The Real Deal!

"The New Boyz bring home the Gold!"

When the 2012 US Olympic basketball team was assembled boyz started trying to compare them to the original Dream Team. What tripped me out was that cats immediately jumped up to defend the Dream Team as the greatest of all-time! So I wrote the ridiculously Hot Joint entitled "ThoroughBred$" because folks just don’t realize that cats are bigger, stronger, faster and obviously are far more athletic today than they were 20 years ago. Not to mention, they are just all around better players.

It’s just like people trying to say that Carl Lewis is better than Usain Bolt! Science and technology has allowed athletes to become much more skilled, far more athletic and much faster than they were 20 years ago bruh. I know that you want to live in the past but accept it for what it is. They showed a graphic the other night during the Olympics comparing sprinters Carl Lewis and Jessie Owens to Bolt. Lewis would have gotten beat by like 10 meters and Owens would have gotten beat by 17! It’s crazy to think that the old timers are better than these boyz now!

People want to bring up the good old days but the best days are right now. It’s the same thing in every aspect of life. Think about everything that you use on a daily basis. What did computers, cell phones, TV’s etc look like 20 years ago. How does the functionality of those products compare now to back then? Nobody is using 8 tracks, records, cassettes or even CD’s now day’s bruh. Everything is being downloaded instantly. You don’t even need a pager or a computer to get messages or information because your cell phone does it all. Look how much more efficient and comfortable cars are now compared to 20 years ago. Half of you cats are watching sports on 3D TV's now bruh on an eighty inch flat screen!

So why if everything else has gotten better with science and technology why wouldn’t our athletes and their competition have gotten better? Some of these clown sports writers keep going back to the argument that the Dream Team never played anyone close during their run to the Gold Medal. That is a FACT homeboy! However, the FACT is that they didn’t play against anyone in route to that Gold Medal like I explained in “ThoroughBred$.” The only team they played with an NBA player was Croatia and Tony Kukoc had just been drafted and hadn’t ever put on a Bulls uniform! He didn’t suit up for the Bulls until 1993.

These New Boyz played multiple teams with NBA players on their rosters during the 2012 Olympics, Spain had 5(including Paul Gasol 2 time NBA champion, Serge Ibaka 2012 NBA Finals), Brazil had 4, France had 6(including Tony Parker 3 time NBA Champion, Ronny Turiaf an NBA Champion) and Argentina had 4(including Manu Ginobili a 3 time NBA Champion). All of these guys playing for the other countries were 1st round draft picks too.

They played Argentina 3 times in a span of 20 days bruh! I’m sorry if they didn’t look as dominant as the Dream Team but they played against real basketball players bruh! The Dream Team went on the road like the Harlem Globetrotters playing against the Washington Generals every night. I know y’all can see the difference between the two but you just don‘t want to!

You know I can’t leave without bringing up the LeBron vs. Jordan comparison because so many of you slept on the Hottest Joint Ever Written "Bamboozled!" With the win over Spain 107-100 LeBron has now become the only player in the history of the game other than Jordan to win the NBA title, regular-season MVP, NBA Finals MVP and Olympic gold in the same year. The only difference is that LeBron has done it at 27, two years ahead of Jordan who was 29 (1992) when he accomplished that feat. So once again here is further proof of my argument that LeBron at 27 is better than Jordan was at 27 because he‘s doing things that MJ never did until he was much older! Stop looking for LeBron at 27 to be better than Jordan was at the end of his career. Because when King James’ career is over he’ll be sitting on top of the throne as the G.O.A.T and not Michael Jordan bruh!  Then some kid will  eventually overthrow LeBron just like Usain Bolt did Carl Lewis and Jordan did the Big O or Bill Russell!

