Mom Made Pizza Rolls!

Oh, the future was once bright for Clay Bennett and Aubrey McClendon's Thunder. After ripping the franchise away from the delightful Seattle fanbase (who then tried to rip out the collective hearts of Sacramento/force someone to overpay the Maloofs/force a city to pay for a new stadium with tax dollars), things appear to be in disarray.

Clay is a pompous dick as highlighted by the entire Save Our Sonics movement. And Aubrey McClendon is quite possibly evil as he mines the earth for natural gas and causes people's faucets to catch fire all while running a hedge fund on his own industry, drinking $400 bottles of wine EVERY NIGHT, and sitting in the front row of every Thunder home game.

So maybe the basketball karma gods are doing their thing?  Did they overtake Patrick Beverly's body and cause him to "pull a Westbrook" by going for a steal at the end of the quarter thereby tearing the meniscus of Russell's knee and leading to the Grind It Out Grizzly's elimination of the Thunder 4-1 last night infront of pompous Clay and Evil Aubrey?

The Thunder were fun and cool last year with Durant, Westbrook, Harden and Ibaka.  Things were bright after they got spanked by LeBron and the Heatles even if their offense was simpleton under Scotty Brooks in an age of crazy initial action used to disguise the real play, it was fun to see these guys create and use their natural gifts to kick everyone's ass on the hardwood (except when Perkins was on the floor).

But now people are panicking   Durantula couldn't carry a team of meh's to the finals like LBJ once did in Cleveland therefore Kevin isn't as good as LeBron.  Didn't everyone used to hate Westbrook's selfishness, somewhat lazy defense and inability to set Durant up? Why didn't Westbrook sit on the bench with his Thunderbros after his knee injury?  Are those sideline chairs too small for his post-op knee to handle?  Is Clay Bennett too damn cheap to amnesty Perkins even though it is obviously the smart basketball decision?  The answer is obviously "yes".  Look what he did to save a few bucks by trading Harden before the season began.

The Thunder will be good going forward. Westbrook and Durant are amazing players and Ibaka shouldn't continue to miss 75% of his jumpers. But the question marks have never been so many and so big.

NBA Rappers

Privaledge and Kevin Durant - Wired 

KD sounds pretty good starting at the 1:40 mark.  He certainly is a "young boy who is living old". Great line.

Stephen Jackson aka Stak5 "Shot Caller TRILLmix" Ft. French Montana


Stack Jack can spit, for certain. The video is pretty legit too with the beautiful Milwaukee skyline, Air Jordan 4's, and a nice hotel room suite. How long was Jackson a Buck again?

Louis Williams (NBA Philadelphia 76ers) Freestyle - Imma Boss  

Youtube commentors comment on Youtube that Lou is the best current NBA rapper. And the title suggests that he did this freestyle which is quite impressive.

Well, at least they're all better than a young Kobe:

 

Durant Flag Football

I'm not sure why I never posted this awesome video of how awesome Kevin Durant is. Awesome.

NBA Town Hall; Curry+Durant+Amar'e

Scissor!

This is something to play over your laptop through your bluetooth speakers at home in preparation for the Christmas games

BOOM

Listening to Aldridge change his vernacular is hilarious. He doesn't sound like that on the sidelines or on NBA TV.  I guess that's how he gets these guys to open up?

Highlights

• Steph's New Year's resolution is to only eat 1 pack of candy/day
• Amar'e has vowed to positively influence the local youth
• Amar'e eats through half the town hall

The Dyckman League: Durant vs. Beasley

This highlight package of Durant's team vs. Beasley's team in the Dyckman League (a 501 c 3 Non Profit in Washington Heights) is entertaining I must admit. Durant and Beasley are schooling one another in this highlight tape.



But then Beasley goes and ruins the good times by yelling at the fans "I get paid to do this ni**a!" and eventually pushing one in the face. He goes on to say that "I'm done, I'm done" with playing this particular game. The fans seem a little confused and uncomfortable as seen in the looks on the faces of the groupies who walk across the court during a stoppage of plan. Can this now be considered the Summer of Beasley Officially Going Crazy?

I also enjoyed the mix tape essential sound effects "beep beep beep" horn. Classic. Why hasn't an NBA PA Team picked up on this? Not that it wouldn't get annoying if overused. But just the right amount of "beep beep beep" gets anyone fired up.

