The first few days of the week have been eventful. It began with news in the midwest that the Milwaukee Bucks had fired their head coach and future Hall of Famer, Jason Kidd.  

Kidd went 139-152 during his 3 ½ year tenure as coach of the Bucks. During his tenure in Milwaukee, Kidd guided the team to two NBA Playoff appearances.

But that wasn’t enough to keep Bucks brass happy. Upon his firing, the Bucks were an eighth seed with a 23-22 record despite the pretty consistent play from their All-Star Giannis Antetokounmpo and recent trade with the Phoenix Suns which shipped speedy guard Eric Bledsoe to Fear The Deer nation.

Speaking of Antetokounmpo, ESPN’s Ramon Shelburne reported that the Greek Freak offered to take his grievances to Bucks management and fight Kidd’s firing. Giannis loves his coach and didn’t want to see him go.

But, business is business, right?

Jason Kidd tells ESPN that Milwaukee Bucks star Giannis Antetokounmpo called him about 15 minutes before Kidd was officially notified he’d been fired by the Bucks and offered to help save his job.

— Ramona Shelburne (@ramonashelburne) January 23, 2018

Joe Prunty took over as the Bucks’ interim head coach. He and the Bucks got a win Monday night against the Phoenix Suns.

Prunty is no stranger to hoops, comes highly recommended and is another disciple from San Antonio Spurs head coach, Gregg Popovich’s coaching tree. Prunty began as a video coordinator with San Antonio before becoming an advance scout and assistant coach for nine seasons, beginning in 1996.

Speaking of San Antonio, they’ve made headlines in the last 48 hours. A multitude of NBA league sources indicate that Spurs forward, Kawhi Leonard and his reps are disconnected from the Spurs organization.

Last Wednesday, the Spurs announced that Kawhi Leonard would be out of action for an “indefinite period of time” as he’s been dealing with a lingering quad injury that has burdened him since the NBA Playoffs last year.

Leonard’s right quadriceps tendinopathy recovery has carried over into this season, causing the one time NBA Finals MVP to miss the first 27 games of the season.

Retired NBA vet and ESPN analyst Jalen Rose told ESPN’s First Take yesterday that Leonard doesn’t want to be in San Antonio.

According to Rose, Leonard wants out because the Spurs have been ‘unable to attract elite-level, all-NBA-caliber free agents to come play with him.’

Added Rose:

“Players talk about wanting to win and wanting to be a champion, but ultimately they want to do it on their own terms,” Rose said. “And when you go to San Antonio, guess who is the CEO of that organization? Gregg Popovich. It’s going to be his way.”

Before the Spurs’ 114-102  home win over the Cleveland Cavaliers last night, Popovich rebuffed confusion or the Spurs being a soap opera. “Some people wrote some articles. I understand it, but soap opera? It’s a soap opera if we talk about it every day, I guess,” Popovich said.

“I don’t get it. We won’t talk about it. There’s nothing to talk about other than what we’ve already said.”

As for the Cavs, the Oklahoma City Thunder scored 148 points on them on Saturday without Kevin Love who called out sick.

That got folks talking. Was Love really sick? Some of Love’s teammates reportedly called Love out in a team meeting.

Cleveland is 3-7 in their last 10 games. During their last 10, Isaiah Thomas has returned from injury, J.R. Smith has struggled, the talk of LeBron James leaving at seasons end has resurfaced along with the debates on whether Cavs head coach Ty Lue should lose his job.

Mind you, the Cavs currently hold a 27-19 record and are sitting in third place in the NBA’s Eastern Conference.

Ashley Nevel says it best

The Cavs will get it together. Don’t push the panic button just yet!

Kemba Walker is apparently on the trading block. A Bronx, New York native, a return home as a member of the New York Knicks is what anybody from the 5-boroughs would want.

The Milwaukee Bucks were reportedly in preliminary talks before the Kidd firing and the usual suspects, teams in the NBA Finals hunt like the San Antonio Spurs and Cleveland Cavaliers have made calls.

“Kemba Walker is a player that can come to a team and score you points. If he came off the bench he could be a Lou Williams Jr. He can help a team win.” @ScoopB has high praise for the @hornets point guard. Which team should go out there and make a trade for the UConn alum?

— Bud and the Manchild (@Budandmanchild) January 23, 2018

ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski says that Charlotte has been encouraging teams to make offers and appears eager to discuss attaching Walker to a larger trade in which another team would take on one of the Hornets’ several less desirable contracts.

