Month: November 2020

While the Lakers have steadily been adding to their roster that won the NBA championship a month ago, the Clippers have watched as their free agency plans have not yet gone according to plan. They re-signed Marcus Morris to a big deal, but saw Montrezl Harrell join the Lakers and JaMychal Green depart for the Nuggets, meaning they had a significant hole to fill in the frontcourt.

On Saturday night, they were able to do so in a major way when they beat out the Lakers and others for the services of Serge Ibaka, according to Shams Charania of The Athletic, as the veteran big man is coming off of one of his best seasons in some time with the Raptors.

ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski reports it is a two-year, $19 million deal, which indicates it’s for the mid-level exception.

Ibaka averaged 15.4 points and 8.2 rebounds per game last season for the Raptors, most importantly putting up those numbers on tremendous efficiency, shooting 51.2 percent from the field and 38.5 percent from three-point range. He figures to slot into a major role with the Clippers, likely taking on the gap left behind by Harrell, who is the reigning Sixth Man of the Year.

It’s the first big win of free agency for the Clippers, who pair Ibaka back up with Kawhi Leonard — which likely played a part in landing the big man — as the two won a title in Toronto in 2018-19.

As if we don’t have enough grief with the rock legends we’ve already lost this year, MSNBC has to go and kill Bob Dylan while he’s still alive? In a recent newscast, which has been captured for eternity via Twitter, the network incorrectly reported that Dylan died last year, in 2019, at the age of 79. Watch the clip below:

In fact, Dylan is alive and well, as the tweet notes, and even released a brand new album this year. Rough And Rowdy Ways has drawn lots of praise from critics, as has most of his works — except that pesky ’80s Christian era (which is lowkey great too don’t let them fool you) — and illustrates that even though he’s certainly getting up there, he’s just as productive as ever.

The news story seems to be focused on a trove of lost Dylan lyrics and memorabilia that was recently purchased, noting that the lot of papers was sold for $495,000! Half a million just for lyrics that weren’t ever finalized, that’s a pretty impressive legacy to leave behind. Except, as noted above, he’s still here living the legacy for now. Thankfully.

For the real classic rock heads who want to debate, here’s the remaining question: Who is better — Dylan or Neil Young? And let me clarify, one last time, both of them are, currently, still alive.

Jeezy and Gucci Mane made the internet roil on Thursday night when they faced off for a heated Verzuz battle. After years of bad blood and diss tracks, the two rappers and Atlanta cultural icons managed to achieve some semblance of peace by closing out the night performing their joint track, “So Icy.” Of course, that doesn’t mean all the tension is de-escalated forever, but a lot of the reason why things stayed calm during the face off was due to the demeanor of Jeezy.

In a lengthy interview with Boy Boy TV, he spoke to just that — citing one person who really helped him keep things composed that night. ” “I just felt like I wasn’t gonna lose my cool — I wasn’t going to let anyone, including myself, drag me back 20 years,” he said, commenting on Verzuz around 22 minutes. “I worked so hard to get in a place where things are good for me. I got multiple things going on, I employ a lot of people, and everybody depend on me. Matter of fact, I got a daughter that I love very much. I gotta make it back home to her.”

Continuing on: “I’m not putting myself in no position to prove no point to nobody that I’m real. I been real. … It’s solid, ain’t nothin’ ever going to change that. I don’t have anything to prove. The only thing that I gotta prove to myself is I wanna be better than I was yesterday. That would have been an L for me to walk out of there and be like, ‘Yo, I just really lost my composure out in the world because somebody was playing with me like we in the sixth grade.’”

His priorities have clearly shifted over the years, and it’s definitely for the better. Watch the whole interview above.

Gucci Mane is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

Rick And Morty is on schedule for a new season despite, well, everything. But before full episodes come our way, we’ve seen a number of small glimpses of the upcoming episodes. And now there’s a PlayStation 5 commercial to add to that collection of animation.

The commercial is fairly simple, with an animated PlayStation 5 sitting on a small table in the Sanchez family living room.

“OK Morty, go, do the thing,” Rick says as he starts to count money. “They paid us a lot.”

Morty mentions that the console is “super fast” and has fewer loading screens, all of which is true on the PS5. He goes into some details about the haptic feedback on the new PS5 controller and some tech specs before, well, getting bored with it all.

