ALL BALL NERVE CENTER — One of the enduring mysteries of Round One of the postseason was Who Was Screaming Spurs Lady? We covered that story when it happened. As the story became viral, it turned out there were only too many people willing to take credit for being the Screaming Lady. After her one appearance she was never heard from again — some might suggest that this is a good thing — and to my knowledge we never got a straight answer on who Screaming Spurs Lady actually was.

But last night in San Antonio, a new anonymous voice emerged onto our radar. Moments after the Spurs defeated the Grizzlies in overtime to take a 2-0 lead in the series, the ESPN cameras gave us shots of the players on the court — happy, sad, exhausted, joyful. And over the pastiche of images, a man’s screaming voice commanded the airwaves:

WHOOOO! WE DID IT! WE DID IT!

It was the only clearly audible thing on the broadcast, so it was quite obvious, and Twitter did its Twitter theme and immediately started developing it into a meme. A worthy one, at that…
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Who was this man? He has not yet stepped forward.

Perhaps we will never know his identity. But whoever he is, he did it.

ALL BALL NERVE CENTER — Last night in New York City, a handful of NBA franchises looking for a little luck gathered in Times Square to try and beat the odds. That’s right, it’s the annual NBA Draft lottery, where the best of the worst vie for the first pick in the NBA Draft. I showed up and brought my cell phone camera along with me to see what went down behind the scenes.

Let’s get to the pictures …

I arrived in Times Square right around 6:30 p.m. and fought my way over to the ABC Studios, where they shoot “Good Day America” or “Today This Morning” or whatever they call it — one of those morning shows that airs when I’m still asleep. There’s never really a good time to be in Times Square, because it is consistently crowded and busy and bustling, but 6:30 p.m. must be just about the worst time. Add in that it was humid and in the mid-80s today, and Times Square felt a bit like being stuck in a mosh pit. Or at the bottom of a mosh pit.

Then again, one of the fun things about living in New York City is you never know when you’ll have a celebrity sighting or come across a movie or TV set where magic is being made. Here, just a block away from the ABC studios, you can only imagine how lucky I felt to happen upon the set of Transformers 6: Construction Sitez. In this shot you can see the star of the flick, Cat Dozer. It’s more than meets the eye, my friends.

I eventually found my way to the Millennium Hotel, across the street from the ABC studios, which served as the headquarters during the Draft lottery. Because the television studio is relatively small, the media sets up in a hotel ballroom, and a dining area serves as the hospitality center for all the representatives of the various teams. In this photo, ESPN.com’s Henry Abbott demonstrates the key to being able to last throughout the evening: Unfiltered caffeine. (Also, you can tell we’re in a hotel because of the lovely carpeting.)

This guy looked really familiar, but he insisted on holding his hand in front of his face and speaking in a high, squeaky voice in an attempt to disguise himself. But I’d know that facial hair anywhere…

That’s right, it’s Kevin Love! Kevin was in NYC to represent the Timberwolves up on the podium during the Draft lottery show. I asked Kevin if he’d brought along any good luck charms. He launched into some convoluted story about how he had sent something via the U.S. Postal Service, because it was too big for him to carry, but he wasn’t sure if it had arrived or not. I pressed him for details but he didn’t want to go any further for fear of jinxing things. Understood.

It’s not an NBA event without a press conference, and last night there was a short presser before the Draft Lottery with Commissioner David Stern and his Deputy Commissioner and successor, Adam Silver. It was a relatively brief session as these things go, but it was still entertaining, as Stern engaged in a brief debate after a reporter asked if Stern was concerned about three of the four remaining teams being “small market” teams.

COMMISSIONER STERN: Not the least. I asked Heather Cox, how do you define small?

REPORTER: Well, it’s not Los Angeles, New York, or Chicago.

COMMISSIONER STERN: Is it the lower half of the league? Will that do it?

REPORTER: I think pocket TV markets.

COMMISSIONER STERN: Well, lower half? Good, thank you. We have four teams in the lower half of our TV households. It’s not three of the four; it’s four of four. Miami is 16. It just goes to show you that if you have good teams, people want to watch, and they’re interesting teams.  Miami wasn’t the big market defined by the media as a big market until it attracted players and then it suddenly became a big market.

REPORTER: I meant an international market that goes beyond perhaps the size?

COMMISSIONER STERN: Really? You should go back and look at some of the numbers. Sorry, it doesn’t hold. And the answer is we’re delighted that the best teams are having a great run, and our TV partners are also happy.

