LootOP #260 celebration: 50 reasons to watch NBA

My 50 random things which have kept me watching the NBA year after year. Bad and good things....

651. Zach Randolph's flip phone/ burner.
652. This quote, with people questioning whether D'Angelo Russel needed protection after the Nick Young saga: "ReallyPonderous - I don't know why he needs security...it's not like anybody on the Lakers can hit anything"
653. Marcelo Huertas hiding behind Erik Spoelstra on the sideline and stealing the ball from behind from Dragic.
654. Spurs only having trailed in the 4th quarter at home for a total of 11 minutes this regular season.
655. Q: "What does James Harden do better than Wade during his prime?" A: "Open canned foods with his teeth."
656. Lakers trading a 1992 2nd round pick (Geiger) to the Heat. So Miami would agree not to select Abdul-Jabbar in the expansion draft.
657. Ludacris dressing up as the Brow for Halloween. [url]https://twitter.com/perkinsfor3/status/528284324148576256[/url]
658. The HS scouting report on Chris Webber: "A body God couldn't make better for basketball". [url]https://twitter.com/perkinsfor3/status/529215100230828032[/url]
659. Tony Allen being true Grit & Grind.
660. During oct & nov 2014, Korver had 1 blocked shot less than Ibaka.
661. Joakim Noah broke down really fast. Really appreciate him as a playeer and character.
662. Who's got the most beautiful form on their jumper right now? Used to be Ray Allen. My money would be on Ben McLemore.
663. I thought James Young would be good by now. Thought RJ Hunter would be better as well. Ah well, they still have a couple of tries to get that shooter this draft, even though it sucks.
664. Kobe Bryant: "I've Never Heard Tony Allen Ask for Help on Defense"
665. Wisconsin's Sam Dekker celebrated beating Georgetown by spiking a ball into his teammate's head [url]https://twitter.com/perkinsfor3/status/539434854157647872[/url]
666. Most memorable block? Still Laphonso's. Most memorable dunk? Still Kemps Lister Blister. I guess I'm just a '90s guy.
667. Dame Lillard & John Wall.
668. Happy to see Dante Cunningham on NBA roster. Guy had some real back luck. Good times ahead.
669. Saying Whiteside could be comparable to Deandre back in 2010.
670. Robert Sarver & draft picks: [url]https://pbs.twimg.com/media/B4lUQj3CYAABRjs.jpg[/url]
671. Jarett Jack graduating in 2014.
672. Kings firing Mike Malone in 2014. Idiots.
673. Danny Ainge collecting picks.
674. Jerami Grant. He's ttoo much fun to watch. Different build and all, but sometimes he remindds me of rookie Shawn Kemp.
675. Loved it and hated it at the same time: Larry Sanders walking away because he didn't like the guy he was becoming.

676. I honestly thought Nate Wolters would become a very decent backup PG in the NBA.
677. Getting blocked by Stauskas on Twitter because of: [url]https://twitter.com/perkinsfor3/status/544927842778492928[/url]
678. Clippers once declining a trade for Jeff Green that would have costed Matt Barnes, Jamal Crawford and a first-round pick.
679. The time Kirk Snyder thanked Jerry Stackhouse for beating him up. [url]http://t.co/XnNc80dtxg[/url]
680. DeBusschere downing a six-pack of beer after every game without ever taking the rings off the cans.
681. D-League players having a breakout. Robert Covington, Langston Galloway, Hassan Whiteside.
682. Dame Lillard burning people on Twitter any day. [url]https://pbs.twimg.com/media/B7YEbrICIAEGlHK.jpg[/url]
683. Phil Pressey going under the screen: [url]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fUuusUjKs60[/url]
684. Predicting Kevin Ollie would become a very good coach back in 2010.
685. Manute Bol chipping his teeth on the rim the very first time he tried to dunk.
686. Brandon Jennings buying a Ford Edge after signing his first contract. "I probably saved $40,000. And who knows with the league? There might be a lockout in a couple of years. I'm saving my money."
687. Clippers making a play for Mavericks' Wang - [url]http://t.co/dPkZsyjbdn[/url]
688. Stan Van Gundy back in the league. Hero.
689. Steven Adams.
690. Pat Riley getting his first chance as a head coach when McKinney had a bicycle accident & asst coach Westhead had a kidney stone removed.
691. The Warriors drafting a Chinese player in the 8th round in 1981. This guy had the nickname Chibi ('Shorty') and measured 7'8"!
692. Alternative Miami names before they settled for 'Heat': Alligators, Armadillos, Bagels, Beachballs Flaming Sandals, Frosts, Gophers, Groupers, Hookers and Hornets. Manatees (no swagger), Men 'o' War, Mooners, Muggers, Pit Bulls, Stone Crabs and The Vice. The choices were narrowed down to three: Heat, Flamingos(!!!) and Waves. Stephanie Freed was one of the people who submitted Heat and won two season tickets, a picture with the team and two tickets to see Julio Iglesias (part owner) perform in the new Arena.
693. Was there ever a hairier player than Roberto Duenas?
694. Ingles on Hayward's hair: [url]http://t.co/FS1IVbnh0O[/url]
695. "Andrew Toney is the best player I ever played with," - Charles Barkley. [url]http://t.co/88doItld8e[/url]
696. Player's Tribune.
697. Short arms being the worst excuse for grabbing few rebounds (Morris twins). One of the best rebounders ever, Kevin Willis has a 6'7" wingspan.
698. Daniel Orton getting sacked & fined Ooer insulting Pacquiao's Basketball skills in Philippines.
699. Shane Battier: "Shane Battier is a lab rat who understood the experiment as much as the scientists.

