Carmelo Anthony and Danilo Gallinari. Photo Credit: Nugg Love

Danilo Gallinari spoke with Brandon ‘Scoop B’ Robinson about the posibility of the young Knicks. Press Play Below To Listen.

The 2017-18 NBA season began with rivalry week. On Tuesday, LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers took on the new-look Boston Celtics and James’ old teammate, Kyrie Irving.

On Thursday, the Oklahoma City Thunder’s Carmelo Anthony got the win against his former New York Knicks.

Anthony was shipped to the Knicks in a blockbuster trade in 2011. In that trade, the Knicks sent Raymond Felton, Wilson Chandler, Danilo Gallinari, Timofey Mozgov and three draft picks to the Denver Nuggets in exchange for Anthony, Chauncey Billups and Anthony Carter.

After that trade, the Knicks went 207-269, won only one of four playoff series and missed the postseason each of the past four years.

Years later, the trade makes you wonder: what if?

What if the Knicks hadn’t traded for Anthony and kept a Mike D’Antoni team that had a young core in Amare Stoudemire, J.R. Smith, Danilo Gallinari, Wilson Chandler, Raymond Felton, Nate Robinson and others?

“Well sometimes we talk about it or we meet about it with Amare, Raymond and other players who were there at that time and say if we would have stayed together we could have built something special,”  Danilo Gallinari told me on Scoop B Radio.

 “So that’s what we say.”

Gallinari, now a member of the Los Angeles Clippers, was drafted 6th overall in the 2008 draft by the Knicks. He had some good games while a member of the orange of blue, like the time he scored 17 points against the Atlanta Hawks on 4-5 shooting from downtown.

Wilson Chandler, Danilo Gallinari and Raymond Felton were part of a young Knicks core. Photo Credit: New York Daily News

There was also that Halloween game in 2009 where he it rained three pointers; eight to be exact. Galo poured in a season high 30 points in the overtime loss and was one triple away from tying a Knicks franchise record held by both Latrell Sprewell and John Starks. The dude was official like a ref with a whistle, he just dealt with substantial injuries.

Nonetheless, his jumper was and still is lethal!

As for the what could have been the Knicks, all we can wonder is what if?

“Yeah, we had a very good chemistry going on,” said Gallinari.

“Especially a few weeks before the trade, we were doing really well. But you know, that’s in the past now.”

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The post Danilo Gallinari believes Knicks could have ‘built something special’ if he wasn’t traded for Carmelo Anthony appeared first on RESPECT. | The Photo Journal of Hip-Hop Culture.

Rapper & Everyday Struggle Host Joe Budden & retired NBA forward Kenyon Martin. Photo Credit: VIBE

Kenyon Martin Chatted With RESPECT Magazine’s Brandon ‘Scoop B’ Robinson about EVERYTHING on Scoop B Radio. Press Play Below To Listen In

Summer 2003 was big for both Kenyon Martin and Joe Budden.

For Budden, a former cast member of Love & Hip Hop New York and current host of COMPLEX’s Everyday Struggle, his self-titled debut album, Joe Budden released June 10, 2003 via Def Jam.

The Jersey City, NJ representer’s album had hits guest appearances from  Lil’ Mo, Busta Rhymes and 112 and had top singles Focus, Fire and the Just Blazed-produced crossover hit, Pump It Up.

June 10, 2003 for Martin was a tad bit different. He and his New Jersey Nets were preparing for Game 4 of the 2003 NBA Finals after dropping Game 3 84-79 to Tim Duncan, David Robinson, Tony Parker and the San Antonio Spurs two days before at Continental Airlines Arena in East Rutherford, New Jersey.  

New Jersey’s Jason Kidd, left, and Kenyon Martin watch as San Antonio celebrates a 93-83 win in Game 5 of the NBA Finals. The Spurs won the game Friday in East Rutherford, N.J. Photo Credit: Lawrence Journal

Martin would score 23 points and hauled in 11 rebounds in Game 3. and would would lead all Nets scorers in Game 4 with 20 points and 13 rebounds in New Jersey’s 77-76 win.

The Nets would lose the series 4-2, but K-Mart was the man around the Garden State.

So was Budden.

Jason Birchmeier of AllMusic gave his album four stars out of five, Chris Ryan of SPIN gave the album an eight out of ten and HipHopDX’s K.B. Tindal gave the album a four and a half out of five. Pump It Up was placed on the soundtracks for 2 Fast 2 Furious, You Got Served and EA Sports’ Madden NFL 2004.

Fire even found it’s way on the Mean Girls Soundtrack.

With all of the success going on that summer for said rapper and said NBA baller, can you believe that the two were mistaken for each other in public?

Everywhere,” Kenyon Martin told me on Scoop B Radio.“Everywhere! You name it!”

Martin says that their mistaken identities would mostly happen while he’d go shopping in downtown Newark, New Jersey. “I used to go onto Clinton Ave a lot and in the hood on Clinton Avenue shopping,” he said.

“It would be at a distance and then they would get up on me and see the height differential and say: ‘Oh hey! It’s K-Mart.’”

