Month / September 2022

Kevin Durant, Kyrie Irving, Brooklyn Nets, Media Day, Atlantic Files
by Alex Fischbein

Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving’s media day quotes are laughable

The NBA held its annual media day for each team this week. Two of the biggest stars in the game, Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving, had a lot of drama unfold the past couple of seasons and this past off-season. That means, of course, the media is going to ask plenty of questions about it.

Well, let’s just say that none of us are buying what Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving have to say, and it’s time they start proving it for the Brooklyn Nets fans. This team was essentially put together by Irving and Durant themselves in collaboration with Sean Marks and the Nets front office. They even gave the “okay” on Steve Nash’s hiring as head coach.

Now, they’re both back in Brooklyn after one requested a trade and the other was on the cusp of being traded for whatever they could get back.

Kevin Durant explained he’s fine with being back on the team because he knows that he’s such a good player that the Nets couldn’t possibly trade him for any old return. Now, he sets his sights on redemption from the last couple of seasons.

There’s a lot to unpack when it came to Kyrie Irving’s media day interview. He talked about all the money and the big contract that he gave up to not get vaccinated but doesn’t like that it led to a narrative about him not wanting to play basketball. Some felt the way he spoke made it sound like he thought of himself as a martyr as well.

Let us know how you feel about their media day quotes in the video comments below! You’ll find the rest of our thoughts on there as well!

Ben Simmons, Brooklyn Nets, JJ Redick, Ime Udoka, Boston Celtics, Atlantic Files
by Alex Fischbein

Ben Simmons, Ime Udoka, and Southwest Division | TAF245

This week on the Atlantic Files, we give our thoughts on the Ben Simmons interview on JJ Redick’s podcast, Ime Udoka’s suspension from the Boston Celtics, the biggest quotes and takeaways from NBA Media Day, and we continue our division preview series with the Southwest Division.

Ben Simmons finally came forward and gave his thoughts and explanations on all of the topics that Philadelphia 76ers fans and NBA fans alike wanted to hear. The topics ranged from the passed-up dunk against Trae Young, to what went wrong in Philly, to working on his shooting in Brooklyn after the debacle in the last 5 seasons. We reacted to our favorite quotes and soundbites of the interview.

The other biggest news coming out of the Atlantic Division was the suspension of Ime Udoka. Boston’s head coach was caught in a relationship with a female staffer and allegedly made unwanted comments toward women in the organization. Everyone who reported on the matter before anything was official, made the situation even messier. Reports said the relationship was consensual but then as more information came out, it sounded like the opposite was true. Now, the Boston Celtics start their training camp in turmoil instead of a team fresh off of a great Finals run with their eyes set on another.

Speaking of training camp and the start of the new season, teams around the league held their annual media day! Fans got to hear their favorite players talk about the upcoming season and any storylines still lingering. Also, we got to see any new players on their new teams. Media day is always exciting as it marks the coming days of a new season with a lot in store! We reacted to our favorite interviews, quotes, and more from this year’s media day.

Then, we continued our annual divisional preview series. This week, the Southwest division is on the docket. Will Luka Doncic and the Dallas Mavericks take the division throne, or will the Memphis Grizzlies stay on top?

Finally, we had our “Whatchu Got” segment that ranged from pumpkin spice to Marcus Jordan getting spotted with Larsa Pippen!

Timecodes:
00:00:00 Intro
00:06:19 Reaction to Ben Simmons on JJ Redick’s podcast
00:33:52 Reactions and takeaways from NBA Media day
00:59:34 Ime Udoka suspended, situation got messy!
01:12:05 2022-23 NBA Southwest division preview
01:27:49 Marcus Jordan with Larsa Pippen now??
01:30:23 New Redeem team doc teaser with Kobe Bryant
01:36:41 Matisse Thybulle vs Ben Simmons in threes
01:37:38 Are you a pumpkin flavor fan?
01:39:33 Thank you for 200 subscribers!

NBA, Statement Jersey, Cleveland Cavaliers, Utah Jazz, Atlantic Files
by Alex Fischbein

Atlantic Files reacts to new NBA Statement jerseys

Every season, each NBA team has been releasing at least one new jersey for the last few years. Some have been alternates, some have redesigned their main jerseys, and others have re-released classics. Either way, there’s normally a new jersey these days with “cool” names like “statement jerseys.”

