Blake Griffin was a Good, Not Hall of Fame, NBA Player

Blake Griffin officially retired from the NBA after 14 years yesterday. Let’s discuss.

Blake Griffin was an exciting, emphatic dunker in his prime. He would do some of the most amazing dunks I had seen since Shawn Kemp. I do feel like some of them, the dunk contest where he "jumped" over a car, were a bit overrated. But, nonetheless, he was a very good in-game dunker. He put a bunch of people on posters. As his athleticism waned, he found, kind of, a jumper. He was never a true threat from the outside, but he could hit the free throw line jumper more times than not. He was an okay enough rebounder, did his part sometimes on defense and the dunking, that was pretty great. I fully believe that is what he will be remembered for most, the dunking. He was one of the best to dunk when he would really go for it. But, a question I saw on social media after his announcement really got me thinking.

After the retirement was released, a person asked if Blake Griffin was a hall of fame basketball player. My gut reaction was no. Outside the dunking, what did he really do to be a hall of famer? He never won a ring. He was a six time all star. He never made first team all NBA. He did make second team three times and third team twice. Other than that, his only other accolades are 2011 rookie of the year and 2011 slam dunk contest champ. No MVP award. No all defense. No conference finals appearances.In his 14 years he played in 68 playoff games. He shot less than 50 percent from the field. He was under 38 percent from 3. And for his playoff career, he was an 18 point per game player who also added 7.7 rebounds. For a 6'9 power forward, seven rebounds per game is not as much as I expected.

Again, Griffin, while a fine player, I do not look at these career numbers and think, hall of fame. His dunking was electric. The way the whole team stood up to the monstrous owner Donald Sterling, which I have to believe Griffin was one of the leaders to stand against that monster, was wonderful. Getting traded to Detroit, which was not on his radar after signing a max contract with the Clippers, and guiding that team to the playoffs kept him relevant. But then we have the Nets and Celtics to close out his career. I actually forgot he was on the Celtics until he announced his retirement. Griffin came into the league like a flash. He did some hyper athletic things. He made tons and tons of highlight reels. He made the Clippers fun and must watch tv. But he does not have the resume to be in the hall of fame. He doesn't have the numbers, the rings, the awards.

While fun to watch, Blake Griffin is not a hall of fame basketball player. Enjoy retirement. I'm sure Blake Griffin has a great comic and acting career ahead of him. He should strive for the hall of fame in those categories. 

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing, the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast, and the greatest basketball writer on the internet.

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Should I Care Anymore About Blake Griffin the NBA Player

Earlier today, and I will be doing a full NBA preview soon, I saw that Blake Griffin signed a one year deal with the Celtics. The news kind of came and went for me. It had no real pull at all. I thought, good for him, but how does he help Boston? Then I got kind of sad for Blake Griffin. Let’s discuss.

There was once a time when Griffen was a real MVP candidate. He was one of the top 20 players, easily, in the NBA. He was on ESPN every night. The Clippers became relevant when he and Chris Paul were there. He was always on the All Star team, he was a perennial all NBA player, he was winning dunk contests and he was an all time heel for non Clippers fans. I could not stand him. I actively rooted against him. I do not dislike the Clippers, but I disliked the Lob City Clippers. But I also respected his game. He did the things that I liked. He dunked hard. He had amazing hops. He was a rebounder. He started to make his jumper. He reminded me of my all time favorite player, Shawn Kemp. He was the newer, and as much as this hurts to write, better, Shawn Kemp.

Then stuff kind of went haywire. The Clippers gave him a max deal, but then traded him in year two of that deal. And it is not like they traded him to a contender or even a nice city. They offloaded him to Detroit. When he went there I thought it might work, and I thought it was rad that Detroit was getting a star player via trade. None of it worked. He moped around. He never went too hard. He lost a step. He didn't try as hard on both ends of the floor. The Pistons never did much with Griffin. It was at this time when I started to forget about him. He was still in the league, but he was way off of my radar. I'd hear his name come up and kind of shrug. And this is only a few years after getting a max deal and being the force that he was in LA. Griffin was actually becoming more of a comedic voice than a basketball player in my eyes. He was showing up at Improv shows and on podcasts and I kind of forgot that he was this incredible basketball player at one point. Then last season he left Detroit as a free agent and signed with Brooklyn. The move was met with a whimper on my end. I did not even care that he was joining forces with Kyrie and KD. I could have cared less. I figured he would be a bench player, and he was. He lost all his hops. He lost every step. His jumper was erratic at best. He wasn't the heel anymore. No one was afraid of him. He was not the problem. It got bad enough for him that he was played out of playoff series at times. He could not be counted on anymore. And that made me sad. Again, I have never been a fan of his, but I respect his game, especially when he was young.

The news of him going to Boston feels very blah to me. But the more I have thought about it today, maybe he is going to do what Vince Carter did. Carter was a very similar player to Griffin. But Carter bought into being a bench player. He played his role. His jumper became very good. He tried on defense. He became a fan favorite all over again. Carter handled the back half of his career perfectly. Maybe that is what Griffin is going to do. Or maybe I hope that is what Griffin is going to do now in Boston. Hopefully he is ready to be a bench guy. Hopefully he is ready to be a full time role player. He is not the number one guy anymore. Hell, he isn't even a starter anymore. I hope that is the way he goes. I don't know, and I am not very hopeful. But hopefully he does more of a Vince Carter thing. That would be best. We will see.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast.

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Blake Griffin Signing with the Nets Makes A Lot of Sense

I was going to take the day off writing, but I was just reading some news on Blake Griffin, who I wrote about a week or so back, and he has agreed to a buyout. It is not the trade I was expecting, but he will not be a Detroit Piston anymore. That much is true.

Then, almost right next to the buyout story was that five teams were interested, all of which are playoff bound teams at the moment.

Then, right after that story it said that he is expected to sign with Brooklyn.

This is why I am writing something right now. I wrote how I thought the Harden trade was not going to be a good fit. I was very wrong, at least so far. The playoffs will really show us if the trade was worth it. But adding Griffin to this mix, holy hell is this team going to be nearly impossible to guard. They will not not play much defense, but they won't have to when they are scoring 130 plus a night. This is a historically great offense without Griffin. And I know that Griffin has been bad this year, but is he really trying? Did anyone really think the Pistons were going to be a playoff contender? Do they have anyone other than Jeremi Grant and Saadiq Bey who are even worthwhile players or prospects? The answer is no to all of these questions. Griffin is also going to get some of the best looks of his career playing alongside Harden, KD and Kyrie. Add on the fact that Deandre Jordan will be clogging the lane, or more likely, opening it up for the other guys, and Griffin will be an excellent fourth or fifth option for the Nets. Sure Griffin has lost a step, can't jump as high, isn't as athletic and wants the ball, but man would this be a solid acquisition for a team that is already winning a ton, and climbing the ranks in the East. I'm sure the Nets will stick with their starters when KD comes back healthy, but adding Griffin, who they can stagger minutes with the starters with, that is going to make them lethal. The starting five has Harden, KD, Kyrie, Deandre Jordan and, lets say, Joe Harris. Again, not much defense, but KD is one of the best pure scorers, Harden is one of the best passers and three point shooters, and can also draw an annoying amount of foul shots, Kyrie is a wizard with the ball and can hit big time shots, Joe Harris is a solid three point shooter and Deandre can fill the lane if needed. The bench has guys like Bruce Brown who is finding interesting ways to score easy buckets, Jeff Green who is very athletic and has managed to stay in the league, Landry Shamet who can be a streaky shooter, Timothe Luwawu-Caboret who is young and athletic and Tyler Johnson who is inconsistent, but can make shots from time to time. Add Griffin to that group, and man do they have a ton of scoring. I'm sure they are going to get him for cheap, I'm sure this means some younger guys, or older vets, will lose playing time to Griffin, and Griffin will have to get into shape. But man, this fit is so much better than Miami, and I thought Miami was nearly perfect.

If this happens, if Griffin signs with Brooklyn, as much as I want the Bucks and 76ers to play in the East Finals, I think this pushes the Nets to the top of the conference. In fact, I would go as far as making them the East favorites, and they would give any top tier team from the West a tough time. This would be a historic offense. This would rank right up there with Warriors when KD signed with them, or the 7 seconds or less Suns. This would be a big deal.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing, the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast, and the greatest basketball writer on the internet.

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Thoughts on Who Should Trade for Blake Griffin

Where we sit today, the NBA trade deadline is about three weeks away. There have already been massive moves, Harden to the Nets, and I think there will be a flurry of moves coming very soon. I could see upwards of a dozen or so guys being on a new team before the month is out.

If you are looking for an indicator why, look at all the players being sat right now so teams can try and find a trade partner. Guys like JJ Redick and Austin Rivers and Lonzo Ball and Kevin Love and Andre Drummond have all seen their playing time diminish to almost nothing. Now, this doesn't necessarily mean all these guys will be traded, but I suspect most of them will by March 7th.

One person who I was kind of shocked to be on the block was Blake Griffin. He has really kind of nose dived since the Clippers traded him to the Pistons. At the time it happened, I got it for both sides. The Clippers didn't want to pay him, they were going to go after Kawhi, they were offloading everyone they could and they wanted to make a push. For the Pistons, they wanted to get in the playoffs, they wanted a player that could sell tickets, Griffin could run the show there and he was going to be teamed up with Drummond, who was a Piston at the time, to form a solid front court. Well, it has worked okay for the Clippers, they got Kawhi and Paul George, and they are one of the top teams in the West. As for the Pistons and Griffin, well that is a different story. They were swept out of the playoffs in the first round his first season there. Then he got hurt again. Then the Pistons traded Drummond. And they waived Reggie Jackson, then they recently traded Derrick Rose and they are not very good. They are competitive, but I think only second to the Timberwolves, they have one of the worst records in the league. Jerami Grant has been exceptional, and rookie Saadiq Bey definitely has potential, but they are rebuilding.

Maybe I shouldn't be that shocked to see them sit Griffin, and try to find a trade partner for him. He is older, 31 now. He has been more injured in his pro career than not. He doesn't have the bounce he used to. He has never been a great rebounder or defender. He can shoot and handle okay, but he isn't the threat he once was. I never bought into the hype surrounding Griffin, but he does have some value to a team chasing the playoffs, or perhaps the title.

I have sat and thought about who I think would be the best fit for him, where he could go and do what he has become good at, and help a team get far in the playoffs. That means all the also rans, the Cavs and T'Wolves and Wizards are off the table. But there are some teams, in both conferences, that can use a point forward who can knock down a few threes per game, and force opponents to guard him because he is still somewhat of a scoring threat. Right away I take out the Lakers, Clippers, Nets, Jazz, Trailblazers and Nuggets. These teams already have players like him, or they don't have enough equity to get him. But that does leave some teams, teams near the top, that could use a guy like Blake Griffin to make a push. The 76ers could use him, but they will not give up enough to get him, and they shouldn't. What they are doing right now is working. The Bucks may like the idea of pairing him with Giannis, and while he is much better than Bobby Portis, I do not think Milwaukee has enough to make a trade for him, unless they are willing to part with a starter or two. I think he would work out well with the Spurs, but I don't think Pop wants to bring on a former "star" player. I think he likes what his youth is giving him right now. I'd be kind of interested to see him paired with Luka in Dallas, but they seem set with Porzingis, and that is a bummer. He is so soft, and does not play like a 7 footer. He is also as injury prone, if not more so, than Griffin. I don't think the Celtics will be willing to part with any of their youth, and the Knicks want a young big name, not a player in his waning years.

That leaves me with two teams that, while I do not think they will win the title, they will be in the playoffs and make a serious push. Those teams are the Pacers and Heat. Both are very middling right now. The Pacers are .500, and the Heat are below .500. That doesn't mean things won't change, and I think if either one adds Griffin, they could make their way to the upper half of the East. The Pacers would need to part ways with Myles Turner, which would be a bummer because he has been a defensive force this season. But, his name has been in trade talks the past two years. I think they could put Turner in the deal, add a younger guard and a pick, and they could add Griffin. That would pair him up with Sabonis. Sabonis does all the dirty work, he is a good defender and he is becoming a legit first option. Griffin could play off that pretty well. Then he would have shooters around him. Brogdon can knock down shots. TJ Warren is liable to go for 40 on any given night. Jeremy Lamb has moments. And when Caris Levert gets cleared to play, he is an offensive dynamo. Griffin would be surrounded by young guys that play hard on both ends and he could come in and be someone that can contribute offensively right away. It would be such a bummer to have to trade Turner, but as I said, it is not like they haven't shopped him yet.