Not so fast; Hornets majority owner, Michael Jordan is not trading him unless he’s shipped out for something really good.

“It’s not like we are shopping him,” said Jordan.

“We would not just give him up. I love Kemba Walker. I would not trade him for anything but an All-Star player.”

Walker would be a nice addition to any team. He can score in volume and will be a scorer for hire like the Los Angeles Clippers’ Lou Williams and Minnesota Timberwolves’ Jamal Crawford.

Be on the lookout for where he goes next!

RESPECT Magazine’s Brandon ‘Scoop B’ Robinson checking out Bangkok, Thailand’s Temple of the Reclining Buddha at Wat Pho . Photo Credit: @Scoop_B Instagram.

Check out all of my commentary on the going ons of the NBA on Syracuse, NY’s Bud and the Manchild by pressing play at the top!

While on Bud & the Manchild, I also discussed my recent 15-day vacation to Thailand where I visited the Temple of the Reclining Buddha.

If you’re a Street Fighter 2 fan, Sagat’s battle stage is in front of the Temple of the Reclining Buddha, which is located at Wat Pho.

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The post Scoop B: Milwaukee Bucks, Jason Kidd part ways, Cavs, Spurs & Kawhi Leonard drama & a trip to Thailand appeared first on RESPECT. | The Photo Journal of Hip-Hop Culture.

San Antonio Spurs assistant coach Becky Hammon. Photo Credit: Darren Abate/AP

Last week, San Antonio Spurs assistant coach chatted with the Players’ Tribune about being a trailblazer in the NBA.

Hammon is the NBA’s first full-time assistant coach. Also a former WNBA player, she chats with Jerry Stackhouse about her desire to break down gender barriers.

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“My hope would be eventually it’s just “coach,” she told Stackhouse.

“Recognized for my skills and my talents and my mind and my work ethic just like the next person.”

While discussing barriers, Hammon also visited Girls Inc., an organization that works to inspire the next generation of strong, smart, bold women.

You can read Becky Hammon’s Players’ Tribune article in its entirety here. 

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NBA analyst Charles Barkley and U.S. President Donald Trump. Photo Credit: Bodybuilding.com

NBA player turned sports analysts and budding political pundit Charles Barkley has been pretty consistent when it comes to assessing the job of U.S. President Donald Trump.

Appearing as a guest at the desk of CBS’s NFL Today show, earlier on Sunday, the Round Mound of Rebound weighed in on President Trump’s criticism of NFL Players kneeling during the playing of the U.S. National Anthem and taking back the White House’s invitation to the NBA’s World Champion Golden State Warriors.

“The president of the United States should never use the word SOB,” Barkley said referencing President Trump’s subliminal reference to embattled NFL free agent Colin Kaepernick during a Friday rally in Alabama.

For the record, Alabama is Barkley’s home state.

“That’s just 100 percent inappropriate. I’m embarrassed because he said the speech in Alabama and got a rousing reception when he said those things. So it hurts me that those ignorant folks in Alabama would applaud something so stupid.”  

Video: On @NFLonCBS #CharlesBarkley: “Hurts me that those ignorant folks in Alabama would applaud something so stupid” #NationalAnthem #TTT pic.twitter.com/lKPd5L7hj4

— Brent Baker (@BrentHBaker) September 24, 2017

Barkley admittedly has been anti-Trump from the start dating back to the President’s ‘locker room talk’ controversy before winning last year’s election. A tape from 2005 emerged of Trump boasting to former NBC correspondent Billy Bush that being famous allowed him to ‘do anything’ to women, including grabbing “them by the pu**y.”

“It’s never appropriate to touch a woman, or grab a woman,” Barkley told me last fall.

“I have a daughter too. It’s never appropriate to sexually assault or harass a woman, ever!

Check Out Charles Barkley & Brandon ‘Scoop B’ Robinson’s Discussion On President Trump on Scoop B Radio

“I’m gonna try to do everything in my power to support the President because he’s the President of The United States,” Barkley told me on Scoop B Radio in April.

“I mean we got to get behind him, he’s done some things already that I don’t like. I’m against the Muslim ban, I’m against the immigration deportation, he’s got to stop trying to paint everybody with a broad brush. I mean, it’s just wrong. Most of these Muslim people here are amazing, hard-working people same thing with these illegal immigrants, they’re here, they’re hard working people. I think most people don’t want gangsters here, people don’t want terrorists here we all understand that, but people have to be able to be treated with respect and dignity.”

