HANG TIME HEADQUARTERS – Few players divide the room the way Carmelo Anthony does.
To some, the New York Knicks’ superstar is a scoring marvel to behold in a league that has always cherished guys who could put the ball in the hole at a record pace. Yet to others, Anthony is an elite scorer but little else and needs to expand the boundaries of his game if he wants to be mentioned in the same breath as friends and contemporaries like LeBron James, Kevin Durant and Kobe Bryant.
But if he was a better rebounder, set-up man and finally “won the big one” then we wouldn’t have anything to debate on Episode 111 of the Hang Time Podcast, where we also debate and discuss the Brittney Griner to the NBA (instead of WNBA … she’s all for it, by the way) drama, the Mike Rice-Rutgers basketball flap, Shaquille O’Neal‘s retirement ceremony, our Final Four picks (GO BLUE!) and a whole lot more.
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As always, we welcome your feedback. You can follow the entire crew, including the Hang Time Podcast, co-hosts Sekou Smith of NBA.com, Lang Whitaker of SLAM Magazineand Rick Fox of NBA TV, as well as our new super producer Gregg (just like Popovich) Waigand and the best engineer in the business, Jarell “I Heart Peyton Manning” Wall.
– To download the podcast, click here. To subscribe via iTunes, click here, or get the xml feed if you want to subscribe some other, less iTunes-y way.
HANG TIME HEADQUARTERS – All streaks must come to an end.
Chicago Bulls fans would love it if their team was the one to put an end to the Miami Heat’s streak at 27 games tonight at the United Center. Anything to punch a hole in the championship aura of the LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh-led Heat, whose rise has come at the Bulls’ expense.
Plus, what better way to make the pain of the ongoing Derrick Rose saga (will he or won’t he play this season …) go away, at least for a few hours?
We also discuss the rash of injuries making the rounds around the league with just a few weeks left in the regular season, whose March Madness bracket is the ugliest heading into this weekend’s Sweet Sixteen, the pros (Nicole Eggert and HT fave Keshia Knight-Pulliam) and cons (Hall of Famers (Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and comedian Louie Anderson) of a celebrity diving competition, why Heat coach Erik Spoelstra deserves to be Coach of the Year and why it’s so tough to stomach coaches who are more emotional than their players.
Check out all of that and more on Episode 110 f the Hang Time Podcast.
LISTEN HERE:
As always, we welcome your feedback. You can follow the entire crew, including the Hang Time Podcast, co-hosts Sekou Smith of NBA.com, Lang Whitaker of SLAM Magazineand Rick Fox of NBA TV, as well as our new super producer Gregg (just like Popovich) Waigand and the best engineer in the business, Jarell “I Heart Peyton Manning” Wall.
– To download the podcast, click here. To subscribe via iTunes, click here, or get the xml feed if you want to subscribe some other, less iTunes-y way.
HANG TIME HEADQUARTERS – How long does is take to get over the dreaded agony of defeat, that one shining moment that goes horribly wrong for college basketball stars who have dreamed of conquering the March Madness spotlight all their lives?
For some, a lifetime. For others, namely a certain North Carolina Tar Heel alum (Rick Fox), it took nine years, to be exact. And still for the select few, they never have to worry about it because they captured that moment in college and again in the NBA, leading to a lifetime spent reliving those magical moments every time the NCAA Tournament or The NBA Finals come around.
That’s the life NBA TV’s Isiah Thomas has known, as a champion in college at Indiana and twice in the NBA with the Detroit Pistons of Bad Boys fame, and now a Hall of Famer.
He joins us on Episode 109 of the Hang Time Podcast to discuss his journey from Chicago schoolboy star to All-American college star and how he handled that transformation, and plenty more.
One thing Thomas never did in his storied career was win 23 straight games, a feat the Miami Heat have accomplished and will try to continue to build on in Cleveland later tonight. Longtime Heat beat writer Ira Winderman of the Sun-Sentinel drops in as well to share his observations and thoughts on the Heat’s monster streak and all things Heat.
Check out all of that and more on Episode 109 f the Hang Time Podcast.
LISTEN HERE:
As always, we welcome your feedback. You can follow the entire crew, including the Hang Time Podcast, co-hosts Sekou Smith of NBA.com, Lang Whitaker of SLAM Magazineand Rick Fox of NBA TV, as well as our new super producer Gregg (just like Popovich) Waigand and the best engineer in the business, Jarell “I Heart Peyton Manning” Wall.
