Hip-Hop Gets No Respect

If you missed part one of this little two part series on hip-hop music make sure to check out, the Evolution of Hip-Hop. Part two is going to look at how and why hip-hop does not get the credit and recognition that it deserves from award shows, mainly the Grammy's. Let's jump in and get hip-hop recognized!

Like I showed in the Evolution of Hip-Hop, the genre has been around since the 1970's with DJs getting it started up in New York. The first Grammy was awarded in 1959, so you would think that the Grammy's would introduce hip-hop to the awards in the mid to late 70's right? It wasn't until 1988 that the Grammy's would recognize the genre and even then they only introduced the "Best Rap Performance" category to the ceremony. Gradually they introduced more categories, '90 saw "Best Rap Solo Performance" and it wasn't until '95 that they introduced the "Best Rap Album" category. That's a damn near 20 year difference that it took for hip-hop to get national award recognition, that means you missed artists like Tupac, Biggie, NWA, Public Enemy, Run DMC, A Tribe Called Quest, among many others. It is absolutely ludacris(see what I did there....LUDA) it took that long and some of the early pioneers of hip-hop never got the opportunity to receive the recognition they deserve. Hip-hop now has four award categories which is great but good luck receiving an award outside of those categories if you are a hip-hop artist. Let's take a quick look at the history of "Album of the Year" and "Best New Artist of the Year" specifically when there was a hip-hop artist up for the award.

Album of the Year Winners:

Hip-hop has been around since the 1970's and has been one of the most popular music genres so you would think it would have a decent amount of Grammy's in this category. Go ahead and take a guess how many times it has won? Go ahead I'll wait a little bit.....IT HAS ONLY WON THE AWARD TWICE!!!!!!! In '99 Lauryn Hill and in '04 Outkast won, that's it and you could argue both of those albums weren't necessarily hip-hop they could be pop. Let's look at who hip-hop artists have lost to:
-97 The Fugees lost to Celine Dion, '01 Eminem lost to Steely Dan, '02 Outkast lost to the O' Brother Where Art Thou soundtrack,'03 Eminem and Nelly lost to Norah Jones, '05 Kanye lost to Ray Charles, '06 Kanye lost to U2, '08 Kanye lost to Herbie Hancock, '09 Lil' Wayne lost to Robert Plant and Alison Krauss, '11 Eminem lost to Arcade Fire, '13 Kendrick lost to Daft Punk, '16 Kendrick lost to Taylor Swift, '17 Drake lost to Adele, and finally in 2018 Childish Gambino, Jay-Z, AND Kendrick lost to Bruno Mars...
The definition of "Album of the Year" from the Grammy's reads as follows, "honor artistic achievement, technical proficiency and overall excellence in the recording industry, without regard to album sales, chart position, or critical reception." Sure some of those are legitimate wins for other music genres but now that we are five years from 2013 how many people are still listening to Daft Punk's "Random Access Memories" vs Kendrick's "Good Kid M.A.A.D. City" I mean let's get real here. Kendrick bursts on the scene with an incredible album and he gets snubbed for Daft Punk? That's a joke. Just this past awards show, 3 hip-hop artists (3!!!!!) were nominated with Kendrick being the favorite and they all lost to Bruno Mars. Don't get me wrong I like Bruno Mars but there is no way that album was better then the other three nominations. Kendrick and Jay-Z's albums made extremely impactful social and political statements that will be remembered for years to come as 24K Magic falls to the back burner after Bruno releases his newest pop money making album. The Grammy's will always pick the safe and popular choice instead of taking a stand and picking an album or artist that actually has meaning and makes a difference. In all honesty it really is a popularity contest but more on that later. This past awards show was the first time in Grammy's history there was no white male nominated for "Album of the Year" and they still awarded it to the most "white" male there.