Barkley’s thought process is pretty much aligned with the growing list of athletes who have been vocal about President Trump over the weekend. That list includes the Golden State Warriors Draymond Green, Houston Rockets’ Chris Paul, retired NBA player Kobe Bryant and the Cleveland Cavaliers’ LeBron James who on Saturday called President Trump a ‘bum’ via twitter. San Antonio Spurs head coach Gregg Popovich have been vocal about President Trump as well.

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Former Orlando Magic guard Darrell Armstrong talks about playing career, Tracy McGrady and Penny Hardaway on Scoop B Radio. Photo Credit: Outside The Hype

Click Here To Check Out Darrell Armstrong, the NBA’s 6th Man of the Year and Most Improved Player of the Year With the Orlando Magic Who Checked in With Brandon ‘Scoop B’ Robinson & Scoop B Radio.

Dallas Mavericks assistant coach Darrell Armstrong has one of the diverse and impressive basketball portfolios out there.

Winning a ring as an assistant coach with the  2011 NBA Champion Dallas Mavericks, Armstrong’s accolades as a professional from 1991-2008 as a player were surely something to write home about.

Going undrafted out of Fayetteville State in 1991, Armstrong got his first gnaw at the NBA during the 1994–95 season where he played the last 3 games of the regular season for the Orlando Magic. While he manned the court as a floor general, Armstrong wowed the crowd and Magic management with his scoring ability.

As a member of the Magic, Armstrong simultaneously won the NBA’s Most Improved Player of the Award and the league’s Sixth Man of the Year Award in 1999. “After being in the league for three years, still on waiting on the opportunity and the chance,” Armstrong told me on Scoop B Radio.

“Putting in so much work, you know; to not only be a better player,  not only shooting the basketball, but also getting stronger in the weight room, helping me to be quicker and faster and stronger all those things adds up to one.”

 

 

Darrell Armstrong during Orlando Magic days. Photo Credit: Alchetron

Armstrong would end up sticking with the Magic through the 2003 season.

I first interviewed Armstrong when I was a Nets kid reporter and he was a member of the Orlando Magic during the 1997-98 NBA season.

Then and now, a few things stood out to me about him:

a). At 6 feet tall, he probably had the most hops imaginable for someone his size.

b). He’s a huge gospel music fan, with Fred Hammond and Kirk Franklin at the top of his list of his faves.

c). During his tenure with the Orlando Magic, Armstrong has had the distinction of being teammates with two of the most transcendent guards in the NBA not named Michael Jordan and Kobe Bryant. Armstrong teammed with both Anfernee “Penny” Hardaway and Tracy McGrady.

With McGrady being inducted into Springfield, Massachusetts’ Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame this weekend, one can’t help but think about the excitement that was T-Mac, the scoring machine in the city that Walt Disney built.

Armstrong and T-Mac were on a team that included Grant Hill and coached by Doc Rivers and were supposed to make noise in the NBA’s Eastern Conference in the early 2000s. Grant Hill was starting at the point guard, Armstrong slid to the two-guard with McGrady staring at the 3 alongside Drew Gooden and John Amaechi at the 4 and 5, respectively.

That squad was loaded! Heck, Mike Miller came off the bench!

Man that team was potent, but Grant Hill couldn’t stay healthy. That is when Tracy McGrady took over with his scoring galore! “Tracy was very special,” said Armstrong. I’m fortunate enough to have that opportunity to wear that jersey; the Magic jersey alongside him and Penny. You know, I’m fortunate to be their teammate because, I mean every night you got the chance to see some type of greatness, some type of unbelievable scoring from both of them.”

Tracy McGrady. Photo Credit: NBA.com

Added Armstrong:

“With T-Mac, a lot of people don’t know or would know that T-Mac was a decent player when he left Toronto and he got the opportunity with that one playoff game where they played New York and Vince was being covered so much by all the guys on New York that T Mac started to get off. And people started to see T-Mac’s talent during the playoffs that year. That is when we went and got him and that is when he came to the Magic that next year and what he did from there was just amazing because that is what he was suppose to be doing when he got to Toronto. But it didn’t happen like that for his first two years and then people started to say: ‘okay this is what they were talking about.’ And he put in the work and he dedicated himself everyday when he got into the game that he was going to be one of the top players in the league and he did it. It was fun to see him and Kobe Bryant go at each other, Michael Jordan go at each other.  I was just amazed by it, the things that he could do. But he was something special.”

In 938 games, McGrady averaged 19.6 points, 5.6 rebounds and 4.4 assists. In 704 games, Penny Hardaway posted 15.2 points, 4.5 rebounds and 5 assists.