Holla At Ya Boy!
Jay Graves
Get @ me on Twitter: @jaygravesreport

ThoroughBred$

"The USA Squad is ready to run like it's the Kentucky Derby" 

In the world of sports we always hear folks trying to compare the old school with the new and almost 100% of the time it's a wack argument. I've been sitting in the cut for the past few weeks listening to boyz argue about the Original Dream Team and the 2012 USA Squad after Kobe said that they could beat them. Cats are still going nuts and nobody is making any sense. Like I always say, look at it for what it is bruh!

These new boyz would, in my opinion, beat the Dream Team for multiple reasons. They're far better athletes for starters. I know cats are going crazy even reading this joint but those are the same cats that think Jim Brown was the best running back of all-time. The same duns that think Babe Ruth was the best hitter or baseball player of all-time. Look bruh, Jim Brown was drafted into the NFL in 1957 and retired in 1965. He was 6'2" 232lbs playing running back during a time when there were very very very few brothers playing in the league and he was running over and around corners and safeties that were 5'8" 165 pounds with no speed. He didn't turn the corner and see boyz like Deion Sanders, Rod Woodson, Darrell Green, Sean Taylor or Ronnie Lott. It would have been like taking Eric Dickerson and putting him on the field in 1957. No contest! Babe Ruth didn't play against any of the legendary pitchers of the Negro League like Satchel Paige or the Latin players of today. So to say that they were better is crazy. 

All I keep hearing about is how the Dream Team never trailed in a game during exhibitions nor in the Olympics. They were winning by 50 and 60 points every night. That's absolutely correct bruh but they didn't play against any other NBA players but Tony Kukoc from Croatia. These cats now are playing teams with multiple NBA players on the rosters; Spain has 5, Brazil has 4, France has 6 and Argentina has 4. That's called better competition bruh! That's why they aren't blowing the doors off of teams. They're playing against their peers.  

I keep hearing that the Dream Team was just better because they had 11 Hall of Famers. Well...these new boyz careers are still ongoing. Most of these cats will be Hall of Famers too. Don't think for one minute that LeBron, Kobe, Durant, Melo, CP3, Deron Williams and Russell Westbrook won't make it to the Hall of Fame either. So throw that argument in the toilet and flush it. 

Knuckle heads keep bringing up the fact that the new team has no centers or big men. Let's keep it real or all the way 100, whichever comes 1st! The new team has big men too, they just play different positions now because they're far more athletic. On the Dream Team outside of David Robinson who was 7'1" 235lbs and Patrick Ewing who was 7'0" 240lbs the new team is much bigger but boyz are playing guards, small forwards and power forwards out on the perimeter these days. Would Robinson and Ewing be able to keep up with cats out on the perimeter? I would doubt it very seriously. It's a different game now. Just think about it, back in '92 everybody had to play man to man because zone defense was illegal. If LeBron were playing in man to man only basketball at his size and speed it would be sick. 

 Durant weights just as much as those two centers at 6'9" 235lbs but he's listed as a guard that can handle the rock and shoot from anywhere. Who's gonna to guard him? Magic was old at the time and he was much slower and Malone wouldn't keep up with him. Not on the perimeter anyway!

Let's pause for a minute on Magic bruh! He was only 1 year removed from being diagnosed with HIV during a time when medications weren't as advanced as they are now. People were still dying at an alarming rate from AIDS because of the lack of technology and science. So at the very least he wasn't as healthy as he otherwise would have been. Now HIV is considered to be a chronic disease according to the American Medical Association like Diabetes, high blood pressure etc. So Magic definitely at the time wouldn't have been as strong as he would have needed to be to keep up with these ThoroughBread$. Consider this, drugs back then had terrible side effects. I know because I've worked in the pharmaceutical industry for years. So sit him on the bench for half of the games for that reason alone. That's just real talk! 
  
 Durant's also got Pippen by 2 inches and 25lbs so he'd  back him down or shoot over him all night. Dude, Kevin Love is 6'10" 260 which is bigger than anyone on the '92 squad in terms of weight and is playing not only in the post but he's running around on the perimeter. I'm not saying that he's better than Ewing or Robinson because he clearly isn't. However, I am saying they've got to play his game while he's on offense(perimeter) and defensively he's not going to get pushed around because he's 20 pounds bigger and more athletic. I'm just sayin'! 

