NFL broadcaster Pat Summerall has passed away
April 16, 2013Booooo-baldo – It is time to cut the cord
April 17, 2013While We’re Waiting serves as the early morning gathering of WFNY-esque information for your viewing pleasure. Have something you think we should see? Send it to our tips email at tips@waitingfornextyear.com.
Postseason awards time for the Cavaliers. Flop of the year?– “Sloan set an incredibly high bar when he became one of the first two players warned for flopping this season. On a list full of contact exaggerators, no one, not even Martin, went to the same ridiculous lengths as Sloan. Down 20 points with six minutes remaining in a loss to the Bulls, Sloan picks up full-court pressure defense on Kirk Hinrich, who smartly runs him off of Mohammed near midcourt. Sloan turns to see the screen coming and mostly avoids it, but then chooses not to break his momentum before unfurling a figure skating-esque 360-degree helicopter spin with both arms in the air. His dramatics are so intense that they wind up sending Hinrich to the court, too. Impeccable work.” [Golliver/Point Forward]
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“Jason Giambi strode toward a table in the middle of the Indians clubhouse and dropped a piece of paper on it. “Hey, guys,” he said to his teammates scattered around the room, “I need everybody to write down their name and number.” One by one, the members of the Tribe did as instructed, the phone list filling quickly.
“Everybody should have everybody’s number,” Giambi would say later. “You’re like a family in here, six months out of the year. So there shouldn’t be any excuses for why you didn’t call a guy or why you didn’t invite somebody to dinner or why you didn’t get invited to dinner. I like everybody to be on the same page and to spend time together.”
That Giambi is still spending time on an active roster at the Major League level is a testament to two things — his willingness to put ego aside and serve as a role player in a sport in which he once starred, and the value some clubs, like the Indians, place on chemistry and veteran input even in an era of increasingly sophisticated statistics.” [Castrovince/MLB]
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“Irving had a glorious All-Star weekend, scoring 32 points in the Rising Stars game, winning the 3-point contest and looking as if he belonged with the best of the NBA. He’s averaging 22.4 points, shooting .452 from the field, .392 beyond the arc. He can drive to the basket at will, score with either hand in traffic. He has a superb outside shot.
In a city searching for a hoops star since LeBron James left, Irving is adored. He has an engaging smile and has stayed out of legal trouble or any major embarrassing situations. Nationally, ESPN and others have proclaimed him “the future of NBA point guards.” He has his own “Uncle Drew” advertising persona and other commercials. All this for someone who just turned 21 on March 23. It has, unsurprisingly, created a growing sense of entitlement with Irving.” [Pluto/Cleveland.com]
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“I would have liked to see defensive improvement throughout the season. Dion Waiters has had his hands full learning to play the game the right way offensively, and Tyler Zeller is over-matched, but I didn’t see either get better with their off-ball defense. Kyrie Irving got better, at least some of the time, with effort level defensively but never in the team concept. The perimeter defense and the transition defense were embarrassing all season long. Alonzo Gee seemed to regress defensively, and certainly never became a good team defender. I can put qualifications on a lot of this but when you have athletes who can run the floor, and the Cavs do, they shouldn’t be getting beat down the floor like they were time and time again.” [Fear the Sword]
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Psychology of the second free throw– “My initial piece was built on the idea that stepping off the free throw line after attempting the first shot would sever any concentration or short-term muscle memory that improve accuracy on the second shot. By high fiving teammates or adjusting the jersey, the muscles required no longer retain the recent stroke and instead, start anew. This was my justification for the uptick in the second free throw attempt: NBA players have shot 4.5 percentage points better on the second shot than the first, this season.” [Koo/Hickory High]
5 Comments
Kudos to Pluto for getting after Kyrie. I don’t think it was anything damning, but it was a good column to write to suggest that Kyrie check his head. He’s at a crossroads in his career and you’d hate to see him choose the road to entitlement.
Kyrie, don’t become another Kenny Anderson or Stephon Marbury.
I don’t think he’s reached a crossroads and I’m willing to give him the benefit of the doubt based on his age but he definitely still has some maturing to do both physically and mentally. Much the same LBJ did lets just hope Irving’s time doesn’t end as badly. That would be cruel and unfortunately usual punishment for Cleveland fans and supporters.
I would say he’s reached a mental crossroads… in other words, he’s had all this attention thrown his way after the All-Star game and he’s viewed as the leader of the Cavaliers at 21 years old… will he let himself be warped by all of the love being thrown his way LBJ-style, or will he develop that chip on his shoulder that all great players need? LBJ had to be hated by the masses to the point that he developed that chip… I want Kyrie to get ticked off by Pluto’s column and arguments like it, and set out to improve his defense and prove everyone wrong… that’s the road I hope to see him take.
If I played fantasy football, “Kudos to Pluto” would be my team’s name.
Or maybe I’ll start a band . . .