The Bench: Episode 25

Episode 25 - "Mad Dog In The House!" Unforunately this week, both John Kyle and Vanessa B were forced to miss the show due to various ailments. And when we say unfortunately - we mean for THEM because they missed a KILLER episode! This week's guest is a 4 year NCAA D1 star, and a 2 time NBA Champion. He was a heart and soul guy who played the game hard, and danced even harder! He is currently an assistant coach under Byron Scott with the Los Angeles Lakers.  He is "The Mad Dog" Mark Madsen! We ask Madsen about the tough year that the Lakers are coming off of, the evolution of Kobe Bryant, projections for Julius Randle, his time playing with KG, the Hack a Shaq strategy, and the time he got into a bit of an altercation with Shaquille in practice! All of that PLUS more with Mark Madsen! Please visit his website where you can read a ton of great content written by the man himself.  Go to MarkMadsen.com  Also on this week's show, Donnie and Curtis discuss the shortening of the NCAA shot clock, deleted tweets, what do the Raptors have to do to bounce back from a disappointing post season, and SO MUCH MORE! You can also listen to the show, and easily access our archives on your smartphone / tablet by downloading the Stitcher App or by subscribing to us on iTunes or TuneIn. You may also download the direct link to the MP3.

 

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All-Star Game Starters Announced

The NBA All-Star starters have finally been announced.

What soon follows is a whole lotta bitchin' and chipin' amongst the league's many fans. This is of course repeated once the coaches select the reserves. And then again when Commissioner Silver makes the picks for any injury replacement.

So brace yourselves.

We're on the verge of hearing all the "Bieber got Lowry in" we can possibly handle. Or maybe it will be how all the Lakers fans got Kobe in. Or how...Phil Jackson...Spike Lee...James Dolan?!? Ok, I'm not sure how Melo got in.

Forget it. The worst has yet to come.anyway.

Just wait for the reserves to be named...

Here's your starters, folks!

Western Conference

GSW - Steph Curry
LAL - Kobe Bryant
LAC - Blake Griffin
NOA - Anthony Davis
MEM - Marc Gasol

Eastern Conference

TOR - Kyle Lowry
WAS - John Wall
NYK - Carmelo Anthony
CLE - LeBron James
CHI - Pau Gasol

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The Bench: Episode 3

You can also listen to the show, and easily access our archives on your smartphone / tablet by downloading the Stitcher App. You may also download the direct link to the MP3. If you own a website, and would like to have a new episode of The Bench appear on your site for your visitors to enjoy, each and every week for free - contact us and we'll explain how.

Episode 3 - Let The Games Begin! Your favourite new online basketball radio show is back again with another killer episode! This week the boys are stoked as the NBA season finally kicks off! Some of the topics on this week's show: Best / Worst NBA rappers The Kobe / Dwight incident Is AD ready to take over? Talk on Steve Nash and his status Julius Randle's injury The Klay Thompson situation and so much more! This week's guest is one of the top high school coaches in Canada; the man who coached the 2014 1st overall draft pics, Andrew Wiggins - Coach Gus Gymnopoulos! Gus talks about Andrew and discusses Cleveland's decision to trade him, what he believes Andrew's ceiling is and much more!

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Quick Hitters

In this column, I’ll take a look at a few stories or point out a few things I’ve noticed over the last week or so in and around the basketball world.

I won’t be going in depth here – because these aren’t fully thought out “sets” – they’re just “quick hitters”.

So who had Julius Randle in their Rookie of the Year pool?

In the fourth quarter of the Laker’s season opener, Randle fractured his tibia.  He’s being reevaluated today, but the early thought is anywhere from 4 months to the entire season.  Looks like Laker fan is going to be getting heavy doses of the Booze Cruise and Special Ed Davis up front.

A story came out of Memphis yesterday that the New York Knicks plan on aggressively pursuing Marc Gasol this off season.

Allegedly, Knicks Prez Phil Jackson has stated that the Grizzlies big man is the "quintessential center to play in the triangle offense."

Umm.

Hello? Tampering?  Anyone?

What a game last night.  The battle of Texas re-kindled.  The Mavs looked dominant against the World Champions.  Monta Ellis was going off - Dirk being Dirk - Chandler Parsons was … present; then all of a sudden, POOF.  Bye bye lead, the Spurs explode in the 3rd and hang on for the impressive win – and doing it without their Finals MVP.

Speaking of Kawhi Leonard – Max dollars???  Kawhi, please.

At least Klay Thompson’s agent can ask for max dollars without sounding like a complete tool.

It’s still ludicrous, and it is the reason Thompson won’t be running with “The Dubs” next season.

You didn’t really expect the Splash Brothers to out-live the Oakland’s originals – the Bash Brothers did you?

If the Warriors are smart (and so far there’s no evidence to suggest they are) they’ll look to deal Thompson instead of watching him walk as an RFA.  A little front court help would make sense, yes?

For those who were wondering how Asik and the Brow would co-exist; pretty impressive debut!  17 boards a piece?  Holy hell!  They combined for more boards than Dwight Howard will have all week!

Pop quiz: What’s uglier: Michael Kidd Gilchrist’s jumper or Sam Cassell’s smile?

The Knicks traded Travis Outlaw to the Sixers this week to open up a roster spot.  The Sixers new media department responded by adding “Bo Outlaw” (who has been retired since 2008) to their team website.

Seriously.

Bo’s photo and all.

The Sixers upon realizing they didn’t acquire Bo Outlaw, promptly released Travis.

I hope that last part is a joke.

Be sure to check back tomorrow for episode 3 of The Bench!

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