“Man, Rick, this commercial is kinda boring. It’s like… the PlayStation 5 is pretty cool,” Morty says, though he gets immediately talked over by Rick to curse in the same sentence as the console they’re selling.

It’s a quick spot, and doesn’t really get into too much detail, which is kind of the point. The show is no stranger to promotional tie-ins and lending its brand to other brands. The show-branded Dungeons And Dragons, for example, is very fun to play. But as Variety noted, it’s part of a larger marketing strategy for the show that does ultimately see some involvement from its creators.

Creators Justin Roiland and Dan Harmon are often involved in devising the commercial content, or at the very least get to approve it. The idea is to keep the characters’ fans entertained by giving them more adventures with their favorites, says Melton –and that sometimes means ad partners have to give up some authority.

As the Variety piece noted, a joke about Wrangler Jeans from the Season 4 finale actually sparked one of these deals, so there’s an odd amount of synergy between what the show finds funny and what actually works in the brand partnership world. Hopefully the PS5 spot won’t exacerbate the already tense relationship between next-gen consoles and the already-rabid fans who want to acquire a next-gen console. Rick and Morty fans, as you probably know, have made a mess of promotions in pre-pandemic times.

Kentavious Caldwell-Pope has turned into an important piece of the Los Angeles Lakers’ rotation due to his defense and ability to stretch the floor. With Caldwell-Pope expected to be in high demand among unrestricted free agents this offseason, it was worth keeping an eye on whether he’d stay in L.A. or if someone else would be able to convince him to seek greener pastures.

Ultimately, the Lakers were able to get the job done. That’s according to Shams Charania of The Athletic, who was able to confirm with Caldwell-Pope’s agent Rich Paul that he’s not going anywhere. He’ll get a nice payday for it, too, earning a three-year, $40 million deal.

Charania confirmed that a number of teams were interested in acquiring Caldwell-Pope, but the Lakers convinced him to stick around. He also added some particulars of the deal, which features a partial guarantee in the third year.

The deal has an especially big fan in Caldwell-Pope’s most high-profile teammate and fellow Klutch client LeBron James.

Caldwell-Pope saw his scoring mark drop in 2020 to the lowest point of his career outside of his rookie campaign, but he made up for that by connecting on shots from deep at the best clip of his career. The 27-year-old wing averaged 9.3 points per game and hit 38.5 percent of his triples last season.

For the first time in his NBA career, Tristan Thompson will play for a team other than the Cleveland Cavaliers. Thompson hit unrestricted free agency this offseason, and his name was expected to be linked to a collection of teams that have an opening in their frontcourt. He didn’t get a deal done right as free agency began, but on Saturday night, we learned what the future holds for the big man.

According to Chris Haynes of Yahoo Sports, Thompson agreed to terms on a deal with the Boston Celtics.

Both Haynes and Joe Vardon of The Athletic reported on the specifics of the deal. Boston will bring Thompson on board on a two-year contract with $19 million.

A former NBA champion during the LeBron James era in Cleveland — which, funny enough, included a number of run-ins with the Celtics in the postseason — Thompson had a career year last year, and should slide comfortably into Boston’s relatively thin frontcourt, either as the team’s starter or behind Daniel Theis. The big man averaged 12 points per game last year, which was the best scoring mark of his nine-year NBA career, along with 10.1 rebounds in 30.2 minutes per game. The Celtics needed a little bit of size this offseason, and Thompson certainly helps them out in that regard.

Carmelo Anthony’s career looked like it hit a dead end before the Portland Trail Blazers, out of a necessity for damn near anyone to play power forward, came calling last year. Things ended up working out pretty well with that arrangement, and as a result, Anthony will stick around in the Pacific Northwest.

According to Shams Charania of The Athletic, Anthony and the Blazers are on the verge of agreeing to a deal to bring him back. Subsequent reporting indicated that Anthony will receive a one-year deal.

Anthony had been linked to a potential return to the New York Knicks during various points this offseason, but obviously, those did not come to fruition. Instead, he will return to the place where he’s been the best fit at any point since he left the Knicks. He slotted in comfortably as a third option next to Damian Lillard and CJ McCollum, averaging 15.4 points and 6.3 rebounds in 32.8 minutes per game. We also got a glimpse of some of the best three-point shooting of his career, as Anthony connected on 38.5 percent of his triples.