Best New Artist Winners:
"Best New Artist" is defined as "For a new artist who releases, during the eligibility year, the first recording which establishes the public identity of that artist." Hip-hop has won this award only two times as well, Lauryn Hill in '99 and Chance the Rapper in 2017. Let's take another a look at who hip-hop artists have lost to:
-'98 Puff Daddy and Erykah Badu lost to Paula Cole, '01 Sisqo to Shelby Lynne, '04 50 Cent to Evanescence, '05 Kanye to Maroon 5, '07 Chris Brown to Carrie Underwood, '11 Drake to Esperanza Spalding, '12 J. Cole and Nicki Minaj to Bon Iver, '14 Kendrick to Macklemore, and 2018 Lil' Uzi Vert to Alessia Cara.
Again some of the choices were right and I have no argument against them but some of the recent awards are downright disgraceful. Drake losing to Esperanza Spalding, I have no idea who that even is and Drake is one of the biggest celebrities in the world right now; Kendrick losing is another disgrace, and I don't care for Lil' Uzi all that much but Alessia Cara is not even a new artist she released her first hit song "Here" in 2015 which was named as one of the best songs of the year by Billboard. Again hip-hop gets zero respect from the Grammy's.

The funny thing with the Grammy's and hip-hop is this, the Grammy's loves having hip-hop artists perform at their show. Kendrick has performed the last few years and has completely torn the stage apart and is one of the most talked about performers every year. The Grammy's likes to use these artists to help draw people in and watch their show but it refuses to acknowledge the work they do in the major award categories. According to Billboard, hip-hop was the most popular music genre of 2017 so why is it not receiving the awards and recognition it deserves? There are a few factors playing in to it I believe:
     1. The Grammy's don't like to pick the political or socially charged topics. In all reality they are scared to vote for albums or artists who are making a difference, they don't want to face the backlash. In 2015, Kendrick released "To Pimp a Butterfly" one of the most socially charged albums to date. It was nominated for "Album of the Year" but of course lost to Taylor Swift's "1989" a pop album with no social or political meaning. The hit song "Alright" from Kendrick became the mantra for the Black Lives Matter movement which might have immediately hurt the albums chances to win. I would hope in the year 2015 that would not be the case but there has been no evidence to prove this theory wrong.
     2. This relates to the factor above but the Grammy's could have a race problem, like I said above this was the first time that no white male was nominated for "Album of the Year." In 2014 Macklemore (who I don't really consider a hip-hop artist he is more pop in my book) won "Best Rap Album" over Drake, Jay-Z, Kendrick, and Kanye. That might be the biggest WTF moment in Grammy's history when we look back at it. When Neil Portnow (who is the current president of The Recording Academy) was asked why Alessia Cara was the only woman to win a televised Grammy this year he responded with "It has to begin with… women who have the creativity in their hearts and souls, who want to be musicians, who want to be engineers, producers, and want to be part of the industry on the executive level… [They need] to step up because I think they would be welcome. I don’t have personal experience of those kinds of brick walls that you face but I think it’s upon us — us as an industry — to make the welcome mat very obvious, breeding opportunities for all people who want to be creative and paying it forward and creating that next generation of artists.” I would hate to see what he thinks of hip-hop music.
     3. The Grammy's are a popularity contest, plain and simple. There is no way Bruno Mars should have beat Kendrick this past year, he probably should not have even beaten Jay-Z but more people like Bruno Mars and he gets the radio play. Older established artists even get the nod over younger artists who are trying to break through and this shows the Grammy's favoritism. It's like being back in high school, if you were not in that inner circle you didn't stand much of a chance breaking in.

It is getting to the point where artists are choosing to skip the Grammy's all together, Drake and Kanye did it this year and I am sure more will follow which is really a shame. These are some of the biggest names in music and we are not getting to see them either perform or win awards on music's biggest night. How much longer will Kendrick continue to perform if he is just going to lose to Bruno Mars and Taylor Swift every year? Unlike other award shows or sports hall of fame voting, the Grammy's does not release their voting structure or results. Maybe that is a solution to this problem, release the ballots so we can all see the results and tear into the people who cast them blindly. I know I am a hip-hop fan but it's not difficult to see that Kendrick and artists like him are making music that actually matter and they should be rewarded for that. 

Evolution of Hip-Hop

After watching the Grammys a few weeks ago I started thinking about this topic and it is finally ready to go. It is going to be a two part piece, the first one will look at the evolution of hip-hop and the second will go over how hip-hop has never gotten the recognition it deserves. The evolution piece will be broken down by decades looking at the main influencers of the time and the main happenings of each year. It's an abbreviated look at hip-hop history, hip-hop is one of the most influential music genres, influencing fashion, graffiti, politics, and dancing styles. Hip-hop started from humble beginnings with DJs using turntables on street corners and underground clubs and it has become one of the biggest music genres in the world. Let's take a look and enjoy the hip-hop genre.

