Glen Rice while he was attending Michigan University.  According to McGinnis who supposedly confirmed the story with Rice and a former friend of the ex-governor; that while Palin (Back then known as Sarah Heath) was a sports reporter for a local Alaska TV station she met Rice during the 1987 Alaskan Shootout Tournament.

From the sound of it Palin was curious about the dark side, LOL!!

All in all there is nothing wrong with Palin wanting some chocolate in her life, it’s just funny that the hokie “You Betcha” girl could not resist the aura of the Black Man… HA!  To be fair to both Palin and Rice no one can confirm if there were sexual relations as it is all hearsay.  We all know Palin will more than likely either deny or just ignore the story and alleged quote from Rice never mention any sexual contact.  According to McGinnis, Rice said the following…

Rice called the relationship “respectful,” and not “hurried.” They were able to get to know each other personally.  He even said Palin was “a big crush”.

With that said I guess we can let our imaginations fly and try to fill in the rest of the story; whatever the whole story is it is still funny and all so RANDOM.  I mean of all the NBA players to pick to make a story up about, why Glen Rice??

I bet Todd Palin (Sarah’s husband) is asking the same thing, haha!!

For your enjoyment here is a video of Palin back in the day talking sports, I wonder if it was the big hair that sparked Rice’s interest…

Shout out to the Mets and Syracuse Orangemen for getting a mention during Palin’s broadcast, even in Alaska we get some love, lol!

As always….

If there is something to be said, “It’s On Broadway” to step up and say it!!

Takeover Thursdays – Stephen A Smith

Posted on by Bobby Broadway

So once again Stephen A Smith (SAS) opened up his mouth to make himself apart of the conversation.  SAS can’t help but want to be a factor in sports commentary; yesterday on Jim Rome’s show SAS talked about Bron’s mysterious lack of presence in the Game 4 loss to the Mavs.  For whatever reason SAS decided that he will drop a hint that LeBron James horrible Game 4 was more than just Bron having a bad game.

SAS talked about Bron possibly having off the court distractions/issues that may have caused the terrible Game4…..

Ummm, ok!!

SAS, what exactly are those off the court distractions?

When someone makes a comment like that it is only natural for everyone to inquire what those distractions are; BUT as soon as SAS alluded to possible “Distractions” he quickly added that it is none of our business.

WHAT???

How do you sit there and RECKLESSLY throw out statements about LeBron having possible off the court issues during the NBA Finals??

Come on Stephen A Smith, you know better than that.  Terrible job on his part and to me unprofessional… Because of SAS comments the next line of questions from Jim Rome were about LeBron’s mental makeup.

One second SAS is defending Bron’s toughness but then moments later he challenges Bron’s heart, where do you stand SAS?

That is weak on Stephen A Smith part; instead of just simply reporting on the NBA Finals for a quick minute Stephen A Smith is making himself the story.  Now everyone wants to know what does SAS know about LeBron’s off the court life.  On top of that SAS then wants to act innocent and get mad that everyone is hitting him up about his comments; STOP IT!!!!

You got exactly what you wanted Stephen A and that is attention; do us all a favor and just report on the game and stop trying to be the game.

As always….

If there is something to be said, “It’s On Broadway” to step up and say it!!