Old NBA Players Need to Let the Warriors Play on the Lawn

Get rid of those peaches and Curry could still hit over 50% of his shots

Tracy McGrady, former NBA allstar, said on a recent episode of ESPN's "The Jump" that, Steph Curry being the first unanimous MVP just shows you how "watered down" the league has become. I've got a lot of problems with that statement.

First off, I love McGrady, the basketball player. He was explosive, athletic, a good jump shooter and one of the few prep to pros that had a very good, perhaps hall of fame career. But, why did he feel the need or urge to say this? Why condemn the greatest shooter of all time? Why do all the retired pros seem to hate this specific Warriors team? It doesn't begin and end with McGrady's criticism, many other hall of famers and legends have been very dismissive of this Warriors team and of Steph Curry. Oscar Robertson, possibly the greatest point guard of all time and the only player to ever average a triple double over a full season, doesn't think that they are as good as we all think they are. He seems to think, that had this team played during his era, they would have been average at best. I love you Oscar Robertson, but come on. This Warriors team is historically great. Scottie Pippen is another hall of famer that has brushed this team to the side, saying, that the 1995-96 Bulls would have swept them out of the playoffs. At least he put them in the playoffs, but a sweep, get out of here. The Warriors would win at least one game because Curry would put in 40 and Thompson would put in another 30 and Draymond is a more athletic version of Dennis Rodman, and he can score. No way a sweep happens. Sure, put Jordan on Curry, he'd have a tough time, but he would still make some shots. And yes, you could put Pippen on Thompson, but he would still find a way to get to the rim and that would open up driving lanes. But, who is going to guard Draymond Green, Andrew Bogut, Shaun Livingston, Andre Iguodala, Harrison Barnes, I mean, this Warriors team is loaded with depth, something the 95-96 Bulls didn't really have . So no, no way would it be a sweep. And Bill Wennington chiming in, echoing what Pippen said, shut your god damn mouth Bill Wennington. You were lucky to even be a part of such a great team. The Bulls could have, and did, see Luc Longley, win with basically anyone playing center. Hell, I could have played center on that Bulls team and they would have still been great. Bill Wennington is a blow hard. Screw him. He isn't 1/10 the player Bogut is, so he can shut the hell up.

Then there is my all time favorite basketball player. A man I adore and have tried to model my rec league game after. A player I have looked up to since I was in the 5th grade, Charles Barkley. He has not had one single nice thing to say about this Warriors team or Steph Curry. He has been anti Warriors since they ran through the playoffs and won a title last season. He said they didn't really earn the title because they didn't have to face anyone that was great or at full strength. I disagree strongly with that. He said that a jump shooting team could never have long term success in the NBA. The numbers clearly prove him wrong. He said that Curry was too little and too oft injured and would have never made it in his day. Well, Curry is lighting the league up now, and when he comes back from injuries, he looks even stronger and better, which I thought was impossible. The only reason he wouldn't have made it in the NBA in the 90's was because of how dirty and aggressive it was. I look back at 90's basketball, which I loved, my Sonics were legit, but it was brutal. There isn't a whole lot of highlights, unless you single out Jordan, unless it is a hard foul or some kind of brawl. The most "important" moments that are shown on highlight reels from the 90's is stuff like the big fight the Knicks and Heat had, when Jeff Van Gundy grabbed hold of Alonzo Mourning's leg. Or when Barkley got into it with any number of big time players. Or when John Stockton would set a screen and knee someone in the crotch. The list could go on and on and on with all the dirty stuff that went down in the NBA in the 90's, so yeah, maybe Barkley is right on Curry getting roughed up during his era. He was also on "PTI" recently and he said the only way that he would put this years Warriors team, the team that won 73 regular season games, in the annals of historically great teams, is if they win the title. That's fair, but he said they would only be the fourth best team of all time. He had the 96 Bulls, the 86 Celtics and some other team I can't remember ahead of this Warriors team. That's insane! They are historically the greatest regular season team of all time, statically too! They won 73 games! That will never happen again! I love you Charles Barkley, but you are wrong on this one.

The Warriors are a really, really great team. Hell, even LeBron James is trying to poke holes in this team because they are the talk of the league and not him. He said Curry deserved the MVP, but then posed the idea that the MVP isn't based on stats, but one players ability to make a team overachieve, as if to say, he obviously thinks he should be the MVP. Get the hell out of here with that nonsense. The older LeBron gets, the more crazy and more entitled and more prima donna he gets. LeBron is one of the greatest players of all time, but he is a spoiled rotten little brat. The attention isn't on him for once, so instead of using that as motivation, he complains to the media about what a real MVP means. What a punk. He is clearly an only child and he has clearly never been pushed aside like this on a basketball court. Get used to it LeBron, the Warriors are younger and better than you and the Cavs and it's going to be this way for a long time.

