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Stephen A. Smith Claims ‘Numerous Coaches’ Questioned The Optics And Timing Of LeBron’s Podcast With JJ Red
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While the Los Angeles Lakers are busy trying to figure out who will be their next basketball coach in the aftermath of Dan Hurley turning down their offer to return to UConn, LeBron James has decided to hop into the podcast game. Earlier this year, James started the “Mind the Game” podcast with ESPN analyst JJ Redick, and the show has received praise for its high-level approach to talking about ball.
Of course, Redick is one of the favorites to earn the Lakers head coaching position, which opened up after the team decided to fire Darvin Ham after two years at the helm. And apparently, the fact that James started a podcast with someone who is now in the running to replace Ham while he was on the hot seat during the season has rubbed some people in the coaching world the wrong way, according to Stephen A. Smith on Monday’s episode of First Take.
“Numerous coaches, Black coaches, called me expressing how they took issue with that podcast taking place,” Smith said about Mind The Game, and went as far as to say there were coaches who felt “very salty about that.”
Molly Qerim interjected and asked a specific question: Was the frustration over this pod because James did the podcast with “a white guy,” or was it because of what this did to Darvin Ham?
“Cause it hurt Darvin Ham, cause it hurt Darvin Ham,” Smith clarified. “So, any of us would do a podcast with LeBron James. Anybody who says otherwise, that they wouldn’t do a podcast with LeBron James, is lying through their damn teeth. I know I would, I know you would, I know anybody would. That would be an honor for us because he’s one of the greatest who have ever played, he’s a basketball savant.
“So, we’re not faulting JJ in any way for doing the podcast, or for the content on the podcast with LeBron James,” Smith continued. “But at some point in time, we do have to do this, Jay. As I said to [Brian Windhorst] last week, we have to remember the things that we’ve said about LeBron James as it pertains to his brilliance, as it pertains to controlling a narrative, as it pertains to being two, three, five steps ahead of others, in terms of what you’re plotting and what you’re planning and what have you. And then that’ll raise an antenna. We knew before the podcast ever started that Darvin Ham was on the hot seat, we knew this.”
Smith pointed out that James and Redick starting the podcast was celebrated on First Take, but started to link together the launch of the podcast with the pressure that came onto Ham, including from Lakers teammate Anthony Davis. Then, when you tie everything together, Smith believes launching the podcast didn’t look all that
Bryson Tiller, Normani, and Partynextdoor for Best R&B Albums of 2024 so far list
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The Best R&B Albums Of 2024 So Far
Wongo Okon
First things first: R&B is not dead. It’s a necessary reminder that’s just as annoying to repeat as it is to hear from the occasional critic of the genre. I mean, when you look at what the genre has delivered in 2024, it’s hard to deny its life. In the first six months of the year, fans saw the return of veteran artists who went years without releasing a full body of work. Bryson Tiller re-emerged with his self-titled fourth album, his best body of work since his 2015 debut. PARTYNEXTDOOR brought back the classic feeling of his mid-2010s music with his own fourth album PARTYNEXTDOOR 4. Finally, after nearly a decade without a project, Anderson .Paak and Knxwledge’s NxWorries finally delivered a new album with Why Lawd? and lawd did they deliver.
On the flip side, there were plenty of newcomers who expanded their fan base with well-crafted debuts and sophomore albums. Normani’s long-awaited debut album Dopamine met all expectations as did Tems’ debut Born In The Wild. Sinéad Harnett, Fana Hues, and Loony were nothing short of captivating and with their outputs and then there’s DJ and producer ESTA. who constructed one of the best compilation of R&B artists we’ve seen over the last few years.
There’s so much to love from R&B so far in 2024, so let’s get into it. Here are the 15 best R&B albums of 2024 so far:
