What’s up everyone! As we look ahead to the 2015-16 NBA season, On Track reviews the off-season that was with some of the year’s most popular hit songs.
Oklahoma City Thunder – Like I’m Gonna Lose You (feat. John Legend), Meghan Trainor
I’ve never known a season like the one the Thunder are about to have. Get hyped for championship possibilities, but be weary, for anything less than that could mean Kevin Durant high tails it out of Oklahoma. What do we have here? Highs and lows of possibilities. This season can be the first of a dynasty, or the last of an era of “Ooh so close, but not quite.”
The Thunder parted ways with Scott Brooks to make this final run and finally invested the piles of draft picks and money to fill out the roster. This is it, folks. The brink. The Thunder know tomorrow is not promised. They won’t take Durant for granted, because they’ll never know when they’ll run out of time.
Marc Cuban – Should’ve Been Us, Tori Kelly and This Could Be Us, Rae Sremmurd
I chose two theme songs for the Dallas Mavericks-DeAndre Jordan fiasco to showcase the different emotions Marc Cuban felt when he allegedly (though he denies he did) spent hours driving around looking for Jordan the night the center rebuffed on his commitment with the Mavs and returned to the Los Angeles Clippers.
I can see Cuban, tears streaming down his face, squealing to the eager lyrics of Tori Kelly. “It should’ve been us! It shoulda been a fire, shoulda been a perfect storm! It should’ve been us! Coulda been the real thing, now we’ll never know for sure!” That sadness slowly but surely congeals into fear. “Killin’ someone’s vibe should be a f***ing crime. Wasted so much time, should be a f***ing crime.”
Damian Lillard – Get Paid, Vince Staples
Vince Staples is one of the best up-and-coming rappers around. He’s got a cotton mouthed flow that rolls like a joint through his 20-track debut Summertime ’06. Fellow West Coastian Damian Lillard, who is known to spit some verses himself, must have respect for Staples. And, like Staples, Lillard spent this summer getting paid after agreeing to a five-year, $120 million extension. Ay, get paid, get paid. Get paid.
LaMarcus Aldridge – Cool for the Summer, Demi Lovato
I’m going to go out on a limb and say that “Cool For The Summer” was the best song of the summer. Fetty Wap’s “Trap Queen” and The Weeknd’s “Can’t Feel My Face” are close behind, but Demi Lovato created a jam that is equal parts rock and roll and pop perfection. With the gritty guitar riff to sound the beat drop, “Cool For The Summer” is a Millennial anthem.
Like a true Millennial, Aldridge acted selfishly in signing with the most unselfish team in the NBA. He could have been the greatest Portland Trail Blazer ever. He could have stuck it out and tried to do something great with Lillard. But that’s some Gen X ish! After years of competing but not really competing, Alrdidge had enough. He didn’t want to worry about all of that. Loyalty. Longevity. History. Hell, sometimes we just want to have fun! Even if they judge, f**k it all. Do the time. “I just wanna have some fun with you.”