So who was the better player? Tracy McGrady or Penny Hardaway? “Both of them could play defense and both of them could score,” said Armstrong.

“Definitely Penny was the better passer because  Penny was a point guard. Mac could still pass the ball as well, that is hard to say Scoop. They both did it in their own way and in their own style; the only thing I will say, that Penny was better than T-Mac was passing the basketball. Like I said, they both could shoot the basketball, they both could score the basketball, that is a tough one to say. Penny went deeper in the playoffs,farther than T-Mac has ever been; besides being with T-Mac with Spurs, but he didn’t play. But when he played, you know Penny and he in the playoffs, Penny, you know Penny lost in the championship as a starter. So I mean it is hard to say if there is any edge the edge I give to Penny over T-Mac is that he was a better passer than he was.”

Fair enough.

Darrell Armstrong is one of the Dallas Mavericks’ assistant coaches. Photo Credit: Dallas Mavericks

Armstrong is an assistant coach of the Dallas Mavericks. In a game of shoulda-coulda-woulda, if he were currently an NBA head coach, who would he pick to start his team in today’s NBA? “Damn Scoop, once again you give me another tough one,” said Armstrong.

“I say: oh man you can’t go wrong with either one of them. Penny played a one and T-Mac played a two. So that is why I say it is so different. S**t Scoop, I would probably take Penny because the reason I say I take Penny is because Penny would be ready to run the offense as a point guard, knows how to play the point, but also you can just knock the ball with two points. Mac wasn’t a point guard. T-Mac never ran the point guard, so T Mac was more of the two/three player. I would probably have to say Penny I have a bigger guard that would cause a problem at the point guard position because he would be different.”

In addition to talking about T-Mac and Penny Hardaway, Armstrong also chatted about his time playing at a historically black college in Fayetteville State. “I was playing because of the tradition of so many people knowing and so many athletes from the Charles Oakley to Earl ‘The Pearl’ Monroe to Rick Mahorn,” he said. “And you know now, even Stephen A [Smith] played  for Winston Salem State. Ben Wallace and myself, so it was amazing with the athletes and the fans always love to hear the Black National Anthem [Lift Every Voice And Sing] whenever they sang it”

Armstrong even weighed in on the notion Tim Duncan would join he, T-Mac, and Grant Hill in Orlando via free agency, summer 2000.

Grant Hill and Tracy McGrady signed with the Orlando Magic during free agency in 2000. Photo Credit: Orlando Magic

According to Armstrong, the probabilities of Duncan coming to Orlando were zilch, zip, zero, stingy with the dinero. Spurs coach Gregg Popovich thought it was for real though! “It was a nerve-wrecking time,” Popovich admitted in an interview. (H/T CBS Sports’ Matt Moore)

Added Popovich:

“It was hell. You get close to a player and you don’t want to see him leave. I never let myself believe he was going to stay. I was just getting myself prepared, for sanity reasons. It’s no fun.”

“It also seems like it takes forever to resolve. That’s the worst part of it. We made our pitch to him and let him be, let him make up his own mind.”

Darrell Armstrong tells a different story on Scoop B Radio: “Tim wasn’t going nowhere,” he said.

“I mean where Tim played at and finished at, that was where Tim was going to be. Tim wasn’t going to go nowhere. We all love to entertain and see who is going to be out there. I don’t even believe he even thought about leaving San Antonio especially after winning some Championships. So I mean, no he wasn’t going anywhere. Sometimes you call the guys when free agency starts and you call them and talk to guys and they wanted me to call and I was sitting there like I am not you shouldn’t even call this guy he isn’t leaving.”

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Nov 19, 2014; Cleveland, OH, USA; San Antonio Spurs head coach Gregg Popovich reacts in the third quarter against the Cleveland Cavaliers at Quicken Loans Arena. Mandatory Credit: David Richard-USA TODAY Sports

Last night, the San Antonio Spurs were massacred 126-99 in game one of their Western Conference semifinals matchup against  the Houston Rockets.

During his post game presser, Spurs head coach Gregg Popovich was not pleased!

As per For The Win’s Nina Mandell, here was the exchange: 

Reporter: “Pop there’s nothing for us to ask except to get your take on what the heck just happened.”

Popovich: “We lost. They won. And they played better.”

The reporter followed up with another question and Popovich had a more complete answer about what exactly went wrong in the game (“sure we competed but I don’t think we executed”).

Timing is everything in the art of interviewing. It’s listening, it’s research and more importantly it is about being a person.

