Jimmy Butler finally found a home in Miami

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Every hero’s journey has his or her own origin story, a path they follow to their ultimate goal. That path is almost always filled with lessons learned, hardships endured, and battles won against villains/doubters that got in their way. The odds are stacked against them, but they persevere even if the odds are 14 million to 1.

The Miami Heat is ready for such a challenge, even if the formidable Milwaukee Bucks, Boston Celtics, Toronto Raptors and Philadelphia 76ers stand in their way. They don’t just believe they can make it to the NBA Finals this fall, they know they can. That determination starts with their leader: Jimmy Butler.

Butler was pushed to his physical limits in Chicago, misunderstood in Minnesota and heartbroken in Philadelphia before arriving in Miami. He has never felt happier or more fulfilled than during this past year with the Heat, but he knows…He knows that he must reach another level to shock the world.

In order to do so, the hero Miami needs will have to reckon with his memories and his own limitations to break through. To understand Butler’s future, the key lies in his past.

DON’T EVER GIVE UP

Still, he loathes reliving the past — so much so that he has removed the rearview mirror on his car (yes, really) as a symbolic reminder to never look back.

Jimmy Butler can be intense. He will get in your face and dare you to play and practice until you pass out, demanding the same amount of selflessness and effort on the court and obsession off of it that he has, challenging preconceptions, and that is not for everyone. It takes a certain culture to embrace that.

We all like to think that we can and will get up from whatever blows life throws at us, but let’s face it. Like Rocky once said, “nobody is gonna hit as hard as life.”

Put yourself in Butler’s shoes:  You spend your childhood without a father after dad walks out on you. But you hold no grudges, and you keep going. You grow up in Tomball, Texas, a small town of 10,000+ people close to Houston but far from the spotlight. Its more famous resident for years was former Enron executive Sherron Watkins, but you dream big.

Then you are in middle school, just 13 years old, and you are coming home thinking about that girl you like or that math assignment due the next day. You open the door and your mom Londa tells you “I don’t like the look of you, you gotta go.”

A lot of things must have been going through his head. How can your own mother’s last words to you be so cutting, so searing? At that point, it’s easy to break if you feel all alone. Bur he held no grudges, and he kept going thanks to a support system that propped him up when he felt down.

Butler wasn’t homeless for long. He attended Tomball High School while staying with the Leslies and becoming friends with Jordan, who was two years younger and would eventually make it to the NFL.

Butler would play basketball with Jordan and be Tomball’s MVP after averaging 19 points during his senior year, but there were no state championships or All-American honors on his trophy case. Most disappointingly, there were no recruits or major scholarship offers. His recruiting profile was a faceless ghost, a two-star nobody. But he held no grudges, and he kept going.

FROM ZERO TO HERO

Butler wasn’t ready to give up on his basketball dreams, so he enrolled at a small school 200 miles away called Tyler Junior College. Nobody had ever made it to the NBA out of Tyler before, and nobody has since. He wasn’t even a Top 100 prospect, but the young Texan was relentless and Marquette University’s coach Buzz Williams took notice enough to offer him an athletic scholarship.

Butler arrived at Marquette and contributed as a sixth man to a team that went 25-10 and lost to Missouri in the second round of the NCAA Tournament. Jimmy scored seven points in 30 minutes off the bench, but there was a moment that could have changed everything.

Marquette was up 78-76 with 1:17 to go when Butler took a shot from behind the arc. He was 0-for-3 in three pointers for the season, but he believed in himself. He could make it, he would ice the game and send Marquette to the Sweet 16. However, he missed it, and Missouri came back to win 83-79.

The kid who nobody gave two cents for a year earlier was now a key cog in a contender, and he was ready for more. By the time the 2010-11 campaign came around, Butler was leading the team in minutes with 34.6 per game as he was joined by future Heat teammate Jae Crowder.

Number 33 was cold-blooded, and eager for more. The 2011 NBA Draft awaited him.

THEY WERE SO WRONG

Butler has always had a chip on his shoulder, but more than anything he needed someone to believe in him. Enter Chicago Bulls coach Tom Thibodeau.

The small forward out of Marquette was considered a “jack of all trades, master of none” by many.

In a draft that saw busts like Jan Vesely and Jimmer Fredette as Top 10 selections, destiny would see point guard Norris Cole picked 28th by the Bulls and traded to the Miami Heat. Butler was chosen two spots later, and he was eager to join Derrick Rose and Joakim Noah in Chicago for their quest to dethrone Miami’s own LeBron James, Wade and Bosh from the NBA throne.

Those Bulls would lose in five games to the Heat in the Eastern Conference Finals while Butler played only 42 games and averaged barely 2.6 points in 8.6 minutes per game during the lockout shortened season. Most importantly, Derrick Rose tore his ACL during the first round of those playoffs, and everything changed forever for Butler.

Thibodeau trusted him more after that and gave Butler the chance to play in every single game for the first and only time in his career during the 2012-13 regular season, starting 20 of them. One of those starts was against the Heat, and Butler’s 17 points and four assists in 43 minutes helped snap Miami’s historic 27-game winning streak with a 101-97 win by the home team in Chicago.

As Butler evolved, so did his reputation as a clutch player both defensively and, most importantly for his development, offensively.

