Tapping The Keg Podcast Episode 93

Charlie and Mitch delivering the latest edition of Tapping The Keg Podcast.  We lead off with talking about whether you would rather be an East Coast or West Coast fan. There are obvious advantages or disadvantages on both sides. We break down the Brewers game from last night with Kirk Gibson hitting Ryan Braun plus Jonathan Lucroy being an MVP candidate with reaction from St. Louis' fans. We talk a great deal about the World Cup breaking down the latest United States chances with Portugal losing players by the minute. Further we discuss struggling Brazil among other things. We talk about the NBA Finals for a little bit more so about where LeBron James might go plus quick Kevin Love discussion. The podcast finishes with a talk about new world order with the Milwaukee Bucks front office plus a couple more hot topics at the end.

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.

The Summer of Kevin Love

Kevin Love is a free agent after next season. The NBA season isn't even over yet, but it seems like the Minnesota Timberwolves forward is already looking for a new destination to play basketball this winter. It could be a simple coincidence he was in Boston checking out the sights and sounds hanging out at Fenway, running into Rajon Rondo, boozing with Gronk and getting tweets from David Ortiz, right?  K-Love just taking a weekend vacation to Boston, a team with an NBA franchise and a team reportedly interested in Kevin Love. If I am Love, I am spending the rest of my summer seeing all the different cities and its nightlife that want to trade for him. 

Everyone seems to believe that given Love spend his weekend in Boston that he will be in Celtic green by Fall. I would like to give everybody a big cup of relax with that one. It is not a stone cold lock, but the old saying 'If it smells like a duck, quacks like a duck, it's probably a duck.'  Love could be there, but this could end up being the best summer ever if you're Love. Minnesota announced today that Love is probably gone by Draft Day meaning he could spend the next couple weeks hanging around all of these cities and seeing what they have to offer. Boston is a great time in the summer. Here are all the places Love could look to ensuring a hell of a summer. 

Houston is another team that's interested in him. Head out to there to see an Astros game, run into James Harden or Dwight Howard at some point and crush some beers with JJ Watt. Houston's nightlife is supposed to be a damn good time. I would assume Slim Thug and Bun B would take care of him in a major way. 

Golden State would be an awesome time as well. As a suitor of Love, he could do a baseball doubleheader seeing what San Francisco and Oakland have to offer. He would somehow run into Steph Curry or Klay Thompson then explore the nightlife with Aldon Smith... Actually shit wait bad idea. Let's go with Colin Kaepernick, that's better. 

Let's throw Cleveland in the mix for the hell of it. He would be partying with Johnny Manziel and Nolan Murphy obviously, let's get that off the bat. I don't know if I take him to the Indians game given their attendance issues. Kyrie Irving and him could do a redux of the Pespi Max commercial minus all the Uncle Drew makeup get some runs at local Cleveland parks.  

Sacramento?  I have no idea what the hell you do in SacTown.  Do you see the capital or what? For their sake, might want to hope Kevin doesn't spend a weekend trip out there. 

Keep having a blast this summer Kevin, just don't get fat. 

Charlie.  

No Place For Love in the Twin Cities

Being a fan of small market teams like Milwaukee Bucks and Milwaukee Brewers, you tend to relate with other small markets when they have issues with their star player. Thus when news broke on Sunday morning that Kevin Love will be testing the free agent market next summer and doesn't have much interested in rejoining Minnesota, your heart breaks a little bit.  But the Timberwolves need to do the right thing and trade Love getting as many pieces possible because Minnesota has no one to blame but themselves for the reason why Love hasn't been to the playoffs.

This isn't a small market reason in my opinion for Love. He is doing fine in the Minnesota market as he became the face of the franchise, he has been in Taco Bell ads along with other things like playing on the United States National team. Love is one of the most well-known players in the game, and he could build something in Minnesota with ease yet management has led him array by assembling poor teams year after year. Ricky Rubio never amounted to the player everyone expected him to be when Minnesota drafted him from Spain, and that's a majority of the reason why Love wants to live as he sees this team has no hope in the Western Conference. 

Love also probably doesn't want to start over with a new coach as Rick Aldeman retired this season giving him more ammo for wanting to depart from the Twin Cites. People might call it selfish, but does Love really want to be labeled as a loser for the rest of his career?  I would bet not. It will be the same issue Kyrie Irving will be dealing with shortly. A successful player can only take so much losing before he knows it is time to move on and become a winner. Minnesota fans can hate him as much as they want, but this is more of the fault of David Khan and the ones that followed for not getting him a team Minnesota could carry to a playoff appearance, a place they haven't been since 2004 when Kevin Garnett brought the Timberwolves all the way to the Western Conference Finals. 

Minnesota shouldn't be too broken up over Love's probable departure. Love's defense makes me feel like he will never be a superstar because he cannot carry a team all by himself. Much of the reason why Minnesota didn't make a trip back to the playoffs had to do with the terrible defense of Minnesota and Love in general. He will be a hell of a second banana for a team, but Love doesn't have the defensive prowess to be a superstar in this league. But there will be many suitors to acquire Love this summer and they are all teams we hear about when these sort of things happen in the league. 

The two most interesting ones for Minnesota are Los Angeles Lakers and Boston Celtics. The Draft Lottery is tomorrow night with the Timberwolves having some of the worst odds with them likely picking 13th, but Los Angeles and Boston have the fifth and sixth best odds. Minnesota could get two first round draft picks if one of those interested teams wanted to trade for Love. This would be a huge coup for Minnesota especially if either of these teams picked in the top three. If Minnesota could get a player like Joel Embiid or Dante Exum then get a James Young or Rodney Hood in the mid-first round, the future starts getting built quicker instead of being in limbo. Additionally, Love on either Boston or Los Angeles gives them an immediate boost and becomes a fringe title contender.  

Lakers and Celtics are among the bevy of teams reportedly interested in Love's services. Some of the names highlighted yesterday were Chicago, Golden State, Houston and New York.  First things first, Golden State and Houston are terrible ideas for Love. They both have massive issues with their defense right now, and they want to add a guy like Love whose one of the worst interior defenders. The Warriors would basically get a rich man's David Lee. New York is still pretty unknown when it comes to their situation. Carmelo Anthony is a free agent, they don't have a Head Coach so let's pump the breaks on the idea of Love to New York although it would be interesting. Chicago might be the most intriguing, but do you really want to lose Taj Gibson? He is likely gone because I highly doubt Chicago will go huge across the front line.

Love could stay in Minnesota and return in October which would be a little awkward although if I am Minnesota, I try to trade Love this summer. There is no reason to trot him out for a half year under a cloud of 'Will Love get traded?' It is detrimental to the team, and Minnesota could move on from Love with a new star.  

Charlie.