Real G’s do real things and Coach Pop is about as genuine as it gets! That said, get ready for a genuine response.

I realized that first hand last year, when I chatted with Coach Popovich about leadership.

Check Out Coach Gregg Popovich and Brandon ‘Scoop B’ Robinson Talk About Donald Trump & Drake On Scoop B Radio Overtime

In high school, I read The Autobiography of Douglas McArthur. General MacArthur commanded the United States through the Southwest Pacific in World War II. The autobiography thoroughly highlighted MacArthur’s military career, his personal life and the battles during World War II. MacArthur was one of only five men promoted to the five-star rank of General of the Army during World War II. What left an indelible mark on me while reading MacArthur’s book was his dedication to leadership, his constant examples that he left to his subordinates of his character and his emphasis on behaving in a manner in which peoplewould want to follow him.

San Antonio Spurs head coach Gregg Popovich in the U.S. Air Force. Photo Credit: San Antonio Express News

While reading that autobiography back in high school, MacArthur reminded me so much of Popovich. Popovich, himself spent five years in the service in the United States Air Force.

Popovich’s dad wasn’t in the service, but when you ask the Spurs coach who his models for leadership were. His answer might surprise you.“I try not to idolize too many people,” Popovich told me.

Whoa! That’s real!

”I think that all idols have feet of clay and I think that especially in our country, we tend to mythologize people. So I look to people that I’ve known personally, whether that’s a coach or teacher, a relative; somebody that I respect because I know them. But people who I don’t know that have been mythologized, I don’t know them much. At the top of my head, Thomas Jefferson was a great guy; he was a slave owner. You can make that similar analogy with a lot of other people who have been idolized. They all have flaws. So I go for people that I know.”

After last night’s she-lacking by the Rockets, some folks were ready to write the Spurs off. The Rockets after all, are very talented: James Harden, Trevor Ariza, Eric Gordon, Ryan Anderson, Patrick Beverly and Lou Williams are some of the names on that roster. Credit is due where credit is due! 

Malik Rose won two championships with Popovich in 1999 and 2003. Now the Atlanta Hawks’ manager of basketball operations, Rose once told me about Pop: “He’s not afraid to say what he believes and stand by it. He genuinely cares about his players. It’s more than basketball.”

Coach Pop is no slouch. He is this generation’s Phil Jackson because he wins and has gained the respect of his players and players on opposing teams like the Cleveland Cavaliers’ LeBron James, New York Knicks’ Carmelo Anthony, Golden State Warriors’ Kevin Durant and the Los Angeles Clippers’ Chris Paul. Coach Pop has seemlessly been able to navigate the passing of the torch of players during his career, as well.

David Robinson retired in 2003 and passed the torch to Tim Duncan and Tony Parker. Duncan retired and now the keys are in the hands of Kawhi Leonard and LaMarcus Aldridge. It is not likely that the Spurs will go down like they did last night against the Rockets. The team is not chopped liver. But it will take defensive adjustments and players not reacting like Dewayne Dedmon did to Nene last night.

In the meantime, let’s watch Pop continue to be Pop and make us reporters search for the next question.

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Wow, Donald Trump is really about to become our president for the next four years. Leadership is such a powerful word that gets thrown around a lot, but it genuinely has meaning.  In the NBA, Gregg Popovich is a leader, he walks the walk, talks the talk and isn’t afraid to be ridiculed. He’s been outspoken since Donald Trump was elected president in November.

When asked about Trump, Popovich said that the entire Trump campaign scares him, and that he’s so disgusted that so many Americans voted for Trump. “I’m a rich white guy, and I’m sick to my stomach thinking about it,” he said.

He’s honest.

The next coach of USA’s men’s national basketball keeps it simple. In a world where many folks idolize celebrities Popovich believes that community leaders and parents should be lauded as role models. “I try not to idolize too many people,” Popovich told me.”I think that all idols have feet of clay and I think that especially in our country, we tend to mythologize people.

“At the top of my head, Thomas Jefferson was a great guy; he was a slave owner. You can make that similar analogy with a lot of other people who have been idolized. They all have flaws. So I go for people that I know.”

Pop guided the greats: Tim Duncan, Avery Johnson and David to NBA championships. But what’s cool is that he recognizes the community, parents and others for his values that he’s learned.

“I look to people that I’ve known personally, whether that’s a coach or teacher, a relative; somebody that I respect because I know them. But people who I don’t know that have been mythologized, I don’t know them much.”

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