Spaceman Spiff

I didn't like the first Cloverfield at all, but I greatly enjoyed 10 Cloverfield Lane. The two films couldn't be more different.

 

Last movie I saw was Suicide Squad and it was craaaaaaaaaaap. No better than a 3/10. Definitely in the bottom tier of superhero films and there are lots of bad ones.

Alright, why didn't you like Suicide Squad?

Finished it earlier this evening. Those last two shows... It hits the fan.

Yeah, it really does....

I blitzed through the Netflix series "Last Chance U" over the past three days.  Really enjoyed it.

It chronicles the 2015 season of Juco east Mississippi football team...basically the main reasons that guys play there are because they burned out at a big program or couldn't get the grades to attend one in a first place.  LeGarrette Blount went there.

They're the dominant Juco football team in the country I think they won the national championship there the year previously.  It focuses on a few of the key players, most notably John Franklin III who was at FSU and went there to prove that he could play and catch on with another DI school.  

You know that big ass brawl that occurred last October?  That was this school.  The last two episodes deal with all the circumstances surrounding it before and after.  It's fascinating.  

It's heartbreaking and heartwarming.  Frustrating and funny.  Can't recommend it enough, it's shot beautifully.  

I watched The Seven Five documentary for about the billionth time this past weekend.  Always gets an A from me.  If you like true crime stuff, if you like Cocaine Cowboys, you need to watch it.  Corrupt NYC cops in the 80's.

I just watched Captain Phillips today.  If you've got Apple TV they've got a great deal this month where you can buy a movie on the iTunes store for 5 bucks, they have a different one featured each day.  They've had some stuff that I haven't been interested in but Captain Phillips is up there today and I jumped all over it.

Awesome, I give it an A-.  Gripping from beginning to end, doesn't waste any time in getting to the action.  Hanks is great as usual, the guys playing the Somali pirates were great too.  

I just finished the second episode and it's definitely caught my interest.  Also season 2 of Between (another netflix original) is out.  Only 6 episodes per season though.  

I really like it, it has a bit of a Goonie's vibe with the kids, it's got some other nostalgic feels too.  The acting is good, I think it captures the early 80s well.  I'm about six episodes in now, it's been good binge watching this weekend.  

This show called Stranger Things on Netflix is decent so far.  Takes place in 83, seems to be an homage to 80's thriller movies and creepy stuff.  

Career average is 7.5. Kinda low for someone who's spent his entire career playing next to Kevin Durant...

Right, but some of those years Durant was hurt.  Admittedly too lazy to figure out which ones they are.  He has shown he can distribute, though he's a shoot first PG.

What does this mean for Jimmy Butler?

I think Butler's still the man but it's a three guard system.  Rondo is as close to a pass first pg right now, it goes through Butler first then Wade.  I'm assuming Wade knows that it's Butler's team first.  They don't have anymore bigs so I'm assuming they're going to try to attempt some watered down version of what GSW did this year. 

He gets to go home, I guess that's what this accomplishes.  Chicago can compete in a weak East but it's still Cleveland's to lose.  

I don't mind Durant leaving, but I just don't think it looks good to go to the team that beat you.  People have made some good points in this thread about how Jordan, Bird, Magic, etc wouldn't switch teams because they couldn't....but I honestly don't think it'd occur to them to have done it even if they had the chance.  I can't imagine Jordan, at any point, going to Detroit to play with Isiah and Dumars and the rest.  

Durant wants to win, I get that....but he was damn close where he was.  They just got Oladipo who's a pretty good defender and decent scorer, Steven Adams developed pretty well in the playoffs and proved to be a pretty good player.  Dunno, I think he could have won in OKC eventually.  Wouldn't have been easy, but I think he could have done it.  

i am totally sympathetic to KDs desire to not have to spend his entire career with a ball-hog stat whore.

Ah, the ball-hog who somehow averaged 10.4 assists last year and averaged 11 in the playoffs.  

With this roster, their ceiling is the 5th seed, which is what we've been accustomed to in the Wall era. I'm very curious how Tomas' game translates to the nba.

But as far as grading Ernie, I'm going with a D. He couldn't get any higher than a C for not even getting a meeting with KD after making him his priority before any other GM did.