As for the Heat, they are struggling right now. They're 11-16, which is 10th currently in the East, but a few wins here and there, and they are back in it. They are also almost at full health. They were ravaged by injury, they had COVID issues, and finally they are getting everyone back. The Heat also would not have to give up any of the young scorers that have been mentioned for bigger names. They could keep Tyler Herro and Duncan Robinson. Bam is off the table obviously. Jimmy Butler isn't going anywhere. Dragic is there to stay. Hell, they could even hold onto Andre Igodala if they want. They would have to give up someone, or multiple someones, guys like Kendrick Nunn or Kelly Olnyk or Meyers Leonard or maybe, even though they don't want to, Precious Achiuwa. But I think they would, knowing they could keep the main core guys, and add Griffin to the team. I also think Griffin would love playing for the Heat, and he would definitely prefer Miami to Indiana due to outside interests. I also think he fits even better with the Heat. Bam is better than Damontas Sabonis. He is stronger, a better offensive player and just seems to have that "it" factor some star players show. Jimmy Butler could be Griffin's newer version of Chris Paul, keeping him in check. He has better, younger versions of JJ Reddick in Robinson and Herro. And He and Dragic could run a dangerous pick and roll against second units. The Heat, for a myriad of reasons, makes almost too much sense to me. I would be kind of stunned when/if he gets traded if it isn't to the Heat. I think both teams would benefit the most. And above all, I think Griffin would take this news with a tremendous smile and acclimate very nicely, and quickly, to Miami.

Miami. That is where Blake Griffin should end up. It is as near a perfect fit as there is in the NBA.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing, the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast, and the greatest basketball writer on the internet.

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The Overrated Blake Griffin is Finished in the NBA

To round out my 2 weeks of basketball previews, I want to finish up talking about a specific player. This is not a young player. This is not a rookie. This is not a super star, not anymore at least. This is not a player that will matter come playoff time. This is not an all star. This player is Blake Griffin.

I want to ask a very specific question about him, and then I will try and answer it. And know this, I do not, and have never, ever like Griffin. Even with him going to the Michigan football game last weekend did not score him any points with me. The question, is Blake Griffin done?

Now, I have never thought he was as good as others used to say. I have always thought that he is/was wildly overrated. I have always thought that he is/was soft. I despise his constant complaining. I do not think he takes the games as serious as a supposed super star is supposed to. His win in the dunk contest, however long ago that was, was ridiculous. He did not jump over a car, he jumped over the hood. It was lame. I always thought he was the third wheel in the whole "Lob City" era with the Clippers. I do not think he is funny. I do not like his commercials. I just do not like Blake Griffin.

And before you think this piece is just to slander, you are 50 percent correct.

I have multiple signs that point to the fact that Griffin is cashed as a NBA player. Reason one, the Clippers gave him a max contract last year, and when the time to trade him came up, they did it without a second thought. And, they traded him to Detroit. For Tobias Harris and Avery Bradley. That is not the return you'd expect for a supposed super star. He then proceeded to do nothing to help the Pistons get to the playoffs. The one thing he helped do was get Stan Van Gundy fired as GM and coach. Van Gundy took that risk, and it blew up in his face.

Even before the trade, he was not the star the Clippers made him out to be. He was more known for his whining, dunking, doing stupid shit to fans and getting hurt. He missed his entire rookie year due to injury. He then wasn't much of a star in his next year, even if he won Rookie of the Year. Michael Carter Williams has also won that award by the way. He then got paired up with Chris Paul and Deandre Jordan started to come into this own, and while the Clippers were now a playoff team, it wasn't because of Griffin, at least not to me. Chris Paul pushed that team to the playoffs. Deandre Jordan was the defensive and rebounding stalwart they needed. Griffin was there to dunk. Sure, he developed a mid range shot, but in the modern NBA, most people don't want mid range shooting. Teams want threes, which he cannot shoot or dunks, which he is only getting worse at. The Clippers never made the conference finals with him as their supposed star player.

What really put this all into perspective for me was one instance in the preseason, and another that just happened the other night. Blake Griffin attempted to back down a smaller player, and then tried to elevate for a dunk. This happened against the same team, and the same player denied him, twice. When Griffin went up to dunk, to make the highlight reel like he used to do, his attempt was stopped cold by Jarrett Allen. Now, I know who Jarrett Allen is because I am a humongous NBA nerd. I like Allen. I think he is one of the better rim protectors in the NBA. But, he isn't Joel Embiid, Al Horford, prime Serge Ibaka or Rudy Gobert. Allen plays a smallish role on the awful Nets. And he stoned Griffin's dunk attempt twice. Griffin doesn't have the lift anymore. People aren't afraid to challenge him at the rim. He, of course, looked for a foul call, but both blocks were as clean as they come. These younger guys, that play modern NBA defense, are not afraid of a guy like Griffin anymore. I mean, Jarrett Allen made him look like a scrub. He stopped him cold two times in the matter of a week. Blake Griffin cannot do it anymore. It's either that, or he just doesn't care enough anymore since he is in Detroit, and he thinks no one is watching.

Well, I was watching. I saw the clips, then I watched them again and then I watched them a third time. I have told friends and family that like the NBA to check out the clips. I am writing an entire piece about his lack of explosion now. I have never though that Griffin was a star, and the 2 Allen blocks have just reaffirmed it for me.

This is pure joy for me, and I cannot wait to see the next back up center stone him at the rim again. Blake Griffin is done.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing, the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast, and the greatest basketball writer on the internet. 

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There is No Upside for Anyone with the Blake Griffin Trade

Blake Griffin is no longer a Clipper. He was traded to the Pistons in what some are calling a "blockbuster" deal. I don't view it that way. As you all know well by now, I think the Clippers and Blake Griffin are extremely overrated. They have never really accomplished anything noteworthy. They never got out of the second round of the playoffs. They never struck fear in any other NBA team. No matter how bad the Lakers were/are, the Clippers were always the second best team in LA. The dunk contest Blake Griffin won was stupid. He punched out employees of the team. He focused more on his "acting" and "stand up comedy" career. He always got hurt. He was one of the main guys to push Chris Paul out of town. He consistently complains to refs. These are all the things that I will remember about Blake Griffin as a Clipper.

In actuality, he had one great season as a Clipper. He was only once a top 5 player in the league. And that year, the Clippers blew a 3-1 lead to the Rockets in the playoffs. Other than that, he would be featured on ESPN due to some highlight dunks or because he got injured again. I don't think he ever truly bought in to being the face of the Clippers franchise. And yesterday, they ended that possibility for good.

Before I fully get into this trade, I don't think either team got better or worse. In fact, I think they will both finish right about where I picked them both in the preseason. The full trade, and I'm sure I'll miss out on some of the involved players, I will just highlight who I consider important, has the Clippers sending Blake Griffin, Brice Johnson and some dude I never heard of to the Pistons for Tobias Harris, Avery Bradley, Boban and a first and second round pick. At first glance you may see this and think that the Pistons got the better part of the deal. After all, they did get the "superstar". Again, I have never thought he was any kind of star. But, is he really the best player in this trade. Sure, he has had highlight reel dunks, extended his range and is a decent passer, but is he a better defender than Avery Bradley? No way. Is he a better scorer than Tobias Harris? Yes, but he needs the ball in his hands at all times. Harris can spread the floor and find open spots and hit rhythm jumpers. He doesn't need to hold the ball for the entirety of the shot clock before hoisting up a jumper.

The main thing with Griffin though, how long can he stay healthy? I know that Stan Van Gundy is taking a big, big leap, but what does he care? If this trade doesn't work and the Pistons miss the playoffs, he will be fired, but he can go straight to TV and make nearly as much as he does coaching and being the GM. This is a last ditch effort for him to save his job. I loved the combo of big guys in New Orleans(more on Boogie Cousins tomorrow), but this doesn't feel the same. Andre Drummond, while a great rim protector and rebounder, is nowhere near as athletic as Davis or Boogie. Also, Griffin has already played next to almost the exact same guy in LA, DeAndre Jordan, and that was not a success. I also feel like this will stifle Drummond's growth. He has been great this year, but now he will have to be second fiddle to Griffin. That is a bummer.

Also, the rest of the Pistons roster leaves a lot to be desired. Reggie Jackson is average at best, Luke Kennard is an inconsistent rookie, Henry Ellenson stinks, Ish Smith cannot do much anymore and Stanley Johnson hasn't figured it out yet. They just don't have good NBA players.

After reading that, you probably think that I think the Clippers won the trade then, right? Nope. Yes they shed a horrendous contract and opened up cap space, but that is about it. Avery Bradley is not engaged this season. He needs to be on a team with playoff ambitions, and neither the Pistons nor the Clippers will make the playoffs, in my opinion. Tobias Harris is good, and I think he will become a number one or two option on this team, especially if they get rid of Lou Williams and DeAndre Jordan, but would you want Tobias Harris to be your first or second option? Will he lead you to a title? How about the conference finals, or even the playoffs? It didn't happen in Orlando or Detroit, and I don't see that changing now. Boban is more known for his enormous hands than his playing ability. That is all that needs to be said about him. The rest of their roster is just as ho hum as the Pistons, especially if they get rid of Jordan and Williams. That means that guys like Montrez Harrell, Austin Rivers, Juwan Evans and Sam Dekker will be playing crunch time. Ouch. That is brutal. So no, the Clippers didn't win this trade either.

This trade is more substance than circumstance. It looks big on paper, but on the floor, I don't think it matters. I do find it hilarious that the Clippers traded him to Detroit though. That is ruthless, mean, but also hilarious. As I said at the top, he claims to want to be a stand up comedian and an actor. He could do that stuff in LA. Where is he going to do that in Detroit? I heard a story today that said  the people close to him say that he is very sad and frustrated right now. Well, the NBA is a business, so grow the hell up. People said the same thing to Isaish Thomas when the Celtics traded him for Kyrie Irving, and he was way more important to them than Blake Griffin ever was to the Clippers. Stop whining and go play for your new team.

Another thing that has made me laugh about all this is the sudden 180 from guys like Bill Simons and the whole Ringer staff. A year ago they were all saying that Griffin was one of the best young players in the NBA. They said he should be an MVP candidate. They claimed he would thrive without Chris Paul. They said he would win in spite of Doc Rivers. They loved him next to DeAndre Jordan. Today, on all their NBA podcasts, they were all singing a different tune. Now he is too often injured, he doesn't care enough, he needs a change of scenery, he was never going to lead the Clippers to the conference finals, he was too much of a headache to the franchise. They completely flipped on him. The Ringer is becoming a lot like the company they are trying to compete with, ESPN. They are front runners and they will drop you the moment you aren't relevant, or don't live and play in a big market anymore. It is hilarious and stupid all at the same time.

Bottom line, I don't think any team won this trade, I find it hilarious that Griffin is sulking like a baby when he makes millions upon millions of dollars playing a game, I think it is totally contradictory the way Bill Simmons and his yes men and women are treating him now. It is all just ridiculous. I guess my conclusion, or final thought to this trade is, who cares? No one got any better or any worse. Some mediocre guys were traded for other mediocre guys and neither the Pistons nor the Clippers will matter anyway, just like they haven't mattered in over a decade.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing, the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast, and the greatest basketball writer on the internet. 

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Don't Believe the Chris Paul to the Rockets Hype

This still may not be enough balls for Harden and Paul.

Today I'm going to be talking NBA, but no I will not be talking about the mercy firing of Phil Jackson. That was a long time coming. He may have been worse than Isiah Thomas, minus the sexual assault stuff, and he will go down as one of the worst executives in NBA history. He was a great coach, but a horrific evaluator of players, and his decisions on players was awful. Good riddance.

Instead, I want to talk about the Chris Paul trade to the Rockets. On paper this looks great. On paper you need more than one star to win, or even compete, for titles. On paper this makes the Rockets the second best team in the West, and maybe in all of the NBA. On paper this could catapult the Rockets to a place they have not been since the early to mid nineties.

