Tapping The Keg Podcast Episode 96

We are dealing with some audio issues here at the SnoTap studios so I apologize for that one. Tapping The Keg podcast with the same old crew.  I recap my trip back to Eau Claire which is filled with some great stories in there including the greatest taxi driver ever.  We really only spend time on two topics so if you think about the podcast is split into about  15 minutes of baseball talk where we discuss the Milwaukee Brewers and the NL Central race then some All-Star Game talk.  The other 15 minutes features us talking about the Milwaukee Bucks Summer League struggles along with the possibility of Jerryd Bayless being a Buck and the ridiculous rumor about Milwaukee interested in J.R. Smith. Other NBA talk finishes us off with free agency talk including some laughable moments about Channing Frye.

Charlie.

Carmelo Anthony: The Unfair Bad Guy of the NBA

Carmelo Anthony is one of the more polarizing athletes in our generation. Anthony doesn't really scream polarizing though, right?  He isn't somebody whom gets into a ton of trouble or do anything which talks about his polarization. But it seems like a majority of the NBA community hates Melo. He seems like a bad guy. It has always been the case since he started with the Denver Nuggets. People were always highly critical of him which never really made any sense whatsoever. Hence everyone went up his ass about taking all sorts of money from New York without any promise of a championship. Anyone ever consider the fact Melo is trying to keep his family happy and believes in the new organization efforts? Or does the NBA community as a whole get blinded by this Melo hate?

The couple of reasons people hate Anthony is he is a me-first scorer and ran his way out of Denver in order to play for New York. These are two of the top things that turn people off from professional athletes. People don't want this from their athletes. They want to all be team players and be happy with whatever situation comes their way. Everyone wants robot athletes where they play the game the right way which is a complete bullshit thing we have spoke on before. Carmelo might be the things he gets criticized for on a frequent basis, but at the same time, he is one of the best players in the league bar none. There is no doubt in my mind Anthony could make all teams in the NBA better despite some of the selfish tendencies. 

There are some obvious problems with the Knicks, but can we at least say, there is a little more promise with this team than there was last season. They cleared out Raymond Felton and Tyson Chandler while adding younger guys like Shane Larkin along with some draft picks. Those draft picks netted Thanasis Antetokounmpo and Cleanthony Early is much better than what they had last season. All the sudden, New York has some young talent with a chance of one or two of them hitting versus trying to make it all happen with a bunch of veterans heading towards the twilight of their career. Sure, they still have Amar'e Stoudemire, but I am confident they will try very hard to move him before the season ends with his large expiring contract.

Carmelo stayed in New York because it paid him the most money plus he trusts Phil Jackson to bring the right players. They are going to have a chance at Kevin Love because Minnesota isn't trading him this summer at this point. It will be through trade, but they will have a chance. If they strike out on Love, Kevin Durant is probably going to be available in 2016 to at least explore the option and who knows if the Cleveland thing goes to shit, LeBron James could be out there as well. Anthony knows this isn't a spirit with the Knicks, it is a marathon with the talent pool out there in the coming years. It is reckless to think New York cannot become a contender during the time of Carmelo's contract.

Besides basketball, he took the deal with New York because his wife and kids love the city. He is married to LaLa Anthony whose been trying to get into the acting world and has a reality show. It is very easy to do all of those things in New York City. Carmelo knows he helps her out by staying here. Moreover, he helps the family out majorly by taking a contract where he will be paid 23.6 million dollars a year. Carmelo will have a great deal of money when he is done with his contract meaning he can chase a ring in five years when his kids are grown up and hopefully his wife is successful as an actress. A couple players have done it in the past and it worked out well for a few of them. 