It's an F.

Two years setting up to get KD and not even a meeting was given.

Anything other then an F and you are kidding yourself.

Doesn't look like KD ever wanted to come here.  Hard to get a meeting with a guy when the guy isn't interested in playing here.  

Who the **** is Ian Mahimi?

Man, I feel bad for John Wall.  I really like that dude, I think he plays hard, seems like a class act.  He's going to waste his career here, he deserves so much better.

i don't watch the Wizards or the NBA like I used to but this is ****ing pathetic.  I've been pretty lenient on Ernie over the years because at one point he's helped assemble some of the winning teams we've had, but he's just completely **** the bed this time around.  

While some of you have been lamenting your time watching the new ID movie, I just finished up the Godfather a bit ago.  A+, nothing more needs to be said.  If you've got an Apple TV, they have it for 8 bucks.  It's been forever since I've seen it, what an amazing film.

When We Were Kings.  As a tribute to Ali, our local art house ran this 1996 documentary for a week.  It focuses on the build up to the fight between Ali and George Foreman in Zaire, Africa.

 

Ali is simply incredible to watch.  The footage of him is amazing.  It's easy to see how he became so much for so many.

 

One of my favorite sports docs.  I highly recommend it.

Where'd you find it?  I had the DVD awhile ago, I can't find it.  

After reading all of this, is it okay to give exactly no ****s?  I find it interesting but honestly I'm running out of ****s to give these days.  

Let me just throw some ideas out there:

FLexit

South Carolexit

Georgexit

Alabexit

Mississexit

Arkansexit

Texexit

Louisiexit

Arizexit

RG3exit 

Why limit it to southern states we like to make fun of?

In that case SouthernVAexit

The Jazz were not a great team. Stockton and Malone went to the finals after all the really strong Western Conference teams got old and disbanded. They got to the finals because they lasted the longest.

 

The Rockets would have gave the Bulls a matchup nightmare, but when I say great  I mean in the all time realm. The Rockets have never been in that convo.

 

The Bulls are the only team we remember from the 1990s.

 

 

Look at the 80s, Celtics, Lakers, and Sixers.

 

70s had the Knicks and Celtics teams.

If you're taking the Rockets out of the 1990s conversation then I'm taking out the Sixers of the 80s.  Very good, certainly.  The 1983 team kicked ass and swept the Lakers but got bounced from the playoffs early the next year.  They made back to back finals but only won it once.  When I think 80's basketball I think of the Lakers and Celtics, to be sure but I don't think about the Sixers.  If you're talking great 80s teams I'd put the Pistons ahead of the Sixers.

But if you're pointing to the prior two decades and saying that those decades had TWO great teams each and the 90s only had one...I don't see what the big deal is.  

Spiff, I ask this because I have thought about it many times. So bear with me. 

 

Did the teams really need a dominant center back then ? 

 

Seriously, Kareem was not dominant at that point of his career, Parrish was not, Laimbeer was not. 

Those guys were good defenders...not great all time defenders at that point of their careers. 

 

A big center is always great to have to clog up the lane, challenge shots, rebound. Scoring was put backs and dunks. The footwork made made them good, none of them were really that dominant at that point. Thus the reason the Lakers and Celtics needed good passers and shooters. Not to mention supplementary defenders. 

Kareem was still averaging 17.5 ppg as late as the 86-87 season.  He might not have been a dominant force on the boards but he was still a force to be reckoned with.  Parish was effective until about 1990.  Laimbeer wasn't ever the player those guys were on his best day but he was still effective as well.  He was certainly more productive than any center Jordan teamed up with.  IIRC, he did have a string of averaging double doubles for about 3 or 4 years in the mid to late 80's.  

IIRC, the Blazers didn't have a dominant big man the year they met the Bulls in the finals.  Same with the Suns.  However, Jordan had to get past an extremely physical Knicks team each year to get there.  I think the Knicks/Bulls matchups in the playoffs were often more exciting and bloodthirsty than anything in the Finals.  

While he was away the Rockets won with Hakeem, matching up against a young Shaq and Ewing.  Duncan and Robinson were at the end of the decade, too.  It still was a center driven league throughout the decade, IMO.  