1970's:

     -Main Acts: Grandmaster Flash, DJ Kool Herc, Afrika Bambaataa, Grandmaster Caz, Sugerhill Gang

     -Styles: Started out with guys DJing and spinning records on street corners, gradually moved to including emcees in the late '70s.

-'73: DJ Kool Herc DJs his sisters birthday party at 1520 Sedgwick Avenue in the Bronx with turntables and scratching records

-'75: Herc gets hired as the DJ for Hevalo Club and gets Coke La Rock and Clark Kent emcee to form Kool Herc and the Herculoids

-'77: Herc gets stabbed at one of his parties and this makes him reconsider performing live. It is also one of the first documented acts of violence around hip-hop.

-'78: Music industry coins the term "Rap" and shifts towards the emcee rather then the DJ.

-'79: Grandmaster Flash forms his crew and they become "Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five." Kurtis Blow becomes first rapper to sign to a major record label. "Rapper's Delight" from the Sugerhill Gang hits 36 on the Billboard chart and is hailed as the first rap song. 

1980's:

     -Main Acts: '70's DJs are still around but fading to acts like Run DMC, Ice-T, Public Enemy, LL Cool J, N.W.A, Dr. Dre

     -Styles: More focused on the emcee rather then the DJ, styles like gangsta rap and political rap enter the scene

-'80: Kurtis Blow appears on TV and his record "The Breaks" goes over 1 million copies sold.

-'81: Flash releases "The Adventures of Grandmaster Flash on the Wheels of Steel" which was the first record to capture live DJ scratching. Beastie Boys are formed.

-'82: Bambaata release "Planet Rock" which goes on to become one of the biggest DJ songs ever. Flash and the Furious Five release "The Message" where they rap about the dangers of living in the Bronx. 

-'83: Ice-T ushers in gangsta rap with songs like "Body Rock" and "Killers." The Furious Five releases "White Lines(Don't Do It)" which becomes an anti-cocaine message. Run DMC releases "It's Like That" and "Sucker MCs" and they usher in a new minimalist style of rap and start dissing other MCs.

-'84: Russell Simmons and Rick Rubin form one of the biggest labels ever, Def Jam Records and they introduce LL Cool J to the hip-hop world. Artists discover touring as a way to earn revenue with the Fresh Fest earning $3.5 million in 27 dates. 

-'86: Beastie Boys release "Licensed to Ill" on Def Jam and become some of the first white hip-hop artists. The Geto Boys are formed and start putting Southern hip-hop on the map. 

-'87: Public Enemy release "Yo! Bum Rush the Show" introducing hip-hop with a politically charged background. 

-'88: "Yo! MTV Raps" is first shown and helps get hip-hop mainstream media attention. N.W.A. release "Straight Outta Compton" and usher in the age of gangsta rap

-'89: A Tribe Called Quest is formed in a Manhattan high school.

1990's:

     -Main Acts: 2Pac, N.W.A, Notorious B.I.G, A Tribe Called Quest, Wu-Tang Clan, Nas, Queen Latifah, Fugees, Jay-Z, Snoop Dogg, Missy Elliot, Eminem, Outkast

     -Styles: DJs and groups are basically non-existent and the one man emcee takes over from the 90's through today. In my eyes the '90's are the golden age of hip-hop, so many great artists and songs.

-'90: 2Pac joins Digital Underground as a dancer and a roadie

-'91: N.W.A releases their second album which reaches #2 on the pop charts. Biggie appears in Source magazine and Andrew Benjamin and Antwan Patton meet in high school to form Outkast.

-'92: Dre releases "The Chronic" and it would reach multi-platinum status in '93

-'93: Wu-Tang Clan releases their first album and takes the genre by storm as a super group. Sean Combs forms  Bad Boy Entertainment and signs Biggie. 

-'94: Nas releases "Illmatic" which goes gold and is still one of the greatest hip-hop albums of all time. Outkast releases their first album and continues the southern hip-hop introduction. 2Pac gets shot 5 times outside of a New York recording studio which helps ignite the East Coast vs. West Coast feud. 

-'95: Queen Latifah wins the "Best Rap Solo Performance" for her song Unity. 2Pac joins Death Row Records with Suge Knight. Eazy-E of N.W.A dies from AIDS bringing the fight against the disease to main headlines.

