Sheridan Hoops Radio

Here we are in the critical stage of the second round of the NBA playoffs, and it seems folks would prefer to talk about Donald Sterling, or the many NBA coaching vacancies, rather than the actual game itself. Why is that? Well, the Sterling case long ago crossed over from the sports realm to the mainstream realm, and scandals never fail to overwhelm normalcy. Also, the basketball fans in NBA cities outside of Indianapolis, Miami, D.C., New York, Los Angeles, San Antonio, Oklahoma City and Portland are already forcused on the offseason, and the hope for the future than changes bring. There are coaching vacancies with the Knicks, Lakers, Jazz, Pistons Timberwolves and Cavaliers, and we are in the strange phase of watching a guy who has never coached, Steve Kerr, become the most targeted coaching prospect out here.  Why is that? The answer is contained in this podcast from the Boers and Bernstein show on 670-TheScore in Chicago.

I wish I could give you a brief synopsis of what is contained in this podcast, but that is not possible. I covered a heck of a lot of ground in this interview with Mark Malusis of CBS Sports radio, touching on coaching vacancies and playoff battles. So in brief, here's what we hit upon: _ The Lakers coaching vacancy, which if I had to guess who the next guy to hold the job will be, I'd go with Jeff Van Gundy. Just a hunch. _ The Warriors vacancy. I think Lionel Hollins would be perfect for this job. _ The Knicks vacancy. Phil Jackson was lucky he got a head start on Golden State. _The Spurs-Blazers series. Did anyone get the license plate number of that truck that ran over the Blazers? _ The Clippers-Thunder series. It's going 7. _ The Heat-Nets series: First character test in 2 months coming for the Heat. _ The  Pacers-Wizards series. Nene needs to to be a Brazilian beast again. Enjoy ... and Happy Mother's Day.  

I caught some grief from all corners today after news came out that I was the only voter among 125 who had Blake Griffin second, behind Kevin Durant and ahead of LeBron James, in the NBA's Most Valuable Player voting. Quite frankly, I am stunned I was the only one. Doc Rivers made the case in April that Griffin was the better No. 2 candidate, and that was something I decided, too, over the final two months of the season -- a time when the Los Angeles Clippers were defeating all comers and the Miami Heat were blowing a chance to win the No. 1 spot in the East. Here are five reasons why I voted Blake ahead of LeBron. I elaborate in this podcast. 1. Griffin had the best year of his career as the Clippers had the most successful season in franchise history. 2. The award is about value to a player's team. The Clippers had a better year than the Heat, and Griffin was the main reason why -- especially when he carried the team during Chris Paul's injury absence. Lest you forget, the Clippers (57-15) won three more games than the Heat (54-28). 3. The Heat had eight more losses than they did a year ago. Buy their own standards, they had a subpar season. They lost to a ton of bad teams. 4. The Clippers put up those 57 wins in a much tougher contest than the one Miami plays in. 5. Griffin had a 31-game stretch in which he scored 20 or more points. That is sustained greatness. LeBron's longest such streak was 10, accomplished twice. If you need more, it is right there for you in this segment from the NBA channel on Sirius Radio.. Enjoy.

Steve Kerr is the consensus favorite to become the next coach of the New York Knicks, as Michael Scotto outlined in his latest column. However, that hasn’t stopped Kerr’s name from surfacing around the league for other openings – including the Lakers. Once Mike D’Antoni and the Lakers parted ways, a list of prominent coaching candidates began to surface, including John Calipari, Lionel Hollins, George Karl, Kevin Ollie, Kurt Rambis, Byron Scott, Jeff and Stan Van Gundy, etc. The Clippers have also joined the rumor mill thanks to Donald Sterling’s lifetime ban, which has prompted nearly every wealthy celebrity to publicly express interest in buying the team. Celebrities such as Magic Johnson, Oprah, Floyd Mayweather Jr. and many more have expressed interest. With that in mind, Scotto joined FOX Sports Radio and host Arnie Spanier to discuss Kerr’s options and the top candidates to potentially buy the Clippers.

Doesn't Clay Bennett's family own the Oklahoman? I believe that is the case. But whatever the case, that was a low blow by the newspaper this morning printing a front page headline that read: "Mr. Unreliable." I have a headline for Scott Brooks and his strategy in Game 5, which you can hear in this podcast with WHBQsports56 in Memphis. I think you will like it. The hosts, Greg and Eli, loved it. And as far as the Durant headline goes, there is a corollary to be drawn to a story that appeared in the Orlando Sentinel in July, 1996. It helped lead to the departure of Shaquille O'Neal from Central Florida.  More on that, and what it might mean regarding KD's future (Lakers?) in this podcast. Enjoy.

