Monthly Archives: June 2015

Basketball

RDT’s Notes about the 2015 NBA Draft

Arguably more than any other sport the NBA Draft can immediately change the short and long term fortunes of a team. In terms of success in any team sport, that #1 overall pick can single-handedly turn a perennial losing franchise into a NBA Championship contender (like the Cleveland Cavaliers). It only takes the right kind of talent to be in that #1 slot.

The 2015 NBA Draft seemed to have two “sure-things” and one who’s pretty close. I’m just going to jot down some notes here pick by pick.

1. Minnesota selects Karl Anthony-Towns. Is it strange I’m not super into this pick? Everything in the scouting report has written about a strong work ethic and a super high basketball IQ. A lot of the concern is how he’ll hold up playing 30-35 minutes per game, as that didn’t happen at Kentucky. I think he’ll ultimately be the 2nd best player in this draft, probably a 17-8 guy with three point range.

2. The Lakers select D’Angelo Russell. My pick for the best player in the draft. Comparisons to Penny Hardaway and Brandon Roy? That’s absolutely what’s needed in today’s NBA. Hopefully he comes a solid “big” point guard and not a Tyreke Evans type. I wanted him in NY at #4.

3. Jahlil Okafor was selected by the Sixers. I was big on Okafor for a while, but attitude concerns turned me off slightly. My guess he has the biggest chance of being a dud in this top three, considering the mess of the team he ended up on. I mean they can’t just get rid of Nerlens Noel. The Okafor pick might have been bpa, or it might have told us something about Joel Embiid.

4. My Knicks selected KRISTAPS. I usually have a thing for international players, so Kristaps works for me. Obviously I’m hoping for the next Nowitzki and not Bargnani…and I understand we’re more likely to get the latter. But let me be excited for once!

5. Orlando selected Super Mario Hezonja. I really hope we aren’t talking about how bad Kristaps over Super Mario is in a few years.

6. Kings picked Willie Cauley-Stein. I was really into him for defensive reasons.

7. Nuggets picked Emmanuel Mudiay. A good sleeper pick for best player in the draft honestly.

9. Hornets selected Frank Kaminsky. Apparently MJ passed on four lower first round picks from Boston for Kaminsky. I mean whoa. NBADraft.net actually compared him to Sean Marks. So I mean, that sounds like a disaster waiting to happen.

10. Especially since Miami got Justice Winslow. I don’t know if I’m really sold on him, but he sounds better than Kaminsky for sure.

12. Trey Lyles went to Utah. I liked the pick. Don’t know if he’ll be a star, but he should be a solid guy who maybe snags a few All-Star berths.

19. My Knicks picked Jerian Grant. Energy guard. Kinda guy where like if he’s your best player your team is probably like 26-56, but if he’s a 6th man he could hit a few shots to win you a game. I think I like him for now.

23. The Nets selected Rondae Hollis-Jefferson. Only making a note of this because the Nets traded him and Mason Plumlee for Steve Blake. In other words, LOL Nets. (I didn’t even realize Blake was still in the league at this point).

26. The Spurs took an international big man: Nikola Milutinov. I’m assuming he’s amazing because Spurs.

27. The Lakers look Larry Nance Jr. Nance got a fair bit of publicity this week as he apparently made a joke (not sure if it was intended to be a joke) about Kobe being a rapist. That’s gonna be awkward.

I don’t really know much about the 2nd round, although the Cavs got my favorite name in the draft: Rakeem Christmas.

Other (DC, Marvel, Disney etc.)

RDT Reviews Inside Out

There are some spoilers in this review, although I will try to avoid any big ones.

Over the years Pixar has done an exceptional job is relating their films, and more specifically, their characters to the audience. Inside Out is a perfect example of this Pixar specialty. The story is about the five emotions of a young girl named Riley, and how each emotion influences Riley’s memories and behaviors.

Our primary protagonist, Joy, is the emotion responsible for making Riley happy (duh). She’s the life of this film, always looking for the positive in every scenario, good or bad. When Riley moves from her perfect life in Minnesota to an unknown, unattractive life in San Francisco, those bad scenarios become the norm. Before Joy had complete control of Riley’s emotions. Now, Fear, Disgust, Anger, and most importantly, Sadness can’t help themselves in their influence of Riley, and Sadness especially seems to have a strong effect on Riley. Things go astray when Joy and Sadness both lose access to Riley’s controls, and it’s up to them to get back and steer Riley back on track.

The level of detail in Riley’s mind is visually beautiful and brilliant created. There’s a memory bank, a subconscious, a dream world even a literal train of thought (quite clever). It’s a smart movie that will make you wonder how you once forgot about your favorite toy or even remind you about those memories that strengthen your family ties or even career goals. You’ll wonder about those moments you became frustrated with your friends and how you made new ones. And the whole time you’ll wonder if it’s because your inner Anger took control, or if your inner Joy got stuck in a memory bank somewhere. Throughout the film, you’ll think of your friends and each emotion and wonder about them too. Children will relate to Riley. Parents will relate to Riley’s parents.

