Healthy Kyrie?

OAKLAND, CA – JUNE 04: Kyrie Irving #2 of the Cleveland Cavaliers leaves the game injured against the Golden State Warriors during Game One of the 2015 NBA Finals at ORACLE Arena on June 4, 2015 in Oakland, California. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this photograph, user is consenting to the terms and conditions of Getty Images License Agreement. (Photo by Ezra Shaw/Getty Images)

Lebron James and the Cavaliers are looking to hopefully follow in the same footsteps as the Miami Heat winning a championship in the second season with James. The Cavs in their time together as a collective have yet to be fully healthy.
Anderson Varejao, Iman Shumpert, Kyrie Irving, Kevin Love, and Mo Williams have all had their share sitting out multiple games as they watch their teammates compete. Even without a few players they still have a legitimate shot of running through the Eastern Conference and allowing James to play in his sixth straight NBA Finals.
Although Love has showed major improvement in the offense with the Cavs since last season, Irving made his debut a few Sunday’s ago when they matched up against the Philadelphia 76ers.
Irving’s first few games were a little rough as he tried to work his way back into full game time action. David Blatt limited his minutes, which is very necessary for him to be able to slowly work his way back into the starting role.
Irving struggled on Christmas day in the rematch of last year’s NBA Finals against Golden State. He shot poorly shooting a measly 4 of 15 from the field. He made 0 of the 6 three pointers he attempted.
Since Christmas day Irving has showed major improvement! It is safe to say he is back and enjoying the game that he loves. In their contest against the Suns on December 28, 2015, he looked like the old Kyrie that every fan is used to. He was electrifying. He took it upon himself to tell Blatt to let him play, and when he hit the 3-pointer with 21 seconds left.
“I told you I got this,” he mouthed in excitement after hitting the shot.
On January 4, the Cavs destroyed the Toronto Raptors 122-100. Mr. Irving was the engine behind this victory. He went for 25 points, 8 assists, and 6 rebounds against Kyle Lowry, arguably a top five PG in this league today.
As a fan you want to see this team stay healthy and possibly see a healthy rematch of the NBA Finals last season.
The Cavs are on a four game winning streak, and Kyrie is coming into full effect!

Clippers Trade For Green

The Los Angeles Clippers acquired Jeff Green Thursday just before the NBA’s trade deadline expired. The Green fit is definitely an upgrade from the length they added with Josh Smith earlier on in the season. Green is much more versatile on the offensive of end and gives them another scoring option from the wing.
The deal included the Memphis Grizzlies getting Lance Stephenson and a future first round draft pick. The draft pick is a lottery projected pick which is huge for Memphis as Green was a free agent this summer.
Doc Rivers was attending the funeral for Monty William’s wife, Ingram, and he told the front office staff to take the deal just before the service was starting ESPN reported. “I really didn’t know if the trade was done because I didn’t want to look at my phone,” Rivers said, via ESPN.
Green is happy for his new start, as he looks forward to being apart of a journey that may lead to the Clippers first NBA Finals. Green relayed the message to ESPN’s Britt McHenry via text about the trade, “Should be a great opportunity to win it all.”
The trade for Los Angeles puts them back in the talks of being championship contenders, as it allows them to be flexible against the Golden State Warriors. A Jeff Green and Draymond Green matchup would be very interesting to watch.

Villanova Wins Championship

Houston, we have a problem!
Monday night, after Marcus Paige hit arguably one of the greatest shots in March Madness history, the University of North Carolina Tar Heels walked off of the court devastated. Thanks to Kris Jenkins.
Jenkins took on the likes of Christian Laettner in the final 4.7 seconds left in this year’s National Championship game for men’s basketball. Jenkins had been in foul trouble all night, but he stayed composed and hit major buckets in the final stretch. A mid post fadeaway and late three in the shot clock before the final shot had him feeling confident as ever. He shot over 50 percent from three and averaged 16.2 points per game in the tournament.
Ryan Arcidiacono led this team all year. The senior finished his college career the best way possible, not only winning a championship, but being the Most Outstanding Player in the Final Four. He came out very aggressive and scored the first seven points. He went quiet for a really long time, but he hit a few clutch buckets along with Phil Booth (scored a career high with 20 points and FGM/FGA <6/7>) to push the lead to double digits with five minutes left. Arcidiacono could have shot the last shot, but he made a decision that a true leader would have made by trusting his best shooter.
The success of this Villanova didn’t come overnight. This team has fought over the last few years to bring the Wildcats back into the limelight. The tough gritty character of this team was why they won. In their last few games they out hustled and toughened up their opponents. Josh Hart had major heart out there on that floor last night. The little deflections and defensive pressure were their keys to success.
The Tar Heels had no fast break points and that was due to the way Villanova controlled the tempo all night.
This was the best college basketball game in the last few years. From a fan’s perspective that was all you could ask for in a national championship game, but you hate that North Carolina had to end their senior’s college career on a shot that will haunt them forever.