Gary Payton, Karl Malone and Charles Barkley where all players whom didn't have a ring for most of their career. All three of them went to high profile teams at the time to get a ring. Payton went to Los Angeles and then Miami. The Lakers experiment didn't work out, but Miami netted him a championship ring. Malone and Barkley were less fortunate in their short stints with Los Angeles and Houston. Carmelo can do the exact same thing if New York doesn't work out for him in the next five years. Who knows the best team in the league at that point, but Melo can join with them adding a veteran to their bench.

The only way for the Carmelo criticism to stop is if he put up numbers like LeBron James where he contributes in assists, rebounds (He kind of did last season but whatever) and a better defensive player. That's a damn shame. People need to realize Anthony is his own man and his own NBA player.

Charlie. 

NBA Free Agency Frenzy Fun

Everyone thought there was a chance the NBA Free Agency season could be a little wild if things broke the right way. Some believed people were making too big of a deal of free agency, and everyone will be back with their teams from last season. Things are getting extremely hairy right now, and it starts with Carmelo Anthony and LeBron James. Nothing will happen in the Free Agent market until these two players are signed.  There is some thoughts that we will learn where Melo will go today, but LeBron could take one or two weeks to decide his fate. This is a fascinating time in the NBA.

People talk all the time about how the National Football League is a 24/7, no days off sort of season. Granted, some of that is blowing things way out of proportion like Johnny Manziel having a rolled up 20 in a Las Vegas bathroom, and no, I didn't realize I made a cocaine joke there. NBA has become a 24/7 league without question. There is no sleep right now with their league, and honestly, it has been that way since the first time we went through LeBron's free agency yet this is the first time people are coming to this realization.

This isn't a blog post to tell you what will happen with Carmelo or LeBron. I have no idea. I am not Brian Windhorst nor am I a fake Adrian Wojnarowski Twitter account. In fact, Melo might have a team while this blog post goes up this afternoon. This is more a blog to recognize the craziness that is this free agency period with all sorts of moves to be made.  A couple weeks ago, I called people 'suckers' for thinking LeBron would go to somewhere else than Miami, but now it seems like I was the sucker for thinking James returning to Miami was a #DoneDeal. Good for LeBron taking a look around and smelling the flowers elsewhere instead of settling. I respect the hell out of James not listening to anyone about loyalty or anything of that nature.

There are rumors coming through every day. Woj came out with something this morning that LeBron's agent wants him to move back to Cleveland. There will be some new rumor by the time I post this blog, but that's the beauty of this whole thing. Agents and people close to these players leak shit all over the place to get headlines. ESPN had 'sources' lining up their top headlines these days. There is nothing wrong with these sorts of stories. I realize it bothers people when they see 'sources' all over the place, but the fact of the matter, this is how things are in modern journalism. All of these people realize they can be faceless creatures and say whatever the hell they feel about their client. When ESPN, Yahoo! FOX Sports and others have went the route of sources being a legit way to publish a story, there is no coming back from it even if this method pisses people off.

The best thing about all of this in the post-Decision era is people not believing every story that's out there. When the sources thing got going in the first couple years of Twitter's peak, people started assuming that everything out there was concrete, it really hurt this whole thing. It led to massive assumptions about all things about free agency almost diluting the whole thing. Now, it has become a proceed with caution way to do free agency and not make any sorts of assumptions about anything. People now wait and see what happens with NBA Free Agency before rushing to conclusions which makes things much more fun.  

The best part about this whole thing is free agency rumors will be just as strong for the next two seasons if Russell Westbrook doesn't get extended and Kevin Love ends up not getting traded at all making him unrestricted as well. Furthermore if Kevin Durant decides he wants to test the waters in 2016, things become even more interesting with the free agent season. This isn't dying by any means in the next couple of years. NBA becoming a 24/7 sport is a big reason why this is the number two sport in America right now.

-Charlie.

Quick Tap Podcast Episode 13 .

