The NBA thread

[Stoney Mason]

That Portland thing sounds cool. Of course it helps that they are playing really well. If they sucked and were using those ipads, I would be taking a jab at this point.

[Smooth Groove]

Ramona Shelburne said on radio this morning that Kobe signing the contract shows that he's willing to step up and lead in the Lakers' quest for another championship.

Mamba having the courage to play for $24 mil a year. 

[etiolate]

that sounds like LA radio

[benjipwns]

That Portland thing sounds cool. Of course it helps that they are playing really well. If they sucked and were using those ipads, I would be taking a jab at this point.

I think it's a cool idea but I'd imagine the teams would probably want to pay attention who actually would use it like these guys or a Battier or LeBron or Durant vs. say if you gave it to the Kings players.

[Stoney Mason]

[TakingBackSunday]

Soooo...

are we all ready to talk about John Wall yet?  Dude has been the best EC point guard this season.  3 straight 30 point games, crazy assist totals, working hard of defense.  Dude's killing it.

[Stoney Mason]

[Phoenix Dark]

All he does is shoot in the paint...

[Stoney Mason]

The biggest surprise on that list is honestly Monta Ellis. Who kind of got screwed as a free-agent and who most stat guys hate.

As usual the caveat of only 15 games being played but he's scoring at 23.5 and shooting nearly 50% which is quite impressive in light of him shooting 42% on 19 points a game last year. 

[Brehvolution]

Looks like Kobe can afford a few more $4M rings.

[benjipwns]

"Most of us have aspirations for being businessmen when our playing careers are over," Bryant told Yahoo Sports in a corridor of the Verizon Center. "But that starts now. You have to be able to wear both hats. You can't sit up there and say, 'Well, I'm going to take substantially less because there's public pressure, because all of a sudden, if you don't take less, you don't give a crap about winning. That's total bull----.

"I'm very fortunate to be with an organization that understands how to take care of its players, and put a great team out on the floor. They've figured out how to do both.

"Most players in this league don't have that. They get stuck in a predicament – probably intentionally done by the teams – to force them to take less money. Meanwhile, the value of the organization goes through the roof off the backs of their quote, unquote selfless players.

"It's the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard."

...

Between a news conference and the next steps in his rehab on Tuesday night, Kobe Bryant was still raging over the response to his contract extension. This wasn't a noble gesture to awaken his peers, but simply a visceral reaction to the way the NBA has slowly, surely eroded the superstar's standing in the sport – and the way the players have allowed it to happen.

"Bull----," Kobe Bryant finally again said on his way back to the locker room. "Pure bull----."

http://sports.yahoo.com/news/nba--kobe-bryant-refused-to-allow-nba-to-cheapen-his-superstar-value-053329468.html

[Smooth Groove]

I guess Lakers made the right deal if their priority was to make Lakers fans happy.  I've been talking to many fans here in LA and only one out of 20 or so is unhappy about the contract. 


Everyone is basically like, good deal cuz,



Carmelo can still get max to come here for sure.  Melo and Kobe are BFFs.  We don't want Lebron anyway.

We don't want Gasoft but he can stay for $5 million

Nash is gonna retire anyway.  He'll wise up or the team doctors will make him.

Jordan Hill loves being a Laker and will play for 1 mill a year

Kevin Love, Westbrook and Omar Asik are coming to the Lakers cuz we are the Lakers   

Who cares about cap cuz Lakers are always willing to pay the tax

[Smooth Groove]

Watching the Lakers destroying the Nets in Brooklyn

It's really sad to see how much KG and Pierce have declined.  Danny Ainge should be GM of the year.  No way he would have gotten even late 1st round picks by trading them this year. 

[Phoenix Dark]

It's kind of weird thinking about it, but here in Michigan there's very little basketball talk on sports radio. Obviously the Pistons suck, but we also have the #1 NCAA basketball team in the country and another top 25 team, but no one calls in about that either. Things will change once we get closer to the Big Ten tournament and later the NCAA tournament, but even then it's rarely a dominating subject.

NFL/NCAA football and Tigers baseball dominate. Even the Red Wings aren't getting much love right now, perhaps due to it being early in the schedule. I'd imagine LA sports radio is dominated by idiotic Lakers fans, Miami radio probably discusses the Heat, etc.

[Stoney Mason]

The Cleveland Cavaliers are actively shopping second-year shooting guard Dion Waiters, according to sources with knowledge of the situation.