– To download the podcast, click here. To subscribe via iTunes, click here, or get the xml feed if you want to subscribe some other, less iTunes-y way.
HANG TIME HEADQUARTERS – Just because you are born and raised in Brooklyn doesn’t mean you have to pledge your allegiance to the hometown team, the Nets.
Sometimes the ties that bind go beyond the borough limits. For Sports Illustrated swimsuit model and NBA blogger extraordinaire Damaris Lewis that means never cutting ties with her beloved New York Knicks.
Yes, she has love for the Oklahoma City Thunder, the Miami Heat and all seven of her teams (it’s a League Pass thing, trust us). But the nearly 6-foot fashion model, dancer and member of Prince‘s famous New Power Generation band joined us on Episode 108 of the Hang Time Podcast, doing whatever she could to school us on the art of being a true basketball fan.
That’s much easier to do when you have a captive audience (as you might imagine, everyone but Rick Fox was on best behavior). And don’t let the beautiful face and runaway fashion fool you, Damaris knows the game! She weighs in on Kevin Durant and the Thunder, LeBron James and the Heat, Dwight Howard, Kobe Bryant and the Los Angeles Lakers the wise old men in San Antonio and a whole lot more.
We also discuss the Derrick Rose toughness saga in Chicago as well as check in on Braggin’ Rights. Check out all of that and Damaris Lewis as she drops knowledge on Episode 108 f the Hang Time Podcast.
LISTEN HERE:
As always, we welcome your feedback. You can follow the entire crew, including the Hang Time Podcast, co-hosts Sekou Smith of NBA.com, Lang Whitaker of SLAM Magazineand Rick Fox of NBA TV, as well as our new super producer Gregg (just like Popovich) Waigand and the best engineer in the business, Jarell “I Heart Peyton Manning” Wall.
– To download the podcast, click here. To subscribe via iTunes, click here, or get the xml feed if you want to subscribe some other, less iTunes-y way.
HANG TIME HEADQUARTERS – The post-All-Star weekend portion of the NBA’s regular season brings out the clown in those of us who are tasked with running this marathon from start to finish every season.
That includes TNT’s Shaquille O’Neal, who can’t seem get enough of my smiling face, and my co-hosts here on the Hang Time Podcast, “Benedict” Lang Whitaker and Rick “The Backstabber” Fox. Sources tell me that they’ve gotten in on the conspiracy plot, too.
Apparently, they’re lobbying for a name change around here. “Sekou Smith’s Hang Time Podcast” doesn’t do it for these guys anymore. (This is how New Edition broke up back in the day!)
It’s all good, fellas.
Just remember, don’t start any trouble if you don’t want any trouble.
Luckily for these haters we have a non-stop stream of great action and headlines to keep us busy. That includes having a special guest on Episode 107 of the Hang Time Podcast, the one on and only Sam “Big Smooth” Perkins, a guy we like to call the original “Stretch 4.” Long before it was chic to have your power forward working his game from beyond the 3-point line, Big Smooth was doing damage from distance for the Dallas Mavericks, Los Angeles Lakers, Seattle SuperSonics and Indiana Pacers.
Perkins was a co-captain on the gold-medal winning 1984 U.S Olympic Team and a first-team All-Rookie pick in 1985 with the Mavericks. He will also forever be known as the man in the middle of Michael Jordan and Charles Barkley. They went off the board at No. 3, 4 and 5, respectively, in the 1984 NBA Draft. Perkins and Jordan were teammates at the University of North Carolina, where they helped the Tar Heels to the 1982 NCAA title.
He reminisces about his playing days, his first impressions of a young MJ, his pioneering moves as the original Stretch 4, his work as player development coach with the Texas Legends of the D-League and a whole lot more.
We made sure to share our thoughts on LeBron James and the Miami Heat’s 15-game (and counting) win streak, Serge Ibaka‘s peculiar box out tactics, the state of the Los Angeles Lakers this week (how long can Kobe Bryant‘s right elbow hold up?), Harlem Shake Fatigue Syndrome hitting the streets in Minneapolis, the new leader in Braggin’ Rights (he’s from the Bahamas) and plenty more on the robust Episode 107 of the Hang Time Podcast.
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As always, we welcome your feedback. You can follow the entire crew, including the Hang Time Podcast, co-hosts Sekou Smith of NBA.com, Lang Whitaker of SLAM Magazineand Rick Fox of NBA TV, as well as our new super producer Gregg (just like Popovich) Waigand and the best engineer in the business, Jarell “I Heart Peyton Manning” Wall.