Quick Tap podcast decided to go live for another week. We would love to hear some feedback. If you guys hate this version and want me babbling for 20 minutes alone, feel free to let me know your thoughts. I thought this one was better despite a few technical difficulties on Seth's end. We do a draft of the top five TV characters of all-time which should piss some people off.  We move on to talking about if the excitement would be there for USA Football against the teams of the world like we had on Sunday. It continues with talking about what's more likely...U.S. Soccer not getting out of the round of 16 or Tiger Woods would miss the cut. Our discussion continues with talking about what we would be more successful at golfing left-handed or playing baseball left-handed. U.S. Soccer comes back into play talking about our reaction to the draw and finish with Carmelo Anthony talk.

Charlie.

LeBron's Opt-Out is a Smart, Calculated Decision

A typhoon hit Twitter on Tuesday morning when ESPN had a story saying LeBron James opted out of his contract with the Miami Heat making him an unrestricted free agent. This led to people vomiting overreactions all over Twitter with Photoshop pictures of LeBron playing for different teams as well as wondering how things will all fit. This is the silly season right now about James. He is only becoming a free agent to rework a contract to bring in some high level free agents.  LeBron does have some options outside of Miami, and some team could sweep in with a Godfather offer yet it seems like Miami is still the destination.

 With how the Big Three is structured right now, Miami cannot really afford to get a big-name free agent. They still probably couldn't get a Carmelo Anthony, but if things were structured the right way, they could make a run at a Kyle Lowry which would be a massive upgrade to Mario Chalmers and Norris Cole. The reason LeBron wants to do this in order to have all the options on the table, and he wants control of the roster which is something James deserves at this time of his career. If you call him selfish, remember Kobe Bryant and Michael Jordan both did similar things. 

If somebody thinks this is classic LeBron and immediately believes he will leave for another team is a downright sucker. They are the same people whom link out clearly fake stories at least once a month. Sure, it is fun to live in dream world thinking James is coming to your team, but at the same time, it is definitely overreaching to make those sort of assumptions unless a reporter gives you a nugget that might make you think otherwise. Until then, it should be understood LeBron is opting out only to give Miami more choices in the upcoming offseason.  Sorry for being the wet blanket in the situation, but that's how things are going to work until we know for certain LeBron will make a move other than Miami. 

We might never know though which is the problem with all of this drama. James' wife Savannah posted an Instagram photo of the State of Ohio which is going to get blown up even more given it happened only a couple days ago. I can almost guarantee there will be a story coming out whether it be Yahoo! or ESPN will have a story about the dissension between Pat Riley and James which will lead everyone to think LeBron might head out. The only real thing where you could point to LeBron leaving would be if Dwyane Wade decides to bypass his option and play out the final two years of his contract at 41 million dollars, an insane amount of money for the player Wade is right now. 

LeBron will probably not do this but what if he wanted Wade off his roster which would then allow Miami to make a realistic push at Melo?  I mean it would be like Shawn Michaels superkicking Marty Jannetty through a glass window because it would be the ultimate heel move by James. More so than what he did at The Decision. Wade is the stalwart of the Miami roster, and if James would run him out of town,  I am not certain how people would react to something like it. Let's be honest, Wade is not a second banana anymore on a playoff roster. He could be a star on some teams in the lottery, but right now, Wade is half the player of what he was when LeBron first made the decision to be a member of the Heat.

This is only the beginning with James and the Miami saga. It will get ridiculous and there will be rumors, but 2010 was a fun summer with this nonsense, why not run it back for another time? 

Charlie.   

Manufactured Melo to Miami Story

In sports, politics and entertainment where rumors run rampant, there are always those rumors which hang out there. Like everyone knows the rumor, but no one really runs with it.  Sometimes, they don't run with it because there isn't enough evidence for it to be fact. Other times, it realistically could happen, but the chances of it are so unlikely. Honestly, the rumor of Carmelo Anthony headed to the Miami Heat is a combination of both. People like to dream every now and again, and this is what happening with the discussion about Carmelo to Miami.