So, with all of the crazy jerseys, awesome throwbacks that remind us of our childhood, and other jerseys coming out this year, we decided to react to all the ones we hate, love, and everything in between!

As of right now, we have to give the worst jersey of the year to the Utah Jazz. The basic black and highlighter yellow colors are both boring and hard to look at. Why are we making people stick out like highlighters as if they play for Baylor? Come on people, we can do better than that!

The Cleveland Cavaliers, on the other hand, had a great designer work on their jerseys. All three of them use their color combinations to perfection and the alternate jersey looks just as sick. For a team who just got a whole lot better after a blockbuster trade, the new jerseys really fit the direction of the squad.

Check out the clip from our podcast below to see what else we thought on the other jerseys!

Doc Rivers, Twitter, Sixers, Atlantic Files
by Alex Fischbein

Doc Rivers caught down bad while on Twitter

This week in the NBA has been one that not a lot of people would have predicted. First, there’s the news of Robert Sarver’s suspension and the announcement of the impending sale of the Phoenix Suns. Then, Doc Rivers likes a bunch of pornographic tweets and gets caught by the internet. Finally, Ime Udoka also gets suspended for a relationship with a female staffer on the Boston Celtics.

The one story that has to be the funniest is Doc Rivers’s Twitter fail. He ended up getting bailed out by the Philadelphia 76ers PR team as they put out a statement that said his account was “compromised.” They removed all of his likes and said he “regained access to his account.”

Could it have truly been a hacker? Well, sure, hackers do some weird things. Is it also fishy that this hacker only liked some tweets instead of doing anything else? Well, the answer is also, yes.

Look, Doc Rivers is 60 years old. If the man wants to look at some explicit tweets like that, more power to him. Next time, he probably shouldn’t hit the like button.

Let’s not act like this hacker just decided to only like some tweets though. Call it like it is, he just accidentally liked them and didn’t realize it would be open to the public. Don’t worry Doc, we got you!

Golden State Warriors, Stephen Curry, Pacific Division, Atlantic Files
by Alex Fischbein

Will the Golden State Warriors repeat? | TAF244

This week on The Atlantic Files, we continue our division previews with the defending champ Golden State Warriors and the Pacific Division, Doc Rivers gets horny on Twitter, a lot of new statement jerseys have been revealed, is the NBA’s punishment for the Phoenix Suns owner enough, additions and adjustments to the CBA, and Dennis Schroder heads back to the Los Angeles Lakers.

The divisional preview series continues as this week we take a look at the Golden State Warriors and the Pacific Division. While a lot of people seem to think the division goes through Los Angeles in either the Lakers or Clippers, we lean towards Golden State yet again. The top four teams in the Pacific all have some aging and health questions with all of their superstars, so it could just come down to a battle of who will be injured less.

Doc Rivers had a bit of a Twitter goof over the weekend. People found a handful of pornographic tweets in his likes and then the entire internet grabbed hold of it. The Sixers PR team said that his account was hacked, but come on now. Just say you accidentally liked some Tweets that you probably shouldn’t have and you’d probably get some more respect.

Statement jerseys, classic jerseys, and more have been released by most of the teams across the NBA. We took a look at most of them and said whether or not we actually liked them. Some of these jersey designs really need work because they’re going to have their team looking like garbage.

Then, there’s the terrible news of Robert Sarver, the Phoenix Suns owner. His punishment came down to a one-year suspension, but many big-name players didn’t agree with only one year. Many believe he should be kicked out of the NBA altogether.

Finally, the league and the player’s association are talking about some CBA adjustments. The eligible draft age is lowered back down to 18, there will be a more punitive luxury tax, and mental health will be an injury designation. The game keeps evolving!

Timecodes:
00:00:00 Intro & Fantasy Football
00:06:18 Doc Rivers likes some explicit tweets
00:15:35 CBA adjustments – Lowering draft age, Mental health designation, etc.
00:33:50 Phoenix Suns owner, Robert Sarver, is the punishment enough
00:43:06 Thoughts on the new NBA statement Jerseys
00:55:33 2022-23 Pacific Division Preview – Golden State Warriors repeat chances
01:20:17 Dennis’s F/M/K scenario
01:24:49 Would you rather, Steph Curry edition

Denver Nuggets, Carmelo Anthony, Nikola Jokic, Atlantic Files
by Alex Fischbein

The Nikola Jokic Denver Nuggets vs Carmelo Anthony’s Nuggets

The Denver Nuggets are coming into the latest NBA season with high expectations. Nikola Jokic, Jamal Murray, and company look like a top-four team. They’ve also been rumored to bring back a familiar name in Carmelo Anthony. Remember the days when Carmelo Anthony was in the race for scoring titles while in Denver?

