Author: Loren Chen (Page 8 of 9)

Orlando’s Sudden Demise and the Near All-Stars We Won’t Call “Snubs”

January 31, 2016 / Loren Chen / 0 Comments

Damian Lillard is the only player in the last 20 years to average 24 points and 7 assists without being named an All-Star. (Flickr/nikk_la)

Damian Lillard is the only player in the last 20 years to average 24 points and seven assists without being named an All-Star (Flickr/nikk_la).

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On this week’s banter episode, Aaron and Loren revisit the discussion of the Orlando Magic’s tale of two seasons and what this rough stretch might mean in context of the development of their young core. Aaron also shares his strong opinion about Blake Griffin’s broken hand, and finally, following the announcement of the All-Star reserves, the duo opines about who they think are the best players left off of the team.

Music: “Who Likes to Party” by Kevin MacLeod

Zach Oliver: The Magic “Just Lock Up” in Close Games Down the Stretch

January 28, 2016 / Loren Chen / 0 Comments

Zach Oliver (left) helping former Magic player Glen Davis (right) with his tie, earning the nickname “Bowtie Killa.”

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After a promising 19-13 start under new head coach Scott Skiles, the Orlando Magic have fallen on very hard times this calendar year, dropping 11 of 12 contests. A stagnant offense has especially plagued this incredibly young team. Amid such horrible January struggles, Zach Oliver of SB Nation’s Orlando Pinstriped Post drops by to help explain the Magic’s current woes as well as to provide insight on the team’s wealth of young talent.

Sexy sound bites can be found excerpted below:

4:30-4:45: “A lot of people were a little bit lower on the Skiles hiring than I was because, you know, Skiles is going to come in, he’s going to coach them for a couple years, he’s going to whip them into shape, but then he’s going to lose the locker room and they’ll have to make a change. But at the same time, that’s exactly what this team needed.”

5:33-6:23: “The thing that troubles me the most… is that they just lock up. They move the ball exceptionally well in the first two and a half, three quarters, getting quality looks, and then in the fourth quarter, guys just tense up and try to do it all on their own. To be honest, they really don’t have that guy that they can give the ball to in iso and say, ‘Here, we need a bucket go score.’ So that’s the biggest issue with them. Their defense is still an issue, especially late in games. Nik Vucevic, whom I think has done a better job in certain areas, still can’t protect the rim and the Magic guards have been unable to keep anybody in front of them.”

Raptors All-Stars, Bye Bye Blatt and J-Smoove on the Move

January 25, 2016 / Loren Chen / 0 Comments

The Eastern Conference-leading Cleveland Cavaliers made the shocking decision last week to fire their head coach David Blatt (left) and replace him with assistant Tyronn Lue (right). (Erik Drost/Flickr)

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Listen in as Loren and Joshua play a little two-man game. First on the docket is the team that interview guest Holly MacKenzie so eloquently covers, the Toronto Raptors. The fellas discuss the All-Star merits of Kyle Lowry and DeMar DeRozan, Toronto’s status as a contender and the North’s suddenly stout defense. Next, the duo share their thoughts on the shocking ousting of Cavaliers head coach David Blatt. Finally, Joshua, a Clippers fan, and Loren, a Rockets enthusiast, expound on the teams’ most recent swap of the talented yet enigmatic Josh Smith.

Music: “Who Likes to Party” by Kevin MacLeod

Holly Mackenzie: Raptors’ DeMar DeRozan’s “Been Crazy at Driving to the Basket”

January 20, 2016 / Loren Chen / 0 Comments

Holly Mackenzie (right) interviewing Raptor's shooting guard DeMar DeRozan after a USA Basketball practice. (@stackmack/Instagram)

Holly Mackenzie interviews Raptors shooting guard DeMar DeRozan, who is leading the league in drives to the basket this season (@stackmack/Instagram).

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Toronto will be hosting the NBA’s All-Star Weekend this season, and the timing could not be better. Just a tad more than 20 years since NBA basketball came to Toronto, the Raptors find themselves in second place in a competitive Eastern Conference. DeMar DeRozan is playing the most efficient basketball of his career, while his BFF, Kyle Lowry, is similarly turning in an All-Star-caliber season. We have the pleasure of being joined by the talented Holly MacKenzie, who expertly explains why life is so good in Toronto these days. Holly writes for Raptors.com, among many other outlets.

Some scintillating excerpts can be found below:

9:35-10:50: “Everything starts with [Kyle Lowry]. He does so much for them and the way that he plays, he’s such a competitive guy, it’s hard to not feed off of that… It’s cool to see his growth as a player, but also as a leader from when he came here to now. Seeing him know his teammates and learn how each guy can be motivated, watching him learn how to do that has been really cool to watch because you see the impact on the floor and you also see it within the locker room.”