Boom. After that we had about an hour to kill before the broadcast began, so everyone wandered over to the dining room to grab some grub. Players, owners, agents, executives and writers all wandered around. I briefly debated trying to sneak a photo of Commissioner Stern at the buffet, but decided getting ejected from the hospitality suite probably wasn’t a good idea.

While there were NBA-related people everywhere you turned, I may have been the only person to recognize the guy in the photo above. Don’t know him? Then you haven’t been reading the All Ball blog!

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That’s right, Tate Moore himself was in the house, just off the plane from Cleveland, along with Cavs owner Dan Gilbert and a deep crew of Cavs supporters. As you can see, Tate’s fingers were already crossed. At that moment, the Cleveland crew was mostly concerned with figuring out how to get their Cavs-logo bow ties tied correctly — they consulted YouTube, to no avail, but then found an NBA staffer at the hotel who was terrific at tying bow ties, so he went around the group making sure everyone was tied up perfectly.

Finally, it was time to go to the studio. Most of the seats in the studio were earmarked for team personnel, but when they realized they needed to fill three seats, two other writers and I were rushed out of the hotel, across 44th Street, into a side door of the ABC studio, and onto an elevator large enough to hold a couple dozen people. We went up one floor, down a winding hallway, and emerged into the well-lit studio.

Because we were still fifteen minutes from airtime, everyone was kind of hanging out and chatting, trying to alleviate nervousness in their own ways. Here Lehigh grad (and All Ball blogger) CJ McCollum and Cleveland-based rapper Machine Gun Kelly pose with a young fan.

Here, a couple of guys with vested interest in the Draft lottery, for various reasons. From left, Pistons center Andre Drummond, Blazers guard (and reigning Rookie of the Year) Damian Lillard, former Syracuse guard Michael Carter-Williams and Pelicans center Anthony Davis.

Finally we were directed to our assigned seats. I was given an empty seat about 18 inches from my main man Jay Bilas, just out of camera range. In the background on the right you can see former UNLV forward Anthony Bennett, who was interviewed live on air just after the broadcast started.

Then the representatives took their seats and … we waited. The truth is, the Draft lottery is a mostly reactive process: the lottery itself had taken place some time earlier, in a private room, and the order of the Draft was already decided and ready to be revealed inside a stack of sealed envelopes. So for the time being, everyone waited, not altogether patiently, for Silver to appear and let us know how it all shook out.

By now you know: The Cavs crew, led by owner Dan Gilbert‘s son, Nick, beat the odds and came away with the first pick, knocking the Orlando Magic down to second. I caught up with Nick shortly after the Draft, as he posed for photos with onlookers and was handed cellphones to chat with well-wishers, and I asked him about his evening.

ME: Nick, do you have a second or are you guys trying to get out of here?

NICK: I’m trying to stay up as late as I can tonight so I can sleep in tomorrow.

ME: Are you guys going back to Cleveland tonight?

NICK: I think so, yeah.

ME: Now would probably be a good time to talk to your Dad and see if you guys could hang around in New York for the night.

NICK: Oh yeah, talk to my Dad, try to go out to dinner or whatever.

ME: So tell me, what have you learned from your previous appearances here at the Draft Lottery?

NICK: Keep calm, make yourself presentable.

ME: Is that important, being presentable?

NICK: Of course.

ME: Did you bring a good luck charm with you?

NICK: Got my bow tie.

ME: Is that the same one?

NICK: Nah. Not the same one as the first year, no. And [for good luck], the crew that we came with.

ME: Do you still get nervous, after having been through this twice already?

NICK: A little bit, because I thought all my friends were going to give me a lot of grief if we didn’t get that first pick because of the statement I made earlier. So I was relieved when we got the first pick.

ME: Tell me again, what was the statement you made?

NICK: It was that this is our last year here. Our top pick that we’re going to get is going to help us make our final push into the Playoffs.

ME: Once you knew you were in the top three, and they went to a commercial break to let the drama build, was that when the nerves kicked in?

NICK: I felt pretty confident, because Washington had a very, very, very small chance of getting it. And like they said earlier, the team with the best odds hasn’t really gotten the first pick a lot.

ME: I think the team with the best odds has only gotten the first pick four times in Draft Lottery history.

NICK: Yeah. And actually, my Dad looked this up, the third best odds have won it most. And we had the third best odds.