The problem was, Thibodeau was running him into the ground. Butler averaged career-highs in both 2014 and 2015 with 38.7 minutes per game on his way to being named the NBA’s Most Improved Player and an Eastern Conference All-Star for the first time before signing a five-year, $95 million extension with the Bulls.

2016 saw him get the nod and recognition he craved, getting the nod from Coach K to go to Rio and win the gold medal with Team USA, averaging 5.6 points and 14 minutes a game while playing in every single one of them. His best outing came in the Group Stage against Venezuela, contributing 17 points and a +26 plus/minus in a 113-69 rout.

Butler also fell in love with soccer while in Brazil, where fuchibol is a religion, and forged a friendship with Brazilian superstar Neymar a year later when both of them were in Paris for fashion week.

Back in America, Butler was thriving as Chicago’s go-to scorer in the playoffs, where he averaged over 22 points in 2015 and 2017 along with a blistering 42.9 minutes on the court. However, the Bulls were regressing as Butler was progressing, so the Bulls traded Jimmy to Minnesota on June 22, 2017 for young players such as Zach LaVine and Lauri Markkanen.

The Bulls were rebuilding, but Butler had visions of a championship with the Timberwolves alongside Karl-Anthony Towns and Andrew Wiggins. In theory, those three should have at least put a scare into the Golden State Warriors, but Butler never meshed with them and requested a trade barely over a season after arriving.

THE LONG ROAD TO MIAMI

The “feud” between Butler and Towns was all sorts of ugly, and the press was having a field day concocting theories about Towns’ girlfriend cheating on him with Butler. There was a trend, and that trend was the perception of Butler as a destabilizer.

Minnesota was losing and looking like the NBA version of “Melrose Place”, but in reality all the personal stuff was secondary to what Butler saw as a lack of toughness and will to overcome in Towns and Wiggins.

It all erupted during a practice session that saw Butler play for the backups and decimate the Timberwolves’ starters, calling Towns “soft”. There was no coming back from calling out the franchise’s #1 draft pick, so the team took sides and chose Towns while trading Butler to the Philadelphia 76ers.

Butler was rubbing people the wrong way as a basketball nomad, a troublemaker and disruptor. He even was being labeled as a dreaded “locker room cancer” by the national talking heads.

In reality, Butler didn’t really want to go to Philly. He already had his sights set in South Florida even if the insiders thought otherwise.

Once in Philadelphia, he took that team to another level and found a kindred spirit in Joel Embiid. In fact, he played just as well as Kawhi Leonard during the Sixers-Raptors series that Toronto won in seven games thanks to Kawhi’s miracle shot.

In fact, he could have been the Game 7 hero after tying the game with a layup in the final seconds, but it was just another heartbreak for Jimmy.

Bur he held no grudges, and he kept going, reiterating his desire to play in Miami once again after that season was over. The problem was that Miami had no cap space, or so everybody thought.

Pat Riley pulled off his magic in a sign-and-trade that shipped a malcontent Hassan Whiteside to Portland and guard Josh Richardson to Philadelphia.

So now he is ready to finish what he started and being homeless no more. Butler found his basketball home in Miami, and his family with the Heat. His philosophy has rubbed off on his teammates, there is no softness in the red and white.

With allies like that, Butler believes nothing is impossible. Not after garnering his third career All-Star nod and leading the Heat to a 41-24 record this year. More than anything, he finally feels right at home.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

UFC 251: Short Notice Mega Fight

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Where to watch: Saturday, July 11, 2020, FIGHT ISLAND, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, Available on ESPN+ PPV.

On the face of it, Kamaru Usman defending his Welterweight title versus streaking (6 fight win streak) Brazilian Gilbert Burns was big enough. A positive Covid 19 test later, UFC chief Dana White was left with a defending champion and no main event. In comes fan favorite, Jorge Masvidal to save the day and keep the “mega fight” title on this most impressive of cards in the “Covid Era”.

You can be cynical, and say, this is too cute by half. Jorge Masvidal made a huge stink about fighter share (revenue), and caused a controversy by going on every show on the UFC’s main partner (ESPN) to complain about how the PPV revenue is divided up, while also threatening to ask for his release. Masvidal made a simple but very good case. Jorge Masvidal took issue with the PPV share because as he put it: “I could understand you don’t want to give me that much on the guaranteed (money). But on the pay-per-view, what I bring in, what people purchase, I want more money on that – and they weren’t budging, and that was that. So all this craziness had to happen for them to come to their senses.” (ESPN) So as it stands, he takes the dangerous but lucrative fight on short notice, so all must be well between Jorge and Dana, or as good as it can be.

Now, Jorge Masvidal gets short notice to fight Usman, and he gets it while reportedly 22 pounds “overweight”, and when in route from Dallas, Fort Worth to his home in Miami. A private plane trip later to “Fight Island”, a photo op with a pizza slice, while wearing a pink robe, and Masvidal has arrived. After testing negative for Covid 19 he is purportedly well on his way to making weight for this championship fight.

So can he actually…win? Short answer: YES.

First of all, short notice upsets are not new to the UFC. One of the biggest fights in UFC history (PPV Buys) featured a short notice Nate Diaz stepping in for Rafael Dos Anjos to defeat UFC golden boy Conor McGregor, and of course you had Michael Bisping defeating Luke Rockhold for the middleweight title after waiting for nearly a decade for a title shot. Bisping accomplished that feat after being defeated with relative ease merely 18 months earlier by the same Luke Rockhold.