It’s worth noting that this movie is absolutely hilarious, with each character adding a certain flavor. Each character is memorable and the jokes lead to a good laugh every time.

If there’s one flaw in the film, it has to do with Joy. No doubt Joy is a great character and really what makes Inside Out work. But I can’t help but dislike a lot of Joy and Sadness’s interactions. It’s certainly not intended by the writers, but I did find Joy to come off as a bit of a bully to Sadness in two scenes specifically.

Still, that’s nitpicking. Everything else works great and it’s fantastic.

Pros:

+Great Story

+Vividly incredible visuals

+Great, memorable characters

+Relatable to the audience

+Absolutely hilarious

Cons:

-Great as she is, Joy can come off as a bit of a bully

Grade: A

Basketball

Top 100 Pro Basketball Players Ever: #100 – #91

See the tab at the top of this article to understand the process for these selections.

#100: Mark Price

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All-NBA 1st Team: 1x (‘93)

All-NBA 3rd Team: 3x (’89, ’92, ’94)

NBA All-Star: 4x (’89, ’92, ’93, ’94)

NBA Career WS/48: .158 (69th)

NBA Career Offensive Rating: 116 (28th)

Career FT%: 90.4% (2nd)

Simmons Pyramid Ranking (2010): Not Ranked

Slam Magazine 500 Ranking (2011): 155th

Mark Price could be considered the Steve Nash prototype for a series of entertaining Cavs teams in the late 80s-early 90s. Like Nash, Price’s Cavs teams would fall short, at best getting to the Conference Finals in 1992. The ’92 Cavs were quite competitive, finishing off Larry Bird’s career in the Semi-Finals and taking one of the better Jordan Bulls teams to six games in the Conference Finals. A familiar story for Price and the Cavs.

Twice Price’s Cavs won 57 games (in ’89 and ’92), yet both times were beaten by Jordan’s Bulls. Just add Price to the list of players denied a Championship by Jordan (they absolutely could have won in ’92).

Price had a great supporting cast: Brad Daugherty and Larry Nance, which also drew parallels to the late 2000s Suns with Nash, Amar’e and Marion. Mark Price was ahead of his time and would have ranked much higher on this list if his career lasted longer. He’s destined to miss this list in the future as guys like James Harden are destined to make it.

#99: Tom Chambers

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All-NBA 2nd Team: 2x (’89, ’90)

NBA All-Star Game MVP: 1x (’87)

NBA All-Star: 4x (’87, ’89, ’90, ’91)

Top 10 NBA Points: 3x (’87, ’89, ’90)

Role Player on one Runner-Up: 1993 Suns

Simmons Pyramid Ranking (2010): 96th

Slam Magazine 500 Ranking (2011): 120th

In a way, the power forward, Western Conference version of Mark Price. Chambers was a high volume, high scoring power forward who also couldn’t quite get to the finish line. In 1987, his Sonics got to the Conference Finals but fell to the Lakers. In 1989 he was with the Suns, got to the Conference Finals…and lost to the Lakers. In 1990, against Chambers’ Suns got to the Conference Finals but fell to the Trail Blazers. By the time the Suns got to the finals in ’93, Chambers was a role player as Charles Barkley had arrived and taken Phoenix to the next level.

Still, a solidly strong career for Chambers during a tough era for the NBA. Winning MVP in the 1987 All-Star Game, while only an All-Star Game, was impressive considering the stacked nature of the Western Conference team. He also had a 60 point game in 1990. Chambers’ only real detriment is that defensively he wasn’t much and Advanced Metrics aren’t too kind to him. But there are enough deep runs in the playoffs that he shouldn’t be discredited.

#98: Tim Hardaway

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All-NBA 1st Team: 1x (‘97)

All-NBA 2nd Team: 3x (’92, ’98, ’99)

All-NBA 3rd Team: 1x (’93)

All-NBA Rookie 1st Team: (’90)

NBA All-Star: 5x (’91, ’92, ’93, ’97, ‘98)

Top 10 NBA Points: 2x (’91, ’92)

Top 10 NBA Steals: 2x (’91, ’92)

Top 10 NBA Assists: 8x (’90, ’91, ’92, ’93, ’96, ’97, ’98, ’99)

Career NBA Assists: 14th

Simmons Pyramid Ranking (2010): Not Ranked

Slam Magazine 500 Ranking (2011): 87th

There are two sides to the Tim Hardaway story. The first half is the offensive side, the free wheeling Run TMC Warrior side. Hardaway was a fast point guard who was a key member and arguably the best player on some good early 90s Warrior teams. Unfortunately he then blew out is knee. He still came back strong and found himself in Miami after being traded.

This is where Hardaway lost his chance to become a top 50 guy. The Miami Heat were a solid team when Jordan was around, and became arguably the best team in the Eastern Conference after Jordan retired. The key word is arguably. Despite high seeding, the Heat constantly lost to the lower seeded New York Knicks and ruined any Championship runs Miami could have made. The Heat probably had one realistic crack at the Championship in the lock-out shortened 1999.