The Boy Scouts -- OKC Thunder

The NBA World is not going well right now.  The lockout looms on with lawspeak and verbal ninja warfare that I don't care to interpret.  I understand the NBA writers need to write about something aside from the Lockout but breaking down Slovenia's offense for EuroBasket is just taking it too damn far.  I can't justify spending 40 minutes learning the minutia of their incredible motion offense.  20 minutes is my limit.

And then I realize that Free Darko doesn't post any more and I get even more sad/mad.  I mean, we will never again see great interpretations like this:

Always Be Prepared

This is such great art and I can't even buy it for my mancave anymore! Damnit! What the heck is happening to basketball land!  What did I do wrong as a fan to deserve this!?

Thankfully, I can get my anger out during my mini hoop game later this evening.  Those bastard Suns are going down!  From Vermont, it's the OG Cammish Nextian signing off.

Kevin Durant Dominates Ruker Park

KD dropped 66 at Rucker Park last night.  Thank god for awesome quality handheld cameras because this is some HD goodness.  The first is a clip of KD thwapping 4 3's in a row.  On the 4th make, he gets absolutely mobbed by the crowd forcing the whistles to be blown and time to be called.  You gotta love how stoked those fans were.



Man, that reminds me of a league game in the '08 Vermont Mini Hoop quarter finals.  I was on fire from three and with this 5'8" kid crowding me from deep I just broke him off the dribble and slammed one down all fierce Shawn Kemp-style.  The mini ball rolled over the barrier and into the bushes so they had to stop the game and go get it.  The dudes who were playing after us started giving me hi-fives n' stuff and I was all stoked on my steez.

Anyway, here is a longer clip of KD's game if the first vid got you all hyped.  It's tough for me to notice the difference in the jerseys until a few minutes in.  Sort of weird.  But I love the way Durant is schooling some pretty good ballers, aka Junior College All Stars.  It just goes to show you how much better NBA'ers are than even the best local baller.  You gotta love KD spreading the basketball gospel.  Also, Sam Presti must be stoked watching this footy.

Kevin Durant has Tats

Yep, even Mr. Wholesome Kevin The Kid Durantula has tattoos.  But he only has tattoos where a jersey can cover them.  That's what being business is all about.  Thanks TBJ

"It's Business. It's Business Time!"

Coach K Must Have Jetlag

Our current Team USA competing in the World Championships is flawed. From Lamar Odom playing Center to Eric Gordon being used as a our only shooter to Kevin Love getting limited minutes. Our squad is on the verge of being in shambles. Thank Jeebus for The Durantula just being himself and not letting us lose.

The comeback win vs. Russia yesterday was, as someone with a Russian accent would say "Ver Nice!" But now we have Lithuania. And Lithuania with their tie-dyed Grateful Dead shirts just dismantled a very strong Argentina squad who many picked to advance to the finals now that Spain was ousted. The spirit of Sarunas Marciulionis is strong with this team.

Coach Krzyzewski hasn't managed the personnel use of Team USA well at all. Why not use Steph Curry as a shooter? Why not play K-Love the beast more minutes to use his natural nose for rebounds against those Euro 7-footers? Why is Iguodala playing the 4? All of this has me so worried that I'm thinking about cancelling my flight to Istanbul for the finals (where tickets are still very inexpensive and available...who wants to go with me!)

The bottom line is that Coach K is a douche and Team USA is winning in spite of Coach K's decisions on who to play. Thankfully, Team USA's talent is so great that they can get away with a ton of mistakes.

The only thing that Coach K seems to be doing is trying to stir up controversy with Russia. The crazy 1972 Olympic gold medal game in Munich when the USSR mysteriously got the extra 3 seconds chapped his ass enough to talk smack about Russia's current coach David Blatt. And thankfully Yahoo's Adrian Wojnarowski has something to say about that.

If you need a refresher course on the 1972 USSR defeat over Team USA, peep the youtubes below. It's not all in Russian so don't worry:

Kristic Chair Throw

Haha. Nenerd Kristic threw a chair in a World Championship warmup game vs. Greece. Kevin Durant is going to give him a severe talking to because OKC Thunder don't behave like ruffians. No they don't.

