Blog Adoption: What I Learned

Dr. Terry Clark

Blogging For Journalists

Presentation—Hoopshype blog

URL: http://hoopshype.com/author/mika-honkasalo/

What I’ve Learned

            I conducted my blog adoption on a blog called Hoopshype.com. Hoopshype is a multi-user blog with several writers who discuss several aspects of professional basketball, ranging from international play such as the Olympics to its most prominent focus, the NBA. Some of the topics regularly explored on Hoopshype include rumors, analytics, statistics, draft analysis, transaction analysis, contracts and salary cap breakdowns, and many others. The blog is a great source of information for anyone who follows basketball and enjoys the finer, more in-depth components of the game and the NBA as a whole.

The Thunder is over-playing a veteran over a more talented young player...Again

Sigh. What is it with you, Thunder?

First it was Derek Fisher playing more minutes than James Harden at times. Then it was more of the same with Caron Butler added to the mix, playing both Fish and Butler over guys like Jeremy Lamb and even Reggie Jackson from time to time.

And let's not forget that  this season, Mitch McGary has all but disappeared despite being better than Collison at this point in his career by just about every measure.

I can let that one slide, because Collison barely plays either. But what the Thunder is doing to Cameron Payne right now is criminal and could very well cost them a deep playoff run.

The Thunder, by all appearances, is headed to the postseason with Randy Foye as its backup point guard instead of Payne, who's had a very good rookie season.

Here's how Randy Foye has done over the last ten games as the Thunder' backup point guard. In each of these ten games, he played at least 14 minutes for a total of 195 minutes.

17 assists to 12 turnovers (not even good enough for a 2:1 ratio), 30 percent from three point range and 30 percent shooting overall.

To compare, I took a sample of the last ten games in which Payne played at least 14 minutes:

35 assists to 10 turnovers (better than a 3:1 ratio), 34 percent from three point range and 44 percent shooting overall.

Oh, and before you bring up defense... a quick comparison on Basketball-Reference will tell you that nearly every defensive stat--basic or advanced-- is either even or slightly in favor of Payne.

So who would you rather have as your backup point guard in the playoffs?

The only thing Foye has over Payne is experience. But isn't that curious when you consider that Payne has only been to the playoffs one time, and it was four years ago?

Isn't it also curious that they'll hold the experience thing against Payne, but not against Dion Waiters or Kyle Singler, each of which will be playing in the postseason for the first time? Even Sixth Man of the Year candidate Enes Kanter has only been to the playoffs once... a series sweep against the Spurs, in which he played ten minutes a game.

Yeah, but Payne isn't experienced enough. Okay.

People tend to get bent out of shape when I criticize the Thunder, but it's only because I want them to win so badly and I hate to see them hold themselves back with such obvious mistakes.

Let's at least hope that Westbrook plays upwards of 42 minutes per game in the playoffs to minimize the dysfunctional bench that defines the 2016 Thunder (aside from Kanter).

Trophies

I'm just tryna stay alive and talk about sports. And they don't have no award for that.

No wait, apparently they do.

As you probably know, I do a radio show twice a week in addition to writing for the Vista/UCentral. I joined the radio show last semester, partnering with two of my good friends and fraternity brothers, Jacob Beeman and Matt Wallen.

Back then, it was called "The Chute" and I could only attend on Fridays. Ever since then I've had a blast doing it, talking about sports with the guys on the radio waves just like we normally would at a restaurant or in the living room.

At the end of the semester we had our final radio show, and we were all happy and loose to be pretty much done with all of our school work and get to Christmas break. Because of this we had a great time and probably had the best radio show we've had to date--it was funny but also some good analysis.

So we entered one of the segments from that show in the OBEA awards and won first and second place for best sports commentary in the state (collegiately).

I never imagined when I started doing radio that it would actually get that kind of recognition. As I said in my social media posts about it, I'm incredibly honored.

It's pretty cool to be able to talk sports with your brothers on the radio. It's even cooler to have people recognize the work you've put in to make it worthwhile.

So shout out to OBEA for giving us this honor. I speak for myself as well as Jacob and Matt when I say that we really, really appreciate it. And shout out to my radiomates Jacob and Matt.

I also have to shout out Ike Wilcots, another friend and fraternity brother who has taken over for Jacob this semester and has done an amazing job. "What's Goin' On?"

Lastly, shout out to our listeners, of course. And if you aren't listening: congratulations, you've played yourself.

Nah but really though, tune into 99.3 FM Mondays and Wednesdays from noon to 1 o'clock to listen to the Matt Wallen Show, our new radio show title (Matt is a narcissist but it's fine). And don't worry--if you hear music at first, you're in the right place. Just wait a few minutes and enjoy the song before we come in and kick some serious sports knowledge.