I am not going to defend what Donald Sterling said on the infamous TMZ tapes, because his statements were indefensible. I hate racism. I hate intolerance. And if one of my friends said the types of things that Donald Sterling said, that person wouldn't be my friend for long. But I am a journalist by trade, and all journalists are taught to look at BOTH sides of a story.  So what about Donald Sterling? Was he railroaded? Was this a set-up aimed at forcing him to sel the team? Were laws broken in recording the audio that doomed him? Will he take the NBA to court? If so, when? And if he is granted a temporary restraining order, will he start going to Clippers games again? And what happens if the Clippers win the championship and Sterling is back in the building? Who accepts the trophy from Commissioner Adam Silver? These are all relevant questions as we move into the next stage of the Sterling story, as I discussed on the Mighty 1090 in San Diego with host Dan Sileo.

We’re in the midst of the closest round of playoff games in the league’s history, but that hasn’t stopped the New York Knicks from looking for a new coach and Donald Sterling for bringing attention off the court. Steve Kerr has emerged as the early consensus frontrunner to become the new head coach of the Knicks thanks to his relationship with Phil Jackson and shared belief in the Triangle offense. Before covering Game 4 between the Raptors and Nets as an analyst for TNT, Kerr spoke in a Barclays Center hallway about his candidacy. Michael Scotto tweeted his top quotes from the discussion, which you can view on his Twitter page. In addition, stay tuned for Scotto's column on Kerr’s candidacy coming soon. On Sterling, we have four columns from Chris Sheridan, Chris Bernucca, Danny Schayes and Jan Hubbard covering the scandal all angles. Here is Scotto's take on the Sterling situation in this podcast with Yahoo! Sports Radio host Dylan Gwinn.

When you spend your life around the NBA, you get a skewed vision of racial harmony. Black players get along with white players, international players intermingle with American players, and the melting pot fosters racial tolerance and harmony. As many have said over the past few days, there is no room for racism in the NBA. And by and large, there isn't much racism in the league. The culture is so harmonious, in fact, that it can make folks in the NBA forget that bigotry is very much alive and thriving in various areas.  So when you consider the NBA players' and coaches' distaste for the comments attributed to Clippers owner Donald Sterling, remember that they come from a culture of diversity. The playing field is the great equalizer among athletes, whether professional or amateur, and is often the first place where basketball players and other athletes become multi-cultural people. Americans live in a country that has a dark-skinned president working through his second four-year term, and there is a school of thought that we have entered a collective post-racism state of being. Sterling's purported comments are a reminder that not everyone is as altruistic as we would often like to believe. More on that in this interview with the Big O show on AM640 in Miami.

At a certain point, the Indiana Pacers need to give up on Roy Hibbert as their starting center. That point is now. The All-Star center (can you believe we have to call him that?) laid another egg Thursday night in the Atlanta-Indiana series, shooting 2-for-9 with just two rebounds, none on the offensive end, in the Pacers 98-85 defeat as they fell behind 2-1 in the best-of-7 series. If you look at Hiobbert's game log, it is both stunning and atrocious. The 7-foot-2 center has not scored in double figures in seven consecutive games, and it has been 15 games (and 26 of 27) since he reached double figures in rebounding. Memo to Frank Vogel: Give him a towel and tell him to waive it. The best move Vogel can make right now is sitting Hibbert in favor of Luis Scola, who is perfectly capable of playing center because that's the position he plays for the Argentine national team every summer. He is an accomplished low-post scorer, and since the Pacers gave up a bushel of assets to get him (Gerald Green, Miles Plumlee and a No. 1 pick), it is worth the gamble to put him in a role that he has manned for most of his career. He did score 20 points in just 17 minutes against the Hawks. Furthermore, it might be time for a little more C.J. Watson, especially after George Hill went 1-for-11 in the Game 3 loss. These were a couple of the topics of dicussion today as I went on the air in Indianapolis with Michael Grady and Joe Staysniak on 1070 The Fan in Indinapolis.

What is Phil Jackson trying to accomplish by playing a game of chicken with Carmelo Anthony? Maybe, just maybe, he is trying to run him out of New York. The new Knicks president had a lot to say about Carmelo in a meeting with reporters on Wednesday, and the most telling thing he said was that he hoped Anthony would stay true to his word and accept less than max money when the sides sit down to discuss a new contract after Anthony plunges into unrestricted free agency on July 1. Anthony did indeed say he'd take less than the max if it would help the Knicks become a true championship contending team. But Anthony said it only once, at the All-Star break, and Anthony sometimes says things he doesn't really mean. I would argue that this is one of those times. Think about it ... Jackson has just given Rockets president Daryl Morey all the ammunition he needs to make the perfect pitch to Anthony, something that might sound like this: "Look, 'Melo, the Knicks aren't even willing to drop max money on you, and we are.  "Furthermore, the Knicks can't make you any guarantees about who will be playing alongside you a year from now, when they can finally go free agent shopping. In the meantime, you have to sit and wait and hope for the best while enduring another so-so season. We, on the other hand, can assure you that you'll be playing alongside James Harden and Dwight Howard immediately. So do you want to compete now? Or do you want wait another year and hope for the best from a team that is trying to make you take less than what you're worth?" More on the 'Melo-Jackson, dynamic plus a look at several playoff series, in this interview with Xtra Sports 1360 in San Diego.  