 LeBron is 6'8" 250lbs that plays everywhere and is as strong as a bull. Who's gonna guard him? He's got Jordan by 2 inches and 50 lbs and is far more athletic and 5 times stronger. He's got Barkley by 2 inches and is the same weight. Remember, Barkley wasn't a yoked up 250! He was a chubby 250. So therefore, he'd run circles around him. Do you really think John Stockton would keep up with Chris Paul, Russell Westbrook or Deron Williams bruh? Really?  Bird had back issues at the time so he's sitting next to Magic as a non-factor too. 

I know everybody wants to live in the past but players now days are much more athletic, faster and stronger! Stop loosing sight of that. When Jordan would show up he would always be the most athletic guy in the building. Now there are at least 4 players on every team in the league with the athleticism of Jordan. Stop it! Just stop it!

The Dream Team was awesome but these new cats are much better athletes now and along with their size and strength that gives them the edge. Throw the argument that the old cats were more fundamentally sound out with the bath water too. The fact that a boy is bigger, stronger and faster kills your fundamental argument because he's on the other end of the floor by the time the fundamental cat turns around.

Look bruh, I'm old school all day long but I can see. Just because Jordan, Barkley and the Dream Team came up during my day doesn't make me delusional enough to say that these young boyz wouldn't split games with them or just outright beat them in a best of 7 series. Let's keep it real, the young boyz are missing D. Wade, D. Rose and Dwight Howard due to injuries. If those cats were playing as originally expected we wouldn't even be wrestling about who's better or who's got the most Hall of Famer's on the floor. One thing is for sure, whoever has the horses will win and I just believe these young stallions would outrun the Dream Team! I've got on my big hat and seersucker suit I'm just waiting for my Mint Julep!

Holla At Ya Boy! 

Jay Graves

Get @ me on Twitter:@jaygravesreport   

  

The Shake Down!

"I'm hustlin' these boyz bruh and no one's the wiser!"

 Benedict Arnold was a general in Continental Army that later defected to the British. As a member of the American Army he was in command of the fort at West Point and plotted to surrender it to British forces. When the plot was exposed in September of 1780 he was commissioned into the British Army as a Brigadier General. The history books called him a traitor but in the streets he'd be called a snitch or more appropriately an informant and his mother wouldn't be safe back in the old neighborhood. Cats have been selling boyz out for years and as long as the bread is right it'll keep happening.

So just how much bread did the Dominican Republic put in Kentucky head coach John Calipari's brief case bruh? This cat is the head coach of the Dominican team and nobody's blinked an eye! As I watched the U.S. Team boot up to play on Thursday night. I kept hearing the announcers mentioning Calipari's name but I didn't see him on the American bench with Coach K or his assistant Jim Boeheim from Syracuse. No, this dun was the head coach of the Dominican joint and his pockets were so swollen that he couldn't sit down!  

Let's keep it real or all the way 100, whichever comes 1st! I would have understood if he were coaching the Italian team and he were a citizen of Italy but the Dominican team bruh? He may as well have been coaching the boyz from Ghana, West Africa! We all know that Cal is a hustler and he ain't just doing it just for the bread either. He's recruiting a 6'11" freshman in high school named Karl Towns Jr. from Piscataway, NJ. that is a member of guess what? The Dominican National team. Straight up G move Coach Cal. I love it! He gets to coach a kid that he's recruiting and it's all legal. Straight Gangsta! He's getting all the best players because he's out working all of these boyz out here. I'll never knock another man's hustle but just tell me does the matter of being unpatriotic only apply to the players and not the coaches? Just let me know bruh!