-'96: The Fugees album hits #1 and wins 2 Grammy's continuing the push of hip-hop into mainstream media. Jay-Z debuts, Lil' Wayne joins Hot Boyz, and 50 Cent meets Jam Master Jay from Run DMC. 2Pac is murdered in Vegas pushing the East vs. West into a frenzy and continuing violence in the hip-hop genre. 

-'97: Biggie is murdered in L.A. only months after 2Pac is murdered, bringing a peace and an end to the violence in the genre. Missy Elliot debuts with "Supa Dupa Fly" and leading to becoming the most successful female rapper of all time. Eminem loses in the biggest underground showcase known as Scribble Jam. Sean Combs becomes Puff Daddy and releases his debut album "No Way Out."

-'98: Dr. Dre signs Eminem to his label Aftermath, Lauryn Hill debuts and wins 5 Grammy's, including Album of the Year and Best New Artist, Jay-Z breaks through with "Hard Knock Life."

-'99: Eminem is introduced to the world with the "Slim Shady" LP selling 4 million copies while Lil' Wayne releases his first solo album "Tha Block is Hot" at the age of 17. Both would become major players in hip-hops future. 

2000's:

     -Main Acts: A lot of the 90's guys carry over, Dre, Em, Jay, Nas, Nelly, 50 Cent, Kanye West, T.I., Slaughterhouse, Drake

-'00: Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney holds the first Hip-Hop Powershop summit to address the dangers of hip-hop on America's youth. Eminem releases "Marshall Mathers" scoring 2 Grammy's. 50 Cent is shot 9 times at close range being hit in the hand, arm, hip, legs, chest, and left cheek resulting in his voice becoming more raspy but increasing his popularity. 

-'01: Puff Daddy becomes P. Diddy, Jay Z vs. Nas feud begins, and Young Jeezy releases his first album continuing the southern hip-hop success. 

-'02: Jam Master Jay is shot and killed in a Queens studio and it is another unsolved murder in hip-hop history along with 2Pac and Biggie. 

-'03: 50 Cent releases "Get Rich or Die Tryin" and it hits #1 on the Billboard 200.

-'04: Dr. Dre is involved in a huge brawl at the 2004 Vibe Awards which leads to a man getting stabbed and Dre getting punched in the face. P. Diddy begins the "Citizen Change" campaign with the tagline "Vote or Die" trying to use his hip-hop platform to make political changes. Lil' Wayne releases "Tha Carter" which becomes one of the biggest albums in history. Kanye explodes onto the scene with "The College Dropout" and earning 10 Grammy nominations.

-'05: P. Diddy drops the P and just sticks with Diddy.

-'06: Jay-Z releases "Kingdom Come" Drake releases his first mixtape, and Nas releases "Hip-Hop is Dead" prompting the media to discuss where the genre is headed. Diddy changes back to P. Diddy after being sued for becoming Diddy.

-'08: Obama reaches out to hip-hop artists to help his campaign and artists respond positively with Obama tribute raps. Jay-Z headlines Glastonbury, which is the largest art festival in the world showing that hip-hop is more popular then ever. P. Diddy switches up to Sean John after his new clothing line. 

-'09: T.I. gets sentenced to a 12 month prison term for illegal weapons charges, Drake gets signed to Young Money, and Slaughterhouse begins the lyricism movement. DJ AM is found dead in his apartment from a drug overdose.

2010's:

     Main Acts: Drake, Kanye, Nicki Minaj, J. Cole, Kendrick Lamar, Chance the Rapper, Kid Cudi, Migos, Wiz Khalifa

-'10: Lil' Wayne is sentenced to a year in prison on a criminal weapons charge and Drake releases his first album"Thank Me Later" beginning his dominance on the genre.

-'11: J. Cole drops his first album after becoming the first signing of Jay-Z's Roc Nation label and becomes a huge star. Jay-Z and Kanye collab and drop "Watch the Throne" with critcal acclaim. Sean John becomes Swag for a week.

-'12: Hip-hop executive Chris Lighty is found dead in his home from a self inflicted gun shot wound, Lighty co-founded the record label Violator and was responsible for artists such as LL Cool J, Nas, 50 Cent and many others. Lil' Wayne passes Elvis Presley to become the artist to appear the most times on the Billboard 100. Chance the Rapper releases his first mixtape "10 Day."As he becomes more popular he refuses to sign with a record label and releases his music for free as mixtapes. 