But, the games are not played on paper. In fact, I see this trade as one of the biggest paper tigers in all of pro sports. Now, to get it out of the way immediately, both Chris Paul and James Harden are 2 of the best players to play the game. Harden attacks and scores and gets to the free throw line like almost no other 2 guard I have seen. He also became an excellent facilitator in Mike D'Antoni's offense last year. And Chris Paul is one of the greatest point guards to ever step on a basketball court. He knows all the tricks, setting illegal screens, getting away with multiple fouls and running a team, and he is, maybe a better word is was, a great defender. So yes, these 2 guys are great basketball players. But, unless this team adds Paul George, I do not care one way or another about them getting Carmelo Anthony possibly, he is beyond useless now, I do not think this will work out for the Rockets and blowhard Daryl Morey.

I remember 2 years ago, when the Rockets signed Ty Lawson, I loved that move. I thought he would pair perfectly with Harden and Beverly in the back court. Well, that famously did not work out, and about halfway through that season, Lawson was let go, and now, he is a ghost. Chris Paul is much, much, much better than Ty Lawson, but, he is also more ball dominant. James Harden is also very ball dominant. We have seen this from both for the majority of their careers. Harden wasn't as ball dominant while in OKC, but since he was traded to Houston, he has needed the ball in his hands. He needs to run the offense. He wants to be the face of that team, and for the most part, it has worked for them. They haven't won, or even made a Finals appearance, but they did get to the conference finals a few years back, and they regularly win 50 plus games.

Chris Paul also needs the ball in his hands. He is the epitome of what a point guard is. He needs the ball in his hands to see the floor and run the offense. It has been like this for him, I'd feel safe to say, since he was in high school. He also ran the offense and always had the ball in his hands in his 2 years at Wake Forest. And since he has been in the NBA, at both of his stops, he has been giving the keys to the offense, thus putting the basketball in his hands and letting him dictate how the offense runs.

So, how will the fact that there is only one ball work for this team? I have heard people say that they will stagger minutes, these 2 guys won't be on the floor together all the time and maybe they will buy into what the Warriors do, and be happy sharing the ball. I don't think any of this will work. Why not have your 2 best players on the floor together as much as possible? Why stagger their minutes? Why is this okay with some sports writers when they lambasted the Thunder for doing this when they had KD and Westbrook? Your 2 best players need to be on the floor together whenever possible. That is how you win. Also, I don't see either Chris Paul or James Harden being okay with sharing the ball. These 2 guys have been the guy on their main teams, and they have made it well known that they want to be the one that their teams count on. I don't think they will be okay spreading the ball around like the Warriors. The Warriors, and mainly Steph, Klay and KD, did not care who was the guy to get the last shot or bring it up the court during crucial moments of important games. They all trusted each other, and they can all shoot and handle the ball. Harden can shoot and handle the ball, but he is quick to just hold the ball for 20 seconds of the shot clock and either jack up a three or try to get to the rim for a layup or floor. Chris Paul is a good mid range shooter, but he can't get to rim that well, he is not a great three point shooter, and the Rockets don't like shooting mid range shots.

I know that these guys played well on the Olympic team together, but the NBA is a whole different monster. One of these guys needs to be the guy to come up big in the playoffs. I ask, which one of these has had any big time moments in big time playoff games. Harden is the consummate choker. He may be the Dan Marino of the NBA. He has had ample opportunity and he has choked each and every opportunity away. Chris Paul, what has he done since college? I don't think Wake Forest ever got passed the Sweet Sixteen while he was there, and we all know about the lack of success with the Clippers. They never made it out of the second round with him running the team. So yeah, good luck Daryl Morey and Mike D'Antoni. You got 2 guys that have proven to be very unclutch in their NBA careers.

Also, how will Harden deal with Paul's aggressive approach to running a team? Harden seems like a very loose, laidback dude, and Chris Paul may be the most intense player in the NBA. Chris Paul is famous for his tirades against teammates. It is never his fault when his team doesn't make it passed the second round. It is always the ref, the coach or his teammates. He is never to blame. How will Harden handle that? I'd guess, not that well.

The one thing I do agree with Paul on with this trade is his relationship with Doc and Austin Rivers. I do think that Doc the GM is atrocious, and if he really held back a trade that would have made the Clippers better because his son was involved, that is real shitty.

I will say, the Clippers did get something in return for someone who seemed to be out the door in a few days. Free agency starts at 12:00 AM July 1st. The Clippers were able to sign and trade Paul for Patrick Beverly, Sam Dekker, Montrez Harrell and some picks. They did not walk away empty handed.

With all this being said, I do not like this trade at all. The Rockets got a great point guard, but they already had a great point guard that just happens to be a little too soft. Harden needs to be coddled, and Chris Paul will not coddle him. He will verbally abuse the shit out of him. And the Clippers, while realizing that they weren't going anywhere with their "Big 3" of Paul, Blake Griffin and DeAndre Jordan, unfortunately traded the most reliable one of the group. Now Griffin, who is always hurt, and might leave too, has no one to throw him alley oops or get him open jumpers, and what on Earth is Jordan going to do without a guy that consistently got him open lobs. I feel worst for him. He was locked in a house 2 years ago by Chris Paul, among others, to re up with the Clippers, and now, Paul has left him high and dry.

While this trade may look good on paper, I don't see it making a real difference. I actually think it will blow up in their faces. Also, I don't think adding Chris Paul really makes them a threat to the Warriors, but I also think the Spurs are still better, and whatever team LeBron James is on will beat them. This trade is not as great as some may have you believe. Prove me wrong Houston, but I'm just waiting for this to be a total disaster for them, and for Paul to leave in free agency after the 2017-18 season.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing, the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast, and the greatest basketball writer on the internet. 

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It is Long Past Time to Blow Up the LA Clippers

The best cure for the current Clippers roster sheet

Something incredible happened yesterday. And by incredible, I mean that it was such a great sight to see the Los Angeles Clippers, once again, bow out very early in the NBA playoffs. They got beat, handily I might add, by the Jazz in the seventh game of their first round matchup.

The Clippers had everything, minus one Blake Griffin injury, in their favor to easily win this series and advance to face the Warriors. They had the home court. They had the best overall player in the series, Chris Paul. They had what many presumed was the better back court and front court. They won a pivotal game 6 on the Jazz home floor. They should have won. Instead, they played some of the most uninspired basketball that I have ever seen. They looked defeated from the get go. Chris Paul looked tired. DeAndre Jordan was a complete non factor. Austin Rivers horrific offense was on full display. JJ Redick cannot shoot the three with any real consistency anymore, and he has become a total liability on defense. Jamal Crawford never found a rhythm in this series ever. Luc Mbah A Moute is a horrific offensive player, and his defense is not much better. Wesley Johnson could not get on the floor due to several matchup problems. Paul Pierce, as much as I love him as a basketball player, looked done in game 41 this year. The Clippers just stunk up the court last night.

I was happy by this, but I at least thought the Clippers would put up some kind of fight. The Jazz controlled everything about that game yesterday. Rudy Gobert was an absolute beast in the post. Gordon Hayward was doing what he has done all season long. George Hill was running their offense to near perfection. Joe Johnson looked so much better than any Clipper, save for Chris Paul. Derrick Favors looked awesome yesterday too. Hell, even Quinn Snyder outcoached Doc Rivers yesterday. It was so crazy. Doc Rivers is a NBA champion, and he got outcoached by a guy that got fired by the University of Missouri once upon a time. Now, Quinn Snyder is a much better coach now than he was back then, but still, for him to have a much better game plan than Doc Rivers was baffling.

I've said it way more than once on the site and I will say it once again, time to blow this shit up LA Clippers. This team is going nowhere, and they will continue to go nowhere as long as they keep this core group together. First off, Chris Paul is their best player, far and away, and one of the best point guards to ever play in the NBA, but he is old and getting to the point in his career where he cannot be the unequivocal leader of a title contender. He would be better suited going to a team like San Antonio or Miami this offseason, but I'm sure he will resign with the Clippers because they can offer him the most money. This summer will prove to us what he cares about more, money or titles. Resigning with the Clippers is a clear sign because they are not going to be a contender, especially in the West. Blake Griffin is an unrestricted free agent, and many teams will want him to come play for them, but he is oft injured, and I think his best days are behind him. Go back and read my piece from last Monday to get my full thoughts on Blake Griffin. He's done. DeAndre Jordan is who he will always be in the NBA. He is a decent pick and roll guy that can dunk the ball, but that is it. He is not a great rebounder, he is a subpar rim protector, an awful free throw shooter, cannot shoot outside the lane and seems disinterested in big time games. He is very big and strong, but he plays very small. JJ Redick is a free agent, just like Blake Griffin, but if Griffin is washed up, where does that put JJ Redick? He used to be a reliable three point shooter, but he doesn't even have that anymore. He is also a horrid defender. Good luck to whatever sub .500 team gives him 15 million a year. Paul Pierce, thankfully and mercifully, is retired now. He was so great once, but since he left Boston, save for one season in Washington, he has looked like a shell of himself. He looked completely washed up when I watched him play yesterday. I love you Paul Pierce, but that was painful.

Other than that, who do the Clippers have that will scare the Warriors, Rockets, Spurs, hell even the Thunder and Jazz now? All those teams are better, and I think that Portland is going to surpass them next season as well. So, if they stay pat with their "big three" of Paul, Jordan and Griffin, I still think, at the very best, they will be a 7 seed in the West. They cannot compete with those other teams, plain and simple. I know that Steve Ballmer, who I loathe, and the front office and Doc Rivers the GM wants to resign all these guys, just don't. It is an exercise in futility. As the saying goes, if you keep doing the same thing and expect a different outcome, that's the sign that you're a crazy person, or something like that. As I already stated, Chris Paul would be better suited going to a team in the East, or to a Western Conference team like the Spurs or Rockets. Blake Griffin needs a change of scenery something fierce. He doesn't have the drive that a guy like Chris Paul demands from his teammates and he has always seemed to clash with him. They need to breakup. DeAndre Jordan will stick around most likely, but he will never be the star that some thought he would be. I don't see Jamal Crawford, JJ Redick, Mbah A Moute or Wesley Johnson coming back or making any contribution of note if they do. Austin Rivers is, unfortunately for Clippers fans, probably the "future" at point guard. That is a scary thought. The Clippers also have no real depth or young guys that they have helped to get better.

The LA CLippers are a team begging for a tear down. I thought they should have done it after they blew a 3-1 lead to the Rockets 3 seasons ago, but after seeing them play yesterday, I am more than certain that they need a full rebuild. We will see what the offseason brings, but I do not want to hear anymore sports writers proclaim that next year is the Clippers year. They are so far behind, at the very least, 5 teams in their own conference. They are also never going to beat a team like Cleveland, Boston or even Washington or Toronto from the East. They are a middle of the pack team at best right now, so why bring this group back? It makes no sense, and I say, blow it the hell up. That is the best thing for the future of this team, in my opinion. Chris Paul deserves better, Blake Griffin needs a change of scenery, and I think Doc Rivers does too. I say RIP to the Clippers "big three", and their "shot at a title". It is done. They are finished.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast. He takes joy in three things, his family, his food, and being right about the LA CLippers.

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This is the End of Blake Griffin's Clippers Career

The time has closed on Griffin and LA

With the news coming out this weekend that Blake Griffin will miss the remainder of the playoffs, I want to try and answer 2 questions. Is his career with the Clippers done? And, is he done as an "upper echelon" player in the NBA?

I have not been kind to Blake Griffin. I think he is wildly overrated in fact. I've never bought into the nonsense that ESPN, Bill Simmons, basically any sports writer from LA, saying that he is one of the best players currently in the game, and he is one of the best power forwards ever. That is utterly ridiculous. As far as the forward position goes, I'd say he is not even in the top ten of current players. As far as an all time great, there is no god damn way that's true. In the current NBA, I'd take guys like Giannis, Kawhi, LeBron, KD, Draymond, Hassan Whiteside, Kristaps Porzingis, Andrew Wiggins, Karl Anthony Towns, Boogie, Anthony Davis, and many, many more before I'd take Blake Griffin. All those guys are unequivocally better than he is at basketball. I will argue anyone on this. Hell, I'd even take LaMarcus Aldridge, and he is playing very poorly right now. Same goes for a guy like Robin Lopez or Al Horford. At least they will get on the court.

