ART BY JESUS RODRIGUEZ
Born with a comic book in one hand and a remote control in the other, Cory DLG is the talent of Conroe's very own Nerd Thug Radio and Sports. Check out the podcast replay of the FM radio show at www.nerdthugradio.com!
Hey Nerds!
Friday! We made it, it's the weekend and it's time to get crazy.
GOOD DEED OF THE DAY
AICF and Mark Clayton Scholarship Golf Tournament, help some kids go to college, it's expensive. #NerdsUnite
THE NBA DRAFT
The NBA Draft was last night and it's crazy. There were seventeen trades during the draft and honestly I'm confused about a lot of team's direction. Atlanta clearly knows what they're doing, they've built a great young core. A lot of other teams though are clearing space and moving pieces all so only one of them can sign a hobbled Kevin Durant who might even just resign with the Warriors and be traded later. The Lakers who have been trying really hard to be the most incompetent team in sports lately continued the trend by buying a draft pick and adding a player, wait what? I thought they were looking to clear space for a Max player? Now they're adding players? Say what? I'm not sure New Orleans should be all that thrilled with their line up but I guess if you have to trade a superstar this is what it looks like.
WHILE YOU'RE OUT
As always and as usual, you should support your local Comic shop. There's some interesting stuff going on in Marvel, they're bringing the Infinity Gems back to the forefront and did so with Marvel's favorite X Man, Wolverine. The story culminates in Wolverine: Infinity Watch #5, which is supposed to set up the stones back in Marvel proper where they haven't been around for well over a decade. If Superman has always been your thing but you've never been able to get into it, DC launched Superman: Year One under their Black Label line. Black Label is a more adult approach to superheroes and DC comics has been really selective about what books come out under this line, so an intro to Superman is an interesting choice. If Indy books is more your thing then makes sure to check out Lab Raider #1 from Black Mask, they're taking a lot of risks and telling new stories with new superheroes and breaking a lot of new ground. Check this thing out.
WHO ME?
Tonight I'll be up at The Adventure Begins playing Heroclix with Joey Savage, we'll be hanging out and having a good time. It's BYOB and a great time, so why aren't you going to come hang out with us? You should, you really, really should.
NOT THAT YOU ASKED
So hopefully, by the time you read this, I'll be releasing my first complete digital comic book. I am SO PUMPED about this next step. This is the next step in me pushing and developing my career and I am super excited. This is hopefully a big and great next step for me. Fingers crossed and thanks in advance for the support.
Feel free to check out my digital short story The Wilson House or buy a shirt from Side Hustle Ts where some proceeds help people struggling with cancer or listen to Nerd Thug Radio. Thoughts, complaints, events and comments can be sent to corydlg@gmail.com.
Most Popular
SportsMap Emails
Are Awesome
Listen Live
There was a conversation Cleveland guard Donovan Mitchell had during training camp, the topic being all the teams that were generating the most preseason buzz in the Eastern Conference. Boston was coming off an NBA championship. New York got Karl-Anthony Towns. Philadelphia added Paul George.
The Cavs? Not a big topic in early October. And Mitchell fully understood why.
“What have we done?” Mitchell asked. “They don't talk about us. That's fine. We'll just hold ourselves to our standard.”
That approach seems to be working.
For the first time in 36 seasons — yes, even before the LeBron James eras in Cleveland — the Cavaliers are atop the NBA at the 25-game mark. They're 21-4, having come back to earth a bit following a 15-0 start but still better than anyone in the league at this point.
“We've kept our standards pretty high,” Cavaliers coach Kenny Atkinson said. “And we keep it going.”
The Cavs are just one of the surprise stories that have emerged as the season nears the one-third-done mark. Orlando — the only team still unbeaten at home — is off to its best start in 16 years at 17-9 and having done most of that without All-Star forward Paolo Banchero. And Houston is 16-8, behind only the Cavs, Boston, Oklahoma City and Memphis so far in the race for the league's best record.
Cleveland was a playoff team a year ago, as was Orlando. And the Rockets planted seeds for improvement last year as well; an 11-game winning streak late in the season fueled a push where they finished 41-41 in a major step forward after a few years of rebuilding.
“We kind of set that foundation last year to compete with everybody,” Rockets coach Ime Udoka said. “Obviously, we had some ups and downs with winning and losing streaks at times, but to finish the season the way we did, getting to .500, 11-game winning streak and some close losses against high-level playoff teams, I think we kind of proved that to ourselves last year that that's who we're going to be.”
A sign of the respect the Rockets are getting: Oddsmakers at BetMGM Scorebook have made them a favorite in 17 of 24 games so far this season, after favoring them only 30 times in 82 games last season.
“Based on coaches, players, GMs, people that we all know what they're saying, it seems like everybody else is taking notice as well,” Udoka said.
They're taking notice of Orlando as well. The Magic lost their best player and haven't skipped a beat.
Banchero's injury after five games figured to doom Orlando for a while, and the Magic went 0-4 immediately after he tore his oblique. Entering Tuesday, they're 14-3 since — and now have to regroup yet again. Franz Wagner stepped into the best-player-on-team role when Banchero got hurt, and now Wagner is going to miss several weeks with the exact same injury.
Ask Magic coach Jamahl Mosley how the team has persevered, and he'll quickly credit everyone but himself. Around the league, it's Mosley getting a ton of the credit — and rightly so — for what Orlando is doing.
“I think that has to do a lot with Mose. ... I have known him a long time,” Phoenix guard Bradley Beal said. “A huge fan of his and what he is doing. It is a testament to him and the way they’ve built this team.”
The Magic know better than most how good Cleveland is, and vice versa. The teams went seven games in an Eastern Conference first-round series last spring, the Cavs winning the finale at home to advance to Round 2.
Atkinson was brought in by Cleveland to try and turn good into great. The job isn't anywhere near finished — nobody is raising any banners for “best record after 25 games” — but Atkinson realized fairly early that this Cavs team has serious potential.
“We’re so caught up in like the process of improve, improve, improve each game, improve each practice," Atkinson said. “That’s kind of my philosophy. But then you hit 10-0, and obviously the media starts talking and all that, and you’re like, ‘Man, this could be something special brewing here.’”