Sincerely,

Brad Jayroe (The Real)

Remembering the most obnoxious bandwagon fanbases

Who likes bandwagon fans? They're everywhere you look, and one of my biggest pet peeves as a sports fan.

Wear their gear, openly root for them, watch their games, sure. But don't be annoying about it.

Unfortunately, the vast majority of bandwagoners don't abide by that part. If you follow sports at all, you probably know that there have been some insufferably obnoxious bandwagoners who have emerged, spewed a lot of nonsense, and promptly disappeared upon their team's decline, despite touting themselves as "diehard fans" at the time.

Ugh.

Not long ago, I was at a restaurant at Oklahoma City and saw a man wearing a Golden State Warriors jersey, loudly boasting about how much better the Warriors are than our local Thunder.

Now you KNOW that guy didn't even know where Golden State is two years ago. His shirt might even still have the tags on it. Don't be like that guy.

But enough of that; let's look at some of the rise and fall of notoriously obnoxious bandwagons over the last few years.

San Francisco 49ers bandwagon-- circa 2011-2014

The Kaepernick/Harbaugh era was short lived yet a truly glorious time for bandwagoners. "Hey, this team has won five Super Bowls and they're good again, this will be easy to jump right on!"

Harbaugh worked his Harbaugh magic and got the team to one Super Bowl and three NFC Championship games. Many a bandwagoner could be found in your school wearing a Kaepernick jersey shirt talking about how they had been a fan since a player they looked up on Wikipedia.

Or, you might have seen them in their natural habitat, drunkenly yelling at the TV in your local sports bar over a call that is "not roughing the passer" even though the replay clearly shows a 49ers player demolishing the quarterback helmet-to-helmet.

Not so sadly, the wheels started to come off when half of the team left in free agency or retired, and Jim Harbaugh was let go. Now Kaepernick wants out and the team is faced with the very real possibility of Blaine Gabbert starting games for them. Uh-oh. Where did all those "diehard fans" go?

Miami Heat bandwagon-- circa 2009-2014

Possibly the most notorious bandwagon of all. Lebron James took his talents to South Beach and the rest was history.

It was almost like a nightmare. Teenagers running around the country in Lebron Heat jerseys saying the Heat is the greatest team of all time and Lebron is better than Jordan. Former "diehard Cavaliers fans," of course.

The bandwagon took a big hit when the Heat choked against the Mavericks and the onslaught of memes and ringless jokes at Lebron's expense reached a fever pitch. The Heat bandwagon laid low for a season, but upon its victory over the Thunder in the Finals (sad face), Miami's bandwagon returned in greater numbers than ever.

However, Lebron decided to "go home" to Cleveland last season which led to a split-- some of the "LeGroupies," as they've been dubbed by some, followed him back to Cleveland. Others decided to stay as Miami fans, but even more  likely joined the Golden State Warriors bandwagon.

Los Angeles Lakers bandwagon-- on and off throughout Kobe Bryant era

When the Lakers were good (2000-2005, 2009-2012) you'd see Lakers fans everywhere, even here in the South and Midwest. When the Lakers have been bad (2006-2008, right now lol) you don't see them hardly anywhere.

This one is tricky because a lot of them could claim to be legacy fans due to the Lakers' past success. Or they jumped on the wagon long enough ago to where you couldn't really criticize them for it.

But most of all, they're fans of Kobe Bryant.

When he has a big game or plays well, they're fans. When the Lakers are winning championships, there are a boatload of obnoxious gloaters. But when Kwame Brown is their starting center, or D'Angelo Russell and Nick Young are acting like they're in high school, most "Lakers fans" are suddenly AWOL.

Now that Kobe is retiring and the Lakers stink, well, most of these people have also migrated to the Warriors bandwagon. I guess Lebron and Kobe fans finally have something in common.

Bandwagons still rolling: Seattle Seahawks, Golden State Warriors, Cleveland Cavaliers, New England Patriots, Denver Broncos, Kansas City Royals, Chicago Cubs

When will the wheels come off for these bandwagons? Stay tuned.

REPORT: Every team in the NBA is interested in signing Kevin Durant

How many times have we seen some variation of the headline "REPORT: Team X is interested in signing Kevin Durant," and how many more times are we going to see it?

Not only is this "report" annoying in and of itself, but it has a trickle-down effect. Every sports radio host, journalist, blogger, TV analyst, and so on has to give his or her take on "Durant to Team X???"

Oh, and the report is always brought up by everyone's favorite, "anonymous sources." Isn't that convenient.

Most people around my way find these reports annoying because they don't want to think about Durant leaving Oklahoma City. For me though, I find the reports annoying for another reason.

You see, there's been a recent marketing campaign by a company that uses Captain Obvious to promote its services. I think Captain Obvious may also be the source behind all of these reports.