 

So how does he win? Avoid takedowns. Jorge Masvidal’s takedown defense is as good as anybody’s in any division in the UFC. The very strong Usman can also be baited into trading, as was seen in his epic fight with Colby Covington where he did not even have a takedown attempt through the entire 5 rounds (He ended it by stoppage in the final minute of the fight). Trading punches with Masvidal has proven to be a poor strategy. As for the “hype”, these two have history. During Super Bowl week here in Miami, Usman and Masvidal engaged in a screaming match, near a bank of elevators, as they challenged each other to a fight.

As for how Kamaru Usman wins? Easier said than done, but it can be easy if he can accomplish one thing. Get takedowns on Masvidal. Usman is the superior wrestler/grappler and he can rain punishment on Masvidal if he can pull this off. So it’s the striker/grappler matchup once again, and it could be as easy as who gets to “their fight” first. One thing is a fact. Neither guy can win at the other’s game.

Prediction: Kamaru Usman (-260) wins by Decision over underdog Jorge Masvidal(+200).

As for the rest of the card, it’s a great one headlined by Alexander Volkanovski (-220) vs. Max Holloway (+180) (Part 2), for the UFC Featherweight Championship, and Petr Yan (-230) vs. Jose Aldo (+190) for the vacant UFC Bantamweight Championship.

All UFC 251 odds cited are via William Hill US.

 

Alfredo Arteaga (@Alf_Arteaga) is one-third of the trio that does the Three Yards Per Carry (@3YardsPerCarry) podcast.

E-5: A look at Tua Tagovailoa’s ratings in Madden 21

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EA released Tua Tagovailoa’s Madden rating, and fans should be excited.

Last weekend, some lucky fans were able to play the Madden 21 beta, myself included. And while we were unable to use the Miami Dolphins and quarterback Tua Tagovailoa, there was still a lot to like about the beta. But the real question Dolphins’ fans wanted to be answered, is what would their new franchise QB’s Madden 21 rating be.

Well, now we know.

A short time ago, EA released most of the rookie QB’s ratings, and to the surprise of many, Tua’s were good.

Of course, they make golden boy Joe Burrow the highest-rated QB of the group with a 76-overall. But The Left Arm of God was the second-highest rated player at his position, clocking in with a 73-overall rating. Some might wonder if Tua would’ve been the #1 overall pick in this year’s draft and if he would be sitting atop this group if he never suffered that season-ending injury.

He may not have have been the top-rated rookie QB, but his attributes were a thing of beauty.

Tua Tagovailoa’s Madden 21 Ratings


Awareness: 76
Throw power: 88
Short accuracy: 86
Medium accuracy: 80
Deep accuracy: 84
Injury: 84

Other noticeable rookies include fan-favorite Justin Herbert (70), Jordan Love (71), and Jalen Hurts (68).

I’m not surprised it’s July 9th, and I’m getting hot and bothered by this year’s Madden. It’s what I’ve done every year since I broke out of my mother’s womb. And like every year, this will be a glorified roster update that I play for a few days and get tired of. Until they do #FixMaddenFranchise, there’s going to be a lot of disappointed fans of EA and their company. Myself included. But for now, rookies are the only reason some of us buy the game every year.

So, while we now know what Tua’s ratings will look like, we still have ten other rookies to wait on, and that’s not including UDFAs.

One thing we need to remember is if Miami’s QB plays like many of us hope, his ratings will get a much-needed update.

The question now is simple. Will you buy Madden 21 to play with Tua? Or update your most recent copy of Madden and wait for Next-Gen.

Like a sucker, I’ll be buying Madden 21. And Tuanigamanuolepola Tagovailoa is to blame.

E-5: Madden developers promise needed change to franchise mode

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Welcome to the debut of E:5, the new multi-media ESports platform on the Five Reasons Sports Network….

*****

 

Will EA make necessary changes to franchise mode in Madden 21? Or will fans have to wait another year?

Over the last several days, Madden 21 has been trending and not in a good way.

In EA’s latest update to their gridiron notes series, the Madden 21 developer team released what gamers can expect from Face of the Franchise and ‘classic franchise mode’. And while FOF received several updates and the addition of several celebrities, franchise mode did not.

Which led the gaming community to drop the #fixmaddenfranchise hashtag.

After all, EA has said for years they were going to listen to the fans and help make franchise mode great again. But like many promises, this one remained hollow at the core. Here’s a look at the minimal updates EA has made to Madden 21’s franchise mode.

  • The new X-Factors make their way into Franchise. More details on X-Factors in Madden NFL 21 coming soon!
  • Franchise has an expanded Wild Card Playoff round to match the real-life NFL which now features 3 games for each conference instead of 2.
  • Updated all rookie contract amounts to be more authentic to the actual Draft rookie contracts for all 7 rounds
  • Retuned every position’s available Abilities to better consider in-game effectiveness of the ability and archetype authenticity. Also made the 2nd ability unlock for most positions 85 OVR (was 80 OVR in Madden NFL 20.)
  • Fixed multiple cases in logic of players considered for a Dev Trait upgrade at the end of the season not checking the correct stat types.
  • Updates to all team back-end depth chart philosophies so they match the team’s scheme.
  • Added position-specific Offensive Lineman archetype progression buckets for OT, OG, and C to capture variance in OVR formulas based on positional expectations. Previously, all OL were pulling from the same progression bucket.
  • Fixed issue where defensive playbooks and schemes for our fictional coaches would be misaligned (e.g. 3-4 playbook with a 4-3 scheme.)