Carmelo Anthony Neck Stinger: Weird

Usually when a man goes down on the court, play stops and the injury is attended to. But in this situation the refs call a travel on 'Melo after he drives into Durantula and while 'Melo is lying nearly motionless on the ground, the refs GIVE THE BALL TO OKC TO INBOUND.

But wait.

THE CROWD STARTS BOO-ING! AND THE ANNOUNCERS TALK SHIT!

Well, now things are strange. And with their man advantage and nobody at 'Melo's side, The Thunder somehow TURN THE BALL OVER!! What the heck is going on here?

Last but not least, JR Smiff drives the lane, right next to a splayed-out 'Melo and shoots a finger roll that is about 5 feet short of the hoop. WTF IS GOING ON!? Did everyone in the arena somehow get brainwashed into thinking that 'Melo wasn't hurt? My Jebus!



Thanks to KD at BDL

Oklahoma City: Rolling

Mr. Next has scored 30 points in 6 straight games. The OKC Thunder, I mean, Team That Shall Not Be Named (I never knew The Sports Guy was a Harry Potter fan?) has coincidentally won 5 straight games. Their last loss was a 3 point defeat IN Staples vs. The Lakers.

Being that this is a web-log/blog that mentions things which are Next, this is just something that had to be posted. Enjoy KD in a wetsuit above. Peep last nights OKC victory over the Jazz HERE.

ESPN's NEXT vs. The Nextians

The biggest question we get here over at The Nextians is if we are somehow related to the ESPN annual "NEXT" issue. Many of you subscribe to ESPN Tha Mag and have seen Kevin Durantula and his lanky 7'3" wingspan grace the cover of this year's issue. Well, the short answer is "Fuck No". But the long answer is a follows:


ESPN's annual attempt at NEXT is all about picking who is going to be a star in a certain sport. This year "Tha Mag" has gotten lazier than ever picking the uber obvious Kevin Durant and this guy from another sport league called the "NFL" named Christopher Johnson. You don't have to be a fantasy sports guru to figure out that these guys are far from NEXT. They are NOW. It is incompetent and an utter mail-in to call some of the best players in their respective sports NEXT. NEXT what? NEXT in line to be the best player in their game? Shit, these guys are already there! Where else do they have to go? Puhh-lease.

The moniker "Nextian" comes from something very different indeed: the NBA's redheaded stepchild the WNBA. In the early days of the WNBA their slogan was "We Got Next!" which refered to women's professional basketball starting up after the NBA finals and playing for 2.5 months in the summer months. As we became fans of the incredible game played in the WNBA, we decided that even though the slogan was gone after 1999, it would live on in our followings of the NBA. We called ourselves Nextians.

Over time the Nextians name has taken on several meanings. But most importantly we make it our goal to predict which players will be Next in the NBA. We sniffed Anthony Morrow out after seeing his 35 point explosion last year vs. The Clippers. We knew that Tyreke Evans was going to dominate smaller guards even as a rookie. We saw that the Houston Rockets would produce fantasy basketball studs from late round (fantasy draft) no-names by buying into the Daryl Morey's moneyball system. We also drink scotch, 40's and play some roundball ourselves from time to time. Lastly, we like the city of Reno (especially the Peppermill Casino) and The Warriors and/or Kings. There's some other stuff that defines us but I'm sworn to secrecy to not post certain Nextian photos of booze fueled concerts that take place on a bus with Bilbo's acoustic guitar.

True Hoop on Kevin Durant

The most influential NBA Blog made a stink about Durantula's adjusted plus/minus numbers on Friday and the match was lit. KD twatted his ass off this weekend in response but seemed to miss the entire point of Abbott's post. I don't fault a young KD for sticking up for himself in a classy/tastefully done manner. True Hoop has then issued a must read follow up post on this situation.

Interesting stuff on many levels. First of all, the analysis by True Hoop is great. Secondly, and probably more importantly, we're getting an unprecedented level of communication between blogs and actual sports stars. Durantula doesn't call out True Hoop directly, but he is talking about Henry Abbott's analysis. Don't you just love the new sports media era we are in? Why the heck couldn't have twitter been around when Gil-Zero was going off?

Bad adjusted plus/minus or not, at least KD will be off the chain this year in fantasy basketball.