– To download the podcast, click here. To subscribe via iTunes, click here, or get the xml feed if you want to subscribe some other, less iTunes-y way.
HANG TIME HEADQUARTERS – With roughly two months to go in this NBA regular season we are still trying to sort through the contenders and pretenders in the Eastern Conference.
Early on the New York Knicks looked like contenders, with Mike Woodson, Carmelo Anthony and Jason Kidd leading a team capable of competing with the reigning world champion Miami Heat in a playoff series.
The Brooklyn Nets took that baton and ran with it later, digging themselves out of a rut 30 games ago and compiling a 20-10 record under P.J. Carlesimo‘s watchful eye.
These days the Indiana Pacers are looking like the one true foil out there for the Heat, provided they don’t get into any more shoulder scuffles between now and the playoffs (they’ll need Hang Time Podcast fave Roy Hibbert, David West, Paul George, Danny Granger and the rest of their rugged gang in uniform).
We’ll find out which of these three teams, or Atlanta or Boston, are ready to seriously challenge the Heat in the postseason. In the meantime, Howard Beck of The New York Times joins us on Episode 106 of The Hang Time Podcast to help us analyze the New York area members of the group.
We also break down what a real NBA scrap is supposed to look like, Kobe Bryant‘s hilarious Twitter habit (“Amnesty That!”), Derek Fisher rejoining the Oklahoma City Thunder, Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski not returning as coach of the U.S. Men’s Senior National Team (Phil Jackson anyone?) and a whole lot more on Episode 106 of The Hang Time Podcast:
LISTEN HERE:
As always, we welcome your feedback. You can follow the entire crew, including the Hang Time Podcast, co-hosts Sekou Smith of NBA.com, Lang Whitaker of SLAM Magazineand Rick Fox of NBA TV, as well as our new super producer Gregg (just like Popovich) Waigand and the best engineer in the business, Jarell “I Heart Peyton Manning” Wall.
– To download the podcast, click here. To subscribe via iTunes, click here, or get the xml feed if you want to subscribe some other, less iTunes-y way.
HANG TIME HEADQUARTERS – Before we could unpack from our trip to Houston for All-Star Weekend the news hit us all. Hall of Fame Los Angeles Lakers owner Dr. Jerry Buss lost his battle with cancer Monday.
It was a bittersweet start to the busiest week of the NBA season, what with Thursday’s 3 p.m. ET trade deadline usually dominating the headlines and airwaves. And it should prove to be just as compelling as usual, with the rumors always outpacing the actual deals in terms of sizzle.
We did our best to squeeze all of that and more into Episode 105 of the Hang Time Podcast, which also features a guest appearance from recent Michigan Sports Hall of Fame inductee and NBA TV’s very own Steve Smith.
In addition to our chat with Smitty, we also got some quality time with the greatest winner in the history of the game, Bill Russell. The living legend and 11-time NBA champion with the Boston Celtics (which should explain our penchant for referring to him as “The Lord of the Rings”), sat down for an interview during All-Star Weekend and shared some insights on the past, present and future of the game.
Do you agree with Michael Jordan‘s “five is better than one” choice of Kobe Bryant over LeBron James? What did Rick Fox say to Dwight Howard when they met face-to-face during All-Star Weekend? And where in the heck is Hawks forward Josh Smith headed, if anywhere, before Thursday’s deadline?
Check out all of that and more on Episode 105 of the Hang Time Podcast.
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As always, we welcome your feedback. You can follow the entire crew, including the Hang Time Podcast, co-hosts Sekou Smith of NBA.com, Lang Whitaker of SLAM Magazineand Rick Fox of NBA TV, as well as our new super producer Gregg (just like Popovich) Waigand and the best engineer in the business, Jarell “I Heart Peyton Manning” Wall.
– To download the podcast, click here. To subscribe via iTunes, click here, or get the xml feed if you want to subscribe some other, less iTunes-y way.
HOUSTON – Los Angeles Lakers All-Star center Dwight Howard might have no idea who Ulrick Alexander Fox is or that he won three championships during his 13 NBA seasons, all with the Lakers.
But even if Howard has no memory of Rick Fox the NBA player, he might want to listen to Rick Fox the NBA TV analyst.
Rick has been adamant about Dwight needing a history lesson and provides some insights on how to handle yourself like a champion in a city used to celebrating them over the years. His words on Episode 104 of the Hang Time Podcast should not be missed.