Once the #fixmaddenfranchise started to trend globally, EA had no choice but to do damage control. This was the statement released by executive producer Seann Graddy:

Like with anything, all anyone wants to see is change. And with Madden 21 set to release on August 28th, I find it extremely unlikely that fans will get the type of changes they desire. But that doesn’t mean short-term fixes can’t be added with patch updates and other means. What seems most likely, however, is that diehard fans of franchise mode won’t see real change until the next generation of gaming. And even then, with EA starting–for lack of a better word from scratch–the changes fans really want probably won’t be implemented until Madden 22 and beyond.

But in less than a week, the Madden gaming community made their voices heard. We waited nearly a decade for franchise mode to be great again. I guess one more year won’t hurt.

Want to see Dolphins’ QB Tua Tagovailoa in Madden 21? 

 

As Five Reasons Sports continues to make its mark on the E-Sports industry. I will bring you the latest news and notes on Madden and other sports video games.

Follow me on twitter (@houtz)

 

Cancel Culture: Abandon This NBA Season

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Just cancel the season now.

 

I’m referring to the NBA but really you can apply this to just about every sport or at least all team sports out there. I’m even saying to cancel the season for the American Cornhole League, even though my appetite for the unnecessarily weird and stupidly irrelevant will not be sated.

 

More players are testing positive for COVID. More players are opting out of participating due to concerns about COVID. A major player (Damian Lillard) has been vocal with his concerns with regards to all players following the very rules meant to keep them safe and from spreading COVID while quarantined in the NBA bubble.

 

I get that the league and the teams will lose a ton of dollars. I get the direct and indirect economic impact that the NBA has. But the reverse of that is the league spending millions of dollars ($150M according to Brian Windhorst) to create an environment that will allow players to play and for the season to continue. Then there’s all the choreography behind the scenes to keep everyone distanced, fed, and entertained. I understand that as a result the league is more than likely going to have a greater return than any amount that they invested in by getting this season started back up. But at what human cost?

 

I may be in the minority, but to me there are some things that are just more important. Can the money being spent to restart the season be redirected to other worthy causes instead? There’s the cancer thing, the AIDS thing, the affordable healthcare thing…all sorts of worthy things would benefit.

 

Using this restart as a platform to call attention to the Black Lives Matter movement is an admirable one. But many of these athletes are of a high profile. They don’t need a court emblazoned with “Black Lives Matter” to help keep the cause going. And as much as it would’ve been cool to see, they don’t need jerseys that allow them to have messages supporting these causes in order to actually advance said causes. These players have a platform. They have access to channels to keep the movement going and, if they so choose, even have the means to create a platform or channel to keep the movement going.

 

PS, order your Light Skinned Opinions BLM shirt, the proceeds of which go to the Know Your Rights Camp.

 

And by the way, this is being held in Orlando which is in a state that has shown one of if not the greatest increases in COVID cases in the last week. I guess in the standings and win/loss columns, we are winning. The NBA is driving towards and not away from the fire that Gov. DeSantis has stoked. This is a governor whose own stubbornness and ineptitude is rivaled only by the stubbornness and ineptitude of the governors whose own states are leading in infection rates.

 

But back to sports.

 

It’s an odd circumstance. Let’s face it, there will be a debate as to whether there should be an asterisk next to this championship if the season even continues. Hell, Phil Jackson might even wander in from the plains of Montana to find dial-up internet just to give his gravelly-voiced opinion. Does anyone remember his thoughts on the first of many San Antonio Spurs championships? It came during a shortened season. His Phil-ness felt it tainted because: 1. it was shortened and 2. Michael Jordan had retired and he wasn’t coaching. Probably he thinks it’s mostly because he wasn’t coaching.

 

Regardless, there will be endless debates simply because the circumstances are so unprecedented. Unlike the 1999 or 2012 shortened seasons that at least went from commencement to conclusion without pause, this stoppage can be argued that the interruption came at the benefit to some and a detriment to others. Some teams needed the break to rest up players and heal their Joel Embiids. Other teams were rolling and now have to get that momentum back as they incorporate their JR Smiths. Still, there is the terrible reality that players are testing positive while others are simply opting out. These aren’t end-of-bench guys either. DeAndre Jordan, Avery Bradley, Davis Bertans, Trevor Ariza and others. With a variety of teams affected, can it be argued that the best team actually won? Sure. Can the counter be that those players would’ve had a negligible impact on winning even if they participated? Sure. And so I offer you Michael Beasley and Mario Chalmers to fill out your bench.

 

There will certainly be endless debates based on “What ifs” should a champion be crowned. But that’s much of what spirited debates are centered on, right? What if the Dolphins had a running game? What if Jamal Mashburn didn’t pass off to Clarence Weatherspoon? What if the ref didn’t make a ridiculous pass interference call against UM in the 2003 Fiesta Bowl? What if Hillary didn’t take Wisconsin, Michigan, and Pennsylvania for granted?

 

I am not anti-sports, as if you need proof of this as you read this piece on a sports site. And truthfully I will watch if the games are played. I understand there could be a certain hypocrisy to this. But when stacked against other hypocrisies such as social injustice and economic inequality…I’ll comfortably ride or die with mine.

