Reliability, Design, Fuel Efficiency, and Overall Attractiveness Propelled Kia to JD Power Award Winner Status

During media day at the 2017 New York International Auto Show, James Bell, Director of Corporate Communications, Kia Motors USA, kicked off What's The 411TV's conversations with automakers. Bell discussed with What's The 411Sports' Nikolai Jackson, the factors that have led to Kia's accomplishments.

In general, there were four factors that helped Kia gain consumer acceptance and ultimately success for Kia. First, Kia was a leader in providing a 100,000-mile powertrain warranty to put the consumers' mind at ease. Next, Kia manufactured its vehicles with great fuel efficiency. Gas prices might be low now, but over time, saving money is saving money. Also, it's good for the environment and a responsible use of fuel. Kia Soul and Optima have appealed to consumers because of their great design quality. They look like they should cost much more and they stand out in a crowded field of cars in their categories.

Lastly, it has been Kia’s overall quality that enabled Kia Motors USA to win a JD Power IQS Award beating out Porsche, Lexus, and Mercedes. In summary, Kia's reliability, design, fuel efficiency, and overall attractiveness are keys to its achievements.

Kidd Leads Nets to Record-Setting January

Brooklyn Nets head coach Jason Kidd has been named the NBA's Eastern Conference Coach of the Month for January after leading the Nets to a 10-3 record, the league announced today.

This marks the first Coach of the Month honor for Kidd in his first season as a head coach. The Nets' 10-3 (.769) record in January marked the best winning percentage for the month of January in the franchise's 38 NBA seasons.

However, it was not too long ago, that some thought Kidd should be fired.

Let's take a walk back. At the start of the NBA season, many were critical of the Brooklyn Nets management for hiring Jason Kidd as an NBA head coach. After all, he had just retired as a player from the New York Knicks only a few weeks prior to the head coach announcement.
Kidd lacked experience said his detractors.

As the regular season got into full swing and the Brooklyn Nets went on a downward spiral losing game after game, the naysayers amplified the chatter for the firing of the rookie coach.

With the Nets on a losing streak and many calling for the proverbial hammer to come down, Kidd made a decisive turn in early December; he demoted his primary assistant, Lawrence Frank, by "reassigning" him to report-filing duties.

The Nets fortunes didn't turn around on a dime and the team continued to experience misfortunes in December.

Center Brook Lopez broke his foot in December. There was also the embarrassing 95-78 Christmas Day loss to the Chicago Bulls.

On December 31, The Nets left the court early during a blowout loss to the Spurs on December 31, forcing Kidd to take a timeout so that he could retrieve them from the locker room.

With a new year, often come new resolutions; and the Brooklyn Nets as a team must have decided to resolve to win in the new year.

The Nets strung together two five-game winning streaks under the first year head coach's guidance and held nine of their 13 opponents under 100 points, resulting in eight victories. Brooklyn also won four of five road games in January, including a buzzer-beating victory to begin the month at Oklahoma City January 2.

Kidd, who won NBA Player of the Month honors twice as a member of the Nets (November 2001 and December 2002) and once as a member of the Phoenix Suns (April 1999) becomes the fourth person in NBA history to win both coach and player of the month honors, joining Larry Bird, Larry Drew, and Jeff Hornacek. Kidd also becomes the second person to win both honors with the same franchise, joining Hornacek, who captured both honors with the Suns, including Coach of the Month in December 2013.

Kidd becomes the fourth head coach in franchise history to earn Coach of the Month honors, joining Avery Johnson (November 2012), four-time winner Lawrence Frank (February 2004, April 2005, March 2006 and April 2007) and two-time winner Byron Scott (December 2002 and December 2003).

Speaking of Avery Johnson, even though he won Eastern Conference Coach of the Month in November 2012, Nets management lost patience with the team's struggles and fired Johnson the following month in December 2012.

Brooklyn Nets guard Joe Johnson has been hitting his stride as of late.

Johnson turned on his magic during the week of March 17 – March 23, 2014, and the National Basketball Association (NBA) took notice!

The NBA announced today that Brooklyn Nets guard Joe Johnson has been named Eastern Conference Player of the Week for games played Monday, March 17 through Sunday, March 23, 2014.

It marks the first time this season a Nets player has captured the honor.

However, Johnson is no stranger to this accolade; this marks his seventh designation as NBA Eastern Conference Player of the Week.

He previously earned the distinction six times as a member of the Atlanta Hawks, most recently for the week of March 19-25, 2012.

Johnson helped the Nets to the Eastern Conference's only 4-0 week behind averages of 22.0 points on 54.1% shooting (58.3% from three-point range), 5.0 rebounds and 3.5 assists in 32.5 minutes per game.

The All-Star guard scored 19 points (7-11 shooting) in 29 minutes in a 108-95 victory over the Phoenix Suns on March 17. Two nights later, Johnson scored 20 points and grabbed a season-high eight rebounds in a 104-99 win over the Charlotte Bobcats. Johnson scored a game-high 27 points (10-16 shooting, 6-8 from three-point range) in 30 minutes in an 114-98 victory over the Boston Celtics March 21. Johnson completed his week by scoring a team-high 22 points (18 of which came in the second half and overtime) in a 107-104 victory over the Dallas Mavericks March 23. In the Dallas game, Johnson recorded his fourth game-winning or tying basket with under one minute to go in a game this season when he converted a driving layup with 9.9 seconds left to send the game to overtime.

In addition to helping the Nets to four straight victories, marking the second-longest active winning streak in the NBA, trailing only San Antonio's 13 straight victories, Johnson has also helped the Nets to a season-best 11 straight home victories and an Eastern Conference-best 27-10 record since January 1.

