John Wall. Photo Credit: Eric Salvary

John Wall will return to the Washington Wizards lineup tonight against the Memphis Grizzlies.

#Wizards guard John Wall (knee) told me that he will play tonight at home vs Memphis. pic.twitter.com/qN1gax9XGK

— Brandon Robinson (@ScoopB) December 13, 2017

He informed me last night after the Wizards’ loss to the Brooklyn Nets at Barclays Center. Wall has been out of Wizards action since November 7 when he made knee-to-knee contact with another Wizards player.

With season averages of 20.3 points and 9.2 assists per game, the Wizards could use him.

Wall has been out of Washington’s lineup to heal up from inflammation and discomfort issues in his left knee. According to NBA.com’s David Aldridge, Wall previously said fluid on his knee built up after he received IV fluids to deal with illness and migraines before the Wizards hosted Atlanta on Nov. 11.

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OAKLAND, CA – 2000: Tracy McGrady of the Toronto Raptors competes in the Slam Dunk competition at the Oakland Arena on February 2000 in Oakland, California. 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 NBAE 2000 (Photo by Garrett Ellwood/NBAE via Getty Images)

Tracy McGrady was one of the most successful swingmen to play in the NBA. At a slim and lanky 6’8, McGrady had a quick first step, a smooth glide to the basket, a jab step with counter moves and a crossover dribble that makes you think Kevin Durant and George ‘The Iceman’ Gervin all-in-one.

To quote the late Notorious B.I.G., the Washington Wizards, Shawn Bradley and the New Jersey Nets ‘have a story to tell’ after the nightmares McGrady gave them with his scoring assaults that he unleashed in his prime.  

Step-backs and fall-aways, creativity in mid-air that seemed effortless, Tracy McGrady was the real deal in his NBA career.

This weekend, McGrady a 14-year retired NBA veteran, who in 938 games averaged 19.6 points, 5.6 rebounds and 4.4 assists will be inducted into the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame in Springfield, Massachusetts.

Historically, many remember McGrady’s Houston Rocket days when he heroically scored 13 points in 35 seconds.

That December 9, 2004 rescue and 81-80 win over the San Antonio Spurs was no easy feat. For posterity’s sake, that was no easy feat. In 33 seconds, it took four buckets from beyond the arc, a made free throw to complete a four-point play and a steal to win by one point!

The only remotely exciting comparison to that game was the Indiana Pacers’ Reggie Miller’s eight points in nine seconds performance against the New York Knicks. With the Pacers down eight points with in nine seconds remaining in Game 1 of the 1995 Eastern Conference semifinals, Reggie Miller pulled off a comeback like no other.

I’ll tread lightly though; Knicks fans are still healing from that disappointment.

McGrady’s journey is memorable and worth recounting. Tracy McGrady was drafted ninth by the Toronto Raptors in the 1997 NBA Draft. That draft class was laden with talent with two future Hall of Famers standing out from that list: Detroit Pistons hero Chauncey Billups and old reliable San Antonio Spurs big, Tim Duncan.

McGrady was special; so special the biggest rumor in 1997 was that the Bulls were looking to trade Scottie Pippen to acquire him.

In Jonathan Abrams’ book “Boys Among Men,”  (H/T CBS Sports’ Matt Moore)  it was revealed that Tracy McGrady was nearly traded to the Chicago Bulls for Scottie Pippen on draft night in 1997, but Michael Jordan vetoed it. McGrady confirmed that on an episode of ESPN’s The Jump with Rachel Nichols.

As Vice President of Basketball Operations of the Toronto Raptors, NBA Hall of Famer and two-time champ Isiah Thomas drafted McGrady in ‘97.

In Toronto, Thomas built a promising young roster when he drafted Damon Stoudamire, McGrady and Marcus Camby. What was significant about that budding roster was a). They played what is known in today’s game as small ball. b). McGrady would leave Toronto and flourish in Orlando.

**Expect Kyrie Irving’s move from the Cleveland Cavaliers to the Boston Celtics to have a similar impact.

In a recent interview on Scoop B Radio, Isiah Thomas, now President of Basketball Operations for the WNBA’s New York Liberty broke down his thought process while housing McGrady in the 6. “When I put together the Toronto Raptors, if you remember the power forward position at that time was a position of strength, dominance, and you had to be physically strong to play that position,” Thomas told me.

“The shooting guard would be coming off of the power forward and the center would be your offense. During that time, what I talked about with my scouting staff and also our ownership group at that time was that we have to find a way to change the game and really affect things out on the floor. We came up with what we called the Raptor Two. And Raptor Two basically had to be a power forward that could also have guard skills, he had to be able to switch the power forward and the shooting guard and not lose ground.”

Added Thomas:

“One of the first trades that I made was for Doug Christie. The game was getting smaller, we had eliminated the power forward position and made it a very skilled position, so I’ll fast forward then I”ll take you back to McGrady. The thing that I left Toronto with was Stoudamire, Camby, Christie, McGrady, and they drafted [Vince]Carter, that was the blueprint.”