After the Heat upset the Knicks (after many players were suspended, allowing the Heat to come back down 3-1) in 1997, they were beaten by the Bulls. But, it looked like a sign of things to come. In 1998, the 2nd seeded Heat lost in five to the 7th seeded Knicks. Hardaway had a big series, but it wasn’t enough. In 1999 the Heat were the #1 seed in the East and the Knicks barely made the playoffs. This time Hardaway fell apart, being a major reason on why the Knicks pulled off the upset as Hardaway put up a 9 PPG, 6 APG, 27% shooting series. Hardaway proceeded to put up another stinker of a series in 2001, when both the Knicks and Heat were evenly matched, with a 8PPG, 5 APG, 29% shooting series. Had Hardaway come through in either of those series, perhaps Miami makes a Finals run. Once Alonzo Mourning has his kidney issues, the window had closed on Miami’s and Hardaway’s title hopes.

Can’t ignore his success obviously, but he could have had a better career for sure.

#97: Manu Ginobili

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NBA Sixth Man of the Year: 1x (’08)

All-NBA 3rd Team: 2x (’08, ’11)

All-NBA Rookie 2nd Team: (’03)

NBA All-Star: 2x (’05, ‘11)

2nd or 3rd Best Player on two Championship teams: ’05 Spurs, ’07 Spurs

Role Player on two Championship teams: ’03 Spurs, ’14 Spurs

Role Player on one Runner-Up: ’13 Spurs

Career Win Shares: 97.5 (86th)

Career WS/48: .202 (20th)

Best Player on 2004 Gold Metal Olympic Team

Simmons Pyramid Ranking (2010): Not Ranked

Slam Magazine 500 Ranking (2011): 143rd

Gets big credit for being one of the best Advanced Metrics players in the league as well as a key member for four of the Spurs titles. He was one of the best perimeter players throughout the mid 2000s, only the Spurs style often held him back. None the less, without him the Spurs don’t win all those championships.

It should be pointed out that Ginobili also led Argentina to the Gold Metal in 2004, the year the United States screwed it up with the terrible team they threw out there.

The limited minutes and injuries hurt Ginobili’s resume for sure, but at one time he was a dangerous perimeter player that could be counted on to win games. He’s probably the evolutionary Drazen Petrovic.

#96: Alonzo Mourning

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MVP Runner-Up: 1x (’99)

NBA Defensive Player of the Year: 2x (’99, ‘00)

All-NBA 1st Team: 1x (’99)

All-NBA 2nd Team: 1x (’00)

All-NBA Defensive 1st Team: 2x (’99, ’00)

All-NBA Rookie 1st Team: (’93)

NBA All-Star: 7x (’94, ’95, ’96, ’97, ’00, ’01, ‘02)

Role Player on one Championship Team: ’06 Heat

                   NBA Top 10 Rebounds: 1x (’99)                 

NBA Blocks Leader: 2x (’99, ’00)

NBA Top 10 Blocks: 10x (’93, ’94, ’95, ’96, ’97, ’99, ’00, ’02, ’06, ’07)

NBA Top 10 Win Shares: 2x (’99, ’00)

NBA Career Blocks: 11th

NBA Career WS/48: .166 (59th)

Simmons Pyramid Ranking (2010): Not Ranked

Slam Magazine 500 Ranking (2011): 73rd

Influenced from the great defensive centers of the late 80s and early 90s, especially good friend Patrick Ewing, Mourning was a great defensive center that couldn’t get his team to the finish line. Like teammate Tim Hardaway, Mourning couldn’t get the Heat past Ewing and the Knicks, and his career resume suffered as a result.

As good as Mourning was, being the MVP runner-up in 1999 seems strange in retrospect and also seemed like a slap in Tim Duncan’s face. Nonetheless, someone needed to take over the post-Jordan post-Shaq Eastern Conference and Mourning could have been that guy. Unfortunately, the losses to the Knicks combined with his kidney problems later in his career cut Mourning’s career as a top guy short. He also wasn’t quite as good as Shaq, and not as good as Olajuwon and Robinson before him, or even Mutombo. Mourning can be classified as very good and not great, and there’s nothing wrong with that.

Mourning does get some extra credit as he showed to be a great bench guy for the 2006 Heat.

#95: Dikembe Mutombo

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NBA Defensive Player of the Year: 4x (’95, ’97, ’98, ‘01)

All-NBA 2nd Team: 1x (’01)

All-NBA 3rd Team: 2x (’98, ’02)

All-NBA Defensive 1st Team: 3x (’97, ’98, ‘01)

All-NBA Defensive 2nd Team: 2x (’95, ’99)

All-NBA Rookie 1st Team: (’92)

NBA All-Star: 8x (’92, ’95, ’96, ’97, ’98, ’00, ’01, ’02)

2nd Best Player on one Runner-Up: ’01 Sixers

Role Player on one Runner-Up: ’03 Nets

NBA Rebounds Leader: 4x (’95, ’97, ’99, ‘00)

NBA Top 10 Rebounds: 11x (’92, ’93, ’94, ’95, ’96, ’97, ’98, ’99, ’00, ’01, ‘02)