Of course, that got the gears moving. In the NBA atmosphere, we love comparing eras of basketball and different basketball players that probably shouldn’t be compared. So, we needed to debate who would win in a seven-game series between the current Denver Nuggets team and the Carmelo Anthony Nuggets that reached the Western Conference Finals in 2008-09.

Think back to the 2008-09 season for a minute. The Denver Nuggets traded away Allen Iverson after that failed experiment and they brought in the services of Chauncey Billups to run the offense. Billups, Carmelo Anthony, Nenê, Kenyon Martin, and JR Smith all averaged double-digits in scoring for this squad.

Melo was only 24 years old and was putting up a stat line of 22.8 points, 6.8 rebounds, 3.4 assists, and 1.1 steals per game on 44.3% shooting from the field and 37.1% from three. Interestingly, this was the only season in a stretch of 11 seasons that he didn’t make the All-Star game. During that post-season, however, his stats boosted up to 27.2 points, 5.8 rebounds, 4.1 assists, and 1.8 steals per game.

The team has two surefire Hall of Famers in Anthony and Billups. So, looking at the current team, it does seem like there’s only one player that is surefire Hall of Fame. Nikola Jokic is the one that obviously stands out, but does that necessarily mean the 2008-09 team is better?

Jokic has led the Nuggets in win shares every single season since 2015-16. This past season, Jokic had a historic year, especially for a big man, and grabbed his second MVP trophy in a row. He finished with averages of 27.1 points, 13.8 rebounds, 7.9 assists, and 1.5 steals on 58.3% shooting from the floor.

As a team, on the other hand, health has been a big problem. The second and third options of the team Jamal Murray and Michael Porter Jr. have failed to play more than 50 games in a season at the same time since the 2019-20 season. When they were healthy during that season, the team also reached the Western Conference Finals and coincidentally also lost to the Los Angeles Lakers.

Who do you think has the better team? Let us know in the comments of the video below!

NBA, mid season tournament, Adam Silver, Atlantic Files
by Alex Fischbein

Adam Silver & The NBA propose a mid-season tournament, keep it or leave it?

In case anyone hasn’t heard, Adam Silver and the NBA put together a proposal to introduce a mid-season tournament to the NBA schedule. This tournament is supposed to only add one more game to the schedule which would only be for the championship. Is this actually needed and would it even make fans want to watch?

Let’s just get one thing straight, the die-hard basketball and NBA fans are going to be watching no matter what. Those aren’t the fans in question when it comes to all of these changes that Adam Silver is proposing.

The NBA is worried because their Finals games are getting fewer viewers than an NFL pre-season game. Viewership golden standard comes from the NFL and the millions upon millions of viewers they get for every game, especially the Super Bowl.

So, Adam Silver and company’s response is always trying something new to boost viewership. In reality, a lot of the casual basketball fans have cited the evolution of the game, the off-court campaigns, and the players resting during games that they either paid their hard-earned money for or set aside valuable time.

This could mean either something needs to change in those departments, or the league has to wait for the younger generation of fans to continue growing up and then have kids who become fans as well. Older generations are used to the Michael Jordan days and those aren’t coming back any time soon.

Cade Cunningham, Detroit Pistons, LaMelo Ball, Charlotte Hornets, Atlantic Files
by Alex Fischbein

LaMelo Ball or Cade Cunningham, who’s a better centerpiece of a team?

Take some time right now and live out a dream that a lot of basketball fans have. Become a fake General Manager for a startup NBA franchise. There’s one single condition: you have to choose between either Cade Cunningham or LaMelo Ball to lead your team.

LaMelo Ball has been a dynamic point guard even since his high school days, so it was no shock when he came into Charlotte and brought the same flair. In just his second season in the NBA, he already made an All-Star game after he put up 20.1 points, 6.7 rebounds, 7.6 assists, and 1.6 steals per game. He also made players around him look even better like Miles Bridges, PJ Washington, and Jalen McDaniels.