We also discuss All-Star Weekend, the always entertaining trade deadline rumors (involving Hawks forward Josh Smith and plenty of others), Lang Whitaker joining the Dallas Mavericks in their refusal to shave until they reach .500 (Lang’s still bringing up the rear in Braggin’ Rights), the wicked run of one LeBron Raymone James and why New York Knicks forward Carmelo Anthony is the darkhorse pick for the MVP trophy in Sunday night’s All-Star Game.
Check out all of that and more on Episode 104 of the Hang Time Podcast.
LISTEN HERE:
As always, we welcome your feedback. You can follow the entire crew, including the Hang Time Podcast, co-hosts Sekou Smith of NBA.com, Lang Whitaker of SLAM Magazineand Rick Fox of NBA TV, as well as our new super producer Gregg (just like Popovich) Waigand and the best engineer in the business, Jarell “I Heart Peyton Manning” Wall.
– To download the podcast, click here. To subscribe via iTunes, click here, or get the xml feed if you want to subscribe some other, less iTunes-y way.
HANG TIME HEADQUARTERS – A healthy civil discourse and creative storytelling are staples of our operation here at the Hang Time Podcast. We make it a point to do as much of both on a weekly basis, whether there are live microphones involved or not.
Solving mysteries, however, is a little something new. And we tackle two huge head-scratchers on Episode 103 of the Hang Time Podcast, featuring special guests Kevin Harlan of TNT and Brent Barry of NBA TV.
Harlan was in New Orleans working as a radio play-by-play man for the Super Bowl and there were rumblings (we blamed it on Reggie Miller and Steve Kerr, but the truth is yet another mystery for someone to solve) when the lights went out in the Mercedes-Benz Superdome.
Barry, an old friend of the program and a longtime HT Fave, did his best to help us solve the mystery that is Dwight Howard, whose playing days with Kobe Bryant, Steve Nash and the rest of the Los Angeles Lakers haven’t come closet to anyone’s expectations from a group that was expected to contend for a championship this season.
These, are just two of the many issues discussed on Episode 103 of the Hang Time Podcast, a must-listen if you’re interested all in finally getting some answers to those nagging questions that have been bothering you.
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As always, we welcome your feedback. You can follow the entire crew, including the Hang Time Podcast, co-hosts Sekou Smith of NBA.com, Lang Whitaker of SLAM Magazineand Rick Fox of NBA TV, as well as our new super producer Gregg (just like Popovich) Waigand and the best engineer in the business, Jarell “I Heart Peyton Manning” Wall.
– To download the podcast, click here. To subscribe via iTunes, click here, or get the xml feed if you want to subscribe some other, less iTunes-y way.
HANG TIME HEADQUARTERS – The season of any NBA team can change in an absolute instant.
One false move, one wrong step and that’s it.
Dream season over.
Or not.
In the case of the Boston Celtics. Not everyone is ready to wave the white flag on their season now that Rajon Rondo‘s season is finished, courtesy of the torn right ACL the Eastern Conference All-Star starter suffered over the weekend.
Comedian/actor/hoops buff and all around renaissance man Bill Bellamy has his own ideas on Rondo, the Los Angeles Lakers, the Los Angeles Clippers, teaming up with Rick Fox on a new sitcom (“Mr. Box Office”), Brian McKnight‘s NBA aspirations, Kobe Bryant, his (Bellamy’s) cousin Shaquille O’Neal, Dwight Howard, LeBron James, the difference between working in Hollywood films and sitcoms, his failed attempt at being adopted by Will Smith and a whole lot more on Episode 102 of the Hang Time Podcast.
We also revisit the highlights from the Miami Heat’s recent trip to the White House, where they enjoyed a little quality time with President Barack Obama, and also crossed another item off of the Hang Time Podcast topic bucket list when Grande decided to drop a little CM Punk/WWE knowledge on us.
We couldn’t make this stuff up if we tried.
Dive in with Episode 102 of the Hang Time Podcast to see if you can make sense of it all!
LISTEN HERE:
As always, we welcome your feedback. You can follow the entire crew, including the Hang Time Podcast, co-hosts Sekou Smith of NBA.com, Lang Whitaker of SLAM Magazineand Rick Fox of NBA TV, as well as our new super producer Gregg (just like Popovich) Waigand and the best engineer in the business, Jarell “I Heart Peyton Manning” Wall.
– To download the podcast, click here. To subscribe via iTunes, click here, or get the xml feed if you want to subscribe some other, less iTunes-y way.