For two seasons (1998-2000), McGrady, Vince Carter, Doug Christie and company would lead the Raptors to a 68-64 record. Those feats included the Raptors first-ever winning season where they went 45-37 in 2000.

Toronto also made their first NBA playoff appearance, where they’d be swept 3-0 by the New York Knicks. Despite being swept, McGrady earned his big payday in the NBA Playoff. In game one, T-Mac registered 25 points and hauled in 10 rebounds.

“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,” McGrady’s Orlando Magic teammate, Darrell Armstrong told me on Scoop B Radio.

That offseason, McGrady bolted Toronto and signed a six-year, $67.5 million contract with the Orlando Magic. “Vince was being covered so much by all the guys on New York that T-Mac started to get off,” said Armstrong.

“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 supposed to be doing when he got to Toronto.”

Tracy McGrady guarded by Michael Jordan. Photo Credit: Yahoo Sports

A chance to play in his home state of Florida and team up with Grant Hill? Who could blame T-Mac?

“He put in the work and he dedicated himself everyday when he got into the game,” said Armstrong.

“He [knew 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.”

Although McGrady struggled to get out of the second round of the NBA Playoffs, we can never forget the 2003 NBA Playoffs when the league’s scoring champion shot over 51 percent from the field against the Detroit Pistons in their round one series.

The Magic had a 3-1 lead in the series with McGrady scoring 43, 46, 29 and 27 points, respectively against Detroit; but Orlando couldn’t seal the deal. They were eliminated.

If you’re keeping score at home, other exciting Tracy McGrady moments include:

• Landing an off-the-backboard alley-oop, thrown to himself during the 2002 NBA All Star Game.
• McGrady’s Adidas sneaker commercials were also enjoyable. 
• McGrady’s global reach in China substantiated after teaming with Yao Ming in Houston.
• Most importantly: McGrady’s duels with Kobe Bryant were legendary.

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The post Scoop B: Tracy McGrady’s Hall of Fame Career Is A Master Class In Knowing Self-Worth appeared first on RESPECT. | The Photo Journal of Hip-Hop Culture.

Former New York Yankees shortstop Derek Jeter talking strategy with Brandon ‘Scoop B’ Robinson. Photo Credit: Angie Vasquez

Last week was a potent week in sports. Let’s see, you’ve got iconic New York Yankees captain Derek Jeter and his jersey retirement ceremony yesterday at Yankee Stadium and you had the San Antonio Spurs’ Manu Ginobili who had quite an impressive block on the Houston Rockets’ James Harden in the Western Conference Semi Finals. The Spurs would go on to win that series. Things didn’t get any eaaier as the Spurs had a huge lead on the Golden State Warriors in game 1 of the Western Conference Finals and would end up losing by two.

Washington Wizards’ John Wall chatting with Brandon ‘Scoop B’ Robinson about Allen Iverson. Photo Credit: Eric Salvary

The play of the week, however is the heroics of the Washington Wizards’ John Wall. The guard hit a game winner in game 6 of the Eastern Conferece Semi Finals against the Boston Celtics. The shot, propelled the Wizard to tie the series at 3 games apiece and force a game 7.

All of that and more in the latest edition DJ Manny El produced Scoop’s Top Plays!

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The post Jeter, John Wall & Ginobili Headline Scoop’s Top Plays With Brandon ‘Scoop B’ Robinson appeared first on RESPECT. | The Photo Journal of Hip-Hop Culture.

Remember that time DeShawn Stevenson called LeBron James overrated?

Think back: 2008 NBA Playoffs, Stevenson, a member of the Washington Wizards at the time, said that  James, then in his first stint with the Cleveland Cavaliers was an overrated basketball player. James, seemingly unfazed and chasing his first NBA title at the time, replied stating that Stevenson would be like “Jay-Z responding to Soulja Boy.”

Soulja Boy used that statement to his advantage and attended a playoff game between the two teams. He even cheered on Stevenson while sitting courtside and did the Superman dance from his seat.

That’s when Jay-Z stepped in. Sampling the instrumental and vocals from Too Short’s Blow The Whistle, Hov went ham!

For those with amnesia or tardy to the party, he said in the diss track:

“Ask my n**** LeBron! We so big we ain’t gotta respond. When you talkin to a don, please have respect like you’re talking to your mom. We let the money do the talkin. As you see we be talkin rather often. The ROC Boys in the buildin. Another hundred fifty million don’t it sound like we yellin?!!! Who the f*** overrated?! If anything they underpaid him. Hatin that’s only ‘gonna make him spend the night out of spite with the chick you’ve been datin. We the best of the best. We ‘gon be here so the rest could take a rest, I gotta get this off my chest, No pause none of that s***, get off my d***”

The Cavaliers would eventually eliminate the Wizards in that playoff series and Jay-Z would get his point across without LeBron saying a word. Too $hort’s song also got new life.

