Tag: All Star

Posted on

NBA 2023 Trade Deadline Shuffle Up and Deal Edition

NBA Trade - Kyrie & KD

Mike and Tarlin are back to talk about Lessons Learned from the NBA with the recent team shakeups across the league as we prepare for the stretch run after the All-Star Game. Kyrie and KD are no longer Nets and that has set off ripple effects that have transformed the NBA. We get Mike’s reactions to the new look Knicks and Nets and hear from Tarlin about his revamped Lakers before digging into the new Big 4 with the Suns and how they shape up against Jokic’s Nuggets and the new pecking order in the Western Conference. The leadership in the East is clearly Boston, Milwaukee, and Philadelphia. Mike issues an “Intangibles Alert” with the crafty Jae Crowder heading to the Bucks. What have the experiments with Big 3s and so-called “Super Teams” taught us so far and how does this set us up for the rest of this season? We try to answer this while also reflecting on the sale of the Suns from Robert Sarver to bench player for the 2000 NCAA Champion Michigan State Spartans, Matt Ishbia, and what it means for the league.

Then we conclude by reflecting on LeBron breaking Kareem’s All-Time NBA Scoring record in a wide-ranging romp through the exciting and vastly transformed NBA in 2023. Don’t miss it.

Subscribe to Running It Back wherever you get your podcasts. Visit us at RunningItBack.fm for more amazing lessons learned from the world of sports.

Posted on

NBA All-Star Escapism and the NBA Top 75

All Star Weekend

Tarlin and Mike are back, talking solace in basketball this time on the heels of the NBA All-Star weekend in Cleveland. We reminisce over All-Star Weekends from times gone by, including 1988 and 1992 before fast-forwarding back to the present to talk about a dismal Slam Dunk Contest, the 3 Point Shooting Contest, and the display put on by Stephen Curry during the actual All-Star Game on Sunday. In front of most of the 76 Greatest Players of all time and despite those that couldn’t make it, Steph showed to be the star among stars. And the NBA is being transformed in the process.

We look for lessons in the Top 75 and in ESPN’s as the wet jump shot may be replacing the stunning dunk as the signature move in the NBA today. We discuss all of this, riff on variations of the screenplay for Space Jam 3, and even propose five modern players on the Mount Rushmore of the modern game. Listen in. You might hear some surprises.

Subscribe to Running It Back wherever you get your podcasts. Visit us at RunningItBack.fm for more lessons learned from Sports.

Posted on

Magic Johnson Announces He Has HIV

Tarlin and Mike run it back to November 7th, 1991 when Magic Johnson held an emergency press conference to announce that he had the HIV virus and that he’d be retiring from the NBA immediately. The news shocked the world and we reflect back on where we were when this flashbulb moment in sports history occurred.

Magic went on to have a storied career after the announcement – playing in the NBA All Star Game and on The Dream Team in 1992. The league responds by establishing the “Blood Rule” and working through the fears and objections of other players like Byron Scott and Karl Malone to demonstrate that even in the early 1990s, the NBA was up to the challenge of managing the medical risks of virus spread. Perhaps more importantly, it was our first experience with the confusion and misinformation of dealing with an epidemic and there are many parallels we draw between this story and much of what we’re seeing in the NBA in 2020.