While you listened to part two of Martin’s interview above, make sure to also check out part one of our discussion. He talked about his Nets days and the 2002 NBA Finals against Shaquille O’Neal, Kobe Bryant and the Los Angeles Lakers. “I have never been afraid when it comes to basketball, period,” said Martin.

Check Out Kenyon Martin’s Part 1 Interview Scoop B Radio

“I’m not afraid to mix it up with guards or big men. But that experience there was a good team and we got to, but Shaq was dominant that series. We got to being out there and playing on that level, me holding my own, helping my team and putting them in a position to win. That meant a lot that I was there for my career and my confidence moving forward.”

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The post Kenyon Martin Says He Would Get Mistaken For Joe Budden During His New Jersey Nets Playing Days appeared first on RESPECT. | The Photo Journal of Hip-Hop Culture.

DENVER, CO – MARCH 17: NBA Legend Dikembe Mutombo Smiles for the camera during half-time where the Los Angeles Clippers took on the Denver Nuggets on March 17, 2014 at the Pepsi Center in Denver, Colorado. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and/or using this Photograph, user is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. Mandatory Copyright Notice: Copyright 2014 NBAE (Photo by Garrett W. Ellwood/NBAE via Getty Images)

Yesterday we celebrated the legacy of achievments of one of America’s greatest civil rights leaders in the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. One of his greatest mantras was: ‘Life’s most persistent and urgent question is, ‘What are you doing for others?’ 

An NBA legend who embodied that is Dikembe Mutombo. Mutombo is one of the NBA’s All-Time leaders in blocks and has been heralded for his humanitarian work in his native Africa.

In 1997, Mutombo, a retired 19-year NBA veteran started the Dikembe Mutombo Foundation to improve living conditions in his hometown of Congo. That earned him the NBA’s J. Walter Kennedy Citizenship award in 2001 and 2009.

He enjoys doing what he does and realizes that as a public figure, the higher that he’s gone up on the ladder, it is his surely his responsibility to send it back down. “You have to think about the future of our society,” Mutombo told me in a recent interview. “What are we leaving for the future of our grandchildren?”

What’s interesting is that he’s always been that way.

Need proof?

The former Denver Nugget, Atlanta Hawk, Philadelphia 76er, New Jersey Net, New York Knick and Houston Rockets big man once sat down with me during the 1997-98 season and schooled me on what he planned to do, what he was doing, the importance of achieving inside the classroom and what it was like playing for Georgetown University under ormer coach John Thompson.  It was chronicled on a recent episode of Scoop B Radio.

Check out the 2015 Hall of Fame member Dikembe Mutombo and Brandon ‘Scoop B’ Robinson  

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The post Scoop B: Like Martin Luther King, Jr., Dikembe Mutombo Focuses On Helping Others appeared first on RESPECT. | The Photo Journal of Hip-Hop Culture.

Former NBA coach George Karl’s recently released book, Furious George: My Forty Years Surviving NBA Divas, Clueless GMs, and Poor Shot Selection, drew much attention.

The book garnered much attention presumably because of the excerpts detailing his relationship with former his former players J.R. Smith of the Cleveland Cavaliers, Knicks forward Carmelo Anthony and retired NBA player Kenyon Martin.

In Karl’s book, he detailed Anthony saying: “Carmelo was a true conundrum for me in the six years I had him,” wrote Karl. “He was the best offensive player I ever coached. He was also a user of people, addicted to the spotlight and very unhappy when he had to share it.”

Karl who coached Anthony from January 2005 to February 2011, also said of Anthony: “He had no commitment to the hard, dirty work of stopping the other guy. My ideal — probably every coach’s ideal — is when your best player is also your leader. But since Carmelo only played hard on one side of the ball, he made it plain he couldn’t lead the Nuggets, even though he said he wanted to. Coaching him meant working around his defense and compensating for his attitude.”

Karl also made reference to J.R. Smith’s friends as a “posse,” a term that was recently popularized in the press when New York Knicks president Phil Jackson used when describing Maverick Carter and Rich Paul, business partners of Cleveland Cavaliers forward, LeBron James.

Karl also stated that Kenyon Martin and Anthony not having fathers were flaws in their personality. “Kenyon and Carmelo carried two big burdens: all that money and no father to show them how to act like a man,” said Karl.

Karl has made media runs defending his comments, promoting his book and also apologizing. “I said it poorly and I’m sorry that I said it poorly and I’m sorry for the reaction,” said Karl on ESPN’s Mike & Mike. “Because I know Kenyon. The one thing I love about Kenyon Martin: he is a good father.”

Check Out RESPECT MAG’s Brandon ‘Scoop B Robinson discussing the book, Karl, talking Knicks and more on with Justin Spears on the University of Arizona’s 1570 AM KAMP.

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The post Scoop B: George Karl, Carmelo Anthony & The Knicks On 1570 AM KAMP w/ Justin Spears appeared first on RESPECT. | The Photo Journal of Hip-Hop Culture.