With all this being said, he was a decent player once upon a time. He is nowhere near the explosive player he showed as a rookie, but he can still jump. His jumper looks disgusting, and it is not as reliable as one would want, but it goes in more now than it ever has. He has decent court vision too. He is an okay passer. Not this great post passer like Zach Lowe believes, but he is fine throwing lobs. But, even with the Clippers winning game three, then getting beat last night in game four against the Jazz, I do not think he will be in a Clippers jersey next season. The Clippers will probably get out of the first round, Chris Paul is playing out of his mind, and DeAndre Jordan is more than capable of making up for Griffin's lack of rebounding, but they won't go any further than the second round. They just don't have anyone else around Jordan and Paul, especially with Griffin out. Griffin wouldn't have made much of a difference, but it would have been one more guy for the Warriors to have to, at least, think about.

So to answer my first question, I think the other night was his last night in a Clippers uniform. He may love LA, but I'm pretty sure he despises playing with Chris Paul, and the Clippers have shown they are fine without him. Griffin is not the "super star", or leader of this team that he may have been 2 years ago when they were blowing a 3-1 lead to the Rockets in the second round of the playoffs. That was his best year, 2 seasons ago. That should be telling enough for the Clippers front office to be okay letting him go. That, and the fact that they play fine without him. The Clippers and Doc Rivers should focus on keeping Jordan and Paul, building the bench and getting a nice return for Griffin. I'm sure a team like OKC would let almost anyone, Westbrook being the lone exception, go in a trade for Griffin. If I were the Clippers I'd ask for a pick, Victor Oladipo, Andre Roberson and a bench guy and I bet the Thunder would happily make that trade. I'm sure the Knicks would be more than happy to part ways with Carmelo for Griffin straight up. I'm sure it won't happen because Phil Jackson would find some way to screw it up, but they should still try. I bet a lot of other teams would take a chance on Griffin. He is oft injured, but if he could ever stay healthy, he could help a contender as an instant offense off the bench guy, or be the "guy" on a middling playoff team.

This leads me to my second question I asked at the top. I never thought he was a top ten player in the league. I still think he is incredibly overrated. I was watching their playoff game the other night, and whoever the commentator was for ESPN said that the Clippers were "without their super star". That is so disrespectful to Chris Paul. When I think of the Clippers, I think of Paul, not Griffin. Even 2 seasons ago when Griffin was playing his best professional basketball, I still thought that team ran whatever Paul wanted them to do. He has been the leader, no matter how annoying and whiny he may be, the moment he was traded to the Clippers. So, not only do I not think he is a top tier NBA player, I think he is the third best player on his current team, behind Paul and DeAndre Jordan. Yes, Jordan cannot shoot free throws, and only dunks, but he is a better rebounder and defender, and I don't even think Jordan is that good at either of those things. But, he is better than Griffin.

Chris Paul is legitimately in the conversation as one of the best point guards to ever play. He is a big time pain in the ass for everyone, but he is good. Even I can't deny this no matter how much he bitches and moans or how dirty of a player he is. He is very good regardless of those things.

Another bad mark for Griffin is the constant injuries. He missed his entire rookie year with an injury. He seems to get small nicks and bruises that cause him to miss time. Other players will more likely than not play through this stuff, but not Griffin. He has also missed extended time in the last 2 playoffs. He cannot be counted on anymore to be healthy. That takes him out of the conversation immediately as an "all time great". There are so many younger, healthier, hungrier and coachable guys in the league that are going to, if they haven't already, surpass Blake Griffin.

I know the media wants to keep talking about him because he plays in LA, but he is irrelevant to those of us outside of the LA media bubble. I also, and I HATE the Clippers, think they are much more fun to watch when he is not on the court. They seem to be more cohesive. No one has to give him the ball because he just needs to touch it. The ball movement is much slicker and just flat out better. Griffin had his chance 2 years ago to jump into the upper level of NBA guys like LeBron, KD, Russ and Steph. He instead regressed and other guys like Harden, Kawhi, Giannis and Jimmy Butler are starting to become the "next generation".

I think Griffin is done being a "super star" if he ever was one. His time in the sun has come and gone. He also seems to be disinterested in basketball now too. He seems more focused on doing commercials and going to stand up and improv shows, which is fine. Follow your dreams Blake Griffin. I just want the Bill Simmons of the NBA world to stop telling me and everyone else how great of a player he is. He had one very good season. After that, he has either been a disappointment, below average or injured. I don't trust Blake Griffin as an NBA player anymore. He is done for all I'm concerned.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast. He is looking forward to the annual Clippers second round playoff flame out. It let's Ty know that there is order in the universe.

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Ty Tells You How each NBA Team can Win the Title: Raptors, Clippers, Celtics

Day 9 of my NBA countdown. These next 6 teams are the cream of the crop. The best of the best. Whatever you want to call them, they are the best teams in the NBA this season, in my opinion. They all have a legitimate shot at the title, but some, actually all, have some possibly fatal flaws. Anyway, lets get to it.

At number 6, I have the Toronto Raptors. This team was in the East Finals last year, and they return pretty much everyone from that team. The problem with this team though, they choke in the playoffs. They did beat the Cavs twice last season in the East Finals, but it did not matter, everyone knew that they were going to get beat in the next 2. I really like this team, as a regular season team. They have a loaded roster, but it just cannot take the next big step to being in the Finals. DeMar DeRozan shocked me, and most everyone else, when he re signed with the Raptors. I was certain, especially when he opted out, that he was going to sign with LA. He did not, and I like that. DeRozan is a very good scorer. He is an excellent slasher, can get the mid range shot and will score 25 a night. He is an okay defender, but not great. He also seems to be out of control sometimes when he has the ball in his hand. I like DeRozan a lot, but he seems destined to be a good scorer, but nothing more. Kyle Lowry is basically in a contract year. He had a great regular season last year, but tanked in the playoffs. He came into last season in shape, and it showed during the season. He was putting up good numbers and helping the Raptors win. But, something weird happened in the playoffs, and he was a complete no show. He looked okay in the Olympics, but I think he is going to explode this season. He is betting on himself, and I think he will have a great regular season. I think we all know what Jonas Valenciunas is now. He is a good rebounder, a good low post guy and an okay defender. He has trouble staying healthy, and has never lived up to the hype. He's good for about 12 points and 8 rebounds a night. He's fine, but he is not elite. Corey Joseph, with some extended playing time, looked pretty good last year. He is a heady point guard, finds the open guy and can make the open shot. He's a good defender too. Terrence Ross had an okay year last year. He is young and athletic, just inconsistent. Jared Sullinger coming on board is fine, but not a big deal. He is not a great scorer or defender. He is a very average NBA player. Patrick Patterson is a fine bench player. They drafted Jakob Poertl a bit too high, so I don't think he will play all that much this season anyway, unless Valenciunas gets hurt, which could happen. The Raptors will be the 2 or 3 seed in the East, and win about 51 or 52 games.

So Ty, how will the Raptors win the title? The Raptors could win the title if Valenciunas plays up to his hype, Lowry and DeRozan explode for 70 points a night and they beat the demons that have haunted them in every playoffs since Lowry and DeRozan have been there. The Raptors are like the Bengals. a great regular season team that chokes in the playoffs.

At number 5, I have the LA Clippers. Everybody knows how I feel about the Clippers, but my god, this roster is talented. At least 4 of their 5 starters are very good. Chris Paul, while being one of the dirtiest players in NBA history, is a great point guard. He controls that offense and is a great floor general. He is older, and starting to get hurt, but he is still great. Blake Griffin, while being a violent man child, is hyper athletic. He settles for too many jumpers and doesn't play as reckless as before, he's too busy using that energy to beat up Clippers staff members, but he is good. He is a below average defender and rebounder, but he can score. This may also be his last year in LA, so maybe he will focus a bit more. DeAndre Jordan is a one trick pony, but that one trick is unstoppable. He is a beast on the low post, and running the pick and roll and slamming home alley oops. I wish he were a better rebounder and defender, but he is great for some highlight reels. That doesn't necessarily make for a lot of wins though. Jordan did look okay in the Olympics though. He actually played better than Boogie, even though Boogie is way better than him. JJ Redick has redefined his game, but I think he is way overrated. He is not as good a defender as some people at ESPN will have you believe and he can't get to the rim, but he can shoot. He is deadly from three. He is one of the few Duke players that has had some success in the NBA. After those 4 guys though, this team is, dare I say, mediocre. The rest of the roster has players like Paul Pierce, once great, but so old and not durable anymore, Austin Rivers, completely overrated and overpaid, Jamal Crawford, who is a great scorer, but horrific defender, Luc Mbah a Moute, a ninth man on any team's bench at best, but a starter in LA, Wesley Johnson, average at best and Ray Felton, who was washed up in New York. There has to come a point when you realize that you will not get any better when you keep running it back. This team will win 56 or 57 games, but more than likely, they will get beat in the second round of the playoffs. They may actually blow it up after this season, if they don't get past the second round.

So Ty, how will the Clippers win the title? The Clippers can win the title if the 4 main guys play like they actually care about winning titles. Chris Paul will do that, but will Griffin, Redick and Jordan do the same? It hasn't happened yet, so why would it now. This is their last, best chance at a title, but if I were a betting man, I'd put a ton of money on them to get bounced in round 2.

At number 4, I have the Boston Celtics. This team has gotten so much better every year that Brad Stevens has been their head coach. He is a very, very good coach. The Celtics also don't have any super stars, but they have a great collection of players that know their role and play perfectly within the system. I also love the Al Horford signing. He is going to be a perfect fit. He is a good scorer, rebounder, defender and teammate. This was the best team for him to go to. Isiah Thomas is like the poor man's Allen Iverson. He is a great, small scorer. He can't play defense, but he can get buckets against anyone, any size. He's really, really good. Marcus Smart's offensive game hasn't gotten much better, but he is so damn good at defense. He is a lock down defender. Jae Crowder is a very underrated player. He is very good on both ends of the floor, and he is probably the heart and soul of this team. Avery Bradley is an even better defender than Smart, and his offensive game is way better. RJ Hunter and Gerald Green are bombers, that can hit a lot of threes. Kelly Olynk is very average, but he knows his role on this team. I love Jaylen Brown, their lottery pick. He is like this years version of Stanley Johnson. He is a tank, he's hyper athletic and he will do anything and everything for this team. He has also had some highlight dunks in preseason so far. I like him as much as I like Kris Dunn for best rookie. See, this team doesn't have many, if any, household names, but they are a damn good team. I could see them easily winning 57 games and being the 2 seed in the East.

So Ty, how will the Celtics win the title? The Celtics can win the title if they get to the East Finals against the Cavs, and LeBron gets shut down but either Smart, Bradley, Horford or Crowder. Or, all four of them take turns shutting him down. They also need Thomas to score 25 to 30 a night. This could all very well happen. The Celtics are the only team in the East, maybe the Pacers too, that can match up with the Cavs. The Celtics could very well find themselves back in the Finals this year, or next.

That's it for today. Come back tomorrow for the top three teams in the NBA.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast. Will his top three tomorrow look like his top three from 2015? Tune in tomorrow to find out. Follow Ty on instagram andtwitter.

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DeAndre Jordan Does Not Belong on the NBA First Team

DeAndre Jordan should not even be warming the first team's bench

Yesterday the NBA released their all NBA teams. The teams were pretty much what we all expected. The first team had LeBron, Russell Westbrook, Steph Curry, Kawhi Leonard and DeAndre Jordan. The second team had Kevin Durant, Draymond Green, Damien Lillard, Boogie Cousins and Chris Paul. The third, and final team, had Klay Thompson, LaMarcus Aldridge, Paul George, Andre Drummond and Kyle Lowry.

They got it right for the most part.

As far as snubs go, maybe flip Durant and Westbrook, but I don't think it really matters, they are both great and they both deserve a spot. Anthony Davis was hurt, but when he was in there, he was great, and he lost 24 million dollars by not making the team. If Kyle Lowry made all NBA, I think DeMar DeRozan deserved equal consideration. Other than that, they got everything right except for one humongous, glaring, gaping hole on that first team.

How on Earth does a player like DeAndre Jordan make first team all NBA? He shouldn't be on any of these all NBA teams. All he is good for is rebounding and dunking. His defense isn't anywhere near elite. His offense is a joke. His free throw shooting is even worse. His demeanor on the court is garbage. He carries himself so poorly. He isn't even the best player on his team. He isn't even the second best player on his team. When you look at the other first team players, those players were the best players on their team this year, and yes, Westbrook was better all year than Durant, that is a fact. DeAndre Jordan is way behind Chris Paul, and even though he is an abusive man child that whines and complains and blames everything on everyone else and never comes up big when the Clippers need him most, Blake Griffin is still better than DeAndre Jordan. Hell, guys like Paul Pierce, Jamal Crawford, and at times, even Jeff Green were more crucial to the Clippers than DeAndre Jordan.