 I wrote a Hot Joint entitled the "The Dream Team Hustle" explaining how that team basically got taken advantage of and now everyone that has followed them has become a pawn in the game. Basically everyone is pretty much forced to play for free while the Olympic committee makes a fortune off of them. According to Forbes the Brits stand to make an estimated $26 Billion off of the Olympic Games from 2012 thru 2017 because of new construction etc.  

When guys like Ray Allen and Dwayne Wade said earlier this year that they thought that they should be paid to play on the Olympic Team boyz in the media went nuts saying, "You should be proud to play for your country etc." Even though they are completely getting used and pimped because every one involved is getting paid but them. The media isn't working for free during the Olympic games nor is it free to attend the events! The jerseys they're selling aren't free, the hotels and restaurants aren't free, the airfare to get over there isn't free. Everybody is gettin' money but the players. Sucka's in my opinion!

However, Coach Cal can go over to the Dominican Republic for a boat load of money and nobody says a word. If it's about loyalty and American pride why isn't he on the sideline with Coach K and Boeheim? Now don't get it twisted, I'm all about boyz getting money but don't use two sets of standards for the same argument. If the players have to be loyal then the coaches should be too. So if cats say that they'd rather not play because the bread ain't right. Then it is what it is and you have to respect that!

Let's keep this real bruh! Blake Griffin got hurt fooling around with the Olympic Team last week right after he signed a $95 million extension, so in that regard he's all good. But what if he'd blown his knee out before signing the deal and it was a career ending injury, he would have ended his career essentially playing a pick up game in the projects. Now what? Stop me when I start lying bruh. But the coaches can go pick up millions for a month or two worth of work and it's cool? Ya'll don't see anything hypocritical about that?

When Blake got hurt it was reported on ESPN that Anthony Davis has been "Summoned" to Las Vegas to take his place! You read that right. They used the word "Summoned" bruh! To summoned is to call for the presence of, as by command or to appear at a specified place, especially before a court. In other words they made it sound like he had no other choice but to show up. How bogus is that?

What if A.D. had said, "Naw, I'm cool on that!" Folks would have destroyed him for being selfish and unpatriotic but he would have had every right to decline. He just saw Blake get injured and could have said, "I don't want to risk injury before my career in the NBA even starts. The rookie deal only pays $10 million and I believe that I'm worth over the course of my career more than a $100 million. So I wanna give myself that opportunity." He would have been a G for saying it but boyz would have killed him for. However, Calipari can coach the Dominican team and it's all good. Now you tell me who's gettin' hustled bruh?

Holla At Ya Boy!
Jay Graves
Get @ me on Twitter: @jaygravesreport
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"The Dream Team Hustle"

"Unbeatable on the court but got hustled in the board room!"

Last night I watched NBA TV's  documentary of the Dream Team. They were like rock stars on world tour. The treatment those guys got was unbelievable. Everywhere they went people were lined up to see them not only play the game but just walk down the street. They were bigger than the Beatles and Michael Jackson bruh! Let's keep it real or all the way 100, whichever comes 1st! In 1992 that team was out to prove to the world that America had the best players and that they did. Unfortunately, they got hustled in the process!

It was like Don King promoting a prize fight in Vegas. He hype's up the fighter with one hand and has him sign the contract for peanuts relative to what they should be making with the other. Yeah they came in with the, "We've got to prove to the world that we're the best" speech! Got those boys fired up and nobody thought about the bread that they were leaving on the table. It's easy to do that when you're rich. Now let's be honest, none of these guys are struggling twenty years later but it's the principle homeboy! 

However, in 2012 these young boyz don't have anything to prove to the world because the Dream Team already did it for them. It's a proven fact that players in the NBA are the best on the planet. So now the Oaky Doke shouldn't be able to be ran because the Dream Team had already been the guinea pigs! Over the past twenty years we've seen the amount of bread generated from the Olympics and especially the income generated by the USA Basketball Team skyrocket!

