Tag: LeBron James

G.O.T.E. Is the New G.O.A.T.

Post author By Christopher Pierznik
Post date February 7, 2023
No Comments on G.O.T.E. Is the New G.O.A.T.

Comparing eras is futile, so let’s celebrate the Greatest Of Their Era

The great thing about sports is that results are objective. There are won-loss records, tournaments, playoffs, and championships. The winner is decided on the field of play.

Of course, that doesn’t mean there aren’t subjective debates. Quite the contrary. The never ending sports debates all come down to one question: Who is the best? Who’s the best player? What was the toughest era? What’s the best team? Could the best team from a prior era beat the top squad from today’s game?

Tags Babe Ruth, Barry Bonds, Joe Montana, Johnny Unitas, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Kobe Bryant, LeBron James, Michael Jordan, MLB, NBA, NFL, Tom Brady, Wayne Gretzky, Willie Mays

Books NBA Reviews

A Near-Perfect Primer on the Modern NBA — “Spaced Out” Reviewed

Post author By Christopher Pierznik
Post date November 30, 2022
No Comments on A Near-Perfect Primer on the Modern NBA — “Spaced Out” Reviewed

Three is more than two.

That simple mathematical fact, which had been largely overlooked for decades, has completely changed the National Basketball Association. Today’s game is nothing but guys shooting from deep. There’s no more to it than that.

Right?

Maybe not.

Tags Analytics, Book Review, Books, Kevin Durant, LeBron James, NBA, Steph Curry

NBA

The Top Two Picks in the NBA Draft Rarely Become the Two Best Players

Post author By Christopher Pierznik
Post date November 12, 2022
No Comments on The Top Two Picks in the NBA Draft Rarely Become the Two Best Players

Victor Wenbanyama and Scoot Henderson are projected to be the top two picks in the 2023 NBA Draft

The 2023 NBA Draft is shaping up to be one of the rare instances in which there are multiple prizes.

In fact, experts are saying that this draft class may even have four or five players that could help transform a franchise. However, there is an absolute consensus that Victor Wenbanyama and Scoot Henderson should go first and second in the draft, respectively.

While Wenbanyama appears to be a generational talent and is the most hyped prospect since LeBron James, Henderson would be the top pick in almost any other year, so whatever team ends up in the second spot will have a hell of a consolation prize.

Still, that team should be wary. Rarely do the top two picks end up being the two best players in that class.

In fact, it has not happened more than five times since 1960. Five times in sixty years.

Tags Greatness, Jerry West, LeBron James, Michael Jordan, NBA, NBA Draft, Sports

NBA

I Love the NBA All-Star Game

Post author By Christopher Pierznik
Post date February 20, 2022
No Comments on I Love the NBA All-Star Game

I began playing organized basketball at the age of six. As a third grader, I was with the fifth and sixth graders; in fifth grade, I was playing with the middle school kids. I continued playing through my senior year of high school.

Tags Favorites, Kevin Durant, LeBron James, Magic Johnson, Michael Jordan, NBA, NBA All-Star Game, Steph Curry

Art Artist Films Greatness Music Pop Culture Wu-Tang Clan

Favorite vs. Best

What is the best film of all time?

Most film scholars (and wanna-be film scholars) proclaim that it’s Citizen Kane, Orson Welles’s 1941 masterpiece that inarguably changed filmmaking forever. Casablanca, Lawrence of Arabia, The Godfather, and Gone with the Wind are often in the conversation as well.

Excluding The Godfather, how many times have you heard someone mention one of those films as their absolute favorite? How many are populating a casual filmgoer’s top five? How many Lawrence of Arabia conversations have you experienced in your life?

Tags Best, Favorites, Films, Hip-Hop, LeBron James, Michael Jordan, Movies, Music, Pop Culture, Rap, Wu-Tang Clan

NBA NFL Sports

I’ve Always Rooted for Players Over Teams

Post author By Christopher Pierznik
Post date January 25, 2021
No Comments on I’ve Always Rooted for Players Over Teams

“Loyalty to any one sports team is pretty hard to justify, because the players are always changing, the team can move to another city. You’re actually rooting for the clothes, when you get right down to it. You are standing and cheering and yelling for your clothes to beat the clothes from another city. Fans will be so in love with a player, but if he goes to another team, they boo him. This is the same human being in a different shirt; they hate him now. Boo! Different shirt! Boo!”
Jerry Seinfeld

I grew up a Michael Jordan superfan. Not just a fan, a superfan. I had his posters and pictures all over my walls, stacks of his Fleer and Skybox cards in my collection, and collected everything I could, from Starting Lineup figures to Wheaties boxes.

Tags Free Agency, John Elway, LeBron James, Michael Jordan, NBA, NFL, Peyton Manning, Sports

Writing

My Best Writing of 2020

Everyone knows 2020 was not a typical year. In fact, it was probably the weirdest and most stressful twelve months most of us have ever experienced.

Some of the items I wrote this year were in direct response to what was happening in the world – both in macro and the micro sense – while others could’ve been published any other time.

The biggest change to my writing routine was my output – or lack thereof.

Tags Batman, Best of, Best of 2020, Business, Business School, Career, Children, Fatherhood, Film, Grad School, Hip-Hop, LeBron James, Life, Rap, Sports, Wu-Tang Clan

NBA Sports

There Is No Debate: LeBron James Is the NBA Player of the Decade

Post author By Christopher Pierznik
Post date December 30, 2019
No Comments on There Is No Debate: LeBron James Is the NBA Player of the Decade

On Christmas day, The New York Times published an editorial in which it asked some of its sportswriters who the NBA’s best player of the decade was and the nod went to Stephen Curry.

While the Times conceded the only other possibility was LeBron James, Curry won “in a landslide.”