NBA Blocks Leader: 5x (’94, ’95, ’96, ’97, ’98)

NBA Top 10 Blocks: 11x (’92, ’93, ’94, ’95, ’96, ’97, ’98, ’99, ’00, ’01, ’02)

Top 10 NBA Win Shares: 2x (’97, ’98)

NBA Top 10 Defensive Win Shares: 7x (’93, ’94, ’95, ’97, ’98, ’99, ’02)

Top 10 NBA WS/48: 1x (’99)

NBA Career Rebounds: 20th

NBA Career Blocks: 2nd

Simmons Pyramid Ranking (2010): Not Ranked

Slam Magazine 500 Ranking (2011): 95th

One of the all time great defensive players. Mutombo’s teams always seem to succeed no matter what role he was in. Mutombo showed up in Denver and led the Nuggets to the first #8 seed over a #1 seed in NBA playoff history when they beat the ’94 Sonics. He moved onto Atlanta where the Hawks are a regular Eastern Conference playoff team. He got sent to the Sixers, and provided the defensive anchor on the Allen Iverson-led Finals team. The Nets acquired him to try to slow down either Shaq or Duncan in the finals in 2003. Mutombo then provided solid bench minutes for the late 2000s Rockets, even anchoring a team that won 22 straight games in 2008. He went down in the 2009 playoffs, his body finally broke down in the 2009 playoffs, which was a shame as the Rockets also lost Yao Ming in those playoffs and still took the eventual NBA Champion ’09 Lakers to seven games.

It’s difficult to stress just how good Mutombo was defensively. He was a destructive force in the middle that blocked pretty much anything that came into the paint. If he was around five years later, his presence would have destroyed the slash and kick game. Mt. Mutombo’s defense alone led teams to the playoffs.

The only knock on Mutombo’s career is how Shaq dominated him in the 2001 Finals. If that goes differently, Mutombo is ranked a lot higher.

#94: Yao Ming

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All-NBA 2nd Team: 2x (’07, ‘09)

All-NBA 3rd Team: 3x (’04, ’06, ‘08)

All-NBA Rookie 1st Team: (’03)

NBA All-Star: 8x (’03, ’04, ’05, ’06, ’07, ’08, ’09, ‘11)

NBA Top 10 Rebounds: 1x (‘08)

NBA Top 10 Blocks: 2x (’05, ‘09)

Top 10 NBA Win Shares: 2x (’04, ‘09)

NBA Top 10 Defensive Win Shares: 2x (’05, ’09)

Top 10 NBA WS/48: 4x (’04, ’05, ’07, ‘09)

NBA Career WS/48: .200 (21st)

Simmons Pyramid Ranking (2010): Not Ranked

Slam Magazine 500 Ranking (2011): 154th

The case against Yao: only 486 games played and only got past Round 1 once.

That’s really it. Yao Ming’s career will always be one of the great injury what-ifs. He was a great player from the moment he got onto the court until the moment he got hurt in the 2009 Semi-Finals. The 2009 Semi-Finals itself is a great what-if, as the Lakers struggled against Yao and the series went seven even after Yao went down.

You can argue Grant Hill as a better injury what-if, but Yao’s Advanced Metrics put him over the top for me. It didn’t surprise me that Yao didn’t need Tracy McGrady to advance in the playoffs. Here’s what you got from Yao: 18-25 PPG, 8.5-10 RPG. Efficient offense. Practically no help except McGrady in big moments. And yet in 2009, Yao was ready to make the leap. Just a shame his body didn’t agree.

#93: Vince Carter

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NBA Rookie of the Year: 1999

All-NBA 2nd Team: 1x (‘01)

All-NBA 3rd Team: 1x (’00)

All-NBA Rookie 1st Team: (’99)

NBA All-Star: 8x (’00, ’01, ’02, ’03, ’04, ’05, ’06, ’07)

NBA Top 10 Points: 5x (’00, ’01, ’04, ’05, ’07)

NBA Top 10 Win Shares: 2x (’00, ’01)

NBA Top 10 WS/48: 1x (’01)

2nd in PER: 2001

NBA Career Points: 30th

NBA Career Three Pointers: 6th

Simmons Pyramid Ranking (2010): 89th

Slam Magazine 500 Ranking (2011): 99th

One of my least favorite players of all time mainly for two reasons: he was a massive disappointment considering he could have the best player in the league, and he embarrassingly gave up on the 2004 Raptors, which led to a trade to the New Jersey Nets.

The 1st part: Carter was an unstoppable force inside and the best in-game dunker perhaps in NBA history. He also became known for getting knocked down once and not going back inside as a result, as well as a multitude of what seemed to be ridiculous injuries. His nickname was Wince Carter. And while sometimes he was a great outside shooter, someone with his inside game shouldn’t be sixth all time in three pointers.

The 2nd part: 16 PPG, 3 RPG, 3 APG, 41% shooting in the first 20 games for Toronto in 2004. He gets traded to the Nets and puts this up: 27.5 PPG, 6 RPG, 5 APG, 46% FG. Jason Kidd isn’t that good. And if you need more proof, there’s an interview where he admits he didn’t always try hard. And you wonder why he gets booed in Toronto.