ME: Were you nervous during that time period? Were you excited?

NICK: A little bit of both.

ME: And then once you saw number two was Orlando, and you knew you were number one, did you want to yell like the rest of the guys in your crew did?

NICK: I don’t even know… what was going through my mind, you know?

I can only imagine. Congrats, Nick.

Here’s a photo of the full Cavs crew (taken by Getty Images, not me) that I posted here in order to point out the guy with the shaved head in the top left of the photo, partially obscured by the man in the maroon jacket: Yep, Iron Chef Michael Symon. Symon, who hails from Cleveland and now splits time between Cleveland and NYC, showed up to lend whatever support he could to the Cavs chances. I caught up with him immediately after Cleveland won the lottery…

ME: So how did you get involved in this whole thing? I know you’re a Cleveland guy…

SYMON: I’m a Cleveland guy. Dan and everybody was coming to New York, and I’m here taping “The Chew,” and they texted me: “You want to come to the Draft Lottery?” I’m like, Absolutely! Now I’m here, life is good.

ME: Are you a lifelong Cavs fan?

SYMON: Oh yeah, born and raised. Bingo Smith, baby!

ME: I was going to say, you must be before the Mark Price/Brad Daugherty era.

SYMON: Yes, before that, before that.

ME: So this crew they have now, with Kyrie Irving and Anderson Varejao and all the young guys, does it feel like this pick will push you guys into the next echelon?

SYMON: I think we’re in a good place, I think we’re in a really good place. So it’ll be good.

ME: When you were waiting to see if you guys got the first pick or the second pick, was that more nerve-racking than waiting to see if you won on “Iron Chef?”

SYMON: It’s a different nervous.

ME: It’s not like, Oh man, did I use enough salt?

SYMON: (laughs) Right, it’s a different nervous. Because I can’t personally screw it up.

Really nice guy. And now I say unto you in the words of my Uncle, “Allez cuisine!”

I guess after you win the lottery, you don’t need a credential.

And finally, the saddest image of the night. Sorry, Magic fans.

A player’s shoes always make a statement. Pregame, many choose to go with high-fashion dress shoes or sneakers. During games, a player can have career-defining moments that get memorialized by the shoes he wore. A player’s in-game sneakers often represent more than athletic performance. Notes can be seen scribbled across the sides, or logos crafted specifically for the player become globally recognizable symbols that represent the growth and influence of the game. In fact, the global aspect of basketball extends to shoes, as several NBA players now endorse Chinese shoe companies.

In this spotlight, we will highlight both the sneakers worn during the game, and the shoes that made the biggest statements during arrivals. As always, keep up with the conversation using #NBAStyle.

James Harden is a known risk taker, and goes all-out with multi-colored studded sneakers, which he pairs with a printed button down.

Derrick Rose wore finely tailored, classic suits throughout the playoffs. A few of his shoe choices, however, punch up the traditional colors and styles of his outfits. Wearing a fitted dark gray suit, Rose uses checkered red sneakers to bring out the color in his pocket square. With a gray/blue blazer and tan slacks, Rose mixes it up with vintage looking brown and white spectator shoes.

Mike Conley pairs a printed tee and black blazer with futuristic looking Giuseppe Zanotti sneakers.

Chris Bosh dresses down the vest and pants from a three-piece suit with matching gray sneakers.

Here’s a mix of the different brands that players have worn on the court during the 2013 playoffs.

LeBron James in several colorways of his signature Nike LeBron X, including the special edition from his MVP night.

Dwyane Wade in his eponymous Way of Wade models for Li-Ning.

Iman Shumpert and Mike Conley repping adidas.

Kevin Durant wearing the Nike KD V’s.

Carmelo Anthony in the Jordan Brand Melo M9.

Stephen Curry in Nike, with the handwritten message “I can do all things…”

DeAndre Jordan representing Under Armour.

Gerald Green with the throwback Reebok “Shaq Attaq” model.

ALL BALL NERVE CENTER — It may be surprising to hear this, but this weekend wasn’t the first time Metta World Peace has presented local news. Last year, for instance, World Peace showed up in Vancouver to deliver their weather. This year he stayed closer to home, appearing recently on Fox 11 in Los Angeles to bring the latest news of sunshine and warm breezes in Lakerland.

Along the way, Metta delivers some sensible advice to Lakers forward Earl Clark, throws in some yoga poses, adds a fake fart, and encourages a moment of meditation with his viewers.