Three teams the Cavaliers are known to have spoken with are the New York Knicks, Chicago Bulls and Philadelphia 76ers, the sources said. The Cavs' targets are Iman Shumpert in New York, Evan Turner in Philadelphia and Luol Deng in Chicago, sources said.

It is believed Cleveland has reached out to other clubs as well.

Waiters, whom the Cavaliers drafted with the No. 4 pick in 2012, has a contentious relationship with several teammates, including star point guard Kyrie Irving, and sources say he is open to being traded. In fact, although Waiters has not demanded a trade, he brought up the subject in a three-hour meeting last week with coach Mike Brown and general manager Chris Grant, according to sources.

The Cavaliers are looking to shake things up after a 4-10 start. Part of their problem has been the dysfunction in their locker room. Waiters, a 6-foot-4 guard, got into an altercation with forward Tristan Thompson during a players-only meeting after a 29-point loss to the Minnesota Timberwolves on Nov. 13, sources said.

Sources described the following account:

Irving called the meeting after the game, and every player spoke. When Waiters was given the floor, he criticized Thompson and Irving, accusing them of playing "buddy ball'' and often refusing to pass to him. Thompson took umbrage with Waiters' words and went back at him verbally. The two confronted each other, but teammates intervened before it could escalate into a fight.

However, Waiters and Irving are not close. Waiters believes the Cavaliers have a double standard when it comes to Irving, sources said. Waiters feels that while Irving is allowed to get away with loafing defensively, making turnovers and taking bad shots, he is taken out of games for such things. Waiters has shared his views with Brown and Grant.

Waiters is slumping after a promising rookie season -- both his scoring and shooting percentage are down.

[etiolate]

PD you make the mistake of thinking LA has that sort of sports town culture. LA has celebrity culture, which the Lakers fit into rather easily. There is some sports fan culture with the baseball, but. that's because of the dodgers long history. And that's what makes the Kobe based reality so weird.

The great majority of laker fans act like a fan base that has long suffered in irrelevance before Kobe came along. You would think the Lakers were the Timberwolves before Garnett instead of one of the most histories NBA franchises. They expect to always win but have no sense of the history of always winning. Its like nothing existed before Kobe., so Kobe can act like everything is owed to him.

[benjipwns]

"Cup slipped out of my hand while I was getting Ty," Kidd said of "Cupgate." "Sweaty palms. I was never good with the ball.

"In the heat of the battle, you're trying to get guys in and out of the game, and the cup fell out of my hand."

Video replays appeared to show Kidd saying "Hit me," something Taylor flatly denied.

Said Taylor: "No [Kidd didn't say that]. I wasn't paying attention. I just kind of bumped him. I didn't even know he was holding [anything]. [But] coach was drinking a soda on the sideline. I was like, 'What's he doing?'

"It could ice a free throw shooter and be a timeout when you don't have one, but that wasn't the thought process. I was just coming out, and he was in my way. 'Coach, get out of my way, bro.' "

[Great Rumbler]

So blatant.

[Joe Molotov]

J.Kidd is probably about two seconds away from getting fired anyway, might as well go for broke.

[Stoney Mason]

[Stoney Mason]

Chandler Parsons scored 21 points, making six 3-pointers, and the Houston Rockets picked up their fourth straight win, rolling to an easy 114-95 victory over the Brooklyn Nets on Friday night.

The Rockets led by 26 points at halftime and Brooklyn coach Jason Kidd benched all his starters except Brook Lopez for the entire second half.

What a nightmare.

[Phoenix Dark]

Why is he a head coach, again?

[Smooth Groove]

Did anyone catch OKC vs GSW?

Westbrook had a crazy sequence of first getting the rebound and then hitting the game winning 3 pt

[Stoney Mason]

[TakingBackSunday]

sick shot.  bestbrooke

[TakingBackSunday]

 

trade looked awfully good tonight even with the loss, etiolate

[etiolate]

It was a low risk, high reward move for the Kings. I was fine trading for DWill, I just hated giving up Mbah a Moute. He did a lot of good things for the team.