He only gets the jump on guys like Yao because as his career continues he became an effective role player for both Dallas and Memphis, and it did seem he finally realized he wasted a lot of his career. He also was unstoppable in 2001 for a Raptor team that absolutely could have made the Finals (Carter’s last second three in Game 7 just missed). Carter had a monster series in that one, with an opening 35 point game in Philly in game 1, a monster 50 point game in game 3 and a big 39 point game with the Raptors season on the line in game 6. Vince Carter was great for a short period of time, but he should have owned the league.

#92: Carmelo Anthony

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All-NBA 2nd Team: 2x (’10, ‘13)

All-NBA 3rd Team: 4x (’06, ’07, ’09, ‘12)

All-NBA Rookie 1st Team: (’04)

NBA All-Star: 8x (’07, ’08, ’10, ’11, ’12, ’13, ’14, ’15)

NBA Top 10 Points: 9x (’04, ’06, ’07, ’08, ’10, ’11, ’12, ’13, ‘14)

NBA PPG Leader: 1x (’13)

NBA Career Points: 39th

Simmons Pyramid Ranking (2010): Not Ranked

Slam Magazine 500 Ranking (2011): 105th

Carmelo may believe he’s just as good as LeBron and Wade, but he’s never elevated his game to win a Championship, only once getting close (in 2009, when he was gift wrapped Chauncey Billups). He’s failed to get past round one in the Western Conference every year he was there except 2009, went to the much easier Eastern Conference, and managed to win one playoff series in five years. He’s had Marcus Camby, Allen Iverson (slightly past his prime, but still more than enough as a 2nd scoring option easily), Billups and Andre Miller to help him.

Look, Carmelo’s on this list at this point as at times he can be an unstoppable scorer. But that’s really it. He’s a negative on defense. He clashes with coaches. He left Denver and Denver won 59 games the next season. His Advanced Metrics aren’t that good. He’s a one dimensional volume scorer. In today’s NBA, that just isn’t going to fly. After an injury plagued 2015, there’s a chance his prime might have passed him by.

He has a 62 point game and he can score. If he can either have an elite team surrounding him or he just gets his head in the game and improves, perhaps Melo can make a run.

#91: Kevin Johnson

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NBA Most Improved Player: 1989

All-NBA 2nd Team: 5x (’89, ’90, ’91, ’92, ‘94)

All-NBA 3rd Team: 1x (‘92)

NBA All-Star: 3x (’90, 91, ‘94)

NBA Top 10 Assists: 6x (’89, ’90, ’91, ’92, ’94, ‘97)

NBA Top 10 Steals: 1x (’91)

NBA Top 10 Win Shares: 2x (’89, ’91)

NBA Top 10 WS/48: 4x (’89, ’90, ’91, ’97)

NBA Career Assists: 19th

NBA Career APG: 9.1 (6th)

NBA Career Offensive Rating: 118.1 (11th)

NBA Career WS/48: .178 (41st)

Simmons Pyramid Ranking (2010): 93rd

Slam Magazine 500 Ranking (2011): 102nd

When he was healthy, one of the more unstoppable point guards in the league. The one time the Suns beat the Lakers in the playoffs, in 1990, KJ torched Magic and averaged a 22-6-11 in the series. KJ was an excellent offensive player who led along with Tom Chambers a very good Suns team every year.

Unfortunately, KJ wasn’t at his best when Charles Barkley arrived in 1993. His two awful games to start the 1993 NBA Finals probably cost the Suns the title (as much as being cost a title against a Jordan team could happen). KJ battled injuries for the next 4-5 years, but at least had a good ending in 1996 and 1997.

Pro Wrestling

RDT Reviews The 1993 WWF King of the Ring

WWF King of the Ring ‘93
June 13, 1993
Dayton, OH

The New Generation was hit with Hulkamania brother!

Hulk Hogan had “retired” at the conclusion of Wrestlemania VIII. After a top feud of Ric Flair vs. Randy Savage, Vince McMahon had Flair drop the World Title to Bret Hart. While Bret was a new face on top of the card, he had been an excellent IC and Tag Champion over the years. There weren’t any heels built for Bret to face off with, but Bret still carried the top title with pride and his match quality night in and night out proved he was worthy of being the Champion.

Who knows why the decision at Wrestlemania IX was made to have Bret drop the title to Yokozuna who then immediately dropped it to a returning Hogan. The crowd was hot for the finish, sure, but long term that was one of the worst the WWF had ever made. Unless of course, we were getting Hogan vs. Bret at Summerslam ’93. But first we’re getting Hogan vs. Yoko II. Bret will have to carry the PPV match quality wise…while Hogan has to “draw the money”, brother.

The Card

This is being billed as the first King of the Ring, but there were previous non-televised KOTRs before.

King of the Ring Qualifier: Bret Hart vs. Razor Ramon

This is a rematch from the ’93 Royal Rumble. Ramon had just began his program with The 1-2-3 Kid, which would lead to a face turn.