Metta may have brought us the news before, but coming from him it never gets old.

Over to you, Metta…
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(h/t Deadspin)

ALL BALL NERVE CENTER — We already know Cavs owner Dan Gilbert can get as passionate as any fan, so it wasn’t a huge surprise when he announced via Twitter a contest to bring a lucky Cavs fan along with him to New York City for tonight’s NBA Draft Lottery.

One @cavs fan will fly w/ @cavsnick @machinegunkelly @TheRealTRizzo and me to #NBALottery.The best 30 sec. or less video tweeted by 7pm wins—
Dan Gilbert (@cavsdan) May 17, 2013

I’m not sure how many submissions Gilbert received, but it’s hard to argue with the winning video he selected, which was submitted by Cavaliers fan Roy Tate Moore…
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Funny stuff. And via his Twitter feed from this morning, sounds like Roy’s already doing his part…

breakfast: Lucky Charms.—
Roy Tate Moore (@RoyTateMoore) May 21, 2013

(via TBJ)

A few hours from now in New York City’s Times Square, the NBA Draft lottery will take place, and one lucky basketball franchise will have their fortunes changed forever.

Back in 2003, the Cleveland Cavaliers won the lottery and eventually selected local product LeBron James. ‘Bron showed up for his big moment in an all-white suit-and-tie combo, with square-toed shoes with hits of black along the sides.

Just a few weeks ago, after winning the WNBA lottery, the Phoenix Mercury used the No. 1 overall pick in the WNBA Draft on former Baylor center Brittney Griner. Griner also chose a white suit for her Draft moment, albeit more of an off-white as well as more tailored than LeBron’s suit. She went tie-less and paired the suit with a pair of classic hoops kicks on her feet: Chuck Taylors.

The question we have for you is, which number one pick wore their white suit better?

LEBRON JAMES

BRITTNEY GRINER

Cast your vote below. And remember to continue the conversation on Twitter using #NBAStyle…

On The Move

Mike Muscala (Courtesy Bucknell University)

I graduated from Bucknell University on Sunday– what a feeling. I posted a Vine video from graduation on Twitter to commemorate the day, so check it out here: You can find me @mikejawz.

It was a great day where I ended one chapter and turned the page to the next. It was great, but a little bittersweet. I had an amazing time at Bucknell on and off the court, and it is truly a special place that I will miss. That being said, I’m definitely excited for all that is to come.

The last few weeks have been a bit of a whirlwind. I was at Bucknell in Lewisburg, PA, a couple weeks ago finishing up classes and taking a final. Then, it was back home in Minnesota for my little sister’s confirmation. Last week, I flew out to Chicago for the NBA pre-Draft camp (more on that later), and I came straight to Lewisburg on Saturday night to make it in time for graduation on Sunday. In between all of that, I’ve been working out and getting ready for the NBA Draft in Long Island, NY. With graduation behind me, I can now completely concentrate on basketball and am looking forward to traveling to different cities to work out for NBA teams.

Pre-Draft Recap

I knew coming in to the Chicago combine that I had a lot to prove. I’ve always worked hard and had confidence in my game, but coming from a smaller school with less exposure, I wanted to make sure that I performed well. While it’s easy to think that  being from a small school can hurt you, , the coaches I played for and the system I played in at Bucknell put me in this position to make the NBA.

Truth be told, I am happy with my performance in Chicago. Of course, you can always look back on every game or workout and wish you had done even better, but overall it was a very good week. I was proud to hear that I had the best shooting percentage in the combine on Thursday. When we did conditioning tests, I came in first place and I felt like I played well in the competitive aspects of the camp. I think I surprised people with my athleticism,  strength and agility testing. It was a good experience, and a challenging one, which I knew it would be going into the weekend. It was a good month of training leading up to it, so I felt prepared. Even though I’m happy with how I did there, there’s a ton more work to do, so I’m moving on to this next phase.

The Off-Court Chicago Experience

All of the guys in the camp stayed at the same hotel. I roomed with C.J. McCollum, who I am also working out with in Long Island.

When all of us first got there, people were a little more reserved. But by the time we finished up on the court on Friday, guys were a little more relaxed. It was great to get to know different guys’ games, and a positive experience off the court as well.

I had a chance to see my friend Nate Wolters, who is also a Minnesota native. We were in the same high school class. He went to South Dakota State University, but we have kept touch every now and then and followed each other’s progress. I also saw Trevor Mbakwe, another old friend from Minnesota. We grew up in different parts of the state, but I knew him because we played in a lot of summer leagues together.

