Bear Down Wildcats

Lonzo Ball wonders if his father's Big Baller Brand shoes caused his career-threatening knee injuries

Ball wore the shoes, which were the creation of his father, LaVar Ball, during his rookie season

https://www.cbssports.com/nba/news/lonz ... e-injuries


In a revealing interview with ESPN, Ball admitted that he wonders whether the Big Baller Brand shoes that his father created and essentially forced Lonzo's feet into were actually the culprit behind at least the start of his knee problems. Ball described the initial version of the Big Baller Brand shoes as "like kickball shoes."

From ESPN:

Did Lonzo actually want to wear Big Baller Brand shoes?

"I was an Adidas kid since high school, so I was thinking that was going to be the route," Ball said. "But what was told to me, I guess, wasn't what really happened. I was told that nobody wanted to partner with me, so my dad was like, 'Just rock the brand.' And I was like, 'All right.'"

The problem, Ball said, was that the first shoes his dad had made for him to wear at NBA summer league in 2017 were unwearable.

"They were like kickball shoes," Ball said. He wore them just twice that summer. He and his manager, Darren Moore, went out to Foot Locker stores in Las Vegas to buy a different pair of high-end shoes for each game. Ball played one game each in the Air Jordan XXXI, Nike Kobe A.D., Adidas Harden LS and Under Armour Curry 4 en route to winning summer league MVP.

Eventually, Big Baller Brand set up an arrangement with Skechers to manufacture its shoes, which Ball wore for his entire rookie season. But Ball said he wasn't happy with those shoes either and believes they could have contributed to the first meniscus injury he suffered as a rookie in January 2018.

"I think it's a possibility for sure, to be honest with you," Ball said. "I wasn't really getting hurt like that until I started wearing them."

Spurs coach Gregg Popovich shares health update for first time since stroke, no timetable for his return

https://www.cbssports.com/nba/news/spur ... his-return


San Antonio Spurs coach Gregg Popovich shared a public statement for the first time since suffering a stroke on Nov. 2. Popovich has been away from the team since the medical incident, and there is still no timeline for his return to the sidelines.

Here's Popovich's statement, which was released by the Spurs on Monday afternoon:

"This has certainly been an unexpected six weeks for my family and me. As we work together on my recovery, I want to take a moment to share that the outpouring of support we've received has been truly overwhelming in the best possible way. While I wish I could get back to each one of you, for now, let me say that my family and I are forever grateful. We're thankful for our wonderful community, the entire Spurs organization, and our family and friends.

No one is more excited to see me return to the bench than the talented individuals who have been leading my rehabilitation process. They've quickly learned that I'm less than coachable."

In the absence of Popovich, Spurs assistant coach Mitch Johnson has been elevated to interim head coach. He's led the Spurs to an 11-10 record during that span.

I am really honestly surprised that more head coaches don't have serious health issues.

Just the constant stress of working 60-70 work weeks during the season and almost that off season, thinking more of college coaches who has to deal with recruiting.

Of course alcoholism is a big issue, RichRod, Sumlin, Miller, all big drinkers.

Anyone else noticing the recent groundswell of coverage on the NBA's poor ratings so far this season?

This article weighs the most cited reasons for blame:

1. The 82-game regular season is too long

2. NBA stars are not on the court often enough

3. The pace-and-space era makes for boring basketball

4.The best players and teams are less captivating than previous eras

5. It is harder to watch the NBA than ever before

6. Media coverage of the NBA is actively working against it

7. The league and its players are too ‘woke’ and focused on social justice issues

#5 is easily the biggest reason.

Does anyone know how to watch even half their favorite team’s games?

Did NFL fans really stop watching football when the NFL went woke? Never bought the woke argument.

Gotta agree with Chi and #5. When I had satellite TV, I used to watch the Lakers when Luke Walton was playing for them. Not on a regular basis, just channel surfing. Now I have no idea how to watch the Lakers since I cut the cord.

And like Magic said, he hated Bird with a passion, and anyone who was on the Celtics. Magic said teams don't hate each other any more.

Just like the golden age of boxing (Ali, Frazier...) has passed maybe so has the golden age of the NBA.

Even casual fans knew most players on the Celtics and Lakers during that era.

Here in Phoenix it's actually gotten easier as the games that aren't picked up by a cable channel are on Channel 3 over the air for free.

https://bsky.app/profile/mcuban.bsky.so ... tq4sbubc2d

Mark Cuban
‪@mcuban.bsky.social‬
The NBA doesn't have a 3 pt shot problem.

3's have skyrocketed this yr because it's the most protected shot.

Inside the 3 line, there can be all kinds of contact.
Outside the 3 line, you can't even be in the "landing zone", and most guys just fly by to contest.