Razor was such a cool character. Really could have been a top guy in pretty much any era.

Razor definitely has heat…huge “1-2-3” chants.

Pretty awesome false finish where Bret tries for a backslide out of a Razor’s Edge, but then flips over Razor by using the turnbuckles and rolls Razor into a small package.

Bret Hart wins via pin in 10:25. Razor goes for a belly to back suplex off the top, but Bret turns in midair and lands on Razor for the 1-2-3. Good match that made Razor look really strong as he went toe to toe with Bret. Interesting to see a Bret match where he doesn’t go for the legs at all.

Man, I can’t believe they were building toward a Mr. Hughes vs. Undertaker program. I mean how dreadful does that sound?

King of the Ring Qualifier: Mr. Perfect vs. Mr. Hughes

This was Mr. Perfect’s short WWF comeback, but it wouldn’t last and he’d retire again shortly. He would be back in 1997 of course.

The role of selling for the monster is something Perfect was a master of…but this isn’t pretty to watch.

Ha. Bret gets asked who he would wrestle between these two. I mean, you think he laughed like hell before or after he answered Mr. Perfect?

Hughes crotches the 2nd rope and he sells it like he’s taking a shit. I think I’ve had enough.

Mr. Perfect wins in 6:02 by DQ. Hughes takes the urn and whacks Perfect for the DQ. I mean whatever really. This match can be best described as Mr. Perfect wrestling himself. But even then, it was better than it had any right to be. And we get Perfect vs. Bret II.

Mr. Fuji and Yokozuna interview. Trying to save face about Wrestlemania IX here. I don’t remember Yoko ever cutting English speaking promos though, so that was something.

King of the Ring Qualifier: Bam Bam Bigelow vs. Hacksaw Jim Duggan

One of the last WWF matches of Duggan’s early WWF run. He’d show up in WCW when Hogan did.

Match is built around whether or not Duggan can slam Bigelow or not. A small story is better than none I guess.

Duggan gets the slam…but the end would be near for him.

Bigelow wins via pin in 4:59. Duggan misses the 3 Point Stance clothesline, and Bigelow comes off the top with the headbutt to advance. Interestingly, if I were watching this without knowing the results I would have assumed Luger was coming from the other side of the bracket against Bret, but Luger vs Bigelow would be heel vs. heel, so either Tatanka was going over or something screwy was happening.

King of the Ring Qualifier: Tatanka vs. Lex Luger

Luger was still the Narcissist here (with awesome music). I assume if Bret were still champion and Hogan wasn’t around, Luger would be winning this tournament to face Bret at Summerslam.

Interestingly, both Luger and Tatanka were undefeated, so something had to give here.

Refs make Luger cover the metal plate in his arm with an elbow pad…which doesn’t make any sense, but it works.

This hasn’t been too bad. Luger still gave a shit at this point it seemed.

Only real complaint here: announcer’s pretty much give away the finish bringing up the time limit constantly.

Draw: Time Limit: Other complaint: Luger and Tatanka don’t really gain a sense of urgency as time ticks away. Luger gets big cheers asking for five more minutes. I wonder if Vince had the idea of turning him face at this point. Luger then whacks Tatanka without the elbowpad!

Match was a solid back and forth affair. They would have much worse matches later for sure. Anyway, this draw puts Bam Bam in the finals.

King of the Ring Semi-Finals: Bret Hart vs. Mr. Perfect

First, Bret and Perfect have a hilarious promo, which includes Bret saying Stu Hart beat Larry Hennig, and Perfect responding with “your dad never beat my dad”.

The commentators tell the story about Razor stomping on Bret’s hand in their earlier match. According to Bret’s book, this was to allow Bret to use three different finishes and give him an excuse not to use the Sharpshooter.

So far this match has been ahead of its time. Hard, crisp moves that remind me a bit of the Angle vs. Benoit series.

Ridiculously stiff European uppercut from Bret late in the match. What a match this has been.

Great psychology! Bret goes for the Sharpshooter and Perfect grabs Bret’s damaged hand!

Vertical suplex sends both men to the outside, which was a unique spot for sure.

Bret Hart wins via pin in 18:56. Perfect puts Bret in a Small Package…but Bret reverses into his own and wins! Amazing match, possibly the 1993 Match of the Year. Very similar to technical matches a decade later.

Hogan interview. The last in his WWF career for some nine years.

WWF Championship
Hulk Hogan© vs. Yokozuna

Whatever you think of Hogan’s drawing power at this point, the live crowd was still pretty hot for him.

This is the rematch from Wrestlemania IX.

Match starts off really slowly, with Yokozuna just beating on Hogan.

Hogan goes for the slam! But doesn’t get there.

Hogan no-selling a belly to belly isn’t exactly putting Yokozuna over here…

Yoko surviving the big legdrop though…that definitely is putting Yokozuna over.

Yokozuna wins the WWF Title by pin in 13:08. Hogan calls for a slam after Yoko kicks out of the legdrop…but is distracted by a camera man. The camera blows up in Hogan’s face, and Yoko hits a big legdrop of his own to finish off Hulkamania in the WWF until Hogan returned at No Way Out 2002.

