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Is basketball about to face its LIV Golf moment? Perhaps, in the form of a new start-up contest brewing under the direction of Maverick Carter, the sports marketing guru and business partner of LeBron James. It is still very early days. The group has no name, no headquarters and no launch date. It only has around 30 employees, and is still in the process of raising money. UBS is running a funding round with a target of $5bn. But it has some wealthy backers, including Skype co-founder Geoff Prentice. And now it is beginning to reel in some strategic partners.
Brian Moritz: Back in my first year at teaching SUNY Oswego, I asked Woj if he would be willing to guest speak to my sports writing class. I have a lot of guest speakers and figured he (like most) would Skype into class. Woj didn’t Skype in. He flew from Florida (where he was on assignment) to Syracuse and drove to Oswego, on his own dime, to spend the day with my students. At one point in my sports journalism class, he got a call on from a source with the Memphis Grizzlies. Not breaking news, just the kind of check ins that make Woj the best reporter on the beat. He answered the call in class, told him where he was. “Tell them we’re trading Gasol,” he said his source told him. My students learned more from Woj that one day then they probably did the rest of the semester from me.
Aaron Rose: Sergio Scariolo had a second round of interviews with the Raptors on Monday via Skype, according to reporting from La Repubblica Bologna. The team will reportedly make a final decision within a week.
Farbod Esnaashari: Montrezl Harrell mentioned his quarantine workouts on the NBA2K broadcast: "We haven't found a gym, but we've been working out via Skype. We've been doing stuff with our strengthen & conditioning coach. No gym [for basketball]."
Los Angeles native Russell Westbrook joined Good Morning America via Skype from his home to discuss how he and his wife Nina have joined forces with Mayor Eric Garcetti's office through their Why Not? Foundation to launch the Angeleno Campaign. "[I'm] finding ways to be able to bring all of us together, and if that's the push-up challenge with your kid on your back, I think we should all try it and kind of see what happens," he said with a laugh. "My son's pretty big and pretty heavy, but we managed it."
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Jon Rothstein: Sources: Several NBA teams are preparing to make their selections for the 2020 NBA Draft based on Skype interviews and prior in-person scouting. Many are moving forward with the expectation of no combine, no workouts, and no in-person interviews.
But, Cliff Alexander says, technology has helped make the life of an American professional in Europe much easier. (This is an improvement from the years before smartphones and Skype — players kept in touch with family via the phone and missed out on the video aspect of contact.) Alexander’s daughter is old enough to know who he is and calls him “Dada.” She talks to him through FaceTime and visited him in November with help from the club. “It just motivates me more over here,” says Alexander, who plays for Le Mans in France. “It makes me want to go all in on this. As long as she knows and I know that I’m over here trying to provide for her, it’s OK.”
Rob Perez left Fox, ironically pivoting to video, and joined Cycle in April. The first season of Buckets was launched the next month. Meanwhile, Perez and Cassidy Hubbarth met on Twitter, and Perez slid into her direct messages “totally, head first,” he said, bonding over their shared love of the NBA. She became a fan of Buckets and eventually joined the show via Skype as a season one guest. ”When I went on Buckets last year, I was blown away by just the production value and the interactivity of it,” Hubbarth said. “I was on the show but I was also watching and being like what is happening!? I consume a lot of media, and the fact that he kind of put me on the back of my heels, like this is something new here, made me an even bigger fan.”
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Rob Perez is constantly watching games and brainstorming content ideas for the twice-weekly show, which comes out on different days of the week to cater to Cassidy Hubbarth’s ESPN travel schedule. Usually there’s a guest who they go shoot an interview with, whether via Skype like Buss and Indiana Pacers disruptor Lance Stephenson, or a taped on-site segment like they did with Cleveland Cavaliers guard J.R. Smith. As the editors and production team works on that, Perez begins to mold the show from an outside-the-box lens, emailing and conference-calling with Hubbarth and translating crazy concepts from paper to try to make a TV show out of it. The ultimate goal of Buckets? “To educate and entertain an audience that didn’t know things were happening that actually are,” Perez said. “To bring a new angle to the game, give them a new reason to watch.”
The misdemeanor driving under the influence case against Hawks coach Mike Budenholzer began with the jury selection process Tuesday in Fulton County State Court on Tuesday. The nearly three-year old case will last until at least Monday when former Hawks general manager Danny Ferry is scheduled to testify on behalf of Budenholzer’s defense. Ferry was subpoenaed for the case. The defense filed a motion requesting that Ferry be able to testify by way of Skype, FaceTime or some other digital electronic means since he would be involved with the NBA Draft as part of his role with the New Orleans Pelicans. His appearance in the case Wednesday or Thursday, the day of the draft, was deemed to be a hardship by the defense.
Ben McCauley: “The day of the Brussels attacks, I heard my teammates talking about what had happened and how a Belgian player with a Brazilian passport had been injured. When he said that, I remembered Sebastien had a Brazilian passport. So I asked, ‘Is his name Sebastien Bellin?’ They said it was and I was like, ‘Oh my gosh’. I didn’t know how badly he was injured, but it was pretty sad and shocking to hear that it was somebody that I know and I have played with. I messaged him on Skype, but he hasn’t responded yet.”
And he was one of the first Americans to play in Iran, where, dismayed that the underground alcohol scene did not include Patron, he persuaded a dealer to import 50 bottles of his favored tequila at $130. Patron is now a Tehran staple, he wrote on HoopsHype. But Vroman found China — the best money — dull. People gawked at him. He couldn't communicate. He'd Skype his many friends from his hotel room, thinking more and more about how he'd spend his offseason in Los Angeles, Las Vegas and the Spanish resort island Ibiza.
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