So I was in complete agreement with both Dwayne Wade and Ray Allen when they said earlier this year that players should be compensated for playing in the Olympics! Just because these guys make millions of dollars as players doesn't mean that they should become Pons in the game and continue to be taken advantage of like the Dream Team was.

"It's a lot of things you do for the Olympics -- a lot of jerseys you sell," Wade said after a Heat practice before they played Chicago during the regular season. "We play the whole summer. I do think guys should be compensated. Just like I think college players should be compensated as well. Unfortunately, it's not there. But I think it should be something, you know, there for it." 

 Now Wade was the leading scorer on the 2008 Olympic team that won a gold medal in China. So he's not speaking about something that he's heard. He's watched folks take advantage of him. These guys aren't stupid bruh not to say that the Dream Team was. They just got caught up in the hype and didn't pay attention to the money. So yeah, they were a bit naive and unfortunately all of the other teams including this current roster have been too. The pressure has since silenced both Allen and Wade and they've agreed to play for free this summer too. 

I hear people making the reference that guys like Michael Phelps and Usain Bolt aren't asking to be paid! Let me take you to school bruh! Guys like Michael Phelps and Usain Bolts get paid as a result OF the Olympics. Nobody watches swimming or track but every 4 years. They wouldn't be making the money that they're making now if it weren't for the 2008 Olympics that made them famous. You didn't know who those guys were before then. Mary Lou Retton(1984 Gold Medal) became rich and made it to the cover of the Wheaties box because OF the Olympics. When was the last time you watched gymnastics on television? When the Olympics were on 4 years ago!  

The NBA players are already famous so the Olympics needs them not the other way around. It's called leverage and leverage is power all of the time. Why do you think Money Mayweather refuses to fight Pacquiao? I used to think that he was running scared but it's all about the bread. Mayweather doesn't want to split the purse of the fight 50-50 and Pacquiao does. However, Mayweather owns the company that will be promoting the fight. Therefore, he's got to make more of the money because he's taking on more risks. So he can fight "no-name" fighters and make just as much bread. So why fight Pacquiao because he's in the business of making money not proving who the best fighter is because he's more than a fighter. He's a legitimate businessman. Boxing is just the car that he drives to work in.  

 Believe me, the most disrespectful thing a person can do to you is to take advantage of you. When your boss/manager/supervisor comes to you and asks you to work optional overtime this weekend. What's the first thing you ask him? "Am I getting paid for this?"  Now if he starts running the "company line" by saying, "No my man, do it for the team! Look at the big picture etc!" You'd immediately say, "No thanks I would do it but I've got a family commitment this weekend!"  

So why do we try to run that same "be patriotic" line to the players just because they're rich. Rich or making good money is all relative. Don't you hate when folks try to size you up when you say, no I can't spend money like that and they come back with the "Man you got it!" response.  Don't be counting my money bruh! That's the same thing Dwayne Wade and Ray Allen we're saying before they let the pressure force their hand. By the way, neither of them will be playing on the Olympic team this year. Wade is out due to his knee injury and Allen just didn't make it. However, I respected them for at least speaking up.  

How are you going to run the "be patriotic" line on a boy and you're selling his jersey right in front of him? Be patriotic and give up some of that bread that you're making when you fly them around the world charging people to see them play in what are called "Exhibition Games." They should play for free when there's no admission fee to the games and when they start giving away jerseys. Otherwise, they're getting hustled just like the Dream Team did! According to Forbes magazine the Brits stand to make more than $26 billion dollars off of the Olympic Games thru 2017 because of the new construction projects etc. bruh!

 It was the biggest heist in sports history because guys continue to feel obligated to play for free as the money keeps piling up! If the Dream Team hadn't fallen for the Oakey Doke these cats today wouldn't still be getting taken advantage of. Let's keep it real! None of the media covering the joint is working for free nor is the Olympic committee working for free. I'm just sayin'!