Never say never, but this feels like a 10 percent chance of something like this actually happening this offseason. It might be less than that. Carmelo doesn't feel like the type of player whom would be okay with being the second or third banana on a team. Sure, he could win a championship, but it always seemed like Melo wanted to do it his own way. Granted, this was the same sort of stuff written about LeBron James when he ended up joining up with Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh. But Melo really wants to share the ball that much? It is hard to see it happening truthfully.  

The other part of it as The Big Lead's Jason McIntyre pointed out, the best contract offer Miami can put on the table is four years and 48 million dollars.  That's all.  Melo would probably be taking at least a 50 percent pay cut to play for the Heat. Are you sure he is going to do that all for the chance at a championship?  Charles Barkley and Karl Malone did those sort of things at the end of their careers to get a ring. Gary Payton did the same thing as well multiple times, and Reggie Miller said on Dan Patrick this week had the Boston Celtics called in June at the tail end of his career, he would have too. If Carmelo is still ringless by his 15th year in the league, I could see him joining a superteam, but not in the prime of his career for 50 percent of the cost (The obvious juggernaut at this time 15 years down the road will be the Milwaukee Bucks). 

For the sake of the blog post, if Melo did end up in Miami, I think it could be a situation where too many cooks in the kitchen. While I understand this was the concern when the Big Three formed together years ago, it feels a lot like the 2004 Los Angeles Lakers team. They added Karl Malone and Gary Payton leading people to believe this team would be unstoppable with Kobe Bryant and Shaquile O'Neal. This Laker team still ended up in the NBA Finals before getting housed by the Detroit Pistons, but they fractured all sorts of relationships leading Shaq to Miami. That's what I feel would happen. One or two guys would out after a year because there were way too many alphas in Miami. 

This is one of those stories that the media will keep pushing for the next month until Anthony signs with a team. The NBA is probably praying to everything holy that this doesn't happen because there is little parody in the league right now, and Miami adding Melo would only make matters worse.  

Charlie. 

Knicks Land the Big Fish for Head Coach

Last week, we talked about Derek Fisher being a possible candidate for both the New York Knicks and Los Angeles Lakers coaching job. It seemed like he was the favorite for two of the biggest professional franchises in all of sports. Fisher is the latest of the new trend of basketball players coming right off the court going from a basketball jersey to a suit coat in a matter of months. Fisher decided to take over New York Knicks job. He will need to convince their superstar to come back to the Big Apple plus why Fisher made the smart decision to not deal with Kobe Bryant or the Western Conference.

Fisher will be announced as the next coach of the New York Knicks today. He will be the seventh coach since the departure of Jeff Van Gundy (Technically, eighth but Herb Williams coached the team twice). Fisher will inherit an interesting array of talent with some question marks about the impending free agency of their star player Carmelo Anthony. Fisher and Anthony never played together in the league, but the assumption is there will be no issue with Melo joining Fisher if he intends to come back to the Knicks. Many people believe Carmelo will be back for another dose of the Knicks because they can pay him the most amount of money. But you have to wonder 'what if?'

Say the Knicks somehow lose Melo, what does New York do from there? Knicks would probably make a run at Kevin Love if he is still available. Additionally, they would probably look into Russell Westbrook after the season is over. If we are really looking far down the road, Kevin Durant is up in 2016, and it is not a sure thing he will be back with the Thunder. Losing Melo would not be the worst thing in the world. Their roster would be in shambles, and they would need to replace the scoring yet New York could be better off with the guys available in the future. Melo is definitely a better player than Love, but 100 percent of the time, you take Westbrook or Durant over Anthony.  Step one of the Knicks offseason is done, and now, they have to bring Anthony back to Madison Square Garden.