On the other side of things, Cade Cunningham was no scrub in his first season in the league. He essentially was thrown into the fire and expected to lead a terrible team right away. The Detroit Pistons haven’t been a good team in what feels like ages. 17.4 points, 5.5 rebounds, 5.6 assists, and 1.2 steals per game is nothing to make fun of. He had a little rough start to the season, and then put up a great 21/6/5 stat line post-all-star break!

Age wise, the two of them are actually only about a month apart. LaMelo Ball just turned 21 and Cunningham is turning 21 at the end of September. So, that brings the question, who are YOU taking to lead your new team?

Collin Sexton, RJ Barrett, Cleveland Cavaliers, New York Knicks, Atlantic Files
by Alex Fischbein

New York Knicks or Cleveland Cavaliers, which trade package was better?

Rumors came out about the type of trade packages that the New York Knicks offered to Danny Ainge and the Utah Jazz. Some of them seemed so good that Ainge was insane NOT to accept them. So was Cleveland’s trade package actually better?

Ultimately, the Cleveland Cavaliers gave the deal that Ainge liked the most. They gave more unprotected picks than the Knicks, and one can argue that Collin Sexton is better than RJ Barrett. What about the rest of the trade package though?

There’s Obi Toppin vs Lauri Markkanen, which currently favors Markkanen. Then, there were different combinations of Immanuel Quickley, Quentin Grimes, Evan Fournier, and Mitchell Robinson offered by the Knicks.

It shouldn’t take a statistical analysis to know that all of those younger and more talented players favor the Knicks trade package. On top of Quickley and Barrett, Leon Rose even offered a couple unprotected picks and some pick swaps. That seems like a trade that would interest any rebuilding team.

Let’s take the main piece of each trade first. RJ Barrett is already the younger of the two compared to Collin Sexton. Barrett is also 6’6, more versatile, and is just as good of a playmaker as Sexton. Sexton, however does have the shooting efficiency nod and is a much better three-point shooter right now. They essentially play the same position at shooting guard, which is where the 6’1 player usually doesn’t have as high of a ceiling as the 6’6 player.

We’ll let you listen to the part of our podcast where we talked about all of this. Then let us know what you think!

2022-23 NBA Northwest Division, Atlantic files, Nikola Jokic, Karl Anthony Towns
by Alex Fischbein

2022-23 NBA Northwest division preview | TAF243

This week on the Atlantic Files podcast, we begin our yearly division previews! This time, for the 2022-23 NBA season, we start with the Northwest division. We also talk about the proposal for an in-season tournament, the 2022 Hall of Fame inductees that includes Manu Ginobili and Tim Hardaway Sr., Danny Ainge’s comments about the Utah Jazz, and our weekly “Whatchu Got” segment!

In case you’ve just started tuning into the Atlantic Files, every year leading up to the start of a new season, we preview a division each week until we get to the best division of them all. Yes, that division is still the Atlantic.

This week, we kick things off with the Northwest division. Minnesota, Denver, Portland, Oklahoma City, and Utah all are included in this division for those who may not know off the top of their head.

We give our thoughts on the final standings of the division, which players and teams might be surprisingly good, and the others that will probably be terrible. It’s probably not too hard to guess the ones that won’t make the playoffs. Could this even be the worst division in the NBA?

There’s been talk of an in-season tournament that was proposed by the NBA. Could this really help the ratings for the NBA or would it just be another gimmick that no one will care about because it’s not the playoffs nor a real NBA Championship?

Manu Ginobili and the other 2022 Class of the Basketball Hall of Fame were inducted! The list had a bunch of great names that brought up some great memories. Congratulations to all of those that are now in the Hall!

Finally, we finished things off by talking about Danny Ainge’s comments on the Utah Jazz when he first got there and our weekly “Whatchu Got” segment. We brought up a Denver Nuggets discussion between current and past teams, as well as gave our thoughts on the new NBA 2K23 that came out.

Timecodes:
00:00:00 Intro
00:04:27 NBA in-season tournament proposal
00:27:31 Hall of Fame class of 2022 was inducted
00:37:49 2022-23 NBA Northwest division preview
00:51:33 Danny Ainge’s comments about the Utah Jazz
00:58:19 Thoughts on NBA 2K23 so far
01:01:17 Current Denver Nuggets vs Carmelo Anthony Denver Nuggets
01:08:05 Outro