Reports that teams "are interested" in signing one of the three or four best basketballers in the world.

Let's do a quick rundown of Durant as a prospect using the sophisticated sources of common knowledge and Wikipedia, which should be available to every front office in the NBA:

-2014 NBA MVP
-Seven-time NBA All-Star
-Five-time All-NBA First Team
-Four-time scoring champion
-Olympic Gold Medalist
-Career averages of roughly 27 PPG, 7 RPG, 4 APG
-Member of the exclusive 50/40/90 shooting percentage club
-Height of 6'11, give or take, with roughly 7-foot wingspan
-Ability to play/guard every position 1-5
-No legal issues/trouble off the court
-Widely regarded as a great teammate, leader, person
-Just entering basketball prime at age 27

Yeah. I would imagine every team in the NBA might be interested in signing that guy.

So you heard it here first-- the "report" to end all "reports" is here:

 Bradley Jayroe of UCentral Sports is confirming that every team in the NBA "would be open" to signing Kevin Durant, per anonymous sources.

Which Thunder player do you miss the most?

This is a fun thing to think about: which player do you miss donning the Thunder blue the most?

For just about everyone, that player is James Harden, including me. But we won't get into that because I just wrote an article about some of the awful moves Sam Presti has made over the years, and that trade was the principal focus. (Check it out here on ucentralmedia.com).

No, let's think about other players who have departed over the years that we miss.

For me, it's Derek Fisher. For some reason I just loved that guy. Maybe it was his championship experience or the way he shot three pointers. I had actually hoped the Thunder would bring him back instead of Nazr Mohammed this season if we're looking for a "veteran presence." And I don't care for Matt Barnes at all, so there's no hard feelings from me there-- even though he probably violated the bro code in that ordeal.

What about Kendrick Perkins? People loved him here, whether it was the comedic relief his "Shaq'tin a Fool" moments brought or his scowl and attitude. I'll admit, as frustrated as I used to get with Perk, I do find myself strangely missing him sometimes.

But let's go even further into the past. I have a good friend who has a straight-up man crush on Jeff Green. Anytime he does something on the trade machine or completely overhauls the Thunder's roster, he always finds a way to sneak Uncle Jeff in there. He insists that Green is one of the best "stretch fours" in the league. I constantly have to remind him that his nostalgia is really overrating the most average player in the NBA.

I have a wacky friend in New York who loved Nenad Krstic in all of his midrange-shooting, chair-throwing glory. He played a half season for Boston before he was never heard from again (now he's overseas somewhere).

Sometimes I see stat lines from Reggie Jackson and I wonder how good the Thunder would have been last season with a healthy squad, or wonder how they might be if the team could have worked something out for him to stay. As bad as he was defensively, Kanter isn't any better and Jackson could actually push the pace and play along our two stars.

What about Perry Jones and Jeremy Lamb? I don't miss them so much as I miss pretending that they would be awesome players someday. Lamb is currently better than Waiters (who replaced him) but the man known as "PJ3" is somewhere in the D-League, last time I checked. Well at least we'll always have that game against the Clippers where we thought he could have FINALLY become the player we'd always hoped.





Did I miss anyone that you loved to see in Thunder blue? Comment below!

Today was a good day for me as a sports fan

"Sam Bradford and Demarco Murray on the same team, awesome!" They said. "They're gonna tear up the NFL in Chip Kelly's offense," they said.

Oops. Sorry bandwagon Eagles fans in Oklahoma. Looks like your crimson-and-cream dream was just that, a dream.

You see, as a fan of both OU and the Dallas Cowboys, Demarco Murray put me in a weird spot. He was one of my favorite players at OU; I was even at the game in Norman where he broke the all-time touchdown record at the school.

So imagine my excitement when he got drafted by my favorite NFL team. You could say I'm a hipster Murray fan, since I bought a custom jersey shirt before it was cool and before we knew he'd be good, not too long after he was drafted.

You can also imagine my delight and then heartbreak when he developed into an All-Pro, and then proceeded to sign with that Lombardi-less team in Philly. Grr.The only recompense was his complete lack of production with the Eagles.

So I'm glad he got traded to a different team that I don't despise with all of my being today. I can now maybe wear my old t-shirt without shame again, as much as a grown man wearing a jersey shirt can wear one without shame. Maybe, just maybe, Demarco will still be lackluster with a terrible Titans team and will come home. We'll see.

As for RG3 getting cut, I just love watching the Redskins drunkenly stumble along as an NFL franchise. Good job ruining the career of one of the most promising rookies of all time by playing him in a playoff game you weren't going to win anyway. I'm sure Kirk Cousins, he of the losing record against plus-.500 teams, will carry you to many Super Bowls. Congratulations on winning the NFC East last season, because hey, somebody had to win it.