-'14: P. Diddy changes his name back to Puff Daddy-'17: Puffy Daddy changes his name to "Love, aka Brother Love"

There is a quick look at the history of hip-hop and how it has evolved from it's start with guys spinning records on the corner. Also, if your keeping track Sean Combs changed his name eight times over his time in the hip-hop industry. This is part one of the two part hip-hop topic and the second part will look at how hip-hop has been overlooked and has not received the recognition it deserves. 

Who Are the Top Coaches in the NBA?

When you think of the top three NBA coaches who comes to your mind? Gregg Popovich, Brad Stevens, and Steve Kerr are some of the names most people think of. All three of these guys have proven for years why they are great and why they get mentioned in this group. Of course, I like these guys but I also think there are two other coaches who are close behind and one who belongs in the top three. Before I get to them, let's take a little closer look at Pop, Stevens, and Kerr and how they got their start and what makes them so special on the sidelines.

Gregg Popovich
Pop has been on basketball sidelines since 1973 when he got his first assistant coaching job with Air Force which led to his first head coaching job in 1979 with Pomona-Pitzer. During his time at Pomona he became a close friend with Larry Brown who was then the head coach at the University of Kansas. Pop actually took the '85-86 season off and volunteered to learn as an assistant under Brown at Kansas. When Brown became the head coach of the San Antonio Spurs in 1988 he hired Popovich as his lead assistant coach. Brown and Pop coached the Spurs until the 1992 season when the entire coaching staff was fired, Popovich joined the Warriors as an assistant under Don Nelson during the '92 season.

In '94 Popovich returned to the Spurs as the General Manager and Vice President of Basketball Operations after Peter Holt purchased the organization. When the Spurs started out the 1996 season with a record of 3-15, Pop fired the coach and became the coach himself. This would turn out to be a franchise altering move. A handful of major injuries helped the Spurs to win the NBA Lottery and draft Tim Duncan. Pairing Duncan with David Robinson the Spurs turned the franchise around and won 56 games in Duncan's rookie year and Pop's first full season as head coach. Drafting Duncan and Pop being the coach completely turned the franchise around, the Spurs have made the playoffs every year since drafting Duncan in '97. They would win their first NBA title in 1999 followed by titles in 2003, 2005, 2007, and 2014. Pop has been named the Coach of the Year three times and is only the second coach to win 900 games with one franchise.

So what makes Popovich so great? He is an unbelievable developer of players, with the Spurs being so good for so long they are always drafting at the end of the first round. Manu Ginobili was drafted at the end of the second round and Tony Parker was a late first round pick but both of these players became possible hall of fame players under Pop. Last year LaMarcus Aldridge was unhappy and wanted to be traded, in the off-season Pop and Aldridge sat down and talked it out. Popovich made some changes and the Spurs are one of the best teams in the league and Aldridge is an All-Star. Pop knows his players and knows how to get the most out of them, he runs a great system and isn't afraid to make changes if he feels he needs to. Popovich is not only one of the best coaches right now but is also one of the greatest coaches of all time.

Brad Stevens
Brad Stevens got into coaching with a pretty strange story, in 2000 he was offered the opportunity to volunteer in the Butler basketball office. He was offered a low-paying administrative position as coordinator of basketball operations under then-coach Thad Matta. "Stevens was just a hungry young kid that was desperate to get into coaching. He had a great passion and was willing to take a risk to get into coaching" Matta would say a fee years later. Stevens was promoted to a full-time assistant coach and became active in every aspect of the game, skill instruction, game prep, in-game coaching, and recruiting. In 2007, Stevens was named the head coach at Butler and became the second youngest coach in Division I basketball. He turned Butler into a relevant basketball program and took them to heights they never imagined. They went 27-3 in his first season and won the Horizon League to earn a bid into the 2008 NCAA tournament. In Stevens six seasons Butler made the NCAA Tournament five times and made the Final twice.

In 2013, Stevens made the jump to the NBA and became the coach of the Boston Celtics. Following a rocky start to this career Stevens has turned the Celtics in a perennial playoff team and a Finals contender the last two seasons. In the 2017 off-season his Butler past helped the Celtics land one of the biggest free agents, Gordon Hayward.