 

But, for a hot second, dismiss the aspect of needing sports as a distraction. Is this really a time when we need a diversion considering all that is going on? Can we not instead refocus on bettering ourselves as human beings or at least as valuable members advancing society? I’m of the science believing camp that takes this pandemic seriously. Personally, I have family who are elderly and who have underlying conditions. I’m all in no matter what any Karen screams about. Rightly or wrongly, I put a greater degree of emphasis and importance on human capital instead of capital capital. It’s why I feel the NBA should cancel the season.

 

It sucks. I know. My favorite teams have such unbelievable stories and actually matter. Jimmy. Tyler. Tua! I am rooting for them no matter what because I am a diehard fan. Want proof? I actually once said out loud, “Tyler Thigpen? Yeah I can root for this team if he’s the starter.”

 

Ultimately I believe that team sports will return. But folks we probably just don’t need it right now. Teams need to (and perhaps they have planned for this) see that the expected monetary gain could be nothing compared to the prospective integrity loss should the pandemic strike someone who is—let’s say—a very recognizable and significant piece to the overall NBA machine. It shouldn’t get to that point. In one of the rarest if not only appropriate uses of this, “All lives matter” when it comes to caring for the superstar to the end of bench fill-in.

 

Though it’s not likely, I hope the league does the right thing. I hope teams do the right thing. But at this moment, the only team I’m rooting for is Team Fauci.

 

One last thing: Wear a mask.

 

Five X-Factors for the Miami Heat’s Playoff Run

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Merriam-Webster defines an X-Factor as a circumstance, quality, or person that has a strong but unpredictable influence.

You can also tack this definition on to the Miami Heat because they epitomize the essence of the X-Factor.

Their presence in the Eastern Conference is strong and unpredictable. Before the NBA suspended play in March, Miami held the fourth-best record in the conference at 41-24. Currently, they are within striking distance of the Boston Celtics for the third seed.

Given the circumstances and conditions of the reboot, there is no reason why the Heat can’t come out of nowhere and shock the league. If the Heat goes on a run during the reboot and carry that same momentum in the playoffs, look for these five X-Factors.

 

ANDRE IGUODALA

 

The Heat didn’t acquire SF Andre Iguodala for the regular season. They acquired him for the playoffs, and betting on him being a huge X-Factor in their success.  His value on defense is priceless. He is a versatile wing that can guard multiple positions. Don’t be surprised to see him paired with Bam Adebayo in certain lineups and situations. A duo of Iguodala and Adebayo switching on opposing offenses, locking down the perimeter and protecting the paint would be scary for the opposition.

Iguodala will also fit seamlessly with what coach Spo wants to do . The six years in the Bay setting the table for  Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson will serve him well in the second X-Factor to watch.

 

USE OF THE DRIBBLE HANDOFF

 

Miami leads the NBA in dribble handoff efficiency (1.06 points per possession) and frequency (8.8 percent over 9.6 possessions).  The Heat’s MO for the DHO can be found in transition and in the early stages of their offensive sets. In this situation, they look for the high percentage shot. Preferably, whoever shooting and knocking down efficient threes.

Pay attention when the Heat snags a rebound, and throw an outlet pass up court. Passing it up court creates space therefore making the DHO tougher to defend. Why? because a quickened pace makes it tough for the defense to set.

Watch Adebayo specifically in these situations. Let’s say Jimmy Butler comes up with the rebound and Adebayo sprints up the court to receive the pass. Adebayo catches it and go right into the DHO with a well-timed pass and a backscreen. Opposing defenses will struggle here because the defense has to decide what to give up. A three or the paint.  The third X-Factor should be feasting out there with the different ways the Heat will use the DHO.

 

DUNCAN ROBINSON

 

Robinson is shooting 44 percent from three, ranking fourth in the league in three-point percentage.  He takes 89 percent of his shots from behind the arch and have been assisted on 94 percent of his baskets. Robison is a classic spot up shooter that will be very effective in the offence. Remember the Heat’s proclivity to constantly DHO? Well, Robinson and his shooting is a big reason why.

Robinson leads the league with 3.2 points per game scored off of the DHO.  Obviously, the Heat taking advantage of that will be a given.

 

BAM ADEBAYO

 

Granted, Adebayo is one of the Heat’s main guys and in his first full season as a starter, he averaged 16 points and 11 rebounds per game.  He was in the midst of a breakout season until the COVID pandemic hit. What’s worth noticing about Adebayo and his development is whether or not he added something in his repertoire over the hiatus.  Imagine him returning with an improved mid range jumper and better handles?  Defenses will have to respect that jump shot and pick and rolls will be a lot more interesting.

 

GORAN DRAGIC

 

Coming off of a surgically repaired right knee this season, Goran Dragic was productive averaging 16 points and shooting a respectable 44 percent from the field, and 38 percent from the arc. In the reboot, Dragic will be a solid scoring option off the bench. What’s worth watching is how would his knee respond to the pressure and stress of playing eight games plus the playoffs in the bubble.  The shutdown may have allowed Dragic’s knees  to get some much needed rest, but the concern of re-aggravation  is valid.

 

Coronavirus and Sports: Becoming Numb

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I was going to write about Inter Miami, I really was. Maybe it would have been an upbeat preview about the “MLS Is Back” schedule reveal (Breakfast with Inter Miami vs. Chicago Fire at 9 a.m. on July 14, can you dig it?) or a more serious, ominous look at the league and its protocols as we are only 2 weeks away from the start of the first tournament in the United States after the pandemic.