DeAndre Jordan is a problem for this Clippers team. He cannot be counted on late in games because his low post game is non existent and his free throw shooting is the worst that I have ever seen. He is worse than Drummond. Hell, he is a worse free throw shooter than Rajon Rando, and Rajon Rando is a garbage free throw shooter. His defense is not nearly as threatening as it was a year or two ago. People attacked him way more this year and would score or draw fouls on him more often than him getting a block or altering the shot. And on offense, unless it is a lob from Chris Paul for an alley oop, he is completely useless. He is a poor screener. He rolls away from the rim way too often on pick and rolls. He cannot move in the low post. He can't shoot free throws, so he obviously is no threat to shoot jumpers. When he gets the ball in the high post, he is so quick to give it up for fear of getting fouled, or having the ball stolen from him. He is a problem on this Clippers team when they have to run half court offense.

With all those problems, the people that vote on all NBA put DeAndre Jordan on the first team. What a joke. Why was he even considered? Is it the LA thing? Since the Lakers are a dumpster fire, do the writers, most of whom live in LA, feel like they need to have someone, no matter how crappy they are, from an LA team be on the all NBA first team? That's not fair. With DeAndre Jordan being first team all NBA, I'm surprised these dip shit voters didn't put Kobe Bryant on any of the all NBA teams. Then, to vote DeAndre Jordan over guys like Boogie Cousins, LMA, Andre Drummond, what a crock and slap in their faces. LaMarcus Aldridge completely overhauled his game to fit in with the Spurs, and they were a great regular season team, due to him and Kawhi Leonard. LMA definitely deserved that spot more than Jordan. While Andre Drummond is an equally terrible free throw shooter, he is a much better rebounder, defender, low post threat and teammate than Jordan will ever be. I'd take Andre Drummond 10 times out of 10 before I'd take Jordan if I were starting a team and I had to pic between the two of them for my center spot. Then there's Boogie Cousins. While he may be uncoachable and a very tough player to play with, Cousins is the best center in the NBA. He has all the tools that the old time centers had and he can also run and shoot the way the newer bigs can. Boogie Cousins is a tremendous talent that deserves that first team spot so much more than DeAndre Jordan. Cousins is a better rebounder, defender, and is so far ahead of Jordan on offense, it is almost laughable that he didn't get the first team spot. If I were Boogie Cousins I'd take this very personal and go at DeAndre Jordan every shot I get for the rest of my NBA career. Then there are guys that didn't make any all NBA teams that I would take well before I take Jordan. I'd take Anthony Davis, Steven Adams, Serge Ibaka, Bismak Biyombo, Al Horford, Paul Millsap and many more centers and power forwards before I'd even consider DeAndre Jordan.

The love for Jordan needs to stop and stop now. He is a very marginal NBA center. If he did not have Chris Paul throwing him passes, he may be out of the league, that is how overrated I truly think DeAndre Jordan is. The voters got this one terribly wrong. I don't think anyone could pose an argument that would sway me on this. This is a joke and this proves how useless and pointless all these all NBA teams are. Who in the hell cares, all the fans know who are the best players in the league, and Deandre Jordan is not one of the top five. He isn't even one of the top 25 players in the league. What a crock is truly is that he made first team all NBA. He should be getting rewarded for his mediocre play all season. This was a huge mistake.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast. He looks forward to the day when NBA writers value the players skill more than their geographical location. Follow Ty on twitter @tykulik.

The Core of the LA Clippers is not the Core of a Champion

This here has the core of a champion

I have heard multiple reports lately that Doc Rivers wants to keep the core of the LA Clippers together for one more year to give his team one more shot at a title. He says his "core", but he really means Chris Paul, Blake Griffin and DeAndre Jordan. The only other players that are even decent on that team anymore are JJ Redick and Jamal Crawford, but they don't really make up the "core" that Rivers is talking about. I think he should keep them together too because I think it will be another catastrophic failure by the Clippers. They will not get out of the second round, hell they'd be hard pressed to even make the playoffs, if he keeps this group together.

Being the Clippers hater that I am, that's why I think he should keep it together. Let's break it down even further as to why a hater like me would love this, but a Clippers fan might not be so happy. First off, there is Chris Paul. Chris Paul is a great point guard, perhaps one of the greatest of all time. Now, I still think he is incredibly dirty and very whiny, but he is a damn good basketball player. But, he will also be turning 32 next season and he has been in the league for over a decade now. He has gotten very lucky with injuries, up until this last playoff run, and has logged a ton of minutes. He continues to play at a very high level, but father time is undefeated. The problem with a point guard, I heard and totally agree with Howard Beck who said this, that they don't slowly break down, they just all of the sudden break down. Look at a guy like Ty Lawson. Two years ago he was the hottest commodity on the free market. Everybody wanted him. Then, he went to Houston and completely fell off a cliff. He was dumped by the Rockets, signed with Indiana and barely played. He was one of the top players just two short years ago, now, he'll be lucky if he gets signed by any NBA team this offseason. I could see something very similar happen to Chris Paul. I don't think his fall off will be as big as Lawson's was, but I still see him falling out of the top players in the NBA. He will still be a good point guard, but he won't be as dominant as he has been. He is getting older and the older he gets, the more whiny and the more dirty he becomes. He's also a HUGE headache as a teammate. I don't think anyone on the Clippers legitimately likes playing basketball with Chris Paul. It's never his fault and no one plays to his personal expectations. His time is quickly coming to an end.

Then, we have Blake Griffin. You remember him right? He's the guy that repeatedly punched a staff member until he broke his hand. He also has a very bad quad problem that he is dealing with. He also seems to have lost some of his explosiveness. He doesn't seem to trust the Clippers training staff. He, much like the majority of the roster, doesn't seem to enjoy playing basketball with Chris Paul. He also cannot be on the court in crucial moments with DeAndre Jordan, they don't coexist well at all. He's also extremely overrated. Every analyst or writer I hear or read seems to think he is a top five player in the NBA and that he is some sort of superior play maker. I don't see it. He's an okay passer, but he is the definition of a "ball stopper" on offense. He gets it in the high or low post and he only looks for his shot, unless he can make a pass that will make the ESPN top ten highlight that night. He is a ball hog that no one talks about. His mid range jumper is also very mediocre and looks so gross. Griffin is not the great player that people make him out to be. He's good, but he is losing a step and he is a terrible teammate. I know I'd hate to play with him and I think a lot of other players feel the same. He is also a deranged man child for what he did to that staff member. Let us not forget how horrendous and heinous that whole situation was. He punched someone so much, in the face, that he broke his own hand. That is insane and wrong on so many levels. I truly do not like Blake Griffin the person or the player. I hope his personal hype train is over.

Then we have DeAndre Jordan. This is the same guy that welched on a deal with Dallas because he wanted to return to the Clippers. He had the chance to be the man in Dallas, I know they still have Dirk and Dirk is still great, but it was going to be Jordan's team. They were going to build around him. But, after this first round of the playoffs, I'd be breathing a sigh of relief if I were Dallas that we didn't sign him. Chris Paul and Blake Griffin both went down with playoff ending injuries, so the team was Jordan's. They didn't win another game in the series. The Clippers, with Jordan being the focal point, looked as bad as the Grizzlies. They didn't know where to go, what plays to run or, if they ran a play, they couldn't finish it off. DeAndre Jordan may be one of the most over hyped and over paid players in the league. I also don't buy the whole defensive stopper and rebounding machine thing. He is very mediocre on defense, barely getting one block a game, and yes, he has high rebounding numbers, but it's all long rebounds and nothing really on the offensive boards. I much rather have a guy like Hassan Whiteside or Bismarck Biyombo than DeAndre Jordan. Those guys play formidable defense and they are ferocious rebounders. I don't care about all the alley oops, it doesn't matter when you get bounced in the first or second round of the playoffs every year how great the oops look, you are still a sub par franchise. DeAndre Jordan got his chance to shut people like me up, the non believers, when Griffin and Paul went down, but he did the opposite. He gave up and looked disinterested in the last two games against the Trailblazers. Mason Plumlee and Moe Harkless and Ed Davis looked so much better than Deandre Jordan did.

Doc Rivers also wants to keep the bench players I mentioned, they are not that great. Sure, JJ Redick is a good shooter, but when he has to guard a good player, he gets eaten alive. I also feel like he'd rather get more tattoos and style his hair real nice than work on his game. He's also old in basketball terms. Jamal Crawford is only good for instant offense off the bench. He is a liability on defense and he is not a good ball handler. Austin Rivers is a joke of an NBA player. Cole Aldrich is inexplicably still under contract and still plays decent minutes and he is garbage. Paul Pierce needs to retire. I like Pierce a lot, but he has lost way more than just one step and he cannot score like he used to. His time has most assuredly passed. Jeff Green is so inconsistent and he has been that way his whole career. I don't think anything is going to change by now, he is the player he is going to be for the rest of his NBA career. Besides these guys, who cares who else is on the roster.

This team needs to be blown up, but the Clipper hater in me would love to see Doc Rivers try and make it work for one more year. They won't beat the Warriors, the Spurs or the Thunder, if Durant resigns. They will, at best, be the fourth seed once again in the West with this same team. For my sake, do it Rivers, bring this team back so I can watch and laugh as you fail to get out of the second round. But, for the NBA's sake and the sake of my non hater side, blow it up and start over. The Clippers have gone as far as they can with this team. They are not, and never will be, championship caliber with this roster.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast. His love of the game is stronger than the will to watch the Clippers fail, again. Follow Ty on twitter @tykulik.

The Winners and Losers Stay the Same After the NBA Trade Deadline

Everyone kept the hands they were dealt

The NBA trade deadline has come and gone in the last week. I know that other writers write an immediate winners and losers article only minutes after the deadline happens. Me personally, I need time to think about what happened and all the player movement. I don't think you can honestly say who won or lost a trade the moment after it happens unless it's something huge. For example, when Carmelo Anthony and Chauncey Billups were traded to New York for basically nothing, the Knicks were clear winners, although they've only won one playoff series since Carmelo has been in New York. I agree more with a writer like Zach Lowe, my favorite NBA writer, that you need almost a full year or even two before you can really pick any winners or losers from the trade deadline. But, for the sake of argument, I will do my best to pick some teams that "won" the deadline, and who "lost" the deadline.

First of all, there were none of the big name moves that I and a lot of other sports writers thought would happen. I was certain that Al Horford was going to be a Celtic, I thought Jeff Teague would be gone, I was almost 100 percent certain that Dwight Howard would be anywhere but Houston and I figured LeBron would get his way and the Cavs would dump Kevin Love. None of those guys moved. I was even pretty sure that the Clippers would deal Blake Griffin because they are playing so well without him and he is a locker room problem, but no movement for Griffin. With that being said, the big names usually don't move at the trade deadline. Very rarely do we see superstars change teams with less than 30 games to go in the regular season. Why change chemistry now with so little time left in the season? By this point, we pretty much know who is going to be in the playoffs and who is going to be in the lottery. The big name guys get dealt in the offseason, right after the free agency dust settles. I do fully expect guys like Horford, Howard, Teague and Griffin to be on new teams starting next season. Hell, if the Knicks don't get any better, I wouldn't be shocked to see Carmelo get traded to a contender, The Knicks are going to go to a youth movement led by Kristaps Porzingis, and Carmelo will be 33 going into next season. the Knicks are no longer his team. And, depending on how the Cavs do, I think they will get swept in the Finals, or even beaten by Toronto in the Eastern Finals, Kevin Love could have a new team next year, if LeBron the GM gets his way.