Stevens and Popovich have one big similarity, they both usually have a calm demeanor. Of course they will both get upset depending what is happening on the court but they usually have a very stoic mood. Stevens background as a Butler assistant helped his shape his skills in play development and play calling. He spends a lot of time analyzing game film and preparing game plans for each opponent. Stevens likes to use stats to help motivate his team, if they are playing poorly on defense he will pull up stats showing what is happening and how they can fix it. His teams are built as a team instead of around individuals, all of his guys buy in and play together as a unit. He is one of the best x's and o'x coaches and this is a major factor for him.

Steve Kerr

Unlike Popovich and Stevens, Kerr played in the league and played on some of the best teams in NBA history with MJ. He was a 5 time NBA champion during his playing career and was a great 3 point shooter. He played 17 years gaining valuable experience playing with MJ, Tim Duncan and David Robinson, and Shaq to name some of his teammates. After his playing career, he became a TV analyst for a few years before becoming the general manager of the Phoenix Suns. In 2010, Kerr stepped down as GM and took a few years off from the spotlight until 2014. 

In 2014 Kerr became the head coach of the Golden State Warriors which has worked out fairly well for him. Kerr used elements from his playing days in Chicago under Phil Jackson, elements of Pop's spacing and pace, and the uptempo style from Alvin Gentry when he was the coach of the Suns. In Kerr's first season the Warriors went 67-15, winning 60+ games would become an every year occurrence for this organization. But with players like Steph Curry, Klay Thompson, Draymond Green, and later Kevin Durant, Kerr walked into a pretty good situation. 

Kerr had experiences that Pop and Stevens did not have with his playing past. When Kerr was hired as the Warriors coach he had a great foundation in place but he does a great job keeping egos in check. Having some of the best players in the NBA is not easy, there is only one ball and most guys think they should be the one handling it the most. Kerr has earned his players trust and they have bought into his system and it has worked beautifully. Playing on those early Bulls teams surely helped Kerr work with these players and help build his coaching system. He played under coaches like Phil Jackson and Pop but he didn't just play he paid attention and learned underneath them as well. 

There is a little background on Pop, Stevens, and Kerr who most NBA people would say are the top three coaches in the NBA. In my opinion I would put Pop and Stevens in the top three but would add another name instead of Kerr. Before I get to that name I have another coach who is really good and doesn't get enough love.

Quin Snyder

Quin Snyder got his basketball career started as a point guard for Duke University in the mid 1980s. After he graduated from Duke he went back to earn his MBA, while he was working on his graduate degree he joined the Los Angeles Clippers as an assistant. After he completed his degree, Snyder joined the Duke coaching staff as an assistant coach. Being an assistant for Duke, gave Snyder the opportunity to work under Coach K. In 1999, Snyder accepted the head coaching position at the University of Missouri. After a great start with the Tigers things became rocky at the University with recruiting violations and poor on court performance. Snyder resigned in 2006 but he couldn't stay away from basketball and became the head coach of the Austin Toros of the NBA D-league. He was extremely successful despite constant roster turnover. From 2010-2014, Snyder worked for four different organizations including a Russian team. 

In 2014, Snyder became the head coach of the Utah Jazz. During his first three seasons the team has made the playoffs only once but they reached the Western Conference semifinals. During his first three seasons he had a roster built around Gordon Hayward but the front office has never done Snyder many favors. Hayward left for the same reason, the Jazz just brought back the same players year after year after year even though everyone knew it wasn't working. It also seems like the Jazz are a franchise cursed with injuries, Dante Exum, Rudy Gobert, and Rodney Hood all missed a lot of time during Snyder's first three seasons but he has constantly been around .500.

Snyder builds his team around defense and it is evident when you look at the stats of previous Jazz teams. They are constantly in the top 10 for defensive metrics and this season is more of the same. Snyder's coaching background with Missouri, in the D-League, and in Europe have shaped his coaching philosophy. Other NBA teams want to play uptempo and shoot a ton of three's but Snyder realizes he doesn't have that type of team in Utah. With Gobert at center he has built his tactics around him, play good hard defense, rebound, and use set plays on the offense. He knows he doesn't have great three point shooters so why waste your offensive possessions with them. I think Snyder is a very good coach and is incredibly underrated. 