Fisher decided against coaching former teammate Kobe Bryant, and that's a great decision. Even though you will have Phil Jackson breathing down your neck, it is much better hearing from him, one of the greatest coaches of all time versus someone still in the league. Bryant would think he owned the team and would not listen to Fisher at all plus influence the other players to go against Fisher. Their relationship would easily head for an iceberg at some point. Additionally knowing the Lakers roster is in more flux than what's going in New York, it made sense for him to take the New York job. Dealing with Jackson and maybe Melo on a daily basis seems less stressful than having Kobe in his ear for the full-time he is employed with the team.

The other problem with the Lakers job is the Western Conference. Getting into the playoffs is far more difficult than it is in the Eastern Conference. New York can easily get into the playoffs as an eighth or seventh seed annually, ask the Milwaukee Bucks. Los Angeles does not have that same sort of luxury. New York media and the fans will not be satisfied with first-round playoff appearances consistently,  but if the Knicks can find their way into the second round a couple times mixed with another playoff appearance, Fisher will be considered royalty by the fans and media, the toughest judges of this Knicks team.

Fisher inherits more problems than Steve Kerr or Jason Kidd, two first-time coaches, just starting out their coaching career, but with a guy like Jackson by his side, it will make the transition much easier.

Charlie.

Golden Gates Greater than Big Apple: Kerr Stays on West Coast

It seemed like a done deal. New York Knicks hired Phil Jackson to rite the ship and start to rebuild the New York Knicks franchise then Jackson would hire Steve Kerr, TNT analyst and former player for Jackson with the Chicago Bulls. It didn't happen. Kerr decided to coach Golden State and their wealth of young talent to the tune of five years and 25 million dollars. While many people were stunned Kerr spurned his former coach, there are many reasons why Golden State was the optimal position for the first time coach.

Kerr is a virtual unknown to coaching an NBA team. Granted, Kerr was a long-time General Manager of Phoenix Suns which he did without any experience. This is not his first rodeo. Kerr expressed multiple times publicly how he wanted to coach in the NBA someday and now he gets his chance with Golden State. The team is rich with talent as the Warriors have won 50 plus games in the past two years including two great guards although the pressure to win might be greater at Golden State than New York. In fact, it might be harder.

Golden State fired a coach for winning 50 plus games and not making it to the Western Conference Finals. That's a lot on your plate if you are Kerr to begin with. Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson are two great options to start the team, but after that, Golden State has more uncertainty than many people believe to be the case. Andrew Bogut cannot remain healthy, and the Warriors have his albatross contract for the next three years. Andre Igoudala underwhelmed for most of the season. Not to mention, Draymond Green is a free agent and will demand a pretty healthy contract.  Warriors have a great deal of issues, but my assumption is all of these issues at Golden State outweighed the problems with New York.

We don't need to cover all of the problems with the Knicks because it is two paragraphs deep including whether Carmelo Anthony will be on this basketball team in the Fall.  Kerr also seems to have a pretty good relationship with Joe Lacob, the majority owner of the Warriors versus the likely non-existent relationship he would have with James Dolan. Having Jackson in your front office can only go so far for Kerr plus who knows maybe he feared Phil would mettle in personnel decisions. Further, he didn't want to hear people say when the Knicks had success, 'Oh well Kerr is just a puppet, this is all Phil's doing anyways.' I couldn't stand that if I were Kerr so I don't blame him for staying on the West Coast.

Here's the one thing though we need to consider about Kerr. The Eastern Conference is terribly easy. If the Knicks patch work a couple things here and there, they could be a top three seed in the Eastern Conference next season. After Miami, there is a pure drop-off comparable to a roller coaster at Six Flags Great America. Kerr could have consistently put the Knicks in the top four, and people would assumed him to be king if he got the Knicks far enough. Yet that's the one alluring thing versus several in Golden State. Kerr will have to work for it in a tough Pacific division featuring the Clippers, rising Suns, Sacramento is not that far away and Lakers will be back to form in a year or two.

The hire is a nice one on paper and in the media, but he is still a new coach. There will be bumps in the road, but Kerr seems like the type of guy to handle it.

Charlie.