Kelvin Sampson, Mega-Summit, and other things
2010-05-28-So, Kelvin Sampson. Let me preface all of my thoughts on Sampson by saying that I don’t really watch college basketball. Ideologically, I’ve never really liked the whole “the NCAA makes billions of dollars on athletes whom they refuse to pay anywhere near their market value and cries ‘see no evil’ any time a player or coach acts at all like NCAA sports are a business” thing. (I swear I thought this before I started attending USC.)
So anyways, the point is that I don’t care what Sampson did or didn’t do with his conference calls or whatever it was when he was at Indiana. When he’s coaching the big boys, that stuff won’t matter in the slightest. On the other hand, I don’t really know his body of work as a head coach. I like that he’s been tutored by the Spurs and served as an assistant with the Bucks, both of whom have solid on-court systems. My gut reaction to Sampson is that the Cavs could do worse, but they could also do a lot better.
-In better news, William Wesley may be manipulating Tom Thibodeau’s decision! Seriously, I’m excited about this. I am a huge, huge, huge Thibodeau backer. Look at what he did/has done to the Cavs and Magic’s offensive game-plans. (Although the Magic do finally seem to be adjusting a bit.) For the past decade, he’s been the assistant coach on a team with a top-five defense. How many coaches, in any sport, have that kind of track record? The man is the Leo Mazzone of basketball.
I know his profile — defensive whiz, successful assistant on a championship team, et cetera — makes him seem like Mike Brown 2.0, but he’s been doing this a lot longer and a lot better than Brown had been when the Cavs hired him. LeBron + another big FA + a Thibodeau defense = scary.
-So, the LeBron/Wade/Joe Johnson mega-summit. Your thoughts? Personally, I think they were all probably arguing about which of them will get to play with Chris Bosh next season.
-Yes, part of me is a bit frustrated that Kobe is now 0-2 in game-winners in the playoffs and 2-2 in having his teammates bail him out. That said, this one wasn’t nearly as tough as the Thunder one to watch. First, it would have been a miracle comeback for the Suns. Second, the Lakers were going to win in overtime anyways. Third, Kobe played well enough to deserve that win. I am at peace. I’m not sure if that means I’m dead inside or not, is the thing.
-Derek Fisher is of the occult.
-Question for readers: would you prefer the Magic or Celtics to win this series? One of these days I’ll figure out how to make polls, but until then have at it in the comments.
I share your passion for Sublime, they’re amazing. It’s not a terrible cover, but I don’t think it does the song justice. The singer of Badfish doesn’t do a bad job on some of their songs either
Sublime is my favorite band ever — I sort of assume people are familiar enough with their canon, maybe because I am, and I don’t like to throw their songs on random off-season posts. I found this cover interesting enough.
John, I loved this post, and I am a huge fan of your work. You articulate the thoughts of cavaliers fans better than anyone. However, if you’re going to use Sublime, don’t us this Rome guy, they absolutely murdered this song. Bradley uses emotion and passion in his voice, this guy is just a second tier replacement, please please please don’t disrespect Sublime by posting videos with this guy singing.
BTW, Rome Ramirez is maybe the best replacement vocalist ever. Dude is very close to Nowell in sound.
The Magic coming back from 3-0 and beating Boston would be sweet, especially on the heels of the Bruins pulling the ultimate 3-0 choke against the Flyers. Death to all New York, Boston, Chicago and L.A. teams. If that Magic come back and win the series, it will be another huge indictment of Mike Brown, LeBron and the rest of the organization. It will be like, “Look, Orlando was down 3-0, and they didn’t give up. They figured out how to beat Boston and they toughed it out. The Cavs folded when they were tied 2-2 and they never could… Read more »
With the Cavs out, I’m more interested in watching good basketball. So I’d rather see Lakers/Celtics Finals because that would be the most compelling, and not just because of their franchises’ histories. The two most recent champs, both with lots of talent and concerns of age and health, the bad blood, the rematch, and given some of the matchups I don’t think there’s a clear favorite. It has the makings of a great series.
Magic/Suns would actually be pretty interesting, too, but I don’t think that’s gonna happen.
Well, Tom, you realize Iguodala would have never worked under Mike Brown right? I mean, he basically a more athletic Larry Hughes. Bad jump shot, bad shot selection, and good defender. We will need a good offensive coach. I only mention Mike Brown because you felt he should have stayed, and I’m not sure how you think he would have incorporated a guy like Iguodala. Anyway, Kelvin Sampson would be a disaster hire. The guy had the lowest scoring teams all the time at Oklahoma. It would be Mike Brown nmber 2, only less of an ability to connect with… Read more »
Rich,
YES @ Igoudala! That’s what we need!
lebron is going to sign w/ the grizzlies.