So much life, that eight years later, Drake’s vocals came in on For Free, a single on DJ Khaled’s Major Key album. On it, Drake would rhyme $hort’s classic, ‘on and on’ as his opening verse.

Simply putL Drizzy and Hovi gave it the old Toronto and Brooklyn one-two punch!

“It just gave the song a new audience every now and then,” Too $hort shared with me.  “Like every two or three years some new area just discovers Blow The Whistle and it’s like a new song all over again.”

Check Out Too $hort and Brandon ‘Scoop B’ Robinson Discussing The Whole She-bang on Scoop B Radio

But we digress!

Appearing on today’s episode of the Scoop B Radio Podcast, Too $hort walked listeners through the inter-webbing of Jay-Z’s request to use the track and his decision to side with LeBron. Too $hort indicated that Jay-Z had a concert in Oakland after James and Stevenson were going back and forth. Too $hort says that Jay-Z decided to play the song at the concert.. “I didn’t come on stage but he played it and like sent me a shout out and the crowd went crazy when he played the song,” Too $hort told me on Scoop B Radio.

“So I guess in his mind he was gearing up to, at that point I think he was thinking about signing LeBron and having him play for the Nets and he was courting LeBron and LeBron was special to him and ‘ol boy [Stevenson] stepped on LeBron’s toes talking shit and Jay was like I’m going to shut this down. And he probably saw the moment where the crowd reacted to the song and then that was on his mind.”

If you recall, Jay-Z, a close friend and confidant of LeBron was a minority owner of the Nets at that time. A non-issue, but good for theater, nonetheless.

Seizing the opportunity, Too $hort said Jay-Z called him, asked for his blessing and requested the Blow The Whistle beat.

“He was like: ‘could you send me the instrumental to that?’ If a rapper called me and said: ‘send me the instrumental,’ I’ll probably say something like: ‘we didn’t even bounce the instrumental, so we don’t even have one.’ When Jay called, I was like: ‘ it will be there in a couple of hours man.’ I had no idea what he was going to do with it, but I am glad he did.”

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The Knicks’ 90s glory days are long-gone. The club has just three winning seasons in the past 16 years. At 27-42, the Knicks stand at 12th in the NBA’s Eastern Conference. After the loss to the Nets last night at MSG, they officially clinched their fourth consecutive losing season. Man oh man, the ’90s Knicks were a team that New York City still holds in high regard and misses. John Starks, Charles Oakley, the late Anthony Mason, Doc Rivers and of course, Patrick Ewing.

Ewing played 17 years in the NBA, 15 of those as a Knick before he was traded to the Seattle Supersonics for Vin Baker. Ewing finished his career averaging 21 points and a shade under 10 rebounds per game. Ewing and the Knicks had some memorable moment. Lets see, there was the time in 1990 when the Hoya Destroya scored 51 points on Kevin McHale, Kevin McHale and Larry Bird at The Garden.  ​

Hey, remember Game 5 of the ’94 Finals when he pummeled Olajuwon, scored 25 points, 12 rebounds, and eight blocks on the Olajuwon-led Rockets. There was also that 22 points, 22 rebounds and 7 assist outing in game 7 of the 1994 NBA Playoff Conference Finals against the Indiana Pacers. That game sealed the deal and propelled the Knicks to the ’94 Finals against the Houston Rockets.

Simply put, Ewing was the man in N-Y-C.

Rapper, Pusha T thinks so too, apparently. Appearing on today’s episode of Scoop B Radio Overtime, the rapper who reps both NYC and Virginia to the fullest chatted about some of his all-time favorite sports uniforms. He likes the old Washington Bullets uniforms from the days of Wes Unseld. The Bullets, of course are now the Washington Wizards. The Wizards even retro’ed thos unifors a time or two when Michael Jordan made a brief cameo on that team. The team has even incorporated a similar design to their current uni’s to make it whole. Someone get Mitchell & Ness on the line! We need that Jordan Throwback.

But I digress.

The meat and potatoes of the interview with King Push was his admiration for that Knicks squad that were both hustle and muscle and the nostalgia of even Spike Lee donning the orange and blue fabric. “Definetly the Knicks, of course,” Pusha T told me.

“You gotta remember. For example, like, the Knicks, if I was messing with the Knicks, it was like there was a Ewing component to it. Or a Spike Lee Component to it. They were so culturally relevant at the time. They were champions of the team and they were like to me, cool guys! So I was like oh man, this is fresh. Anyrhing they put on was fresh. They were definetly representing the Knicks organization at that time.”

Spike Lee, like Jack Nicholson is probably the original super fan; the orginiator. His engagement with players is what stands out. Who can forget his classic duels with Reggie Miller?

The new Knicks are nothing worth watching, but the nostalgia of the old Knicks, still lives on.

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The post Pusha T on Patrick Ewing, Spike Lee & 90s Knicks: “They were so culturally relevant at the time” appeared first on RESPECT. | The Photo Journal of Hip-Hop Culture.