Also:
Ish needs more Kebab Stall.
Ish needs more Gobb.
Ish needs more Richie2k6.
Ish needs more Sharas.
Ish needs more StroShow4.
Ish needs more mlh1981.
Ish needs more dejordan.
Ish needs more JtotheIzzo.
Ish needs more saKf.
Ish needs more Jasper.
Ish needs more Gobb.
Ish needs more kwajo.
Ish needs more artificial.
Ish needs more hateraid.
Ish needs more kidachi.
Ish needs more ukballer.
Ish needs more boozehound.
Ish needs more RidonKs.
Ish needs more InspiredLebowski.
Ish needs more Toizumi.
Ish needs more Manute for Ever!
Ish needs more Jailblazers7.
Ish needs more RedBlackAttack.
Ish needs more L.Kizzle.
Ish needs more DeuceWallaces.
Ish needs more Da KO King.
Ish needs more ihatetimthomas.
Ish needs more gencbiba.
Ish needs more Se

1. Outkast. Best hip hop group. Yeah, they beat out alltime greats such as Run DMC, Eric B & Rakim, ATCQ, De La, EPMD etc.
2. Yo MTV Raps! With Ed Lover & Dr. Dre.
3. Chuck D's column on the PE website, Straight From The Dome.
4. OkayPlayer. This is such an unique platform. Basically Questlove's brainchild I assume.
5. The Roots. Always good and highly respected. Anytime you're able to catch them live, do it.
6. WC's flow.
7. The Coup being hella underrated. Boots Riley is one of the most gifted rappers out there.
8. WitchDoctor. His SWAT a Ritual Healing album is a bonafide classic.
9. Speaking of which, OC's 'Bonafide' is REALLY good. Not as good as Jewelz and Word..Life, but still really good.
10. Interviewing Slum Village's Baatin and T3 in Fat Beats in 2000.
11. Having to interview Sugar Hill Gang back in 1998, but bumping into Grandmaster Melle Mel backstage and doing the interview with him instead, obviously.
12. Big Daddy Kane dropping his mic on purpose during every performance for 3 decades ("I can drop my mic and still look good").
13. Slick Rick. Spend his prime behind bars. Really a ****ing shame. His The Art of Storytelling album was nice.
14. Scarface. All Time great.
15. UK Hip Hop: Lewis Parker, Klashnekoff, Ty, LowKey, Rodney P, Jehst, Skinnyman, Blak Tawng, Roots Manuva, Dels. They've got some amazing quality.
16. DJ Quik. One of the most gifted and underrated producers.
17. I always wanted to see a Scarface/WC/King Tee/Ice Cube posses cut.
18. Those mid/late 90's bling bling covers by No Limit & other southern acts. Awful, but funny.
19. Rappers rubbing hands or adjusting their caps 20x a minute during interviews and video clips. Really, most of them are insecure as ****.
20. That Gang Starr discography. Amazing, even though I was never a big Guru fan. Premier had a thing for working with mediocre MC's either way (Big Suge, Group Home, Jeru, Afu-Ra etc).
21. MJG has one of the nicest flows in the game. Daz Dillenger's flow is really good as well.
22. Biggie's "I Got a Story To Tell" is one of the more underrated story telling tracks out there.
23. People talking about 'true' hip hop. Mostly these are white kids.
24. Warren G's The Return of the Regulator had an intro track featuring (Vic) Damone. He showcases one of the dopest verses I heard that year. Never heard much by him again.
25. Naughty By Nature sweaters. They were the shit.