We'll have to see if Williams can get that outside shot going though. Still a lack of shooting to space the floor for Cuz. DWill and McLemore are a highlight show doe

[Beezy]

BALL DON'T LIE

[etiolate]

reddick

[Phoenix Dark]

God I love Cousins 

[Stoney Mason]

When the Phoenix Suns amnestied Michael Beasley last summer, teams were not exactly lining up for his services. After five years of disappointment and underachievement in the NBA in which his off-the-court indiscretions far outweighed his on-court accomplishments, Beasley had to settle for the minimum salary and returned to his old stomping grounds in Miami, the team that had traded him to Minnesota in exchange for two second-round picks and cash in 2010 after selecting him with the No. 2 pick in 2008.

But a funny thing is happening: Beasley, the troubled forward whom many people had given up on, is playing the most effective basketball of his career this season - at least statistically. Coming off the bench for the defending champions, Beasley is currently No. 16 in the NBA in PER. He'd never been in the Top 60 before and was actually an awful No. 271 in the ranking last season.

A few nuggets that show how good the 6-foot-9 forward has been for the Heat in his reserve role:

- Beasley's scoring average has gone from 10.1 ppg last year to 10.6 ppg this season even though he's playing 4.4 fewer minutes and taking 2.7 fewer shots per game on average.

- Beasley had the worst effective field goal percentage in the NBA in 2012-13 at 43.4 percent. This year, it's an impressive 61.0, which puts him near LeBron James (64.5).

- His true shooting percentage is 64.1 percent at this moment, which totally demolishes his previous best mark (52.8 percent).

- Beasley's total rebound percentage is a career-high 13.6 percent, which is also the best among Miami Heat players this season.

- He has been more effective in drives to the basket (69.2 percent of makes) than LeBron James (66.7) or Dwyane Wade (56.3).

- Beasley is hitting 50 percent of his catch-and-shoot attempts.

Consistency has not been one of Beasley's traits throughout his career and it's safe to say his numbers will come down to earth eventually. But so far, it's an unexpected feel-good story for him in Miami.

 

[TakingBackSunday]

Dude just needed a proper coach and strong role models to be around.

[etiolate]

The league doesn't have a flopping problem as much as it has a reffing problem. Fining the players won't stop it as long as the refs keep rewarding them in-game. The wins matter more than the fines. If they wanted to stop flops, they'd either get better refs or start fining the refs for falling for the flops. There's no real impetus to not flop. It's too much of an advantage to not do.

[Stoney Mason]

Anthony Davis broke his hand against the Knicks tonight.

JJ Reddick also suffered a hand injury and will miss 6 to 8 weeks.

[Stoney Mason]

lol. Knicks offense is 

They will lose here to the Pelicans despite the Pelicans losing Davis in the first quarter. This being a home game for the knicks. And the knicks leading in the 4th quarter. Their 9th straight loss. Their 7th straight at home.

[benjipwns]

Andre 

[Stoney Mason]

[benjipwns]

I was arguing somewhere where almost everyone else on that forum thought the Beasley (and Oden) signings were horrible and would destroy Miami. I was arguing that worst case scenario they could just cut Beasley, and that even standard case he was decent enough to soak up regular season minutes, that it was low risk, high reward because of the possibility he fits in perfectly with that team as someone who can step in during one/two of the Big Three sitting and create shots. Even speculated it could improve his numbers because of less bad shots, less creating on his own, etc. And that his issues wouldn't be a big deal because Wade, LeBron, Battier, Allen, Joel Anthony, etc. wouldn't allow it to be like Jordan/Pippen/etc. with Rodman.

I certainly never imagined this though.

EDIT: Side note, just noticed that Shane Battier finally had a turnover this season.

[Stoney Mason]

Beasley isn't good enough or heady enough to be your first, second, or even probably third option on an nba team but for the role he currently has, he is way over qualified. I wasn't really worried about him fitting in at all.

Oden is and will remain the bigger question mark. They probably won't seriously try to fit him in until the second half of the season, but I'm worried his health just won't be there. 

[Stoney Mason]

We told you that the Rockets were more than willing to deal troubled big man Omer Asik, but that the asking price was extremely high — so high, in fact, that one rival GM called Houston “delusional” in terms of what the team was expecting to net in return on the open market.

Now we have word of exactly what the asking price has been, and delusional doesn’t begin to describe it.

From Alan Hahn of MSG Networks:

It’s December, so the NBA trade market heats up. #Knicks, like others, are shopping, what’s available?

Not much.

The name that is dominating the early rumors is Omer Asik of the Rockets. The disgruntled center can be had, but Houston isn’t just giving him away.