Johnson is the first Nets player to capture the award since Devin Harris for the week of February 23-March 1, 2009.

VIDEO: What's The 411Sports Episode 3

What's The 411Sports Episode 3 featured a discussion of the New York Knicks and Los Angeles Lakers losing season; Phil Jackson coming to New York, Michael Jordan's earnings for 2013; the NFL contemplating allowing the use of medical marijuana; Michael Sam declining an invitation to the White House Correspondents Dinner; who's going to win the NCAA Men's Basketball Championship; and where will Johnny Manziel land in the 2014 NFL Draft. The featured interview was with Fox Sports Analyst, Pam Oliver. The interview took place at Media Row during the NFL's Super Bowl media week.

Video: What's The 411SportsTV Discussion about Donald Sterling

Ahead of the NBA Commissioner Adam Silver's decision about Los Angeles Clippers owner Donald Sterling, What's The 411SportsTV hosts Bianca Peart and Glenn Gilliam discuss the despicable and reprehensible racist comments made by Donald Sterling.

File this one under heartbreaking.

I heard this story about Isaiah Austin's fate while listening to ESPN's Mike and Mike this morning.

Austin was making preparations for this year's NBA Draft, which is only three days away.

He was all set to light up the NBA despite his partial blindness.

However, Austin's trip to the NBA, as a player is not in the cards. A pre-Draft physical uncovered a rare genetic disorder that affects his heart.

The former Baylor University center, who left school early to enter this week's NBA draft, has been diagnosed with Marfan syndrome, which affects the body's connective tissue.

Features of the disorder are most often found in the heart, blood vessels, bones, joints, and eyes.

Some Marfan features – for example, aortic enlargement (expansion of the main blood vessel that carries blood away from the heart to the rest of the body) – can be life-threatening.

Miracles can happen and we hope that a miracle or scientific breakthrough will happen so that Mr. Austin can fulfill his lifelong dream.

The San Antonio Spurs win 2014 NBA Championship and avenge last season's NBA Championship loss against the Miami Heat by beating the Heat 104-87

The What's The 411Sports hosts and reporters Glenn Gilliam, Bianca Peart, Gregory Alcala, and Christopher Graham talk about the San Antonio Spurs victory over the Miami Heat.

We also revisit their NBA Finals predictions. Hilarious!

I know it's a longshot prediction, but do you think the Spurs will be able to win again next year?

LeBron James: "Northeast Ohio is Bigger Than Basketball"

The longer LeBRON JAMES' free-agency period lasted, the more it looked like he was headed to Cleveland. It became even more apparent that King James might be headed to Cleveland when he reportedly summoned PAT RILEY to meet with him in Las Vegas and that meeting lasted all of 30 minutes. Additionally, speculation that CHRIS BOSH would be signing with the Houston Rockets heightened the chatter that James was on his way to Cleveland. Then, there was the media blackout.

Today, as anticipation continued to build about LeBRON JAMES' status, things started to hit a fever pitch.

The conversation focused on the #LeBronLetter; the now infamous letter written by the Cleveland Cavaliers owner DAN GILBERT after King James left Cleveland in search of a championship with his compatriots in Miami. Twitter was on fire with comments about the #LeBronLetter. I even added my two cents on Twitter regarding the letter, including advice for what it’s worth.

In my humble opinion, the #LeBronLetter was a very sophomoric move by an owner whose net worth is probably 10 figures. Gilbert came across like a spurned lover, not like a savvy businessperson. After all, basketball, and sports in general, is a business.

Hopefully, going forward, DAN GILBERT will be able to demonstrate that he, the elder in the room, has matured. A cool head is needed for the sake of the team and for the fans of the Cleveland Cavaliers.

With this new decision, the moving trucks, planes, and trains are headed to Ohio. And, we now all know why LeBRON JAMES' camp didn’t leak a morsel. He wanted to get his “moving on” story out to the public without interruption from reporters.

Now that we know King James is moving his castle back to Northeast Ohio, we can now move on and wait to hear from Prince CARMELO ANTHONY.

VIDEO: Former New York Jets wide receiver, Wesley Walker, shares his memories of his NFL Draft

What's The 411 TV's host, Andrew Rosario, caught up with Wesley Walker, former Wide Receiver for the New York Jets (1977-1989) at the NFL Draft 2012 at Radio City Music Hall in New York City.

In this video, Wesley Walker shares his memories of the NFL Draft when he was drafted into the NFL. Back in his day, the NFL didn't have this much hoopla surrounding the Draft, but he is happy that the Jets asked him to participate.

Surprisingly, this was Walker's first NFL Draft event since he was drafted into the NFL. He was enjoying the fans, happy to share the experience with those who were being drafted, and of course, happy to be in NYC.

Astonishingly, the Jets had no idea that Walker was blind in his left eye when he was drafted, which prompted pre-physicals of prospective draftees in successive years. Walker overcame this handicap to become one of the Jets all-time great receivers. He led the league in receiving yards in 1978, was elected to the Pro Bowl twice 1978 and 1982, and was named the New York Jets MVP in 1978.

VIDEO: John Starks talks basketball, Michael Jordan, Carmelo Anthony, and his bowling skills

In his first interview with What's The 411TV, John Starks talks to Andrew Rosario about his educational foundation, what Denver Nuggets (NBA) small forward Carmelo Anthony would mean to the New York Knicks, his memorable dunk over Chicago Bulls' Michael Jordan and Horace Grant in Game 2 of the 1993 NBA Eastern Conference Finals, and of course, his bowling skills.