But then I thought “AFTER the pandemic? We are barely during the pandemic, much less past it” and I discovered I’m sort of…detached? Nah, that’s not the word. I still follow the American sports landscape and want sports to be back. Shocked? That’s not it either, nothing that has happened the past three months has surprised me even a little, and that’s saying something. Numb? Yes, that’s it. I’m numb to the developments in the sports world nowadays, and I’m pretty sure other fans, writers and even players feel similarly.

I’m numb because I saw the news about 16 NBA players (the equivalent of an entire team’s roster, plus one) testing positive for COVID-19 and my reaction isn’t “Oh my, what if they backtrack and the season is cancelled?” It’s more like “I’m fine with whatever happens, I’m just waiting to see everyone freak out when a true superstar tests positive and [insert team here] has to play an entire series without him.”

I’m numb because “43 Division I teams have been eliminated in the last 12 weeks, and more than 130 programs have been cut across all NCAA levels”, and those kids weren’t earning millions of dollars, even as some of their coaches were and certainly their athletic departments are.

LOOKING FOR A SOLUTION

New Zealand is past the pandemic with tens of thousands gathering with joy to watch a rugby match most of them probably don’t remember the final score of. Europe is crowning champions as its cases are mostly going down (hello, Sweden, we see you) and fans celebrate the end of droughts in Liverpool and Naples as the ball keeps rolling with no apparent setbacks week after week.

Liverpool fans celebrate outside Anfield.

Even South America has soccer, but that’s because they don’t really give a shit in Brazil and they are bent on living like there is literally no tomorrow and they had the most new daily cases in the world on Thursday, June 25. Seems healthy.

Meanwhile, the United States of America is looking at itself in the mirror and wonders how it all went so wrong, so quickly after three months of sacrifices that were supposed to pave the way for sports to come back swiftly and smoothly.

We are Rachel and the Coronavirus is Ross asking: “OVER you? When were you UNDER me?” while we beat ourselves up wondering what went wrong and the President compares a deadly virus to the sniffles.

I’m numb because baseball is about to be back for a lightning round of games that promise to be exciting. Why am I not excited? I should be, with every game being three times as important and the potential of a repeat of that frantic 2011 finish of the regular season that gave every baseball fan a collective heart attack.

My heart rate is nowhere near skyrocketing, though. Some experts don’t even think the season will be able to finish.

I should be pumped to witness the start of the Tua era in Miami, but then I see that the Hall of Fame game between the Cowboys and the Steelers was cancelled and I’m bracing for what August and September might bring.

I’m even numb to the added crowd noise and the “virtual fans” we see at European soccer games. It’s background noise.

Maybe you read this and thought I spent 700 words being dramatic, and that’s ok. Maybe you will feel numb or jaded until 2021, and that’s ok too. Maybe this is just temporary, and everything feels a little alien after 100+ days of uncertainty and I will be all pumped up again in a couple of weeks when sports feel “real” again.

I will be waiting for that moment to come.

The Miami Heat Town Hall on Race: Observations

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June 19, 2020 wasn’t just another commemorative celebration of the emancipation of the last Confederate slaves in the United States.

This particular Juneteenth hits a little bit differently than the ones in previous years. Jubilant remembrance and observance gave way to passionate and in-depth conversations about systemic racism in this country.  Helping lead the way in such discussions was the Miami Heat , as they hosted a virtual town  hall meeting.

“In many ways, this town hall is like our virtual team peaceful protest and we are protesting against systemic racism. Against the social injustices and inequalities , and the cases of police brutality against the Black community that we see far too often,”  says Heat coach Erik Spoelstra. “ We’re fed up with it, just like everyone else and we want to see change.”

 

 

 Here are some takeaways for the hour-long candid event……

 

INTERRUPTING THE PATTERN OF HATE BEGINS AT HOME

 

When asked to share his most memorable brush with racism, All-Star guard Jimmy Butler recalled a moment when he was 16 years old. Butler and his brother was walking out of a Walmart  when a man and a boy who appeared to be no older than six saw the two and the boy said to his father ‘those are the n-words’ you were talking about.

Butler’s moment was another example of racism being taught.

“The kid didn’t know any better,” Butler said, “The first thing that popped into my head is that you (the father) taught him that. There are things that you teach kids, and you choose to teach your kid how to hate.”

 

 

 

ACKNOWLEDGING WHITE PRIVILEGE 

 

    Meyers Leonard admitted that sometimes he feels uneasy as a non-Black player in the current climate of this country and how he sees his teammates treated. Leonard says that while he was raised to love all people and to differientate between right and wrong, he admits that he can’t fully relate to what his teammates are going through because of his race.

“It’s hard to understand because I’m white. I have white privilege. That is a fact. It doesn’t matter if  I grew up with nothing. I still have white privilege,” he said.

Leonard recalled an incident where despite being aware of his privilege as a White man, he didn’t use it in a way that he should have to defend and support a teammate.

“There’s been times when I was in Portland (as a member of the Blazers) , let’s just say a teammate came in and says I  got pulled over for no reason.  So I ask him about it like ‘what happened’ (He says) So I got pulled over for doing 36 mph in a 35 mph zone basically because he was a black man in a black neighborhood driving a nice car. They asked him where he was going and what he was doing. I didn’t say anything that day. ”  Leonard recalled.