Erik Spoelstra

Spoelstra played in college for the University of Portland and was their starting point guard for four years. After graduating Spo was a player/assistant coach for a German professional team until 1995 when he was offered a job with the Miami Heat. He started on the ground floor with the Heat as the video coordinator in 1995 and then became an assistant coach/video coordinator in '97. In '99, Spo became assistant coach/advance scout before being promoted to assistant coach/director of scouting in 2001. He basically held every job for the Heat until 2008.

In 2008, Spoelstra finally got his shot when head coach Pat Riley stepped down and Spo was named head coach. His first season was a successful one, when he led the Heat to the playoffs, considering the previous year the Heat were 15-67. In 2010, the Heat brought in LeBron James and Chris Bosh to join Dwayne Wade and form a big three. Despite early season struggles the Heat made the NBA Finals losing to the Mavericks. The Heat would go on to win the 2012 and 2013 NBA Finals but lost the 2014 Finals. The Heat and Spoelstra played in four straight NBA Finals until LeBron left following the 2014 season. Spo had to learn how to deal with the egos of his superstar team just like Kerr did but unlike Kerr Spoelstra did not have the experience of playing with superstars like MJ and Duncan. 

After LeBron left the Heat have not experienced the success they had during the 2010-2014 seasons but no one expected them to. Looking at the roster now you would not recognize many of the names but the organization keeps on winning and most of that winning comes directly from Spoelstra. Last season the team got off to a dreadful 11-30 start but turned it around and finished 30-11 to finish the season at 41-41 and just barely missing the playoffs. This season the Heat are 30-26 with a team of Hassan Whiteside and Goran Dragic are the only big name players if you consider those two guys big names. Spoelstra finds himself in the same situation as Quin Snyder, with a front office not doing much to help out the coach. 

Spoelstra's background in video coordination, assistant coaching, and scouting have built his head coaching style. During LeBron's tenure in Miami players complained about the amount of work Spo required from his players. Spo demands a lot out of his players in practice because he believes if you practice hard it will show during games. The Heat have dealt with major injuries this season and Spoelstra preaches the "next man up" mantra and finds ways to help these guys be successful. He is interested in how his players are doing and working with them on the little details to get better. Spoelstra's in-season adjustments have led to success for the Heat.

I would put Spoelstra in the top three with Popovich and Stevens. He has been successful with the Heat before, during, and after the LeBron years. He has a background unlike most coaches and it prepared him for most situations he will encounter as a head coach. I think Kerr is a great coach but he had a pretty good situation when he joined Golden State, Spo worked with Riley's old team then LeBron came and he had to work with that, then LeBron left and he is building his own team now. Spoelstra is working with what the front office has given him and it is not a whole lot, they have made some really bad signings but Spo keeps going. He won't win 60+ games a season or win the coach of the year but take a look past the stats and Spoelstra deserves his place among the top NBA coaches.

Alex Smith Trade and Where the Chiefs Go From Here

James is back to share his thoughts on the Chiefs trading away Alex Smith. I became a Chiefs fan while in college and then when the Rams left St. Louis (kick rocks Kroenke and Goodell) James has been a lifelong Chiefs fan. You will see his in depth analysis in the first few paragraphs and mine will follow. 

The Kansas City Chiefs just pulled off a trade that gains them three crucial commodities, a 3rd round draft pick, a young cornerback, and cap space. All three of these things are significant for the franchise and give them the opportunity to build around their young starting quarterback, Patrick Mahomes. Fans are excited about this new era, but I wanted to take a moment to analyze the trade and how I feel the Chiefs could best use their new assets.

The Chiefs seem primed to follow the blue print that has led to success for some recent Super Bowl quality teams. That blue print is building around a starting quarterback still on his rookie deal. Recent success stories have been the Seattle Seahawks building around Russell Wilson and this year we saw the Jaguars make impact moves in free agency behind Blake Bortles. Both of these organizations built their defense through the draft and added a few free agents to build some of the best defenses in the NFL. Of course they were not successful right away but their front office was patient, let their players mature, and found themselves making deep playoff runs. They also both had good running backs, Seattle had Marshawn Lynch and the Jags drafted Leonard Fournette 4th overall this year. Having these bell cow backs allowed the coaching staff to take a little pressure off their quarterbacks and they did not have to rely on them to win games right away. The Chiefs hopefully have their franchise running back in Kareem Hunt who they drafted in the 3rd round of this years draft. The $15 million the Chiefs saved by trading Alex Smith puts them about $8 million in the black for the salary cap this year. That money could be used to beef up the defense or add a wide receiver this off season or may be better spent in 2019.

