From 30,000 Feet: A Few of My Favorite YouTube Videos

Greetings all,

I'm currently aboard American Airlines Flight 290 service to New York, New York to visit my sister. So what better time to crank out a quick blog post? I really wish the 280lb behemoth next to me in seat 25B had bought two seats to accommodate his heftiness. I also hope he isn't peering over my shoulder reading this. 

On to more pertinent matters. The invention and subsequent growth of YouTube has brought every relevant (and wildly irrelevant) sports moment to the palm of your hand. Below I've compiled some of my favorite clips.

Kevin Durant's First Visit to Rucker Park

Three years ago, the NBA lockout prevented players from training in team facilities until an agreement was reached between the NBA owners and the Player's Association on a new CBA. As a result, Kevin Durant (and many others) had to find alternate ways to stay in playing shape. Fortunately for us, KD35 took his wet jumper to Rucker Park in August 2011. Since its inception, Harlem's renowned Rucker Park has played host to streetball legends and NBA Hall of Famers alike. Quick tangent: Joakim Noah, per Wiki, visited Rucker Park back in 2006. I love Noah as a player, but how exactly does he put on a show at Rucker? By relentlessly attacking the offensive glass or berating his teammates for missing a defensive rotation? Who knows. Finishing with 66 points (record is 74), Durant had an out-of-body experience as he buried deep 3s on 4 consecutive possessions. He shut the place down with the fourth as the crowd mobbed him at mid-court. With no thanks to the ghetto fabulous dawg MC-ing the game, this video is awesome even for non-KD apologists.

Aquille Carr HoopMixtape

Generously listed at 5'7, Aquille Carr stars in one of the more entertaining hoopmixtapes on YouTube. Carr had initially committed to Seton Hall, but last-minute decided to play overseas in 2012. Carr's gravity-defying ability to change direction on a dime has had more than his hometown of Baltimore buzzing. To me, more impressive than his ankle-breaking handles, are the few blocked shots in the reel in which he meets much taller players at the rim. Aquille Carr may not get a shot in the NBA, but he should be able to make a healthy living playing basketball--somewhere. I'll forever remember his entertaining, hood-rat style. You do you, Aquille.

Trey Burke The Shot

I was at this game, sitting right behind the media in the front row on the baseline. I recognized the two guys in front of me as the main contributors to UMhoops.com, a blog I have followed religiously since 2007-2008. As the Kansas lead swelled to 14 with less than 7 minutes remaining, I saw them booking a return flight home to Detroit. The writing was on the wall. And then it wasn't. Michigan cruelly roped me back in after I had nearly accepted defeat by chipping away at the deficit. Miraculously, Michigan found itself in a dogfight in the final minute. Kansas guard Elijah Johnson, who purposely punched Mitch McGary in the balls earlier in the game, stepped to the line for a 1-and-1 with 12.6 seconds remaining. Karmically, he missed. Then it happened. In a state of euphoria, I think I blacked out in the immediate aftermath of "The Shot" (Yes, I'm fully aware I'm one of roughly 18 people in the world who refer to this play as "The Shot"). When I gathered my wits I was jumping uncontrollably while violently yanking on the shirts of Joe and Dylan from UMHoops. A security guard then threatened to remove me from the stadium if I touch a media row member again. Whatever you want, officer. Then Michigan tore through the bracket to the 'ship where...let's not talk about that.

ESPN SportsCenter Images of the Decade

My all-time favorite video. It combines everything we love about sports: utter despair, jubilation, and the element of "You Literally Cannot  Make This Shit Up." It also incorporates noteworthy cultural events like 9/11 and Hurricane Katrina, both of which undoubtedly had an affect on the sports world. This video production itself is a reminder that ESPN is not the World Wide Leader on accident. An underrated cool thing about the video: the lyrics to the song (Clocks by Coldplay for any of you noobs) is synced to describe what is unfolding on the screen. Not sure how else I can do this video justice, but if you are only interested in watching only one of the above clips, please make it this one. 

2014 NBA Draft Recall

This sports summer has been busier than most: the World Cup, wild NBA Free Agency, and Baseball Tonight weeknights on ESPN2. Perhaps the last one was a stretch, but arguably the most loaded NBA Draft in this millennium has quickly fallen by the wayside, outside of NBA circles. For that is why I have rehashed a few of my favorite (likes) and least favorite (yikes) picks of the 2014 NBA Draft. Enjoy


Likes

Kyle Anderson (SF) -- San Antonio Spurs -- 30th Overall -- UCLA

Is there any conceivable way a guy nicknamed "Slow Mo" wouldn't end up in San Antonio? Rangy and methodical, Anderson, a point-forward in essence, was the primary ball-handler on a top 20 squad. Does he project to be a primary ball-handler in the NBA? No, probably not, but he has excellent vision and a solid handle at his height (6'8). I'm not sure a player's style fits the team by whom he was drafted better than Anderson and San Antonio. Anderson is Boris Diaw thirty pounds ago. And I thought Boris Diaw should have won 2014 Finals MVP -- so it's readily apparent that the Spurs value a small-ball 4 who can pass and stretch the floor. Would you be surprised if Anderson was running a Hi-Lo post set with a 48 year old Tim Duncan in the 2024 NBA Finals? Don't rule it out.