In fact, the Rockets are setting the market high for Asik, with a demand of two first round picks in any deal.

Basic negotiation theory tells you to begin any discussion with an unrealistically high price if you’re the seller in order to artificially inflate the market for your product or service. But you don’t want to go too high, lest you risk offending the buying party to the point where they’ll break off talks together, or be unwilling to engage entirely.

That’s where the Rockets are right now. No one is giving up two first round draft picks for Asik, even though as a player he’s highly thought of by general managers as someone who could anchor a team’s defense inside.

The teams that would have the most interest in Asik are likely fringe contenders that need another strong piece to push them over the top. The Knicks, for example, with Tyson Chandler out due to injury and both Amar’e Stoudemire and Kenyon Martin being somewhere between hobbled and ineffective this season, would love to talk about dealing for Asik. But they have already mortgaged the future, and have no first round picks to deal until 2018.

Asik isn’t getting dealt at all this season unless that price comes down, but something tells us that Houston may become a lot more reasonable if Asik continues to be a non-factor for them as the trade deadline approaches.

[pilonv1]

Kings/Warriors games are always awesome

[Stoney Mason]

Portland takes down Indy tonight. That team is for real.

[TakingBackSunday]

just about to post about that.  Regardless of that, Geroge had 43 points and an awesome 4th quarter.  Dude is a legit superstar.

Lillard had a clutch late game three as well, further cementing him as a potential all star as well.

[etiolate]

Watching that game, I felt like the Pacers wasted possessions when they went to Hibbert down low. I like Hibbert, but his offensive game is still weak. West and George should see touches every time for that team.

[Stoney Mason]

[Smooth Groove]

Nice 3 game stretch for Duncan

I was starting to think that age has finally caught up to him but then he goes 8-13, 8-13 and 10-15

Pretty impressive if his FG% gets close to 50%

I wonder who's the oldest guy to shoot 50% while still averaging double digits

[Smooth Groove]

What's up with the injury bug this season?

JJ Reddick, Anthony Davis, Paul Pierce, Jordan Farmar all out for at least a month

[benjipwns]

Weirder part is that the first three of those were their hand.

I wonder who's the oldest guy to shoot 50% while still averaging double digits

Kareem

[Stoney Mason]

[etiolate]

What's up with the injury bug this season?

JJ Reddick, Anthony Davis, Paul Pierce, Jordan Farmar all out for at least a month

Michael Kidd-Gilchrist too now

[Great Rumbler]

I just realized that the Eastern conference only has two teams with a winning record.

[etiolate]

I feel like the East is so bad it's messing up a lot of the Eastern lottery teams tank-the-season plan. Everyone's so bad, they all keep picking up wins against each other.

[Stoney Mason]

NEW YORK -- Brooklyn Nets coach Jason Kidd has reassigned Lawrence Frank to a reduced role and Frank will no longer sit on the bench as Kidd's lead assistant coach.

Multiple league sources told ESPN.com in recent weeks there was "friction" and a difference of philosophies between Kidd and Frank brewing since the start of the season.

Many figured Frank would be the perfect sounding board and mentor for Kidd in his first go-around as a coach. But sources maintain that Kidd and Frank's relationship changed at the start of the season with a difference of "agendas" affecting their working relationship. A breaking point was reached with this as the resolution.

"This is the decision that I had to make and we made it and we move on," Kidd told reporters before the Nets played the Denver Nuggets Tuesday night. "This is my decision in the sense of what I had to do. It's about basketball. That's it."

The Nets have decided not to try to pursue another veteran coach to take Frank's spot even though they came into the season believing Frank's presence was vital to help Kidd with the rare immediate transition from player to coach. One coaching source told ESPN.com that the Nets ultimately concluded -- as much as they want a coach at Kidd's side who's been around the block to "guide him" -- that this pairing would not work if Frank insisted on telling him "what to do."

Kidd said Frank has been reassigned "to doing daily reports" and that Frank will not be sitting on the bench or working practices moving forward. Kidd said he does not plan on adding another assistant.

"Just different philosophies," Kidd said of the move. "That's all. We'll figure out how to stop people [on defense]."

Frank was demoted despite a lucrative contract that made him Kidd's top assistant.  According to a league source, Frank signed a six-year deal with the Nets worth approximately $6 million. The deal included a front office position for the final two years of his contract, according to the source. Frank was earning $1 million in each of the first two seasons and $1.65 million in each of the third and fourth years of the contract.