This trade deadline featured no real superstars or team changing players. The best players that got traded were Tobias Harris to Detroit and Jeff Green to the Clippers. Those are not guys to build a team around. In Jeff Green's case, he is a good player that has a ton of upside, but he has also been traded four times in his short career. That's not a look that a player should strive for. He started his career in OKC and didn't get the minutes he needed and couldn't grow as a player. He was traded to Boston, were he would look like an all star one night and look like a 12th man the next night. He was then shipped to Memphis, were he played his best basketball, but that's not saying much. Sure, he was a decent slasher, but he missed more open jumpers than he made and he was wildly inconsistent on defense. Now, he is on the Clippers, where he is expected to take on the load until Blake Griffin comes back. I know LA fans and LA sports writers think this is a good trade, but I disagree. Green, while being a great talent, has never lived up to his high praise when he was a rookie. He is wildly inconsistent and he is not the game changer that fans and sports writers in LA think he can be. The only good that came from this trade was the Clippers unloading Lance Stephenson. The Clippers are the 4 seed right now, and they will stay there, Jeff Green will not help them leap frog the Thunder or the Spurs and no one is going to catch the Warriors. The Pistons getting Tobias Harris was a pretty good move for them. I like this trade a hell of a lot more than the Jeff Green move. Tobias Harris wasn't being used properly in Orlando and I think, with a coach like Stan Van Gundy, he will thrive alongside Andre Drummond and Reggie Jackson. I don't like that they had to give up Brandon Jennings, who I really, really like, but he is coming off a torn ACL and the Pistons gave Reggie Jackson a lot of money this offseason. They have moved on from Brandon Jennings. This move will firmly put the Pistons in a good playoff position, especially in the East, and Harris could help them make some early round noise.

Other than those two guys, the next biggest name to move was Markieff Morris, who was traded from Phoenix to Washington. I don't really know where he fits in DC and this felt like a desperate move by a very desperate team. Morris is a very good basketball player, but he is also a whiner and can be a malcontent. Look at all the stuff he did in Phoenix after they traded his brother. The front office in Phoenix definitely deserves blame for being shady and trading his brother after they both took discounts to play together, but the NBA is a business and shady stuff happens in business all the time. I don't see Markieff Morris making the Wizards a legit threat. John Wall deserves better help than that. Other than these three, guys like Randy Foye, who is having one of his worst statistical years, got traded from Denver to OKC for DJ Augustin. I don't think either team really gained or lost anything from this trade. The Cavs acquired Channing Frye, but he will not push them over the edge. He will not stretch the Warriors or Spurs as much as people may think. And the Bulls shipped Kirk Hinrich over to Atlanta. This trade would have been good about 6 or 7 years ago, now, who cares.

If I were to pick a "winner" from this trade deadline, I think it is pretty clear that it's the Detroit Pistons. They got a proven scorer in Harris and, if he is willing to be coached up a bit, he can turn himself into a pretty good all around NBA player. Harris next to Drummond is a pretty good and formidable front court. Phoenix, while a total disaster in every other aspect of an NBA team, at least got rid of an unhappy player that was causing problems and they got a first round pick out of him, so they may be a slight winner, and that's the only time they will be called winners this year.

As far as "losers" go, no real team did anything that will help or hurt them with player acquistions, so the only "losers" I can find are, we, the fans. Now, we should know by now that the big names get moved in the offseason, but I expected at least one big time star to get traded. Why didn't the Rockets dump Dwight Howard? Was the asking price too high, or did no one want him? I know he's a free agent this summer, but why not rent him for 30 games? All credit to Bill Simmons, why didn't the Trailblazers try and get him to help them in their playoff run? He could have helped them, and he always seems to show up and play good basketball in the playoffs and they would only have to deal with him for 30 games and they could let him walk this offseason, no problem. Or, why didn't the Celtics do something? I have read they tried, but they couldn't pull anything off. They have the most assets and Danny Ainge has been chasing a star for three years now. I thought they could have gotten Horford, Love or Blake Griffin, but they got none of them. Where we sit now, they are a three seed in the East, but with their rag tag roster, they will not beat Cleveland or Toronto. Had they added a star, I wouldn't say the same thing. And, the Knicks were quiet, but they have no assets and it would have taken them moving a big name to get another big name. Phil Jackson wasn't going to do that and had they tried to trade Carmelo, he has a no trade clause and he could have voided any trade he wanted.

This was a very uneventful and very quiet trade deadline, but they have been for the last four years. There a no real winners and losers because we just don't know how these things will pan out. Look for this summer time to be very busy with lots of big named guys finding new homes. Summer is where the action will take place.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man podcast. He is practicing being all excited for the trade deadline as a basketball writer, and then being disappointed as a fan. Ty is on twitter, go follow him @tykulik.

Welcome Back NBA Dunk Contest

Practicing for the 2025 dunk contest

This past Saturday, I witnessed one of the greatest dunk contests I have ever seen. The dunk contest has fallen pretty far the past decade. It was long and boring. Contestants got as many tries as they needed, dragging the contest past the two hour mark, easily. The contestants weren't that good either. Sure, you'd get a Blake Griffin, although I think he's very overrated, or a John Wall or even a Dwight Howard, but for the most part, we got guys like Nate Robinson and Terrence Ross. These guys are all phenomenal athletes and freakishly athletic, but we didn't get the stars that the fans wanted.

Back in the 80's, 90's and early 2000's, we got the biggest stars to compete in the dunk contest. Guys like Larry Nance, Julius Erving, Michael Jordan, Dominique Wilkins and Vince Carter, just to name a few, regularly competed in the dunk contest. Those were some of the best competitions. The coin flip showdown between Jordan and Dominique was so, so incredible, even though Dominique got totally screwed out of the win. When Dr. J was in the contest, he was doing things no one at the time was doing. I didn't see that one live, obviously, but the videos of his dunks are awesome. When Larry Nance was in, he looked like he was floating through the air. It was majestic. Then, in 2000, I witnessed what I consider to be the greatest dunk contest ever. I don't remember the other contestants, but I sure as hell remember Vince Carter. He did some of the most incredible, mouth agape dunks I'd ever seen. The "hand in the cookie jar dunk", going between his legs on a bounce pass, throwing it off the side of the backboard, I mean, it was just insanely athletic and so impressive. I remember sharing his sentiment, after doing the windmill off the side of the backboard, that the contest was over. You could see him mouthing the words, "it's over", and he was 100 percent correct. He absolutely dominated that dunk contest. The fact that I don't even remember his competitors shows you how incredible his dunks were. After that contest, I was sure that the dunk contest was going to be as great every year. I was very wrong.

The All Star weekend dunk contest became boring, as I said before. Too long and no stars. Some will tell me that the Blake Griffin contest, when he dunked over a car, was exciting. I say you are wrong. Who cares that he jumped over a car. It would've been impressive if he dunked over the top of the car, but he went over the front hood. I bet the majority of NBA players can do that exact dunk with no problem. The Blake Griffin hype was at it's peak then, and his dunk was way overblown. Like I said, he is overrated. Some will also throw out the Nate Robinson back to back wins, but those were incredibly boring and his dunks were not even close to what Spud Webb did when he won. Spud Webb only had three chances to do his dunks. I believe that Nate Robinson, whom I enjoy, went on for almost thirty minutes before throwing down one impressive dunk. He had unlimited time and attempts. You give any NBA player that much time, they will come up with something great. Other people may even think that the Dwight Howard win was impressive, but he barely did anything. Also, he's a 7 footer, he better damn well do something impressive. But, he didn't really do anything impressive at all, unless you count wearing a Superman cape as impressive, I don't. So, yeah, the dunk contest was in a real rut.

Last season Zach Lavine of the Minnesota Timberwolves, made it kind of exciting. The pool of contestants still wasn't that good, but the highlights the next day of what Lavine did had me and a lot of others intrigued. He did some really cool stuff that kind of hearkened back to the good old days of the contest. Then came this past Saturday night. The contestants, once again, weren't household names, but two of the four are big time jumpers. Hardcore fans of the NBA know all the contestants and know that Zach Lavine and Aaron Gordon are world class leapers. They can "jump out of the gym". The other two contestants, Will Barton and Andre Drummond are decent athletes too. Barton is a freakishly good jumper. No one knows him because he plays very sporadically on a pretty bad Denver Nuggets team, but he can jump. Andre Drummond is an All Star, but he's not known for his dunking ability. He's a rebounder and defender. Both Barton and Drummond failed to impress, but Barton not doing well was the only shock to me. Drummond didn't belong in this contest. Then, Lavine and Gordon owned the rest of the night. Aaron Gordon went first and his first attempt was awesome. He soared through the air and completed a bounce pass between the legs windmill. It was awesome. Then, Zach Lavine did a 360 windmill, behind the back reverse dunk. It was something I'd never seen before and I was hooked. They traded one awesome dunk after another. Gordon brought out the Magic mascot and did a between the legs grab off the mascot's head dunk. Awesome. Lavine then proceeded to catch an alley oop from the free throw line dunk. Phenomenal. Then, Aaron Gordon did the best dunk I'd seen since Vince Carter. Using his mascot again, he took the ball off his head again, but then he put the ball underneath his legs and reverse slammed the ball. It was the best dunk I have ever seen. Go watch it right now, it is so cool. Then, Lavine did some more stuff from the free throw line, including a windmill from the free throw line. That takes so much leaping ability and so much athleticism and Lavine made it look easy. The two of them traded 50's from there on out, until Lavine finally won in a dunk off. Watch the whole duel, it is awesome.

This was the best dunk contest since 2000 and probably the best dunk contest of all time. Aaron Gordon and Zach Lavine brought it back from the dead. The dunk contest was appointment TV when I was a teenager, then it was really bad for a decade plus, but if it continues to be anywhere close to where Saturday night was in the future, I will be in front of my TV every All Star weekend to see the dunk contest. It was that awesome.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man podcast. He once saw the head editor to an epic double jump dunk. It is a slam dunk to follow Ty on twitter @tykulik.

We Need To Stop Making Excuses For Violent Athletes

Violent people belong behind a fence with razor wire, not in our arenas and stadiums.

With the news coming out last week that Blake Griffin will miss the majority of the regular season after punching the Clippers equipment manager, repeatedly, and breaking his shooting hand, I ask everyone today, why do we let athletes get away with heinous acts like this? Why did Blake Griffin feel the need to punch this guy so many times, in the face, to the point of injuring himself? And why are their people out their defending him? I heard Charles Barkley, my all time favorite basketball player, on Bill Simmons podcast recently say that "this stuff happens all the time" and that we "shouldn't overreact to this news". That's insane! If any regular Joe did this at their job, they'd be fired immediately, no questions asked. But, we as a society, feel like it's okay to give professional athletes a pass and that is very disturbing.

In the last two years, we've had far too many incidents involving violent behavior coming from pro athletes. And yes, football is the main culprit, but it's spilling over into other pro sports. The athletes that are involved in these incidents are pretty famous too. Kids are supposed to look up to these people. I've written about how terrible Hope Solo, Adrian Peterson and Ray Rice are on the site before, but lets not forget about Aroldis Chapman's domestic violence charge that was recently dropped. A trade was voided because the Dodgers didn't want that PR mess. He was basically a sitting duck until the New York Yankees traded for him and the whole story went away. Or what about all the off season, in season and now post season stuff that's coming out about Greg Hardy? He abuses multiple women, still gets a contract from the Dallas Cowboys, has multiple fights with multiple teammates during the season and now, in the offseason, he can't seem to stop partying. Why does he still get a free pass from the morons over at ESPN? Also, in the college ranks, look at former Missouri QB Matty Mauk. He had to get suspended four times before they kicked him off the team and they only kicked him off when a video of him doing cocaine surfaced. He's not some hot shot QB that's going to help Missouri win many games, but he was a division one caliber QB so he got way more chances than any other non student athlete at Missouri gets because he's good at sports. Why the double standard? It's not fair to the 95 percent of students that don't play sports. They slip up once, they're expelled. But, if you're competent at football, you get way too many chances. That doesn't seem fair.

Now, there's this new story about Johnny Manziel physically assaulting his ex girlfriend that ESPN and Jerry Jones will certainly try to cover up. How many chances does this punk get? He has made mistake after mistake since his sophomore year of college, but everyone seems to write it off. He can showboat and anchors think it's him getting in opponents head, not him being a selfish asshole. Then he slips in the draft because of "character issues", but that's not his fault either. When he does get on the field in the NFL, he looks lost and slow, but it's never his fault, it's coaching and system. When he goes to rehab, but then is spotted 6 months later drinking on the bye week, it's said that he's a young kid and young kids make mistakes. And now we have the second time that he's been brought up on physical abuse charges. People seem to have already forgotten that he was charged with pushing his ex girlfriend's head into the car window before the season started and now there is this new story of him assaulting her at, you guessed it, a bar. Why does this born with a silver spoon, spoiled punk keep getting second, third and fourth chances. He's not a good pro and he's an even worse person. He needs to be in a real rehab, getting real help. I don't need to hear Tony Kornheiser and Ron Jaworski make anymore excuses for Johnny Manziel. I'm fed up with it.