All this brings me back to McGrady's watered down quote. The league is not watered down. The NBA is as good as it has ever been right now. The games are exciting. The players are exciting. The players are relatable. The NBA is experiencing a huge boom right now and I think the retired players are a bit jealous. LeBron is jealous too. They all want to chime in with their two cents, but the fact remains, we will never know who would win or who could have also been unanimous MVP choices because all these players bitching and moaning are done playing or selfish assholes. The facts are there. The Warriors have the greatest regular season record of all time, no matter what Oscar Robertson, Tracy McGrady, Bill Wennington, Scottie Pippen, Charles Barkley or LeBron James says or thinks. Curry is, and will always be known as, the first ever unanimous MVP. No comments or jealously can take that away from him. The retired players need to let it go and get over it. I'm sick and tired of the whole, "back in my day" crap. Things evolve and change, it's a way of life. You can take it as it is, or you can complain. I choose to admire the Warriors and Steph Curry, it's way more fun.

One last thing, a lot of the retirees complaining about the Warriors and Steph Curry are all time greats, but I haven't heard the GOAT, Michael Jordan,say one bad thing or suggest that his teams would have beaten up this Warriors team. That's the true sign of a champion, he doesn't need to say things, he just does them. I wish these guys would take another lesson from Jordan and keep their mouths shut. One can dream.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast. When he and the head editor play basketball, the game is quite dirty. They are both big, hairy, and sweat a lot. That is the recipe for smelly dirt. Follow Ty on twitter @tykulik.

Thank You for Inhaling: The Lessons of Ohio's Failure in Trying to Legalize Recreational Marijuana

Not the new buckeye

Ohio's attempt to legalize recreational marijuana went down to  defeat on election day. It was beaten quite soundly. I do not think that Ohio's Issue 3 was a good law, it was a terrible law. Bad law or not, it was much better than the archaic laws we have right now. Our very own Kirk Aug goes as far to say the marijuana laws are flat out racist. I tend to agree with this sentiment. Because Issue 3 did not pass, using and possessing Marijuana is still highly illegal in Ohio. Doctors can not prescribe it. Users are considered criminals. People who sell it will go to jail. Marijuana is still illegal because of greedy investors, bad politicians, and out of date political thought. Marijuana is still illegal in Ohio because my home state refuses to face the present.

What is the saying that applies here? Perfect is the enemy of the good. Many of my pot supporting friends, let's call them pot smokers, would tell me that they were hesitant to support issue 3. Why would illegal pot smokers not back a legalization measure. One simple word - monopoly.  They were uncomfortable with the fact that issue 3 gave a monopoly to a few well connected donors. I also had the same reservations, yet I still supported the initiative because it made marijuana legal. I am not a pot smoker, but I believe in legal weed. I constantly found myself arguing about the true definition of a monopoly, and what a good law compared to a perfect law even means. I was having these arguments with supporters of legalization. I had trouble convincing them of voting for Issue 3. Lose your most loyal supporters and things will not turn out well on election day.

The word monopoly is where Responsible Ohio lost the legalization battle. The ballot initiative itself had the word monopoly in it. There is another aphorism in politics that says if you are defending, you are losing. Issue 3 was on the defense from day one. I kept seeing commercials on tv with plenty of attractive white people espousing the benefits of legal weed. At the end of each commercial the fine white folk, usually Nick Lachey, would tell me to vote yes on 3 and no on 2. The commercials would always reference the opponents, and opposition arguments, of legal marijuana. In there own commercials Responsible Ohio was making the oppositions case. They were defending, therefore they were losing.

The biggest failure of Ohio's attempt at marijuana legalization was not the defeat of Issue 3, it was the victory of Issue 2. The Ohio legislature put Issue 2 on the ballot as a way to protect the good citizens of Ohio from groups creating a monopoly on new state businesses. The wording of Issue 2 is intentionally vague, and many experts have said the law could stop citizens from trying to move Ohio into the future. The new law passed by issue 2 would add another political layer of bureaucracy to the referendum process. If there is a citizen movement to change the government in Ohio, you better hope the non-partisan committee who is reviewing your request is politically on your side. Marijuana legalization did not just lose this year, due to the passage of issue 2, legalization may have been lost in Ohio for a generation.

 Another failure of the pro-legalization movement is how Responsible Ohio used the idea of progress to hide their greed. The Issue 3 ballot initiative was not launched until the general public was frozen out of any business opportunity associated with future marijuana business in the state. The Ohio legislature used the anti-monopoly idea as a way to hide their reach for more power. All of Ohio lost when Issue 3 was defeated and issue 2 was victorious. The Buckeye state lost needed tax revenue, lost resources being tied up by the moronic War on Drugs, and lost the chance to be at the front of the line of an inevitable part of future society. Ohio also lost the ability for citizens to try and create progress in their state. 

If you want legal weed be truthful with the voters, know that greed will drive your most loyal supporters away, and believe in your message. I for one was looking forward to visiting my local legal marijuana dealership, owned partly by Oscar Robertson. I was going to give this whole smoking marijuana thing another go. But alas there will be no legal way for me to get my weed.

Where the hell do I go now?

RD Kulik

RD is the Head editor for SeedSing. Without marijuana he will just continue to drink alcohol and smoke cigarettes. Those are way safer. Tell him your solution to America's problems by writing for SeedSing.