If the Chiefs choose to save the money for a 2019 spending spree, the defense still received a huge boost by acquiring cornerback Kendall Fuller in the trade. Fuller was a third round draft pick for Washington in the 2016 draft. He was a first round talent but slid to the third round because of an injury late in his college career. Many scouts have rated Fuller as a top slot corner in the league and that would be a massive upgrade for the Chiefs. Any KC fan will tell you that except for Marcus Peters, who occasionally forgets how to tackle, the Chiefs flat out sucked at corner this year. Fuller will move from the slot to outside corner opposite of Peters. His versatility of previously playing the slot will allow the Chiefs to better defend wideouts like Antonio Brown, who routinely moves to the slot in three wideout sets. This doesn't entirely solve the cornerback issue in Kansas City but it is a start.

The wild card in this trade is the third round pick the Chiefs received from Washington. KC does not own a first round pick in this years draft so acquiring as many picks as possible is imperative. The Chiefs have proven to be hit or miss in the third round of previous drafts. Success stories like Travis Kelce, Jamaal Charles, Justin Houston, Dustin Colquitt, and most recently Kareem Hunt should give Chiefs fans hope. However for every success there has been a failure drafted in the third round with guys like KeiVarae Russell, Brodie Croyle, Tank Tyler, Phillip Gaines, and Chris Conley. This is also Brett Veach's first draft as a GM but he likes to point out that he was a big proponent behind drafting Hunt this past year. Hopefully the third round magic will continue during this year's draft. 

One final thought, as frustrating as he was Alex Smith should be remembered well for what he did in Kansas City. He came to a franchise that was excited to have Kyle Orton and Tyler Palko as we desperately tried to forget Matt Cassell. He played hard and never made excuses. He worked his tail off and during his last year he put together his best statistical season. People will remember the missed opportunities but I will remember the back to back 2-14 season before Smith arrived. He was by no means perfect but he was better than anything we had since Trent Green. With all of that being said, its time for the Mahomes experience to begin. Let's see what this kid is made of. 

When I saw the Chiefs had traded Alex Smith I expected it to be for a future late round draft pick. He is a good but not great quarterback and every team in the NFL knew the Chiefs wanted to move on and start the Mahomes era. I understand that Smith turned KC around with Andy Reid but when it comes to sports there is no such thing as loyalty as players are requesting trades and signing with rival franchises if it gives them the best chance to win. When I saw the Chiefs got a third round draft pick and a player to be named later I was blown away. Getting a third round pick for a 33 year old middle of the road quarterback was a steal for the Chiefs I thought, then the player's name came out and the trade got even better. The Chiefs filled a big time hole with a young asset and also gained a lot of salary cap money. Of course there are still holes on the team but gaining this money gives the organization the freedom to fill another hole (GIVE ME DEZ). The Chiefs have the talent to make some noise in the playoffs, Mahomes will take time to adjust to the NFL I'm sure but the guy is a gunslinger which I love. Both organizations I have followed never had a quarterback who would take chances deep down field. Mahomes steps into an offense with a variety a weapons, he will have Tyreek Hill one of the fastest wide receivers in the league, Travis Kelce who is arguably the best tight end in the league, and Kareem Hunt will join him in the backfield. The Chiefs could use another receiver on the outside to join Hill, Chris Conley, and Albert Wilson (AGAIN GIVE ME DEZ) but not many young quarterbacks get to start their careers with a supporting cast like this one. 

The Chiefs defense was not great this year and is only getting older with guys like Derrick Johnson and Tamba Hali both towards the end of their careers. Adding Fuller will help there is no doubt but there is more that needs to be done. They could use that draft pick to add another defensive player or package that with other assets in a trade if they wanted to. Once again clearing that cap space is huge for the organization and they could use that to add to the defense. I don't believe in Bob Sutton at all but it looks like we will be stuck with him for at least another season. So adding more talent on that side of the ball to cover up Sutton could be imperative. 

A few takeaways for me: this trade was a total fleecing by the Chiefs, get DEZ and inject him into my veins, and I AM ALL IN ON THE MAHOMES ERA!