26. French Hip Hop: Oxmo Puccino, Shurik'n, early Rohff, Disiz La Peste, Psy 4 de la Rime, Soprano, Ol Kainry, Booba, Saian Supa Crew, Superme NTM, Mafia K'Fry etc. Quality.
27. Secretly, John Forte (of Refugee Squad fame)'s sophomore album, I, John, is a GREAT GREAT album.
28. Can't listen to KRS One. His dopest album was Sex & Violence because Freddie Foxxx had two tracks on it.
29. Jeru the Damaja and Afu-a were WEAK as ****. And purist white rap fans loved them. Their beats were dope, though.
30. LL Cool J making loads of tracks about ****ing mostly, and whenever someone doubted him, he finished their careers. Savage.
31. Biz Markie slipping a booger in Kane's spaghetti.
32. BBalls' Best Kept Secret. Not really though.
33. Big Daddy Kane with Madonna and Prince. He truly is one of the greatest ever.
34. Lakim Shabazz. Dope voice and classic debut album.
35. Mos Def.
36. Alkaholiks. Remember when people dissed their album, with a bunch of Neptunes tracks on it? It was a good album. Prefer their first 2 though.
37. Smoothe Da Hustler's and Trigger The Gambler's "My Crew Can't Go For That"
38. Mic Geronimo's posse cut Time To Build in 1995 featuring DMX, Ja Rule & Jay-Z.
39. Masta Ace. All albums are classics. He's probably the people's champ.
40. Big Daddy Kane's Show & Prove featuring Scoob Lover, Sauce Money, Shyheim, Ol' Dirty Bastard, and a then unknown Jay-Z.
41. 2Pac's Temptations video (And pre-1997 discography).
42. Souls Of Mischief & the whole Hiero crew.
43. Boot Camp Click vs Wu Tang Clan vs Dungeon Family. If you could take those disco's with you on a deserted island, you'd be good.
44. When Rah Digga just came out she was hot. Early 90's MC Lyte was very cute as well. Never cared for the real sex dolls in Hip Hop such as Foxy or Kim. Or whatever these weirdos calls themselves nowadays such as all the Azaleas. And back to Rah Digga - her original crew, the Outsidaz were talented. Loved Pace Won's 12" The Major.
45. The Lox albums were basically pretty good. Kiss' Uh-Uhn and the Violator V2 album's Come Thru by Styles P and Nore are great tracks as well. Lox guaranteed crazy lines such as "****** can't **** with Kiss, I meanie that
Had to stop eating red meat cause I ate too many Beanie-Macs" and "Might find your man dead in the ocean, He be aight though, You know dead rappers get better promotion"
46. Pharcyde. Used to have a dope shirt with them on it, cartoon, with them having a smoke out. Second album is a classic.
47. Speaking of which, here's Fat Lip in JackAss: [url]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XlH2SqkLcQs[/url]
48. Freddie Foxx wanting to fight anyone. Tim Dog not showing up to a celebrity match. He was supposed to fight there, as well as Willie D and Freddie Foxxx. [url]http://www.thehiphop-foundation.com/melle-mel-vs-willie-d-classic-hip-hop-boxing-event-rare-footage-from-1992/[/url]
49. Lost Boyz, Bush Babees, Brand Nubian, etc. Check my 90's playlist here: [url]https://open.spotify.com/user/vincewx/playlist/2ZzGgt86ZtIy4lGQanQX65[/url]
50. Mobb Deep concert in 1999. I wasn't going to go, because I never was a fan of theirs. BUT, my friends urged me to come and I paid something like 40$ for entrance, which was a huge amount back then (reference: I saw Fugees + support act Nas in 1996 for just $35). So after a while only Prodigy shows up. Does a half drunk, half assed show for almost 20 minutes and ****s off. Later on official comment by management: He had trouble with energy due to sickle cell. Worst excuse ever, since the ****er downed at least two bottles of Heineken in the first 5 minutes of his show. Big Punisher also did a show like that for 15 minutes a year later. On the other hand back in 2000, Mos Def and Talib Kweli were supposed to perform in Paradiso, Amsterdam, but somehow we had Pharoahe Monch, Rahzel, Common and Ice T performing onstage instead. Kelis was also there in the crowd. Pretty crazy.

Good content bro. Mad props