As mentioned in my previous post, the summer is a typically dead time for sports with the once in a four year (this year five due to COVID) blessing known as the Summer Olympics. I have to admit this is the first Olympics for me, as a 24 year old adult, that the location of the games has taken away from my ability to watch as in 2016 it was in Rio and the previous Olympics I was still a kid on summer break. Now, as a working adult, I get updates on what happens live at 8 am and try to watch it when I’m home later that night so it partially has taken away the allure for me. However, that has not stopped me from keeping up with the news, particularly the news and criticism of Simone Biles. The bravery that she has shown to stand up for herself, I believe, is incredible. From what I understand, there’s two parts to this. Part 1: She has what is referred to in gymnastics as “The Twisties” where essentially the brain and body are on two different wavelengths which is very dangerous when you get that high in the air and are spinning and flipping. Part 2: I’ve heard that Simone Biles has essentially been “nerfed”. What I mean by this is that she has been informed that she will receive lower scores than she deserves because her routines are only able to be performed her and could cause harm to other athletes trying to compete with her. That’s GOAT status if I’ve ever seen it. As for the rest of the Olympics, I’ve found myself watching a lot of swimming, track and field, volleyball and have oddly found myself into the triathlon. What’re some events you’ve found yourself watching that you didn’t expect to?
Author Archives: Jrugg
Slow Summers and a hypothetical super team
Ah yes, the most boring time of year in the sports world, the summer. The time where the only league of the American big four that is on, is baseball. The time of year where any news is exciting news. So what do we talk about? Do we start with the Olympics? Do we start with the NBA draft and free agency? Or do we start with NFL training camp and predictions for the upcoming season? The focus of this post will be the NBA. I have some Olympic thoughts and NFL hot takes coming later. We start with thoughts on the Lakers creating a team that would’ve mopped the floor with any team in history in 2012 in the year 2021. A team of LeBron, AD, Russ, Marc Gasol, with rumors surrounding Demar Derozan, Carmelo Anthony and Rudy Gay also having interest in playing in LA, would’ve terrorized even the 90’s Bulls and the 2017 Warriors and I didn’t even mention the uncertainty going on with Chris Paul right now. If all of these players end up on this roster, the 3rd youngest player would be 32 year old Russell Westbrook, behind AD (28) and Talen Horton-Tucker (20) with 9 roster spots already filled. The veteran experience and star power of this team could make an incredible playoff run if their bodies can hold up through the regular season. I know LeBron loves veteran players but you need young legs so 35 + year old men don’t have to play 35-40 minutes a game in the most meaningless of games. And where’s the knock down, spot up shooting? And outside of AD and Russ, where’s the effort on defense? Obviously a lot of these moves are not final and mostly rumors, but it seems to be heading in this direction and I have to question the thought process a little bit here. They had two trades lined up on draft night… The Russ trade that eventually happened and then a trade for Buddy Hield who would provide excellent outside shooting. I just feel like they went for the big name as opposed to the better fit. What says you?
JR Sports Talk 