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.@Wojespn on Shams Charania taking over his old role as ESPN’s Senior NBA Insider. pic.twitter.com/I1VbHwj8u9
— Jim Rome (@jimrome) October 7, 2024
Charles Barkley absolutely had no problem with legend Bill Russell flipping the bird at him during the NBA awards ceremony: While speaking to Jim Rome on the host’s podcast, Barkley had this to say about the uber-viral moment: “I thought it was one of the coolest things ever to happen to me, because Bill’s a mentor, he’s like a father to me and he does that to everybody. It meant a lot to me, because if you know Bill, well, I don’t even call him Bill, Mr. Russell, he is one of the best people ever. And I was laughing so hard I almost couldn’t keep reading, cause I was just naming all the people at his table, before I got to give a award to Mr. (Oscar) Robertson, but I almost fell outta, I almost feel I was laughing so hard inside, because I didn’t want to stop, and interrupt Mr. Robertson getting his lifetime achievement award, but I thought it was pretty funny, no, I thought it was really funny and I thought it was hilarious.”
DeMarcus Cousins and George Karl don’t get along. Kings vice president of basketball operations Vlade Divac on The Jim Rome Show: “I will be honest with you, I think it’s not pretty right now,” Divac said of the two. “I’m focused on bringing a better team this year, and I think I did a pretty good job in this free agency, and now I will be focused on the two of them. I think they should think about how they can do the best for this team, and I hope everything goes well.”
The opportunity arrived when Pat Potopsky, owner of the Brew Garden, watched a Cavaliers game with a few of his employees. He thought it would be great to feature Mozgov as the enforcer from Russia in commercials, and he wrote the scripts envisioning that they would be quirky enough to gain a little attention. The results were better than he could have ever imagined: Potopsky’s Mozgov spots have arguably gained more attention than if he had landed LeBron. “I never thought that it would go that viral — it was on just about every major sports station across the country,” Potopsky said. “We were in GQ, [the] Washington Post. Jim Rome. Every ESPN channel had it on. That was obviously an added bonus and a lot of fun.” In one spot, Mozgov slaps a plate of food off the table while wearing his jersey backward. “Get this weak stuff out of here!” he exclaims. The ad took several takes to get right. By the end of it, the floor looked as though a junior high cafeteria food fight had just taken place. “It did not make sense to clean it one time [when] I gotta do it another time,” Mozgov said. “There was food all over the place.”
Jim Rome couldn't help but tell Green three times on the air that the 20-year-old Michigan State sophomore had charisma uncommon for someone his age on that stage. Green was flabbergasted. "Draymond was so floored to where he was like, 'Did you hear him? He can't be talking about me. I'm just this little guy basically, and you're talking about me?' " recalled Mary Babers-Green, Green's mother.
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When Rome asked Green about a report that Oregon was looking to hire Izzo, Green didn't flinch and replied, "Who doesn't want the greatest, you know? Every NBA team wants LeBron James." "Anecdotal, a lot of swagger, a lot of confidence, but not in any way insulting," Rome said after Green was off the air. "You never see a kid that young that good anecdotally or honest."
David Stern: “I understand what’s happening. My only objection at the time was, your question phrases it in a certain way. But if you said to me directly is the lottery fixed, you would be implying that you believed it was fixed. Because you don’t need to make it part of the question. And so I sort of reacted, maybe overreacted. So I understand that. But a guy’s allowed to have some fun.”
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Stern bristled. "Uh, you know, I have two answers for that," Stern said. "I'll give you the easy one — no — and a statement: Shame on you for asking."
After emphasizing that his line of questioning intended no disrespect, Rome noted that he still thought the question valid, since many NBA fans and observers have openly questioned the validity and purity of the lottery. This time, Stern not only bristled — he swung. "Have you stopped beating your wife yet?" Stern asked. "Yeah, I don't know if that's fair," Rome responded. "I don't know that that's fair."
During their chat on the afternoon after the Oklahoma City Thunder beat the Miami Heat in Game 1 of the NBA Finals, Rome asked Stern about the belief held by some — including, as Yahoo! Sports NBA columnist Adrian Wojnarowski reported immediately following the lottery, multiple NBA executives — that the league office put its thumb on the scales and rigged the lottery drawing in favor of a team still under its stewardship and that it just sold, as a favor to its new owner. "You know, New Orleans won the draft lottery, which, of course, produced the usual round of speculation that maybe the lottery was fixed," Rome said. "I know that you appreciate a good conspiracy theory as much as the next guy — was the fix in for the lottery?"
The point Stern appears to be trying to make is that, in order for him to answer Rome's question, he by necessity has to agree that the league has rigged lotteries in the past and does engage in the practice of outcome-fixing, whether or not it did in this case. It's a bit of lawyerspeak from the commissioner, a Columbia Law-educated solicitor by trade whose relationship to the league began when he was retained as outside counsel nearly 50 years ago.
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