Midseason Awards Starring Porzingis, Towns, Popovich and McCollum

January 18, 2016 / Loren Chen / 0 Comments

Kristaps Porzingis is one of the leading candidates for Rookie of the Year so far this season. (Ed/Wikimedia Commons)

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Midway through the NBA season, Loren and Aaron take the opportunity to handicap the league’s various awards, including Best Hair of course. In the opening segment, they reflect on the state of the Suns and Nuggets – the most recent team interviews – as well as what’s on the horizon for those two.

Music: “Who Likes to Party” by Kevin MacLeod

Faudree on Nuggets: “[Gallinari] Should Be in Their Future Plans”

January 10, 2016 / Loren Chen / 0 Comments

Danilo Gallinari (left) and Kenneth Faried (right) are two Nuggets that could find themselves on the move this trade season. (Matthew D. Britt/Flickr)

Danilo Gallinari (left) is one member of the Nuggets who could find himself on the move this trade season. (Matthew D. Britt/Flickr)

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The Denver Nuggets have had their fair share of struggles so far this season, with a new head coach, a bottom-tier defense and numerous injuries to key players. We were joined this episode by Justin Faudree, a lifelong Denver Nuggets fan and periodic contributor to ESPN TrueHoop’s Roundball Mining. He takes us through all the reasons why this team has gotten off to such a poor start this season, with only one win so far against a winning team. Despite that, he is still optimistic for the future and believes that with a young core of Mudiay, Jokic and Nurkic, there are good times ahead.

Choice cuts are highlighted below:

4:45-5:40: “[Will Barton’s] been the team’s most consistent player. He’s basically taken mostly the entire offensive burden, especially when Gallinari went out with injury and Mudiay has missed 14 straight games… For what he’s had to carry and do everything so efficiently, it’s crazy, especially for someone who basically came out of nowhere for the most part.”

7:25-8:25: A possible silver lining for Emmanuel Mudiay’s ankle injury: “[Mudiay] might benefit from taking a step back and taking some time to observe the game because he’s the kind of guy who will do that. He’s a very, very hard worker. He takes his job very seriously even at 19. And he has, off the court, the right kind of attitude in order to overcome his problems, I’m sure. So, when he gets back from injury, we’ll be able to see more what he processed and if he was able to gain anything from that, and I’m betting that he did.”

Andrew Lynch: Suns “Have to Cut Bait With Markieff (Morris)”

January 7, 2016 / Loren Chen / 0 Comments

Markieff Morris has been at the center of a series of problems this season for the Phoenix Suns (Mwinog2777/Wikimedia Commons).

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A season that began with so much promise appears headed downhill and fast for the Phoenix Suns. In a span of nine days, starting in late December, the Suns fell to the 76ers, lost Eric Bledsoe for the season, fired their top two assistants, surrendered 142 points to the Kings and scored just 77 points in a loss to the Lakers. With Bledsoe out for the season, Markieff Morris clearly wanting out of town and Tyson Chandler not fitting in, things are likely to get worse before they get better. Andrew Lynch, NBA coordinator at Fox Sports, helps us sort it all out. Some of the highlights of our talk can be found below:

5:13 – 6:26: On why the Suns’ defense has struggled: “Strong-side pressure defenses require that everyone be on the same page. You don’t necessarily need five above-average defenders. You need guys making above-average decisions…(guys) who are in the right places, who are not cheating outside of the system…and frankly Phoenix (doesn’t) have that. (With) Tyson Chandler…the hope was that he would help with the communication on that, …(but) he doesn’t necessarily have the experience in this system that will lend itself to telling guys where they need to be at all times…You need someone like Bledsoe at the point of attack…putting pressure on the ball…to force the issue when an offense is trying to get into (its) primary actions…Guys aren’t communicating well, and when they aren’t communicating, they aren’t necessarily in the right spots.”

Beantown Basketball Banter and the East No Longer the Least

January 3, 2016 / Loren Chen / 0 Comments

Avery Bradley's development has been a big part of Boston's success this season (Mark Runyon/BasketballSchedule.net)

Avery Bradley’s development has been a huge part of Boston’s success this season (Mark Runyon/BasketballSchedule.net).

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Following Loren’s interview with Red’s Army’s John Karalis earlier in the week, the boys are back together serving up Beantown basketball banter. Among the appetizing topics on the menu are Jared Sullinger’s beastly rebounding, Marcus Smart’s return from injury and the Celtics’ chances of representing the Eastern Conference in the NBA Finals. Speaking of the East, what is this parity madness? Are Eastern teams really as good as the Western Conference squads all of a sudden? In the final segment of the episode, our co-hosts make sense of this surprising dynamic and discuss its importance to the league.