So much for that sweep prediction I made in my playoff preview of the Indiana-Atlanta series. At least I wasn't alone. Using 20-20 hindsight, I and many others should have seen this coming.  The Hawks and Pacers might be seeded on opposite ends of the spectrum, but they've been playing quite similarly, going 12-13 dating back to March 1st. Indiana was allowing a league-low 94.2 points per 100 possessions through February but that number has ballooned to 102.8 since the beginning of March. And Roy Hibbert? Let's not forget that he was voted onto the Eastern Conference All-Star team by the other 14 Eastern Conference coaches -- all of whom would probably advise their GMs at this point that the 7-foot-2 center from Georgetown is not even worth pursuing in a trade. Seriously, has any one player's stock fallen faster than Hibbert's? A recap of all Saturday's action awaits you in this podcast with Adam the Bull on CBS Sports Radio. 

New York’s worst nightmare became a reality when the Knicks were officially eliminated from the playoffs. “The beginning of the season, nobody ever thought we would be in this situation, this position that we’re in right now,” Carmelo Anthony said Sunday. After missing the playoffs for the first time in his career, Anthony appears further from competing for a championship than ever before. As a result, the Chicago Bulls have become New York’s top competition for Anthony’s services this summer. Anthony spoke glowingly of Bulls coach Tom Thibodeau as Frank Isola wrote for the New York Daily News. Will Anthony leave New York for Chicago? Michael Scotto of SheridanHoops.com joined Chicago’s 670 The Score and host Joe Ostrowski to discuss the chances of Anthony leaving, what will factor into his decision, and how Phil Jackson believes he’s a fit for his Triangle offense.

The Brooklyn Nets are legitimate contenders to dethrone the Miami Heat in the Eastern Conference – whether or not LeBron James wants to admit it – as Michael Scotto outlined in my latest column. As for New York, the futures of Carmelo Anthony and Mike Woodson will be impacted heavily if the Knicks fail to reach the playoffs – a likely scenario. With the Nets seemingly entrenched as the fifth seed and the Knicks on the brink of mathematical elimination, Scotto joined WFAN Sports Radio 660 AM and host Demetri Adrahtas. We discussed Brooklyn’s playoffs chances and the team’s x-factors, along with a blueprint for Phil Jackson to fix the Knicks and what to do with Carmelo Anthony.

Would you sacrifice the possibility of hosting a Game 7 at home in the Eastern Conference finals if it meant a smoother path toward getting to those Eastern Conference finals? That is a question the Indiana Pacers and Miami Heat have to be asking themselves with seven days left in the regular season. Chances are, the second place team will avoid the Brooklyn Nets or the Chicago Bulls in the second round, because the Toronto Raptors currently sit third in the Eastern Conference and should be able to win the remainder of their games -- locking themselves into the 3 seed. That would mean Chicago and Brooklyn would play in the 4 vs. 5 matchup, with the winner advancing to face the No. 1 seed. For Miami, that doesn't look so enticing. The Heat were swept 4-0 in their season series with the Nets, and they went 2-2 against the Bulls. So while LeBron and James and Co. do not fear either of those two teams, they are aware of the reality that both of them play Miami tough. By finishing second, the Heat would have a first-round matchup with the Bobcats or Wizards, then would advance to play one of those two teams, or the Toronto Raptors. And while the Raptors are a tough team, they have nothing remotely resembling the playoff pedigree of Brooklyn and Chicago. This was one of the many topics of discussion in this interview with The Big O show on AM640 in Miami. 

This is not David Stern's NBA anymore. The old commissioner is out of sight and out of mind, but his successor has been keeping a relatively low profile.  Sooner or later, Adam Silver is going to put his imprint on the NBA ... it is just a matter of when. Silver has said the NBA is exploring different changes in all facets of the game, and in this interview with 1280thezone in Salt Lake City, I make a recommendation on Silver's behalf: Let Eastern Conference teams play Western Conference teams in the postseason. Seeds the teams 1 through 16, with division winners getting the top six seeds, and then go bracket style to get a mix of East vs. East, West vs. West and East vs. West.