Match is awful. Maybe it flew for 1986, but in 1993 Bret had shown the main event style was headed in another direction. He also didn’t put over Yokozuna clean either. I mean an exploding camera? Interestinly, Undertaker would do the whole surviving Yokozuna’s splashes and such better in 1994, although those matches had other problems. Crowd was very pro-Hogan for what it’s worth, which isn’t much at this point.

Yoko lands a Banzai Drop on Hogan to finish him for good.

We get an interview with the IC Champ Shawn Michaels. He names his new bodyguard Diesel here.

Money Inc. and The Headshrinkers vs. The Smokin’ Gunns and The Steiner Bros.

Seems like a thrown together match just to include the tag division.

The Gunns and Steiners win when Billy Gunn pinned Ted Dibiase in 6:49. Dibiase takes out Billy with the Million Dollar Dream, then cockily let’s go. Billy rolls him up for the win, which is a pretty lame finish. Probably done to get the Gunns over as Dibiase’s career was coming to a close anyway.

Yokozuna victory celebration!

WWF Intercontinental Championship
Shawn Michaels© vs. Crush

This was near the end of Crush’s good guy run. I never saw Crush as a money drawing top face, but some thought he should have gotten the run instead of Luger. I would disagree though.

Match started off okay with Crush hitting HBK with power moves and HBK selling them to death.

Match terrible slows down though when Diesel rams Crush into the post and HBK then locked in a headlock. Killed the match.

Shawn Michaels retains by pin in 11:14. Two Doinks show up and distract Crush, and HBK gets a superkick to the back of the head for the pin. A contender for HBK’s worst PPV match post-Rockers to be honest.

King of the Ring Finals: Bret Hart vs. Bam Bam Bigelow

The beginning of the match can be described as Bam Bam viciously kicks Bret Hart’s ass.

The middle of this match can be described as Bam Bam viciously kicks Bret Hart’s ass.

Luna Vachon gets a chair shot in, and Bigelow finishes Bret with the flying headbutt! A second referee comes in to say the match continues because of Luna’s interference. Weird moment there, as I mean, should Hogan have gotten a 2nd chance earlier then?

Bigelow STILL kicks Bret’s ass, and to be honest it’s pretty awesome.

Bret makes his comeback and we get a great back and forth.

Bret Hart wins King of the Ring via pin in 18:11. Bret gets the victory roll for the win. A tremendous big man vs. little man match. Shockingly, there was no Bigelow vs. Hart program afterwards (makes sense with the screwjob finish in the middle), but Bigelow went nowhere after this. Don’t you think Taker vs. Bigelow makes more sense than Hughes vs. Taker? Come on now.

Jerry Lawler attacks Bret during Bret’s coronation, legit injuring Bret’s ribs. Lawler even throws the throne chair at him. Great heel stuff from Lawler as the PPV ends.

There’s a some great (Bret-Perfect) and a bunch of good (Bret everywhere else). There’s some historical significance here too with Hogan’s last WWF PPV for nine years and Diesel’s PPV debut. There’s a lot of bad too, showing that the WWF just didn’t have a deep talent roster at this point (Mr. Hughes?!) or didn’t know what to do with such talent (The Steiners or even Doink here). Luger vs. Tatanka was okay, but the rest of the non-Bret matches just weren’t good.

But Bret Hart showed that World title belt or not, he was the MVP of the WWF at this time. Soon Vince would have no choice than to put the strap on him.

Final Grade: B-

Basketball

This Day In Sports 6-12: The Chicago Bulls…and Michael Jordan win Title #1 (1991)

On this date 24 years ago, Michael Jordan shed the label of a star who couldn’t win like Larry Bird and Magic Johnson. On June 12th, 1991 Michael Jordan led the Chicago Bulls over Magic’s Lakers four games to one to win the NBA Championship.

Jordan had a monster series: 31.2 PPG-6.6 RPG-11.4 APG-2.8 SPG-1.4 BPG on 56% shooting.  Scottie Pippen provided the Bulls that extra push with a big series himself.

Game five historically was the last NBA Finals game of Magic Johnson’s career, and the last regular season or playoff game for him until his brief comeback in 1996.

Basketball

This Day in Sports 6-8: The Celtics Win Championship #16

Perhaps the NBA’s all time greatest team, the 1986 Boston Celtics, defeated the upstart Houston Rockets 4-2 to win their league leading 16th Championship. Larry Bird and Kevin McHale each chipped in 29 points. Hakeem Olajuwon was held to 19 and (an injured) Ralph Sampson held to 8, on a combined 10 for 26 shooting.

Despite the loss, it was expected that the Rockets would be the future of the NBA. Hakeem especially had brought the franchise to life and was in only his 2nd season. The Hakeem-Sampson combo had overwhelmed the Lakers in the Western Conference finals. The Rockets would fall apart around Hakeem over the next few years though, leading Hakeem playing the Kevin Garnett on the Minnesota Timberwolves role until 1993.