While in Chicago, we interviewed with the NBA teams. There we were, all of us in these nice, well-tailored clothes, and before you knew it, we were all nervous and sweating. We were teasing each other about it, but everybody was experiencing the same thing, which was reassuring in a way. I was a little nervous before my interviews, but I didn’t think it was too bad. The experience was good for me.

Anyway, when I wasn’t at the gym, I was back at the hotel catching up on sleep and having some time to myself. It was nice to be able to mentally relax a little bit. We went out to a few dinners, but the biggest thing for me was to relax and stay focused on the task at hand.

I watched as much of the NBA playoffs as I could (if I didn’t fall asleep first). One night, some of us went to watch the games at Jimmy Greens, a restaurant in downtown Chicago. It’s exciting and interesting to watch the amount of defensive focus and intensity that the guys in the playoffs are playing with … every shot they are making or taking is a contested shot. If anyone were to say there’s no defense in the NBA, tell them to watch these playoffs!

Next Up

Now I’m back in Long Island working out. I’ll be flying back and forth to have workouts with different teams up until the Draft. I’m really focused. I try not to get too up or too down. If I have a good day in the gym, I take it for what it is and move on and work hard the next day.

I’m feeling confident. I really like the people I am training with, and I know I’m in good hands working with good people. As long as I keep working, I think good things will happen!

Thanks for reading my blog, and don’t forget to follow me on Twitter and Instagram @mikejawz. For more on my journey to the NBA Draft, visit www.draftdreams.com.

ALL BALL NERVE CENTER — Over the weekend, a series of photos popped up on Twitter from a Miami Heat practice, showing something people had been anticipating for a while now: We got a look of what seems to be an early make-up of the Nike LeBron XI, the next signature shoe for LeBron James.

The shoe isn’t due to drop until next October, so it was a safe bet that these were at best a wear-test model that LeBron decided to give some run in practice.

After another image, this time a teal/pink colorway, popped up online this morning, LeBron’s longtime business manager Maverick Carter took to Instagram to provide a semi-official sneak peak of what he says is the “real LeBron XI”…

Obviously, we could be so far ahead of the game that the shoe could change a good bit by the release in October, but these look to be pretty polished.

(via mavcarter)

ALL BALL NERVE CENTER — Despite an early exit from the Playoffs, the Brooklyn Nets had a successful inaugural season in their new borough and new arena, the Barclays Center. They may not have been quite as good on the court as they hoped, but at least they came out of the season smelling like roses. Or cologne. Or cotton candy. Or something.

According to a story on DNA Info, the Barclays Center has a “signature scent” being pumped into the air. The smell, “a fresh-smelling fragrance with citrus notes,” is thought to be the work of a company called ScentAir, which exists to change consumer’s aroma experiences. Places like hotel lobbies, fitness clubs and department stores are all fair game, so why wouldn’t sports arenas be as well?

This is more than just lighting a couple of candles or spraying some Febreeze into the air: This is integral to the space, emanating from the air ducts and wafting throughout. And as a person who has spent a great deal of time in the bowels of various arenas over the last dozen years, I have to say that some of these arenas could use a little olfactory upgrade.

(DNA Info via Deadspin)

ALL BALL NERVE CENTER — I will never forget it: Pep rally, senior year, and our basketball coach is introducing the newly minted members of the hoops team to the assembled student body, who were cheering loudly from the stands in our high school gym. Coach worked his way down the list alphabetically, and I stood at the end of the row of players, waiting to run across the floor — the only person with a last name starting with a “W” — knowing I would be the last name called.

Or so I thought, because Coach called the name before mine, and then he momentarily forgot about me, and asked the crowd to give a big hand to the team. Meanwhile, I stood alone, momentarily forgotten yet never more visible than at that moment. My teammates, to their credit, pointed me out to our Coach, and he double-checked his list and hastily blurted out my name. No harm, no foul, although the memory has obviously stuck with me for a while.

So I, for one, can understand if Memphis guard Jerryd Bayless feels a little under-appreciated after yesterday’s postgame news conference, when Grizzlies coach Lionel Hollins banked on Bayless’ name. Just like my high school coach, Hollins consulted the paper in front of him and made a pretty quick recovery, and I’m sure he meant no harm from it.

Still, this happened …
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(via B/R)