Bottom Line: Anderson is indeed a project; but there is simply no better place to hone his particular skill-set than in San Antonio. I expect him to become a reliable (at least) three point shooter, and his unselfishness should manifest itself in an offense predicated on passing.



Julius Randle (PF) -- Los Angeles Lakers -- 7th Overall -- Kentucky

Randle is a walking, eating, and shitting double-double; he led the nation with 24 of them. Some perspective:  right now, he may have the best motor of any front-court player in the NBA, with the exception of Kenneth Faried. At 6'9 250, he won't be able to consistently bludgeon NBA power forwards into submission like he did at Kentucky, but his 7'0 wingspan allows him to alter his release-point and get the ball on the cylinder from unconventional angles. And there is nothing cataclysmically wrong with his jumper, so with some time, I expect him to be a serviceable mid-range shooter (Kobe will ensure this happens).

Bottom Line: The Lakers' selection will yield immediate help on the glass, and has the potential to blossom into a formidable shooter and back-to-the-basket threat.

James Young (SG/SF) -- Boston Celtics -- 17th Overall -- Kentucky

Like Randle, Young: is left-handed, left Kentucky after a productive freshman year, and has a 7'0 wingspan. Wait, what? 6'6 James Young has freakishly long arms. His 34% 3-point shooting is somewhat disappointing given his silky smooth release. But Young is one of those guys who seemingly always buries a 3 when his team is a) trying to thwart an opponent's run or b) stuck in neutral on offense. He definitely needs to tighten up his handle so he can do more of this. Let's remember that this dude is 18 (!) and doesn't turn 19 until mid-August.

Bottom Line: At the very least, the Celtics gained an athletic wing who can guard two positions, but I think his ability to stretch the floor on offense will be his calling card. He's a piece of the rebuilding puzzle.



Yikes

Nik Stauskas (SG) -- Sacramento Kings -- 8th Overall -- Michigan

For those of you who don't know, I follow Michigan basketball rather closely. So I wasn't thrilled  to see Stauskas was heading to the black hole of basketball; a place where promising young talent self-combusts due to the lack of organizational structure, among other things. But will I buy a heinous purple #10 Stauskas jersey as soon as it hits the shelves? Absolutely. Anywho, Stauskas is a dead-eye shorter who is vastly underrated as a passer and in pick-and-roll situations. He's basically an offensive juggernaut, but his defensive ability leaves much to be desired. And that last sentence is applicable to about 5 other players on their roster -- not good. So while the Kings gained another guy who can get buckets, their DRtg will remain in the bottom third of the league next year. That ain't gonna cut it in the absurdly loaded Western Conference. Couple that with the fact that the Kings are (seemingly) giving up  on Ben McLemore after only his rookie season, and you have yourself a boneheaded selection.

Bottom Line: I just wrote a paragraph about how the Kings are a crappy franchise in case Stauskas doesn't pan out as a player because I'm a homer. In all seriousness, Stauskas thrived in a Princeton-style motion offense at Michigan; he will see nothing like that in Sacremento. He also doesn't satisfy a team positional need.

Zach LaVine (SG) -- Minnesota Timberwolves -- 13th Overall -- UCLA

After NBA Commissioner Adam Silver called his name on draft night, cameras caught LaVine appearing to mouth the words "F__k me". While we'll never know for certain whether his intent was exaltation or despair, I prefer the latter. After all, "F__k me" was probably the first thought that popped into the heads of the last ten Minnesota draft picks; only LaVine was dumb enough to actually mouth the words on national television. LaVine is an intriguing prospect, though; he showed out at the NBA Combine with a 42" vertical. He's 6'6, the ideal height for NBA shooting guards, and he wields a compact and mechanically sound jumper. So why did he score under 9.7 points per game in, on average, 24 minutes of action? I have no idea, but I think LaVine was a reach for a team that simply cannot afford to swing and miss in the lottery.

Bottom Line: LaVine has all the physical tools to be a starting NBA shooting guard, but as we've seen too many times, those blessed with his extraordinary ability are the ones who rest on their laurels and fizzle out within a few years . I hope I'm wrong.