The Celtics would nearly defend their title…the Lakers would take them out in six though.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CYsABYH9n_E

Basketball

RDT’s 2015 NBA Finals Prediction

#2 Cleveland Cavaliers @ #1 Golden State Warriors

It’s interesting that one of the biggest reasons LeBron James went to Cleveland was the expectation of an improved supporting cast than he had in that last year in Miami (young Kyrie Irving over past his prime Dwyane Wade, and at worst Chris Bosh and Kevin Love would cancel one another out, although Love was regarded as superior), and yet, here we are. LeBron has carried this Cavs team throughout these playoffs. It’s not Irving or Love’s fault; both have been injured. Kevin Love had a disappointing year…for him. He was still quite capable of being a third banana. Kyrie Irving had been fantastic before injuries caught up to him. Throughout the Chicago series Irving played a role I expected Steve Nash to play for the Lakers when their big four was expected to go to the NBA Finals, which was a dangerous spot off shooter that could make a play anywhere on the court. Of course, Irving is far more capable of that. Kyrie’s health is almost as important as LeBron in this equation. Yes the Cavs have acquired some parts during the year that have helped immensely in Iman Shumpert, Timofrey Mozgov and J.R. Smith. Yes, J.R. Smith can win a game himself. Yes Tristan Thompson has become quite an underrated player who the Cavs might be better off with than Love. I just think the Warriors are too good.

I originally thought Golden State in five. I also saw everyone else seems to have the same prediction. Jalen Rose just said on commentary as much. But I mean, just look at LeBron these playoffs. His shot hasn’t been falling at all…and he’s STILL unstoppable. LeBron just finished the Eastern Conference Finals with a 30-11-9 average and his shot didn’t fall at all. Say what you want about the Hawks, I called them the worst 60 win team ever, but they were still a 60 win team. Cleveland also got by Chicago, which were quite a good team (they are probably the 90’s Knicks to LeBron’s Jordan). LeBron James is having one of the all-time sick playoff runs, easy opponents or not. Again, the Cavs have dominated with two of their signature players on the bench for a lot of the playoffs, sporting a 15-2 overall record. That’s why I don’t think it’s Warriors in five anymore.

The Warriors are absolutely stacked. They have a guy who went off for 37 in a quarter in Klay Thompson. They have crazy depth with Andre Iguodala, Shaun Livingston and Andrew Bogut. They have multiple players that can at least hinder and slow down LeBron in Draymond Green and Iguodala. The team is so good they bench a guy like David Lee, who offensively could still be a 17-8 guy today. Oh, and they have the league MVP, a guy who just dropped 30 a game and nearly shot 50-50-80%s in the Western Conference Finals in Stephen Curry. I don’t know if Shumpert, one of the best perimeter defenders in the league can handle him. I don’t think a hobbled Irving can do it. And LeBron may be able to, but it will be exhausting and may affect his offensive play. Golden State has lost three games TOTAL at Oracle Arena this season (46-3).

LeBron James has been a combo of Iverson, Magic and Jordan in these playoffs. But It’s just not going to be enough. Golden State is stacked beyond stacked.

But LeBron will keep them in it.

Warriors in 7

Hockey

RDT’s Not-So-Serious Stanley Cup Predictions…The Finals!

Just for some quick record keeping, let’s see how I’ve done this playoffs.

I went 3-5 in round 1 (Montreal, NYR, Chicago)

I went 3-1 in round 2 (NYR, Chicago, Anaheim)

I went 1-1 in round 3 (Chicago)

That leaves me at 7-7…with ONE series remaining. Can we go over .500?

#3 Chicago Blackhawks @ #2 Tampa Bay Lightning

I’ll try to take this somewhat seriously.

The case for the Lightning:

-Just shut out the Rangers on their home ice in Game 7.

-In that series, had five players record seven points or more. That’s an average of a goal or assist per game.

-They have one time 60 goal scorer (and 43 this year) Steven Stamkos.

The case for the Blackhawks:

-They’ve been here before. Goalie Corey Crawford won’t feel the pressure as he’s played well in past Stanley Cup Finals.

-They too just won a road game 7.

-They have Jonathan Toews and Patrick Kane, two players I know who are great. Both seemed to play well in the Conference Finals.

-They also have Duncan Keith, a defender who scored 8 assists in the Conference Finals.

This is all I know. Experience alone makes me go with Chicago. Because all hockey series as of late go seven games, we’ll go with that.

Blackhawks in 7.

 

Basketball

This Day In Sports 6-1: The Seattle Supersonics Win the NBA Championship (1979)

Once upon a time there was a NBA Team named the Seattle Supersonics. Famously, the ’79 Sonics were known as the only NBA Champions without active players without a Hall of Famer until Dennis Johnson was inducted in 2010. Led by DJ and Jack Sikma, the ’79 Sonics took out the defending Champs the Washington Bullets. Interestingly enough, this was a Finals rematch as the Sonics lost in seven the year before.

The next year Larry and Magic showed up, and Seattle fell to the Magic led Lakers in the Conference Finals. But they’ll always have 1979.