Create a poll by going to Poll Daddy. That’s what I used to use for my blog.
http://polldaddy.com/
Man..the Eastern Conference is going to be a bear next year. Just put one big name FA on the Bulls..and look out. Send Bosh, or Stoudemire, or even Boozer to Miami with Wade and look out. Two teams who made the playoffs this year are going to be serious contenders next year with Orlando coming back wih the same basic team as well.
That’s a tough choice. The Magic are easy to dislike /c Dwight and Stan are such whiners, Vince is such a fraud, and the Orlando media is insufferable. Plus Dwight is become the modern-day Rick Mahorn with those elbows. I hate rooting for Boston, but I’ll do it tonight. On the other hand, if Boston blows the entire 3-0 lead and loses the series, I would find some satisfaction in that, too. Either way, I hope the West wins the Finals, even if it’s the Lakers: outside of Kobe, I actually think the Lakers’ players and coach are more likeable,… Read more »
As for the Super Powers pow-wow, I think Wade was just craving some attention. Not saying it’s not actually happening, but I think he misses seeing his name in the media for sports instead of legal troubles. While Lebron’s disappearing act has surprised me somewhat, I think he is clever enough to know that the quieter he stays, the more the media will talk about him…that reverse-psychologising genius. As for Joe-Joe, it really doesn’t matter what happens to him now or where he signs or for how much, just the fact that people now think that he is hanging out… Read more »
I’ve never bought into the whole “root for the team that knocked your team out ’cause it looks better if you lost to the champs” train of thought, but that’s mainly because being a Clevelander without a title, I don’t want to see the team that stopped us from getting that title to win that title (in other words, because I’m jealous and vindictive). That said, I CERTAINLY do not want the Magic to get that title before we get ours, so let’s go C’s. While I still think the Magic are a great team, Van Gundy is a great… Read more »
I just want an eastern conference team to win. And I think both of them can beat the Lakers.
I want Boston to win. Like what jim and jo said, if Boston beats Orlando, Bostons “surprise” upset won’t look so bad. Also I really want the Lakers to lose either to the Suns or the Magic/Boston, so that Jackson will be more inclined to take a job elsewhere, i.e. Cleveland.
My predictions are Bosh goes to Miami to join Wade and Joe Johnson heads to New York to join no one (maybe Boozer or Stoudemire..with the other heading to Chicago). Yes, I’m predicting that LeBron stays in Cleveland and possibly the cavs can manage to pull off a nice trade for someone like Millsap or Iguodala or something like that.
I want Boston to win, mostly because I hate Dwight “Atomic Elbows” Howard, but also because the Cavs losing the series wouldn’t look as bad. Also annoyed how Orlando always whines about how they don’t get enough respect from the national media.
its good sampson is back coaching, maybe the nba is a better fit for him, it will be intersesting to see if hes a long time assistant or ties to move in head coaching role soon http://www.venomsportstraining.com or so follow me on twitter@coachacieearl
About the LeBron/Wade/Johnson/Bosh summit, I’m guessing that they all just want to make damn sure that they don’t end up being the next Baron Davis in case they want to try and join each other somewhere. That, and it sounds like Wade wants to know if he can get guys to join him in Miami before deciding to leave for elsewhere.
I don’t want Kobe having another ring. In fact, I want the Lakers to get swept by Boston.
I wanted Boston to go 8-0 the rest of the playoffs after they beat the Cavs, mostly for the making Cavs look better reasons stated by jim and JO.
Also, I find myself hating Orlando more than Boston these days, though I’m not sure why. It might be partially Stan Gundy, probably partially Dwight Howard. Plus I’ve always been annoyed that they paid for two centers to back up Howard, and I’d like to see the VC experiment fail.
I want Boston. I even would want them to win the championship. If Boston wins it all it will first of all make the Cavs loss slightly less terrible. Second of all it will be nothing interesting in the league as it has happened 17 times already. Third they play great basketball and are a great team as much as it pains me to say that. Fourth I really don’t Vince Carter to have a ring while Lebron doesn’t.
I don’t like Boston or the Magic. However, if Boston wins the Cavs 2nd round loss doesn’t look so bad and maybe, just maybe, the national media begins to focus on the “choking” Magic instead of our Cavaliers.
I was at OU when Kelvin coached there, and let me tell you, he is a POOR-MAN’s Mike Brown. I remember being up on Texas by 8 points with about 15 minutes left in the game and Kelvin running the shot clock down on every possession and having Quannas White go 1-on-1 with TJ Ford at the end of the shot clock. That didn’t turn out well, but that remained his offensive philosophy his entire career. You definitely want no part of Kelvin Samsung.