During the next practice, Leonard apologized to the teammate. Whishing what he knew what to say but didn’t.  The lesson that Leonard took from that experience was to listen more to his teammates when they talk about incidents with police and other microaggressions.

 

EDUCATION

 

One huge example of systemic racism can be found in the education. The moderator mentioned how Blacks have to work twice a hard to get as much as other culture, and asked what could be done as a society to give equality in the education system. Solomon Hill believes that it starts by making the request known.

“I think the start is demanding opportunities at the local levels,” Hill says, “When you’re in sports, there are certain high schools that you go to. You go to that high schools because they give you the best possibility  to get a scholarship and to go up against the best talent. Everyone with a little money in their pocket want to send their kids to the best school”

Hill continues to say that sometimes those schools aren’t local. He cites underfunding as an obstacle, and how they create restrictions.

“If you can’t give them a great education, then what possibilities do they have to be lawyers and doctors?”  Hill asked.

ACCOUNTABILITY

 

    In Leonard’s first segment, he stressed holding officers, teachers, and people in power accountable for their actions. As the forum closed, Leonard also stressed holding White peers accountable.

“It starts with holding  your friend or your peer that maybe is white or whatever, accountable. If they do something wrong or don’t see it the way it really is. The reality is that you need to tell them. “

Leonard says that not even loved ones should be immune.

“Even if it’s a family member, put their asses in check.”

 

Jannelle (TJ) Moore has written for SB Nation, Complex Sports and several other outlets. 

Da 5 Bloods Is The Right Film For Our Times

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Dropped on Netflix this weekend while Black Lives Matter protests still rage throughout major American cities every day, Spike Lee’s Da 5 Bloods is the right movie for our times. If his previous flick, BlacKkKlansman, was a pin-prick commentary on how American politics has shaped systemic racism in this country, Da 5 Bloods is a sledgehammer to the face. It’s a movie that is all at once a heist film, a war film, a drama about unbreakable bonds, about friendships, about fathers, sons, and daughters, racial strife, a history lesson, and an action flick all rolled into one. It pulls you right into the issue at hand and viciously reminds its viewers that America has always held black lives cheaply.

What Was Good About It?

The good begins and ends with Delroy Lindo, one of American cinema’s most underrated actors of the last thirty years. Lindo, who plays Vietnam vet Paul, is a force of nature in Da 5 Bloods — all rage and melancholy and turmoil bubbling beneath the surface. In the hands of a lesser actor, Paul becomes a cliché lost in a sea of overacting, but Lindo nails the part with just the right touch of sardonic wit and undaunted fury. Paul is the most complex of the four surviving men — he’s a character torn from the pages of William Shakespear’s more abstruse tragedies. Here’s an African American war veteran who got back home from three tours of duty in Vietnam only to deal with the very Americans he fought and bled for spitting at him and calling him a baby killer (among other things). Here’s a warrior that gets so lost in his own unrewarded righteousness, he goes full MAGA in his old age. He hates immigrants and pines for Trump’s border wall, he admits to his shocked buddies that he voted for Trump, and he proudly dons a red Make America Great Again hat. He’s volatile and short-tempered, he struggles to be a good father, he admits to often seeing the ghost of their fallen Blood, Norman (played by Chadwick Boseman in a series of flashbacks). Lindo’s performance of a veteran dealing with the nightmare that is PTSD is the stuff of Academy Awards lore and if he doesn’t win the Oscar for Best Actor, then the Academy can get fucked. Seriously.

The film’s plot is complex, but it ultimately delivers. Four vets reunite in modern day Vietnam for two reasons: to bring back a case of gold bars they stumbled upon and then buried during the war, and to bring back the remains of their fallen brother — the charismatic leader of their outfit, “Stormin’” Norman. The story then breaks into a series of subplots with the two central characters, Paul (Lindo), and Otis (Clarke Peters). Both men have their own issues and crosses to bear, yet both deal with them in very different ways.

Da Brotherhood. Chemistry is not an issue with the four men. Right away you feel the love they have for each other, even after living lives apart. They bicker like siblings and hold each other up like brothers. It takes great acting to pull off chemistry like this.

Marvin Gaye. If you watch this movie for one reason, it’s to hear Marvin Gaye’s isolated vocals on What’s Going On that plays during the last act of the film.

Spike Lee’s joint. Lee’s fingerprints are all over Da 5 Bloods from the very beginning. His direction, as always, is a mixture of controlled chaos mixed with a great score, and a penchant for throwing in nuggets of the untold versions of white-washed black history. The film opens with footage of Muhammad Ali giving his reasons for why he was a conscientious objector and refused to go fight in Vietnam, making it clear that the Vietnamese people never called him the N-word, or treated him as he’s treated at home in America — and closes with footage of Martin Luther King Jr. giving a speech a year to the day he was assassinated.

The first two minutes of the film is a montage of moments throughout history that echo current events. Yet this film was finished way before the latest protests and unrest spilled into our streets. This isn’t so much Spike Lee being ahead of the times. This is Spike Lee being Spike Lee. Since he hit the scene in 1989, Spike Lee has been shouting through a proverbial bullhorn at moviegoers that black people have been systematically mistreated since the birth of this nation, and it seems that people might finally get it with Da 5 Bloods being released in the midst of ongoing nationwide protests.