Of course there are more 3s

As someone who watches a lot of NBA, even I do not watch the first 3 quarters of most games because all the three pointers makes them pointless. Any team can win or lose a game in the 4th quarter regardless of the deficit if they go on a hot shooting quarter because there are 20 three's being shot a quarter. Also, it allows me to then pick and choose if I do want to watch a game or not at that time which is not good for ratings numbers.

Also I would not be surprised if NBA related views are way higher on things like tiktok and instagram if there was a way to quantify those, just going off the sample size of me and my three sons aged 13, 16 and 22 and their circle of friends all completely different types of people.

gronk4heisman wrote: Mon Dec 23, 2024 9:19 am As someone who watches a lot of NBA, even I do not watch the first 3 quarters of most games because all the three pointers makes them pointless. Any team can win or lose a game in the 4th quarter regardless of the deficit if they go on a hot shooting quarter because there are 20 three's being shot a quarter. Also, it allows me to then pick and choose if I do want to watch a game or not at that time which is not good for ratings numbers.

Also I would not be surprised if NBA related views are way higher on things like tiktok and instagram if there was a way to quantify those, just going off the sample size of me and my three sons aged 13, 16 and 22 and their circle of friends all completely different types of people.

What are good Instagram accounts to follow for nba content?

Chicat wrote: Sun Dec 22, 2024 11:28 am #5 is easily the biggest reason.

Does anyone know how to watch even half their favorite team’s games?

As someone who in the past made a habit of turning on the Lakers game to liven a quiet weeknight, I've now resorted to listening to their radio broadcasts on San Diego's affiliate while I half-focus on other activities. It was too much work to figure out which channel or access pass or illegal stream I needed in order to watch the next Lakers game. And in Vegas, I was surprised that Lakers home games were blacked out there too - a five hour drive away!

Another NBA development that started turning me off is the players don't seem to care. Why bother checking in on the Clippers when Kawhi Leonard hardly plays? Paul George seems more interested in hosting his podcast than resolving his injuries that continuously keep him on the Sixers bench.

In my 8th grade English Composition class our teacher assigned us speeches to write and deliver to the class. She emphasized how if you're not interested in the subject you're speaking to, your audience will pick up on your disinterest and will in turn lose interest in you. Increasingly tuned-out NBA audiences are mirroring the disinterest of the players.

Haven’t watched an NBA GAME n over a decade. Those guys take way to many nights off last time I watched. To hard to get behind a roster that is always changing. Sane reasons I am now souring on college sports. I have not watched a game (any football game) since we beat Houston. Watched a few of our basketball games but my viewing of college sports is about 85% off

By the way, the NFL just reported that local broadcast ratings are down for their games.

Doubt it’s because they went “woke”.

84Cat wrote: Mon Dec 23, 2024 9:54 am

gronk4heisman wrote: Mon Dec 23, 2024 9:19 am As someone who watches a lot of NBA, even I do not watch the first 3 quarters of most games because all the three pointers makes them pointless. Any team can win or lose a game in the 4th quarter regardless of the deficit if they go on a hot shooting quarter because there are 20 three's being shot a quarter. Also, it allows me to then pick and choose if I do want to watch a game or not at that time which is not good for ratings numbers.

Also I would not be surprised if NBA related views are way higher on things like tiktok and instagram if there was a way to quantify those, just going off the sample size of me and my three sons aged 13, 16 and 22 and their circle of friends all completely different types of people.

What are good Instagram accounts to follow for nba content?

I am not the person to ask since I don't use social media. I asked my 13 year old and all he provided was a mocking for asking about Instagram saying that's an old person app.

Injured already?


https://www.cbssports.com/nba/news/anth ... irst-half/

Anthony Davis' Mavericks debut: Dallas star leaves with injury after historic first half
Davis suffered a non-contact injury and was holding his groin area as he walked off the court

UAdevil wrote: Sat Feb 08, 2025 4:23 pm Injured already?


https://www.cbssports.com/nba/news/anth ... irst-half/

Anthony Davis' Mavericks debut: Dallas star leaves with injury after historic first half
Davis suffered a non-contact injury and was holding his groin area as he walked off the court

Anyone that has followed the Lakers is not at all surprised.

AD is extremely talented but also extremely injury prone.

Living up to his Charles Barkley nickname: Street Clothes

Imagine trading Luka Doncic because you are worried his conditioning won't age well and you aren't sure he will be healthy and focusing on replacing him with good old reliable Anthony Davis.

EastCoastCat wrote: Sat Feb 08, 2025 4:37 pm

UAdevil wrote: Sat Feb 08, 2025 4:23 pm Injured already?


https://www.cbssports.com/nba/news/anth ... irst-half/

Anthony Davis' Mavericks debut: Dallas star leaves with injury after historic first half
Davis suffered a non-contact injury and was holding his groin area as he walked off the court

Anyone that has followed the Lakers is not at all surprised.