Which brings me to Blake Griffin. The stuff I've heard, from people I really respect, people like Charles Barkley, Bill Simmons, Zach Lowe and Kevin Pelton, just to name a few, is downright absurd and kind of disturbing. Like I said with Barkley earlier, he claims this happens all the time. That doesn't make it right. That is not a viable excuse for someone to physically attack someone smaller than them. The only repercussion that Simmons, Lowe and Pelton can seem to find is to trade him to a different team. Oh yeah, go let him beat up some other team's equipment manager, that will solve his anger problem. These same guys will say, "he apologized, it's over", are dead wrong. You know how many times physical abusers apologize, then do the same exact thing a month later? The vast majority of them. My mom works in a battered women and children's center and she's told me some of the guys have apologized upwards of 10 to 15 times, only to abuse again and again. In fact, and I'll give Tony Kornheiser and Mike Wilbon credit here, they are the only two sports anchors I've heard say that Blake Griffin needs to be suspended immediately for at least, the rest of the season. I agree, except they should have added, suspended without pay. It's like I said earlier, anyone that works a regular job, if they physically attacked someone, they'd get fired that instance, without hesitation. But, there's that double standard with pro sports. I've also heard some of the people that are pro Blake Griffin say that they've been mad enough at a friend to hit them, but they never say that they actually hit them. This is no real friendship if Blake Griffin thinks it's okay to punch this guy until he breaks his hand. This is a sickening act done by a disturbed man child.

I wish we as a society made these abusive athletes responsible for their heinous actions. Instead, we sweep it under the rug and forget about. and therein lies the problem. Everyone needs to be held accountable by the horrible things they do, pro athlete or not.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture Editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man podcast. He was once so mad at the head editor that Ty beat him by 80 on NCAA Football 2006. No hitting, just humiliation. Follow Ty on twitter @tykulik.

Ty tells you how each NBA team can win the title: Clippers, Thunder, Rockets

Did I mention yet that I love the NBA?

Now we are in the upper crust of the NBA. These teams today are legitimate title contenders and have a very real shot at winning the championship this year. Once again, it depends on health and breaks going their way, but each of these three teams have a real chance. Today I'm going to reveal my number 6, 5 and 4th ranked teams in the NBA.

Coming in at number 6 I have the Los Angeles Clippers. Everyone who reads my blogs knows how I feel about the Clippers. I wrote a very long piece on my irrational hatred for this team. I loathe them. I'm going to put that all aside today and judge them strictly on their recent playoff history and their current roster. Here goes nothing. The Clippers had an epic collapse in last years playoffs. They choked away a 20 point lead in the second half of a close out game and went on to lose the series. Their "stars" couldn't come through in the clutch and their coach made poor decision after poor decision. They were failures last year and I think last year was their best shot at the Finals. Sure they would have had to beat the Warriors in the West Finals, but they had their chance and blew it. Their roster is still very talented and while I really like the addition of Paul Pierce, I hate the acquisition of Lance Stephenson, and the dirty tactics they went to in keeping DeAndre Jordan. Resigning Austin Rivers was a HUGE mistake and the most blatant form of nepotism that I've ever seen and Josh Smith is no savior. With all that being said, the Clippers still have Chris Paul and Blake Griffin. As you all well know, I think both of these guys are overrated, but they are very good NBA players. Chris Paul, while moody and whiny, is one of the best point guards in the game today. He can shoot, but he'd rather find the open man for an easy basket, as a point guard should do. He's also a pretty decent defender, but watching Steph Curry destroy him with a crossover lasts season was a huge delight. He is getting older and whinier and he's played a lot of minutes in the NBA. Blake Griffin is the most puzzling "superstar" I've ever watched. Some nights he looks unstoppable, but in the playoffs, in critical moments, he fades away. Superstars rise to the challenge, but Blake Griffin does not. He's the Alex Ovechkin or Andy Dalton (ed note: The currently 6-0 Andy Dalton) of the NBA. He's great in the regular season, but shits the bed when it matters most (ed note: good point). DeAndre Jordan is a glorified rebounder and rim protector. The only reason people talk about him, or that he was offered a max contract was, ESPN puts him on their highlight reel every night. Spoiler alert ESPN, he's 7 feet tall, I'd sure hope that he'd be able to finish an alley oop. Dwight Howard owned him in the playoffs last year and he has been a top tier center since he left Orlando. He also proved how childish he truly is this offseason with the whole backing out of a contract to return to a team that he openly complained about being on. You're a joke DeAndre Jordan. JJ Redick is still just a haircut, but he's also a good shooter. That's it, just a shooter. He's a lousy defender and cannot get to the basket. Lance Stephenson replaces Matt Barnes in the starting lineup, but is that really an upgrade? The Hornets and Pacers couldn't get rid of him fast enough and now he thinks the Clippers will turn him into the "star" he claims to be. He's a classic under achiever who believes his own hype. He's mediocre at best. The addition of Paul Pierce was great. He has a great repertoire with Doc Rivers and is a clutch player. That being said, he's very, very old and I don't think he has a lot of life left in his legs. The rest of the bench is really bad for a "contending" team. When Austin Rivers is the sixth or seventh man off the bench, you have a huge problem. Jamal Crawford is still a good offensive player, but gives this team nothing else. Josh Smith, the same Josh Smith that complained about taking a pay cut this offseason, is not that good. His time in Houston last season was an anomaly. He will still shoot way too many threes and air ball free throws, but this time around it will be all over TV since he's playing in LA now. Other than those guys, and those guys aren't very good, with Pierce being the exception, the rest of the bench is god awful. The Clippers will win 48 or 49 games, but that will be a step back for them and they will be the fifth, maybe fourth seed in the West, probably the fifth though and will have a rough season. The players don't like each other, and that will finally bubble over and there will be a lot of in fighting in the Clippers locker room.

How the Clippers will win it all.

The Clippers will win the title if they can somehow forget about last years playoff collapse, all come together and leave their woes and whining at home. This team complains way too much and they're not that good anymore and they missed their best chance at a title last year.

Coming in at number 5, I have the Oklahoma City Thunder. Full disclosure, this is my favorite team in the NBA. I'm a Thunder fan. This team's shot at a title fully depends on health. They haven't had their three star players all healthy, at the same time, in about three years. If healthy, the Thunder are one of the best teams in the NBA. When three of your starting five include Kevin Durant. Russell Westbrook and Serge Ibaka, that's pretty damn impressive. Durant was the MVP of the league two years ago, but rushed back from offseason foot surgery last year and ended up missing most of last season trying to fully heal. He looks good right now, and can easily get back to being one of the three best players in the NBA, but he needs to string together a lot of games healthy before he is fully back. Russell Westbrook is a beast in every sense of the word. I used to think he was an out of control ball hog, but after watching him last year, without Durant and Ibaka for a lot of the year, I have a newfound respect in him. He's still kind of a ball hog, but he's the most in control out of control player. When he explodes to the rim, or starts a fast break, watch out, because he is going to do something special. He is the new Allen Iverson in my opinion. Serge Ibaka is one of the best defenders in basketball and can give the Thunder 17 or 18 points a night. He's worked on his outside shot and, while I feel he uses it a bit too much, he makes it at about 50 percent. I wished he played a bit more back to the basket, but that's not his game. Enes Kanter is a very good offensive player, but he cannot play professional level defense. He may be the worst defender in the NBA. Steven Adams is a good, young player still fully learning the game of basketball,  but he can be a nuisance at times, and if he wasn't on the Thunder, I probably wouldn't like him all that much. People say he's this generations Bill Laimbeer, but I feel like that's a slight to Laimbeer. Sure, he was a nuisance as well, but he was a good scorer and rebounder. He was much better at this point in his career than Adams is right now. The bench is fine. Guys like DJ Augustin, a good back up point guard, but getting older, Kyle Singler, a hustler, but not very good at any one skill, Mitch McGary, another guy with an unstoppable motor, but can't stay healthy and Nick Collison, an elder statesmen in the league, are good enough to help steal a few minutes here and there from the starters. Anthony Morrow is super interesting coming off the bench for the Thunder. He's an excellent three point shooter and can catch fire at any time, but he's a liability on defense. I think their draft pick Cameron Payne will soon take over Augustin's spot as the second team point guard, and I think he will become a valuable bench player for the Thunder. Like I said before, if the Thunder can stay healthy, they can compete with anyone at anytime or place. Their title chances lie solely on health and I see them winning 50 or 51 games and being the four seed in the West.

How the Thunder will win it all.

The Thunder will win the title if their "big three" can stay healthy and produce like they're supposed to all season and Enes Kanter and Steven Adams become unstoppable at the things they're best at, Adams being a pest on defense and Kanter scoring double figures every night. They'll need help from their bench as well, but that's a very real possibility. Thunder Up.

My number four team is the Houston Rockets. This team has all the potential in the world, it's just a matter of putting it together at the right time. James Harden leads this team and while he's a tremendous scorer, he is a lot like Blake Griffin and fades when the spotlight is on him. When playing for OKC, he was great all the way through their run to the Finals in 2012, but then he crapped out in the Finals, averaging less than 10 points per game. Same thing happened last season in the West Finals. He was bested every night by MVP Steph Curry. He's also dating a Kardashian now, so he's bound to take a dip in production, just ask Kris Humphries or Reggie Bush. Dwight Howard was, at one time, the most unstoppable force at center since Shaq. Now, he is constantly injured and making excuses. When he puts his mind to it, he's a really good player, but his head isn't always in the game. Houston needs him to focus on basketball. They have Patrick Beverly coming back at point guard, and he's a good point guard, but they traded for Ty Lawson this offseason, and he's an upgrade. Lawson will be starting over Beverly by midseason. Donatas Motiejunas is a good power forward, and if he and Howard can both stay healthy, their front court is as good, if not better than most. Trevor Ariza is still there and he's still a lock down defender and an excellent three point shooter. Ariza is a very underrated player. Jason Terry is still playing basketball, and he's still hitting clutch shots. He can't keep up on defense, but Houston doesn't ask him to do that, they need him to hit big threes. Corey Brewer is a great bench player in the NBA and people finally get to see that since he's on a good team. Both draft picks, Sam Dekker and Montrezl Harrell can be valuable to this team. Dekker is very athletic and can step back and hit the three and Harrell will do all the dirty work and do it happily. The Rockets are good and got a taste of a deep postseason run last year. They will win somewhere in the mid fifties, maybe 55 or 56 games and fight the Thunder for that third spot in the West.

How the Rockets can win it all.

The Rockets will win the title if Harden can perform in the clutch and Howard stays healthy and focuses on basketball solely, all season. The rest of the roster needs to keep doing what they do and the Rockets will be very good. I love the addition of Ty Lawson and I feel that he makes this team a very real threat to compete for a title.

There you have it, teams 6, 5 and 4. Tomorrow is my final NBA preseason piece and I'll give you my top three teams and all my predictions.

Who will be the champion?

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man podcast. He once held court 100 straight times against the editor on NBA Street. Follow Ty on twitter @tykulik.

Ty remembers the greatness of Moses Malone

Another legend lost

Last week I wrote about the surprise passing of NBA legend Daryl Dawkins, AKA "Chocolate Thunder". Today, I come bearing more bad news on the NBA legend front.

As most of you know by now, Moses Malone unexpectedly passed away yesterday at the age of 60. This one hit me just as hard as Daryl Dawkins. I even mentioned Moses Malone in my article about Dawkins. If you remember, Malone was who the 76ers traded Dawkins for, and they won the title that year. Moses Malone was the first professional basketball player to make the jump from high school to the pros. He led his high school team to two straight, undefeated championship seasons. He signed to play at the University of Maryland, but gave up his college career when he was drafted in the third round by the Utah Stars of the ABA. He signed a five year contract, but spent only three seasons in the ABA. The Utah Stars folded after his rookie season and he caught on with the St. Louis Spirits for the next two years. He put up pretty good numbers while playing in the ABA, averaging 17 points and grabbing 13 rebounds a game. When the ABA and NBA merged, Malone was drafted by the Portland Trailblazers, but never played a regular season game for them. He was traded to the Buffalo Braves, but only played two games with the team. He finally found a semi permanent home after being traded to the Houston Rockets.