P.S. For all of you Jordan fans! Ask him why Zeke was at the crib and Christian Laettner was on the team? That was a complete punk move bruh! I've been telling boyz for years that I didn't like Jordan for who he was off of the court as I've explained in joints like "I've Got No Respect For Jordan" & "No Respect For Jordan Part II". What blew my mind is that nobody else on the team had the "package" to call him out on it and speak up for Zeke, not even 20 years later! That was real suspect bruh!


Holla At Ya Boy! 
Jay Graves
Follow me on Twitter: @jaygravesreport

"You Got To Pay To Play!"

"These boyz better start paying us!"

The ole timers would always say, "Ain't nothing in America free!" Well as I get older and wiser I realize that they weren't lying. I can remember when I first graduated from college, moved to Atlanta and into my first apartment to begin my career in Corporate America. Up to that point I'd lived in the dorm for 5 years (I was in no rush bruh) or at the crib before that. So the bills were always paid and I just got up, ate and went class. Life was good, cheap and easy. 

However, when I became a grown man it was like some cat was standing at the end of my bed in the morning charging me to get up. It literally costs $30 just to get out of bed in the morning! Now throw kids in the mix and you could be up to $75 for starters! Regardless of what you do for a living you aren't willing to work for free! So why do people expect for professional basketball players to work all summer for nothing? 

 I'm in complete agreement with both Dwayne Wade and Ray Allen when they said just recently that players should be compensated for playing in the Olympics! Just because these guys make millions of dollars as players doesn't mean that they should become pons in the game and be taken advantage of.

"It's a lot of things you do for the Olympics -- a lot of jerseys you sell," Wade said after the Heat's practice on Wednesday in advance of Thursday's game against Chicago. "We play the whole summer. I do think guys should be compensated. Just like I think college players should be compensated as well. Unfortunately, it's not there. But I think it should be something, you know, there for it." 

 Now Wade was the leading scorer on the 2008 national team that won a gold medal in China. So he's not speaking about something that he's heard. He's watched folks take advantage of him. These guys aren't stupid bruh. Believe me, the most disrespectful thing a person can do to you is to take advantage of you. When your boss/manager/supervisor comes to you at work and asks you to work optional overtime this weekend. What's the first thing you ask him? "Am I getting paid for this?"  Now if he starts running the company line by saying, "No my man, do it for the team! Look at the big picture etc!" You'd immediately say, "no thanks I would do it but I've got a family commitment this weekend!"  

So why do we try to run that same "be patriotic line" to the players just because they're rich. Rich or making good money is all relative. Don't you hate when folks try to size you up when you say, no I can't spend money like that and they come back with the "Man you got it!" response.  Don't be counting my money bruh! That's the same thing Dwayne Wade and Ray Allen are saying. 

How are you going to run the be patriotic line on a boy and you're selling his jersey right in front of him? Be patriotic and give up some of that bread that you're making when you fly them around the world charging people to see them play in what are called "Exhibition Games." C'mon bruh, the modern athlete might be crazy enough to spend all of his money and go broke buying 15 cars, $4 million worth of jewelry, have 10 kids by 6 different women etc. Now granted this isn't all athletes. But if he's gonna go broke he still has to be given the option to go through it all his way. You can't try to think for him and say, well since he's probably going to be broke anyway so we won't pay him upfront. Who does that? He's not trying to let the US Olympic committee pimp him too after he's already been taken advantage of in college! Like I always say, Ima keep it real or all the way 100, which ever comes first! This is grown man business! Patna!

Also for those of you that thought I was being stereotypical about boyz going broke I only deal in the facts bruh.  According to a Sports Illustrated article entitled "How (and why) Athletes go Broke!" published in March of 2009, within 5 years of retirement more than 60% of former NBA players are broke. Within 2 years of retirement 78% of former NFL players have gone bankrupt or are under financial stress because of joblessness or divorce! You need more proof holla at Warren Sapp right now bruh! Now do you still think they should go to work for free?

Holla At Ya Boy! 
Jay Graves
Follow me on Twitter: @jaygravesreport