The film is peppered with all of Spike Lee’s touches: the overwhelming symphonic soundtrack, the nods to movies that inspired him (in this case, there’s a lot of Apocalypse Now and a little bit of The Wild Bunch, among others), the exaggerated zoom in on faces, the dramatic soliloquies, the historical references, the off-kilter staging of scenes, the Spike Lee Segway (one of his weirdest signature moves, yet one of my favorites).

As it goes with Spike’s movies, Da 5 Bloods’ plot is riddled with questions of morality, mixed with outright criticism of American racism. Here is a group of African American war veterans who found and buried a cache of gold the American government had originally promised to the Vietnam people as payment for their suffering. Yet both African Americans soldiers and South Vietnamese were mistreated by white American soldiers during the war. As Paul reminds the men, they were called the N-word, while the South Vietnamese were called Yellow N-Words by American GIs. Both are in the same racist stew, both deserve reparations. What to do?

What Was Not So Good About It?

Da 5 Bloods is probably a good 45 minutes too long, and so the third act suffers from too much unravelling. While the first 90 minutes of the movie is filled with great set-up and drama, the final parts of it seem uneven and a tad all over the place. Paul’s story, in particular, is so riveting and painful, the way his character arc closes is a little frustrating.

CGI Blood. Da 5 Bloods is a war film with a lot of shooting and a lot of people getting shot. It’s a bloody mess, as a war film should be. But, the blood that spurts from every victim is clearly CGI’d, giving the battle scene a weird video game feel. It takes away from the otherwise authentic war scenes. It’s super distracting and unnecessary. Are blood packets and squibs really that expensive?

Non-CGI War scenes. While the blood spurts should have been more organic and less computerized, the flashback scenes with Da 5 in combat in the 60s could have benefitted from a little The Irishman-esque CGI on the older actors playing their younger selves. Instead, Spike chose to shoot these scenes with the older actors as they are today, rather than as young men fighting alongside a clearly much younger and spry Chadwick Boseman. At the very least, maybe they should have cast young actors to play those parts?

Not Enough Chadwick. Chadwick Boseman is such a dynamic actor and charismatic screen presence, that you’re left wanting when it comes to his character, Stormin’ Norman. Boseman was perfectly cast to play the part of a man who left such an impression in his brothers, they basically deify the man. Norman’s myth looms so large in the four men’s minds over the years, he dominates their lives and conversations. This is partly because Norman was a badass on the field of combat, and partly because he was a charismatic leader who taught them about the Imperialism of America. He’s a towering figure in every aspect of their lives even after so many years of having been killed in combat. The film needed more scenes of Norman showing why the men revered him so much.

Death Scenes. Without giving too much away, there are death scenes in this movie (it’s a war film), but some of the decisions felt, let’s say gratuitous.

All in all, Da 5 Bloods is an impactful and important film, filled with amazing performances, drama, and strange plot twists, all while delivering stark commentary on the plight of the American black man.

It’s the right movie for our times. And it’s time that Spike Lee gets fully recognized as the most brutally honest story-teller and filmmaker of our day.

Chris Joseph (@ByChrisJoseph) is a host of the Five Reasons comedy podcast, Ballscast. He’s written about sports and movies for Deadspin, Miami New Times, CBS Sports, and several other outlets.

Self Or Selflessness

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Kyrie Irving got me thinking.

Sports has always been a place of comfort to me. It’s what I run to when times are tough. It’s where I go to when I am stressed. I’ve cried for it. It’s a place to hide from the reality of the world. Which I thought was always a good thing.

Until I realized it wasn’t.

2020 has been a year of awakening. The internal struggle of self or selflessness. It started with the pandemic. When the world stopped. All the attention went to the virus and how we would react to it.

In my mind, it was simple.

Be selfless and protect everyone. We’re all vulnerable. Wear a mask. Keep your distance.

But from the start, the selfishness came in.

People calling the pandemic a hoax. People taking the “If it’s not happening to me, I don’t care,” approach. 

Privileged and selfish people stormed the government in Michigan to protest a “stay at home order.”

Millions of people around the world were getting sick. Dying. 

A full lack of cares to give from our government, forced us back to work. A survival of the fittest.

Then another act of police brutality happened, resulting in the tragic murder of George Floyd.

People inspiredly stormed the streets supporting the biggest fight this country has: the age long fight of black liberation.

This generation’s civil right’s movement is in full force.

For the first time ever, people are listening. The smallest of changes are starting to happen. This is arguably the most important time in our country’s history.

During all this time, I did think sports could come back and be a comfort, but it shouldn’t. We can’t hide behind sports for the time being. We need to keep the fight. There’s high profiled athletes of all races who have a bigger purpose right now.

The NBA forcing players inside a bubble in Orlando during a global pandemic and a civil rights movement, just doesn’t seem like the best idea.

We can’t just force them to entertain us so we can go back to the reality of racism and police brutality. The ignoring of the systemic racism this country has been founded upon. Enough is enough.

And yes, there is the other side. Players can use their platforms to speak on a big stage, which I hope happens.

However I, and hopefully for all of us, have to realize that we can’t hide behind the comfort level sports gives us. We can’t achieve the goal of what people who are risking their lives protesting for without being uncomfortable.

I would love to be covering my first ever NHL playoffs as a credentialed media member, but at this moment it’s not in the front of my mind right now.

To all my fellow white media members, listen to Kyrie Irving. He’s making a lot of good points.

Black Lives Matter.