During Moses Malone's first full season in the NBA, he put up decent numbers again. Malone averaged 13 points a game, but where he shined was rebounding, and more specifically, offensive rebounding. He finished third in the league in total rebounding at 13 a game, but he set a new offensive rebounding record, grabbing 437 total offensive boards. He would later break that record. He was also a stalwart on the defensive side of the court, blocking almost three shots a game. Malone led the Rockets to the Eastern Conference Finals, the Rockets were once in the East, only to lose to his eventual team, the 76ers in six games. During that playoff, Malone set a record with 15 offensive rebounds in one game. The 78-79 season was peak Moses Malone. He averaged 24 points and 17 rebounds a game on his way to winning the league MVP at the tender age of 23. This was the season he broke his own offensive rebounding record, grabbing 587 of them. Once again though, the Rockets were swept in the Eastern Conference Finals, this time by the Boston Celtics. Malone and the Rockets couldn't seem to get over the hump. The Rockets finally made the NBA Finals in 1981, Malone coming off another MVP season, but they were beat by the Sonics.

During the 1983 season, Malone was traded to the 76ers for Daryl Dawkins, as I mentioned before. New ownership wanted new players and Malone fit in perfectly with what the 76ers wanted to do. During the 83 season, Malone led the league in rebounding for the third straight season, collecting 15 boards a game. He also averaged 25 points per game as well. During the 83 playoffs, the 76ers only lost one game and swept the Lakers in the Finals. Malone won NBA Finals MVP and got his first, and only, NBA title. A couple more seasons and a couple more runs in the playoffs with the 76ers followed, but in the 85-86 season, the 76ers traded Malone to the Washington Bullets. His first season with the Bullets had Malone making the All Star team for the tenth consecutive season and putting up 24 points and 11 rebounds. Ultimately though, despite Malone's big numbers, the Bullets were swept in the first round by the Pistons. The same thing happened the very next season. Malone put up big numbers, but the Bullets were swept again by the Pistons in the first round.

Moses Malone played for three more teams, the Buck, Spurs and the Hawks. He put up okay numbers, but he was starting to get hurt more and he played a lot of basketball by this time in his life. He was even brought back by the 76ers to help tutor Shawn Bradley. He had a long, successful NBA career. He was such a good rebounder, he was dubbed "Chairman of the Boards" by his fellow players.

What drew me to Moses Malone was his tenacity and love for basketball. Sure, he was a great scorer, but he seemed to love playing defense and his rebounding is unmatched. He took more pride in rebounding than anything else. As a kid, I wanted to be Michael Jordan or Charles Barkley. As a I got older, into my twenties, I studied players like Daryl Dawkins and Moses Malone, and that's who I try to model my game after. Yes, I like to put the ball in the hoop, but I'd rather start a fast break with a defensive rebound, or get an offensive rebound for a put back. That's more satisfying for me.

It's a shame that Moses Malone passed away yesterday. In the past two weeks, we've lost two basketball legends that a lot of my generation, the Millenials, have little to no knowledge of. That's depressing to me. Instead of watching Blake Griffin or Kevin Love and saying that they're some of the best big men rebounders(they are not), go watch old games of Moses Malone. He's the best rebounder of all time. You will be missed "Chairman of the Boards". I hope you and Daryl Dawkins are playing one on one wherever you are now.

Rest in Peace.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and co-host of the X Millennial Man podcast. Follow him on twitter @tykulik.

Let me respectfully explain why your team stinks: Ty really dislikes the LA Clippers

It is never to early too think about basketball

Today I'm going to talk about my irrational hatred for the god awful franchise known as the Los Angeles Clippers.

I HATE THE CLIPPERS.

There's no amount of any love in my sports heart or brain for the Clippers. First of all, this is a franchise that's NEVER been to the Western Conference Finals. Not the Finals, they've never made it to their conference finals. They were mired in mediocrity for the majority of the 80's and 90's. They've become a playoff team in the 21st century, but they are best known for collapsing or flat out losing to teams that, on paper, they're better than. But, games are won on the court and not on paper. No matter what the people at ESPN say. I swear to you, when the Lakers were the best team in LA, everyone at ESPN loved them. Now that the Lakers are irrelevant and the Clippers are decent, all the ESPN employees have taken the Clippers as their "team". They all love the Clippers, but that will change as soon as the Lakers are relevant again. Bunch of sheep at ESPN.

Let's get back to why I hate the Clippers so much. Let's look at the players on the team. First, the starters. You have Chris Paul at point guard. He's a great basketball player, but I think he's extremely overrated. People always say that he is the smartest player in the game and runs his team to perfection. So, perfection to these pundits is, having a good regular season, only to crap out in the first or second round of the playoffs. I thought to be considered one of the greats, you have to at least make the Finals once and if you're lucky win the Finals. Not only has he never led his team to the Finals, they've never been to the conference finals, like I said earlier. He didn't do it with the Hornets and he sure as shit hasn't done it with the Clippers. He's also a whiny, crybaby on the court. He's constantly complaining to officials about calls or no calls. When he's not crying to the refs, he's yelling at his teammates for not doing what he told them to do. It's never his fault, it's always someone else's fault. That's not a leader, that's a whiner. He's also the dirtiest player I've seen since John Stockton. I swear. he punches someone in the balls at least 3 to 5 times a season. That's a punk move by a dirty player. Screw you Chris Paul. Shooting guard is manned by JJ Redick. This douchebag is a pile of garbage. First of all, he played at Duke, so if you're a fan of his, you're probably a rich, white privileged asshole that's never had to work for anything ever. Redick seems more concerned with how his hair looks during the game than actually playing the game. He's only good at shooting the three and, while the folks at ESPN will try to make you believe different, he's a terrible defender. He's constantly fouling people and James Harden made him his bitch in the final two games of the Western Conference Semis last season. Harden, who chokes on the biggest stage, destroyed Redick when he had the ball. Personally, I loved watching Harden own him in the playoffs. Redick is a subpar NBA player at best, but he has somehow managed to start for the Clippers the past couple of seasons. He's a glorified Jimmer Fredette. At small forward, they have a platoon of guys like Jamal Crawford or the rotting corpse of Paul Pierce or the newly acquired Lance Stephenson. Jamal Crawford is all but out the door. And good for him for getting out of that situation. This dude can shoot and, while he's a liability on defense, that's not how he's made his career. He's supposed to be instant offense off the bench. He shouldn't be a starter in the NBA. The Clippers signed both Pierce and Stephenson this offseason. While Pierce played very well for the Wizards last season, he's about 900 years old and he's played a lot of minutes in the NBA. He brings championship pedigree to this garbage franchise, but that was 7 years ago, and he had Ray Allen and Kevin Garnett on his team. I think he's well past his prime and he won't give the Clippers what they need. He's too old and has played way too much. I believe he used anything he had left in last years playoffs. The Wizards were beaten by the Hawks in 6 games during his run by the way. Lance Stephenson is a cancer and becoming a joke in the NBA. He is best known for blowing in LeBron James' ear during the playoffs two years ago. He can't shoot, he's not the defender he was three years ago and he doesn't get along with his teammates. The Pacers couldn't wait to unload him and the Hornets were more than happy to trade him one year after signing him to a three year deal. At power forward, they have probably one of the most overrated "superstars" in the league in Blake Griffin. This effin guy, I have a big problem with. First of all, the comparisons to LeBron James need to stop immediately. On his best day, Griffin isn't 1/100th the player James is. He's not even in Karl Malone's or Moses Malone's league. Those guys were all around good players. All Blake Griffin is good for is dunking. And, no matter how fancy it looks, it's still worth two points. He has gotten better at his jump shot, but he shoots it on a straight line and it's a disgusting looking shot. He plays little to no defense, he can only manage to get 5 or 6 rebounds a game and he's on the same whiner level with Chris Paul. He complains just as much, if not more, than Paul does to the refs. He's such a douche, he poured water on a Warriors fan two years ago during a playoff game. Did people call him out for this move of supreme asshole? Nope, everyone thought it was a funny joke by him. Not me. That's a bitch move of the highest caliber. He also seems more interested in his commercial acting than improving his game. He does have plenty of time to do commercials, because this team is always out of the playoffs early every year. I HATE Blake Griffin the player. He may be a good dude, but I can't stand him as a basketball player. Center position is manned by DeAndre Jordan. You know him, the guy who gave his word to the Mavericks, then changed his mind and instead of talking to the Mavericks and Mark Cuban like a grown man, he wouldn't so much as send a text message to them to tell them he changed his mind and wanted to stay in LA. I'd have no problem with his decision if he owned up to it properly, but nope, his "apology" was posted on twitter for crissakes. What have we come to in society if this is tolerated? This is what a child does, not a man making millions of dollars. But, in his "defense", he's never going to be a player to build your franchise around unless you want a team that can only win 20 to 25 games a season. All he does is dunk and rebound. He's a decent shot blocker too. Other than those things, he does nothing else good at all. People may read this and say, he's a new version of Shaq. Bull shit, Shaq was one of the best passing big men of all time and Shaq is a billion times better than DeAndre Jordan will ever be. If I were an opposing coach, I'd foul him on EVERY SINGLE POSSESION. I don't care if he shoots 100 free throws a game and the game lasts six hours long. I'd love to slow down their offensive tempo and make this joke of a free throw shooter beat me at the line. He's NEVER going to be better than a 40% shooter from the line. Never. I also hope he's happy with being Chris Paul and Blake Griffin's scapegoat for the rest of his career. It will never be their fault, it will always, somehow, be Jordan's fault. Congrats on having to deal with that for the rest of your basketball life. The bench is made up of guys like coaches son Austin Rivers, Jason Segel look alike Spencer Hawes and hotel trashing, girlfriend cheating Glen "Big Baby" Davis. Austin Rivers recently said that he was better than the majority of the guys participating in the recent Team USA scrimmage. He claimed to better than guys like Kevin Durant, Russell Westbrook, James Harden, John Wall and Steph Curry. Um, Austin Rivers, you wouldn't be the best player on the current 76ers team, so get your head out of you ass you stupid moron. The only reason he's still in the NBA is because his dad coaches the Clippers and, as any father would, wants his son to succeed. Too bad your son is a shitty basketball player Doc Rivers. Spencer Hawes is a terrible NBA player. He can't rebound, play defense, block shots or shoot. He's a bum that the Clippers overpaid last offseason and then under utilized him when he started to play poorly. He played poorly all season, but got worse as the season progressed. Glen "Big Baby" Davis is a joke and his nick name tells you everything you need to know about him. He looks like a grown up baby and complains like one too.

The coach is Doc Rivers, another one of the most overrated people in basketball. He's won a championship, but what people forget, the year before that title, he was almost fired. The Celtics wanted to get rid of him, but instead they traded for Allen and Garnett and won a title. After that team disbanded, Rivers was traded to the Clippers to be not only the coach, but the GM too. His coaching philosphy is, complain about officiating, call out reporters that bad mouth his team and to not worry about the defensive end of the floor. He's an average NBA coach that lucked into getting two of the top 100 players of all time in their prime and win one championship. As a GM, he's terrible. He's made bad decisions left and right. He may be the worst GM in all of sports.

The last thing I want to touch on, as to why I hate the Clippers, is their ownership. First of all, they were owned by HUGE racist and all around horrible monster of a human breath, Donald Sterling. He is a worse version of Donald Trump and I loathe Donald Trump. Now, they're owned by eccentric billionaire Steve Ballmer. Every time I see this weirdo jumping up and down and screaming into a microphone on TV, I want to punch him right in the chest. He has no idea what he's doing, but if he continues to show enthusiasm, the chuckle heads at ESPN will continue to say how great he is for the game of basketball. He's the opposite of that. He's a thorn in the side of basketball, and he has forever inflated the actual worth of a team by buying the Clippers for 2 billion dollars. He's ruined it for every other potential buyer or current owner in the league. Every team that's purchased from here on out will be bought for way more than they're worth. Lots of people are going to end up losing a lot of money.

This team, while it may not seem on the surface, is still in as much turmoil as they were when Sterling owned the team. It's a different turmoil. And, if you don't agree with me, look at what season ticket holder Bill Simmons has been saying on social media about the Clippers. He believes that they may be in worse shape. These are the many reasons I hate the Clippers. They're a franchise that hasn't won anything of importance ever, yet act like they're the best team in the NBA.

I hate you Los Angeles Clippers, and I'll always hate you.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the co-host of the X Millennial Man podcast. He did not get to talk about the Clippers, but hear Ty go over a few more overrated teams. When you are done listening throw Ty a follow on twitter @tykulik.