AD is extremely talented but also extremely injury prone.

Like I said…

Understandably Mavs fans aren't happy, but are there THAT many Mavs fans to justify this level of coordination against the team? Evidently yes. From what I've seen of the Metroplex, their sports focus is like Denver's where they'll pay enough attention to their NBA team when in the playoffs, but otherwise it's all about the NFL team, even in the offseason.

Testes. Testes.

Bye bye coaching career

Mavericks assistant coach Darrell Armstrong charged with aggravated assault with deadly weapon, per report

Armstrong allegedly hit a woman with a gun and threatened to shoot her during an argument, according to the Dallas Police Department.

https://www.cbssports.com/nba/news/mave ... er-report/

LeBron passed 50,000 career points last night

And Lakers are 2nd in the West.

All of a sudden a title doesn’t seem out of the realm of possibility and all it took was completely fleecing the Mavs.

Speaking of the Mavs, what a disaster.

Mavs fans must be on suicide watch, or gathering their pitchforks.

UAdevil wrote: Sat Mar 08, 2025 11:23 am Mavs fans must be on suicide watch, or gathering their pitchforks.

Supposedly Coop wants to play with Wemby.

I'm honestly surprised that it doesn't look like Mavs fans are getting over the Luka trade anytime soon. Not because it wasn't an awful trade for Dallas to initiate - Mavs fans are right about that - but because I didn't think the Mavs were much of a fanbase. I underestimated them.

From CNN: How trading Luka Dončić led to one of the bleakest stretches for any fanbase in modern sports history:

"At 12:12 a.m. ET on February 2, ESPN’s Shams Charnia posted on X that Luka Dončić – the Mavericks’ 25-year-old megastar who was expected to be the cornerstone of their franchise for the next decade or more – was being traded to the Los Angeles Lakers. The news stunned a city."

“I woke up at like three in the morning and just saw a notification on my phone and rolled over and looked at it and said, ‘Oh my gosh!’” Dallas fan John Tarrant told CNN Sports. “Of course, that scared my wife … she goes, ‘What’s wrong?’ I said, ‘The Mavs traded Luka!’ And I think she rolled over and went back to sleep.”

"When he had to share the news with his boys in the morning – their favorite player, whose numbers they wear on their own basketball jerseys and whose pennants adorn their walls – they were in disbelief."

To see how Dallas fans are still gathering to protest by the hundreds outside the arena, are chanting "Fire Nico!" at every home game, and welcomed back Luka with open arms last night, airing a tribute video and cheering on his performance - I didn't expect this much of a backlash, but I agree with them.

A standing ovation for an opposing player (who hasn’t hit some kind of milestone of course) is as much a celebration of that player as it is a denunciation of your home team.

Chicat wrote: Thu Apr 10, 2025 8:47 am A standing ovation for an opposing player (who hasn’t hit some kind of milestone of course) is as much a celebration of that player as it is a denunciation of your home team.

The cheers of "Fire Nico!!" were more of the latter.

https://www.tmz.com/2025/04/18/gregg-po ... ambulance/

Gregg Popovich Suffers Medical Emergency At Restaurant ... Taken In Ambulance

Happened at Ruth's Chris.

dovecanyoncat wrote: Fri Apr 18, 2025 6:59 pm Happened at Ruth's Chris.

I wouldn't complain if that was my last meal.

UAEebs86 wrote: Fri Apr 18, 2025 8:20 pm

dovecanyoncat wrote: Fri Apr 18, 2025 6:59 pm Happened at Ruth's Chris.

I wouldn't complain if that was my last meal.

In San Antonio we frequented a seafood place near where Pop lived and where he would take the team for meals. His love of food and wine was legendary, and the guy we knew who managed the place was an ATM grad and a Wildcat MBB fan. I would have picked Silo for Pop's last meal over a steakhouse.

Did the Grizzlies know they had a game today?

They sure Coog'd one tonight.

dovecanyoncat wrote: Thu Apr 24, 2025 9:26 pm They sure Coog'd one tonight.

I think they were up by 163 at one point.

When you fire your coach midseason because he did not focus your team around one player enough and that one player goes down, stuff like that happens.

TJ with a good game: 70% from the field; 50% from 3; played 22 minutes. Steady Eddie.

Someone needs to tell the Heat they're actually in a real game

Knicks Coogin' the 4th quarter.

Wow, 27 to 12. This is going down to the wire

Now the Pistons are cougin it

Knicks survive, peace out Detroit

dovecanyoncat wrote: Thu May 01, 2025 7:08 pm Knicks Coogin' the 4th quarter.

Pistons - hold my beer

Brunson got big balls, but man he shoots a shit ton.

Game 7 on deck for Denver.