The days of Anthony being a no-doubt first option for a really good team are probably gone. He showed last season that he can still contribute to a team positively, and as a result, he’s headed back to Portland.

The Denver Nuggets aren’t totally running it back after making the Western Conference Finals last year — Jerami Grant is one of 50,000 big men to join the Denver Nuggets this offseason — but one of their leaders isn’t going anywhere. According to a report by Shams Charania of The Athletic, veteran forward Paul Millsap will return to the team.

Charania reports that the 35-year-old forward will come back on a one-year deal that will pay him $10 million.

Millsap was an unrestricted free agent this offseason, and there were rumblings that he was a target for the Boston Celtics. Ultimately, though, he made the decision to return to the Nuggets. He’s been a member of the team since the 2017 offseason when he joined as a free agent, and has turned into a reliable contributor during his tenure in the Mile High City.

While his playing time has been reduced as he’s gotten older, Millsap was still productive for Denver last season, averaging 11.6 points and 5.7 rebounds in 24.3 minutes per game. He’s also turned into a reliable marksman from deep, connecting on 43.5 percent of his options from downtown. Millsap isn’t the player he was at his peak, when he was a four-time All-Star selection, but he’s still a steady hand in Denver’s rotation. As such, he’s sticking around for another season.

Of all the surprise decisions Netflix has made about its programming, canceling GLOW an episodes into shooting its fourth season is perhaps the most puzzling. The cancelation news had its list of reasons, of course — shooting during a pandemic would have been difficult and the streaming service often likes to keep show runs short in favor of greenlighting new ideas — but each time a less-beloved show gets renewed the talk of GLOW getting another chance pops back up again.

There’s even some talk of a GLOW movie to wrap things up, as show star Marc Maron suggested shortly after it officially got the axe. But another star of the show, Allison Brie, is being careful not to get fans too excited about that possibility just yet. Brie has done a number of pandemic-altered promotional tasks for works shot prior to the COVID-19 era, and a reported appearance on The Fourth Wall podcast, Brie laid out why she wants it to happen as much as anyone but is trying her best not to get too optimistic just yet.

As The Playlist noted, Brie leaned on her experience with Community, which is a fan favorite that’s still trying to get a movie made years after the phrase “six seasons and a movie” became actual show canon.

“I certainly think a [‘GLOW’] movie could tie everything up,” said Brie. “Our creators, Liz Flahive and Carly Mensch, are incredible writers. And they’re so devoted to these characters that they created. I think a movie would be a great way to wrap it up. I’m a little pessimistic about it actually happening just in light of everything that’s gone on this year and how difficult it is to get anything back into production with COVID, and I’m also part of the ‘Community’ cast, who’s been trying to get a movie going for six years, so what I’m saying is don’t hold your breath because if it does happen, it might take a minute.”

It certainly makes sense to be wary considering her experience with Community, but that’s unlikely to stop GLOW fans from taking any hint of good news about the show’s revival to heart until it actually happens. It’s, as she called it, “a bummer,” but if Netflix was willing to scrap footage they’d already shot because of budget and other concerns, it seems unlikely we’ll see any movement on something new in that universe for some time to say the least.

[via The Playlist]

Michael B. Jordan was recently named People’s Sexiest Man Alive, the thirst trap honor they’ve been doling out since 1985. (History’s first Sexiest Man Alive? No less than Mel Gibson.) It’s a big boon to the acclaimed actor, who will be seen — eventually — in the John Clancy adaptation Without Remorse. And he got a big congrats from a former SMA: Dwayne Johnson, who couldn’t help but rib him in the most 2020 possible.

https://www.instagram.com/therock/?utm_source=ig_embed

Johnson was the winner of the magazine’s 2016 iteration, and he posted a picture of the spread, with an image of him smiling earnestly as he talks about how much he loves working before the sun is even up. The caption offers a warm congrats to Jordan, followed by a little joke: “I CONCEDE NOTHING.”

That’s right: the winner of a 2016 competition refuses to concede victory to the one from 2020 — a little jokette about the constitutional crisis (still) gripping our nation. As of this writing, outgoing president Donald J. Trump is still making tall claims of voter fraud, gumming up the works for Joe Biden’s transition team. It’s a classic Trump move, both deeply troubling and worthy of scorn and mockery. So good on The Rock for joining in on the fun.

(Via EW)