So you're right, teams didn't HAVE to have a dominant center back then but it sure made things easier.  Centers on Jordan's teams were never better than the centers that they were matching up with.  

 The Bulls were the ONLY great team in the 1990s. Thats not hyperbole or dissing them, its just the real.

That's just dumb.  The Rockets went back to back and were a great team.  Utah Jazz made two consecutive trips to the finals to get nixed by Jordan.  At the tail end of the decade you had Duncan and Robinson teaming up to win a title for the Spurs.  

Team of the decade?  Absolutely.  The ONLY great team in the 90s?  Hardly.

Jordan also didn't get there several times. Is losing in the playoffs better than losing in the Finals? Jordan didn't make it out of the first round until his fourth season and couldn't get past Detroit 3 years in a row to get to the Finals. Jordan (after 7 years) finally got to the Finals to beat a recently diagnosed with HIV magic Johnson in the last year of his career. The competition for Jordan fell off when he took off. No more Magic or Bird. No more Detroit "Bad Boys". No other real superstars to play against. Charles Barkley, Karl Malone and Patrick Ewing, while all great players, we're the best he faced. I'm not saying LeBron is better, but he's playing in a different era, and his career is far from over. When it's all said and done, he could retire with as many or more championships, and already has more Finals appearances.

C'mon, Magic hadn't been diagnosed yet, that is completely inaccurate.  That season, he averaged 19.4 ppg, 12.5 apg and 7.0 rpg.  To act like Jordan beat a diminished Magic to win his first title isn't accurate at all.  Magic, that year, was the same age as LeBron is this year.  Definitely a veteran but by no means over the hill or unproductive.  That, and he finally beat the Pistons that year to get to the finals...they weren't as strong as they were in previous years but they were still formidable.

In the finals, he faced Barkley the year that Barkley won the MVP and faced Malone the year he won the MVP, too.  I'm not sure what your argument is here.  Barkley and Malone are two of the top 5 power forwards of all time.  

Jordan also did it in on teams with no center in an era where having a dominant center was completely crucial to winning it all.  Magic had Kareem, the Celtics had Parrish and the Pistons had Laimbeer...who wasn't in the same breath as the other two but was still better than anyone Jordan played with.  The years Jordan stepped away to play baseball, the league was dominated by Hakeem Olajuwon who faced Shaq and then Ewing in back to back finals.  The fact that Jordan won 6 rings without a dominant 7 footer in an era where dominant center play was pretty crucial to teams success is one of the things that never gets talked about.  

Clearly you never watched Bulls vs. Knicks in the playoffs, those were physical battles that we'll never see again.  To act like Jordan faced inferior competition during his title runs is such an off base argument it's not even funny.  He played in an era with harder defensive rules and less teams which means the teams were deeper.  

To those saying Kyrie is terrible shame on you, he won the game tonight. Warriors got exposed. The Cavs didn't even shoot well from three and still won. History made tonight by Cleveland! 73 win regular season will be forgotten.

He did, but I still hate watching him play.  So many dribble drives where he just doesn't even think about passing.

Someone shut Stephen A Smith the **** up.

I've always held a long suspicion that Ohio has insanely hot women and the girls in the background on Sportscenter right now aren't doing anything to dispel that thought.

And the "James>Jordan" tweets have already begun. My lord people live in the moment. I guess I just don't think we'll ever see another player as good as Jordan.

James is up there but Jordan never lost in the Finals.  Just didn't happen.

And thats what I said before the playoffs started. Gotta complete the season. GS is (now was) an all time calibre team, but from now until someone eventually ties it and wins a title, 73-9 will forever be known as an ultimately meaningless stat that will eventually be forgotten

That, and I think that Bulls team would have dismantled this Warriors team.  Granted the rules are different these days but I don't think it'd even matter.  Jordan or Pippen would lock down Steph...switching between him and Klay wouldn't be an issue.  Rodman would be so far inside Draymond's head and take him out of the game.

Golden State is a cute team and they shoot the ball well but they didn't have to play anyone truly mean and ruthless until these last few games.  You saw what happened when LeBron said ****it and started carrying the team.