[benjipwns]

The monte carlo simulation is freaking out because of this, check tomorrow and the entire East (sans IND and MIA) will basically be shuffled in some other order: http://www.basketball-reference.com/friv/playoff_prob.cgi

Based Detroit's Size and Athleticism against Miami's one weakness

Michael Kidd-Gilchrist too now

And it's his hand!


http://espn.go.com/new-york/nba/story/_/id/10075019/jason-kidd-reassigns-lawrence-frank-reduced-role-brooklyn-nets

- Brooklyn Nets coach Jason Kidd has reassigned Lawrence Frank to a reduced role and Frank will no longer sit on the bench as Kidd's lead assistant coach.

Multiple league sources told ESPN.com in recent weeks there was "friction" and a difference of philosophies between Kidd and Frank brewing since the start of the season.

Many figured Frank would be the perfect sounding board and mentor for Kidd in his first go-around as a coach. But sources maintain that Kidd and Frank's relationship changed at the start of the season with a difference of "agendas" affecting their working relationship. A breaking point was reached with this as the resolution.

...

The Nets have decided not to try to pursue another veteran coach to take Frank's spot even though they came into the season believing Frank's presence was vital to help Kidd with the rare immediate transition from player to coach. One coaching source told ESPN.com that the Nets ultimately concluded -- as much as they want a coach at Kidd's side who's been around the block to "guide him" -- that this pairing would not work if Frank insisted on telling him "what to do."

Kidd said Frank has been reassigned "to doing daily reports" and that Frank will not be sitting on the bench or working practices moving forward. Kidd said he does not plan on adding another assistant.

...

Frank was demoted despite a lucrative contract that made him Kidd's top assistant.  According to a league source, Frank signed a six-year deal with the Nets worth approximately $6 million. The deal included a front office position for the final two years of his contract, according to the source. Frank was earning $1 million in each of the first two seasons and $1.65 million in each of the third and fourth years of the contract.

...

Originally, Kidd had his coaching staff set up with Frank orchestrating the defense and assistant John Welch handling the offensive duties.

...

"We'll be coaches, that is who we will be," Kidd said of who will handle the defense and offense moving forward. "There is no one doing offense, no one doing defense. We will take the responsibility of being coaches. That is how it will be set up."

EDIT: Stoney!

[Smooth Groove]

Weirder part is that the first three of those were their hand.

I wonder who's the oldest guy to shoot 50% while still averaging double digits

Kareem

Totally forgot about how great old Kareem was. 

At ages 37 and 38, he still averaged about 23PPG on 58% FG and top 10 in PER and Win Shares.

It's especially amazing since he wasn't a gargantuan beast like Wilt or Shaq. 

I wonder how much of that has to do with Magic. 

[Smooth Groove]

The broken hands are crazy.  Are NBA players just recklessly chopping at the ball like playground ballers?

[TakingBackSunday]

Aren't a few of them due to awkward landings?

[benjipwns]

Kareem was beyond insane at a younger age so he was still really good as he aged. Check out his estimated Win Shares in the 70's compared to the runner up each year. Nobody's ever had a gap like that. Not Wilt, not Jordan, not LeBron. You have to go back to the BAA with Mikan to find a year like Kareem had regularly in terms of his separation from everyone else.

The ABA did contribute to this, but Kareem was still insane. On both ends!

Magic probably helped him age more gracefully but bigs who tend not to have injury problems when younger do pretty well and keep their usefulness in their later 30s. I imagine if Moses didn't have to have back surgery he would have kept chugging along, even with that he still showed some life in 93-94. Even Kevin Willis of all people wasn't THAT bad after 40.

[pilonv1]

cant put into words my feels during the 4th quarter of that Warriors/Raptors game

[etiolate]

A lot of the broken hands are from awkward landings. It's a lot of the lean and long athletic guys, too.

Well except for Redick.

Also, I love how Boogie has embraced the Charles Barkley Heel role.

Sean CunninghamVerified account
‏@News10Sean
Asked DeMarcus Cousins about playing Friday, he joked "probably not, think I'll be out rest of the season & I can get a comeback commercial"

Also, WESTERN CONFERENCE ROOKIE OF THE MONTH! (By Default.)