Music: “Who Likes to Party?” by Kevin MacLeod

John Karalis: Coach Brad “Stevens’ (Preparation) Is at Another Level” for Celtics

December 30, 2015 / Loren Chen / 0 Comments

John Karalis (right) alongside the statue of Bill Russell in Boston’s City Hall Plaza

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Danny Ainge and the youthful Boston Celtics are a fascinating study in team-building. On this week’s exhilarating interview episode, Loren is solo with Red’s Army’s John Karalis for a discussion of the Leprechauns’ current and future. Are they contenders or pretenders in the East? Among a number of topics, John explores in great detail the emergence of Jae Crowder, Isaiah Thomas’ adjustment to his starting role, team synergy and Brad Stevens’ superb coaching. Delectable sound bites can be found below:

3:38-4:13: “I still worry about them in the playoffs. I don’t think they have the type of makeup that will be a very successful playoff team, because rotations shrink, the game slows…it just becomes about talent overcoming other talent. So they’ve got enough to win a first-round series. I wonder how they’ll do in the later rounds, because they don’t have that one takeover guy.”

4:17-4:54: “When Isaiah Thomas gets into hero mode, then the Celtics tend to have a little bit of a problem. It’s his greatest strength but his greatest weakness, because it’s that chip on his shoulder that makes him play so well at his size with his flaws, but when the game gets down to the last couple of minutes and the Celtics are down two or three, sometimes I think he plays a little outside of himself…and eliminates the ball movement that makes the Celtics so good.”

Hasseltine: Amid Randolph Decline, a “Lot More on Marc Gasol’s Shoulders”

December 23, 2015 / Loren Chen / 0 Comments

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Although the Memphis Grizzlies find themselves better than .500, they’ve struggled to beat the league’s upper-echelon teams. Grizzlies radio play-by-play announcer Eric Hasseltine joins the show to discuss Memphis’ early struggles, caused primarily by uncharacteristically poor defense and a lack of perimeter shooting. With Zach Randolph really showing his age and Mike Conley Jr. starting slow, Eric believes Marc Gasol needs to consistently be aggressive for this team to succeed. Many other fascinating topics are discussed, including Mario Chalmers’ impact, these juicy bites below and much more:

6:40-8:00: On why the Grizzlies have struggled: “They feel like their defense can get better. They’ve certainly faced some of the elite teams right off the bat. They’ve played Golden State twice, San Antonio twice, Dallas twice, Oklahoma City twice, the Clippers and the Rockets twice. They haven’t faced the teams that you’d think you can pile up wins on. Nonetheless, they’ve got to do a better job against the good teams. They’re not trusting each other the way they used to. Their offensive sets are not crisp…not solid when they’re moving the ball, so they don’t get a bucket, and then they give up a bucket. Next thing you know, you’re down six, eight points. Now you’re gonna press offensively…and that puts a lot of pressure on the defensive end.”

9:45-10:35: On the need for Marc Gasol’s leadership: “Some nights, he is uber-aggressive and wants to be the lead dog…other nights he’s so team-oriented that he feels like he needs to get other guys involved. When Marc catches, turns, and shoots from 17, 18 feet…it’s hard to stop him. When he does that on a regular basis, it makes teams have to come out on him. But Marc is so basketball savvy and team-oriented that he doesn’t want it to be all about him. The problem is (Memphis has) paid him to be one of those guys…He’s learning how to be that guy, because he’s never been in his career. It’s always been a 1-2-3 punch of Randolph, Gasol and Conley sharing those duties. Now it’s a lot more on Marc’s shoulders. I think he’s ready and willing to take that on.”

Author: Loren Chen (Page 8 of 9)

Orlando’s Sudden Demise and the Near All-Stars We Won’t Call “Snubs”

Zach Oliver: The Magic “Just Lock Up” in Close Games Down the Stretch

Raptors All-Stars, Bye Bye Blatt and J-Smoove on the Move

Holly Mackenzie: Raptors’ DeMar DeRozan’s “Been Crazy at Driving to the Basket”

Midseason Awards Starring Porzingis, Towns, Popovich and McCollum

Faudree on Nuggets: “[Gallinari] Should Be in Their Future Plans”

Andrew Lynch: Suns “Have to Cut Bait With Markieff (Morris)”

Beantown Basketball Banter and the East No Longer the Least

John Karalis: Coach Brad “Stevens’ (Preparation) Is at Another Level” for Celtics

Hasseltine: Amid Randolph Decline, a “Lot More on Marc Gasol’s Shoulders”

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