Draymond Green and OJ Mayo Get Into It After Game

 

The Golden State Warriors are a feisty team. They play tough and with a chip on their shoulder every night. Draymond Green is the emotional leader for the team.

Green does not back down from anyone. After the Warriors won the finals last year, Green went out to take shots at LeBron while drunk at the parade. His comments were intended to set the tone for the next NBA season, and that they would be back to try and repeat.

On December 19, 2015 Green and O.J. Mayo of the Milwaukee Bucks got into a little scuffle. After the game, Mayo touched the back of Green’s head and Green did not take that to kindly.

“No man touches the back of my head,” he said in the post game interview.

Social Media (Tumblr)

Tumblr is a microblogging website that allows any individual to become a blogger. Tumblr was founded by David Karp in 2007, and has been owned by Yahoo! ever since 2013. It allows users to post multimedia content into the form of a short-form blog. It allows users to follow other users and also make their accounts private. Tumblr hosts over 287.6 million blogs. The company’s headquarters are based in New York City.

How does Tumblr differ from other social media? 

• A platform that largely caters to millennials.
• Most known for its humorous GIFs, but the possibilities are endless.
• Unlimited post character count and the prominent place that is given to visual content.
• Tumblr is the platform of choice for many brands, such as Kraft or Sephora, to showcase the culture around their products.
• Recipes, tutorials and how-tos are some of the angles of a brand’s social storytelling that definitely belong on Tumblr.

What is Tumblr good for? 

• Recipes, tutorials and how-tos are some of the angles of a brand’s social storytelling that definitely belong on Tumblr.
• Fanfiction and story telling.
• Sharing stories that are heavily covered in the media.

Pros:

• Simplicity
• Internal community
• Brevity

Cons: 

• Design Limitations
• Unavailable
• Lack of Monetization

Journalists using Tumblr: 

• https://www.tumblr.com/search/journalism
• https://wearejournalists.tumblr.com

Social Media (Instagram)

Instagram is a picture and video friendly sharing site that allows users to follow and like different pictures or videos of other users. It is completely mobile. You can only view your timeline from a desktop. They allow you to share all of your other post on other social media platforms by connecting the accounts. Instagram was created by Kevin System and Mike Krieger. Facebook acquired Instagram in 2012 and it currently has over 300 million active users.

How can journalists use Instagram?

1. Highlight major news stories. It’s a quick way into the newsroom.
2. Connect news outlets with the audience through comments and feedback.
3. Present the news in a visually appealing way.
4. Have the crowd tell their own story by asking questions.

Brands that use Instagram well? 

1. Nike
2. Dove
3. Kate Spade

How to start using?

1. Download the Instagram app.
2. Press “Sign Up”
3. You can also connect it with your Facebook account.
4. Create a profile, and a start posting.

Pitfalls to avoid:

1.Download the Instagram app

2.Press “Sign Up”

Instagram is not good for: 

1. Long videos
2. Long captions
3. Using on a laptop/desktop

Journalists who use Instagram well:

1. Jovita Moore
2. Anderson Cooper

 

Social Media (Reddit)

Reddit is an entertainment, social news networking service, and news website where registered community members can submit blog posts or pictures. It is essentially an online bulletin board system for users interested in the same content. Users vote for which order they want content or posts to be ordered on their feed. The posts with the most content are viewed on the main page at the top. The different areas of interest are called “subreddits”. Subreddits include news, gaming, music, books, food, etc. It was founded by two University of Virginia roommates in 2005.

What is Reddit good and not good for?

Good for:

• Sharing
• Commenting
• Engaging on the Internet

Not Good for:

• General Browsing

How should journalists use Reddit?

• NOT for self-promotion.
• Can be used to engage audiences and find out what they are interested in.
• Learn the Reddit “shorthand” (Ex: TIL= Today I Learned).
• Get a feel for the site and do some research before you jump in to greater you chances of effectively reaching your target audience.

Subreddits:

• Basically, a subreddit is like a niche forum.
• There are specific subreddit rules, moderators for each subreddit, and voting systems for links, self post, and comments that depend on the theme of the subreddits.
• Each subreddit has a focus and effectively maintains that focus.
• Anyone can create a subreddit for free and make it public or private.
• Subreddits that post or receive at least 5 comments a day are considered “active”.

Ways journalists can use Reddit:

• To stay ahead of the crowd (find new stories that someone else has not covered yet).
• To gauge popular interests.
• To engage users.
• To identify niche sources.
• To get feedback.